Now see, this is torture of one kind to people who are reading that story, and torture of a different kind for people who aren't because [kink | prawn | Giles/Buffy | invisible elves]. Thus I spread the hate around!
I had a serious case of block earlier in the year. I was just looking over the dates on my complete story list, and observed that I completed nothing in February and March. I was taking it all too seriously. Deadly. (And possibly also fallout from anniversary-triggered depression.)
I'm liking having the short prompt stuff to work on as a break from the longer, more tangled stories I seem to want most to write. I work myself into a state sometimes with those stories, where I can't move because I'm trying too hard. Shorter stuff breaks me out of that trap, loosens me up. I've got just enough structure with that project that I feel comfortable: loosely planned overall storyline; more tightly-planned stories spanning five or so prompt sequences; the overall tone imposed by the prompt list. Not so much structure that I can't be spontaneous. There's no pressure to write at any particular pace, no pressure to finish, and no pressure to work on that instead of the more gen-ficcy projects.
So! Prompt table experiment a success so far! Yay.
And now, back to non-stop brooding action-action-action with Giles, Xander, and Ethan, with guest appearances by Wesley and Angel.
ETA: I just wrote out a list of pairings present, discussed, or implied in this story, and it amused me. So I share it with you now, in the spirit of tantalization/torture: Giles/Xander, Anya/Xander, Giles/Ethan, Giles/Jenny, Giles/OFC, Ethan/OMC, Buffy/Spike, Buffy/Angel, Angel/Cordelia, Willow/Tara, Spike/Tara. Poor Wesley.
