The Fic That Hooked You: And How Bad Was It?

[Plotvitalnpc]

This sounds familiar.

Now, though, I tend to look at chapter length. If word count divided by chapter number gives me somewhere in the ballpark of 5,000 words, I expect a pretty good fic. If it's at least 2,000 words per chapter, I'll give it a try if the summary seems promising (that includes, y'know, having been proofread). Less than 2,000 words per chapter and the likelihood that the story is shit gets too high for me to bother opening it, most times.

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Not just that, but short chapters are really annoying to read, because you've constantly gotta go from one to the next. which hurts if you were actually starting to get immersed in what was going on.

 

[Leonidas333]

I remember the first one I read, but I cannot for the life of me remember how I found it. Did I do a google search? Linked by a friend site? I have no idea. But anyways, it was https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2426552/1/Kim-Possible-Mind-body-and-Soul (KiGo otp) and looking back its not... terrible? Its got acceptable writing, and while there is a bunch of cliche within the writing, and some characters are OOC, its not horrible enough that I condemn my past self for liking it.

 

[Selias]

This sounds familiar.

Now, though, I tend to look at chapter length. If word count divided by chapter number gives me somewhere in the ballpark of 5,000 words, I expect a pretty good fic. If it's at least 2,000 words per chapter, I'll give it a try if the summary seems promising (that includes, y'know, having been proofread). Less than 2,000 words per chapter and the likelihood that the story is shit gets too high for me to bother opening it, most times.

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That's exactly what I do.

 

[powerofvoid]

This sounds familiar.

Now, though, I tend to look at chapter length. If word count divided by chapter number gives me somewhere in the ballpark of 5,000 words, I expect a pretty good fic. If it's at least 2,000 words per chapter, I'll give it a try if the summary seems promising (that includes, y'know, having been proofread). Less than 2,000 words per chapter and the likelihood that the story is shit gets too high for me to bother opening it, most times.

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I draw a distinction between "stories with very short chapters" and "very short stories". Brevity is the soul of wit.

(Some multichapter "stories" are actually just collections,and those fall into the latter category)

 

[pepperjack]

I draw a distinction between "stories with very short chapters" and "very short stories". Brevity is the soul of wit.

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Well, yes. I'm very fond of some of those. I'd assumed the topic was confined to multi-chapter long fiction.

 

[alethiophile]

First fic for me was Methods of Rationality, which has palled a bit with time (mostly in that when I started reading it I was basically on board with the morals he was trying to preach, whereas nowadays I'm...not), but which I still don't mind. Jumped from there to S'Tarkan's stuff, which similarly I still kind of like, even though it seems hilariously outdated to read now.

 

[2 Hot Crown Subdues the Sinful]

MGS1 parodies.

 

[tighearnach]

First fic for me was Methods of Rationality, which has palled a bit with time (mostly in that when I started reading it I was basically on board with the morals he was trying to preach, whereas nowadays I'm...not), but which I still don't mind. Jumped from there to S'Tarkan's stuff, which similarly I still kind of like, even though it seems hilariously outdated to read now.

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While that was by no means the first fic I read, that was the only one that I can remember from my first fanfiction.net accounts favourite's list, and also the only one which I still have any real fondness for.

Most of the other stuff I liked was tosh, usually of the give the main character a bunch of powers and a harem variety.

 

[prandom]

I first found fanfiction on AO3, in the Homestuck fandom. I can't even remember what the first big fanfic I read was. I think it was about Eridan? Anyways, I eventually found FF.net, and my introduction to that was The Empty Cage. It's not quite as good as I remember it being, but I still like it; I was pretty lucky to stumble on that as my first Naruto fic.

 

[GorgonEyed]

A series of Pokemon-Animorphs fusion stories. They've long since fallen off the face of the web, title stolen by a very different genre. I keep them in a .zip file in an out-of-the way corner of my hard drive... along with the notes the author released when she announced she was quitting.

I remember it being pretty good, but my tastes have changed quite a bit over the years. I'm kind of hesitant to crack the archive open, lest I break my rose-colored glasses.

 

[Rean]

I think I started with Evangelion fanfic:

• Children of an Elder God
• Shinji and Warhammer 40k
• Some kind of Oh My Goddess crossover where Shinji roflstomps blah

Of those, only Children of an Elder God stands up to the test of time, IMO.

