Creative help thread - Ask a question! Read the first Post!

[Rane]

Message by xita

Before you post a fic, please read the FAQ and this thread to find out what you can and can't post on Pens.



This is much like the ask any question thread on the kitten. This is a safe place to ask question as you prepare to engage in a w/t fan fiction. If you come to the thread to answer questions remember to be polite and that there are no stupid questions

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If you have just one short fic or poem to share post here

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If you want to recommend a fic, recommend away here.

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Pens Chat Thread

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Here are some good links courtesy of DMW:

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There's a lot of good sites out there that talk about writing in general like The Craft of Writing and HMG's Guide to Good Writing that would be good to refer to:



For fan fiction, the open directory project has a whole list of Fan fiction guides. I haven't had time to read many of these, but there's potentially a lot of good information out there. These aren't about Buffy or W/T, but about fan fiction writing issues in general from what it is and what do all these terms like AU mean to common mistakes and how to avoid them.

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Here are some simple W/T questions that I've heard frequently asked:



1. Where can I find episode transcripts? Psyche



2. Where can I find what someone said if I don't know the episode? BuffyDB Arc list



3. Where can I find screencaps? www.ltmiz.com/wt/.



4. How can I find a fic? The "findafic" thread, Pens search (I would advise to search for author first), the Completed Fics archive.



5. Where else can I find W/T fic? Extra Flamey and many other places.



6. Where can I find an online dictionary/thesaurus? www.dictionary.com.

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If you need more personal help, then you need a beta reader. Get a Beta Reader. It will improve your writing and impress all of us with your mastery of the English language If you need to get one, we have a thread here for available Beta Readers.

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What kind of questions can you ask here? Questions like: Willow and Tara's last names?

Willow Rosenberg and Tara Maclay. Note the spelling





This thread was officially posted by rane:





i've asked tons of silly questions before but here is another one. is Buffy's name really Elizabeth? and why/how does anya go from being anya emmerson to jenkins? i know, they are silly.



maybe if anyone else has questions regarding buffyverse for fics we could have a thread like this that answers questions. i know i'd find that helpful.



i think there was one a while back but i cant find it anymore. maybe i'm just spazzy and need to sleep.

Edited by: xita  at: 8/30/04 10:33 pm

[SciFiAcid]

Yup, Buffy's name is Elizabeth Anne. I know that Anya's last name in the Yearbook was Emmerson, but she used Jenkins in an ep... so I would, I supose, go with Jenkins these days! Until she decides to use another... which I'm sure, for some reason, she will.

teehee



Adrienne

[Thanatopsis]

If Buffy's name is really Elizabeth, then why doesn't it say that on her tombstone at the end of The Gift. Anne is definite cause she says so in the episode Anne, but I thought her real name was Buffy.

Anya probably has that name on her ID. (assuming she has some sort of ID) She probably just likes having this huge elaborate name like the one she gave the council in Checkpoint.

I don't believe in tiny Jewish Santa anymore.

[fell]

This is one of those questions for the ages, like buffy's birthday, that i fear will never be adequately answered. "Buffy" is one of the multitude of legitimate nicknames for Elizabeth, (like Betsy, Bessie and Bunny) but what evidence is there that it says "Elizabeth" on, for instance, Buffy's birth certificate? Was Elizabeth the character's real name in the original movie? I've heard that but i'm not sure. Also, I've seen Elizabeth given as the correct answer in a quiz that has been posted on at least 3 different sites, though that was quite a while ago.



For a real brain teaser, watch "I Robot, You Jane" which shows two different birthdays and GPA's for Buffy- supposedly from her school transcripts. Then look at the date on Buffy's tombstone two eps later in "Nightmares." Either the writers are trying to fool us or they can't make up their minds.



As far as Anya goes, we can assume she made both (last) names up. It wouldn't be unusual for someone born in a small village 1120+ years ago to only have one name. If she did have a family name she might have forgotten it. After all, Darla in only 400 some-odd yrs old and she can't remember what name she was born with. Of course, she did die a few times, so...

[Katharyn]

Mmmmn, Buffy as "Elizabeth" I was involved in a discussion on this on another board some time ago. I don't discount the possibility but I have yet to find out where the evidence for this is. On the no side I would add to the above that Buffy's school records when accessed on computer showed Buffy as her name - no mention of Elizabeth. Also both Principal Flutie in his first meeting with Buffy and Principal Snyder (a man who would surely pick up on something like that) called her Buffy Summers (or in the latter case just "Summers.") No mention of Elizabeth there either. I wonder if this was unscreened from a script or something - possibly the original movie which was chopped and changed a fair bit? If it is anything more than a myth.



