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Dude, the Journeyverse is what Sylum Clan wishes it could be.
Been rereading bits at the archive the past couple days. This archive? Hasn't been updated since October, so the stats are a little off. But it currently contains 109 stories, clocking in at 12112.6 Kb. And this is a WiP, people (begun three or four years ago and still going strong, with near constant updates in the yahoogroup, if not on the archive).
One series. More than 150 'verses crossed over. And about a dozen authors.
But it's so much better than Sylum Clan will ever be. The stories make a much better coherent whole, for one thing.
The Journeyverse has a definitively lead character. Tenhawk's Xander acts as a lynch pin for the series, an object of commonality for all the various characters.
It also respects the integrity of its 'verses. The Sylum Clan stories rewrite basically the whole histories of most of their characters. Which is fine; it could work if you took the time to do it right. But they didn't. They rushed it and we're left wondering how much of what we know, exactly, is still true about the characters (especially since they even go so far as to outright deny the canon of some characters).
The Journeyverse is also a lot more fluid. Relationships change and grow; people change and grow. Hell, if the scuttlebutt's right, Ten and Kyle decided to reset the whole damn 'verse for true on a fucking dare (the end of Sword of Life erased all the history developed in the previous stories for all but a handful of people). You don't get much more fluid than that.
The Sylum stories, however, are all about the permanent relationships. A majority of the characters (or at least, what seems to be a majority; I haven't actually done a tally) are lockstepped literally for life. It's a lot harder to maintain dramatic tension when you know that no matter what, the relationship will survive.
Whereas Xander has had at least two relationships end (so far). And the break-ups were real. There were actual obstacles that love alone couldn't conquer. And people, main character type people, actually die. Okay, in Sword of Life, they basically all die, but that doesn't count. In stories other than that, people die. And they don't all come back.
I think the differences in quality can actually be attributed to two things. One, the lead character thing, I already mentioned. The other is Tenhawk himself (he's the original author).
See, he's kind of a control freak. He's very clear on what he will and won't allow in his 'verse (absolutely NO Spuffy, for one thing). And he's really good at picking good authors. And, y'know, he's pretty fucking good himself. And Jesus Christ, is he prolific.
Anyway. The Journeyverse is cool (if you like Xander the same near-obsessive way I do). You should check it out.
The Journeyverse: Stories
Note: This is het. Mostly. There's some femslash (Willow/Tara seem to be considered pretty much MFEO, for one, and there some other f/f, but it's non-graphic), but there's no m/m slash. Yeah, I know, I'm a bad slasher. A massively multiverse het crossover? How could I? It's just that damn good, that's how. Also, I found Journeys on ff.net and got kind of immediately hooked without having any concept of the scope.
Been rereading bits at the archive the past couple days. This archive? Hasn't been updated since October, so the stats are a little off. But it currently contains 109 stories, clocking in at 12112.6 Kb. And this is a WiP, people (begun three or four years ago and still going strong, with near constant updates in the yahoogroup, if not on the archive).
One series. More than 150 'verses crossed over. And about a dozen authors.
But it's so much better than Sylum Clan will ever be. The stories make a much better coherent whole, for one thing.
The Journeyverse has a definitively lead character. Tenhawk's Xander acts as a lynch pin for the series, an object of commonality for all the various characters.
It also respects the integrity of its 'verses. The Sylum Clan stories rewrite basically the whole histories of most of their characters. Which is fine; it could work if you took the time to do it right. But they didn't. They rushed it and we're left wondering how much of what we know, exactly, is still true about the characters (especially since they even go so far as to outright deny the canon of some characters).
The Journeyverse is also a lot more fluid. Relationships change and grow; people change and grow. Hell, if the scuttlebutt's right, Ten and Kyle decided to reset the whole damn 'verse for true on a fucking dare (the end of Sword of Life erased all the history developed in the previous stories for all but a handful of people). You don't get much more fluid than that.
The Sylum stories, however, are all about the permanent relationships. A majority of the characters (or at least, what seems to be a majority; I haven't actually done a tally) are lockstepped literally for life. It's a lot harder to maintain dramatic tension when you know that no matter what, the relationship will survive.
Whereas Xander has had at least two relationships end (so far). And the break-ups were real. There were actual obstacles that love alone couldn't conquer. And people, main character type people, actually die. Okay, in Sword of Life, they basically all die, but that doesn't count. In stories other than that, people die. And they don't all come back.
I think the differences in quality can actually be attributed to two things. One, the lead character thing, I already mentioned. The other is Tenhawk himself (he's the original author).
See, he's kind of a control freak. He's very clear on what he will and won't allow in his 'verse (absolutely NO Spuffy, for one thing). And he's really good at picking good authors. And, y'know, he's pretty fucking good himself. And Jesus Christ, is he prolific.
Anyway. The Journeyverse is cool (if you like Xander the same near-obsessive way I do). You should check it out.
The Journeyverse: Stories
Note: This is het. Mostly. There's some femslash (Willow/Tara seem to be considered pretty much MFEO, for one, and there some other f/f, but it's non-graphic), but there's no m/m slash. Yeah, I know, I'm a bad slasher. A massively multiverse het crossover? How could I? It's just that damn good, that's how. Also, I found Journeys on ff.net and got kind of immediately hooked without having any concept of the scope.
