I've been following this thread since it started, and I thought I'd share my thoughts too.

Before I begin, let it be known that I've never lost anyone close to me, which may explain my current behaviour towards deathfics. Also - I haven't read much deathfic, so a good part of my views is based on literature books I've read that end with, or include, deaths ('Uncle Tom's Cabin', which has already been mentioned, and others). I have the same attitude towards books and fanfics, though, so I guess it's pretty safe to do that.

Deathfic is to me like any other fanfic genre. If it's well-written, I'll read it. Jackie said everything I'd want to say on catharsis, and I must say, catharsis works for me; besides, I'm of the kind who tend to express their feelings out loud (i.e. having temper tantrums etc.). A deathfic or otherwise angstfic has the power to dig in my soul, find all the negative feelings bottled in, and take them away with it when it's over. And that's particularly effective if it makes me cry, too; I love it when the story has the ability to work as an emotional rollercoaster of me, whether of happy or sad feelings. (The fact that I'm a huge fan of comedies must mean something.) A good deathfic/angstfic might make me feel sad, but afterwards I'll remember it and think, 'oh, that was *some* ride'!

Now, I understand that those who don't like deathfic might actually enjoy angstfic, but I can't help it - to me, death in fics is nothing more than an angst tool, and, in fact, my behaviour towards deathfic is the same as towards any angstfic. Some will argue that a deathfic generally can't have a happy ending, while an angstfic can, and that's what makes the difference. Well, to tell you the truth, to me it doesn't make much of a difference. "It's not the destination, it's the journey that counts," as others have said before me. I mean, I *will* be hoping for everyone to end up alive and well, but if they don't... well, that's life. I'll probably get sad, or angry (you wouldn't want to be near me when I first read 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix', where one of my favourite HP characters dies. I was mad with fury.) but I'll eventually get over it, and it'll feel good when I do.

Besides, by relating with the feelings of the heroes, I can get to experience things through the safety of living in reality; in the end, nobody will really die, and I'll have become acquainted (if only a little) with the feelings of loss, while I will be feeling cleansed of the negativity that often finds a hiding place inside me and builds up until it's explosion time. (Besides, 'catharsis' means exactly that: 'cleansing'.)

And since someone already mentioned Becky Bain's Ad Astra Per Aspera, I have to say it's one of my favourite L&C fics ever.

Same is my attitude towards writing angstfics/deathfics. I've written one L&C deathfic - it was one of my first fics, and it was far from a masterpiece, but I enjoyed exploring the feelings of guilt and loss through it. And, once I was done writing it, it was great to feel the relief of having the negativity out of my system.

Also, I've got four original pieces, of length varying from 2 to 5 pages. One of them is a story of someone dying, one is somebody's reflections on someone else's death, and the other two are not death-related, but relatively angsty. I wasn't feeling 'down' when I wrote them, the ideas just came to me. When I told my best friend about them, she shuddered. "Why be so macabre?" she asked. I didn't know what to say, except that my mind just worked like that at that moment. I can only say one thing for sure; it was satisfying to write these pieces. And I like reading them as well. For all the reasons I mentioned above.

BTW, Lab - that's one awesome link.

And one question: Is, say, a fic about Mayson's death considered a deathfic? I mean, of course it includes death and everything, but she dies anyway in the show.

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

What we've got here is failure to communicate...