My Buffyholism is Showing

Fic!

2012-01-16T22:17:00Z

I think I'm gonna be able to post Chapter 11 of Influence of Demons this upcoming weekend. *preemptive happy dance*

In other ficcy news, I had an idea for a fic wherein a post-NFA Spuffy reunion is complicated by an appearance by Owen from S1. However, instead of getting all into a Spike-Owen rivalry, the two bond over a mutual love of poetry. I am completely stupid when it comes to poetry, though, so I could never write this fic.

Also, I want an all-human AU where Spike is a pirate and Buffy is a naval officer. There's a cliche treasure plot with Spike being enlisted to help guide Buffy and her crew to the X. Romance and adventure ensues.

Also also, I've always wanted a fic where Hank Summers shows back up and has to be introduced to the Buffy/Spike pairing. I know a couple fics that have done something like this, but I want more. I think I have a kink for characters being introduced to the weird world of the Slayer.

This entry was originally posted at http://gabrielleabelle.dreamwidth.org/355520.html. There are comments on the DW side. Comment over there or over here. Roger! Over and out!

The Kindle (and I) Talks!

2011-11-05T23:35:00Z

This is a voice post to demonstrate the funniness of the aforementioned Kindle reading fanfic.

The Kindle's a bit quiet, so you're gonna have to up the volume somewhat.

The fanfic in question is a small portion of Haunt of the House by Tracy. (Sinister Attraction doesn't seem to be loading at the moment, but that's the link for it.)

Then I also do a small snippet of Captivated by Nautibitz because...the Kindle reading smut is lulzy. You'll hear me laughing during that one.

Forgive my accent, y'all.

Computer voices just ain't there yet...

2011-11-05T05:11:43Z

I ended up stuck in a random Friday night traffic jam for two hours earlier this evening. Given the dire situation, I decided to try out the "text-to-speech" feature of my Kindle and set it to read some fanfic to me.

...

Well, that was a singularly bizarre experience.

Me: Why does Spike keep calling Buffy "Pat"?

*looks down at Kindle*

Me: ...oh!

I just feel glad it wasn't a smutty fic. That would have been beyond the bounds of ridiculous.

Various and sundry in regards to fanfic (both the reading and the writing of it)

2011-10-16T01:46:57Z

1. So all my fellow William fans have read Yours, William by Puddinhead, right? RIGHT? Cause that was the fanfic that ate my soul last night and had me staying up three hours later than I'd planned.

For serious. William + Buffy's bloomers = SEXIEST SCENE EVER!!!

I think I've developed a "servant!Buffy, master!William, time-travel, Buffy/William fic" kink. I blame unbridled_b. I blame her SO HARD.

Anyway, I have the sequel on my to-read list. I EXPECT IT'LL BE MAGICAL.

2. In the midst of trying to finish up my various WIPs, I inadvertently came up with a fic premise I wanted to write last night. Dammit, no new fics till I finish the ones I have! *shows restraint*

3. The Influence write is cruising along. I'm at that crucial point where I know what needs to be done, but I'm a little intimidated to figure out how to actually do it. I'm just writing through it and I'll make it all pretty on rewrite. *sigh*

In case you weren't aware of Operation Finish the Fuck Out of My Fics, I want to try to, well, finish up the WIPs I have. Influence of Demons first, cause that's the one I see asked about the most. Then the Willow/Cordy Closet series. Then Murphy's Law. After that, I can start on any one of the number of plot bunnies I keep coming up with.

I have a bad habit of not finishing projects. I'm trying to get better at that. *nods*

Anyway, the basic point here is: GO READ Yours, William GUYS IT'S SO AWESOME!

delicious ---> Pinboard

2011-10-01T22:01:20Z

So, I got a Pinboard account for my fanfic (not fanfic I write, but fanfic I have read or want to read). The username "gabrielleabelle" was strangely taken, and I'm trying to remember if I signed up way back when the news about Yahoo selling delicious first broke. In any case, that account's showing as disabled, so I just opted for the more unwieldy "gabrielleabellefanfic".

gabslinkspam - for the rape links - and gabsbuffymeta - for the meta I've written - are still on delicious. I'm gonna wait to see how things progress there. I use my fanfic account a lot more frequently at the moment, so it was necessary for me to find a new place for them.

Pinboard's working for me so far. It imported my mammoth amount of links quickly. I like the "read later" feature, and if I'd known that they had a bookmarklet that randomly served up one of your unread links, I might've switched earlier. I'd been hoping delicious would implement something like that. I had just been tagging fics as "to-read", but Pinboard dedicates an entire thing to it. So I'm adjusting my fanfic-reading procedure to accommodate the new service. I think it's gonna work out well.

I do miss a couple things. Bundles, most obviously (though I heard rumors that Pinboard may be implementing them sometime in the future). Also, I miss having a count of my tag uses. Like, I know when I click on a tag, it'll list out all the fics with that tag and give me a count. But I liked in delicious how I could just look at, say, all my character tags and get a quick comparison of how often they're used. Also, the bulk editing feature is a bit underwhelming. Also also, I'd like the ability to delete a bookmark from the bookmarklet popup. As it is, I have to do a search at the site to find the bookmark and delete it from there. It's just a bit inconvenient.

But the maintainer seems to be preferable to AVOS, so I'm optimistic.

I've been trying to do that good reader thing where I leave feedback for every fic I finish reading. I'm picky when reading fics so if I make it to the end, I must have enjoyed it in some way. I'm just so inept at leaving feedback. I never have much to say besides "I liked this", and that can get awkward, especially with fic that was posted back in 2004 or something. :/

But yeah, I know, I'm a writer, too, and I'd be happy to get feedback on older stuff. So I've been commenting and even emailing authors with my clumsy one-liner feedback. I like the Kudos feature at AO3. It's a more elegant way for me to express a general like for the fic without feeling like a doof.

