Avie is in the process of writing a rant for me. The topic is A/S fic, and I don't want to take away her moment of thunder with the following entry. I'm sure Avaridelicious will make numerous, well thought out points about the nature of the ship, and the difficulties in writing it. She even tells me she has developed some sort of hierarchy for A/S shippers. 

Cool. Avie rocks.

I just kinda wanna whine. So, either bear with me or don't, ya'll, 'cause I'm not likely to shut up 'til I'm good and done here.

You see, A/S is near and dear to me. I could spend hours explaining *why*, but the bottom line is you probably don't give a shit, and frankly, neither do I. I have a Master's in Psych and I still can't explain half the shit I do. The easiest and most obvious explanation is that I find both actors edible, their characters fascinating, and the idea of watching them fuck makes my knees sweat. Personally, I think that sums it up best anyway.

But A/S is difficult lately, both to read, and to write, for alot of reasons.  Now, I'm not *complaining* about that fact, mind you. B/A shippers, S/B shippers, they've all had their turns of "oh fuck, Joss is sinking our ship!" It's not like I feel alone in my rowboat.

Nor do I feel despaired about where the new seasons are taking the two characters I care the most about. Yea, they're both going through monumental changes. No, I don't always *like* those changes. But it's Joss' headgame, and let's be honest, he has never let me down in the long run. So I'm in for the haul, even if occasionally I may curse the monkey-genius' name in public.

My issue is this: I like Angel/Spike fic. No, read that again. I like *ANGEL*/*SPIKE* fic. Not fic about vampires who happen to be named Spike and Angel. But THE Spike and Angel from the Buffyverse. And holy gods, lately, there is a veritable plethora of the former, and a big sucking vacuum of the latter. 

Before anyone gets up in arms, I am not naming names, picking on anyone or flaming any author in particular. As one of my favorite authors quotes, "I'm just sayin'....."

What I'm just sayin' is this: When fic writers start, they often have trouble with characterization. Joss and his merry band get paid big bucks, 'cause an entire TOWN lives in their heads. Dozens of people and their motivations, griefs, loves and foibles, all pour from a handful of genius minds every week. And, for the most part, they keep damn fine track. Sure, calendar math may be off, and every once in a while Angel wears a colored shirt and we all go, HUH? But in general, when we turn on Angel, we see, well, ANGEL. Same guy all the time. 

That ain't easy to do. My first fanfic was so godamn cliche'd it makes my teeth ache to look at it. Sure, it was Angel (er, sort of) but it was uni-dimensional Angel, and I said NOTHING in all the blessed chapters of it that noone had never seen before. So never let is be said that I am holding myself above anyone. Even some of my later stuff which I still get feedback on to this day, I look at and shudder, and think..damn. I wish I could rewrite that. And for a while, I just thought that was the natural order of things. You grow, you live, you learn. With luck, you improve.

And maybe that is true. But I think there's another reason for my mixed feelings. I am no longer satisfied with fic that merely portrays A/S together. I want to know, in no uncertain terms, and with a reasonable level of believability HOW THEY GOT THAT WAY. Otherwise, even I, staunch A/S Shipper extraordinaire, simply can't fucking buy it.

Oh, I'm not against the random PWP. Criss Moody is the goddess of it, and her stories like "With A Twist" slash the most unlikely trio of Doyle/Oz/Angel. It's lovely. When I read it, I need a shower. But do I *believe* it? Hell no. And I'm sure she wouldn't be offended by my saying so. I don't *believe* in the DOOUL-verse either, and I write the fucking thing. But it's been problematic for me lately, and for just that reason. Guys, sex is hot. Guy sex is hot. A/S sex is so hot I can scream when it's done well. But you know what is hotter? BELIEVABLE A/S sex.

Clarification? Sure. When you find a ship, you find a foundation. Stories that everyone knows, and reads, and talk about. People in A/S have Saber, Tink, Av, Jessica Walker, maybe even me. They read the stuff and go.."oh, people buy this ship! I don't have to do any background! It's already been done!" 

Again, I'm not pointing fingers, I did it too. My first fic used *the* single most cliche'd way of getting A/S together EVER. I killed off Buffy. Snerk. (Years later of course, Joss would do it too, only the boy vamps didn't get to fuck afterwards. Damn him!) There was absolutely NO thought required on my part as to why they would snog. The girl between them was gone, they had "history" (this was before FFL and the Dru-Sired-Spike canon which is a whole other kit n caboodle), they were both vamps, they both had dicks, they snogged. End of tale. I got a bunch of feedback. It was nice. But ...

There was something major missing. Someone who was NOT an A/S Shipper would have looked at that story and went WTF??? And many people do the same now, particularly those who are new to the fandom. Angel and Spike haven't shared any meaningful screentime in months, and when we saw them together in flashbacks, they were at each other's throats..literally. So a newbie who likes slash could conceivably look at an A/S archive and wonder if we've all lost our bleeding minds. 

I'm not talking about defending Slash. Hell, you get that or you don't. I'm not even talking about defending the A/S ship, for much the same reason. What I'm talking about is what separates mediocre fanfiction from excellent fanfiction. I'm talking about writing a story where both men are recognizable, putting them together FOR A REASON and making me BUY IT.

Examples? Hell yea. Jessica Walker: To Take You In (pre-FFL Canon), Many Loves (post-FFL Canon), Criss Moody: By Her Side, Ducks: London Rain (A/S post-Shanshu) Maayan & Tink: Carrying Winter (during 'Epiphany'). Each of these fics spells out specifically what the fuck two sworn enemies are doing, well, fucking. And the stories do it with style, and individuality, and damn, they do it well. No two stories have the same flavor. But they do all have the same POINT. They sell a ship that many believe is unbelievable. 

That's what I need...*crave* of late. I'm having trouble accepting anything less, from myself and anyone else. So DOOUL is on hold. And I'm even branching out into some hetfic. I'm sure I'll write more A/S. It's my heart. But I won't read it or write it unless it fulfills one simple criteria for me. Not 'could it happen on prime time TV'? 'Cause well, as much slashy subtext as there sure is in Jossverse, we still ain't ever gonna see the boys cuddling like Willow/Tara do (damn again). But if Jossverse was rated NC-17, and was extra-homo-freindly, would the story in question be a possibility? And more importantly, are these guys the Spike and Angel that Joss created, and whom I love? Or are they conveniently named but poorly characterized versions in a one-dimensional story written to satisfy a fantasy I can't share in anymore without feeling the lack? 

'Cause I love my A/S so much, that I'd sooner move on ship-wise than settle for second best with these boys.
 

You talkin' to me?

"You make alot of valid points about the nature of ships across fandoms.."
-Maayan

"Thats the problem with 
A/S these days. Not 
lack of quantity, but lack of
QUALITY."
-Avie

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OF THE THEN
 

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