IWRY Marathon *Reviews & Feedback*

[WillowFromBuffy]

Oh no! Is it time already?

Thank you so much for reading and for being so courteous @dcai0830

I noticed that you used "Angel" throughout instead of "Angelus" throughout the Becoming arc. What was your thought process on this. From your perspective is there a distinction between the two?

I refer to Angel as Angel simply because that is the BtVS way. Originally, Angelus was the Angel of the past. Even Spike and Dru start calling him Angel and keeps doing so after he turns evil. It is only on AtS that Angelus becomes synonymous with evil!Angel. Liam, Angelus and Angel are of course very distinct personalities, much more than for any other vampire on the show. I don't know if there are any good fan theories that account for Angelus' personality and lack of humanity?

I couldn't help but giggle that Buffy went an awful long way all the way into hell just to get laid but at least it seemed like it was a good time, so good for her.

Haha! That was not the intention 😛 My original idea did not include a sex scene at all. Angel and Buffy were supposed to simply huddle up in the darkness. Buffy joins Angel, because she cannot bear the idea of being the only person to mourn Angel. She has done her job. She has saved the world. Free from that responsibility, she realises she would rather be with Angel than rejoin her friends. I was afraid the sex scene might cheapen this, so I tried to make it as clear as possible.

I feel like Angel would never be able to forgive himself for this.

I agree. I try to address this in Buffy's dialogue. This is very much an out-there what-if scenarios, so some allowances must be made 😛

Spoiler: On orgasms and stuff

Another interesting bit is that in all of the many B/A sex scenes I have read in my years in the fandom (and there have been tons) I believe this is the first time Angel has so rudely finished before Buffy. It almost seems OOC for him haha. 😉

Lol 😛 I cannot claim to be a great writer of erotica. This was my first attempt and very much an experiment. I am not really sure how I feel it went 😛 I could easily have let Buffy have four successive orgasms, but I try to restrain myself and keep things somewhat grounded.

 

[Mrs Gordo]

Buffy joins Angel, because she cannot bear the idea of being the only person to mourn Angel.

And I was just kinda kidding around with you. I felt the weight of her decision when she grabbed his hand and I felt it was powerful. So you accomplished that task. Also, you did a great job with the sex scene. I saw no clumsiness. Wait until you see mine. I'm like seriously what is wrong with me why can't I write this?!

 

[MarlieTheSlayer]

I Pray for Half an Hour by @WillowFromBuffy

1. How good of a job has the author done in capturing the voices of the characters in the story?
I loved reading Buffy's thoughts in the Becoming scenes, especially were she decided to join Angel.
2. How effective is the writer in capturing the Bangel relationship dynamic?
I think you did a pretty good job. Personally, I think the sex scene is a little bit out of place (but well written).
3. What are some of the greatest strengths of the fic?
Buffy's thoughts and Angel's daddy issues + ''Everything was blurry. The room vanished. A wind trashed her around in a whirl. All she could do was hold on to Angel’s cold hand.''
4. What is some construction criticism you would have for the writer?
The sex scene is not awkward, but for me the build-up wasn't really quite there. I would love to read more of your work though 😀

 

[Grace]

I Pray for Half an Hour by @WillowFromBuffy

First of all, I love the title. I also really enjoyed all of the vivid language in this story.
“The place reeked of decay and perversity.”
“The setting sun burned into his neck. It felt as though its searing light was judging him. He felt uncomfortable and exposed. Daytime gave him no place to hide. He yearned for shadows and dark corners.”

I also thought the description of the portal was really well done, and I liked the imagery of Buffy as mermaid.

My very favorite thing, though, was that the story

Spoiler

ended on a laugh! Yay!

I refer to Angel as Angel simply because that is the BtVS way. Originally, Angelus was the Angel of the past. Even Spike and Dru start calling him Angel and keeps doing so after he turns evil. It is only on AtS that Angelus becomes synonymous with evil!Angel.

This came up in something I wrote, too. I was going to have Buffy refer to Angelus and realized she'd never used that name that I could remember. In fact, I think we talked about this issue at the time. 🙂

 

[Grace]

Story #5 is Dearest Demon by xspike4evax. (Please note that this one is rated Mature.)

 

[WillowFromBuffy]

Thank you so much, Grace!

First of all, I love the title.

