tvrealm had a challenge where we were to explore TV Tropes either by show or by trope. They foolishly allowed meta, so I am doing that! Since Supernatural is tending to occupy my wheelhouse lately, I'm meta-ing about tropes found on the show.

Genre Savvy
A Genre Savvy character doesn't necessarily know they're in a story, but they do know of stories like their own and what worked in them and what didn't. More sophisicated versions will also know they can't tell which genre they are in (and are often in far more realistic or complicated genres that the stories they remember), or which characters they are.

( Self-awareness is a bitch )

Title: Through the Night
Fandom: Supernatural
Characters: Dean Winchester
Genre: Gen
Rating: PG
Word Count: 711
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Fanfic, for fun, not profit.
Summary/Notes: Written for SPN LAS. Prompt: An Endless Night

( Dean needs a little help to make it through. )

Title: If At First
Fandom: SPN
Characters: Dean, John
Genre: Gen
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1000
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Fanfic, for fun, not profit.
Summary: Written for spn_las with the prompt [character] gets stuck in a time loop situation. This fic ended up losing this round, but that's the way it goes on a LAS. (Also note there are a few changes that I made on this fic after it was submitted and voted on.)

( “Dad! Don’t!” )

Title: Hunter’s Discount
Fandom: SPN
Characters: Dean W.
Genre: Gen
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1000
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Fanfic, for fun, not profit.
Summary: Witten for spn_las on the prompt that we needed to write from a first person POV. I’m waiting to see what the one negative review it received, but I’m happy that it only got one. It’s outside POV and it a play on one of my most hated Mary Sue devices: the Mary Sue knows the boys are hunters just by glancing at them. I’m not sure I pulled it off and, as usual, the 1000 word limit was an issue with me.


( The car, a big black gunboat that had to be older than me, pulled into the open space in front of the office door. )

I discovered today, quite by accident, that Supernatural has replaced "24" as my must watch show. I was helping Myr with her school work and I said "Well, how 'bout you take a break at 8:30 and we can watch the DVR of 24." Then I paused and said "Wait. I mean Supernatural!"

Heh.

This is good because I really miss 24. And Supernatural fills that hole.

( Cut because while I doubt there are spoilers, better safe then flamed )

Title: All Sad Words
Fandom: Supernatural
Character John Winchester
Genre: Gen
Rating: PG
Word Count: 999
Warnings/Spoilers: Some references for some episodes in S1 and S2
Disclaimer: Fanfic, for fun, not profit.
Summary: Written for Round Two of spn_las, a Last Author Standing community for Supernatural. The prompt was "Lost Moments". I've got a fondness for John Winchester, an empathy for the terrible place he was in and a belief that he did the best he could. The fact that it all went to hell really wasn't his fault or even his responsibility. Sometimes there isn't a good choice and no one's best efforts would be good enough. (Title from a quote by John Greenleaf Whittier)

( For all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these, 'It might have been' )

Title: Nothing to be Scared of (5/5)
Fandom(s): Supernatural
Characters: Dean, Sam, John
Genre: Gen
Rating: R -- Language, violence/implied violence
Word Count: ~10,000 overall, 1415 this part
Warnings/Spoilers: Preseries
Disclaimer: Fanfic, for fun, not profit.
Summary: Written for afteriwake for the long-past-due SPN_Holiday. She wanted a story about Dean meeting a bully at school. I had every intention of doing that simple story, only it had a mind of it's own and it grew into something much longer. The basic concept is still there, just tweaked a little. I hope it still works for her, I just couldn't write a bully that Dean would actually be bullied by without taking it to this next step.
Note: Here's the final part. Hope you enjoyed it. Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 if you missed them.


( Dean woke to the quiet dark of a hospital room. )

Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed it! If you want, you can read the whole thing at my archive.

Title: Nothing to be Scared of (3/5)
Fandom(s): Supernatural
Characters: Dean, Sam, John
Genre: Gen
Rating: R -- Language, violence/implied violence
Word Count: ~10,000 overall, 1975 this part
Warnings/Spoilers: Preseries
Disclaimer: Fanfic, for fun, not profit.
Summary: Written for afteriwake for the long-past-due SPN_Holiday. She wanted a story about Dean meeting a bully at school. I had every intention of doing that simple story, only it had a mind of it's own and it grew into something much longer. The basic concept is still there, just tweaked a little. I hope it still works for her, I just couldn't write a bully that Dean would actually be bullied by without taking it to this next step.
Note: Posted in five parts, I plan on posting one part a day. Read Part 1 and Part 2 if you missed them.