Anya.... also interesting. As a vengeance demon when she came to Sunnydale originally she had, of course, her pick of names and identities. I often wondered infact if she "parachuted" into someone elses identity as she was (supposedly) a student at Sunnydale High. Now okay SHS would let ANYONE wander around there halls but surely she had some form of established identity. She could have just created it from scratch (for records purposes) not bothered or as mentioned above steal another identity. I have no idea though how her name gets to change - officially. It may be she just got tired of it (AKA someone forgot!)



Katharyn



-----------------

You hear that baby?

[tommo]

I like the supposition that she took someone else's identity. But remember in Lie To Me, Ford was able to attend school even though he wasn't on any databases that Willow looked up for Angel. So it does seem, in fact, that anyone can attend SHS without actually being in the records, heh.



Having said that, I'm sure a lot of hard copy student records were destroyed at the end of Season 3, so possibly that gave Anya another chance at creating a persona for herself. During Season 3, she never intended to be human forever; I'm guessing she acquired a name and background purely for the purposes of being at SHS. Remember how Hallie said she was called to Sunnydale because she could hear Dawn's pain? I suppose it was the same for Anya with Cordelia.



Once Season 3 happened, I'm sure that Anya made a conscious choice to be totally human, and accepted along with that, a new surname at least.

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Hey Grrrrlfriend! Yoo hoo! Over here! It's me...Flaming Joel!

[WebWarlock]

Well I have not found any references to "Elizabeth" or even and "Elisabeth" in the shooting scripts. But I have seen it in FF. So, I am not really taking it as canon.



Here are some other names I have been looking for myself. I know there is no official names, but if there is a FF one.



What is Tara's middle name?

I know that it has been suggest that she does not even have one.



What is Tara's mother's name?

Any insight would be nice.



Warlock

-----

Web Warlock,
web.warlock@attbi.com

The Other Side: http://www.xtreme-gaming.com/theotherside/

ShadowEarth Games: http://www.rpghost.com/WebWarlock/

Liber Mysterium: the Netbook of Witches and Warlocks

Edited by: WebWarlock at: 4/1/02 9:59:48 am

[tommo]

We haven't had any information on that at all. I think I remember though, someone, somewhere, was going to see if they could enlarge the pic from Tabula Rasa where Tara holds up her ID card. Not sure if any information was gleaned from that though.

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Hey Grrrrlfriend! Yoo hoo! Over here! It's me...Flaming Joel!

[Thanatopsis]

Her ID in Tabula Rasa is probably the best bet, assuming it can be read after its enlarged. She probably doesn't have one, hell, how long did it take for us to even get her last name?

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You can't shave an unsedated skunk.

Dawn: I gave birth to a pterodactyl.
Anya: Oh my god. Did it sing?

[WebWarlock]

I tried that, cause, well I am a geek.

But the resolution of the scans I have are not very good. Plus I would have to rely on it being there and not some in-joke with the staff.



Ah well. Going on with "make-em-ups."



Warlock

-----

Web Warlock,
web.warlock@attbi.com

The Other Side: http://www.xtreme-gaming.com/theotherside/

ShadowEarth Games: http://www.rpghost.com/WebWarlock/

Liber Mysterium: the Netbook of Witches and Warlocks

[WiccanBex]

i always thought that buffy was just buffy... elizabeth just doesn't fit. lol.



the whole anya switching names thing confused me... i never did see why the writer's did that and it's never been explained (to my knowledge)...



but, when i'm writing fanfic, i tend to go by the very latest canon. it's just easier that way, rather than trying to figure everything out all at once and make sense of it. just go by what was said last. lol.

I was Gay Now once... honest...
WiccanBex Convention Reviews

[tommo]

No, I'm sure I remember seeing or hearing somewhere that she's Elizabeth Anne Summers. I bet it's confirmed in The Watcher's Diaries or something. And you know, if I wasn't so darn lazy I'd get off my arse and go look.

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Hey Grrrrlfriend! Yoo hoo! Over here! It's me...Flaming Joel!

[Jennpurr]

Mods forgive me if I should have handled this a different way. I was just trying to find out if anyone here has written any W/T reunion fan fics? And where I can find them?



Thanks in advance,

Jen

------------------------------------

Tara: Willow... I got so lost

Willow: I found you... I will always find you



Willow: Is anyone else waiting for it to go, 'Poof'? ... Maybe we could cover it with flowers!"

