Re: Fanfic preferences

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

I think Jennpurr's perfectly right to dislike fics in which her favorite
pairing gets rejected for someone else. That seems like a natural
reaction.

(OTOH, Jenn, you can put all the clips from "people prefer Tara to
Buffy" fics you want in your sig, but I saw "The I in Team" and
"Bargaining, Part 1" and "Tabula Rasa", and I have a very firm idea
who's the disposable second choice and who's the True Love <g>. )

On the issues in the original mail:

1) I have no problem reading pairings other than B/W. Not only do I
'ship most every pairing of the original cast possible (as I said
before, excepting Giles/Xander, and supporting Buffy/Giles 'shippage,
but not doing it myself), but I can enjoy any femslash or het pairing if
I like the characters. Had a Faith/Fred and a Faith/Dawn come into my
box today, liked them both just fine.  

The only thing I really object to is "Vampires, Yay!" fics. The joys of
killing people are not for me. And no souled/soulless stuff, eitherI
don't care how good Angelus, Dru or Spike may be in bed, if they're
killing people, you should dust 'em, not lust 'em.

(On one of my general Willow lists, there was a Willow/chipless Spike
fic, set in Season 3, where Faith threw her support to the couple after
an exchange like this:

F: Would he hurt you?
W: Never!
F: Would he hurt us?
W: Not if I tell him not to.

So it's okay if Spike's killing folks, just as long as we don't know who
they are. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.)

2) Crossovers really aren't my thing. Most of the time, I'm not a fan
of the other fandom, and if I am, I feel the author didn't get it right.
That's just me.

3) As to whether I'd read fics about pairings I didn't like on air, it
varies. I wouldn't read Buffy/Spike if it won a Nobel Prize for
Literature. Buffy/Angel, I respect for the emotions it engendered in
her and I do like Angel, but B/A authors tend to eventually skim over
the reasons why they shouldn't be together (it's not just the curse,
folks) and so I eventually sour on them. Willow/Oz, Buffy/Riley, and
Xander/Anya. I like the lead character enough that if they're
well-written I could probably put up with the s.o. that left me flat
on-screen. Fred/Gunn is a pairing where I'm not wild about either one
of them, but I'm not on any lists where I'm liable to get those fics, so
it's kind of moot.

Regarding Willow/Tara, while I have of late come to the conclusion that
the relationship is ill-conceived and psychologically damaging to
Willow, I have to say that my non-interest in the fics was originally
because the Tara character has never engaged me at all. It's not just
I'd rather Willow be with Buffy (or Xander, Cordy, Giles, and about a
half-dozen others), but I've had Faith/Tara, Dawn/Tara, and Buffy/Tara
fics hit my mail, and she's just as uninvolving there. (And, to be
fair, I've read those fics; I just don't seek them out.)

But I will accept Willow/Tara as background for a fic, say if Willow is
sad about their break up. (SadWillow fics get me all the time.)
Recommended: "White Satin Pumps" by Nora Charles, recently on
Fanfiction.net

And that's it from me, I think.

Dan