5 Favorite Meta Fics of 2007

[katekat]

I think (and someday this may actually turn into an essay) that some of the most interesting fanfic can be metafiction, self-reflexively commenting on it's own genre while at the same time telling compelling, fun, beautiful stories.  Not heavy handed, not weird, just lovely. So, here are 5 fics that illustrated some aspect of metafiction for me this year....

1. Minutes of the Watchers' Council, Cleveland Branch (Selected Highlights) (Gunn/Xander, FRT)
by mireille719
Summary: Report from holiday committee: There will be absolutely no mistletoe included in the holiday decorations. Anyone found hanging mistletoe in an attempt to embarrass the Watchers will be summarily executed reprimanded.
How does it fit? Mir plays with style here, turning meeting minutes into something kind of adorable, definitely hugely funny, and establishes narrative without traditional narrative techniques.



2.Eternal Soup Kitchen of the Soul (Spike/Xander, mature) by reremouse
Summary: tabaqui called it a 'weird little slice of life' - and I'm gonna go with that. Warnings: Post-apoc, brevity, peripheral kumbayas, s'mores
How does it fit? Reremouse is one of those authors has created fics within the spike/xander genre that are foundational (at least for me). But lately she's been writing works that are more about what she (and spike and xander) don't say. This is one where you have to listen to what's falling into the cracks.

3. Small Imperfections (Spike/Xander, mature) by reremouse
Summary: 'Talk like a pirate day'? Yeah I got nothin'. But there's no 'write about Spike and Xander in Savannah a few years after Sunnydale caved in day' and there totally should be. Warnings: Drinking before noon, Coca Cola, boring sedans, crumbling architecture, cold showers.
How does it fit? I think a lot of the post-everything fics are discourses on life after sunnydale in such an intelligent way, and this one is no different, but for me a huge part of why this feels meta is not only the space between the silences, and what doesn't get said, but also things like the warnings for each chapter (make sure you read them too!). True warning - this one's a WIP

4. This is not a trilogy (Spike/Xander, mature) by savoytruffle and apreludetoanend
fic a) This is not a story
fic b) These are not enchiladas
fic c) This is not my beautiful wife
Summary: This is a series of three different stories that do not follow upon each other, but rather share the same beginning, each veering off in a different direction. They are fun to read together, but any single story can stand alone.
How does it fit? It's an exploration of beginnings (much in the same way all fanfic is an exploration of how we get from there to here). AND beautiful writing to boot.

5. Little Risk Involved (Spike/Xander, mature) by savoytruffle, electricalgwen, madame_meretrix, apreludetoanend, cordelianne, reremouse
Summary: Alternative reality in which Jessica Harris left Tony and Sunnydale, taking her son with her before Xander ever started high school. After graduation - in the time of early Season 4 - Xander returns. Warnings: Exploration of new frontiers, awkward reunions, talking to bleached blond strangers
How does it fit? How can it not, when it's written by six different authors with six different perspectives on Spike/Xander that sometimes blend and sometimes don't.