The Irish expression Buffy refers to goes somethings like, "I hope you get half an hour in Heaven before the Devil knows your dead." When I first heard it, I misunderstood its meaning. I thought it meant that you wished your friend would get at least a short time of bliss before eternal damnation. The real meaning is that the Devil apparently has a time window of time in which he can claim your soul, so if you can evade him for half an hour, that means you are off the hook.

So you can interpret the tile in one of two ways. Either Buffy is simply looking to have one moment of happiness before the powers of Hell comes to take them or Buffy may be able to save Angel by bringing a bit of Heaven into his Hell.

 

[Mrs Gordo]

Story #6 is out: “Keep Going”
Show Chapter | Archive of Our Own

(It’s mine 🙄)

*please note mature rating*

 

[Taaroko]

"Keep Going"

Ooh, a nice long one! One-shots are great, but I love a fic I can sink my teeth into.

1. How good of a job has the author done in capturing the voices of the characters in the story?

Everyone was nicely in character. Well done!

2. How effective is the writer in capturing the Bangel relationship dynamic?

This is the first fic I've read in ages that was set in the comics continuity, so while I can't speak to whether it's true to the comics (and if it's not, I'm not sad about that), it's definitely true to the Buffy/Angel dynamic of the shows. Angel has always meant safety for Buffy, and he has always understood her at some deep, subconscious level.

3. What are some of the greatest strengths of the fic?

It made me okay with Angel still having powers after turning human! More impressive, perhaps, is the way it deals with the love triangle. I'm not sure a Spuffy shipper would agree, but this felt like it did justice to Spike instead of just shoving him aside. I certainly wasn't as gentle in my post-"Chosen" fics. I also really enjoyed the cruel irony of Angel getting the Shanshu just in time for Buffy to be trapped in a dimension where time moves way faster. Having never read anything else by this author, I didn't know whether Buffy would be rescued before she'd grown old in Quor'Toth. Thank goodness that didn't happen.

4. What is some construction criticism you would have for the writer?

I would have liked a bit more fight out of Buffy, at least during the early parts of her time in Quor'Toth. It was there in summary form, but actual scenes would have sold it better, I think.

 

[Grace]

"Keep Going" by @dcai0830

I really love your writing style. There's an immediacy to the language and the brisk pace just carries me along without any effort on my part. And the characters always seem like themselves.

I really enjoyed the descriptions of the various styles of the people Buffy has fought alongside, the reference to the post-slayage nap as Buffy's safe place, and Angel's reaction to his Shanshu. I also liked that Connor and Dawn had important parts to play in Buffy and Angel's story. And the scene with Spike getting Angel to eat and the one with Willow helping Buffy after she returned were especially evocative.

 

[Grace]

The seventh story of the IWRY marathon has been posted, and it's Akai Ito by Darlingvioletta.

 

[Mrs Gordo]

Story 8 is up: You By Darlingvioletta

 

[WillowFromBuffy]

As @Grace and @dcai0830 were kind enough to read and review my story, I wanted to repay the favour. Good decision! I had such a great time.

Drift
I didn't like it.

Another Minute
I mean, I liked Drift well enough when I first read it, but then I read Another Minute, and now I don't wanna talk about Drift anymore. This is just so amazing. There is such an energy to the language. Do you own a dictionary of puns and wordplay? "Train of pain" 😛 I cannot stress how much fun I had reading it.

A truly good Buffy story needs to manage to be fun and enjoyable on the surface, yet sad and poignant at the same time. The humour needs to feel like a technique for deflecting the deeper emotions. You juggle all this elements so masterly. Buffy trying to wash the traces of Angel off at the end is so sad.

10/10 - WFB Mark of Approval - Would Read Again

Keep Going
I like to think of myself as being rather dark and edgy. I am not. You are. This was some heavy stuff 😛 I did not realise it was tagged with a rape/non-con warning.

You write very well. This is a fairly long story. I tend to get bored when I write longer pieces and my writing suffers. I love how visceral many of your descriptions are, even though some of the things you describe are quite horrible. I see I need to work on making my own writing less sterile.

Would you consider writing a proper ensemble piece? Willow and Spike were really well done. I would have love to see you write more about the dynamics of a group of characters. There have been a lot of discussion on the boards lately about how evil Willow apparently is. It is great to see her in the role of the supportive best friend. There talk in the bathroom felt almost like a reversal of their coming out talk in New Moon Rising. The spooning scene with Angel seemed to echo the scene with Spike in Touched. Was that in your mind at all?