I have thoughts on the Kindle, y'all

2011-08-24T02:27:22Z

I'd been largely indifferent to the thought of getting an ebook reader for a while now. However, just recently, my dad got a Kindle. It's unthinkable for my dad to have a nifty gadget that I don't have, therefore I decided that I should have a Kindle, too. So I asked for and received a Kindle 3 for my birthday.

I thought the 3G option sounded pointlessly expensive, so I just got the one with Wi-Fi. The point is to load the thing up with SO MUCH STUFF, I don't need the connection except every once in a while to top up, right?

Anyway, here are my thoughts after several days of extensive use:

Likes:

1. Honestly, a lot of the books I read are on the large and bulky side. Being able to have a 1,000+ page book tucked away in my purse without taking up massive amounts of space is awesome. Also, I'm trying to cut down on the amount of shelves I'm gonna need when I move into my own place. While I love having books...they take up room.

2. I don't think I would have gotten the Kindle if I could only read books on it, though. I wanted a device that I could use as my all-purpose reading tool. I read a lot more than just books. I read fanfic, research articles, news articles, lengthy blog posts, etc. The Kindle lets me take these away from the computer for more convenient (and comfortable) reading.

Few tools I've found helpful:

Kindlebility: A bookmarklet that'll send articles/webpages/whatever to your Kindle. I used this first for Anything On the Web I Wanted on My Kindle. I ran into some formatting errors once when the bookmarklet rendered some smart quotes oddly in a fic. So I then also got...

Readability: Bookmarklet and/or browser add-on that polishes up webpages and can also be used to send them to your Kindle. It doesn't seem to create the same formatting errors as I was getting on Kindlebility, but I'm keeping both of them for now till I suss out whether I need I can get rid of one or the other.

Squee!Book: Newly found tool (thanks, frelling_tralk!). If there's a multi-chapter fanfic divided into different LJ posts (or on fanfiction.net) or a multi-part news article that you want to have on your Kindle in one file, this site will wrap the parts together for you and create an ebook out of it. It doesn't send to your Kindle, but you can use Amazon's method of emailing it to your Kindle address.

3. It makes it easier to read.

Let me sketch out my reading habits (of the non-book variety) prior to the Kindle. I had oodles of PDFs of interesting research articles I'd downloaded to be read at my convenience. They've been sitting there for months, most of them unread. I had an embarrassing amount of "to-read" fanfic on my delicious account. I'd go through a couple fics every now and again, but it felt like a chore. When keeping up with the news, I'd often skim longer articles.

Frankly, reading while sitting at the computer isn't just semi-uncomfortable, it's near impossible for me. When I'm on the computer, I'm doing SO MANY THINGS at once, I'm endlessly distracted. Reading requires a single-task focus that I couldn't conjure on the computer. I'd check my email every other paragraph. Oh, gotta reply to that LJ comment. Wonder if there's anything interesting on Facebok. Huh. How about Tumblr? Eh, what was this fic about? Lost track. Probably wasn't good anyway.

See, now I can load all this stuff on my Kindle, take it away from my computer, switch on some music, and read. I've already gone through so many fics on my to-read list. Genuinely gone through them. Read them all the way through, then thumbed to the next one. Research articles? Same thing. And I'm able to actually read those long news articles like you might find at The New Yorker or whatnot.

Basically, my reading habits have improved so much even just in the short time that I've had this thing.

4. I find I'm even reading books more often. Just because it seems easier to keep the Kindle with me than it is to lug around a book. I don't know why. Maybe it's a mental thing. But there it is.

Dislikes:

1. Ugh, the file system gives me fits. No way to do subfolders or tags or anything. I tried the Calibre software someone linked to me, but it didn't quite gel with how I like to do things. I've finagled a system on my Kindle that is manageable at least. I do think that future versions should come with a more intensive file and categorization system (rather than playing music or whatnot).

2. Though the Kindle supports PDFs, I've found that there are some significant sizing and clarity issues with them. I think this may just be a limitation of the format, but it poses a small annoyance. Also, page turns on PDFs seem to be much slower than other formats.

3. I bought the ebook, The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger. It's a data-heavy book with lots of charts. Unfortunately, some of the charts are practically unreadable on the Kindle. The ones that have a lot of data in a small space...apparently, the resolution of the Kindle isn't up to the task of rendering them adequately. This is especially irksome as this is an ebook I paid for, not some article I patched through to my Kindle. It should work better. Dammit, I want my charts!

4. It is a bit silly to find ebooks that are more expensive than their paperback counterparts. While those may be few and far between, the ebook prices are definitely on the high end considering the low cost of production for them. I can't say that I'm gonna switch to ebooks entirely. What I'm probably gonna do is compare prices and choose the cheapest option. Oftentimes, I'm probably gonna be able to find a used copy for cheaper than the ebook. But for those cases where I can't (especially for newer books), I'm definitely not gonna hesitate to get the ebook.

That's all! The Likes far, far outweigh the Dislikes thus far. I'm an ebook believer now, peeps. This stuff is awesome in a convenient package.

Alas, I have no Wordy icons at this moment...

2011-05-12T01:15:09Z

So, Andrew and I were discussing fanfic a while ago. He doesn't "get" it. He approaches fiction differently than I do, and his approach isn't conducive to ficcing. That's cool.

However, then he started asking about slash, because that really puzzled him (and since he's an outsider to fandom, slash is the Big Weird Thing that he hears about a lot). At first, I withheld from commenting on the grounds that I'm not a slasher. However, after another thought, I told him that I had written some slash - my Closet series featuring Willow/Cordelia.

When he asked me why I had written it, I explained how I thought the two characters had interesting interactions but that their relationship fell by the wayside in canon as the series went on. My fic is an attempt to fill in the gaps, as it were.

Andrew got that, but then he asked if it wasn't possible to do such a thing without the romantic element. You know, with them just as friends.

Well, that stumped me.

After some consideration, I fell back on the: "Well, they're just hot together" reason. Which worked for Andrew, but it didn't quite satisfy me (though it is quite true).

