Starting with the cookie dough... -- Season Eight Fanfic Discussion

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Date Posted: 19:39:38 09/13/03 Sat
Author: Wyvern
Subject: Starting with the cookie dough...
In reply to: BunnyPhobia 's message, "Tree bad, fire pretty..." on 01:02:00 09/13/03 Sat

A crossover scenario...

Assume that at some point Buffy and Angel still had the "cookie dough" conversation. Now Angel's back again, helping the gang with the reconstruction following Prossieknickers and the great time squish...

Angel: So, Buffy, are your cookies done baking?
Buffy: Cookies?
Angel: Don't you remember? The whole wanting someone someday to be able to enjoy delicious cookie Buffy? I was wondering if...
Buffy: Oh... OH! Cookie dough? (Backpedals) Right... I meant "ice cream"... yeah, ice cream, that's right. Chubby Hubby.
Angel: Eh?
Buffy: That's right, some day I'm gonna be a chubby hubby - I'm having a sex change and leaving Sunnydale. With Andrew. We're going to Mehico never to return! Arriba!

But seriously for a moment, I'm wondering whether, after the mega-arc of seasons 6 and 7 and then the huge arc we executed for s8, whether we should consider taking our lead from the writers on AtS and rather than going with a huge, all-consuming arc this season we might not be better off with more MotW type episodes, stuff with flashbacks, backstory development and a loose series of threads holding the whole thing together and only really coming together in a mini-arc over the last few episodes. Of course, there would be occasional arc stories before that, but I don't see the need to make the arc as dominant this season. We've lost a number of writers and it might make it more enjoyable for those of us remaining if we weren't forever waiting on what was happening in the episode before and trying to set up the episodes that follow. In theory it should also cut down on delays between episodes if we aren't trying so hard to make a watertight arc (or as close as we can, considering we are fanfic writers who all have lives outside of this project and not people who can spend all their time doing this kind of thing unfortunately).

So my suggestion is that we spend less time concentrating on the Big Bad and its attendant story arc and more time concentrating on the characters. We've already discussed the need to slim down the cast, so it seems to me to make sense to spend quality time on the characters we choose to retain. And I reiterate, I am absolutely opposed to sending characters away on the grounds of pregnancy... especially if the baby's father stays behind...

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Replies:

[> [> [> [> Why don't we not have a big bad yet? -- Idea guy, 20:54:08 09/13/03 Sat

Angelus and Faith didn't became "bad" until episode 14 of each season and Willow didn't erupt until episode 20. Why not start off with the standalones and character arcs and see what big bad comes from that?

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[> [> [> [> [> especially if it's such a big threat -- Idea guy, 20:55:25 09/13/03 Sat

I never got why the big threats took longer to kill. If it's that big a threat it'd be able to kill them quickly, so there'd be a sense of urgency.

The First spanned across thirteen episodes and lost any of the threat it showed in CwDP.

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[> [> [> [> I'm with Wyvy -- BunnyPhobia, 21:04:03 09/13/03 Sat

Also, that way, the mini-arcs can concentrate of character development, rather than apocalypses, which tends to prevent the former, rather than assist it.

Plus, like Idea Guy says, long big bads? Lose all threat after a few weeks. HOWEVER Angel season 4 which, imo, is a good representation of perfect serial TV, had an overhanging arc, but THREE big bads (beast, cordy, Jasmine) all with different tactics, different goals and methods, that prevented stagnation. Then, on top of that, you had the inter-group dynamics (connor, fred/gunn, fred/wes, angel/angelus etc etc) that pushed the pace and upped the episode content by a whole ton.

I'm not saying we go for something that compacts, but mini arcs, culminating in a BIG mini-arc would definately work. (Though I would LOVE to have aspects of the rest of the season's mini-arcs foreshadow and hint at whats to come..something to get the audience, in retrospect, to go 'bloody hell, how did I miss that'... But I think thats just the speculater in me : )

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