My anvil of choice, breaking numerous hammers...
(Crossposted from LJ)
What story do I keep writing? What story do I keep reading?
Over and over, in both my original work and in my fics, I keep coming up against the problem of forgiveness and reconciliation between two people when one (or both) of them have Royally Screwed Up. Somebody, like my original antihero Rankin, or my original heroine Elizabeth (spelt with a 'z', you notice, and an entirely different person from my avatar in "Shadow"), does something mortally damaging to another person, something that ought to render relationship with that person impossible. The story is how, against incredible odds, these two people find healing and wholeness for their friendship or love. To my chagrin I've discovered that I even worked that story into my future plotline beyond "Shadow" -- a little angsty background to S7 Giles.
Now that I think about it, it's the central plot of my abortive NaNoWriMo novel, "The Exiles," except that in that case the hero has to make his redemption on a mythic, rather than personal, scale.
Strangely enough, however, I seem to get my fill of this story by writing it. I don't seek it out in other people's writing, and sometimes even find myself painfully sensitive to any possible mawkishness -- which fault is the weakness of my Story, of course. OTOH, that Story is also what I find most compelling about certain aspects of fandom canons -- "Helpless" and "Five by Five"/"Sanctuary" in the Buffyverse, the Trio's tiffs in Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire (as well as Dumbledore's effectual betrayal which he confesses at the end of Order of the Phoenix), that chess scene between Toby and Jed in S3 West Wing, the charade of betrayal Russell and Holmes must play in Beekeeper's Apprentice. And of course the whole of the Lymond Chronicles, jeez. So...I don't know. But I do keep coming back to the story and it seems like a rich enough vein that I manage to keep finding new ways to write it.
And of course, the implicit question is, what does this recurring story say about one's life -- one's self-concept, one's preoccupations, one's history? About me, I think it reflects both my tendency to wallow in self-recrimination and my hope that those recriminations will cease to be a burden. Grace droppeth ever lightly, or at least I hope for it -- perfect and small like a dewdrop reflecting the whole world. That's the place I want my stories to get to.
(Crossposted from LJ)
What story do I keep writing? What story do I keep reading?
Over and over, in both my original work and in my fics, I keep coming up against the problem of forgiveness and reconciliation between two people when one (or both) of them have Royally Screwed Up. Somebody, like my original antihero Rankin, or my original heroine Elizabeth (spelt with a 'z', you notice, and an entirely different person from my avatar in "Shadow"), does something mortally damaging to another person, something that ought to render relationship with that person impossible. The story is how, against incredible odds, these two people find healing and wholeness for their friendship or love. To my chagrin I've discovered that I even worked that story into my future plotline beyond "Shadow" -- a little angsty background to S7 Giles.
Now that I think about it, it's the central plot of my abortive NaNoWriMo novel, "The Exiles," except that in that case the hero has to make his redemption on a mythic, rather than personal, scale.
Strangely enough, however, I seem to get my fill of this story by writing it. I don't seek it out in other people's writing, and sometimes even find myself painfully sensitive to any possible mawkishness -- which fault is the weakness of my Story, of course. OTOH, that Story is also what I find most compelling about certain aspects of fandom canons -- "Helpless" and "Five by Five"/"Sanctuary" in the Buffyverse, the Trio's tiffs in Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire (as well as Dumbledore's effectual betrayal which he confesses at the end of Order of the Phoenix), that chess scene between Toby and Jed in S3 West Wing, the charade of betrayal Russell and Holmes must play in Beekeeper's Apprentice. And of course the whole of the Lymond Chronicles, jeez. So...I don't know. But I do keep coming back to the story and it seems like a rich enough vein that I manage to keep finding new ways to write it.
And of course, the implicit question is, what does this recurring story say about one's life -- one's self-concept, one's preoccupations, one's history? About me, I think it reflects both my tendency to wallow in self-recrimination and my hope that those recriminations will cease to be a burden. Grace droppeth ever lightly, or at least I hope for it -- perfect and small like a dewdrop reflecting the whole world. That's the place I want my stories to get to.
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