Now I've put more thought on it, and I don't know that I'd have ever written Willow/Cordy if I weren't in fandom. By that, I mean that fandom shapes the bounds of what I write as I'm all absorbed in fannish culture. Hell, a lot of fics would never have been written were I not in fandom, as they're often in response to or directed towards a fandom audience.

The Wordy is different, though, in that it's in response to fandom's romance-centric structure. Well, maybe narrow that down to the fanfic part of fandom. Fanfic is a ship-heavy arena. Archives tend to divide things up into pairings, and genfic's place is oft-debated.

Once I sussed on to that, the reason why I went the Willow/Cordy sexy-times route rather than the Willow/Cordy friendship route makes sense. Fanfic tends to default to romantic pairings in one way or another. So when I want to explore a relationship between two characters, the go-to way of doing so is to hook them up (I did the same with Robin and Spike in Intimacy, come to think of it).

This romance-centric aspect is to the point where a genfic written by a Spuffy fan would probably look different, have a different audience, and end up on different comms/archives than one written by a Bangel fan. Cause fanfic fandom tends to fracture around pairings (not to ignore the people who span the gaps, of course).

I found this all interesting. Now I'm pondering on the follow-up question of why fanfic tends to fall along such lines. My initial guess is that it's to do with it being female-dominated, but that seems a cursory answer to me. Join me in my mulling?

Huh

2011-02-10T03:32:45Z

Hey, did I miss a memo? Is there a rift between soulless Spike/Buffy fans and souled Spike/Buffy fans?

Okay, that phrasing makes it sound like the fans, themselves, are soulless. Y'all know what I mean.

I was surprised to see a couple posts about it (older posts by internet time, but I'm slow sometimes). I mean, are we gonna have to bring out the all-penguin Spuffy AUs to unite the ship again? Cause we can.

I guess I haven't noticed any rift (Putting aside the history of the ship where I know that was a deal). I know that people have their own personal interpretations of canon and fanfic preferences, and that the two may or may not correlate with each other. Like, I don't think Spuffy is particularly feasible in canon while Spike is soulless, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy reading fanfic with such a scenario. Likewise, I think Spuffy in S4 is such a long-shot as to be laughable in canon (as it was in Something Blue), but I adore S4 Spuffy fanfic.

So if there's a rift, can I stand in the middle? Anybody else enjoy fanfic about something that they don't grok in canon? Do fanfic preferences always align with canon interpretations? What type of penguins would Buffy and Spike be, anyway? Answers, people!

Character Poll - For Writers

2010-09-20T02:05:14Z

I'm bored. And I've been in the midst of an epic bout of writer's block with Influence because I've hit one of those times where I just can't get Spike's POV right. It happens.

So here's a poll for writers about characters and writing from their POV. I think it's pretty self-explanatory ("writing for" = writing from that character's viewpoint, either in first person or third person limited), so I won't go on with instructions. Have at it!

View Poll: #1620660

Schmoop, Fluff, Angst, Death?

2010-08-18T23:03:19Z

So as I've been working on writing, I looked ahead on my schmoop_bingo prompts. One of them is "anniversary - one partner sick". My immediate thought was to go back to the post-apocalyptic universe of Strength that I'd gone to with Connection and Defeat. But then I came up against something that caused me to pause.

Cause if I did go back there for that prompt, Buffy would die.

After all, Defeat has the fallout of a nuclear explosion, and Buffy's clearly sick. It's not explicitly noted, but I wrote it so that she has leukemia as a result of exposure to radiation. She proposes marriage to Spike, though. For the next visitation to the verse, it makes sense to me that she'd die.

But...well, I suppose the connotation with "schmoop" is that the fics will be fluffy. But that's not exactly my take on the term. I'm not good at writing fluff, despite my love for reading the genre. So I like my schmoop_fics to have something of an edge to them.

"Schmoop", to me, is just a sign that there'll be overwhelming romantic shippiness of some sort. This, obviously, can include fluff as couples do couple-y things (Say, eating pancakes together or something syrupy like that). But it can also refer to a character, say, having a long monologue about how much they love their partner as they die. That would be schmoop. It would be sad schmoop, but schmoop nonetheless.

Though I'm kinda wondering if I'm alone in my interpretation of schmoop. Are most people expecting pure fluff when they read a schmoopfic? If so, I'd feel kinda bad about delivering a deathfic (even though I'm surely gonna warn).

So, schmoop, guys? What's it mean to you?

Um...should this go under a cut? Does this count as potential fic spoilers for a hypothetical fic that's as of yet unwritten? I have no clue on the etiquette on this one.

Edit: My minority opinion, let me show you it. Think along the lines of Buffy killing Angel in Becoming Pt 2 or Fred's death or Wesley's death for schmoopy death scenes. At least, I find them schmoopy. But I appear to be working from a different definition of "schmoop" than most people...

(I Smell) Sex and Writing

2010-08-03T00:11:17Z

Random question is random.

Have a poll for writers, folks. Given the nature of the poll, the detailed responses are set to private so only I can view them. And I'm not particularly interested in taking a look at them. Have fun!

View Poll: #1600923

Fanficcers of the Buffyverse

2010-05-11T02:17:12Z

Eh, I'm winding down from Day 1 of finals and there's this whole ruckus about fanfic being teh evil on my flist or something. I have nothing in particular to add because, frankly, I don't care if a writer shrieks in horror at the thought of fanfic.

But to go with the theme, let's do a fanfic-related Buffy poll. Below the cut, guys. :)

View Poll: #1562724

Please speculate as to what fandom any particular character might write for, whether they'd be slash fans, whether they'd be BNFs, etc. Go wild, peeps.

And nobody's allowed to tell me I left a character off. If a character you like isn't listed, just bring them up in comments. *nods*

For grins

2010-04-25T00:39:11Z

Ah, I have no rantiness. In fact, I think I'm past my anger and have now moved on to let the fandom frustrations simmer to a roiling boil again.

Cause fandom's for fun, after all!

As I've been wandering through fanfic, I've come across some...very odd pairings. And, as always, I must share the joy with you guys! Now, these aren't just weird pairings like, say, Jonathan/Larry or something. No, I'm talking pairings that will make you do a bit of a double-take. It's fun!

