My Story (Or: How I Came To Be The Fan Fiction Addict That I Am)
I found fan fiction in a really roundabout way. I guess I always knew about it, but I kind of thought it was cheesy. After all, the world of online fiction is only about 20% good stuff. Finding a well-written story is like using Google to get free mp3s; you have to sort through a lot of crap to get what you want. My first encounter happened in between Harry Potter books. I'll never forget it. I clicked the first story I saw and BAM! "Sirius knew he loved Remus, loved it when they touched, the feel of his skin sent shudders of wolf-energy over his wolf body. . ." For someone whose palette was refined completely on a diet of pure canonical goodness, it was a little hard to digest. After that, I didn't touch fan fiction for quite some time.
I came back into the loop after Episode II was released. Out of boredom, one day I Googled "Anakin and Padme" and it brought me to a fansite that I remain quite fond of, The Moons of Iego. It's got a fanfiction section that is absolutely fantastic. (My favorite story, by the way, is Echoes in Blue by Dangermousie.) I decided to try another taste of the fan fiction community while waiting for Book 6; it was also from another approved posting site, Mugglenet Fan Fiction. I found some things I liked this time, especially Catching a Flower by Messrs Fuzzbutt and Fantail, but at that time I still wasn't over the moon about anything in particular. The years passed and Book 7 was two years away when I finally got up the courage to try posting my own story. (Don't ask the penname, it was something completely ridiculous like Phoenix Fire or Feather Quill or Phoenix Feather Quill.) It was a continuation; and it was rejected time and time again for being "too short". Needless to say, I was pretty hurt.
It was around that time that I caught an episode of Gilmore Girls at a party, and I fell in love with it. The old episodes were aired at night and I soon became a complete quotable fan. I don't know exactly how I got to Fanfiction.net, but I ended up there in search of some Gilmore fiction. Believe it or not, I was originally a Rory/Logan-er. . . but that was only because I had hopped into the series midway! The minute the reruns hit season 2, I was Jess-and-Rory all the way. It was only when I was searching for stories about them that I began to truly realize what online fiction could be, and I account a lot of that to the reigning queen of the Rory/Jess - FallAway. I mean, I got there and I was reading some okay stories; low-quality stuff that I had become accustomed to. But she rocked my world. I never understood that fiction could be written passionately or eloquently, that it could be meaningful. I arrived just as her golden age was ending, but I read her stuff and loved it. That was when I started using my Google-mp3-search comparison, because it just amazed me that Sam's work had to coexist with a lot of garbage.
And as they say, the rest is history. I worked up the pluck to start writing again, and posting. The penname comes from the two things I think make life worth living: love and music (though it could be argued that either is the other). I love Fanfiction.net because it gives freedom for expression. The early sites I knew weren't open posting, they needed approval. And while it's nice to have a crap filter, it must be realized that true art can exist in any form. And if that means finding the good story in a haystack full of stupid ones, then so be it. We've each got the right to search for something that speaks to us, even if no one else appreciates it. Isn't that what the Internet was invented for?
I came back into the loop after Episode II was released. Out of boredom, one day I Googled "Anakin and Padme" and it brought me to a fansite that I remain quite fond of, The Moons of Iego. It's got a fanfiction section that is absolutely fantastic. (My favorite story, by the way, is Echoes in Blue by Dangermousie.) I decided to try another taste of the fan fiction community while waiting for Book 6; it was also from another approved posting site, Mugglenet Fan Fiction. I found some things I liked this time, especially Catching a Flower by Messrs Fuzzbutt and Fantail, but at that time I still wasn't over the moon about anything in particular. The years passed and Book 7 was two years away when I finally got up the courage to try posting my own story. (Don't ask the penname, it was something completely ridiculous like Phoenix Fire or Feather Quill or Phoenix Feather Quill.) It was a continuation; and it was rejected time and time again for being "too short". Needless to say, I was pretty hurt.
It was around that time that I caught an episode of Gilmore Girls at a party, and I fell in love with it. The old episodes were aired at night and I soon became a complete quotable fan. I don't know exactly how I got to Fanfiction.net, but I ended up there in search of some Gilmore fiction. Believe it or not, I was originally a Rory/Logan-er. . . but that was only because I had hopped into the series midway! The minute the reruns hit season 2, I was Jess-and-Rory all the way. It was only when I was searching for stories about them that I began to truly realize what online fiction could be, and I account a lot of that to the reigning queen of the Rory/Jess - FallAway. I mean, I got there and I was reading some okay stories; low-quality stuff that I had become accustomed to. But she rocked my world. I never understood that fiction could be written passionately or eloquently, that it could be meaningful. I arrived just as her golden age was ending, but I read her stuff and loved it. That was when I started using my Google-mp3-search comparison, because it just amazed me that Sam's work had to coexist with a lot of garbage.
And as they say, the rest is history. I worked up the pluck to start writing again, and posting. The penname comes from the two things I think make life worth living: love and music (though it could be argued that either is the other). I love Fanfiction.net because it gives freedom for expression. The early sites I knew weren't open posting, they needed approval. And while it's nice to have a crap filter, it must be realized that true art can exist in any form. And if that means finding the good story in a haystack full of stupid ones, then so be it. We've each got the right to search for something that speaks to us, even if no one else appreciates it. Isn't that what the Internet was invented for?