Life Lessons for Writers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- At February 17, 2013
- By Jeannine Gailey
- In Blog
- 0
Life Lessons for Writers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
By Jeannine Hall Gailey
Romance and Recognition Might Happen, Rarely, but the Job Will Always Be There.
- There is sometimes that sweet spot where you can get to save the day, dance with your dream date, and get a tiny umbrella in recognition of the good stuff you’ve done, but that doesn’t happen very often. Most often, you wake up, deal with people and problems that annoy you, and just go about saving the world with little fanfare. It might not always work out with your guy – in fact, most of the time, it won’t – and people will give you a hard time whether or not you’re trying to help them – but the job of Slayer (or writer) doesn’t change. We are out to save the world, every day. You do the job whether it feels good or not or someone pats you on the head or not.
-
Don’t Be Afraid or, Don’t You Think Sylvia Plath Faced Any Demons?
Devil Dogs, Boyfriends Who Turn Evil After You Sleep With Them, Assassins and Monsters in all shapes and sizes: Buffy saw them all as a recurring annoyance rather than something to be afraid of. With each demon, she sized it up, sometimes turned to friends for help, but always, always, ended up methodically tracking it down and destroying it. There’s no avoiding some of the demons of writers: rejection, depression, you know, looking into the void (or Hellmouth) so they key is to approach each with the correct weapon and not let it keep you from going to classes, a date, or the rest of your life. It’s true that writers tend to experience more depression, dependence on foreign substances, divorce, and yes, a higher rate of suicide, probably because the mechanisms that make someone a writer also mean they’re a little damaged somewhere. (If you believe the stats referenced here, much of the info coming from an eighties-era study of U of Iowa creative writers: http://www.the-bright-side.org/site/thebrightside/content.php?type=1&id=1083 and studies like this one: http://www.businessinsider.com/jobs-commit-suicide-2010-10?op=1 ) These are your demons. Do not let them win. Find the right weapons against them. Get a trusted group of friends to help you. Which leads us to…
-
Sometimes You Can’t Trust the Watcher’s Council
Old white men sometimes do, and sometimes do not, have a young girl’s best interests at heart, as was demonstrated several times on Buffy. Better to be a little wary. Even Giles betrayed Buffy once or twice. People in authority are often interested in protecting their own authority rather than helping you empower yourself. I’ve always kept authority figures at a certain distance for this reason. So if you feel like doing something brave others tell you not to do – get a graduate degree at a certain age, send out a certain poem, write the novel you want to write – do it. Trust your inner Slayer (or writer) instincts.
-
There’s Always another Apocalypse
Yes, even after you’ve saved the world, even after you’ve died and been resurrected through nefarious magic, there is always another apocalypse. In the writing sense, this means: once you’ve published your poem, you’ll always want the next poem in a better magazine. Then you’ll want a book. Then you’ll want a book prize, critical acclaim, book sales, what have you. There is always another “thing” around the corner to fight for. Part of Buffy’s strength lay in her persistence – sometimes winning just means not giving up.
-
Your Inner Resources
(Yes, I am referencing John Berryman.) One of the most thrilling scenes in the whole series is when Buffy has a showdown with her former-boyfriend-turned-evil-psycho Angelus. It looks like, towards the end of the fight, that she will lose and the world will end. The dialogue is a classic:
“Angelus: Now that’s everything, huh? No weapons… No friends…No hope. Take all that away… and what’s left?
Buffy: Me.”
Sometimes it will feel like you have nothing left, your friends and family don’t understand or support you, your boyfriend’s a jerk, and yes, your world is ending. But you know what? It doesn’t have to. You are your own greatest weapon. You are the hero.