Help Spuffy fic recommendations

[flow]

I'll be very interested to hear what you think about any of them. 🙂

Okay, I am finished with Et Lux In Tenebris Lucet and also more or less with a Gem of a Soul.

Et Lux In Tenebris Lucet has a Spike who is simply to good to be true. Being a paraplegic (and that means no sex at all....sigh) he manages the summers household, lets himsel get bitten by this unspaekable demon instead of Buffy, gets the money Buffy needs for mortgage and pipes, does dawns homework, is just charming towards Mrs. Kruger the social Service worker and so on and so on. Ans as Buffy does not die, there is no resurrection and thus no Depression and no spiraling into darkness. And of course Spike doesn`t need a soul because he is already a saint. But if you take the Drama out of a Drama.....well, there is not much left.

Gem of a Soul has much more drama, exciting plot, interesting story twists and is really written very well. Unfortuneately the characters do not convince me. Spike lacks all of his sweetness, his humor, his insightfulness - everything I love about him while he is still being evil and soulles. He is not just evil - that would be fine with me - he is unlikeable, unpleasant and unfriendly. And Buffy has no fighting spirit, no determination - she is almost unrecognizable. I have to admit though that I have only skimmed after the first third and skipped the last third.

I will be reading Distress Signals next. i am really strating to get addicted to fanfiction !

flow

 

[Priceless]

@flow I enjoyed Immortal, Sigyn is a great writer, but there just wasn't enough Spuffy. I need my Spuffy at least in the first half of a story. I'm going to start Slayer Rising next.

I'd also recommend;
Chasing A Dream by Enemy of Reality
Dreamer by Gort
Memories by Autumn2005

 

[flow]

I'm going to start Slayer Rising next.

There will be lots of Spuffy in there ! I promise !

Chasing A Dream by Enemy of Reality
Dreamer by Gort
Memories by Autumn2005

Thanks a lot ! I am afraid I will never finish watching S1.....

flow

 

[Stoney]

Okay, I am finished with Et Lux In Tenebris Lucet and also more or less with a Gem of a Soul.

Et Lux In Tenebris Lucet has a Spike who is simply to good to be true. Being a paraplegic (and that means no sex at all....sigh) he manages the summers household, lets himsel get bitten by this unspaekable demon instead of Buffy, gets the money Buffy needs for mortgage and pipes, does dawns homework, is just charming towards Mrs. Kruger the social Service worker and so on and so on. Ans as Buffy does not die, there is no resurrection and thus no Depression and no spiraling into darkness. And of course Spike doesn`t need a soul because he is already a saint. But if you take the Drama out of a Drama.....well, there is not much left.

Oh geez, well I don't really remember it but just had it down as a rewrite of S6 and it sounds like it was very definitely that! Sorry it was so 'meh', I completely agree that it sounds as if it was writer wish fulfilment that the soul didn't matter squat, Spike didn't need it because he's just so soft and cuddly deep down. 🙄 Oh boy. This is always the risk in recommending things you don't remember well. Sorry.

Gem of a Soul has much more drama, exciting plot, interesting story twists and is really written very well. Unfortuneately the characters do not convince me. Spike lacks all of his sweetness, his humor, his insightfulness - everything I love about him while he is still being evil and soulles. He is not just evil - that would be fine with me - he is unlikeable, unpleasant and unfriendly. And Buffy has no fighting spirit, no determination - she is almost unrecognizable. I have to admit though that I have only skimmed after the first third and skipped the last third.

The problem I find with rewrites, where it somewhat follows the course of the show, is that I love the show as is and so most rewrites are a disappointment. I often find it quite boring too that it is in the main following plot events I know are coming. I don't really want different characterisations or only little side steps in direction. As I don't have issues with any of the existing canon seasons, not like some who really would have liked to see one rewritten, these kinds of stories only make me want the real deal more! It is stories that take the characters out of the sunnydale context that I prefer the most. Jumping off on tangents. Otherwise little one shots that are more designed to fit into the existing canon snugly are nicer. I generally feel like you did on this one towards more major rewrites.

Can you give me an example of a canon compliant story set within the tv era that you really like?

I will be reading Distress Signals next. i am really strating to get addicted to fanfiction !

Oh it is a downward spiral where you time stops being your own!! I think I was far more forgiving of poor characterisations at first too, because I expected it to be honest and I have read a large portion of very poor - mediocre fics, and very little I've thought were great. I also didn't discuss them much at first too and so I didn't tend to question them critically much at all. Hopefully you'll like Distress Signals. *gulps* 😀

 

[Stoney]

@flow, I've concluded meeting good characterisation, staying set in the show era and following canon is just difficult to meet for recs. 🙁 It seems that I started making a note of how bad characterisations were the more fics I had read and the more it started to irritate me. The need of the soul and Buffy's/Spike's characterisations being warped to suit the story/writer pov is the biggest issue I have with fanfics if I'm reading them critically.

