Poor Buffy. Your life resists all things average.

Willow ,'First Date'


Buffista Fic: It Could Be Plot Bunnies  

Where the Buffistas let their fanfic creative juices flow. May contain erotica.


Elena - Mar 03, 2003 7:53:55 pm PST #2057 of 10001
Thanks for all the fish.

My money's on Elena.

You may tuck it into my waistband.


deborah grabien - Mar 03, 2003 8:03:10 pm PST #2058 of 10001
It really doesn't matter. It's just an opinion. Don't worry about it. Not worth the hassle.

What, because of Wesley?

Nonsense. I'll just tie Fred up and give her to Wes to play with for awhile.

Either he'll be too busy/distracted to be much help, or else we'll be too distracted watching him and Fred to worry about the damned bucket.


P.M. Marc - Mar 03, 2003 8:51:14 pm PST #2059 of 10001
So come, my friends, be not afraid/We are so lightly here/It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear

Huh.

Body Shots got rec'd.

(*blinks*)

It seems I pulled off something unusual in having Fred sound Texan.

Hmm.

In-laws: more uses than expected.


Anne W. - Mar 04, 2003 9:17:07 am PST #2060 of 10001
The lost sheep grow teeth, forsake their lambs, and lie with the lions.

I'm posting here rather than in Great Write Way, as this question applies to a fanfic in process rather than my original fiction.

I'm working on a long story that has several characters dealing with their pasts. In some cases this past reaches into a quite distant, nearly mythic time. In every case, something from the past is having a tremendous impact on each character's present life. The problem I'm having is how to present the past material to the reader in a way that heightens tension rather than stopping the narrative dead in its tracks. I also need to get across the point that much of what the characters know or remember about this past has been somewhat corrupted over time.

I have several options in mind for how to get this information across to the reader:

  • Straightforward flashbacks in the third-person limited p.o.v. I've been using throughout.

  • First person narration of the past incident by one of the characters, without interruption.

  • First person narration as above, but with interjections from other characters.

  • Folktale style narration that presents the "official" view of the past, but with written annotations by the different characters pointing out errors and inconsistencies.

  • Folktale style narration followed by spoken debate about how the official version doesn't match up with reality.

Suggestions? Caveats? Advice?


Am-Chau Yarkona - Mar 04, 2003 9:23:10 am PST #2061 of 10001
I bop to Wittgenstein. -- Nutty

Folktale style narration followed by spoken debate about how the official version doesn't match up with reality.

I would go for this, because there's more dialogue, which I enjoy writing.

Straightforward flashbacks make it hard to convey the differences between the facts and the way a character sees them; I tend to favour 'with interuptions' because of my writing preferences; I'm not sure how 'written annotations' would work as a device (there are several ways it could go, I guess), but it's a fascinating idea. Hum.


P.M. Marc - Mar 04, 2003 9:26:07 am PST #2062 of 10001
So come, my friends, be not afraid/We are so lightly here/It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear

I think I'd go towards

  • Straightforward flashbacks in the third-person limited p.o.v. I've been using throughout.

But amore than one of them for each character, each one slightly different.


Connie Neil - Mar 04, 2003 9:32:27 am PST #2063 of 10001
brillig

Do the characters know their version of history has been corrupted?


deborah grabien - Mar 04, 2003 10:03:47 am PST #2064 of 10001
It really doesn't matter. It's just an opinion. Don't worry about it. Not worth the hassle.

I love dialogue, as well - but I think, in his instance, I'd go for a character POV flashback perspective, in a way that's minimal dialogue and visually slightly disorienting to the character. You know that first moment when you get hit with deja vu and you think, holy crap, what was that, and then immediately you question the reality/validity of it - "did that actually happen?"

Would this work? The sort of acid flashback feeling you get when a memory bleeds through and makes you question it?


Anne W. - Mar 04, 2003 10:27:23 am PST #2065 of 10001
The lost sheep grow teeth, forsake their lambs, and lie with the lions.

Do the characters know their version of history has been corrupted?

Not yet, but they're starting to figure it out.

The sort of acid flashback feeling you get when a memory bleeds through and makes you question it?

That's the effect I'm hoping to go for--that sort of uncertainty that makes you wonder if things really happened that way. There are several things I think I "remember" from my childhood only because I've heard the story so many times from an older relative.


deborah grabien - Mar 04, 2003 10:38:56 am PST #2066 of 10001
It really doesn't matter. It's just an opinion. Don't worry about it. Not worth the hassle.

Anne, a question, then - is there another character present for this, in any or all of the scenes? A touchstone off of whom the character undergoing the memory-bleed can bounce the reaction?

Because I'd personally go for the almost saturated visual, with some very sharp, fast "holy shit" dialogue, to punch up the effect and power of the experience. But that's me. YMM very definitely V.