I have many people to thank for helping me make this fic happen.
I should also acknowledge that the portion of "I Don't" shown in this fanfic and the format for Mike Quinn's DRR come from Martin Pollard's megasite, Outpost Daria.
Now on to the explanation...
The fundamental questions: What made me decide to write a fanfic which 1) was a departure from my continuum, The Driven Wild Universe, and 2) which was a departure period? One that wreaked havoc on the "Daria" canon (even from its distant perch as a spinoff)?
In one word: burn-out.
Having written ever-so-slightly off-canon fics for nearly a year, I was growing increasingly weary of trying to stay within the lines of Daria canondom while forging my own vision for the series. This included:
And while I love my continuum and plan to keep on writing it, I had to say, "Enough, enough!" It was time to step back, take a deep breath, and remember that I was supposed to be writing for fun. And I did have fun; more fun than I'd had in a long time. For once I didn't have to care whether I'd kept everything together or whether I appeased the various factions of "Daria" fandom. I took my own advice from "The Off-Canon Approach" and just let loose. (Of course, I did say in that essay that keeping things in character was the most important thing, regardless. But I make an exception in this case. ; >)
Which explains why I, um, ran poor Amy across the coals. See, I must confess that she is one of my favorite characters, and probably would vie for the Most Favorite crown if she appeared more often on the show. And interestingly enough, given the quotes I received from people describing why they like her, I get the sense I'm the only person who thinks she could be a character in her own right, separate from Daria. ; > Maybe it's because I could see myself in her position fifteen years down the line...
But anyway, having her be a favorite character means that I have a lot of energy and emotion wrapped up in my interpretation of her in my continuum. It can be almost painful for me to read fanfics that offer conflicting interpretations (unless they're out-there in nature, like "Daria: the Hunter" by Crazy Nutso). "Painful" is a strong word, but it's the truth.
So just as I had to step back and say "enough" with regards to fretting about fanfic writing, I had to do so with Amy. In the same way she explodes at zealous fans in "In Search of Amy," I inwardly chastized myself. "Chill. Remember: she's just a cartoon character." I then decided to break down my carefully modeled interpretation of her character. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Amy's schitzo behavior in "Abruptly Amy" -- in control one minute, whimpering and moronic the next -- could represent the uneasy co-existence of every fanfic author's interpretation of her. If I had wanted to be more conscientious, I could have done a parody which mocked each and every one of those interpretations. But I'm not that conscientious. ; >
Still, though, I did seek to undo the most prevalent characteristics we see in Amy: her coolness, her toughness, her all-knowingness. This was mainly to flesh out the point I made in "Amy: Savior or Chimera" that we know too little about the Famous Aunt to reach those kinds of conclusions. And frankly, I suspect we won't get to know her any better this season. The way the overarching story arc is flowing, it just seems as though an appearance by Amy wouldn't fit. But oh well: with this show's seeming tendency to over-compensate for former absences (ex: lack of Jodie and Mack in Season Three), we'll probably see her three or four times next season. ; >
In conclusion, I found the conception and execution of "Abruptly Amy (The Spinoff That Never Was)" to be extremely theraputic. And while it hasn't succeeded in driving away all of the bitterness I've been feeling lately, I can honestly say that I have no regrets about having written it.
The process for this fanfic began with a silly idea several months ago. Initially I was going to wait to work on it until I had written all 22 Driven Wild Universe episodes. But due to the burn-out I was feeling, and seeing that my eps. were starting to arrive more spaced apart, I realized I'd better act sooner than later. In any event, the idea for the spinoff continued to grow and grow in my mind, until it manifested itself in these steps:
The entire list of steps took a good two months. Frankly, given all the work involved, I'm amazed it took so short a time. The most interesting aspects, IMO, were the distribution of scenes to fan artists and the learning process I underwent to become website literate.
