Fandom Snowflake Challenge #11

[aadler]

Taking on the meme/challenge here.

Fandom Snowflake Challenge #11

In your own space, share your love for a trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment here saying you did it.

I had a hard time with this one, because I don’t think in those terms, and am unsure what the people who use them, mean when they do. Looking over other people’s lists, however, gradually I started to recognize things I could list as favorites. Not in terms of reading; I look for what I enjoy, and judge by quality rather than category, and listing a story according to tropes is likely to incline me away from the story. In the ones I’ve written myself, however, I do find certain general themes or approaches recurring.

Canon divergence. I love to explore what might have happened if certain things had gone differently. I won’t attempt a comprehensive listing, but a few examples would be “God Save the Queen” (where Cordelia met Angel sooner because a fleck of mascara fell one way instead of another, and consequently wound up becoming a pseudo-Slayer when the Master drowned Buffy), and “There Ought to Be Clowns” (where Buffy wound up in an unproductive sexual relationship with Xander because she’d been barely quick enough to prevent Faith accidentally killing Alan Finch). I enjoy showing how tiny things can wind up making major differences.

Outsider perspective. Two of the first Buffyfics I ever read — “Not Even Jimmy Olsen” and “One Morning in Sunnydale” — showed me how fruitful that approach could be, and in several stories I’ve used people outside the Scooby Gang to show how differently Buffy, Xander, Willow, or Giles might be seen by someone ‘not in the know’. The biggest example would be “… Than Meets the Eye”, but “Whisper of a Moment”, “Best Foot Forward”, “Maxima Culpa”, and “Into the Abyss” would also serve.

Different ways a vampire can retain or acquire a soul. I did this enough times that I recognized I’d overused it, and voluntarily moved away from it. Before then, I showed it in “Come to My Window”, “Twilight’s Last Gleaming”, “Shadow and Substance” (twice), “the Human Touch” (sort of), and “Beg to Differ”. There might be more, those are just the ones that come immediately to mind.

Different canon characters as Slayers. This is seen in “Point of Focus” (Joyce Summers), “God Save the Queen” (Cordelia), “Perish the Thought” (a girl not named but easily identifiable as Willow), even “Each Proud Division” (an adult version of Dawn, but I tend not to count that one because the character was invented by Brighid in “Beats a Cruel December” and copied by me — with attribution — from that story).

Bringing back dead characters. I’ve done that in “Shadow and Substance” (Jenny Calendar and victim-Sandy from “Doppelgängland) and “Glass Ceiling” (an AU version of Cordelia). Maybe more than that, but those are the ones I immediately remember

Resolving a situation by making it not-have-happened. That can be seen in “Point of Focus”, “All Ye Who Enter”, “Beg to Differ”, and “Otherwise a Perfect Sky”. Another one I realized I’d done a bit too much, and consciously set myself to avoid repeating.

Minor or single-appearance characters getting their own stories (or getting significant attention in fics not specifically about them). I could name many minor or one-shot characters I’ve used in my stories, but the ones where the ‘lesser’ character got the strongest showing were “Point of Focus” (Joyce), “the Human Touch” (Dalton), “First Do No Harm” (Harmony), “Shadow and Substance” (all the principal actors were minor or lesser characters), “Tip of My Tongue” (Hank Summers), “Yet to Be Seen” (Marcie Ross), “Unbidden the Day” (Nancy Doyle), and “the Price of Lace” (Ryan from the “Killed by Death” episode).

Less disapproving spotlight on characters vilified or dismissed by fandom or even by canon presentation. I disliked how Hank Summers was demoted from conscientious non-custodial father to clichéd deadbeat dad, and gave an alternative explanation in “Tip of Tongue”. I hated how Tara’s father was straw-man constructed from the ground up as a hateful exemplar of controlling/intolerant/abusive patriarchy, and rectified that in “the Still, Small Voice” (which also offered a more rounded side to Quentin Travers). I even showed a more sympathetic aspect of Kennedy, who I myself disliked, in “Curious Poses”.

That’s what I have, then. I don’t doubt an independent reader could find more themes/approaches; probably I could myself, if I looked deeper. I hope this will do.

Comments

[tellshannon815]

I can relate to a lot of this since I also love to focus on lesser fixed characters, have struggled with tropes, and like to imagine what if X never happened.

[aadler]

‘What-if’ is my biggest single source of inspiration. Usually it’s ‘What if xxx were to happen’, rather than an alternative version of what DID happen. Obviously, however, the latter approach is one I’ve used often enough.

[musyc]

Outsider POV and/or minor character POV works are the best. My favorite episode of any TV show is almost invariably the one done from a secondary character(s) perspective.

[aadler]

I’ve certainly got enough mileage out of it. I focused so strongly on lesser (or original/outsider) characters in the beginning of my fanfic career, for the first several years the joke with my kids was that I was a Buffy writer who never actually featured Buffy. Even now, there’s almost always some non-core character who reacts to the mains and/or has them react to him/her. It’s just effective as well as fun.