Remix Aftermath (Getting From There to Here)

[sevendeadlyfun]

I'm probably one of the more vocal remixers. When I read other remixers journals during remix, they don't bitch nearly as much as I do about the process. I can't tell if they're really cool or if I'm way overdramatic.

I suspect it may be a bit both.




Remix for me this year was a bit rougher than I let on. I was assigned brutti_ma_buoni, who I know in the way I know most people in fandom - through communities. We both play over at still_grrr, but she writes the prompts whereas I use them strictly for fanart.

And for the record, the reason I only do fanart there is because they have a no smut policy and I'm smart enough to know I can't play inside that particular fence. Not that every story I write is porn, just that if I end up in Pervtown, I want to know that I didn't waste a prompt (and my time) there.

Back on point - I've never really read much of her work. She's fond of pairings that I routinely shy away from. Any pairing with Giles, for example. I'm all about some 'cest (particularly the vampire version), but I have a real huge immense problem pairing Giles with any of the Scoobies. The power dynamic crosses from fun to creepy for me and I enjoy effed up power dynamics. In real life, even.

I want ya'll to know, I scrolled through her fic list HARD. Past the Giles fic I knew I wouldn't write, past the femslash I knew I couldn't write well, and through a few fandoms I'd never even heard of.

I gravitated almost imeediately to this fic about Darla's memories of Paris. I ended up not doing that one out of sheer terror at the amount of research I'd need to do to remix it to my own standards. I'm a fic snob, but I endeavor not to be a hypocritical one.

When I finally decided on A Painful Birth, I worked in a reference to Darla celebrating under Madame la Guillotine as a nod to the might-have-been remix. Yes, I made a fic in-joke to myself. It's a thing.

You know me, though. I couldn't just do a straight remix. It would have been easy to show Darla's view of Angelus' "birth", although I'm kinda convinced it would have been mostly copypaste from the original episode. I could have retro'd it, have Angelus telling William (pornily) about his birth or recounting it (soberly) to Buffy, all cautionary tale Angel (yes, there's a yawn in there).

But that's no fun for me. Remix is my big challenge, my control freak out of control take that baby moment. I shamelessly use remix to prove I can write anything, make anything work.


Issues: I really, really have them.


By crazy random happenstance, I had just finished reading the kidnapped Angel arc in the comics because we are overseas and I'm woefully lagging in my comics. And honestly, I kept coming back to how many times Angel's been trapped in a small space. And then I kept thinking about how many times Angel's pulled the same boneheaded maneuvers - the I know best and will do all this pesky decision-making without consulting you because it's for your own good maneuver, the I am doomed for eternity and so won't bother to save myself thus forcing you to risk your less than eternal life for me maneuver, and the I can sense the goodness inside of you after you've tried to kill me, my lovable sidekick, and the hottie across the room maneuver (to name just a few).

Joss is really green - he loves to recycle him some plot lines, yo.

The comics only showed us Angel reliving the land of backstory: how he got kidnapped and why, interspersed with the doings of Connor and the Gang. But I kept thinking that even Angel has to notice a pattern at some point and reflect on it, even if they didn't show it in the comics backstory scenes.

So if Angel did notice his patterns (and I'm not saying that's a for sure), I know he'd be all leaving on a jet plane about it and insist he's going to break the pattern.

Which we all realize is unpossible. Angel is the master of repetition, particularly if it involves a crap decision. But I like him knowing that. Angel, when he's in touch with his nonsense and not all broody blockhead, is a fascinating character for me. Having him know that he's done this before, that he keeps repeating his dumb and that the repetition is as much a coffin as any of the others he's been physically trapped in...that, for me, takes the story from "Bad Guy captures Good Guy. AGAIN." and shows how Angel traps himself.

Plus I love a chance to write a thinky fic - that's even better than smut, at least for me.

I hope you enjoy Moving On (The Everything Old is New Again Remix), where Angel has the dumb but makes up for it by being really smart.

Comments

[hello-spikey.livejournal.com]

Ha ha ha - I love your description of Angel's hyjinks. The big lug, though I confess I read this post largely because I wanted to know what the heck a 'remix' is.

[sevendeadlyfun.livejournal.com]

You should sign up for remix next year! I love it so, so much. Um, in case that wasn't obvious from the participating and the post-participation meta. But seriously it is so much fun.

And Angel is such a damn drama queen. Honestly, every time I watch the show I get shouty at the television. OMG ANGEL YOUR CRAZY IS CRAZYMAKING and this that and everything else gets shouted because the crazy? Is crazymaking.