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The middle was my first fanfiction. It's certainly not high art, but it predates Gurren Laggan and was a bit of campy, internally consistent schlock that ran roughshod over the stations of canon at a time when the fandom desperately needed something besides character x deals with manic depression and PTSD. Like Dune and that Ranma fic where Ranma goes to a battered women's support group, it spawned waves of crappy imitations and the odd gem. I doubt I'd think so well of it if it were written today though.

I branched out later and realized how very few Harry Potter fics there were worth reading. Some only in hindsight. It's kind of weird how few there are.

 

[Aarik]

In my case... Back in the early 2000's, It was Bionicle, oddly enough, only thing things that stand out are... GaliGee's interviews verse and... some multidimensional quest some Matoran went on to an alternate universe that I likely couldn't find if I wanted to, both on BZPower.

After that, when it occurred to me "Wait if BIONICLE has this stuff...", which lead me to Digimon, on... Mediaminer and FFN, which I found at about the same time, from there I spread to Ranma through crossovers somehow, and from there bounced around over the years.

I think Code Lyoko and a few other minor fandoms would probably get an honorary mention in there somewhere, if I could remember them all, the fandoms were so small I ran out of shit pretty quick.

Back in 2007 or so I decided, "fuck it" and went through the entire Digimon section on FFN as it was then, from front to back for anything interesting. I got a decent amount of reading done, but then... I'd read everything. So I ended up having to spread out, I don't even think I COULD list all the places I went looking after that, Eva, Avatar, Ninja Turtles, Ranma, Sailor Moon a few times, bunch of minor fandoms I've forgotten. Inuyasha... Was basically "I looked and found nothing worth looking at".

Worm was a fun find, fandom wise, in that it was ongoing, long, high quality and my writer friend Ryuugi hadn't read it yet (which I took care of because the fic selection back then was barren).

Kind of annoyed at some of the fandom specific plots for it now though, they kill the story tone for me. (An immediate 'okay I've seen enough, goodbye' for me is massive problems being handwaved away casually, or enemies that CANNOT be defeated by whats being done to them dying in one shot to hype up crossover elements that, 90% of the time, don't actually lift enough to do that.)

Hopefully with Tri running, Digimon gets off it's ass as a fandom, because while I was okay with Frontier and Savers, Xros was a massive "I'm just going to pretend this never happened and ignore anything to do with it" (back when all we had was leaks and I had no idea what was about to happen, I defended it, because Digimon had never gone FULL shit before. Needless to say, I was wrong.) and so far Appmon is more a side franchise similar but distinct from Digimon, so. I HAVE found the occasional diamond in those ten years, but..

 

[Coiler]

Too many long fics in FFN's Super Smash Bros. section. Really. Those and Mike Wong's Conquest.

The SSB fics were all garbage, and Wong's managed to be slightly better than the nadir of Trek vs. Wars crossover fic-but that isn't saying much.

 

[Whiskey Golf]

Hmmm. In 2012 it would be The Spirit of Redemption, this really really long Mass Effect Fanfic that basically gave a middle finger to ME3, what with have been written earlier. As I was pretty down from getting demoted and was working 10 hour shifts daily i needed something to read. It started out somewhat enjoyable, but by the time I made it to the end I was relieved. Lots of character bashing, and the author just twisted way too many things around - instead of a roving collection of troubleshooters beholden to the Council, Shepard and Garrus froze out the other Council Spectres and turned the Spectres into their own private army based out of Mindoir. And that was just one of the many issues.

The Rachni Spectre was cool though, as was monocle Underground Railroad batarian spectre. But a lot of it... a lot of it I disavow now.

 

[Coiler]

To be honest, I find that with a lot of one-chapter-at-a-time works, be they fanfics, LPs, Alternatehistory.com TLs, serial stories, or just shows with an overarcing plot, I'll follow them with at least some interest, awaiting the next installment. Then they finished/get abandoned/I walk away, and then I return and go "I liked that? What was I thinking?"

 

[Aleh]

In answering this, I get into a rather simple difficulty: I got into fanfic in the late '90s, and... well, most of those early 'fics are either offline entirely or damn near impossible to get ahold of these days (anyone have copies of Twisted Path, for instance? I do... in my own offline archive).

I got into it via the El Hazard, AMG, and Tenchi fandoms, too, so... yeah, fewer archives around. Then I got into BGC and Ranma, and those at least are preserved better.

