“Objects in the Mirror”, End notes
[ Endnotes posted 17 Mar 2015 ]
Where did the idea for the story come from?
It was deliberately evocative of “ Voices in the Dark” in its structure; in that sense, one could say that it was more an approach than a formal story idea.
Is there any particular significance to the title?
Oh, Lord, no. This story has had more title changes than any other I’ve ever done. It actually started out as “Objects in the Mirror”, but then I had another story I wanted to do that had ‘Mirror’ in the title, so I changed it to “To the Naked Eye”. That was really generic, though, and after some time I didn’t bother to track, I again renamed it, this time to “None So Blind”. Eventually I decided that was too generic and non-pertinent, so I went back to the original title.
I just wanted something that sounded decent … and kept changing my mind as to what that might be.
What is the thing I like most about this story? the thing I like least, or about which I feel most doubtful?
I most like the perspectives in the first two segments, and parts of the third. And, yes, parts of the fourth; my resurrection of Sandy in “ Shadow and Subtance” made that my first ‘fix-it’ fic, and then the appearance of VampSandy in canon made it necessary for me to adjust my Backstage narrative accordingly. This allowed me to continue Sandy’s character journey … and it isn’t over yet.
Like least …
No single thing, but in several ways, this story left me unsatisfied. I basically accomplished everything I set out to do, but it just never truly felt complete. Some ideas work, some don’t; this story didn’t exactly fail, but I’d have to say it failed to deliver anything truly significant.
Is there anything I think I could have done better, or might do differently if I had it to do over?
If I were doing the story today, I’d want something more potent as an underlying theme (though it did in fact have one, just not a very strong one). Something that delivered more punch, that provided extra meaning or an “Ah-hah!” moment. The story isn’t bad, there just isn’t enough to it. I really ought to do something about that.
Do I have any plans to follow up on this story, or to use the character(s) or situation in a subsequent fic?
Yes. But I won’t say any more about that until I actually deliver.
Any observations to add at the end?
None, sorry. Everything I set out to do with this story, I did; I simply think I should have had a better idea of what I wanted to do before I began.