Re: Re: when did it all begin?

----- Original Message -----

To: buffywantswillow@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2004 10:52 PM

Subject: Re: ~Buffy*Wants*Willow~ Re: when did it all begin?

Yeah definite monster-like qualities here. The very first fic I ever read (found it by accident) was one of 'Yoshi's chapters in the 'Sappho's Spell' series. At the time I had no freaking idea what it was, but I started looking for more and read every bit I could find. Eventually I stumbled across this list, joined, and after lurking for a few months started writing. What do I write you ask? Can anybody here say duh! Anyway, I'm a diehard Buffy fan and a diehard B/W shipper and writer. B.

I discovered the Internet shortly after I discovered the series Buffy. My first reaction to the latter was, "The movie bombs so they make it into a show. That plays." Of course, in making the series, they tweaked the concept a bit(the original Watcher, Merrick, was an immortal who worked with every slayer for the last few hundred years, not part of a fraternal order), jettisoned much that didn't work(Pike), and introduced new characters that did(Willow, Xander, Giles). The first ep I caught was "When She Was Bad" and I was hooked from then.

While I enjoyed the friendship between Buffy and Willow more than the angsty Buffy/Angel or Willow/Oz relationships, I was relatively naive, and I didn't notice the subtext. My first real exposure to B/W as a couple(not counting some lame-ass PWP pieces by people who neither never watched the show nor don't have a clue how to write a decent love scene) was Pat Kelly's "A Two of a Kind Love". That's where I first considered the possibilities. I enjoyed Pat's stories because they weren't about sex; to my knowledge he's only written one actual sex scene between Buffy and Willow(his alternate Season 7 piece, "Cause Falling Just Happens"), and it was more about the emotions than the physical actions and responses. He reimagined most of Season 3, with an alternate view of the dynamic between Buffy and Willow that stayed true to the show, while adding a little more spice to the mix.

I enjoy stories that deal with the characters and their relationships more than I enjoy B/W stroke stories. Of course if you can manage to do both in the same story(Shyfox, Kevin Beckett and Frau Hunter Ash, for example), then more power to you.

That's why I could never buy Spuffy. They started as enemies, and when they were together during Season 6 it seemed more like a different kind of warfare between them. As Lazarus Long said in Heinlein's "Time Enough For Love", "Sex should be friendly. Otherwise, stick to mechanical toys. It's more sanitary."

Peace out,

Kirayoshi

"Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors -- and miss.
--another Heinlein quote