![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
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.
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.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-24 06:06 am (UTC)From: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.