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like the wayback machine, but MORE HILARIOUS
I'm not quite sure how this came about -- probably it came into my head from the combination of a discussion on rereading Harry Potter and something I saw in the Thirty Days of Fanfic meme that's going around -- but I have been thinking about Fandom Firsts. Okay, you've got a new fandom: what was the first fic you remember reading? Did it make any lasting impact on your experience with said fandom? &c.
Here are some of mine!
Harry Potter. I first got into Harry Potter about six months after Goblet of Fire came out, back when personal -- usually geocities -- websites were just starting to migrate to fanfiction.net, FictionAlley was just getting started, and it wasn't unheard of to come across fic that had no incorporated canon knowledge beyond Prisoner of Azkaban. (Holy shit, I feel old. Also, Microsoft Word seems to think that 'Azkaban' is an acceptable word in the English language. How times change.) Basically, what I'm saying is that the first thing I read was Harry/Hermione fic I discovered via the now long-defunct Unofficial Harry Potter Fanclub. The fic had, I believe, pink text on a black background, and featured McGonagall as Hermione's BFF. Needless to say, I was a bit bewildered by this strange expression of a fan's love.
The first thing I remember discovering and loving, though, was (please keep in mind I was thirteen at the time) The Eliza Trilogy. I am so glad the internet keeps records of everything! I am so delighted that I was around with a front-row seat to all the absurdity! And -- okay, I would never, ever read it again, but I have this absurd fondness in my soul for it. I THOUGHT THE PLOT TWIST WAS ASTONISHING. Oh thirteen-year-old Aria, you crack me up. (Sidebar: now I want to make younger self comics a la Kate Beaton, only mine would be me going "Hi, younger self! What fic are you reading?" and then my younger self would be a bit affronted when I'd start rolling around on the floor laughing.)
ANYWAY. Bearing in mind that I was in Harry Potter fandom for a long time, and it was my formative fannish experience, I have another Harry Potter first: Baby's First Slash Fic. At the time I read it, I'd known what slash was for a while, but when I first stumbled across it I felt sort of shocked and uncomfortable. (And my first reaction, after feeling shocked and uncomfortable, was "Oh god, was that a homophobic reaction? It's bad to be uncomfortable!" I also want to give my younger self hugs and, when she is ready, girlfriends.) But eventually, because I loved Remus Lupin to death, I decided I would take a deep breath and go for it, and I read the still quite sweet Remus/Sirius fic Out of the Woods by Canis M. (Searching SugarQuill for it, I discover that I have a huge nostalgic love for everything she wrote.) I fell completely in love and pretty much didn't read anything but Remus/Sirius for about a year.
The funny thing is, I can easily mark major periods of my life by what fandom I was enthusiastic about at the time, and yet those aren't always the fandoms that I have imprint fic for. Good Omens was most of sophomore year of high school, but I read all the fic in a go, so the only vivid memory I have that stands out from the rest is Ordinary People by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
daegaer. (I suspect I would still love her stuff unconditionally; I just haven't read it in ages.)
Meanwhile, fandoms by which I don't mark time still sometimes have That Fic for me. For instance, I had at most a brief flirtation with Stargate Atlantis in 2006, but oh boy, astolat's Transcendental. I read it with feverish delight at an internet café in York, of all places, and while I think other SGA fics have eclipsed this one as Best SGA Fic Ever (coughSheppard'sLawandWrittenbytheVictorscough), Transcendental still holds a special place in my soul.
Back in the realm of fandoms I do mark time by, I ... also don't have that fic for Doctor Who. I first got fannishly involved readingnostalgia_lj's Doctor Who squeecaps, which ... probably explains a lot, not least my still-ongoing desire to Give The Girls Some Goddamn Agency and just write Rose/Martha already. Fic didn't get me into Doctor/Master, either unless Rusty's stuff counts as fic, which it might. But, um, I can probably blame New Dawn Fades by omphalos for the strength of my fascination, my sudden enthusiasm for Gallifrey, and probably the naming of things, so, y'know, I will blame it. With great affection.
Moving right along, due South! I ... kind of have three, all of them helpfully documented, because this was the point at which I started fairly faithfully keeping a delicious account. First we have two of Speranza's, Interrogation and Ping. Interrogation was definitely first, and I knew instantly that I was gonna like this fandom, but Ping is the one that fills me with fuzzy first-fic love; it's so absurd and damaged.
The third one is a slightly different animal. It is old school! It's Aristide and Bone's How Ray Got His Groove Back, and I think reading it was the point at which I sat down hard and went "...oh, this fandom is going to be different." Because, although I started being FIAWOL only about a year after it was posted, I was in Harry Potter fandom, which was where all the teenagers and feral fans and &c were hanging out; Harry Potter isn't an old school fandom. Due South, on the other hand, is some weird hybrid fandom that NEVER DIES (god I love due South fandom) and so, in a way, this story was my introduction to fandom all over again, via textual time machine.
