Novels and Canon

There have been many great "canon" stories I've liked, but technically they're not canon (and can muddy concepts as what a soul and vampire is even more). I'd like to know more of the lore of the world so those veer to other characters are also welcome to me.
 
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*couldn't resist* 😀
 
The Buffy creators have never been big on canon. There's a series premise, then a seasonal premise, but beyond those, they are making it up as they go along. How many times has Willow or Tara spoke of magic having fundamental rules that never get spoken of again? Just write a good story.
 
Must admit I've never been a fan of new characters in the Buffy novels as they never feel 'right' to me. I'd much rather read a well written story featuring the characters I know & love.....

As for canon. As long as it fits in the 'Buffyverse' I'm not too bothered if it doesn't fit exactly into the narrative established by the show....as long as it's a good story!
 
I prefer the books to be canon, that seems more "book" like to me, anything else is fanfic.

But the books I have enjoyed the most, well, neither have been strickly canon.
 
Certain Buffyverse authors are really good at interweaving new characters and established canon. For example, Christopher Golden utilized the character Lucy Hanover, who was mentioned in the original WB trailer for the series, but never mentioned in the series proper. And she would pop in and out as a spirit, since the Gatekeeper trilogy. And all of Golden's novels had elements carry over between the novels. And as an avid Buffyverse novel fan, I LOVED that. Because it was special for die hards who read all the books. For example, there was a throwaway line Willow said in "School Hard" about this bar near the docks called the "Fish Tank," and it appeared frequently in his novels. It just works really well when there's elements that make the reader feel "at home" when you read multiple novels by one author in the novelverse. There is almost an entire canon from just the Buffyverse novels, separate from the canon of the show. Kind of like a multiverse. Which is cool.
 
Buffy Summers said:
Do you like whenthe novels veer from canon or focus on new characters, or do you prefer reading “canon“ stories?
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For me, it’s very much like Star Wars novels.

I really don’t care if the novel or storyline is canonical or not. What matters more is whether it’s good. Plenty of Star Wars books are fantastic, but not all of the ones I’ve read are canonical. Same with Buffy.
 
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