Let it be noted, though, that I caught these as they were going on my 'to-read' list. This means I have not read them. So these aren't exactly 'recs'. More like 'look how awesome/weird/insane our fandom is'!

5. The Carpenter and the Wood by JustHuman - Xander/Mr. Pointy

4. Strange Little Girl by Patricia - Dawn/Wesley, Dawn/Lindsey, Eve/Dawn

3. Redneckin' by Mydeira - Cordelia/Lyle Gorch

2. Going Towards Yes by K.V. Wylie - Giles/Ira Rosenberg

1. Porn Without Prawns (Or, Cleaning the Spunk off the Walls) by ArtemisEcstasy, hold_that_thought, nongenius, and Bracken - Adam/Ampata/Amy/Andrew/Angel/The Anointed One/Anya/Aprilbot/Baby Connor/Billy from Nightmares/The Bug Man/Buffy/Chantarelle/Clem/Darla/Dawn/Demony Swim Team/Devon/D'Hoffryn/Dreg/Drusilla/Faith/Principal Flutie/Ford/Fryal!Giles/Gachnar/The Gentlemen/Giles/Glory/Halfreck/Hank Summers/Hansel and Gretel from Gingerbread/Harmony/Tucker's Hellhounds/Jack O'Tool/Jenny Calendar's Corpse/Joyce/The Judge/Kakistos/Kathy/Kendra/Kralik/Larry/Lindsay/Machida/Maggie Walsh/Marcy/The Master/The Mayor/Miss Edith/Mr Gordo/Mr Pointy/MmFashnik/Moloch/The Mummy Hand/Parker/Percy/Quellor Demon/Quentin Travers/Riley/Scott Hope/Sid the Dummy/St Cordelia/Snyder/Spike/Sunday/Ted/Vamp!Jesse/Vamp!Willow/Veruca/Warren's Flayed Skin/Whistler/Willow/Xander/Zombie!Forrest

And yes. I am very curious about that last one.

As a bonus, here's something that is a rec. If you squint, it could be Drusilla/Andrew, too. But it's just a fun little ficlet. Read it!

The Really Odd Couple by mahaliem

Oh, Mondays...

2010-03-23T00:27:44Z

Why is Spring Break only one week long? *sigh*

More random fic observations cause I have to share:

- Songfics! I haven't seen those in forever, but I'm coming across them by the bucketfuls now. Please tell me, am I the only person who skips over the song and just reads the story?

- You know, I've gotten to the point where I don't mind biting in fics. You know, the erotic type of biting. As long as it's on the neck. When I see fics with breast-biting during sex, I get squicked beyond belief and have to spend a few minutes protectively covering my chest.

- I like Drusilla. She's very rarely done well in fics, but I love it when she is.

- Ditto for Anya. For some reason, people have trouble writing from her POV. I rarely come across a fic that has a good Anya voice. Weird, cause I actually think she's one of the easier characters to write for.

- It's a little confusing, because when browsing fics, X/A will almost always mean Xander/Angel, not Xander/Anya. Yep.

- When writing slash, pronouns are a bitch. I had the same difficulty when writing femslash. Dammit, it's forcing me to not be lazy! *grumble*

Points of Fandom

2010-03-21T01:23:54Z

- The Powers must have a suicidal vampire champion here in Texas or something because it's snowing AGAIN. Third time this year. I don't know what to believe in anymore.

- Read a few S6 Bangel fics. Apparently, the Buffy/Spike sex was all about...Angel. *headdesk*

- After reading several Xander fics, I've come to the conclusion that Xander, as a character, bores me to tears. I like him...I just don't find him very interesting.

- Every time I think I've seen the strangest pairing possible, I come across something even stranger. Fandom, you never disappoint.

- To follow up on that: Devon? Really, fandom? Devon? A character that maybe had ten lines throughout the entire series gets oodles of fic written about him, but I can barely find any Robin Wood fics? What's the deal? Dude, he got bitten by Spike!!! The subtext is right there! Am I gonna have to write this Robin/Spike slash myself?

- While I've gotten a ton done on meta this Spring Break, I was largely unproductive with regards to fanfics. I just don't have my fic-brain on, I guess. I'm sorry.

Fics that are nifty

2010-03-15T15:56:40Z

So I might as well rec the fics I've bookmarked recently. Cause I've found some good stuff! Angsty and smutty Buffy/Spike. Fluffy and smutty Buffy/Spike. Dark and brutal and smutty Buffy/Spike. Oh! And AtS gen, William/Angelus, Willow/Faith, Angel/Willow/Spike, Willow/Xander, and naked!Spike. Variety. I haz it.

Oh, and happy birthday to eowyn_315 who's out of town but hey it's the thought that counts, right???

1. Insult to Injury by Joan the English Chick - NC-17 Buffy/Spike - A super-duper angsty S6 Buffy/Spike fic. It'll make you want to huggle Spike.

2. A Stitch in Time by Yahtzee and Rheanna - AtS gen - Guys! It's time travel! It's fun! Okay, I would never expect to actually bookmark an AtS genfic (cause I'm just not that into the AtS characters), but this one really worked for me. Also, it has Drusilla and the Fanged Four! Plus, novel-length! And did I mention the time travel?

3. Spike Naked by Valerie_X - Spike/Willow, Spike/Angel, Spike/Faith - Complete comedy. Set in the summer after S4. Spike stays naked throughout the entire story. It's fab.

4. Incandescence by Wiseacress - NC-17 William/Angelus - One-shot set in the Fanged Four era, obviously. Interesting Angelus/William dynamic. William's already vamped, but he hasn't picked up the name 'Spike' yet.

5. Just a Normal Girl by st_salieri - Buffy - A ficlet that doubles as a meta on Buffy's character. It's lovely.

6. Lucky Coin by amyxaphania - NC-17 Buffy/Spike - It's a fluffy Christmas fic! With smut! I recommend using it to balance out the angst of 'Insult to Injury'. *nods*

7. Four Conversations by thelastgoodname - Willow/Faith - I've actually taken a liking to this pairing. This fic looks at the progression of the Willow/Faith dynamic through the series and ends post-series with the possibility of an actual relationship.