Regarding the fan artists: first, I have to say once again how amazed I was at their willingness to volunteer for this project. I was thinking I would have to beg and plead in order to get the cooperation of even two fan artists, but their eagerness suggested that they were in the mood to have fun with an experiment such as this. Anyway, I salute them over and over again. ; >
What I did was distribute a few different scenes to each of them from throughout the fanfic. These scenes were disconnected and often had little context, creating (probably) a feeling of disorientation on the part of the fan artists. Heh, that, plus the changes I made to our familiar characters, no doubt prompted many to think "What the hell??" Indeed, Milo Minderbender was the first to express any sort of confusion. Quite conscientious, he sent me questions about various aspects of the scenes I had sent him, such as why the subway was so large, or how Amy could be such a martial arts wizard in her nearly geriatric late-thirties. ; > I explained to him what I had in mind (and he proved to be an incredibly good sport), then asked if I could use this exchange in the form of a "conversation" with Alan Smithee. He agreed, and you can see our conversation in its exaggerated form in "In Search of Amy."
Hee-hee, the nice thing about writing a bad episode is that you don't have to fret about accuracy...
I sought fan artists out in the first place because I thought early on that a bizarro fic such as "Abruptly Amy" could really use visuals to help the reader picture it. Yet in order for me to produce the visuals, I would have had to draw and color at least ten pictures. Given my obsession with detail and the legendary problems I was having with my computer and scanner, this would certainly have taken forever. I still intend to create my own illustrations for "In Search of Amy," but now that I've gotten swept up in my next DWU fic, I'm not sure when that will be.
Also, I must confess that part of my reasons behind soliciting fan artists and general fans was to help drum up interest for this fanfic. Yes -- even though I sought to divorce myself from the pressures that came with fanfic writing, I was still caught up in the desire to stand out a little from the fanfic crowd, a desire which seems to be expressed more often these days by fanfic authors. Normally I don't care for Message Board teasers (unless I'm so excited about my fic's imminent release that I can't help but announce it) because of their boastful, "Look at me!" air; this time around, I released three. I also tend to keep my fanfic process highly privatized; not until "Surreal World" did I use my first beta-reader. This time, however, I encouraged group participation from the beginning. Overall, I'll say that while mega self-promotion won't become a norm with me, the approach produced great results this time around. Writing this fanfic felt sort of like a party effort; I felt as though I had a lot of support, a lot of people to whom I could turn if something went wrong. It increased the feeling that this fanfic was, and is, for fun.
As for my website literacy, let me just say that aside from knowledge of basic HTML, I understood nothing about website building. That included the fact that you a) can get webspace for free, b) use ordinary text pages to create your webpages, and c) have a separate files/directory location where you store the webpages, one that is never seen by visitors to your website. It took a while for me to realize all this, though. Not to mention the fact that you display images on a page by creating a separate text page and including an external link to the image file. (Confused? I was, too.) And yes, CN: I confused the word "upload" with "download," even though I understood what the two meant. ; >
There were times when my head was spinning. I bit my nails to pieces wondering whether I would ever understand all the details. The fact that I did is a small miracle. The side benefit of learning new website skills was one of the best things about writing this fanfic. Now I can use it to expand my pages into an actual site, and share my evil world view with the rest of society. ; >
Now to examine the two parts of "Abruptly Amy (The Spinoff That Never Was)"...
Kara Wild??: Why did I put myself into the first part? Well... because it seems as though that's how it's done in these types of fanfics. Take, for example, Austin Covello's interview snippets with members of the Fashion Club (which did not inspire "In Search of Amy," but are still fun to read). I didn't want to put another live person in my place lest I incur his/her wrath. ; > And I didn't think it would work quite as well to put a cartoon character in my place. (Though come to think about it, Stacy would... nah, too late.) Overall, I wanted the effect to be something like "Looking for Richard" or "Roger and Me": seeming outside roams around, poking after the insiders.
