Empty Spaces: Kinda Pretty

[valyssia]

Summary: Seeing that Bunny girl is pretty important to Willow.
Rating: FRC: General Audience: Content Suitable For All Ages.
Word Count: 100.
Beta: Howard Russell.
Character: Willow.
Episode #45: Gingerbread.
Disclaimer: If I owned any of these characters, the last three seasons would’ve made sense.
Author’s Note: I’d like to accredit Kyra Cullinan for creating the image that became the inspiration for this drabble.

---

Kinda Pretty

---

I won’t give her the satisfaction of seeing me cry. As I run to my room, she calls after me, “Can’t you see? I just want what’s best for you.” I slam my door. “You’ll make new friends.”

She doesn’t know me at all.

I go to the air conditioner vent and remove the cover. Good. The book Amy loaned me survived their awful crusade.

I hate to think she was right, but I don’t see another way.

Turning to the marked page, I look at the picture. The flower looks harmless. Just a common thistle. It’s even kinda pretty.

Comments

[ladycallie.livejournal.com]

Oh damn, Willow. Ugh. But yes, I totally see this something like this happening in her early years. She's still my favorite character, but she's got her issues, that's for sure.

[valyssia]

Yeah, I thought it was an interesting concept, but that's not really why I wrote this. You see, over the years, I've taken no end of flack for 'not being able to tell a story in ten-thousand words or less.' This is me raising a finger. Betcha can guess which one.

Thanks for the kind words.

Val

[ladycallie.livejournal.com]

Who are these flack givers and how can I pummel them for you? I hate that I struggle with anything over a thousand words, drabble and minis are much more my forte. I admire that you write long works, I have several pulled up in different windows to read later (Flood being the foremost).

[valyssia]

Well, the first one is Howard and he says he'd be pleased to have to you pummel him. Yeah, he's one of those boys. So, if you wanna, a plane ticket to New Orleans should cover it.

But seriously, I understood his point. There's a huge difference between what I typically do and the art of writing a good drabble. (A true drabble. Only 100 words.) Sticking to those confines usually produces a product that has limited effect. In other words they aren't evocative. Many drabbles don't even make sense.

So, I've been too sick to sit up for any length of time. Headaches, sinus pain, just generally ucky. Short fics were perfect. Dishing up a healthy serving of crow for Howard...even better. Not that he was the only naysayer. He was just the one who was around the most.

And yeah, longer stories are a bear. My advice would be to avoid them. Most fan fiction readers want short, popcorn style fics. They lack the patience to invest in longer works. I'm sure they prefer to sink that sort of time in professional products as opposed to amateur works. And I can totally see that.

As an author who writes fan fiction on a grander scale, I can tell you from direct experience that it's pretty frustrating. You'll watch people who churn out ficlet sized stories receive much more attention, particularly when contrasted to the time they invest. So basically, you have to do it because you love it. And you have to really, really love it to find the discipline to make it to the end.

Anyway, again, I'm pleased you enjoyed the drabble. And thank you for reading.

Here via the Feedbackathon

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

I was not assigned to read you, but I felt like reading the other authors and I was very intrigued when I saw you'd tried your hand at a drabble. Very fine piece. It definitely feels culled from the in-between: those parts of Willow's life we never saw onscreen. You really do know how to tell a story in small spaces.


Gabrielle

Re: Here via the Feedbackathon

[valyssia]

Yeah, there's a definite art to writing effective drabbles that involves inference. One-hundred words just isn't enough to say much of significance, so you work out ways to imply more.

This was my first drabble and I'm not sure that I've written any others that were quite as good. The idea was actually perfect. It was just a little too big to fit, so I had to shoehorn it in.

I'm glad that you enjoyed it. Thank you for the kind words.

Re: Here via the Feedbackathon

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Drabbles are indeed an art, I quite agree, and I think you hit the mark here - the shoehorning was utterly smooth. I was not being the least bit kind; you really did a marvelous job.


Gabrielle

Feedbackathon

[aaronlisa]

I know that writing a true 100-word drabble can be hard but I think that you were able to perfectly capture Willow and the episode. I also feel that you were able to seamlessly link up the Willow of the earlier seasons with the Willow of Season Six. The writing on this piece is very tight and very true to both the series and the character.

Well done.

Re: Feedbackathon

[valyssia]

Thank you. I'm happy that you liked it.

I don't know that it's fair to poor Willow to suggest that her abuse of magic started so early, but it certainly worked for the story.

[sparrow2000]

Amazing to get so much out of so few words. I'll be thinking about this one all day.

[valyssia]

Thank you.

Is it weird that I'm actually kind of happy with this one too?

Yeah, it's weird. I'm never happy.