Still a few hours left to add your rec list to Buffyverse Top 5 Classic Edition!

[red_satin_doll]

But it all turns into a pumpkin when the clock chimes midnight There are still about six hours left to post your rec lists at buffyversetop5 Classic Recs 2014!  (Right now it's 3:51pm EST time in the US, if that helps.)

I was certain I'd missed it entirely - AGAIN - so I wandered over to check out what I missed and found that there's still a little window of opportunity left.  So many fantastic recommendations, I can't begin to name my favorites.

FYI: Every time someone posts a rec and says "but everyone in the fandom has read it" I have honestly been able to reply "I HAVEN'T."

Comments

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I missed the deadline to post to the top 5 last night because I was tearing through 19 Hours - I didn't realize she had other spuffy stories out there! I'm trying to remember if I read Waking the Dead; several of her tics are among my favorites.

Thing is I don't know where to start. I've gotten extremely particular, you know?

Oh dear god indeed I do.

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

Oh dear god indeed I do.

It's gotten to the point where I'm afraid to go back and read old stuff 'cause I might hate it. I remember liking Dancing Lessons when I read it. Now? I don't know. :| I want to reread it, but I don't.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Dancing Lessons? Who is the author of that one?

I've only been reading btvs fanfiction for two years, so not much time to have any major changes of heart on anything. Ask me ten years down the road. There have been a small handful stories I've appreciated more with re-reads. quinara's Long Distance to London series is an excellent example. (One of my favorite post-Chosen/NFA fics) When I first read it I wasn't aware of the meta aspect of it because I wasn't familiar with the tropes of Spuffy fanfiction that it largely subverts; so on my second read a year later, I appreciated how truly brilliant it is.

But there aren't too many stories (or authors) that operate on that level anyway.

(**waves to quinara Are you ears burning?**)

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

Oh, it was sort of a round robin type fic set in S5. I read that like ten years ago. Back then I didn't care too much about characterization; I just wanted more. Now? I want characterization.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Back then I didn't care too much about characterization;.

You? I can't even imagine that.

Characterization is the number #1 thing with me. (along with "no buffy-bashing" of course. And no interpretations of canon that send me screaming into the night.)

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

Well, the show was still totally fresh back then, so it never seemed more than what it was. Fanfic. After awhile though it seems folks forget and form their opinions based on fanfic (fanon) rather than what actually happened. These days, I just have no time for that. I reckon it's 'cause I used to be more of a shipper and have become less and less over the years.

Used to be that Xander or Riley bashing never bugged me. Now? Just no. I have major issues with both but turning them into outright monsters is weak.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I have major issues with both but turning them into outright monsters is weak.

Exactly - and it misses the point by a mile.

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

I've come to see it as deflective writing. If they don't create a major problem by making them over-the-top bad guys, then the writer has to acknowledge/deal with the actual problems of the relationship. Which they don't want to do because I think they are aware that the ship is rather unsound structurally.

It's superannoying 'cause it makes me defend Riley sometimes. I hate that. I swear if I see one more 'all they had was boring missionary sex, it's a FACT' comment, I'm gonna start making caps.

[quinara]

Ha! My ears-slash-LJ-notified-inbox are definitely burning, if on a couple of days delay! You're always so nice to me and that series. :D I never really set out trying to actively subvert tropes - sometimes it just sort of happens...