When I was flicking through my fic list I saw a series I read and enjoyed more recently (so I can actually remember it, ha!) called Turn and Face the Strain by Quinara. It takes a different direction on the post resurrection period with Buffy leaving Sunnydale to talk to Wesley about it all instead of Tara. I enjoyed it and the writing but the attitudes in it against the truth in-verse around him being soulless isn't canon compliant and it isn't set in SD. I then read other fics by the same author because I generally enjoyed the writing in this one, and found that the others were far worse for Buffy's/Spike's attitudes around the soul and that played as a bigger feature in those stories too, so I stopped reading Quinara's fics. So many Spuffy fics want to disregard the soul and often make Spike far better than he was soulless as the easy way to do that. Turn and Face the Strain doesn't do that at least, it instead goes for the other common approach in doubting the significance/importance of being souled and that is coming from Buffy too. And they then stick with that rather than having the realisations of S6 of the firm truth of the soul being necessary. The story is an enjoyable read regardless though. Or at least I thought so! 😉

My flick through also reminded me that I enjoyed Roundabout by Devil Piglet for Dawn's characterisation in particular, but it was a while ago that I read it and I can't remember what I thought of the Spuffy in it and whether the soul really came up in the fic, I don't think it did. I do remember thinking the very end had a random extra scene tacked on that made no sense to me and there didn't seem to be a sequel, so if you do read this you might be able to explain what that random tacked on scene was about, ha. 😀

I generally don't have high expectations with fanfics I think, so heaven knows why I read so many of them! 😕

 

[flow]

I have seriously neglected my first watch of S1 (as well as my real life) and have instead enjoyed reading your fanfic recommendations. I am still far from having read all of it, but I would like to give you an update:

Being Somebody Else by Eowyn315

I really loved that one. It is a short fanfic and I start to wonder if it is maybe easier to get the characters right if you don`t have to concentrate on an elaborate and twisting plot. This could easy have been a real episode of the tv-show somewhere between S3 and S4.

Distress Signals

I loved that one for the same reasons. It is post S7 but it could have been another real episode if they had done a S8 for tv. I loved that Xander had a major part in it and was portrayed as the nice guy he really is. A lot of Spuffy fanfiction bashes either Willow, Xander, Angel or Giles (or all four of them) and I find that unnecessary because I like all of them quite a lot.

Fall to Pieces

Ah, another one shot. i really love those because they catch the athmosphere so beautifully.

Chasing A Dream by Enemy of Reality

I haven`t finished this one 8i am sorry !). It is well written, catches the reader, has wonderful characters, but - alas - it is far too AU for my taste.

If I have read a fanfic I always skim this authors other fanfics, just to make sure I don`t miss out something good. I have found something else by The Enemey Of Reality that I absolutely adore. Maybe you would like it too. It is Running From The Inevitable and you find it on Elysian Fields. This one - again - could be a real episode set somewhere in S4 and it is the first fanfic that I have read that is not dark or angsty or romantic but just really, really funny. It is like a screwball comedy or like one of the lighter episodes of BtS eG Something Blue or Him. And it has a lot of Spuffy in it 🙂 I does not consider a soul for Spike necessary but as it is set quite eraly in the series and Ends in S4 I can overlook that.

Dreamer by Gort

That one wasfascinating and thrilling to read. It pretty much covers the whole of S4 and I love the different ending regarding Maggie Walsh ! As I have read a lot of fanfic that portrayed soulless Spike as really mean and unfriendly and massmurdering I was dreading he might be up to somethin really evil but in the end it turns out (caution: spoiler) he was just recruiting his kitten-poker-buddies for the fight against the initiative.

I have stumbled across another fanfic by Gort on Elysian Fields. It is a one shot and it is called Journaling. Again I love it because it is just about one single moment (Buffy mourning Spike after Chosen) and catches the characters so well.

Memories by Autumn2005

This is too AU for me as well. It`s just not the Spike I know and love 😉

I have at least six more recs to go. Some of them are quite long stories like A Different Kind of Hell or Legions of True Heart. Those will take me some time but I will be back !

Someone mentioned (maybe in another thread) Echoes of Beljoxa by myrabeth (on Elysian Fields). I just want to say that there is a sequel but as yet it is only work in progress. It is called Scattered Echoes and it is (of course) on Elysian Fields.

I haven`t read it yet but there is a quote from it I cannot refrain from quoting:😀

“Got some dirt on Mum's early years, as in before Dad. You'll never believe who her first vamp hook up was.”

“Oh my god! Buffy and Angel? That's just... I don't know whether to be freaked out, disgusted, or just stunned no one's ever mentioned it.”

Flow

 

[Stoney]

Hey @flow I'm glad that you got on better with some of the other fics, I really enjoyed reading your thoughts. I vaguely remember reading Running from the Inevitable a long time ago too and enjoying it. If you are open to more out of Sunnydale fics then I can probably round up a few more suggestions when you have finally waded through all the ones you have waiting to read at the moment. I haven't read a lot that I think succeed especially well on being funny, but there are probably a few of those too. 😀

I completely agree about the dismissal of the soul for Spike, it's far easier to shrug at if it comes from the earlier seasons which is why I really don't like it from S6 onwards. Fair characterisations for the scoobs/Angel which don't just bash them for Spuffy to work are better for sure, they just aren't as common in my experience. I think your idea that the shorter fics possibly get the characters better because they aren't trying to create an elaborate story and are looking to fit in alongside canon is probably fair. More involved fics do often want to explore different tangents from the show, a change in perspective on the verse/characters, it is the most obvious reason why one or more characters are written a bit 'off'. That also often happens because the writer wants to express character dislike too, and then the bashing really reigns. You definitely can get some very unfair and extreme Xanders and Angels in Spuffy fics.

I vaguely remember reading Echoes of Beljoxa and not liking the attitude over the soul within it much and finding a hierarchy aspect in the writing a bit forced, but generally thinking it was well scripted. I didn't realise there was a sequel for it in the works so thanks for mentioning that as I'll add it to my list of ones to keep an eye on for when they've finished. 🙂