PASSION

Passion. The word can apply to writing. It can apply to anything you feel is important to you.

But it is the title of a season #2, episode 17 of Buffy. Written by Ty King and directed by Michael E. Gershman, it was one of the more emotion-filled episodes of that season. It was building up to something.

You might recall when Angel lost his soul and began to target people around Buffy--her, and her best friend, Willow, and then Giles. This is the one where Angel kills Jenny Calendar, sets things up in Giles' place to look as though they are about to have a romantic interlude and he finds Miss Calendar dead in a bed of roses.

Whenever I find myself at a loss for creating some sort of emotions in my characters, when I have trouble showing the conflict, and yet underlying that the love between two people is there even when neither speaks of it. There is always Buffy to the rescue. Joss Whedon's show has always been one of my favorites, but its also one to put on when I feel I need a boost to my writing. Joss is able to take two characters and make them so real, the situation real, like the "talk" between Buffy and her mom. Or when Giles goes to exact revenge on Angel, and Buffy gets there in the nick of time, but because the place is on fire--and Angel points out that Giles might burn--she has to save him and let Angel go. Giles says to her, "This wasn't your fight!" But you know it was, really.
Buffy hits him. "What are you trying to do? Get yourself killed?"
"I can't go on with out you!" Buffy tells him and they crumple swept up in their raw emotions.

We need passion in our writing, but we also need the emotional pendulum. We need to pull the reader into these emotions, get them worked up, weep when someone dies, or when things seem lost. It's tough to do. It's easy to write a book and set sail on calm seas, but if you don't show more than just conflict, if you don't show love, hate, jealousy, and justify it in the end, your reader won't really care either.

Buffy Second Season: Spike & Drusilla

Spike and Drusilla are introduced in the second season. The definitely add a bit of spice to the series.

Spike and Drusilla are a happy couple who have come to Sunnydale to find the Hellmouth—it tends to be the siren call to all evil creatures. Their hope is that they might find a cure for Drusilla's weakness. Eventually they do, and find it in a book that was taken from Giles' library. I'm not sure how they knew what to look for, but they do have one of their minions purloin the book.

It culminates in episodes 9 and 10 “What's My Line” Part One and Part Two.

Within the book is the incantation and rite to bring back a vampire's strength. Thing is, it's difficult to translate unless you have a key. Thus, during the next few episodes, they eventually figure out where to look. Eventually, through Drusilla's ability to read Tarot cards that seem to have figures and such that tell her what exactly she needs to know, they go to a mausoleum and find this key. It is actually a reliquary where religious items were kept of the very author of this book they found. Odd that this author would be found right there in Sunnydale California, but we'll give the writer a break on this.

When they figure out that she needs her maker, who is Angel, then we get to the nitty gritty on this. They are help;ed out by Slayer #2, Kendra, who shows up in town sent because her Watcher has been notified that the last Slayer was dead (Buffy: “I died, just a little bit”), and was sent to the hot spot of Sunnydale because of the Hellmouth activity. And together they join forces to save Angel from Spike and Drusilla who initiate the deadly ritual which will bring Drusilla's strength back.