Our next logical regression, therefore, bringing us up to date (while still staying in the early 2000s!) is Highlander. Delicious tells me that the first fic I bookmarked was astolat's Friend of the Devil, which mm, yes, but in the interest of clarity I think the first fic goes down as The Declaration, another of Aristide's. Look at it! It's so old school I can hardly stand it, but unlike a lot of the other old school Highlander fic, it doesn't make my eyes bleed. It also, Methos, um, yes. Yes. I have found (newer) things that I've liked better since, because they are closest to my current fandom sensibilities, but ... I sort of like the circularity of it.
Maybe when I'm finished laughing at my younger self, she can, with absolute justification, laugh back at me.
And what about you guys? If you do absurd things like imprint on old fic enough to remember it, I'd be fascinated to hear what it is. And seriously, don't be embarrassed. My stuff is all old school slash or Eliza Snape, okay, I will really not judge you.
Here are some of mine!
Harry Potter. I first got into Harry Potter about six months after Goblet of Fire came out, back when personal -- usually geocities -- websites were just starting to migrate to fanfiction.net, FictionAlley was just getting started, and it wasn't unheard of to come across fic that had no incorporated canon knowledge beyond Prisoner of Azkaban. (Holy shit, I feel old. Also, Microsoft Word seems to think that 'Azkaban' is an acceptable word in the English language. How times change.) Basically, what I'm saying is that the first thing I read was Harry/Hermione fic I discovered via the now long-defunct Unofficial Harry Potter Fanclub. The fic had, I believe, pink text on a black background, and featured McGonagall as Hermione's BFF. Needless to say, I was a bit bewildered by this strange expression of a fan's love.
The first thing I remember discovering and loving, though, was (please keep in mind I was thirteen at the time) The Eliza Trilogy. I am so glad the internet keeps records of everything! I am so delighted that I was around with a front-row seat to all the absurdity! And -- okay, I would never, ever read it again, but I have this absurd fondness in my soul for it. I THOUGHT THE PLOT TWIST WAS ASTONISHING. Oh thirteen-year-old Aria, you crack me up. (Sidebar: now I want to make younger self comics a la Kate Beaton, only mine would be me going "Hi, younger self! What fic are you reading?" and then my younger self would be a bit affronted when I'd start rolling around on the floor laughing.)
ANYWAY. Bearing in mind that I was in Harry Potter fandom for a long time, and it was my formative fannish experience, I have another Harry Potter first: Baby's First Slash Fic. At the time I read it, I'd known what slash was for a while, but when I first stumbled across it I felt sort of shocked and uncomfortable. (And my first reaction, after feeling shocked and uncomfortable, was "Oh god, was that a homophobic reaction? It's bad to be uncomfortable!" I also want to give my younger self hugs and, when she is ready, girlfriends.) But eventually, because I loved Remus Lupin to death, I decided I would take a deep breath and go for it, and I read the still quite sweet Remus/Sirius fic Out of the Woods by Canis M. (Searching SugarQuill for it, I discover that I have a huge nostalgic love for everything she wrote.) I fell completely in love and pretty much didn't read anything but Remus/Sirius for about a year.
The funny thing is, I can easily mark major periods of my life by what fandom I was enthusiastic about at the time, and yet those aren't always the fandoms that I have imprint fic for. Good Omens was most of sophomore year of high school, but I read all the fic in a go, so the only vivid memory I have that stands out from the rest is Ordinary People by
daegaer. (I suspect I would still love her stuff unconditionally; I just haven't read it in ages.)Meanwhile, fandoms by which I don't mark time still sometimes have That Fic for me. For instance, I had at most a brief flirtation with Stargate Atlantis in 2006, but oh boy, astolat's Transcendental. I read it with feverish delight at an internet café in York, of all places, and while I think other SGA fics have eclipsed this one as Best SGA Fic Ever (coughSheppard'sLawandWrittenbytheVictorscough), Transcendental still holds a special place in my soul.
Back in the realm of fandoms I do mark time by, I ... also don't have that fic for Doctor Who. I first got fannishly involved reading
nostalgia_lj's Doctor Who squeecaps, which ... probably explains a lot, not least my still-ongoing desire to Give The Girls Some Goddamn Agency and just write Rose/Martha already. Fic didn't get me into Doctor/Master, either omphalos for the strength of my fascination, my sudden enthusiasm for Gallifrey, and probably the naming of things, so, y'know, I will blame it. With great affection.Moving right along, due South! I ... kind of have three, all of them helpfully documented, because this was the point at which I started fairly faithfully keeping a delicious account. First we have two of Speranza's, Interrogation and Ping. Interrogation was definitely first, and I knew instantly that I was gonna like this fandom, but Ping is the one that fills me with fuzzy first-fic love; it's so absurd and damaged.
