Which BtVS character are you? (or, "What am I, twelve?") - and a fic rec

[red_satin_doll]

I found this personality quiz i ozma914's LiveJournal.  


http://www.buddytv.com/personalityquiz/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-personalityquiz.aspx?quiz=40
I shoulda known.  Willow was the first character I actually identified with on the show. Well, her and the Invisible Girl hose name I have shamefully and ironically forgotten. ETA: Velvetwhip reminded me that her name is Marcie Ross.)  As it turns out, ozma914 s Tara.  Or was in '08.  I wonder if that makes him my soulmate? (Which might be complicated, as I am actually a lesbian but, unlike Willow, I can't do magic.) I'm kind of dying to see wh local_max urns out to be, just for fun.

Speaking o ozma914, I've got recs for three of his marvelous short btvs fanfics, out of many:
"She Would be Thirteen".  Superb. Xander, sometime post-Chosen, deals with one of the most difficult aspects of being a new Watcher. I'm trying to branch out a bit in my fanfic and meta reading because I'm pretty well burned-out on Spuffy fics for the moment, and it's a challenge to open myself up to understanding the boy a bit. This story is sad (angsty?) but not bathetic or sentimental; very true to canon characterization - I can imagine NB in this - which is one of my biggest criteria for fanfiction; and packed with layers of meaning and subtext in a very short pace of time. It reads somewhat like a prose poem; not a single wasted word here.

For something on the lighter side: Did you think that Joyce (the lovely Kristine Sutherland) was hideously underused on the show? Did you want to see more of life in Sunnydale from her perspective?  Or wish they had bothered to tackle some of the realities of being a single working mom?  I know I did.  "To Start the Day" s one of the few, and like "She Would be Thirteen", it's spare and lovely, humorous, very much true to character. There's just not enough Joycean fanfic, IMHO.  (See what I did there?)

And from "light" to damn downright cracky, his Dawn-centric fic "A (Somewhat Less Than) Forever Love" has one of my favorite Dawn/Spike reunions in fic, in two short lines of dialogue. Meanwhile, Dawn and Buffy deal with all of Buffy's past boyfriends. Xander, Willow, Giles and Faith make brief appearances.  Giles cleans his glasses. Xander (almost) drools. Faith wears leather. Dawn snarks and fumes; Buffy chooses her words poorly. Angel, Spike and Riley are pretty damn petty, just the way I like them.

Happy holidays, everyone - whatever you observe, if you observe anything at all.  Peace and blessings to all.

Comments

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I've really enjoyed your writing - I also added a link to Buffybot's Secret in my next post; if anything I wish there were a more user-friendly archive or link list, so I could go through your stories in the order you meant them to be read? Your intro (Tara's resurrected, Dana's healed, etc) are very helpful just diving in the midst of things like I did, but I find myself wanting to go back to the beginning and find out how things began. Or do you have an archive list and I missed it?

I suspect I'm still Tara. I mean, figuratively.

*lol* Well then I guess we'll have to settle for being "just friends" :)

BTW, I really enjoy your original characters; I started reading and wondered, when was Kara in the show? Was she in AtS, because I don't remember her (I've never watched AtS, but I've read most of the developments in terms of the larger arc/plot, and so I knew about Dana at least.) It took me a while to figure out that she was an OC because she's so well integrated with the "canon characters" that I wasn't aware at first that she was an OC. (Her dad was a little easier to figure out, if only because of the name, and the fact that he seems to be a new watcher; he still seems somewhat "outside" this 'verse while Kara is very much "in it". Not in a "badly-written" way, but more in the fact that Richard is older, perhaps more set in his ways, while Kara is embodied with Slayer power and has these other girls to be with, so she almost seems to have an easier time fitting in? )

But then Dana, Bottie and Tara almost become OC's in their own right because of the ways you've changed their circumstances, which I think works in your favor.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Hm ... I thought I'd posted a list of my fanfics in order somewhere, but now I can't find it. They are in order on my ozma914 account at fanfiction.net, but there are some typos there that I never got around to fixing (because it was a pain to edit over there). There is this:
http://gen-storyteller.livejournal.com/?skip=10&tag=author%3A%20ozma914

All or most of the stories are over there, and I think they're in order with the earliest post being the earliest story.

Ah, wait! I found "the story so far":
http://ozma914.livejournal.com/123604.html

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Sorry to put you through the trouble! Right after I sent this message I found this very page and bookmarked it. I did start reading "Where do we go" but the interpretation of Chosen and the characters is so at-odds with my own that I'll just skip ahead; I'm enjoying the Four Friends 'verse much more, particularly because Kara and Richard are OC so there's no prior attachment for me, and Dana and Bottie are altered somewhat from the show and developed much further so they function as OC characters. (The one exception is Tara, whose characterization fits canon if she'd been allowed to continue on the show. And I love the 'Bot and Tara in S6, so that's an added pleasure.)

