An aging fandom needs new branches, not pruning So it’s springtime in the Spuffy fic corner of the Buffyverse. EF’s annual April Challenge event is in progress. Its wayward little sister SAD is about to kick off another experimental anniversary event. Seasonal Spuffy has opened the spring theme poll. My muse is eagerly waiting for the weather to stabilize, so I can have some patio writing time in the mornings. Sounds great, except that it’s all rather depressing. Elysian Fields is keeping to safe old routines, comfortable in its status as the last of the old Spuffy archives still active, essen ..read more

She’s easier to write out than to make useful While she can be amusing, I find the Buffybot extremely unnecessary in most fics that are set during her existence. In fact, I’m pretty sure the only story where I’ve actively used the thing is in The Sound of Her Voice, where she’s barely been on page. In that story, she serves as a point of contrast with the real Buffy and as a vector for other characters’ expressions of grief, matching two of the three characterization purposes she served in canon. The third is as a means of expressing Spike’s desperation and loneliness, of course. But I have m ..read more

Well, this isn’t going wonderfully… Blog Goal: 3 Mondays per month, minimum. Execution: I’m writing this on a Tuesday morning. The first schedule failure of the year is now officially on the books. Yay. Massacre at Carabon Hill Goal: Complete writing by… uh, now, actually. Execution: I got it over the chapter that was hanging it up, but then got hit with a string of non-writing issues that killed my momentum. Nothing big. Back pains, sinus headaches, home-related projects, people wanting me to go out into the world and pretend to be sociable. In other words, a whole lot of distractions. And no ..read more

…For one story. A banner’s job is to tell the story. Not every reader will understand what’s being told in the images, but it’s worth putting in the effort for those who will. A story banner serves to tell the reader what they’re getting into, occupying a space in that sphere of responsibility that falls about halfway between a book cover and a summary. So what happens when the banner artist fails to understand the functions of a banner? The author’s original banner request read as follows: The story is about souled Spike coming to terms with the things he likes and realizing that there’s noth ..read more

…For one story. A banner’s job is to tell the story. Not every reader will understand what’s being told in the images, but it’s worth putting in the effort for those who will. A story banner serves to tell the reader what they’re getting into, occupying a space in that sphere of responsibility that falls about halfway between a book cover and a summary. So what happens when the banner artist fails to understand the functions of a banner? The author’s original banner request read as follows: The story is about souled Spike coming to terms with the things he likes and realizing that there’s noth ..read more

Seasons 4 through 7 Season 4: An absence of mirrors Faith’s brief appearance (quite memorable for a bit in front of a mirror, likely not by accident) serves to mix up the two of them both literally and in their understandings of their identities, rather than provide reflections. It’s a quick, clunky revisit to the broken mirror of the previous year. I suspect the original plan for the season -which was derailed by multiple factors- intended to utilize Faith in an exploration of the shades of grey the Initiative story arc was intended to discuss. But too much went wrong for any of that to play ..read more

March 2024 Writing Events I think it’s safe to say the post-holiday doldrums are officially being shaken off on the archives. Everyone is gearing up for a fun, creative year with small to medium sized writing events. One of them is bound to shake off your doldrums, too! West of the Storm WotS will be hosting its annual Musical March writing event for the duration of the month. Song fics, fics inspired by music, any length, anything goes. So shuffle a playlist and open a fresh doc. You never know what could come of it. Sunnydale After Dark The Short & Spuffy drabble writing event is making ..read more

Over time, I’ve put myself in a box I don’t belong in. I’ve given a lot of thought to how posting on narrowly focused archives has shaped my fic writing, and I think it’s been a detriment. I basically dropped BSV because I wanted to toy with a story wherein Spike got the Shanshu shit thrown at him, and had to deal with that, but BSV doesn’t allow human Spike, so I stopped my cross-posting habit when I started that story (didn’t want to risk getting my account into trouble), and never went back with other stories, mostly because I forgot to. I also spent 4 years on EF, where Spuffy is required ..read more

Seasons 1 through 3 The two seasons of BtVS that have the least cohesive story lines are the exact same two that lack a direct Buffy reflection in the narrative. And those reflections always need some combination of saving and reconciliation. The two less cohesive seasons serve as the exceptions to prove the rule: In the core metaphor of the show, growing up means learning to fend for yourself, but also making peace with yourself. So let’s go through and look at the characters who served as Buffy’s mirrors, how she saved them, how she reconciled with herself through them, and the two seasons w ..read more

A little morning reading from around the community What follows is an assortment of short works from around the Spuffy fandom collected into a single list not for any cohesiveness of content or style, but for the sake of a silly theme I stumbled into while trying to build a very different list. Odds are, you haven’t seen at least a couple of these. So grab your morning beverage of choice and settle in for a little fun. Breakfast in Bed  by Tista Summary: After Buffy rescues Spike from the First Evil, she takes care of him. The first thing she does is serve him breakfast in bed. This is a ..read more