|
Kittens, I am again flabbergasted and tickled ten shades of pink by the replies to this story. Thank you so, so, so much for reading this thing and responding to it; it makes me so happy and so grateful. You all are the very best. A zillion replies to.... ISABIG: Yeah, the end already, but thanks for reading! Darkmagicwillow, I love the idea of waving that bad smell away, and I love that you say this story could even begin to do that. I was working on this one since October; it just kept eluding me. I think that—and I should have said this originally—that the bread idea was always in my head; I had outlines and some parts written, etc., but then after I read that “what if” daily thread you had awhile back, I started to see what was originally just a concept in a new light. So double thanks to you. And the Lethe’s bramble was, for me, an important marker in what went wrong. In real life, you know, I’m a terrible baker. I burn things, I leave things raw, I never take anything from the oven at just the right time. But here, well, it’s a start, anyway. Inward Sea, thank you. I really appreciate your writing to say that. BFR From Paris, ooh, I want to get in your dreams then!What else are you dreaming? RalSt31, It’s funny, I hadn’t thought of that particular bread-shape as a crux until you mentioned it, but I think you’re right. It was all about letting things happen in their own way and in their own time. Oh, and I had to put in the line about the metaphors; it was the only way I could let myself get away with three chapters worth of extended bread imagery. Thank you for reading this. Tawilove, thanks for the art comment; that is really nice, and it means a lot. And thanks for reading this! CaptMurdock, oh, I’m glad it worked. The more I think about it, the more I think that I would gladly have given up the good parts of season 6 to have the show keep its integrity by ending after “The Gift.” And yes, W and T deserve it…that’s what fanfic is all about, right? Twiglet1, oh thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Mary, wow, you blow me away. I’m so glad about the shape/structure; I was so tempted at various points to keep going, but I knew it wouldn’t be the right thing, so I didn’t. I haven’t written any other fanfic except “Terra Firma,” although who knows? Writing TF was a very different experience; it was so painful and emotional, whereas with this story there is at least the distance of time, and although there was a lot of pain here, it wasn’t anywhere near the pain of season 6. I like what you say about redemption, and I have added “hauling Sapphic ass” to my vocabulary, so thanks for that. And thanks for seeing the humor; sometimes I think that arrow is so invisible that I’m the only one who can see it, so I’m relieved. And yes, Pens readers are very sharp indeed; I trust them. No, I trust them. Thanks. Big Dummy, anyone could have a better grasp than some we could mention. But I’m glad this worked. I think at this point “respectful” is what we’re all reaching for.
The Rose24, yes, Willow and Tara are driving through Kansas as we speak. And thanks; I’m glad you liked it.
Snipp, is that Bread? I’ll have to go find that song now. You cracked me up again. Hang on while I go gather the little pieces of myself up…. Okay. Gray banana bread sounds gross. But you know, fruit Pop Tarts are way better, especially the ones with the frosting. But as long as it ends with the blonde woman, I guess the specific flavor doesn’t matter, hmm? But thanks for reading this. I love it that you said practically everything has more than one meaning. And I love it that when I got to the grocery store today, I found myself inexplicably drawn to the granola bar and Pop Tara aisle (12, cherry frosted, if you were wondering.)
Ruth, well, just wow. I’m glad you liked it, and I’m so grateful for the way you look at sentences! This last chapter changed a lot from the original draft (I must have gone through 10 drafts of this story). I like what you said about stripping things down; sometimes I think I end up stripping too much away, but then I think I like less more than, um, more? And you know, the idea of Willow having to learn to take a step back…I hadn’t thought of that, and I like it a lot. Living on the Hellmouth, they would never get that opportunity; if there’s trouble, you either deal with it, or you head to an alternate universe where that pain doesn’t exist (and where, incidentally, magic can be addictive ). Thanks you!
GrahamStokley, oh, thank you so much, but there are some other really great ones, too. It still seems to me that there aren’t a ton of post-season 5 stories, but three that come to mind that I really enjoyed are Ruby’s “Hands,” Tommo's "Laid to Rest" and Indygo’s “Walking Shadows.” I think they’re all in the Completed Fics Archives. Very different but great. But thank you!
Grimaldi, my kitchen looks like that regularly. I have kitchen gadgets that I can’t even name, let alone actually use them, and I noticed yesterday that the non-stick coating of my omelette pan is becoming a new filling in my omelettes. But wait, that’s a conversation for another day. Thank you for reading and liking!
Greatluna, oh, I love that Anne Sexton poem; I learned the hard way that most poems including the word bread are about God or working. But that poem…I was almost disappointed when I came across it because I thought she scooped me, but then I decided there’s enough to go around.
BoredNow99, Emma, what can I say? I guess I’m a self-effacing girl. But really, if you’d seen the early drafts of this, you wouldn’t be surprised. It really, really sucked. Way, way back when, there was going to be this thing where everyone made a bunch of jokes about money and then this new guy came to town to help Dawn with her key powers, and I was—I kid you not—going to call him Mr. Ciabatta. Then I came to my sense. Thanks!
Tkheaven, hi! Speechless is never good, but I’m glad for the rest of it.
Hermitstull, I like that word, “organic.” And yes, I think they would have to lose that particular way of life; you can’t really Slay without the Slayer. Willow would never regret any of that, I think, but she must find a way to see that she played a role in it as herself and is now moving on as herself. Not leaving it behind but taking it with her. At least, that’s what you make me think of. Thanks so much for reading this!
Sister Bertrille, I’ve been going around and saying “screw Rosencrantz and Gildenstern” all day; it just kind of trips off the tongue, you know? Thank you for your great response here, and for confirming my sense that Boston drivers are scary, dangerous menaces, all of them. I haven’t been that way in awhile, but I have it in mind that maybe Tara should take the wheel when they hit New England. Calming influence and all that. That passage you quoted about it not being a resurrection but being homemade…well, that was my favorite paragraph in this story; for me, that was the story, in a nutshell. And you make me think that as satisfying and pleasuring and compelling as fan fiction is (and I do think that it is; heck, I’m writing a dissertation on this as we speak) and as good as so many writers are at making these characters their own…well, we do need to tell our own stories for ourselves, too. Not instead of, maybe, but both/and. Thanks so much for reading this.
Hush30, thanks for reading and feeling elated—what a nice thing to say.
VampNo12, thanks so much. Reading your comment, I had the sudden sense that I was listening to a Counting Crows song about looking for a girl recently, and that it made its way into that part you mentioned. Eek. It’s amazing how fan fiction writers manage to keep saying new things when it seems like everything’s been done before. But oh…I’m so happy you mentioned the bread crumb trail; that was actually the image that began this whole story for me, kind of a reversal of “Restless” in which Buffy kind of guided Tara, and this crazy picture of Tara throwing bread out a card window kind of hit me, and I had no idea what to do with it for weeks and weeks. In the end, it was just a small part of the story, but everything grew up around that, so I was glad to see you pick it out. And thanks for your great analysis; I always love seeing the shape a story makes when you put it together; there’s always something new.
Deixs, Stef, thanks for reading and for the little clappy guys; I love them.
Again, thank you all so much! Have a great weekend. I'm off to catch up on many fics!
Edited because I forgot something.
"And I'm eating this banana. Lunchtime be damned!" -- Willow in "Doppelgangland Edited by: Tulipp at: 1/18/03 2:15:57 pm
|
|