Amy Terwilliger and the H.E.A.D.s: Amy Terwilliger is not modeled after anyone specific in the "Daria" community, nor are the H.E.A.D.s modeled after Darians. However, they represent what any of us could become if we dared to think "Daria" was the center of our universe. In other words, they represent unhealthy obsession. They're the kinds of people who go see "Cats" six hundred times, or who ritually attend Star Trek conventions and learn the entire Kling-on language. The kinds of people who have some power to influence the creators of their favorite show, but who fancy that they have more than some, and who get enraged when they learn the truth. But if you've already figured that out -- great. ; >
Amy the Fantasy: When Amy talks about fans investing so much "fantasy" in her character, she makes references to:
Amy's Rant: Her outburst at the end of the first segment was meant to mimic William Shatner's famous outburst in a "Saturday Night Live" skit. Like Amy, Shatner went on to apologize soon after, blaming his behavior on the "evil" Kirk.
Mother Love: A real live person (unfortunately) from the treacly show, "Forgive and Forget."
My Last "Blair Witch" Spoof?: Okay, okay, so I lied when I said in "Erin the Head" that the 10 Spot promo would be the last spoof; the scene where Jane finds the decapitated painbrushes in her trailor was the last. So sue me.
Stacy's Spinoff Idea: It's an allusion to "Stacy Rowe: Evangelion Pilot" by Austin Covello. One of the best crossovers I've ever read.
In his feedback message, Aaron Solomon (ben Saul Joseph) Adelman of "Daria: The Movie" spoke accurately when he said that my spinoff episode differed in satirical style from his work. (I breathed a sigh of relief when he said that, as I had never wanted him or anyone else to think that I was carbon copying the style of DTM.)
He referred to DTM as a "Daria-style" satire and mine a "Jane-style" satire. Meaning his has certain specific rules that the characters inevitably trip over, whereas mine has the feel of the characters being dragged in whichever direction the author chose. I take that to mean that my satire is more free-flowing and berzerk -- which it is. ; >
"Abruptly Amy" was in many ways a spontaneous effort. Moreover, it does not have an obviously recognizable parent that people can point to and say, "Ohhhhhh. I know what she's trying to spoof." Rather, it is an amalgamation of many different television programs having to do with young women in their late 20's or 30's. Primarily it aims to spoof what I call "schlockovision": feel-good television embodied in the programs "Providence" and "Judging Amy." But it also borrows elements of many different shows, not to mention films featuring women: the attractive Latin love interest, the kick 'em up bad girls, etc.
Schlockovision: Both "Providence" and "Judging Amy" follow a nearly identical formula. Two successful, attractive women work in the "Big City." Due to some crisis, both women end up fleeing home and discovering a wholesomeness and a sense of well-being that was utterly lacking in their previous lives. So instead of being a successful plastic surgeon in L.A., Sydney ("Providence") decides to live in her father's house with her younger sister and brother. And instead of being some bigwig judge, Amy ("Judging Amy") decides to be a small town judge. Both suffer more corny trauma per episode than most people do in a lifetime, yet both claim they are much happier where they are now.
The problems between Amy and Rita were, in part, inspired by the occasional sibling rivalry between Sydney and Joanie. And Amy's brush with the mafia, prompting her to flee home, was inspired by the pilot episode of "Judging Amy." There, that Amy received a death threat based on a judicial decision, forcing her to flee. Were I in the habit of watching these shows more often, I could have done a more dead-on spoof. But as it is, I don't. ; >
The reason I chose to mock these programs should be pretty obvious: I just don't buy what they sell. I don't believe you can find the magical cure for what "ails" you just by returning to your roots. People are more screwed up than that. Life is more screwed up than that. So when I had Amy preach those values in "Abruptly Amy," I made her come across as pompous and out-of-touch -- Mr. O'Neill at his very worst. ; >
Not doing a dead-on spoof allowed me to take aim at the wider range of programming featuring women. The Latin love interest comes from "Jesse," as part of a desperate attempt to infuse sexual tension -- and a pulse -- into said program. He occupies the same function in "Abruptly Amy," trying to make up for poor writing and stupid gags. The rest comes from more general sources. Amy's sudden amnesia in the alleyway scene, causing her to forget her expert marshall arts abilities and conveniently allow another character to rescue her, comes from a number of different shows and movies. ("Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," in particular, comes to mind.) Amy's sexualization comes from practically any prime time drama or PG-13 movie. Think, especially, of "Ally McBeal," where sexualizing and objectifying women have become an art form : P
As for the happy dough, I don't know where that came from.
