The fanfic community is a very cliquish place. I've accepted this. One could even go so far as to call the DL crew and our buddies a clique (though I do hope we don't come across as one). For the most part I just don't care. But there is this one fic clique who irritates me to no end. I'm not naming any names (or fics), I'm not trying to start anything, I just need to vent. To begin with, I (and most of my friends) think that a lot of their work is extremely flawed and overrated, albeit technically well written. The flaws (which include poor characterization, the occasional neglecting or blatant ignoring of canon, a lack of any real plot or gigantic holes in logic when an actual plot is attempted) don't seem to matter to the rest of creation, though, because these folks have a very rabid following. And that's fine. I don't begrudge them. They put in a lot of work and they do have talent. What it really boils down to is that the style most of these ladies specialize in just isn't my thing. I don't enjoy darkness for the sake of darkness, I don't care for gratuitous shocks or graphic sex for the sake of sensationalism. Not that they're writing PWP, and not that there's anything wrong with that; but that stuff is not what Buffy is about, a lot of stuff that happens in their fics is not something that the characters on the show would ever do, and it just doesn't feel like Buffy to me. I prefer fic that actually tells a story and makes an effort to get the voices close, if not always spot on and that has a good balance of humor and angst. And that has the characters behaving in character. Out of characterness is probably my biggest fic turn-off, after bad spelling and grammar.

Anyway. But there is an audience out there, obviously, for their work, and that's great. To each his own. But the thing about this group that just pisses me off is the mutual ego masturbation they engage in on message boards and such. They'll take over a recommendation thread, overshadowing all other recommendations, touting each others work and congratulating each other and engaging in false humility and asserting the wonderfullness of their own works and saying thank you to the occasional fangirl who manages to get a word in edge-wise to tell them that yes, they are indeed wonderful. And woe to the person who disagrees and is brave enough to pipe up and pronounce any of their work as less than wonderful. There is only one member of this clique who is truly classy about accepting criticism. Her fic is probably my least favorite of the bunch, but she's the only one whom I really respect. But it's not just touting their fic. The adoration of their fic reading public has gone to their heads so much that they consider themselves authorities on all aspects of fic, and overwhelm discussions about other works and other aspects of writing fic with their pronouncements of what is good and what works and what doesn't and what every writer should do to be as wonderful as they are. Feh. In short, their big egos and know-it-allness peeve me to no end and turn me off of wanting to read any of their fic, no matter how well written or celebrated. I should say that for the most part they otherwise seem like nice people, but, damn. Reign it in already. You are loved. You don't have to advertise this fact and wheedle for yet more love everywhere you go.

My real point here is that I'm as much of a praise-and-attention whore as anybody when it comes to my fic; but I try to let my work speak for itself. I love my writer friends, I sincerely think adjrun and fenwic and aureliozen are some of the best writers of fic out there, and I would herald them more if they'd, you know, finish a fic just once. And we have been known to speak up and defend our decisions when we don't agree with specific criticism, but we've also been known to cop to it when criticism is fair. But even so, I'm pretty sure we don't ever behave in the fashion described above. And if we ever do? Please tell us so that we can stop.

And I will also admit to a certain amount of envy on my part. DL is well loved, and I've gotten a fair share of praise and awards for my other fics, so I'm not whining; but all of us put a LOT of work into not only each chapter of DL but into our non-DL fics as well. We try very hard to match the tone of the show and strive for good characterization and character voices. Everything we write gets the hell betaed out of it, and nothing gets posted until it's done right. We're not perfectionists (well, I'm not, at any rate), but we do care about turning in a quality product. Every fic I write, I pretend I'm auditioning for Joss himself. None of us think that we're so great that we don't need to put in that extra effort to make sure it's good. So, yeah, I get irked when one of our fics gets totally overshadowed by one of theirs. It's human nature, and I'll cop to it without any shame. Though it does make me feel better to see my fic getting recommended by total strangers when theirs is usually first recced (and seconded) by their friends. So, nyah.

Feels good to have that off my chest. And now I'm going to lock myself up and write. I'm going to finish part 3 of the new fic today, and afterwards I'll work on revising part 2 and getting it ready to post.

Did I mention that I'm done with school until January 13? Well, I am. Wheeee!