[Jennifer]

Well, Lisa's "Unexpected Consquences" is a reunion fic, and personally one of my favorites. It's not finished yet, and the thread is here

in Pens. I can't think of any more at the moment.



Edited: because I can't spell. Grr.

[Shinnen]

How about Coming Back and Lost and Found? The story isn't complete yet. But it's really interesting.



Oh yeah! I totally agree with Jennifer. Lisa's "Unexpected Consequences" is a superb example of a reunion fic.



Cheerz

Shinnen

*-* *-* *-* *-* *-* *-* *-* She Looks at the world in a special way, and I feel special because I'm part of her world. She gets my jokes. She understands. It's Magic.

[chronic]

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but...

Reading Tommo's fic Final Exam has awakened my lust for smut! Do any other smuttens know of any good smutfic sites (W/T prefered, obviously!) or good and dirty fics here?





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When he wakes up tell him... I don't know. Think of something cool, tell him I said it.

[assorted posters]

forever piper:



For some MAJOR smut read these. Wiccie writes some EXCELLENT smut fics! This is the "Fun With Friction" series. I HIGHLY recomend reading these if your into smut. I had to wipe drool of my screen after I read em. Here are the links.

www.slashaholics.org/wicc...ntsday.htm

www.slashaholics.org/wicc...moccha.htm

www.slashaholics.org/wicc...ackage.htm



(NOTE: I am in NO WAY trying to take credit for these fics. I did NOT write them. They are all Wiccie's!)





Puff:



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Did you try obsidian the site of fanfic smut?

www.peccath.com/obsidian/

You might even recognise some of the writers





Wiccie:



ForeverPiper, thanks for the promo and the compliments!

And I have the entire collection of my smut (not just FWF series) here:

www.chugg.net/dana





ninjitsugrrl:



okay, i just tried to post this but i think something janky went on with my computer. anyway, here's another good one. www.geocities.com/velvetj...latin.html



verdant:



Oooooo! I'm soooo happy. My smut was posted at the Wiccan Ways site. It's called "Midnight Stretch" and it's definately NC17.

Anyway, thank to all those fic writers. I enjoy reading everyone's interrpretation of W/T's sex life.



If Buffy the show ever ends they should move W/T to their own show on cable so we can have lots more flaming O's with explicit content.



polgara:



If you are looking for more naughty Willow/ Tara stories try -www.extraflamey.com.

Enjoy.



Wicked Sorceress



catwalks:



Wow - Verdant - I mean gosh wow thud



you ever thought of writing one of those with Tara in charge...



just a thought



I'm never gonna sleep tonight now!!



B

Edited by: Warduke at: 4/14/02 9:21:47 am

[Jennpurr]

Shinnen and Jennifer, thank you for the suggestions. I am currently reading Unexpected Consequences. I can't wait for part 39.



Shinnen, I'll go check out those two you mentioned.



Thanks again,

Jen

------------------------------------


Tara: Willow... I got so lost


Willow: I found you... I will always find you




Willow: Is anyone else waiting for it to go, 'Poof'? ... Maybe we could cover it with flowers!"

[Kalita]

I've always been skeptical of the 'Elizabeth' theory. I never saw it in an episode (and I've seen almost all of them), and her tombstone had 'Buffy'. I vote for 'Buffy' as her given, on-her-birth-certificate first name. That's stubborn ol' me.

"And the fun just keeps on leavin'."

[Rane018]

hi kittens!



although i'm all for finding specific fics and having a thread where you can ask such a question, i do believe this thread is for fanfic *writing* questions only. i know i've wanted to ask about certain fics cause going through so many of the threads here is crazy, but i'm not sure if this is the right thread to write this in. i could be wrong.



mods, is this a fic search thread as well or just purely for research purposes? could we do both or will it get too confusing? hugs!

[tommo]

Yep, this thread is for questions regarding the actual writing, not the fics themselves. Or, at least, that's how I understand it. Anyway, people wanting to find fics on the Pens board can do a search up at the top by title or writer, methinks.



Any other fics that haven't been brought over from the old board can probably be found archived at Extra Flamey or Wiccan Ways .

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Hey Grrrrlfriend! Yoo hoo! Over here! It's me...Flaming Joel!

[Rane018]

ok... anyone can jump in and add more... PLEASE! hehe...



