“Each Proud Division”, End notes
[ Endnotes posted 02 Aug 2015 ]
Where did the idea for the story come from?
I truly don’t remember for sure, but it’s likely that I drew some inspiration from mikelesq’s “Six Slayers In Search of an Exit”. The imaginative jump from his basic plot to mine certainly isn’t that large.
Is there any particular significance to the title?
It’s a line from a hymn, but significant to the story in that the four Slayers arrived against their will, with their own agendas and personalities, and the narrative was about them working together - to one extent or another - in spite of these differing goals and motivations. (Not to mention the discrepancies between Tara’s priorities and Jonathan’s, or even Jonathan’s and those of the rest of the Trio.)
What is the thing I like most about this story? the thing I like least, or about which I feel most doubtful?
At the time I wrote it, I considered it possibly the best thing I’d ever done, in terms of structure and treatment. I’d managed only one other ensemble piece before (“ In Ev’ry Angle Greet”), and that was a larger group but this one was a more unconventional group, so it was a challenge to juggle the characters properly and keep the characterizations apt, convincing, and effective. And, of course, molding it to fit within my Backstage genre gave it an additional structure - and flavor - of its own.
For what I liked most: Mostly what I’ve already said, the balance of personalities toward an integrated narrative. It was a pleasure to work with such different (from the ones we’d known) characters, and fun also to put Tara and Jonathan into an impromptu partnership together. Interesting that the shy, reserved Tara took the leadership in that team-up, simply because her moral sense wouldn’t sit still for some of the things Jonathan would have done otherwise. I’d never worked with Tara before, but by that time I had come to like her - I was late to that party, let me tell you! - so I wanted both to stay true to her personality as I saw it and to make her look good.
Probably the thing that left the biggest impression on me, and I’d done it so I take credit, is the feel of the story at its end, the things we knew that the participants didn’t. The story was written after the end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a TV series … and at that time, every single non-Slayer character in the story (except Andrew, damn it) was dead. Tara had been killed by Warren; Warren had been killed by Willow; Jonathan had been killed by Andrew; Spike and Anya had both died in the final battle in Sunnydale. (Yeah, Spike came back for Angel. Can’t keep the bastard away.) My story closed with them headed for a doom they couldn’t see, and I felt I’d done that pretty well.
Like least? Well, only a small doubt: I’m not sure my depiction of Dawn the Slayer truly matches the character presented by Brighid in “Beats a Cruel December”. One could, I suppose, see that as a matter of the same character responding to different circumstances, but it still leaves me feeling just the smallest bit insecure.
Is there anything I think I could have done better, or might do differently if I had it to do over?
Undoubtedly the story would turn out differently if I were doing it now, but I’m not sure that would be an improvement. Aside from the minor doubt just noted about Dawn the Slayer, I have no dissatisfaction with the story.
Do I have any plans to follow up on this story, or to use the character(s) or situation in a subsequent fic?
Well, there are links, of course. Even at the time, Joyce the Slayer was from my own prior “ Point of Focus”, and I’d been working with sroni on the first version of “ God Save the Queen”. Later, the Ptarmiiki would appear in “ Walking After Midnight” and be mentioned in “ Oaxaca Nights”, and Cordelia the Slayer in “ Queen’s Gambit” was just back from her ‘offworld’ team-up with the other Slayers.
As it happens, though, the only future use of this basic situation will be if sroni and I do further work in the Queenverse. Which has been planned, but both of us keep committing to other projects first, so (sorry) don’t nobody hold their breath.
Any observations to add at the end?
Since this story is strongly Tara-centric, it would be interesting to me if someone compared my depiction of her here with the one I did for “ Otherwise a Perfect Sky” and then “ Shock to the System”, and opine as to whether all three were consistent, not just with the character as seen in canon, but also reconcilable with each other as different aspects of the same person at different times/in different situations. I was really satisfied with all three, but such a larger comparison might be a different matter entirely.
All in all, though, I’d have to say I’m happy here.