Dear Buffy

I've been putting this off, but we need to talk. (Could you put the crossbow down...please?)

You know I love you. No one can take your place. The Scoobies will be first in my heart, forever.

But lately I've been seeing someone else.

At first I didn't think it was serious. I couldn't help but notice the way they bandied about clever dialogue, twisted fright and funny into a glorious knot, and peppered plots with pop culture references, drawing me in. There were so many similarities to the greatness that is your show, Buffy, and now I have to confess. I'm falling hard for Sam and Dean.
Buffy, if you met the Winchester brothers I think you'd understand. And you certainly would appreciate all the hotness going on there.
You will always be The One, Buffy - the show I know backwards and forwards, that I have each episode all but memorized - but I hope you'll forgive me for making room in my heart for Supernatural.

I wanted to be honest and avoid another Veronica Mars fiasco like before.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

Yours always,

Andrea

A Real Character

Main characters (MC) he or she is the one we're supposed to love, loathe, relate to. How can writers construct an MC that readers become invested in?

The Screaming Guppy is doing all of us a wonderful favor by sharing experiences from Donald Maass' 'The Fire in Fiction' workshop, and has a great post up about MCs.

In my own writing, the key to a great MC is identification. In some way the MC has to develop an intimate relationship with the reader. This connection can only be maintained if the MC is accessible. Translation = he or she cannot be perfect or larger than life.

Let's revisit Buffy once more, because Buffy teaches such lessons so well.

Buffy is the Chosen One. If you're the Chosen One it might seem like blessings from the Power That Be rain down without ceasing, making life full of perfect rainbows and never-ending bliss...right?
Nope. Buffy may be the Chosen One but, to steal a line from another great MC, Spiderman, 'with great power comes great responsibility.'

Buffy makes some very poor choices. She runs away from home. She lies to her friends. She sleeps with an abusive vampire (okay, Spike fans, I'm with you, I know he reforms later...but still initially, not a good choice for our Buffy). To quote Clem (one of my favorite supporting characters from BVS...more coming tomorrow on SCs) on Buffy's flaws: 'She's a nice girl. But hey...issues.'

Heroes and heroines that draw readers in are inherently flawed. Even wielding their exceptional super powers, they're burdened to desire and doubt, struggling between self-interest and the greater good.

The journey through a book is about secrecy and revelation; readers need to be compelled forward, struggling with the MC to make progress, to discover. If the MC is perfect from page one, what challenges could possibly lay ahead. Without flaws dogging our MCs steps, the plot lies limp on the page, failing to convey the tenuous condition that is life, unable to capture that essence of human experience that makes us turn the page...the breathless hope that things will get better, against all odds, despite the lack of perfection we humans embody every day.

Does This Happen to You?

Still sequestered with H1N1. This is a miserable virus, may none of you be struck down by its evil symptoms.

One thing I've noticed about myself is that in addition to physical symptoms, when I'm sick I become an emotional weakling. Self-esteem plummets, doubts arise, and I tear up at everything.

Case in point, throughout my quarantine I've been comforting myself by watching Buffy. Ah, Buffy how you sustain in times of trial. I don't know if it's being sick, or simply sentimental but watching Buffy triumph over evil and her own personal demons has had me wiping tears away on several occasions. I was going to post a sappy moment to share, but then I found this and its awesomeness knocked my socks off (only tears of laughter here):



Angsty Edward vs. classic Buffy sass, it doesn't get better. But hilarious vid remix notwithstanding, Buffy has been bringing me to total sap tears. Now I love Buffy and have been devoted to Joss Whedon's oeuvre for many years, but even I recognize that such tearful episodes indicate that I'm not exactly myself.

Does this happen to you when illness strikes? Other weird non-physical results of a weakened immune system?

Go, Go Graphic Novel!

In further tales of ALA, BEA buzz, the belle of the ball seems to be David Small's graphic novel, Stitches.
I wasn't a comic book kid, though I do have fond memories of perusing my piano teacher's children's cast-off stacks of X-Men while I was waiting for my mom to pick me up. So when it comes to comics and graphic novels I feel like a newbie trying to sneak into a venerated and esoteric society.
I stumbled into the land of graphic novels by way of loyalty to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. When Joss Whedon announced the series would continue in Season 8 with Dark Horse Comics, I'd signed up months before the first issue was out.

And I loved the new format instantly. Graphic novels are an incredible medium of communication. The monumental devotion that fans of Neil Gaiman's Sandman display are enough of a testimony to the depth and strength of writing and worlds built by creators of the graphic medium.

With the growing interest in graphic novels, publishers and marketers alike are bringing more and more of the medium to an ever-growing audience.

There's even a Twilight graphic novel in the works.

My question then becomes how does one go from writer to writer of graphic novels/manga? One of my favorite YA authors, Melissa Marr, has manga in the works that complement her novels.

My only brush with this medium is the comic I made for my husband's birthday last year. And while I'm still blushingly proud of the creation, it hardly makes me a graphic novelist.

Who is the keeper of the bridge between novelists and graphic novelists? How does one cross over, or preferably, live a writing life on both sides?

Urban Wild

This morning I turned the corner at the busy intersection of Franklin and Seymour in Prospect Park (my neighborhood) and startled a wild turkey.

Now I understand that those living far from Minneapolis/St. Paul may be inclined to imagine that the entire state of Minnesota is a National Park and/or farms. Contrary to fallacious coastal constructions of the Upper Midwest the Twin Cities are indeed a metropolis, and my neighborhood is not suburban. Our home is near downtown Minneapolis (view from the park's water tower, also known as the Witch's Hat).

Although this isn't my first turkey sighting on a local stroll, it still surprised me.

I don't know how the turkeys got into our neighborhood. Most likely someone set them loose in the park and now they wander through the streets foraging and apparently thriving.

Turkeys are fascinating birds. They move with surprising grace and silence. Gobbles are warbling, low and sonorous. I find it comforting to have something wild make unexpected appearances in my quotidian urban life.

Benjamin Franklin wanted turkeys to have the honor of being the United States' national bird rather than the bald eagle.

Would this decision have caused a ruckus around Thanksgiving? Maybe. Maybe not.

If we'd take a page from Buffy the Vampire Slayer it might make the entire holiday more interesting. In Season 4 "Pangs" Willow and Buffy decide that they'll skip Thanksgiving because the holiday is politically incorrect (they're right, it totally is. Incidentally, I use this episode to teach my students about the problems with mainstream depictions of indigenous histories). Here is Anya's (a sassy ex-demon) response:

Anya: Well I think that's a shame. I love a ritual sacrifice.

Buffy: Not really a one of those.

Anya: To commemorate a past event you kill and eat an animal. It's a ritual sacrifice. With pie.

Zazzle even has a t-shirt to honor this unforgettable exchange.



Nice.