I feel you have kinda broken one of the fundamental rules of Buffy, which goes: If Buffy is beaten down at the start of an episode, the episode needs to end with Buffy finding her strength and taking revenge upon the person who hurt her. To me, even the idea that Buffy thinks Angel could beat her in a fight is pure blasphemy. It is weird reading a story where Buffy is so utterly broken down and needs to be nursed back to a semblance of herself. That does not mean you shouldn't have done it. It may actually be the reason why it was a great choice. This is transformative fiction after all, so if we take our role seriously, we should try to subvert the source material in some way.

You made some really clever choices and you seem to understand the characters very well. Buffy's choice to be with Angel did not feel cheap. I am surprised you did not explicitly reference Seeing Red, but I assume that was meant to be part of the subtext.

Great job! I want to read more from you, especially if you write a story in which Buffy is not sold as a sex slave.

P.S. Do people like Adam's apples? I've always been kinda disturbed by them. Lumps in the throat.

 

[Mylie]

Wow, I have some catching up to do!

I Pray For Half An Hour

This is the first time I read this kind of fanfiction and it made me blush a little lol. The writing is good and I love the idea behind the fic and how it allows to explore Buffy and Angel's feelings surrounding an event that traumatized them both. I also loved the little additions during the fight scene with Angelus.

I've always been interested in knowing more about Liam's backstory so that addition was a nice surprise and I thought it was well written and in character, considering what we know about both Liam and Angel.

I don't have much to compare it too but I do have a few questions for @WillowFromBuffy ! I think you wrote fanfiction before? How did you like writing for Buffy/Angel? How does it compare to writing for other ships?

I'll expand my questions to other writers from this thread as well @Grace @dcai0830 (I still have to read Another Minute and Keep Going but I'm interesting in knowing more about the process of writing fanfiction since it's such a new universe for me) but answer only if you feel like it! 🙂

-How difficult was it to find the right voices for the characters?
-How did the idea for the story/setting came to you?
-How do you know when you've finished your fanfic? Do you ever get the feeling that it's incomplete?
-What is your writing process? Do you make a plan or you have the general idea and decide as you go along?

 

[WillowFromBuffy]

Thank you so much for the feedback, Mylie.

The scene with Liam does not actually add a lot to his backstory. Almost all the dialogue is taken directly from transcripts.

Nice to hear the sex scene made you blush 😛 I was kinda worried about how it would be received, seeing as I have never written and hardly read anything erotic.

I don't have much to compare it too but I do have a few questions for @WillowFromBuffy ! I think you wrote fanfiction before? How did you like writing for Buffy/Angel? How does it compare to writing for other ships?

I don't feel as if I really wrote Angel in this fic. Almost all his lines are taken directly from transcripts. It is more of a Buffy story. Writing a young Buffy was a lot of fun. I focused on the anger at the injustice of the situation she was in and the feeling of being cut off from her friends.

I have only written one story before, which I finished shortly after this one. It is called Buffy - Return of the Vampire Slayer and is set in 2027. It features Tillow, Killow, Spuffy and Woz in that order 😛 There is also a kiss between Buffy and Angel.

I guess the difference between how I wrote those ship and how I write Bangel here is that Bangel is still very pure. Buffy still believes in a perfect romance. In my other fic, Spike spends most of the story dreaming about being with Buffy again. I think Buffy mentions Spike once before they actually meet. Their reunion is quite anticlimactic. There is no hope of happy-ever-after 😛

In my other story, Willow wants to reunite with Tara in Heaven, which is kinda similar to what Buffy does in this story, however, Willow ultimately decides against it.

-How difficult was it to find the right voices for the characters?

I find it very easy to write dialogue. It is up to others to to judge how successful I am.

-How did the idea for the story/setting came to you?

Ever since I was a child, I have been annoyed at fairy tales with a moral. I guess I am like Willow in that way. I always want the outcome that I know I can't have. Buffy breaks the rules of the story by travelling to Hell with Angel. It was just extremely gratifying for me.

The idea of Angel's Hell just being a repeat of his life just made sense to me. The Gypsies would approve. And I like the bit where he realises that he is Angel and begs Buffy/Darla to leave him be.