The third one is a slightly different animal. It is old school! It's Aristide and Bone's How Ray Got His Groove Back, and I think reading it was the point at which I sat down hard and went "...oh, this fandom is going to be different." Because, although I started being FIAWOL only about a year after it was posted, I was in Harry Potter fandom, which was where all the teenagers and feral fans and &c were hanging out; Harry Potter isn't an old school fandom. Due South, on the other hand, is some weird hybrid fandom that NEVER DIES (god I love due South fandom) and so, in a way, this story was my introduction to fandom all over again, via textual time machine.
Our next logical regression, therefore, bringing us up to date (while still staying in the early 2000s!) is Highlander. Delicious tells me that the first fic I bookmarked was astolat's Friend of the Devil, which mm, yes, but in the interest of clarity I think the first fic goes down as The Declaration, another of Aristide's. Look at it! It's so old school I can hardly stand it, but unlike a lot of the other old school Highlander fic, it doesn't make my eyes bleed. It also, Methos, um, yes. Yes. I have found (newer) things that I've liked better since, because they are closest to my current fandom sensibilities, but ... I sort of like the circularity of it.
Maybe when I'm finished laughing at my younger self, she can, with absolute justification, laugh back at me.
And what about you guys? If you do absurd things like imprint on old fic enough to remember it, I'd be fascinated to hear what it is. And seriously, don't be embarrassed. My stuff is all old school slash or Eliza Snape, okay, I will really not judge you.
no subject
The first fanfic that I actually "imprinted" on, I think -- as a reader, not a writer -- would have been Star Trek: The New Voyages (the Marshak/Culbreath book, not the much more recent fanvid-series); specifically, the story that stuck was Ruth Berman's "Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited". And it should be noted that I bought the book new when it first came out (eep!). I don't think the book was my absolute first encounter with fanfic, but it's the first that stuck.
Next we hit the work(s) that permanently hooked me on crossovers, also dating from waaaaay back: that would be the eight issues of The Holmesian Federation. I actually ran across the zine about halfway through its run, but eventually acquired copies of all eight issues, which I still have.
My first major brush with online fanfic also precedes the Web proper; I was hanging around on various parts of the GEnie sci-fi community during the composition of an epic multi-author crossover crackfic known as "Bugs Bunny vs. the Borg" (aka "Carrot Juice, Earl Grey. Hot"). Regrettably, it's not presently available on the Web (and I foolishly failed to capture a copy a year or so ago when it turned up briefly). This was a novel-length affair in which a holodeck accident in the early stages of the TNG episode "Best of Both Worlds" brings a veritable encyclopedia of toon characters to life on and around the USS Enterprise-D as heroes and villains alike ("I am Wocutus of Borg. Pwepawe to be assimiwated.").
Now we jump forward dramatically, because after GEnie, I more or less gafiated and didn't go hunting fanfic at all for a number of years. And then Gargoyles happened, and then I did, and one of the first things I found was All Through the Night. Which was not just Gargoyles fic, but also excellent crossover fic of the right kind, and I was back to reading fanfic in at least a few of my fandoms-of-interest. It is very much Merlin Missy's fault, in a good way, that I rediscovered the fic world and have stayed around at least on its fringes since.
Now we jump forward some more, because the fandom that kicked me into actually writing fic in an active way was Kim Possible. And here I have to point at two stories: Rocinante's Anything Is Possible, whose strong meta qualities had me hooked very early on (I kept saying "he can't DO that!"...and then he did, and made it work), and Allaine's An Unacceptable Sitch, which turned a lot of my prior assumptions about slash inside out, again in a very good way, on the way to telling a d*mned good story and launching a really excellent series. I signed up on FF.Net in order to review Rocinante's work, found a community of supportive KP writers there, and produced several stories (and fragments of stories) before wandering across to LJ and Yuletide and from there to Dreamwidth and AO3.
And that's probably much more than you wanted to know.... :-)
no subject
I am now deeply in love with the whole notion of the Holmesian Federation, by the way. :D
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One fascinating bit: it goes against a lot of what's supposed to be the fanfic-community norm, but the KP community over on FF.Net was (and to some extent remains) largely populated by adult males, including a significant number of folks over 40, though I didn't actually realize this till after I'd become established there. It's not that there are no tween-and-up girls there -- quite the contrary -- but it's enough of a contrast to the prevailing demographic that I sometimes react a little sharply to some of the more aggressively feminist corners of the fic communities.
"Carrot Juice, Earl Grey. Hot"
(Anonymous) 2011-09-17 05:22 am (UTC)(link)I wrote for the only non-WB characters, the Ducks!
How I really the SFRT on GEnie!!!
Re: "Carrot Juice, Earl Grey. Hot"
Re: "Carrot Juice, Earl Grey. Hot"
(Anonymous) 2011-09-19 06:58 am (UTC)(link)We started it as a lark... just something funny. One person was WAY over serious about it, but ya know... it really WAS fun!
Still can't believe it was 20 years ago!