Birthday greetings, and Angel of the Morning Part Eleven revised.

Happy Birthday to Melissa (appomattoxco)

Everybody give Melissa a great big hand, for she gave up her birthday fic that ye might have two chapters of "Angel of the Morning" in quick succession. Not that I gave her any choice about it, of course. :-)

Yesterday I wrote a chapter of 'Angel of the Morning' in a single day and posted it immediately because of popular demand. As I was writing it I made a snap decision to change it from my original conception and draft. On reflection I have decided that the original version was better, and I've rewritten it and reposted it as it should have been.

The revised chapter is HERE

I'd particularly appreciate comments from people who've already read this chapter to see if they agree that it's an improvement.

Birthday greetings, and Angel of the Morning Part Eleven revised.

Happy Birthday to Melissa (appomattoxco)

Everybody give Melissa a great big hand, for she gave up her birthday fic that ye might have two chapters of "Angel of the Morning" in quick succession. Not that I gave her any choice about it, of course. :-)

Yesterday I wrote a chapter of 'Angel of the Morning' in a single day and posted it immediately because of popular demand. As I was writing it I made a snap decision to change it from my original conception and draft. On reflection I have decided that the original version was better, and I've rewritten it and reposted it as it should have been.

The revised chapter is HERE

I'd particularly appreciate comments from people who've already read this chapter to see if they agree that it's an improvement.

The revision thing, and things to come.

The verdict is in on my revision of Chapter 11 of 'Angel of the Morning' (HERE) and it seems to be positive. Only one person prefers the original, lots prefer the revised version. Even if the verdict had been the other way around I still wouldn't change my decision. The first, rushed, version painted me into a corner with respect to the next chapter and removed an option that I'd always intended to follow.

That's what happened to 'Life in Shadow'. The characters got away from me and rushed into a resolution that was far too early in the story; fixing it and getting them on track for the next chapter, in which things go badly wrong, has so far proved too difficult a task for me to face. If only I'd had the courage then to rewrite the offending chapter and take the temporary hit then it would have been much easier for me to press on with that story.

Anyway, AotM is still on track and the next chapter should appear a week from now, if the disruption of my mother's visit doesn't screw things up too much.

While I'm on I'll just mention the fic that is perhaps my most popular but has been stalled longer than any other; "I was made for loving you baby". The problem with that one is that, being told from Violet (Buffy)Bott's point of view, certain aspects of Willow are being portrayed wrongly.

Violet was programmed to react in particular ways to particular Scoobies. Her new sentience hasn't completely replaced that programming. When Buffy was resurrected she had to be fitted into the parameters, and Violet dealt with it by using the programmed reactions to Willow to govern her reactions to Buffy. This leaves no room for Willow and the witch is being squeezed out as a result. The growing hostility between the two is by no means all Willow's fault, but Violet is of course unable to recognise this. Portraying this convincingly while remaining in Violet's POV defeated me. I have ideas for how to pull it off in the next chapter, but it is going to be a lot of hard work and there are always more tempting options to pursue in other fics.

Angel of the Morning is nearing its end. That will free me up to concentrate on Savage Beauty, Sunnydale Passions, and my new semi-serious project, the one I'm more excited about than anything since 'The Cloak of Mist' (the best thing that I've ever done, by an enormous margin):

SHELLSHOCKED

The revision thing, and things to come.

The verdict is in on my revision of Chapter 11 of 'Angel of the Morning' (HERE) and it seems to be positive. Only one person prefers the original, lots prefer the revised version. Even if the verdict had been the other way around I still wouldn't change my decision. The first, rushed, version painted me into a corner with respect to the next chapter and removed an option that I'd always intended to follow.

That's what happened to 'Life in Shadow'. The characters got away from me and rushed into a resolution that was far too early in the story; fixing it and getting them on track for the next chapter, in which things go badly wrong, has so far proved too difficult a task for me to face. If only I'd had the courage then to rewrite the offending chapter and take the temporary hit then it would have been much easier for me to press on with that story.

Anyway, AotM is still on track and the next chapter should appear a week from now, if the disruption of my mother's visit doesn't screw things up too much.

While I'm on I'll just mention the fic that is perhaps my most popular but has been stalled longer than any other; "I was made for loving you baby". The problem with that one is that, being told from Violet (Buffy)Bott's point of view, certain aspects of Willow are being portrayed wrongly.

Violet was programmed to react in particular ways to particular Scoobies. Her new sentience hasn't completely replaced that programming. When Buffy was resurrected she had to be fitted into the parameters, and Violet dealt with it by using the programmed reactions to Willow to govern her reactions to Buffy. This leaves no room for Willow and the witch is being squeezed out as a result. The growing hostility between the two is by no means all Willow's fault, but Violet is of course unable to recognise this. Portraying this convincingly while remaining in Violet's POV defeated me. I have ideas for how to pull it off in the next chapter, but it is going to be a lot of hard work and there are always more tempting options to pursue in other fics.

Angel of the Morning is nearing its end. That will free me up to concentrate on Savage Beauty, Sunnydale Passions, and my new semi-serious project, the one I'm more excited about than anything since 'The Cloak of Mist' (the best thing that I've ever done, by an enormous margin):

SHELLSHOCKED