-How do you know when you've finished your fanfic? Do you ever get the feeling that it's incomplete?

This story feels complete, though I have been tempted to give it a sequel. My other story feels incomplete to me. Too many good ideas and not enough time, skill or patience to explore them properly.

-What is your writing process? Do you make a plan or you have the general idea and decide as you go along?

I never censure myself. If an idea pops in my head, I always go by it. Sometimes I want to write something, but it feels dishonest, so I know I can't. For example, if Angel got his soul back before the portal opened, it would just fall flat. When you write a story, you can create anything you want, but a happy ending needs to be deserved, otherwise it just feels cheap.

Following my instincts has lead me down some strange paths, such as Harmony and Cordelia's ghost forming a super hero duo, Xander befriending a drugged up policeman and Andrew becoming a military leader to a group of comic book nerds.

P.S. God, I am such a narcissist. Don't ask about my writing unless you want long answers 😛

 

[Mrs Gordo]

-How difficult was it to find the right voices for the characters?
-How did the idea for the story/setting came to you?
-How do you know when you've finished your fanfic? Do you ever get the feeling that it's incomplete?
-What is your writing process? Do you make a plan or you have the general idea and decide as you go along?

For me it is very difficult to the true voice of a character. I think that is the make of a great writer. When i wrote my fics and i read them over i hear a lot of my own voice and it’s a hard thing to get rid of. I think that is the true mark of a good fiction writer when they can remove themself and really channel the character and it is something I’m still working on doing... 🙂

i have so many ideas for stories, AU, alternate scenes etc that is never my problem it’s the execution. With Keep Going i just thought of a way to get Angel back into the Buffy comic, when my other stories come out I’ll tell more about my ideas for those but I always have ideas just hard to reign them in on paper.

On your last two questions, the way i wrote Keep Going was very much stream of consciousness and it went to a weird dark place that i wasn’t sure i liked but i figured well the story has been written, it’s my first fic let’s put it out there and learn from it. It kinda bugged me personally how dark/sad i let Buffy go. So i guess i learned that maybe sometimes you don’t like your own stories? And the ending just feels natural. Now these are shorter fics so they aren’t monsterous and i have this other crazy mess of a fic that is like 50k words that i have no clue how to end. So when they get big and plotting i think it’s more difficult. @Taaroko does great with plotty fics i wonder if she pre-plans or just organically knows it is ending?

But mostly i have no clue what I’m doing except that i am typically having fun writing my favorite characters and it’s therapeutic too.
 

It is weird reading a story where Buffy is so utterly broken down and needs to be nursed back to a semblance of herself. That does not mean you shouldn't have done it. It may actually be the reason why it was a great choice. This is transformative fiction after all, so if we take our role seriously, we should try to subvert the source material in some way.

Yeah - i was not happy where it went. We had a thread that talked about pet peeves in Bangel fics and one of them i mentioned was making Buffy the poor victim and Angel sorda rescues her. And lo and behold i flipping wrote a fic that did just that. I don’t know where it came from (somewhere dark and sad?) but like i said i figure just put it out there and let the story speak for itself.

On the Seeing Red subtext, i wanted the readers to have a chance to either identify with it or not. Obviously i feel that that experience inevitably shapes Buffy but i let the reader decide how they think it fits because as we all know the debate on that matter in the fandom is palpable no need to spell it out.

Thank you for saying that i did a good job with Spike and Willow. I was particularly nervous about Spike since although i enjoy him i do not particularly always understand him.

 

[Taaroko]

@Taaroko does great with plotty fics i wonder if she pre-plans or just organically knows it is ending?

Aww, thanks! It really depends on the fic. Medium-length fics (like last year's '20s noir AU) I tend to outline the most extensively before I begin writing. Short ones, I often crank out in one go with just the basic idea in mind. The *really* long ones I tend to plan one chapter at a time, though I may have a skeletal plan for the overall story so that I can do satisfactory foreshadowing and stuff. I find that the more skeletal those plans are, the better it works, because you can't try too hard to control the characters. That way lies Writer's Block. The secret to crafting a good plotty fic is for it to actually be character-driven. With my Vampire Diaries AU more than any other fic I've ever written, I've found that giving the characters the reins can take the story to really awesome places. And no matter how much outline I write, I let the characters do what they want in the scenes, which sometimes results in me throwing out the original plan. That can be frustrating, but I've never regretted doing it, because no plot idea is more important than allowing the characters to be themselves, and it makes the twists as fun for me as they are for the readers. When you're doing it right, the characters feel alive, and it's pretty incredible.

