A little of this and a little of that -- wrap up's and meta

[seraphcelene]

Today, as I was thinking about yesterday's post about my interests in art, I realized that there is a connection between the style of art that I like and the style of my writing. Comments on my use of imagery are typically the most common inclusions as it concerns feedback. I am a visual person and I am a speed reader. When I read, I don't see the words on the page so much as I see a movie playing. So, I tend to remember things in series of images more than anything else, unless some bit of prose is just especially stunning. lostakasha and redbrickrose are writers who do a phenomenal job of combining language and visuals. I see the action, fall in love with the images, but at the same time have an insane, jealous appreciation for their execution.

Translating what I see onto paper is how I write. I do my best to describe what I see as approximately as possible, so I can be hyper-critical about word choice. Squat insted of sat, crimson instead of red, things like that. Because what I want is to ignite a sense memory for the reader. Art translates the same to me. Artists use medium and technique to convey an idea. My favorite art periods (High Renaissance - Baroque; Modern Pin-up) do that almost to excess. They are lush, and I like to think, with a few exceptions, of course, that my writing tends towards lushness (admittedly heading into epic purpleness). Recently, I've been practicing things down, writing more bare bones and deliberate.

---

There's also a discussion currently ongoing at BetterBuffyFics that concerns Buffy's bitchiness. Basically, it's a discussion on Buffy's evolution from innocent to bitch, as it's read by some fans. I always read her evolution as her growing up, I never did get the bitch thing at all. drsquidlove posted a response that was both an acknowledgement and a defense of the character that I totally agree with. It is too simplistic to write Buffy off as bitchy and I think that Dr. Squidlove does a great job of acknowledging the flaws and complexities of a character who was flawed and complex like a real person. I've re-posted the comment with drsquidlove's permission.

I think Buffy always had that self-absorbed streak: it was always intended
to be the inherent flaw in her character. Yeah, she could be generous like
she was with Amy, but she could also treat Giles like furniture and ignore
her friends when she was wrapped up in Angel. It's part of what I liked
about her character. She wasn't too happy about Kendra threatening her
specialness in s2, until Kendra came to help save Angel, so it made perfect
sense that Faith would be a problem, even without the personality clash.

The scene where Faith shows up and they all talk in the Bronze beautifully
plants the seeds of that season. Faith's trying desperately to strike up a
friendship with Buffy, while the rest of the scoobies steamroller right over
all her questions to ask their own, while Buffy sits in the corner feeling
forgotten. Particularly in the context of her age, I don't blame her one bit
for resenting Faith. Sometimes she's jealous and petty, which is very
Buffy, and sometimes she goes out of her way to reach out, which is also
very Buffy.

I agree she gets colder in the later seasons, but Joss couldn't have put her
through all the trauma he did and kept her as bubbly as she was
sophomore year. I think that would have been a cop-out.



That's the difficulty of the hero role: when she's the lynchpin of the show,
there isn't as much room to play with as there is with more minor
characters (Riley and Wesley had hands-down the most interesting
character arcs of the Buffy-Angelverse) which just kind of leads to eternal
suffering as a character arc. Which can get tedious.Or, when they try to
fix it like they did climbing out of the grave in the s6 finale, twee and
barf-worthy.

Season 7 has plenty of flaws, but I *like* that Buffy changes her mind
about whether she'd save Dawn, and that she rides over the feelings of
the potentials. We all think differently at different times in our lives,
and
we all forget what it's like to be young.

In season 5 she'd just lost her mother - become a mother, in a sense -
Dawn was utterly dependent on her, and her season finale crisis looked
a lot like the crises she'd faced every year. By season 7, she'd lost all
hope and got it back again, she'd been dead and seen an afterlife that
was pretty good, Dawn's maturity level and self-esteem had sky-rocketed,
and for the first time, with the destruction of the Council and the arrival
of the international Potential contingent and quite possibly no one to
succeed her, it really was, in a grasp-worthy sense, an 'end-of-the- world'
crisis, in which places outside Sunnydale were more than abstract. That's
a whole lot of strong context for making different judgements. I'm old and
callous: I respect her s5 idealism, but I think sacrificing Dawn is way more
noble.

Would she have been a better person if she'd remembered how she felt at
16 and cuddled the Potentials some more? Maybe. But right back from
start, when things got tough she constantly pulled out the 'I'm the Chosen
One and it's my load to bear and you don't understand,' complaint, until
her friends slapped her silly, so it makes sense to me that she did it all
over again when the world fell in on her. Those traits aside, we all see
fairness differently as we age. Every single teenager in the world swears
they'll treat their kids with more understanding and compassion than they
were given. And they all grow up to be parents who think their teenaged
children should stop complaining about how unfair everything is and learn
to deal. Buffy could be a cow at times in s7, but I think that followed her
character, and I think it was entirely forgivable considering the size of
her
crisis, and I think it was waaaay more interesting than if she'd somehow
been able to be everything the girls needed to be.

