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alixtiiActually not a GIP, since there's content and thus the icon is by definition not gratuitous, but I did want to show it off. Because one of the things I love about fandom is that, unlike Riley, I actually can be mistaken for a lesbian.
Top Ten Signs You're Reading a Fic by Alixtii
10. It's written for a femslash ficathon, and it involves female characters, but there is inexplicably no actual femslash included. However, there may be gratuitous nudity.
9. It features character who are disliked by a significant portion of the fandom, such as Kennedy, Eve, or Samantha Finn. (Indeed, to some Dawn and Fred even fit under this!)
8. It features characters who are insane, such as Drusilla, River, or crazy!Fred. Indeed, the fic may even be written from their perspective.
7. The POV character compares his or her life to an event in Scripture or to a holiday in the Christian liturgical calendar. The comparison is not a happy one, and angst ensues.
6. The POV character learns to embrace her dark side and recognize it as a strength. This process of self-realization may, on occasion, involve kinky sex.
5. The POV character is placed in a situation where he or she must perform a morally ambiguous action such as send teenaged girls into battle, reinstate the Cruciamentum, resurrect a vampire, or kill a man. Actually, this can basically be rephrased as "Dawn is placed in a situation where. . . ." She then punishes herself with kinky sex, although that part may take place only in my mind.
4. No matter which Buffy universe it is set in, it manages to mention the Tradëscan Codex because the author likes the way it sounds and is too lazy to think up a name for a new prophetic text.
3. No one ever dumps anyone. Instead, relationships simply continue happily until one of the partners dies, becomes evil, or does both. Angst then ensues.
2. The male characters (except for Giles and sometimes Roger) have all been transported to another dimension, or at least to Africa. The women do not seem to miss them or even notice their absence.
1. The main character falls asleep and dreams just so Drusilla can have a random cameo.
Note that the above list focuses on theme and plotting rather than style. I might still make a list of the Top Ten Style Signs. Also, I did my best to refrain from using elements which recur simply because they are canon in the Watcher!verse, like "Faith is a gym teacher in Cleveland" or "Buffy and the Immortal are married and have a daughter." So, because I couldn't resist entirely, here are the. . . .
Top Five Signs You're Reading a Watcher!verse Fic
5. Lydia Chalmers did not die in "Never Leave Me," although Quentin Travers and Nigel still did.
4. It is set in a non-apocalyptic future where half the cast of Buffy is dead and buried in Richmond. The other half is gay.
3. Drusilla has a soul, but it doesn't make much of a difference because she is never seen past "Not Fade Away." Neither are Spike, Angel, Illyria, or Gunn. Wesley, of course, is dead.
2. Half the backstory is never mentioned.
1. The pairing is Dawn/Giles.
Alixtii's Five Favorite/Best Fics
5. The Dark Champions virtual series, of which 1x01 "Night of the Old One" and 1x02 "Saved by Faith, Part I" have been posted so far.
4. Watcher's Burden (Gen)
3. Funeral (Gen)
2. Divine Intervebtions (Grön)
1. Facing the Shadows (Faith/Kennedy)
Top Ten Signs You're Reading a Fic by Alixtii
10. It's written for a femslash ficathon, and it involves female characters, but there is inexplicably no actual femslash included. However, there may be gratuitous nudity.
9. It features character who are disliked by a significant portion of the fandom, such as Kennedy, Eve, or Samantha Finn. (Indeed, to some Dawn and Fred even fit under this!)
8. It features characters who are insane, such as Drusilla, River, or crazy!Fred. Indeed, the fic may even be written from their perspective.
7. The POV character compares his or her life to an event in Scripture or to a holiday in the Christian liturgical calendar. The comparison is not a happy one, and angst ensues.
6. The POV character learns to embrace her dark side and recognize it as a strength. This process of self-realization may, on occasion, involve kinky sex.
5. The POV character is placed in a situation where he or she must perform a morally ambiguous action such as send teenaged girls into battle, reinstate the Cruciamentum, resurrect a vampire, or kill a man. Actually, this can basically be rephrased as "Dawn is placed in a situation where. . . ." She then punishes herself with kinky sex, although that part may take place only in my mind.
4. No matter which Buffy universe it is set in, it manages to mention the Tradëscan Codex because the author likes the way it sounds and is too lazy to think up a name for a new prophetic text.
3. No one ever dumps anyone. Instead, relationships simply continue happily until one of the partners dies, becomes evil, or does both. Angst then ensues.
2. The male characters (except for Giles and sometimes Roger) have all been transported to another dimension, or at least to Africa. The women do not seem to miss them or even notice their absence.
1. The main character falls asleep and dreams just so Drusilla can have a random cameo.
Note that the above list focuses on theme and plotting rather than style. I might still make a list of the Top Ten Style Signs. Also, I did my best to refrain from using elements which recur simply because they are canon in the Watcher!verse, like "Faith is a gym teacher in Cleveland" or "Buffy and the Immortal are married and have a daughter." So, because I couldn't resist entirely, here are the. . . .
Top Five Signs You're Reading a Watcher!verse Fic
5. Lydia Chalmers did not die in "Never Leave Me," although Quentin Travers and Nigel still did.
4. It is set in a non-apocalyptic future where half the cast of Buffy is dead and buried in Richmond. The other half is gay.
3. Drusilla has a soul, but it doesn't make much of a difference because she is never seen past "Not Fade Away." Neither are Spike, Angel, Illyria, or Gunn. Wesley, of course, is dead.
2. Half the backstory is never mentioned.
1. The pairing is Dawn/Giles.
Alixtii's Five Favorite/Best Fics
5. The Dark Champions virtual series, of which 1x01 "Night of the Old One" and 1x02 "Saved by Faith, Part I" have been posted so far.
4. Watcher's Burden (Gen)
3. Funeral (Gen)
2. Divine Intervebtions (Grön)
1. Facing the Shadows (Faith/Kennedy)
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-20 04:25 pm (UTC)2. The male characters (except for Giles and sometimes Roger) have all been transported to another dimension, or at least to Africa. The women do not seem to miss them or even notice their absence. Hee!
I shall have to go through your five favorite/best fics and make sure I've read them all sometime soon. Perhaps today as breaks between school work. *nods*
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-20 05:12 pm (UTC)As I figured out once while talking to Ari, adding up all the times I've utilized female characters (i.e. one point for each female character who appears in a fic, and then adding the totals for all my fics together) I've used female characters 94 times in Buffy/Angel whereas I've used male characters only 29 times. (In Firefly, however, the totals are actually even, probably because there's actually male characters with which I identify on that ship.)
I shall have to go through your five favorite/best fics and make sure I've read them all sometime soon. Perhaps today as breaks between school work.
Yay!