bironic

In honor of Buffy the Vampire Slayer turning 20 -- which I still can hardly wrap my head around -- here is an unfinished Willow/Giles story I wrote 13 years ago, before I had a LiveJournal or started participating in fandom beyond quietly devouring fic.

Although I can't seem to articulate the profound impact BtVS had on me the way some of you have been able to do over the last few days, I have been thinking about how, in addition to its brilliant storytelling and dialogue and themes and rich characterizations, the show and the fanfic both depicted characters that I yearned to be (or be with) and provided ways to explore thoughts that were tumbling around in my head as I went off to college and tried to figure out whether I would ever be desirable and what I wanted in a relationship, for example. When I re-read this story, I see one angle of what I loved about Willow/Giles; an attempt, after a very different first draft, to take the usual flow of events in a different direction; and an examination of my own habit of developing crushes on teachers and professors.

Anyway, here it is if you're interested, college-age writing quirks and all. 1,500 words, rated T or something. IIRC, back in the day, synn suggested that Giles analyzes the situation too quickly, but I never did fix that. Feel free to pretend that he pauses to make tea and gather his thoughts at some natural break in the conversation.

( It's easier to love someone who is a bit of a mentor, a role model. )

And, hey, have my favorite line from the original draft, which gave the Word document its title:

Call me Ripper, he whispers in her ear.

Ugh. My ability to write has been missing since July. I thought it had come back last night, when I finally wrested the first half of this from my brain, but it went away again. So, here -- have half a story I've been wanting to write for a while, in the hope that posting it will nudge me closer to revival. The first 700 words are actual story draft and then the end is in summary form.

( 'So,' Rodney agreed, and clapped his hands. 'I've been working with objects of increasing circumference, and I think I'm ready to do this. How wide are you around?' )

...Maybe it's a pacing problem. Because the summary at the end there amuses me more than most of the story itself.

It's the end of the year—a good time to clean old things out and make room for the new. In that spirit, I've decided to unlock some works in progress that have stalled so thoroughly, and/or for so long, that I don't know if I'll pick them up again. This is kind of hard for me, sharing unfinished rather than polished work and also admitting that I'm unable to finish something. In fact, I still can't admit that I'm unable to finish these. But instead of continuing to go back and try to push on and getting nowhere to the detriment of newer stuff, I'm hoping that showing these to you will help me either revive or let go of these stories, share their ideas/emotions/good lines/potential/etc., and focus on (a) a few WsIP that I do plan to finish and (b) entirely new stories, whenever (and if ever) they may occur to me.

I'm friends-locking this for now in an attempt to minimize the chances of something like this happening by accident. May change my mind later about being exclusionary.

Well, here we go. Comments of any kind on any of these are welcome. Feel free to say what you like, what you don't like, whether you wish any won't be abandoned, where you think the problem(s) lie(s); clearly I need help getting past problems so stories don't die. And laugh all you like at the headers; I like to prepare them while I draft, to psych myself up for posting, but they look kind of ridiculous when the story's not even done.


( Self-indulgent Rodney torture story, 'Progeny' tag )

( House/Wilson MRI sex toy story )

( Sheppard sestina )

( Lupin sestina )

( Wilson hurt/comfort hypothermia story for Nightdog )

( Wilson/Ali 'Come As You Aren't' fic )

( BtVS/Angel: Spike/William )


Hm, I think that's enough for one post. Maybe one more before the new year about story/vid bunnies that never made it beyond the planning stages.

Thanks for reading!

As the (not-)title says: I started this just to play around with some hurt!fic, based on this exchange in "Progeny":

Sheppard: What'd they do to you?
McKay: Ah—torture. In ways too hideous and, um—intimate?—to recount.

I took it literally, because I wanted to. Rodney was going to be taken from the Asuran cell and tortured—first by experiencing both highly localized and full-body pain via a futuristic sensory net-device, then by being invaded with nanites that he swears he can feel crawling through him, and finally with some sort of sexual assault, hence the "intimate" comment. All while they interrogated him about Atlantis and Earth. The nanites would work against his will to get him aroused. It was fun when I first thought of it, but I think it was too much for one story. There should be (should have been—grr, what tense is appropriate for this?) just one torture method instead of three, and Rodney probably wouldn't last long enough for all three methods anyway, between his lack of training for this kind of situation and his torturers being Replicators who can read his mind. That's probably why it faltered. Or the initial impetus just faded. And then I read a story by friendshipper with a far more plausible interpretation of what happened. A friend helpfully pointed out that the loss of momentum may have had to do with the lack of a point of Rodney being tortured. She was right, but apparently that didn't help me pick this up again.

You'll see where it breaks down towards the end into sketchy notes and gaps where other stuff was going to happen.


Rating: R/NC-17
Summary: What happened to Rodney in his hallucination?
Spoilers: "Progeny."

( story behind the lovely cut )

This was my third prompt for slashfest in 2006, the same round that produced "Third Time's the Charm" and "A Helping Hand." This was for simple__man, who wanted time travel leading to Spike/William. The setup was easy: ( Read more... )

Title: The Spike Effect
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the Series
Pairing: Spike/William
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 4,075
Warnings: Spoilers for the end of Angel. Also, please note the pairing.
Summary: After the events of "Not Fade Away," Spike gets thrown back in time, where he encounters himself the day before he became a vampire.

( The Story So Far: )


( Leftovers )