*g* Your beautiful Cordelia icons are always welcome, of course! She creeps closer to Wes for my favourite character with the more fanfic I read.

And vanilla is precisely the word I was looking for but couldn't think of when replying originally. The Angel novels, and even original fiction to an extent, must conform to a certain standard of acceptable story-telling. Angel writers mustn't upset too many of the fans, and those setting up their own story must spend time building characters in a way that's already done for us in fanfiction.

I think that's why I find fanfiction so much more satisfying. The - I don't want to say boring - bits have already been covered in canon, so the fanfic writer can take their creativity to a much more complex level without sacrificing background.

I this making any sense? *scratches head*