“That Thing You Do”, End notes
[ Endnotes posted 10 Jan 2021 ]
Since this is a remix, what prompted the direction this story took in differing from the original?
I couldn’t say. As with so many of the stories that I call remixes, this one isn’t really: it takes an element or two from the original story, then my imagination runs off in an entirely different direction. This one, clearly, started with Xander and Faith having been the ones to recruit Dara (for Slayer Central in L.A. in eilandesq’s original, to the new center in Cleveland for mine). Dara’s subsequent attitude toward Xander, and the action Faith took to address it, came entirely from me, and I can’t begin to guess where that fundamental plot point originated.
Is there any particular meaning in the title?
It’s the name of a song (which I do whenever I can for remixes), and it suited Faith’s intent and approach. Didn’t really need anything beyond that.
What is the thing I like most about this story? the thing I like least, or about which I feel most doubtful?
Obviously, one of the things I liked most was the weird carnival foods (every one of them something actually available at one event or another); that made a comic backdrop for everything else that was going on. And I particularly liked Dara’s little ‘pigtails’ twist right at the end.
Doubtful … Even a year later, I wonder occasionally if the little interlude with the bike cop added to the story, or was a distraction from it. I wondered the same thing at the time, but it just seemed to fit and so I went with it, and I still feel the same way. But I still wonder.
Is there anything I think I could have done better, or might do differently if I had it to do over?
My rendering of Faith’s speech patterns is … a work in progress. If you check different stories of mine wherein she appears, you’ll see differences, and there’s probably also a substantial difference between my rendition and the way the canonical character spoke. (Obviously, for instance, the fanfiction version can use language the actual character would have if not for the restrictions of prime-time television.) I actually like the way I have Faith talking, but I’m aware that it may not match how the character was originally presented.
Was there a different direction I could have taken the story, and what would have been some of the advantages of the not-taken path?
There are always different approaches; the easiest, here, would have been to show things from Faith’s POV rather than Dara’s. I also could have framed it as retrospective - one or both of them remembering the ‘lessons’ imparted at the street fair - and looking to that memory to make a present-day decision. Any of those could have worked, but this particular story liked the way it was told.
Any observations to add at the end?
Mattoon, IL, site of the yearly Mattoon Bagelfest, is actually a bit too far from Cleveland to fit the day-trip Faith and Dara took. The event itself was silly and entertaining enough, though, that I just had to try and make it work. Maybe it was a different community imitating Mattoon’s annual festival. Just another one of those Buffyverse mysteries …