The first fanfic I read which I can still get a copy of was Brett Handy's Oh My God!. It stands the test of time in some ways, but really, really doesn't in others -- every time I've tried to reread it since, the formatting alone has pretty much damaged my eyes and given me a massive headache.

 

[Shadow Wolf75]

Wow, I'm scrolling through this thread and thinking 'aren't all these kids cute?'. We first got internet at my high school around what, '97, '98? So the first fics I read were either from ReBoot or SatAM Sonic the Hedgehog. *checks a few dusty folders* Oh, huh, I DO still have a copy of that fic with the overpowered as all fuck cyborg fox Gary Stu. Any of you fellow olds recognize the name 'Joseph DeLacroix'? *finds a couple more Stus in that old folder as well*

Next fandom from there I can remember was Tenchi, so yeah, most of those have probably poofed from the internet. *digs in another folder* Though, I don't suppose you remember a 'Heaven and Eternity' by one K'thardin? Another overpowered SI fic, old anime fandoms were full of them.

 

[Ohdat]

And that was just one of the many issues..

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The hybrid baby fetish, ugh.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6008512/1/A-Butterfly-Effect

I'd still read it if they ever came back, it's a like a bad urge.

 

[CrossyCross]

Hilariously enough, it's actually still pretty good? Or at least, it doesn't make me scream terrible.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3152898/1/Midnight-Masquerade

Teen Titans, Rex X/Raven pairing. I just liked those two somehow when I first saw the two in one episode, and I talked to a friend about "hey, wonder how it would be if the two were together", and he pointed out that fanfiction insisted.

This was my introduction to fanfiction.

 

[WanderingEye]

Hmmm. In 2012 it would be The Spirit of Redemption, this really really long Mass Effect Fanfic that basically gave a middle finger to ME3, what with have been written earlier. As I was pretty down from getting demoted and was working 10 hour shifts daily i needed something to read. It started out somewhat enjoyable, but by the time I made it to the end I was relieved. Lots of character bashing, and the author just twisted way too many things around - instead of a roving collection of troubleshooters beholden to the Council, Shepard and Garrus froze out the other Council Spectres and turned the Spectres into their own private army based out of Mindoir. And that was just one of the many issues.

The Rachni Spectre was cool though, as was monocle Underground Railroad batarian spectre. But a lot of it... a lot of it I disavow now.

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Oh, gods yes I got into that mess too.
I liked the first part of the fic, a little bit weirded out since the writer seems to have retgoned Jacob Taylor.
Then her Mary Sue character and her father (fun fact apparently southern drawl is considered calming and diplomatic in her fic, even to the aliens) started getting more and more spotlight, more and more abilities and spechsulness (such as being the best graduate of Turian bootcamp while being an awesome medical scientist that can keep up with Mordin and gaining biotics later in the story) culminating in her birthing some weird Rachni/Human thingy that can totally use space magic without invasive surgery.
Constant character bashing also does not help, Samara is a cold-hearted bitch who will kill you, Miranda is a bitch, every asari is a slutty bitch, Kaidan is a bastard and so on.
Oh and Biotics are somehow capable of mind-reading in this fic and she bashed the concept of it while she's the one that modified it that way.

EDIT: Found a link that provides more information

 

[celdak]

I recall my first fanfiction being on Naruto fan site in my native language, unfortunately, i've been reading FF for like 10 5 years at least, so trying to find the very first one would likely prove to be exceedingly difficult, nonetheless, i will try and return later (maybe) to answer.

Edit: fuck it, there's 20k+ fics on the site.

 

[aquinas]

Tenchi Muyo lemons when I was 13 or 14.

It actually took years to 'lower' myself to read the non-porn, the first of those, I think, was The Open Door.

 

[Drak4806]

How did I not know this thread was a thing?

Anyway Its been years so I don't really remember exactly how I was introduced to fanfiction. I want to say it was through the old Bioware forums where I would read the rare ME or DA oneshot or short fic. For some reason I branched out and starting reading other stuff from different fafndoms though why I can't remember.

This fic here however was what made me switch from reading the occasional short fic to reading a lot of fanfic many of which were long fics. I think someone may have linked it to me but I'm unsure.