8. Drive it Home by clawofcat - NC-17 Buffy/Spike - Very rough BDSM-y Spuffy smut. Really, not fluffy. But hot. Very hot. With biting and pegging.

9. PENGUINS by quinara - all-penguin Spuffy - Um...I trust we all know what this one is? :)

10. Play Along by em_north - NC-17 Angel/Willow/Spike - Yeah...kinda a twist on School Hard. Instead of Xander going to get Angel for help, Willow goes. And then a threesome with Spike ensues. Kinda hot in a dark, ohmigod! sorta way.

11. A Virgin's Dream Come True by Laure Alexander - NC-17 Willow/Xander - Probably not for actual fans of the pairing. Most realistic sex scene EVER!

Wood?

2010-03-02T02:25:46Z

Okay, I've been amused by the wide variety of characters and pairings I've seen ficced. But there's one character that I've found pretty much no fics for, and this makes me sad.

People, where are the Robin Wood fics????

Am I the only person who fangirls the guy? Am I??

Any recs? Any pairing or no pairing at all. I'm not gonna be picky, but I want something that features Robin. Hell, I'll be extra-super-happy if someone has a link to a Robin/Spike fic (I would read that and love it). Come on! They're like the Riley/Spike of S7! Hate!sex FTW!!!

Anybody?

And now the hand-off...

2010-02-24T18:11:20Z

Gah. Need more sleep.

Before I go to take a nap, let me throw some stuff at you guys.

1. goldenusagi continues to be awesome and has done some more macros for my feminist Checkpoint rewrite. It's lulz-worthy, so go look!

2. Also, gillo's wanting to try out some B/A fics, so I thought I'd post some links to the B/A side of fandom. I'm afraid I don't have any individual fic recs as I haven't run across a B/A fic that rocked my boat enough to bookmark. But these links will take you to oodles of well-written Bangel fics that you can check out.

- chrisleeoctaves has a tag devoted to fic recs. She recs some other pairings sometimes, but it's mostly B/A.

- B/A fandom has the IWRY ficathon and the archive for it is here. Bundles of oodles of B/A fics. Also, the top-level domain, Octaves of the Heart has a variety of different fanfic archives (again, containing a lot of B/A).

- Ducks' Fanfic is an author site with mostly B/A. Again, oodles of stories.

Hope that helps!

Read These Fics

2010-02-22T22:49:47Z

I'm always so excited to share the awesome fics I've found. Have some more recs!

In this post: Some Buffy/Spike, Wesley/Doyle, Spike/Tara, and non-pairing genfics. Mainly Buffy/Spike this time round, though.

1. All Wrong by Herself - NC-17 Buffy/Spike - Yes, I just now started reading Herself's Bittersweet series DON'TJUDGEME!!! Anyway, veers off from S6 canon after Wrecked, but still keeps Buffy in a depressed state (so it's not one of those Happy S6 AUs).

2. Falling by hello_spikey - 'Tis dark. 'Tis very dark. An AU S6 where Buffy (and Xander and Willow) come back very, very wrong. Twisty and creepy. In other words, lotsa fun.

3. Skelping by The Mad Poetess - NC-17 Wesley/Doyle - Yes, you read that right. Honestly, I just thought it was a nice little ghostly-type love story. It felt a bit removed from AtS canon, but that's okay.

4. Make Me Immortal With a Kiss by aisalynn - NC-17 Buffy/Spike - Oooh! Dark, dark S6 Buffy/Spike! The type that fits quite well in canon. I love this stuff.

5. The Healing Pool by Pipergirl - NC-17 Buffy/Spike - I had this bookmarked ages ago, but the site it was on went kerplooey. I just recently found it again at Sinister Attraction *is happy*. First of a series of Spuffy smutfics set in an AU S3. Good smut. Good Spuffy. Go read it.

6. A Winter Fairytale by st_salieri - William - Involves newly-turned William and Lurky, the soul-giving demon from the end of S6. You know you want to read it.

7. Dark Need by Laure Alexander - NC-17 Buffy/Spike - Wow, I read a lot of smut. More Spuffy sexxorz, this time from S2 during the Buffy-Spike alliance of Becoming. Yummy.

8. Gonna Make You Bark by beer_good_foamy - 1) It made me laugh oodles. 2) It forced me to make a character tag for Mr. Gordo on my Delicious bookmarks. Go read.

9. Contractual by The Deadly Hook - Buffy/Spike - I like this one because it acts as a kind of meta on the Buffy/Spike relationship of S6. It pretty simply breaks down the issues, the wrongs, and who did what. It's a refreshing change from the fics that portray Buffy as the one who was completely in the wrong during that season.

10. Who's Been Shaggin' in My Bed by Mommanerd - Buffy/Spike - Another old favorite that I lost and just now found again. S7. Andrew. Spuffy. Spike's vampire sense of smell. Yep.

11. Soft What Light by Gwyneth Rhys - NC-17 Buffy/Spike - A S7 Spuffy fic that pretty much encompasses all that I love about the pairing that season. Beautiful and touching and poignant and Spuffy.

12. Quick and Bitter, Slow and Sweet by Miss Murchison - NC-17 Spike/Tara - A Spuffy author attempting to do a Spike/Tara fic. It's deliciously long and sets up a believable premise for the ship (Spike and Tara in S6 bonding over their shared care for Dawn). The pairing still kinda spins my head a bit, but this is the most convincing attempt at writing an unconventional couple that I've yet seen.

A time and place for everything...

2010-02-21T22:33:22Z

I should be taking a test today in my online stats course, but the instructor FUBARed while posting the exam. So, instead, I'm getting some amusement at the MASS PANIC going on in the class forums and catching up on some fanfic reading. Oh, Sundays...