She had flaws, absolutely, but understandable flaws, and I like her better
for having them. Saints are boring.

I have issues with season 7, but they mostly relate to Joss forgetting the
importance of the core-four relationships in his efforts to get an
epic-sized
finish. For all that I love many of the secondary characters, I think the
story should have come home in the final days, to rebuild the family, and
not just for a two second quip before the final battle.

Comments

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

There's also a discussion currently ongoing at BetterBuffyFics that concerns Buffy's bitchiness. Basically, it's a discussion on Buffy's evolution from innocent to bitch, as it's read by some fans.

I mostly agree with these sentiments. I think Buffy could be bitchy at times, but she was never really all that bitchy.

And actually, I think that if Buffy were actually as much the bitch as she is sometimes argued to be, the fans who call her a bitch would like her much better. Bitchiness, indeed, is a character trait that is often lauded - though moreso from secondary characters (Anya, Cordelia, Faith, Lilah) than primary characters.

I think, perhaps, had Buffy really been much bitchier in the HS years - viewers would have been more tolerant of her in S6-7 when she behaved in 'bitchy' fashion.

[minim_calibre]

Yeah. I think I wrote a long defense of the character that centered on the difference between occasionally being bitchy, and actually being a bitch.

I can't think of a case where being A Bitch has been lauded for a lead character. As you mention, it's mainly applauded in the foils.

[seraphcelene]

Hey, point me in the direction of your meta, I wanna read!

Real, honest to goodness anti-heroes in TV are few and far between. Fans usually insist that there lead characters be likeable and anti-heroes aren't always, even though we sometimes cheer them on.

[minim_calibre]

http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=minim_calibre&keyword=Defending+Buffy&filter=all

[seraphcelene]

Thank you! I loved reading both posts! And I really agree with you. On a side note, comments are always so interesting. Someone mentioned how they had never been as alone as Buffy even though at 22 they were degreed and living in an apartment half way across the world and I though, there are some things that make you so alone and they have nothing to do with distance, the number of people in your family, or how many friends you have. Buffy was always alone to me in the most personal sense. There is no one like her. She's got this unavoidable burden (regardless of whether she uses her powers for good or evil) and always has to make the tough decisions. Then by S5 after Joyce dies. Well, damn.

[seraphcelene]

I also found it interesting that Buffy's transition to a real leader in S7 (in essence a Slayer who was also a Watcher) is translated by some fans as her being bitchy. I mean, this is someone who has fought her destiny for years only to have it continually shoved down her throat. Sure, the speech making got to be much, but I read her as trying to bolster the girls as well as trying to provide them with an idea of the reality that they were facing. Plus, war time!! There wasn't all that much time for coddling and hand holding, regarless of whether or not the girls wanted to be, they were at war. They were being hunted and slaughtered.

I guess that with the paces Joss put her through, I wasn't surprised with the way the character evolved. I would have been disappointed if she didn't change.

[diachrony.livejournal.com]

I don't ever see Buffy as a "bitch." I *do* see her as "bitchy" on occasion, just as are we all.

But that "B" word gets tossed all the time at women who are in charge and serious about their responsibilities. That's all you need as a female to get the B word - a position of power, and to take it seriously, and to ever show displeasure at anything.

I loved the fact that Buffy was so genuine - not perfect, and not unfailingly sweet and peppy, and that she showed her anger, and used it, the way women aren't ever supposed to do, and didn't waffle on the tough decisions she had to make, even if they turned out to not be perfect - because that's what a leader does. That's what someone who is the Slayer has to do.

I absolutely disagree with the "Bitch" appellation here and think it's a very sexist viewpoint really. Buffy gets slammed a lot for not being inhumanly perfect. She gets slammed for having relatable human failings. What was great about her is that she had them, and, in spite of stumbling, still always tried to do her best - and her best was really impressive!

[seraphcelene]

But that "B" word gets tossed all the time at women who are in charge and serious about their responsibilities. That's all you need as a female to get the B word - a position of power, and to take it seriously, and to ever show displeasure at anything.

I totally agree. I am always surprised at how much some people dislike Buffy, especially considering that it is a show called "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" which indicates that it is a show ABOUT Buffy. Her character arc, I think, was a realistic one and that's what some viewers can't handle. There was some of the same reactions to some depictions of Roswell's Liz Parker in fanfic. Canon didn't push her character very far in terms of emotional develipment, but fanfic did a lot to make up for that. The shift from her sweet, all accepting disposition to a more jaded, less forgiving personality wasn't the most welcoming.

