“And Your Enemies Closer”, End notes
[ Endnotes posted 20 Mar 2019 ]
Since this is a remix, what prompted the direction this story took in differing from the original?
As I already acknowledged, I was strongly influenced by yahtzee63’s “On the Education of a Young Man”. In general, anything by yahtzee63 is worth reading (though she went through a pronounced slash phase that annoyed me considerably), and the one I’ve named isn’t a poor example of her work. Applying that sense of Connor to a reworking of selenak’s story came naturally, and seemed to work well enough.
Is there any particular significance to the title?
Nothing beyond the obvious. Bit of irony, of course, in that Connor kept his ‘enemies’ closer by letting them believe they were friends, and that they were friends till they found out he hadn’t been.
What is the thing I like most about this story? the thing I like least, or about which I feel most doubtful?
What I like most, of course, are the two things that are most apparent in the story: Connor’s distinctly skewed view of the supernatural Los Angeles around him (once again, copied from yahtzee63), and the different aspects of Fred’s nature as seen through his eyes.
Liked least … well, I didn’t actually dislike anything, but it would have been nice if the best parts of the story hadn’t come from direct imitation of a better writer than myself.
Is there anything I think I could have done better, or might do differently if I had it to do over?
Much of the structure of this story was dictated by circumstances: I did it for Remix Madness, and so I had only a week. Within that constraint, I believe I did quite well. Still, brevity places limits. This story functions as a snapshot of Connor within a particular frame of time, i.e., showing him as he was. Something with more time, attention, focus on development, might have shown him learning, growing, becoming.
Do I have any plans to follow up on this story, or to use the character(s) or situation in a subsequent fic?
No future plans, but some links already. The klathwaer that Connor thought of in comparison to Fred had already been mentioned by Cathy (Buffy’s first college demon/rommmate) in “ Objects in the Mirror”; the Kosh’tscho demon he mentioned was referenced by Joyce in “ In Ev’ry Angle Greet”, and likewise had a brief mention in “ Bitter From the Sweet”.
Any observations to add at the end?
Wish I could think of something, but sorry, no. I enjoyed the story, some. If anyone else did, good.