I've come across an interesting (to me) observation. I can read early-season B/A fics with little difficulty as far as "buying" it. Oh, it doesn't rock my boat or anything, but...of course, I can see it.

However, when B/A fics are set farther and farther away from, say, S4, I have more and more difficulty suspending my disbelief. I think it's cause I see Sanctuary/The Yoko Factor as the final death knell of the canon ship, so when I read a fic set post-NFA with Buffy and Angel together (with no explanation), I'm left squinting and going, "Huh. I don't get it."

Course, the opposite holds true for Buffy/Spike. I can buy Buffy/Spike fics set, say, S5 and on. No problem. However, as B/S fics are set earlier and earlier in the series, I find I'm having to make greater mental leaps to assuage my love for canon-compliance.

On the other hand, since I am a Spuffy shipper, certain well-written B/S fics set in S1-S4 still rock my boat to the point where I just mentally hand-wave away the fact that I could never ever buy the canon-ness of it (Especially S1-S3 fics because Buffy was so into Angel during those seasons...I just can't see it).

It's like...well, like the Buffy/Xander ship. I could buy it for fics set in S1 or S2 (maybe S3...though it would have to work at it). By the time we get to S7, though, Buffy/Xander not only sets off an immediate squick reaction in me, I just can't buy that those two would get together.

Yeah, I have no real point to these thoughts. I just thought they were interesting, and, hey, I have some free time, apparently.

Everything I know about romance, I learned from BtVS fanfic

2010-02-14T20:55:24Z

This is actually a mix of bad Bangel and Spuffy fics that I've learned these from. ;) If you want some fun, try to match the lessons to the pairing.

1. Stalking is romantic. Nothing says "I love you" more than a former or current significant other tracking your every move.

2. The only thing standing between you and True Love...is YOU. You just need to overcome your stubborn refusal to see how crystal perfect your pursuer is and you'll be blissfully happy.

3. You only get one chance to truly love someone. Once that's past, all other "loves" don't really count/matter and you'll be forever tied to that first love.

4. If a former significant other tries to rape you, it's in your best interest to apologize to them for driving them to it. Not doing so will mean you'll probably be missing out on some blissful happiness.

5. Only your True Love will perform cunnilingus on you.

6. No matter how strong you are, it's utterly, heart-squishingly romantic to have your significant other rush to protect you, even in situations where you can handle things yourself. It's not patronizing. It's LOVE.

7. Additionally, it's utterly, heart-squishingly romantic to have your current or former significant other make decisions "in your best interest" without giving you a say. Some might call it paternalistic, but it doesn't mean they don't respect your opinions or decisions. It just means that they LOVE you too much. And that's romantic.

8. You know that annoying guy who just won't take "No" for an answer and keeps texting/calling/bugging you about going out with him non-stop for weeks on end? Yeah, he's actually your True Love. His continued harassment proves it. If you don't end up giving in and falling hopelessly in heart-squishing love with him, you'll prove yourself to be a big bitch.

9. Once you have your True Love, you're not allowed to move on to try to have others. Remember #3. If your first True Love doesn't work out, you're doomed to be single for the rest of your life (while pining for the True Love that got away, of course).

10. No matter what happens, what a potential romantic partner does, it's probably your fault. The only way to True Love is to submit and debase yourself to your partner. They're perfect the way they are. You aren't. So just change yourself and let them have whatever they want. Otherwise, you're just a bitch.

A Cover My Ass disclaimer: Folks, this ain't about the canon. It's about various, bad fanfic for both pairings. If you have never run across such fanfic, then I very much envy you.

I bring fic recs for ye

2010-02-14T01:22:46Z

Okay, and to show that I'm not just take, take, take, let me reciprocate with some recs of my own. Basically, again, the fics I liked enough to bookmark. Apparently, I've run across a lot of them. Eighteen. Yep, eighteen new bookmarks since I last posted. And in addition to the standard Spuffy, there's some Spike and Dawn friendship, some Spike/Harmony, some Spike and Cordy snarkage...some Angel/Faith...and a few random others.

Go. Read.

1. Late Night Phone Call by dampersnspoons - Buffy/Spike NC-17 - A S5 Spuffy fic! With phone sex! It's hot!

2. Spike and Dawn friendship fic by calove - post-S5 with Dawn and Spike bonding. An interesting take on that summer.

3. Knock on Wood by eowyn_315 - Spike/Door NC-17 - I actually read and giggled at this one a long time ago, but I wasn't bookmarking fics at the time. So I had to go back and pick this one up because it's just lovely.

4. Least Obeisance by WesleysGirl - Spike, Cordelia - Set after In the Dark this is just plain fun. Snarky evil!Spike and snarky Cordelia bantering. What's not to love?

5. Unsung Heroes by clawofcat - Faith/Angel NC-17 - Guys, I found an Angel smutfic that didn't squick me! I think it's because Faith's sexiness cancels out my complete non-attraction to Angel.

6. A Letter from the Grave by dampersnspoons - Buffy/Spike NC-17 - A nice, lengthy post-NFA Spuffy reunion fic. Especially liked Gunn's part. I have mentioned my love for these types of fics, haven't I?

7. Sweet Tart by crazydiamondsue - Willow/Faith NC-17 - Uh...I just think it's hot.

8. A Two-Part Harmony by Miss Murchison - Spike/Harmony NC-17 - Read this one! No, really! It's just perfect and inspired a mad desire in me to read more Spike/Harmony.

9. Atonement's a Bitch by beer_good_foamy - Faith - A bunch of missing scenes from AtS S4 and BtVS S7 that explore Faith's character a bit more. Fits well with canon and well-written.

10. The Many Lives of Xander Harris by m_mcgregor - Xander - It's a parody. It made me giggle.

11. The Completely True Story of Buffy, the Slayer of the Vampyres as told by A.W. by st_salieri - For serious: read this one. Saying too much about it ruins the fun, but I'm sure you can tell by the title that it's awesome.

12. The Last Days of Autumn by cindergal - Buffy/Spike - Very lovely and sweet and poignant with a bit of a wistfully sad ending.