 

[WillowFromBuffy]

Yeah - i was not happy where it went. We had a thread that talked about pet peeves in Bangel fics and one of them i mentioned was making Buffy the poor victim and Angel sorda rescues her. And lo and behold i flipping wrote a fic that did just that. I don’t know where it came from (somewhere dark and sad?) but like i said i figure just put it out there and let the story speak for itself.

I must stress again that I ultimately really liked the story, especially after Buffy returns from the Hell dimension. Even if I prefer the self-reliant Buffy, it is nice to see her taken care of. Because we are so used to see her strong, it is hard to see her broken, which made the story powerful.

In the end, it actually felt like quite a positive and life affirming story.

I was particularly nervous about Spike since although i enjoy him i do not particularly always understand him.

I think you handled Spike perfectly. The soul introduced a lot of self doubt in him, so it makes sense that he would back down. Being dumped in favour of Angel in this way would probably destroy him. It would have been fun to have his perspective, too. Poor Faith, having to pick up the pieces. I doubt she has much patience for broken hearts. Hope she has marshmallows.

 

[Grace]

-How difficult was it to find the right voices for the characters?

I find Buffy much easier to write than Angel. I'm still working on him. You'll notice you get a lot of Buffy and just a little Angel in both of my IWRY fics! 🙂 For all the criticisms of DB's acting, he gets so much across in body language and in his eyes that is harder to capture in words.

-How did the idea for the story/setting came to you?

Drift came basically out of my desire to spend more time with Buffy and Angel in the cemetery in Forever. The episode leaves a big chunk of Buffy's time unaccounted for, so it's easy to slide a story into it. I had also read a line in someone else's fic (I don't remember whose or which one it was) that mentioned that Buffy and Joyce were finally able to talk about Angel when Joyce was in the hospital, and that made me want to imagine how a scene like that might actually go. I also spent time thinking about why Buffy stayed in the cemetery after everyone else left. While I'm sure it was a simple emotional reason, I also had the idea that Buffy might have had a prophetic dream warning her that Dawn was going to raise Joyce that Buffy didn't understand. In the dream, she sees Joyce and Dawn both as vampires, with Dawn's mouth bloody to indicate that she will "sire"/raise Joyce. Buffy decides to stay near her mom's grave until the sun rises, just to be sure, because she doesn't understand the real meaning of the dream. I also thought the dream could be metaphorical, because Joyce and Dawn, through no fault of their own, really did kinda suck the life out of Buffy in S5. But that's way more than you wanted to know and more than I even really tried to get across in the fic, though it's in there.

Another Minute started as me seeing a scene in my head of Buffy saying, "I'll never forget" to Angel after time has been turned back, without her knowing the significance of it to him. I've also always been sad that Buffy wasn't even able to remember the second heartbreaking sewer talk. I feel like there were so many important things they needed to express to each other in that conversation, even if it was painful, so that played a big role in my story. And I decided that, because it was important for Angel to remember the day so time wouldn't repeat itself, that it would make sense if Buffy still had similar or identical thoughts and feelings because she did forget it.

-How do you know when you've finished your fanfic? Do you ever get the feeling that it's incomplete?

When I read it over and I don't feel a huge urge to change things and no better ideas spring to mind, then I feel like it's done.

-What is your writing process? Do you make a plan or you have the general idea and decide as you go along?

I've only written short things, so I'm still figuring this out! I'm working on a story now that I expect to be 10K words, which is still relatively short, and I have a general outline, as well as a doc where I just put rough scenes that pop into my head to use later. The first scene I wrote for this story will happen near the end, and pretty much all of the scenes have been coming to me out of order, so I've just been capturing the ideas when I have them and editing/shaping them as necessary when I get to that point.

I'm really sorry this is so long!

 

[WillowFromBuffy]

@Grace I liked Drift and your other stories, but Another Minute was on such another level.

 

[Mrs Gordo]

@Mylie - "Another Minute" is incredible. Put it at the top of your list!