Table of Contents
Flood
- The Depth of Life
- Something Deeper
- Just How Damaged Have I Become?
- Like Bees Working in a Glass Hive
- All the King’s Horses
- And All the King’s Men
- The Redeeming Things
- From Fatal Errors
- The Lame and the Blind
- Something Subtle, Intangible and Inexplicable
- Put Out the Light in My Eyes
- In the Beginning is My End
- Epilogue: The Seeds of Life
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Description
I received this challenge around Christmas time of 2007.
“There was a throwaway comment in season three Earshot where Willow asks Buffy if the demon that infected her was a boy demon and I always expected someone to run with this but I’ve never seen anything.”
This might seem on the surface to be a request for some pretty twisted PWP she-male porn, but as I considered it I began to see the value in the story. Gender dysphoria is a very real topic, one that’s particularly taboo in our crappy militant Christian society. As an atheist, poking my finger in the eye of the ‘conservative right’ is something of a hobby. As a lesbian and a member of ‘the community’ I saw this as an opportunity to speak to this topic on what I hope to be a relatively sensitive level.
What we end up with is a pretty unusual sort of ‘trauma/ comfort’ story.
A respected peer had this to say:
“You get my admiration and praise for an excellent piece that was written in record time with no deviation from quality. Characterization was good up to the point where it became your universe and continued from there as I felt your extrapolations were accurate. The plot was compelling, the romance believeable. Angst a little heavy but third-person past does have limits which you overcame, for the most part, well enough with letting us peek in their heads. Sometimes the shifting got a bit...dull, information overload but the plot was quick enough to not let that be a severe issue.
And, as I said, the story was strong enough and created skillfully enough that you used the Rule Breakers well and incorporated them into your story. So I’d say it was a quadruple success. You took on gender-flips, immortality, death and possible after life and it worked.”
Author’s Notes
Howard Russell worked on this story not only as a fan-freaking-tastic beta reader, but he handled many of the scenes involving Joyce and Buffy.
Angie played prereader, picking up on the minor bits of wonkiness that Howard and I sometimes miss.
Whedonist was such a pal, reading this crap the ninety times I made changes.
Mad Hamlet prompted a refocus of a key scene early on, in his typical, graceful fashion. Later in the piece he provided invaluable assistance with the Mayor’s portrayal.
In chapter one, I directly quote dialog from the episode Lie to Me. A gentle tip of my hat and a wink to the author Joss Whedon.
The dream dialog in chapter three was borrowed from none other than The Bear. It comes from the story, Seeing Red.
I quote directly from the episode The Prom in this chapter six. A sheepish wave and wink to one of the few people on this planet that tortures Buffy more viciously than I do, the episode’s author Marti Noxon.
Awards
Reviews
Howard Russell : Chapter: 1
An amazing tale. You took a touchy subject and made something very thought provoking out of it.
R : Chapter: 1
It's been awhile since I've been here. I got wrapped up in other fandoms and series DVD sets, but I'm back into Buffy for a bit and back to you. You may consider your writing to be smut, but the description of Willow's deflowering was quite tastefully done. So I guess that means you write classy smut. As always, your characterizations and style are very readable.
Let me add my 2 cents; I would buy a novel of yours if/when you publish something mainstream. I've suggested to several of my favorite authors to write for publication; why not try to get money as well as feedback for your efforts. One has actually joined a writer's group with this in mind. Of course, she's stopped her fanfiction writing, but I hope she finds success.
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- © Valyssia Leigh 2009