13. Fire and Stuff by Valerie X - Spike, Dawn - Another Spike and Dawn friendship fic. This has Dawn and Spike written perfectly. Set between S4 and S5 with Dawn planning to run away from home. Her voice is spot-on. Funny and cute.

14. Therapy Sessions by angearia - Anya - You know, I've found that a lot of people have trouble with Anya's voice. Emmie doesn't, and this is a nice little ficlet about Anya going to see a shrink.

15. Shagging Harmony Kendall by Indri - Spike/Harmony NC-17 - These two really are quite adorable in a twisted sort of way.

16. Invisible Spike by dampersnspoons - Buffy/Spike NC-17 - What can I say? dampersnspoons writes good smut. I know it seems like a travesty to have an invisible naked!Spike, but, trust me, it works.

17. She Will Remember Him? by moscow_watcher - Buffy/Spike - I think everybody's probably already read this one, and with good reason. If you haven't, you should. It's nifty.

18. Three Nights Spent in Bed by st_salieri - Buffy/Spike NC-17 - Fluffy happy Spuffy curtainfic. 'Tis my Spuffy happy place.

Whew! That's a lot!

Fandom Eye-wear

2010-02-09T04:24:29Z

I do have an actual substantial post for today. Because I have a lot of thoughts churning in my head, and I want to kinda put them in words and see if they make any sense.

As you know, I've been attempting to explore other pairings in fanfic. In the past, I've stuck pretty damn close to Spuffy, which is my OTP. However, as you can probably tell by my bookmarks, I still haven't come across many other ships that appeal to me.

Of course, part of this is that I'm just not much of a shipper by nature. My spark for Spuffy is an exception to my general disinterest in romantic pairings.

I think some of it, though, may have to deal with my fandom eye-wear.

I'll explain that, just...bear with me.

I recall having conversations before about what counts as gen and what counts as shippy in terms of fanfic. Especially for a fandom like BtVS. How much plot does a fic need before it becomes gen? How much romance does a fic need before it becomes shippy? Okay, this may feel like I'm coming way out of left field, but I think I've actually come to something of a conclusion on this and it relates to my earlier ponderings about pairings and such.

Because we don't all watch the same show. Well, we do. But we don't.

Everybody has their own focus for the show. A particular character. A particular ship. A particular theme. Whatever. It's the lens through which they interpret canon events, and it's also the lens through which they produce fanworks.

People aren't restricted to one lens, of course. I have my Spuffy lens. I also have my feminist lens. And I have a few others tucked away that I like to explore at various times.

It's here we are able to find these distinctions between gen fics and shipper fics, though. Also, the distinction between "being a shipper" and "liking a particular pairing but not being fannish about it".

A shipper has in their arsenal of fandom eyewear the lens for their particular pairing. They'll be able to list out all the glances, the touches, the important scenes and dialogues. They'll tell you how one throwaway line in Episode X is the linchpin for the beautifully woven thematic arc of Pairing Y.

I always joke about my "inner Spuffy fangirl". That's the lens. That's when I'm just purely looking at the series as a shipper. I don't always do so. But it happens.

For people who don't have that particular lens, the interpretations and conclusions of various shippers can seem downright puzzling. It's not that the shippers are just "making stuff up". They're just using a different prescription.

Okay, so that's all about interpretation the show. Input. Now let's turn to output, because those same lenses are in place when we respond to the show, whether through meta or vids or fanfic or general squee.

Let me give you an example of how this can affect a piece of fanfic.

We'll take a fairly common scene: Buffy visiting Angel and Spike after the NFA battle. In this example, she brings Willow along for support.

Don't take these as examples of stellar writing. They're very rough and somewhat-sucky. I'm in meta-mode, not fanfic-mode here.

Let's first take a look at what a fic with this premise might look like through a Spuffy lens:

"Angel." Buffy's eyes were first drawn to the larger vampire who lay bandaged on the hospital bed. Then her gaze wandered over to Spike, who was reclining in the second bed, similarly bandaged. Spike was alive. Injured, but alive. Nobody had told her this. He hadn't told her this. "When did Spike come back?"

Willow gripped Buffy's elbow, perhaps sensing that Buffy was going through something of a shock. It was a good thing she'd come along for support.

"Listen, about that," Angel spoke up before Spike could. "Could we discuss it later? Kinda injured and in pain right now."

Right. He was right

If Spike were going to say anything, he apparently decided not to. Instead, he lay still with a guilty look on his face. Buffy couldn't believe it. After all they'd been through, she'd find out that he was back like this. Incidental. He hadn't called her. Hadn't written her. Hadn't done anything.

Well, fine. If that's the way Spike wanted to play it.

Buffy glanced at Willow before moving forward to sit at Angel's side. Her back turned to Spike, and she held Angel's hand. She could feel Spike's eyes burning the back of her neck.

"You know I'll always come when you call," Buffy said to Angel. Well...not entirely to Angel...

Oh hey look! A typical post-NFA Spuffy reunion fic! *loves those*

Let's shift a bit. Take the exact same scene. Same dialogue. Same action. And, instead, let's use a Bangel lens to write the story:

"Angel." Buffy's eyes were first drawn to her former lover. Of course. Where else would she want to look? Whenever he was around, she could feel him. She had to see him. It was only after a few lingering moments that she noticed Spike in the other hospital bed with injuries similar to Angel's. The words were out of her mouth on reflex: "When did Spike come back?"

Willow gripped Buffy's elbow, perhaps sensing that Buffy was going through something of a shock. It was a good thing she'd come along for support.

"Listen, about that," Angel spoke up before Spike could. "Could we discuss it later? Kinda injured and in pain right now."

He was right. Spike didn't matter. What they had was a tangled mess of badness and trauma and some comfort at the end. Angel was the one she still longed for. Always.

Buffy glanced at Willow before moving forward to sit at Angel's side. She hated turning her back on Spike after everything, but she had to focus on what was important. And that would always be Angel. She held his hand.

"You know I'll always come when you call," Buffy said to Angel.

