Yuletide Reveal!
A day later than most everyone else, but here is the Yuletide fic I wrote:
The Blog of Levi Who Is Called Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal for tjs_whatnot
Fandom: Lamb, the Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
Characters: Biff, Maggie, and a sort of cameo from Josh
Warnings: None, just references to character death from the book.
Summary: How do you distribute a gospel in the modern world? After their resurrection, Biff and Maggie decide to try and find out.
I was not expecting to get Lamb as my assignment, which of course meant that I had to get Lamb as my assignment, heh. But it gave me the chance to write one of the Lamb stories I always wanted to read: what did Biff and Maggie do after the book? And too it gave me a chance to write a somewhat happier, more emotionally satisfying ending for Biff.
As I've reread the book over the years, it's made me more and more sad for Biff. The first time I read the book, I thought it was hilarious and then surprisingly poignant. But every time I reread it, I'm struck with how heartbreaking Biff's story and narration really are. There's so much grief and love in between the lines of Biff's story. I mean, you know how Josh's (aka Jesus's) story is going to end, and Moore really brings the horror and pain of the crucifixion from the point of view of one of Josh's closest friends/disciples.
And Biff's choice....just ouch. That he was so crazed with grief and anger and pain that he decided to kill Judas and then himself, while the reader knows that Josh will be back...it's a pretty gutting end to an otherwise rather light-hearted book. It puts his resurrection in a different perspective, and it brings a lot of pathos to Biff's narration.
So while I came up with my idea for my fic almost instantly, I really struggled with keeping it from descending into total angst. As I was reviewing the source, I just felt so sad for Biff, and increasingly got the feeling that Biff had an unrequited thing for Josh, and it was just depressing me even more. Here is a summary of my thoughts as I was reviewing source and brainstorming: Biff just loved Josh so much! ;________; The end is not uplifting! Biff still misses Josh, his grief and pain haven't been resolved at all! What is Biff going to do without Josh?! ;_____________;
It took me longer than I had hoped to write my fic because I was really trying to meet my recipient's request for more light-hearted, humorous Lamb fic while I was busy having TOO MANY FEELINGS about how Biff's story is NOT FUNNY AT ALL and it was just SO SAD and HOW CAN I WRITE A FUNNY STORY ABOUT THIS OMG. It finally came together when I came up with the Jesus toast ending, which gave the story some much needed emotional uplift, and which I think resolved the unresolved place Biff and Josh's relationship ended up in the book. So I am pretty pleased with my story, and my recipient liked it, so it's another successful Yuletide for me! :D
This entry was originally posted at http://yasaman.dreamwidth.org/394834.html, with
comments there.
The Blog of Levi Who Is Called Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal for tjs_whatnot
Fandom: Lamb, the Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
Characters: Biff, Maggie, and a sort of cameo from Josh
Warnings: None, just references to character death from the book.
Summary: How do you distribute a gospel in the modern world? After their resurrection, Biff and Maggie decide to try and find out.
I was not expecting to get Lamb as my assignment, which of course meant that I had to get Lamb as my assignment, heh. But it gave me the chance to write one of the Lamb stories I always wanted to read: what did Biff and Maggie do after the book? And too it gave me a chance to write a somewhat happier, more emotionally satisfying ending for Biff.
As I've reread the book over the years, it's made me more and more sad for Biff. The first time I read the book, I thought it was hilarious and then surprisingly poignant. But every time I reread it, I'm struck with how heartbreaking Biff's story and narration really are. There's so much grief and love in between the lines of Biff's story. I mean, you know how Josh's (aka Jesus's) story is going to end, and Moore really brings the horror and pain of the crucifixion from the point of view of one of Josh's closest friends/disciples.
And Biff's choice....just ouch. That he was so crazed with grief and anger and pain that he decided to kill Judas and then himself, while the reader knows that Josh will be back...it's a pretty gutting end to an otherwise rather light-hearted book. It puts his resurrection in a different perspective, and it brings a lot of pathos to Biff's narration.
So while I came up with my idea for my fic almost instantly, I really struggled with keeping it from descending into total angst. As I was reviewing the source, I just felt so sad for Biff, and increasingly got the feeling that Biff had an unrequited thing for Josh, and it was just depressing me even more. Here is a summary of my thoughts as I was reviewing source and brainstorming: Biff just loved Josh so much! ;________; The end is not uplifting! Biff still misses Josh, his grief and pain haven't been resolved at all! What is Biff going to do without Josh?! ;_____________;
It took me longer than I had hoped to write my fic because I was really trying to meet my recipient's request for more light-hearted, humorous Lamb fic while I was busy having TOO MANY FEELINGS about how Biff's story is NOT FUNNY AT ALL and it was just SO SAD and HOW CAN I WRITE A FUNNY STORY ABOUT THIS OMG. It finally came together when I came up with the Jesus toast ending, which gave the story some much needed emotional uplift, and which I think resolved the unresolved place Biff and Josh's relationship ended up in the book. So I am pretty pleased with my story, and my recipient liked it, so it's another successful Yuletide for me! :D
This entry was originally posted at http://yasaman.dreamwidth.org/394834.html, with
comments there.