Dash Commentary

[madimpossibledreamer]

Yeah, sorry, this isn’t tumblr, I get that, but sometimes I just feel the need to respond to things on the internets, and since I don’t have a tth account, this is as close as I’m going to get to responding to this thread.

Anyway, I thought I’d weigh in.  I write BtVS in general because it’s pretty flawed/inconsistent in parts and I feel I can do better, but it's also a great world and cast of characters.  I write Xander specifically because he’s a voice/character type I’ve got the hang of (stories flow a lot faster for me if I get that specific voice down and just let the story run with it).  I like messing around with YAHF/powered because it’s fun messing with Xander and figuring out how the world changes, how his psychology changes.  Archer!Xan might be able to knock a beer back after work, while (spoiler alert) Xander Knight can never trust himself near alcohol again due to the Nearly Suiciding By Alcohol Incident.  They have the same bad family history with alcohol, but where they go with it depends a lot on what happens later on.  Honestly, I'm not sure if some of my AU Xanders would actually get along with each other.

I guess people don’t do that?  Which I’ve found, in my other searches.  I like to see how other people play in the sandbox, with the same casts and crossovers and everything else.  It, of course, makes no sense.  Any little change will make some changes in the ‘canon’ timeline.  Everything has consequences.  (People forget that too often in writing.  To quote a villain, "the bill becomes due".  Whether it's worth paying...eh, that's a personal choice.)

I have noticed some people like to have Xander be the Perfect One who abandons/gets abandoned by the rest of the Scoobies.  I hate that sort of thing, first of all because in general I really prioritize/love ensemble pieces (seriously, the Enterprise is a family and it’s one of the reasons I love Star Trek so much), and secondly because of everything else SERIOUSLY Xander does too.  This is a guy who has been mistreated by his biological family who shows very little signs of actually caring about or loving him.  He may think he deserves the mistreatment, he might lash out, but he would never abandon people who actually show they love him.  Hurt them by being an idiot or saying the wrong thing, sure.

People overlook the utility of Psychological Limitations (terminology from Hero System).  Xander’s already under a lot of stress, including the ‘active war zone’ bit.  Coupled with the issues from whoever the chosen YAHF or legacy is, and sure, Xander can solve some new problems, but he will also cause some others.

Examples: Xander Knight.  Sure, he might have more academic intelligence and the ability to make whatever crazy inventions he can think of.  He could earn more money than most Xanders.  He has an interdimensional support network.  He also inherited Tony’s alcoholism, a second set of father issues, his distrust of authority, controlling nature, the obsessive tendencies.

Xander, Shinigami.  Simultaneously showing the ability to plan (Xander is honestly the strategist) and recklessness that are canon.  (Plus there’s the whole ‘zanpuktou in his head’ thing, which will get bad.)

I could go down the list, but I guess the rule of thumb is, for every bonus or power, you have to introduce a downside or complication.  (Can’t buy a new power without points from the disadvantages, am I right?) 

The Xanders I write are somewhat different (as they should be, under different circumstances), but they share the love/loyalty for their adopted family, their desire to help, to not be the problem child, to fix everything.  They’re geeks.  There’s probably other things I’m missing because it’s been a very long day at work (you know, when I wrote this originally.  I added some stuff, but I'm still probably missing things).  But that's my current 2 cents.

Comments

[feliciacraft]

I like your differently-imagined Xanders, and your adherence to Psychological Limitations. I don't read a lot of Xander fics, because at least in my experience, they tend to alter his character in a fundamental way that's not appealing to me. I see him as a flawed but good person, a loyal friend and helper, and prefer to read about similar group dynamics in fics.

This is the first time I see TTHFanfic linked. Is it new?

[madimpossibledreamer]

Why, hello, and thank you very much!
Maybe my adherence to Psychological Limitations is because a lot of my favorite characters definitely are flawed /grins. It's fascinating writing such characters and exploring the way they think (and in some cases it makes it easier because it serves as a impetus for plot). I agree with you on Xander's main characteristics.
TTH is Twisting the Hellmouth, and I'm pretty sure it's been around since I started watching Buffy (about 5 years ago now??). It's a good site to find ridiculous random crossovers (it happens to be the place that started the Alexander Gibbsverse or Xander related to Abby fics because the concepts were fascinating and made a weird kind of sense but none of the fics really went as far as I wanted). It's also got prompts which are interesting to read.