Oh hey look! A...Bangel fic...let's move on.

As you can probably tell, there's a substantial difference between the two.

Ironically, I use this contrast between two ships to make a point about gen fics.

A gen fic is a fic that isn't using a shippy lens to tell the story. It may have the same dialogue, same action as a shippy fic (because romantic pairings are common so they're gonna pop up even in gen fics). But without that shippy lens, the prose will be different.

This isn't to say that gen fics are devoid of lenses. That would be weird. Instead, the lens focuses on a particular character. A particular story element. A particular view of the show. Anything other than the pairing lens.

Okay, so that tangent's in place, but I'm still not quite finished because I've yet to figure out why these other pairings aren't quite gripping me as I'd like them to.

Well, the fact is that sometimes, if the lens ain't there, it just ain't there. This especially applies to canon pairings. I'm already familiar with them, but I never developed any particular lens for them while watching the show. Doing so while reading fanfic is a long-shot (though I'm still trying, dammit!).

But, no, I'm thinking of the unconventional pairings. You guys know I like to stick close to canon. So with unconventional pairings, I have to be "sold" on them. They have to convince me so I can tilt my head and go, "Huh. I could see that."

Now, I can only talk about one-shot fics here. Longfics have different dynamics and would require more thinkiness on my part to meta on. But I think where I'm getting a bit discouraged with the non-canon pairing one-shots is that they're written with the assumption that I already have the Andrew/Clem lens (or whatever pairing it is). And since I don't, I'm reading the fic without the proper eye-wear, and I'm just coming out puzzled.

Let's go back to that ~~horribly~~ wonderfully written example one more time. Except now it's written from the perspective of Willow/Buffy:

"Angel." Buffy's eyes were first drawn to Angel, then to Spike who occupied the second hospital bed. Both were injured. And Spike? Shouldn't Spike be dead? "When did Spike come back?"

Willow gripped Buffy's elbow. Buffy resisted the urge to grab her hand. This was so awkward. With the two vampires and the two girls and things were so different now and she just wanted to grab Willow's arm and walk out.

"Listen, about that," Angel spoke up before Spike could. "Could we discuss it later? Kinda injured and in pain right now."

Good. Discussing it later was good. Buffy was always happy to discuss stuff...later.

Buffy looked at Willow, trying to communicate with her eyes. Which sounded lame but actually worked out pretty well when you've known someone for over seven years. I have to be with them now. I'm sorry, sweetie.

Willow understood.

With reluctance, Buffy broke away from Willow to sit by Angel's side and hold his hand.

"You know I'll always come when you call," Buffy said. It was her duty.

Does it work with all the dialogue and everything? Sure. And it can surely be well-written (my example isn't, but I've been reading tons of fantastically written stuff). But for the person who doesn't have a Willow/Buffy lens...it just seems odd.

So I think I've found the root of my problem in finding new pairings to enjoy:

1) For canon pairings, I'm largely apathetic to shipping in the first place, so if I didn't develop a lens while watching the show, it's gonna be tough going to acquire one while reading fanfic.

1a) It's not impossible, though, and since I am finding well-written fanfic, I'll continue to explore, even if I don't particular care to reread any of it.

2) For noncanon pairings, I need to read more longfics for these pairings, as these will (presumably) take the time to build up the ship and convince me that it would work.

And on my path to this realization, I inadvertently cleared up my thoughts on the gen vs ship fic distinction.

Go me! :)

Also, what this person said. (Thanks, elisi, for the link!)

My short breather was lovely, thank you

2010-02-07T19:43:54Z

My hiatus...very brief. Well, I suppose long in internet-time. And long for me. But I inevitably find stuff I want to share and, dammit, none of my RL friends are Buffy fans (shocking, I know).

What I did during my hiccup of a hiatus:

1. Study - School is cool, guys.

2. Wrote fanfic - Working on both Murphy and Influence and some new stuff. *juggles*

3. Read fanfic - And I set up a delicious account to keep track of my bookmarks because delicious tags >> Firefox tags (and I'm a tagging whore). For serious, guys, just go look at my L337 tagging system. *marvels*

And I've had the good fun of stumbling across some more interesting pairings I'd never read before. You know what that means...

Faith/Lilah/Wesley - Huzawhat? It's like something out of some guy's porn fantasy. The mature, sexy office woman. The feisty, horny delinquent. And Wesley, the lone cock in the room. What will happen? Bow chicka wow wow.

Spike/Tara - I...remain unconvinced.

Angel/Xander - Please, god, tell Angel to stop getting naked.

Oz/Angel - It's like two monosyllabic rocks trying to have a relationship.

Spike/Harmony: There must be more fic with this pairing. For reals.

Special bonus observation: I've come to discover that even Buffy/Angel fics have the "Buffy learns a lesson about how much of a bitch she's been to her romantic partner" trope. In some ways, I'm relieved that that's not unique to Buffy/Spike. In more ways, I want to take Buffy, cuddle her, and hiss at the writers bashing her character (while inexplicably pairing her up with their favorite vampire).

Feedbacking

2010-02-03T21:40:47Z

So see, I've been trying to be a good fanfic reader now and leave a bit of feedback on whatever I read. Oftentimes, this means leaving a comment on something that's years old, but that's okay with me (cause I'm not getting comment reply notifications anyway, so I just send the comment into the abyss and feel a warm fuzzy for thinking the author might potentially see it). And I've been largely successful on leaving feedback on things I read on LJ or ffn.net or an archive.

But then I read fics on the author's own site and there's just an email for feedback, and that intimidates me. Because that's an email, you know? And for all I know, these authors could have moved on and look back on these fics with some embarrassment and they'll cringe when they get something in their inbox about it. Plus sending an email feels so intrusive somehow. Much more intrusive than a comment. I'm also not very good at leaving feedback, so my comment is never very substantial and pretty much adds up to, "I really liked this fic. Fic good."

That message is fine in a comment but sending an email with just that? Sounds silly.

So...can I get a pass on this? Does anybody actually email feedback to authors?