Black Flames Dance In The Wind: Rise of Naruto reviews
By: DevilKeys Writing
A storm is brewing. Casting a black shadow over the world, threatening to incinerate it and scatter its ashes to the winds. Humanity's only hope lies with a young boy. A boy sacrificed for their protection, yet condemned to a life of hatred and abuse. Will the pariah become the savior? Or will mankind be cast into oblivion by a monster of their own creation?
Naruto - Rated: M - English - Adventure - Chapters: 51 - Words: 821,919 - Reviews: 4312 - Favs: 6,360 - Follows: 5,182 - Updated: Jul 23 - Published: Jul 18, 2007 - Naruto U., Kyuubi/Kurama

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I thought it was the best shit ever when I read it for the first time in either my Senior year of highschool or first semester of college. Looking back I realize how much of a cliche mess it is. Super powerful Naruto ( though now weaker than canon), harem, Female Kyuubi, evil council, abused by villagers, etc. I do admit that the authors writing ability has increased over time and I still read the fic because I still want to know what happens next even though I don't really care for it that much anymore. I'm still waiting for the Chunin Exams to finally start.

 

[Phen0m20]

The first fanfic that hooked me was the first one I ever read, actually. I was just on DeviantArt scrolling through Sekirei smut when my eye caught glimpse of a crossover fic involving it and Bioshock of all things. I don't know why I didn't just keep scrolling, but for some reason, it piqued my interest. I wanted to see how far down the rabbit hole went so I took the plunge.

Honestly, I'm glad I did. The fic was flawed, sure, but having read through it I was stunned as to how well the writer was able to make it all mesh together. Seeing him meld the two worlds as he did was something I never imagined possible. It wasn't perfect harmony by any means and about halfway through the thing became a glorified Musubi-bashing hate fic and the resolution was horribly rushed, but what I saw in it was potential. It awakened something in me. All these ideas kept flowing through my head after reading it and eventually I wound up trying my own hand at writing.

So yeah, I became a writer because of some random LSD-inspired crossover bash fic I found by scrolling through Sekirei smut on dA because I was bored one day. It's strange how life works like that.

 

[SleepyFox]

The first fanfic i ever read (and that hooked me on fanfic) was The Bubblegum Zone. Back when it still updated.
I have no idea how i found it. I think someone recommended it to me after we had a BGC marathon on late night tv and talked about it?
It's been ages, but i remember staying up from midnight until 5 in the morning on a school day because it was Anime Night more than once.
Downloading anime from the internet was obviously not a thing back then.

...Man, i feel old.

I haven't reread it in a decade or more, but from what i remember it had a fair amount of the typical SI sins (or what are the typical SI sins today at least).
It was still enjoyable though.

 

[Biigoh]

Bubblegum Zone... that is a name I haven't heard in many a moon. Why it brings back memories of Twisted Path, and Ed's Legion... ahhh... good times.

 

[ZurigaSungama]

I got hooked approximately 6 years ago, by The Salvation War. Yyyyyeeeeeaaah. Oh wait, I actually just remembered it was sailor nothing. Phew.

 

[DuskAtDawn]

Either Luca, by Felix, or Stories of a Trainer: David's Tale by repede. Don't look them up, but they weren't actually that bad in retrospect. The former's undergoing a rewrite, IIRC, but I moved on from that site when the domain name lapsed for several months.

Once I left Agn.ph, I found Konoha: Naruto's Playground and ANBU Brat at about the same time, which got me into actual fanfiction, not just stories set in the Pokemon universe. The former holds up alright, the latter not so much.

From Naruto I went to Ranma after discovering Innortal's loop series, from there I started reading Sailor Moon after I read The Return, and I don't remember where I went from there, but I eventually ended up finding Spacebattles after I followed Chibi-Reaper there, and I stalked him here. Haven't left since.

 

[mizerie]

I started from ShinjiWarhammer by bphen and never really finished it since I followed GB and the Hill of Swords due to recently reading the translation of ZnT.

 

[Speckled Burd]

Oh gawd, I remember Hill of Swords.

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In the grand scheme of things Hill of Swords isn't terrible. It only really fails in retrospect because it accidentally spawned an entire subgenre of fanfic that got done to death. But the characterization is solid, with even Shirou not quite being canon making sense since he's established to be from about 10 years after the Fate route, the pacing is good, and the action scenes are solid.

Also it's not In Flight, which invented Shirou-in name only with a super exaggerated version of Shirou's characterization from Hill of Swords that doesn't really make any sense, crawls at the pace of a snail, and pads huge chapters of nothing happening with random info-dumps about the Nasuverse that never matter.