Narcissus Poeticus -- GiftFic

by ChequeRoot

Montgomery Burns has come to accept the presence of Waylon's son, Ryan, at Burns Manor. Ryan, however, is about to learn that what he knows of his family barely scratches the surface. He is not the first generation of Smithers to live at the manor, or even the second. Decades ago, Waylon Sr. once called the manor home, and his legacy remains. [Cover art (c) Gav-Imp: "As I Planned"]

6. Author's Notes

Author's Notes

This was a gift-fic, requested once again by the delightful Gav-Imp of DeviantArt: a request for a story that linked the lives of Ryan Smithers to his grandfather, Waylon Sr. It gave me a wonderful challenge, and I enjoyed the process of figuring out how to accomplish that without resorting to shark-jumping tropes like supernatural awareness, ghosts, or other unrealistic acts.

It also provided me the challenge of linking the past to the present without reusing devices that I've already handled before.

Waylon Sr.'s journal? His son found it, and made mention of it in "oh lucifer, what have you done." So, obviously, I couldn't reuse that device.

Love letters? Well, they're boring to write, and can be even more boring to read. I've done the story-within-a-story thing recently in "Revelations of Men." And, let's be perfectly honest here, men rarely write love-letters to one another. It's just not done. It seems completely out of character to have two men blabbing away sappily at each other via post. I can't see either man expressing himself like that. Heck, I can't see most men expressing themselves that way. So... letter? Out.

That meant I had to take the Reader in a new direction, to a place they'd never been before...

... pull the rug out from under a few feet.

I feel I succeeded in that!

This story runs very close to my first piece, "Nuclear Attraction," both in tone and theme. It has layers, and seems like a simple tale at the forefront. Long-time Readers of my tales will see though, that elements from a great aspects were drawn together. I like to tie arcs together, looping these tales back in on themselves; drawing in elements of the outside world, then weaving it all together to create a greater picture.

This story arcs back through the pieces I informally think of as "the saga of Ryan Smithers," and sews them together with the core fabric in the rest of my "Nuclear World."

I personally think this is one of my more complex pieces, albeit in a subtle way.

I enjoyed writing it.

Thanks for reading, and thankyou to Gav-Imp for once again letting me bring Ryan Smithers into my world!

~ Muse