I was made for lovin' you, baby...

[lettered]

I was going to do this whole thing for Unsung Heroes Week, like a post a day about all the people who make fandom great, and then I went on a trip, played host to my brother for a day, got sick, kept sneezing all over myself, and still feel like pumpkin-snot smeared on a toilet, so I abbreviated everything into one neat post wherein I jump up and down (jiggling my mucousy body) about two people I really appreciate the hell out of, except not because hopefully there's still some hell in them, especially in a2zmom so we can still do dirty things together.

One person I really appreciate the hell out of is chrisleeoctaves, except again, not to diminish her private hell or anything, because then she probably wouldn't give us such good angst.

I usually approach fandom sites from the POV of someone just starting to get into the fandom, because whenever I get into a new fandom the first thing I do is look at sites and find archives to read fic. And there's no better introduction to B/A and Jossverse than chrisleeoctaves's sites. All her sites are accessible--not only easy to navigate, elegantly formatted and thank god, SIMPLE, but pretty and inviting to look at. And everything is regularly updated without fail, which is a godsend for a newbie stumbling across old dead sites and people no longer involved in fandom (until I found Octaves I thought no one wrote in Jossverse any more, most of the sites I came across were so dead).

As for archives, I really respect keepers of massive archives that contain every fic ever written, but for someone just starting out, that can be so intimidating. The reason I love Sublime so damn much is that instead of taking the time to format and post every fic that crosses her path, chrisleeoctaves uses that time to pick and choose, and to *tell us* what's so special about every story on the archive. I found some of my favorite fics and favorite authors there, and I really owe it to chrisleeoctaves.

Another favorite site of mine is Good Words. Some of the names on that site are names I was hearing all over, but I didn't know anything about these people or what they wrote or why they were so special. chrisleeoctaves not only explains why these people are special to her personally, but gives us the chance to hear it straight from the horses' mouths--the authors themselves, what they write, why they write it, etc. As a new writer it gave me the chance to peek into the brains of genius. But not only that--when I first came into fandom I must say that so many of the other B/A sites I found often included bashing of other ships, characters, and people. But chrisleeoctaves is not about that in any way, shape, or form, and neither are her sites. Good Words forced me--a newbie so consumed by B/A love she had difficulty sparing a thought for anything else--to consider authors who weren't writing B/A, and Chris's frank admiration of them has always opened up doors for me.

Then there's Octaves itself, which hosts three of my favorite authors. Like the rest of us, Chris loves good fic, but she's more constructive about it than almost anyone I've ever known. She encourages people, recs people, gives people space to gab about themselves, gives people space for their own stories. She agrees to host the IWRY Marathon and not only has a fic for every day formatted and posted on time, but creates a site for it and gives awards for it and then asks us how it could've been better.

I want to go on about her fic now, how she's not afraid to try new things, about how her B/A is some of the best in the fandom. I want to go on about how wonderful a person Chris is, how she fans the flames of enthusiasm and adoration of B/A, Angel, and DB for so many of us, shares so much with us, is so giving and generous and kind. But you know, I think her sites and her journal and her presence in this fandom--always so warm and bright--speaks for itself. If you don't already know chrisleeoctaves, you're doing yourself a disservice.

Damn, that was some loquacious gushing.

The other person I appreciate to death (except, you know, don't die) is a2zmom.

a2zmom co-founded The Five Things Archive. She writes excellent fic. She does insightful meta, in typical a2z fashion: view of the characters straight out of canon, fresh and clear without fandom baggage attached, new, self-assured and hers because she thinks for herself, states her mind, and doesn't get bogged down in everyone else's opinions. She's snarky and smart about fic, cutting through crap, pointing out foibles in a clear, straight-forward no nonsense way I so admire, but also a way that's friendly and constructive and beneficial and entertaining.

And she carries that clear-headedness, that this is the way I see things, that objectivity and smartness (and cuteness!) everywhere she goes. When a2zmom recs fic it's not the same fic everyone always recs by the people everyone knows. Hell, sometimes she recs from fanfiction.net, which you don't see often on lj, because who has the wherewithal to trawl through all that crap for something that might be decent? But a2zmom is made of tough stuff, and you never see her crying tears of blood over bad!fic, but rather chuckling to herself quietly. I met a2zmom on ff.n. She left me positive fb. I asked for a beta, secretly hoping she'd offer, but being too afraid to ask her one on one in case she said no. Not knowing anything about me, not obliged to offer me a thing, she stepped up. And a2zmom is the best thing that could've happened to that fic (Best Souvenir) and to me. She helps me see the characters for who they really are, because a2zmom has the uncanny ability to make Buffy and Angel and so many others walk straight from the screen to her head to conversations/fic/meta, which is the true reason we rarely disagree about characterization.

And it's partly because of all this, because she sees things as they are and tells it like it is, that I admire a2zmom so much as a person. I look up to a2zmom. I trust a2zmom. I respect a2zmom. I'd turn to a2zmom for advice. I'd turn to a2zmom for a shoulder to cry on. I'd turn to a2zmom to show you just how I wish all people acted in both fandom and real life--no bullshit, just right. Like Outback kinda. Great now I'm hungry.

Am I the sappiest sap that ever did sap, or what?


The truth of it is, I appreciate every single person on my flist, and quite a few who are not. I appreciate your contributions, your fic, your ramblings about RL, your coolness or your hotness or your friendliness, or all these things together and more. I even appreciate the spams about crap I didn't need to know and don't give a fig for reading. And if you're my friend and I love talking to you I've probably already made it clear because as demonstrated above, I'm a mushy kinda gal.

Thank you:

alleynyc, for taking the time to 1. encourage someone new, 2. point out to me things that could improve my fic, 3. actually physically *helping* me improve my fic.
aloneinthetown, for 1. making me my Celes icon, and 2. making cool icons in general.
crazydiamondsue for 1. keeping fandom fun, 2. reminding us why Xander is cool, and 3. the work you do on su_herald.
germaine_pet for 1. beta'ing The Confessional even though it wasn't A/S! 2. giving us lynnevitational, 3. saying what you think and doing as you please, and 4. said it once and I'll say it again--being the goddess of my fic world.
janedavitt for 1. welcoming me to lj and answering my questions about it when we'd barely even gotten past "hello", 2. asking interesting questions, and 3. warning me about the two different versions of HP: GoF! Damn commercialism.
kita0610 for 1. discovering, reading, and reccing new people, 2. just cutting through all the crap--holding up the absurd, the idiotic, the outrageous and the wrongness to both inflame us and amuse us, and 3. your fic.
makd for 1. giving so much encouragement, 2. copious recs, and 3. being a good person.
romanyg for 1. paid time, omg!, 2. interesting discussion, 3. damn good fic.
southernbangel for 1. starting Unsung Heroes week! and 2. being so loving and friendly and funny.

And finally, I'm shutting up. Oh, and if we're somehow having a conversation, I'm still having it with you; I'm just miserably behind on comments, emails, and the ole flist. For real now, bye.

Comments

[crazydiamondsue.livejournal.com]

Xander is cool. It just really can't be said enough...and dude...what about his Magic Penis? Yeah.

I agree on all of these whole-heartedly.

(Did you know I threw my back out and no doubt missed a fascinating weekend of fic/discussion. So very sad.) Missed you!

[tkp.livejournal.com]

Of course, the whole post could've been summed up by:

'

Hopefully that'll make your back feel better, too? I'm sorry and no, I didn't know! I haven't been around as much as usual because of the whole Austin-brother-sick thing! *hugs you madly but very carefully*