1) Tara's stutter... she usually stutters when highly emotional (frightened, sad, etc...) there are certain letters i'd guess she has trouble with. N, KN, H, argh! i cant think of any others. need to look at shooting scripts.



2) Tara Maclay is her name... not McLay or something else...

~birthday: *Family* aired on November 7th so i'd write that as her birthdate. her birthyear is 1980.

~Her place of birth is not known.

~siblings: brother Donny (Beth is cousin...)

~parents: no first names mentioned. Mother died when she was 17. Mother had a lot of magickal power (not known whether good or bad)

~faith- probably Wiccan

~childhood: quiet child. donny said she practically didn't talk til she was eight (need to check shooting script again)

~high school: again Donny mentions she was practically a loner.



3) Willow Danielle Rosenberg (not Rosenburg)

~no birthdate noted. oh, she's listed as being born in 1982 on UPN's buffy website...

~siblings: none

~parents: Ira and Sheila Rosenberg

~Faith- raised Jewish, had a bat mitzvah and everything. hehe... still considers herself Jewish otherwise she'd never mentione it i guess.



4) Sunnydale is located about an hour north of LA (well, i remember that from Angel. I could be totally wrong) meaning it's near santa barbara. maybe? I dunno. I just moved to the west coast a few months ago. hehe... need someone to verify that...



ok... i'll leave it here for now. cant think of anything else... hope this start helps.



ARGH! keep on editing cause i keep remembering things. we should take certain quotes from shooting scripts maybe to make our points?

Edited by: Rane018 at: 4/15/02 8:02:18 pm

[tommo]

Tara stutters on "w" as well. I think she just gets tongue tied. Bless.

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No metaphors...just fucking.

[Zahir al Daoud]

I'm curious if there's anything in the show that suggests what Faith's last name might be?

"O Let my name be in the Book of Love!
If it be there I care not of that other Book above.
Strike it out! Or write it in anew, but
Let my name be in the Book of Love!"
--Omar Kayam

[Rane018]

she's from Boston, right?

[Pixie gishmock]

Yeah, she's from Boston. Eliza Dushku also - she grew up in the next town over from me.

Life is full of changes...The better you are at letting go of things, the freer your hands will be to catch something new. ~from Off The Map by Joan Ackerman
"It's good to be a chicken casserole," Tara murmured before passing out. ~from "Answering Darkness" by Sassette

[tommo]

We've never been given any clue as to what Faith's last name is. Although a lot of fic writers have given her a surname, or used the one most currently in use from their favorite fics, or whatever.



All we know about her is that:



She's from Boston.



She dropped out of school.



Her family background was hard, with an alcoholic mother and a possibly absent father figure, perhaps substituted by her mother's boyfriends.



She formed an emotional attachment with her first Watcher, that has since scarred her after seeing her killed by Kakistos.

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No metaphors...just fucking.

Edited by: tommo at: 4/16/02 11:50:16 am

[Shinnen]

hi



can anyone tell me what does Tara and Willow usually eat? um... not on the smut side because that would be eating each other but no I, um, wanna know what real food do they like to eat. I'm writing something and just realised I have no idea what they really like to eat.



Thanks

Shinnen

*-* *-* *-* *-* *-* *-* *-*

She Looks at the world in a special way, and I feel special because I'm part of her world. She gets my jokes. She understands. It's Magic.

[Rane018]

hmmm... i'd say they eat pretty much everything. well, willow's jewish so she probably doesn't eat pork but i'm not sure whether it's been mentioned if they have specific dietery preferences. a lot of people write them as vegetarian for some reason (wicca maybe?) but i've heard buffy invite tara for burgers (and if she were vegetarian buffy's lived with her long enough to know that). i'm sure willow eats meat too. but maybe after the double meat palace episode she's no longer eating that. hehe... i cant think of specific food willows eaten besides bananas, nogg and pancakes. Oh! Tito chips.

[Zahir al Daoud]

Hi, this is for specific reasons (and yes, it has to do with W/T)...



1. What is Justine's last name, and what was her late sister's name?



2. Do we know Anne's last name (she of the homeless teens shelter in LA who used to worship vampires)?



3. My memory is that Willow initially liked Faith quite a lot, but then judged her pretty harshly--a tendency that increased over time. Is that how it seemed to you guys?



For the record, this is all for my re-furbishment of "FROM CHILDHOOD'S HOUR."

"O Let my name be in the Book of Love!
If it be there I care not of that other Book above.
Strike it out! Or write it in anew, but
Let my name be in the Book of Love!"
--Omar Kayam