The canon characters I identify most with are Buffy (later seasons - obvious if you've seen my LJ) and Willow (early seasons), but I'm trying to expand my reading habits.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Well, since you skipped "Where Do We Go", I can tell you that Tara's very first appearance in my stories is at the very end of that story. Dana and Buffybot first appear in "Robin Lays an Egg", and that story ends up setting the stage for "Four Friends", although it wasn't what I had intended at the time. The whole thing is largely a progression, and I didn't intend any of it -- the "OzmaVerse", as one of my friends put it, just happened.

Of course, it was fairly easy to adapt Bottie and Dana, as we don't get to see much of them over the course of the show. By the time "Robin Lays an Egg" ends, they've been altered by circumstances.

Buffy is one of the hardest characters for me to write, maybe because we do already know so much about her ... I work hard on it, though.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Kara appeared in the very first scene of my very first fanfic, so it didn't take me long to get comfortable with her being in that universe. She was also based (although very loosely) on my youngest daughter, although in the creation she changes so much as to be mostly unrecognizable. Here in there is a banner that was made for me which features the Four Friends, and the one of Kara actually is my daughter.

Her father, on the other hand ... well, Richard was never meant to have a big part in my universe. He was basically just a self-insert that I threw in for fun, and unlike Kara he's changed only a little from what I'm really like. That's why the first time I featured him in a story it was under the title "Mary Sue Got Harried" ... although I'm told he's not a Mary Sue in the strict sense of the term, since he doesn't go around saving everyone. Also, he has the misfortune of ... well, never mind -- spoilers. If you keep reading you'll discover things don't always go his way, including relationships.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

That's why the first time I featured him in a story it was under the title "Mary Sue Got Harried" ... although I'm told he's not a Mary Sue in the strict sense of the term, since he doesn't go around saving everyone.

I've read just enough I think (including the fic where they all end up at the diner, Bottie discovers french toast, Kara destroys her fork and Richard discovers that Tara is his "watcher" - or he's her protegee) to be able to say that, no, he is not a Gary Stu (the common name for a male "Mary Sue".) There is a specific definition of the type (which predates fanfiction): someone who is "perfect", however that is defined in our culture at a given time. (Victorian literature is full of such characters and so are fairy tales: Snow White, Cinderella, Beauty from Beauty and the Beast are examples of the type.)

In modern fanfic specifically, it's not just about "saving everybody" although there is that as well. They are extraordinary in every way: smart, courageous, virtuous, competent, gorgeous, an absolute fantasy rather than a complex character. AND they are superior in all those ways to the canon characters, AND the canon characters all adore them and fall down at their feet in awe. IF they have any doubts, fears, or guilt, it's either out of proportion to their actual "sins", or they feel guilty for being so perfect. But they are so "humble" about their perfection. (Yeah. Right.)

This site has a pretty thorough definition - and an example from a Buffy fanfic to boot.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Mary-Sue

If there are more female examples than male, I'd guess it's because 1) in general there are more female fanfic writers - although this type is generally written by girls and teenagers, IMO; and 2) it's more acceptable for male to be flawed and still be considered "good" or heroic.

I'd say a Mary Sue/Gary Stu are pretty far removed from the reality of who the author is, an ideal fantasy. That doesn't mean all "author insert" characters are automatically MS/GS's. (Every story I can think of has a self-insert or author "avatar" in there somewhere.) But it's become something of a controversial subject in that unfortunately he term has been used by some people to label ALL authorial insert characters even if they don't fit the description of a MS/GS.

A friend of mine once attended a writers conference (not fanfic) on this very subject, and the panel was made up of successful, accomplished women writers who had a fear of writing characters that would be perceived as Mary Sue's, which added a measure of stress to the process and in some ways held them back. And again, it's a charge which is more likely to be aimed at women writers.

Ok, that was long, so sorry , but I hope that clarifies? Richard strikes me thus far as very normal and flawed person, and I think his interactions with Kara - and her annoyance with him, which feels VERY normal. Average. And that's very much key.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

I had the honor of reading the very first Mary Sue story -- the Star Trek fanfic that actually had the character named Mary Sue. Great parody, actually. When it comes to reading fanfic, Star Trek is where I started, so I got exposed to it early.

But you're right, self-inserts are common, and often done very well. They say every writer puts some of themselves into characters, but some do it more than others. Personally, I think self-inserts are fun as long as they're not overdone. I put myself in my first published novel, "Storm Chaser", but only as a minor character who shows up only a few times, doesn't save the day, and doesn't have everyone fall in love with him.

I went out of my way with Richard to make sure he didn't become a Mary Sue (I wasn't aware of the term Gary Stu at the time). If anything, as my stories go on he becomes a bit *more* flawed. If nothing else, I don't want to upset Buffy fans!