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buffyversetop5If you write in fandom, you know the ones I'm talking about. The fics that turn your gears, keep the bar high, give you new ideas about plot and style and characterization. The fics that make you stop at the end and think, "Wow. I wish I could write like that". And then you realize that maybe you can. Stories like these keep the torch paced to its journey, handing down craft and wisdom as new writers come into the fold. Each of these pieces have come to mean a great deal to me. Thanks for letting me share them with you.
It Blew Her to Anytown, USA and That's My Middle Name
By![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pene
Buffy/Faith
NC17
This is a fic I wish I would have written. Number one, it's hot. Without being overstated, or endlessly explicit, or even having more than a few snippits of sex, it's built to rock you. Writing original, snappy, sweltering smut is a skill I admire and covet. Two, the style is unique. It keeps you on your toes without losing you. I found myself pulled right in, never sure what was around the next corner. There is a suddenness to this style of writing. It catches and releases, and most importantly of all engages. Post series, Buffy and Faith have lives, and then they have their life. Sometimes you'd think they're just each others' cheap entertainment against a backdrop of daily grind, but Faith sticks around, and that's the barometer, telling us readers there's a little something more under the surface of their relationship. Maybe you could even call it love. Maybe.
History Erased and Rewritten
Byneverneverfic
Buffy/Angel
NC17
The desperation in this story is palpable from the get go. Angel and Buffy's meet up post Buffy's resurrection is artfully constructed. A feeling of place is quickly established; this is the kind of writing that draws the reader in very close, and it works so well, especially considering the compartmentalized premise of the fic. The characterization is in place as through a shift in action, and the latter part of the story is incredibly heated, Buffy's animalistic, grown-up sexuality illustrated perfectly, as well as Angel's reaction to it. One stand-out element is the writer's description of scent, a tool too often forgotten in Buffyverse fic, considering vampires' supernatural ability to read a person via smell. The ending is appropriately bittersweet, a parting that's both true to canon and heartbreaking in its honesty.
Never Brought to Mind
Byqueenzulu
Faith/Dawn
NC17
This story is exceedingly well written. It's tight, the pacing is perfect, and the characterization is right on point. For a short fic, this baby packs a lot of plot, and that plot informs the eventual joining of Faith and Dawn in order to make their entanglement seem natural. In particular, Dawn shines in this fic, her voice true to canon, her slightly-older-self woven into context. Overall, solid and even and interesting, a hint of sugar and a flash of naughtiness, and what it means to want so badly to be acknowledged in this world, and to be loved.
Better Luck with Girls
Byshrift
Buffy/Faith
R
Faith's voice in this fic is untouchable. All tragic Faith-y circumstance is plugged into her characterization, so when she gets hers in the end, you want to cheer. For both of them, because they grew up, together and apart. Once upon a time Buffy and Faith found each other, not nearly by chance, and they shared a bond like no other. This fic doesn't deny the bond's breaking. It just goes to show you can put anything back together again with enough love (and sarcasm).
If Ever: An Epic in 500 Words
Bykita0610
Buffy/Angel
R
A fairy tale in five drabbles, each matched to a key BTVS episode for Buffy and Angel. Somehow, even as trimmed and tight as these little works of art are, they speak volumes. Each is stirring in a new way, the reader tugged at, or made to draw up a sigh, or lip-licking, and then it's over, all in a matter of a scant span of pulse and ache, the time it takes to brush the dust from stale wishes. The end pitches perfectly somewhere between gold and ash.
It Blew Her to Anytown, USA and That's My Middle Name
By
peneBuffy/Faith
NC17
This is a fic I wish I would have written. Number one, it's hot. Without being overstated, or endlessly explicit, or even having more than a few snippits of sex, it's built to rock you. Writing original, snappy, sweltering smut is a skill I admire and covet. Two, the style is unique. It keeps you on your toes without losing you. I found myself pulled right in, never sure what was around the next corner. There is a suddenness to this style of writing. It catches and releases, and most importantly of all engages. Post series, Buffy and Faith have lives, and then they have their life. Sometimes you'd think they're just each others' cheap entertainment against a backdrop of daily grind, but Faith sticks around, and that's the barometer, telling us readers there's a little something more under the surface of their relationship. Maybe you could even call it love. Maybe.
History Erased and Rewritten
By
neverneverficBuffy/Angel
NC17
The desperation in this story is palpable from the get go. Angel and Buffy's meet up post Buffy's resurrection is artfully constructed. A feeling of place is quickly established; this is the kind of writing that draws the reader in very close, and it works so well, especially considering the compartmentalized premise of the fic. The characterization is in place as through a shift in action, and the latter part of the story is incredibly heated, Buffy's animalistic, grown-up sexuality illustrated perfectly, as well as Angel's reaction to it. One stand-out element is the writer's description of scent, a tool too often forgotten in Buffyverse fic, considering vampires' supernatural ability to read a person via smell. The ending is appropriately bittersweet, a parting that's both true to canon and heartbreaking in its honesty.
Never Brought to Mind
By
queenzuluFaith/Dawn
NC17
This story is exceedingly well written. It's tight, the pacing is perfect, and the characterization is right on point. For a short fic, this baby packs a lot of plot, and that plot informs the eventual joining of Faith and Dawn in order to make their entanglement seem natural. In particular, Dawn shines in this fic, her voice true to canon, her slightly-older-self woven into context. Overall, solid and even and interesting, a hint of sugar and a flash of naughtiness, and what it means to want so badly to be acknowledged in this world, and to be loved.
Better Luck with Girls
By
shriftBuffy/Faith
R
Faith's voice in this fic is untouchable. All tragic Faith-y circumstance is plugged into her characterization, so when she gets hers in the end, you want to cheer. For both of them, because they grew up, together and apart. Once upon a time Buffy and Faith found each other, not nearly by chance, and they shared a bond like no other. This fic doesn't deny the bond's breaking. It just goes to show you can put anything back together again with enough love (and sarcasm).
If Ever: An Epic in 500 Words
By
kita0610Buffy/Angel
R
A fairy tale in five drabbles, each matched to a key BTVS episode for Buffy and Angel. Somehow, even as trimmed and tight as these little works of art are, they speak volumes. Each is stirring in a new way, the reader tugged at, or made to draw up a sigh, or lip-licking, and then it's over, all in a matter of a scant span of pulse and ache, the time it takes to brush the dust from stale wishes. The end pitches perfectly somewhere between gold and ash.