This spinoff addresses my sneaking suspicion that television and movie writers still don't know how to work with a strong woman character. The fact that Alan Smithee could take someone like Amy, who is smart, sarcastic, and well-off, and make her into someone who -- in spite of her Ph.D and her keen martial arts skills -- is a whiny bore, speaks volumes about his experience with women. And sadly, his treatment isn't too different from what I've seen on real television. : P
The easy part of writing this fic was making it bad. The hardest part was making it good enough that a) someone might be entertained enough to read all the way through, and b) you could believe the writer of this episode (Alan Smithee) thought it would be good...
Other Points of Interest...
The Title: Yes, the title is supposed to be stupid. Don't tell me you think "Suddenly Susan" actually sounds good. ; >
Thirty year old: I made Amy 30 years old in this fanfic simply to mock the tendency for people to make her that age in other fanfics. Based on evidence in "I Don't," I think she's closer to 40. To me, it would be an absolute riot if we learned that she is actually older than that, since it would completely cut across common wisdom.
Talking to the Camera: At odd moments, Amy will turn to the camera and talk to it directly. This is in reference to the overused device of "addressing the audience" that we see on many current TV shows.
The Middle Sister: I got the idea to make Amy the middle sister from a discussion held long ago on the Lawndale Commons Message Board. Bob Marley suggested that based on Amy's temperament and her status as a "forgotten one," it might be possible that she is the middle sister in the Barksdale family. While I reject that notion based on the scant evidence presented in "I Don't," I decided to arrange it as such in this fanfic in order to re-emphasize how much we don't know about Amy as a character.
In a way, by presenting it as a possibility, I've rejected the idea even further. That's because I had to come up with a feud between Amy and Helen in order to make Amy's middle child status more plausible -- a feud which has absolutely no real counterpart. But hey, it's still a fun idea. ; >
"Sarcasm -- it's a great way to deal.": I remembered Mike Quinn's distaste for repeated lines, like "Gee Daria, why didn't you get the same dress as the other bridesmaids??" Having a similar distaste for repetition, I decided to really overdo it here. Nothing says bad television like a poorly-conceived catchphrase. ; >
Synthetic Beauty: Thank KnightHawke for inspiring the idea that Amy's good looks were achieved by a surgeon's knife. His comments that Amy's cartoon nose looked sort of strange, although it was supposed to be cute, sparked a big "Ohhhhhhh!" in my mind. It had never occurred to me that Amy's nose might not be the one she was born with. While I will continue to stick by my belief that she got it from her father, I admit that it's strange her nose differs from those of her sisters/nieces. So... is this nature at work, or is Amy more vain than we thought?
Happy Dough: Corny, yes. It's supposed to be. But certainly no more corny than the dead mother on "Providence" showing up at random to give her daughter advice. Or any of the fantasy sequences in "Ally McBeal"...
In conclusion, this will be my last experimental fic for a while. My next one will mark my return to The Driven Wild Universe. However, it's not the only non-DWU fic I plan to write. At some point, I have plans for a prose-written drama (though not for a while -- it's LONG), and a couple of future fics, including one where Daria attends U.C. Berkeley as a freshman, encounters all of the crap that I encountered, and handles it in a way I wish I could have handled it. ; > And then... there could be... a sequel... to "Abruptly Amy (The Spinoff That Never Was)." You'll just have to wait and see...
Thanks for reading.
This fanfic is the property of Kara Wild, copyright April 2000. All rights reserved.