flickering fannish thoughts

[schmerica]

A. So I was thinking about AUs, earlier, for some reason. And the thing about AUs is that they really come down to basically, how much you can change while still keeping the characters, still keeping the core important stuff. Which led me to the conclusion that I really can't imagine how someone would manage to do a decent story where Fraser's mother had never died, or died when he was much older. Presumably it might be possibly, with a good enough writer, but -- man. Who the hell would Fraser be, then?

B. I suspect the reasons I find the early Willow/Xander stuff kind of yicky are pretty much the same as the yickiness I got from Clark/Chloe. The "girl pining hopelessly for her best guy friend, who is completely oblivious and wanting other girls" squicks me out SO MUCH. It makes me horribly embarrassed for the girl, and damn annoyed with her at the same time. And, really, my desired outcome for that scenario is always going to be "girl gets over him and finds guy who likes her from beginning" and never, ever going to be "guy friend comes to his sense and they get together." Ick ick ick.

C. Can any of you Buffy type people point me to some stories? I'm interested in knowing if there's anything taking place in Buffy's high school years, but with Dawn included. So far I've seen a couple things of fox1013's, and basingstoke's Big Rock Candy Mountain, but I'd be interested in seeing more.

Comments

[katallison.livejournal.com]

Re: the Fraser question, that's a fascinating one. I mean, clearly her death had a part, probably a big one, in shaping who he is, but canon doesn't give us any clues about it--it's all about Robert's influence on him. Up until CotW it's like his mother never existed, and we sure don't get any sense of what she was like as a person. So, had she lived ... hmm. My immediate gut reaction is that she would have pushed him to follow some career other than the RCMP--and how he would have dealt with that would make an interesting story. Hmm.

[spainja.livejournal.com]

I've seen some AUs in which Fraser's mom didn't die. In Purna's "Palimpsest", for example, Bob Fraser dies when Fraser and Maggie are kids, but his mother lives, remarries, and opens a B&B in...Vancouver or somewhere. Presumably in this one Maggie and Benton are full siblings, rather than half. Also, in Kalena's "Genesis", Fraser says that he became a geologist because his father was killed in the line of duty when he was young...I don't remember if it mentioned where his mother was. Both of these are really good stories, but they're walking a tricky line by altering Fraser's past.

The thing is, it's so easy to trace the roots of Fraser's personality to his upbringing--only child, raised by older guardians who were librarians, often home-schooled, father who was rarely present whom he simultaneously idolized and resented, no mother. If you change too many of those variables, you end up with an entirely different character--one who is almost impossible to imagine.

The other problem is that we know NOTHING about who Caroline Fraser was. We see her once, and she doesn't even speak. Was she outgoing? Shy? Did she thrive on the rough and rugged frontier life or did she resent Bob for dragging her out into the frozen middle of nowhere? Was she quietly bitter each time Bob left home to chase bad guys across the tundra for four months, or did she breathe a sigh of relief that now she could put away the good china and let life get back to normal? Hell, Fraser doesn't even know who she was--how well did you understand who your mother was at age 6? Since we don't know who she was, we can't imagine how her presence would have influenced Fraser.

[voleuse.livejournal.com]

insertdawnhere has some stories, I think.

[enn-enn.livejournal.com]

Hi! I came here following the Friends-list of a friend....

About C, I know a lj-community called "Insert Dawn here" ( http://www.livejournal.com/community/insertdawnhere/ ) It is about stories where Dawn is the main character but the time-line of them is BtVS Seasons 1-4. I hope it helps you a little! :D

[violethamster.livejournal.com]

I can only think of one Dawn story I've read, this has her during the season 2 Halloween episode: http://www.livejournal.com/users/ficbitcabear/25061.html#cutid1

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Hmm, those are all excellent points, indeed. Also, I think, it does raise the paired question of what on earth Fraser might be like if Bob *had*, somehow, stayed around to raise him after Caroline's death. Which, frankly, is hard to imagine and rather hurts my head.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks!

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Cool, thank you for the link!

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

The other problem is that we know NOTHING about who Caroline Fraser was. We see her once, and she doesn't even speak. Was she outgoing? Shy? Did she thrive on the rough and rugged frontier life or did she resent Bob for dragging her out into the frozen middle of nowhere? Was she quietly bitter each time Bob left home to chase bad guys across the tundra for four months, or did she breathe a sigh of relief that now she could put away the good china and let life get back to normal? Hell, Fraser doesn't even know who she was--how well did you understand who your mother was at age 6? Since we don't know who she was, we can't imagine how her presence would have influenced Fraser.

*nods* Those are really good points. Right now we see Fraser with that ... lack strongly represented in him, but that really doesn't tell you anything about what would come in to replace that.