[redbrickrose.livejournal.com]

Thank you; that's incredibly flattering.

Translating what I see onto paper is how I write. I do my best to describe what I see as approximately as possible, so I can be hyper-critical about word choice.

I do this too, so I'm concerned with describing things accurately, but I also tend to be very concerned with the rhythm of the language. I've always been very much a word person and I can forgive a lot for pretty language, but in being pretty it should also be evocative. I'm also very visual and I want to be able to see the scenes in my head.

re: Buffy. I have ALWAYS, always been a Buffy girl. There was never a time over the course of the show when most of my sympathy wasn't with her. She could be bitchy and selfish, sure, absolutely, but I also like her better for being flawed and every time she did the "I'm the chosen one, they just don't understand" I kind of figured she was right. Because her friends chose to do what they did and that is brave and it is loyal, but they *could* have walked away. They *wouldn't* but they *could.* She never had the options they had, so when she says they don't get it, well, they don't. I can get really defensive about Buffy. I have one fic that's way more overblown-defensivenss-about-Buffy-meta than it is fic, but Buffy-bashing really gets under my skin.

[seraphcelene]

Thank you; that's incredibly flattering.

You are most welcome.

I love that you're a writer after my own heart -- rhythm is a huge issue with me. It drives me crazy when I write something really dense because it's not unusual for me to lose the rhythm as I leave and come back. Basically, the longer it takes for me to complete a first draft, the harder it is for me to actually write it because I may not be able to hear or replicate the patterns.

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

I keep meaning to add my 2 cents over at BBF. Maybe tomorrow.

What the many bitchy Buffy posters also seen to forget about is in season 7, Buffy is convinced that she can't win and she's going to lead a bunch of young girls to their death. I read a lot of her behavior as terrified.

She's already dealt with the First Evil in the past and she had absolutely no effect on it. Not at all. The only reason Angel is walking around is because TPTB realized they could use him as their pawn wanted to save him. Buffy didn't save him. She couldn't.


So now it's risen again, killed off almost all the watchers, whittled down the ranks of potentials and everybody is looking to her to save the day and she knows she can't.

I'm not sure what viewers expect from Buffy - obviously some sort of super human persona that only allows her to be heroic at all times without ever making a mistake or being scared or just wanting it all to end.

[seraphcelene]

I hesitated to respond because it's a forum about fiction and that's not the discussion that's been happening. I kept waiting for the mods to say something, but I guess it's okay. Besides, there's been so little in the way of recs of late that I'm not all that surprised. I need to make some reccomendations of my own.

I agree with the Buffy as terrified reading. I also see her as completely resigned. She hasn't given up, but she's now in this position where she has to deal with her destiny in a major way. We'd been building up to that since Graduation and S7 is where she really takes hold of her destiny. We could argue that she does so in The Gift. But jumping off that tower was as much about running away and escaping her destiny as it was about her saving the world. Buffy at that point was exhausted and then we have to deal with that over the course of S6. By S7 she isn't allowed to be that indulgent. She has other lives and the real possibility of the world ending to confront. In a way, I think she's also trying to counsel the girls to deal with their destiny in a way that she didn't. They don't have the time or the luxury to resist it. There's too much at stake. There is a war on and people, potentials, are dying.

[my_daroga]

The visual/verbal/whatever thing is always interesting to me, because I don't think I've ever been a very visual person. I can do layout and I have a decent design sense but I don't operate in that sphere and I don't visualize things when I write or read. I have to remember that I'm supposed to be writing about a place people can see, and remind myself to include a setting that makes sense. Otherwise, I'll just run away with character and dialogue and everyone will just float in some void of my not-caring where they are. I constantly have to remind myself to look at the picture when reading comics.

Anyway, what's always fascinating is that writers come from all kinds of backgrounds when it comes to what sort of thinking they're oriented towards. We're still all writing.

Thanks for posting the Buffy analysis. I have complaints about her as a person, but not because I think she's written poorly. There are things I fault her for, and things I wish she'd done differently. But not because "she's a bitch" or some other narrowly-defined complaint. Her trajectory is logical. That means that sometimes, she's going to do things I (or you, or whoever) won't approve of. They probably won't even be the same things, either.

[seraphcelene]

I love reading about other writer's writing processes. It really is fascinating and enlightening. Sometimes I try other methods suggested by other writers and it sometimes helps me to break out of whatever tedious shell of writer's block that I find myself trapped inside.

I have complaints about her as a person, but not because I think she's written poorly. There are things I fault her for, and things I wish she'd done differently. But not because "she's a bitch" or some other narrowly-defined complaint. Her trajectory is logical. That means that sometimes, she's going to do things I (or you, or whoever) won't approve of. They probably won't even be the same things, either.

I love that!! It's exactly what you said!!