Top 5 Original Characters

[amybnnyc.livejournal.com]

Moving right along, the top 5 original characters that I've adored in fanfiction this year:

1. Character:     Tim

   Author:           enigmaticblues

   Story:             Useless Desires - for the Prologue; chapter 1 is linked at the bottom

   Rating:           R

   Why:              Tim haunted me while this story was a WIP, and truth be told he haunts me still.  In an alternate universe in which Spike never returned to Sunnydale after the soul, he finds another soul to save—a street kid with a tough outer shell and a need for someone, anyone to care about him.  The friendship between Spike and Tim here is simply gorgeous because it highlights their strengths and weaknesses, and gives both of them such an opportunity for connection.  While the story itself is overall a Spike/Tara story, the presence of Tim is an undeniable force, and yet he’s seamlessly integrated with characters we know so well.

2. Character:  Arthur Conan Doyle

   Author:       frimfram 

   Story:         The Other Side of the Tracks

   Rating:       Adult

   Why:          OK, so he was an actual person, but he’s written here as a young man inadvertently interacting with vampires and demons, so I’m going out on a limb and calling her characterization original.  Also delightful and intriguing, and a marvelous means of humanizing everything that’s happening around in the story, giving us a new and very distinct lens through which to look.

3. Character:   Danika

   Author:        enigmaticblues

   Story:           Cast Me Not Away and its sequel A Love as Strong as Death (halfway down the page on the same link)

   Rating:         PG-13 

   Why:            Both stories are incredible, breaking off from BtVS season 6 and Angel season 3, uniting Spike and Wesley as an at first uneasy team and then as friends, and slowly building families out of the fractured groups that both of those seasons created; Danika is a beautiful and essential part of that.  She’s is such a finely-drawn OC that it’s, at times, hard to forget we haven’t ‘met’ her before on our TV screens.

4. Character:     Charlie

   Author:          beanbeans

   Story:             Sign on the Door

   Rating:           R

   Why:              How differently season 6 might have gone if Spike had had a friend, or even someone simply disposed to sympathy, to whom he could turn.  beanbeans gives Spike that accidental friend in Charlie, a liquor store owner who gives him a moment of camaraderie and a safe space in which to crash after the destruction of his crypt and the breaking of his heart in As You Were.

5. Character:     Carlene (Sunshine the Stripper)

   Author:          euro_fics

   Story:             Sunshine

   Rating:          Adult

   Why:              How would a woman who knows nothing of vampires and demons and the like respond to being saved by Spike during his “Lone Avenger” days in AtS season 5?  What would someone who knows nothing of Spike himself think of him upon such a first meeting?  euro_fics explores this, through the eyes of Sunshine (the Peppermint Stick stripper) in Sunshine.  I’ve rarely seen an OC so well-developed so quickly, and I’ve never seen one that made me fall in love with her so fast—a generous heart behind a tough shell, blended with wit and perceptiveness and tenderness.  

Comments

[lillianmorgan.livejournal.com]

Oh what a great idea for a list. And completely novel too. We definitely haven't had an entire list devoted to the OC. I've only read two so the other three are definitely getting bookmarked.
Thanks for this! :)

[amybnnyc.livejournal.com]

Woot! I did something novel! *g* I was sure coming in this late that there would be little new ground to tread, so that news makes me very, *very* happy. :D :D

Enjoy the fics... all of them are wonderful! :)

[bearfacedcheek.livejournal.com]

Great recs, couple I haven't read too. A right treat

[amybnnyc.livejournal.com]

Glad there are some new-to-you ones on here! Enjoy! :)

[beanbeans.livejournal.com]

Smooch! Thank you for this, lovie.
I love all the other stories as well. Great recs!

[amybnnyc.livejournal.com]

You're so much more than welcome, sweetie--so well-deserved!

And the other stories are incredible, as well--I'm lucky I've had such incredible OCs to enjoy this year!

[yourlibrarian]

Fabulous list idea. It's true too that good OC's take you by surprise and can really make a fic. I've read two of these and enjoyed both and look forward to the others.

[amybnnyc.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! I'm always so impressed when I read something that seamlessly integrates an OC with canon--it adds such an interesting new dimension to everything (or turns everything on its head in exciting ways). I hope you enjoy the new-to-you stories!

[frimfram.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the rec Amy! :D I am kind of cheating with ACD, aren't I? :)

I've read two of the other recs but the rest are new to me; looking forward to checking them out.

[amybnnyc.livejournal.com]

You're more than welcome, sweetie! And you totally aren't cheating--your Arthur feels very original, and he's certainly in a set of circumstances I don't imagine the real Arthur ever faced. ;)

Glad I could include some new-to-you stuff! :)

And OMG Icon! LOL!

[frimfram.livejournal.com]

he's certainly in a set of circumstances I don't imagine the real Arthur ever faced. ;)
Of course the real Arthur faced them! Do you hve any idea the effort it took me to get hold of the classified documents detailing these events? ;)

[samifidler.livejournal.com]

Tim, Arthur,Charlie and Carlene are already on my list-so I'll have to check out Danika- you and I seem to have similar tastes;>)

OC's are so difficult to incorporate and do well, these are really good examples.

Sami

[amybnnyc.livejournal.com]

I think you'll enjoy Danika... Cast Me Not Away and its sequel are both Spike/Buffy, but the stories veer off from canon post-Dead Things and begin years after that ep, so it's an older/wiser Buffy (and Spike) in the story.

Glad you liked the list, and that I had one new-to-you OC for you to meet!