Okay. Thanks? For me, the whole point of the Backstage Series was to show the behind-the-scenes stuff that we don’t always consider, though I’ll admit that I’ve generally focused more on minor characters than OCs (and usually used them to highlight some more familiar person). Like you, I saw the confessional setting as pivotal; in fact, when that aspect first occurred to me, that was when the idea stopped being a possibility and became a story that I had to go ahead and write. (But Mary Claire’s guilt was always there. Just was.)
Buffy’s detachment during the negotiation is almost necessary for someone with her responsibilities. She can’t save everyone, and even if she could, she almost has to see each individual victim as a problem to be solved rather than someone whose life depends on her actions, or she’d burn out triple-quick. Yet, that matter-of-factness will almost inevitably trigger at least some resentment; we’re all the central character in our own drama, and none of us like to be relegated to plot device.
It’s true, though: Buffy not only violated her word (“My word? to a vampire?”), she deliberately left her rescuee in an agony of guilt, purely for tactical advantage. You don’t operate at the Slayer’s level without developing calluses, and some of them can leave you … well … callous.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2014-02-19 06:12 pm (UTC)Buffy’s detachment during the negotiation is almost necessary for someone with her responsibilities. She can’t save everyone, and even if she could, she almost has to see each individual victim as a problem to be solved rather than someone whose life depends on her actions, or she’d burn out triple-quick. Yet, that matter-of-factness will almost inevitably trigger at least some resentment; we’re all the central character in our own drama, and none of us like to be relegated to plot device.
It’s true, though: Buffy not only violated her word (“My word? to a vampire?”), she deliberately left her rescuee in an agony of guilt, purely for tactical advantage. You don’t operate at the Slayer’s level without developing calluses, and some of them can leave you … well … callous.