(  This was probably the stupidest thing he'd ever done, Dean thought. )

Title: Nothing to be Scared of (1/5)
Fandom(s): Supernatural
Characters: Dean, Sam, John
Genre: Gen
Rating: R – Language, violence/implied violence
Word Count: ~10,000 overall, 1785 this part
Warnings/Spoilers: Preseries
Disclaimer: Fanfic, for fun, not profit.
Summary: Written for afteriwake for the long-past-due SPN_Holiday. She wanted a story about Dean meeting a bully at school. I had every intention of doing that simple story, only it had a mind of it's own and it grew into something much longer. The basic concept is still there, just tweaked a little. I hope it still works for her, I just couldn't write a bully that Dean would actually be bullied by without taking it to this next step.
Note: Posted in five parts, I plan on posting one part a day.

(  Dean Winchester may have only been twelve-years-old, but he was dead certain of two things: )

I did this list for a crossover discussion on spnroundtable. I thought I'd post it here because they are all good stories.

Keep in mind who I am. These are gen stories that stick close to canon (mostly) and are all about the characterizations. Since romance and porn usually bore me, I'm not going to recommend them. Crossovers do tend to be AU-ish, but the ones that go massively off track are labeled as such.

jujuberry136 has two SPM/CM fics: The Time Has Come to Be Gone and When You are Done. They are both set more in the Supernatural world than in the Criminal Minds one -- although I really like how she merged the two in the sequel. Some of the things in the plot are AU enough make my canon-obsessed self squirm, but it's done so damn well that it doesn't distract from my enjoyment of the fics. The characterizations are amazing and she manages to make all the characters smart and valuable, something that is almost impossible when dealing with a crossover that has some many characters.

art_savage wrote This Bitter Earth which is my favorite CM/SPN crossover to date. It's more Dean than Sam and she limits the number of CM people involved but, IMHO, it makes for a solid story that way. I hold out hope for a sequel. The very best thing about this fic is the wonderful characterization of Dean and of the boy's relationship at the end of season four. Dead on, but yet not completely lacking warmth and love.

Off LJ, kikkimax has two fics Defect and it's sequel Hell, and Back. Set after season two they are AU. I enjoyed the first one but in all honesty, I haven't read the sequel because it was so very AU. Remember, though, that my not reading the fic had nothing to do with the quality of the fic, but rather my inability to remove my canon blinders. I enjoyed the characterization in "Defect" and really liked how she used all the characters and her plot to get Dean out of his "deal with the devil". I also need to point out that I really don't like Gideon, but this fic made me forget that.

Over on ff.net, I like Hunters and Prey/Facade by PaBurke. It's short but good. Once again it's well-written enough for me to like Gideon. I really think she captures the difficulties the CM team would have if they would run to the Winchester brothers. Not in profiling them, but in dealing with the unknown that they are.

While searching for links for these recs, I also ran across a crossover by buffyaddict13 called Haunted Minds. I haven't read it, so I can't exactly recommend it, but I plan on reading it and thought I'd share. ETA: This fic is a WIP. Sorry 'bout that. It is a wonderfully well written WIP, a tad more emo than I usually go for but well-written enough to keep me going. It's heavily Reid-centric, but (IMO) keeps him in character. I feel the need to point out that, without an ending I just can't call it a "rec" because the ending will determine if I would ever read it a second time and wanting to reread a fic is paramount to me reccing it.

Added via a comment: baylorsr gives us Redux. Because of the type of fic it is, I'm only giving you her tease: "A Criminal Minds AU gen crossover. Takes place after 1.22, Devil’s Trap, immediately following the car accident. Agent Hotchner has been wanting to meet the Winchester family for a long time." It was well done and despite my dislike of AU fics, I will add my recommendation.

Added via kuroaloeart: lilaeth wrote Eat It, Twilight. It's a long piece (written for a big bang, I think) set in the fifth season of both shows. It takes a fairly harsh view of Twilight fans (or teenaged girls), but it's got the characterizations down pretty good. Fair warning: This is set between "Good God, Y'all" and "Free to be You and Me" and has all the issues that the boys had then.

I think that covers it. Hope you like them.

Oh... if you know of one that's not listed here, let me know. I've also ran across several NCIS and Numb3rs crossovers. I will share them at some future point.