Too late for Fandom
I’m been a huge Harry Potter fan since 2001, and started reading fanfic in 2003 while waiting for the release of Order of the Phoenix. I spent that entire summer reading every Ron/Hermione story I could get my hands on. Since Deathly Hallows, the fandom has begun dying a slow death. While there are many authors still writing, many of the most talented have moved on, grown up, and given up on their stories. There are only a handful of in progress stories I am really interested in, though I check the websites every day for new stories, even reading Harry/Ginny or James/Lily if the synopsis sounds good.
Since less HP fanfic gives me way to much time on my hands, I’ve been searching for other fandoms to read. I found some success with Jim/Pam, as the Office is still on the air and there have been plenty of good stories to read. I read a few Rory/Jess stories, which is somewhat surprising since I was never super fond of any of Rory’s boyfriends on the Girlmore Girls, but he was certainly the most interesting one. I didn’t find enough Logan/Veronica stories out there to hold my interest. As The-N was burning off the rest of Instant Star, I tried that, but most of the stories creeped me out.
Over the last month, I’ve developed an obsession with the show Roswell. My husband convinced me to try it, because he knows I have weakness for WB shows and teen angst in spite of my lack of interest in sci-fi. Now I’m more obsessed with the show than he is. Although at first it was fun to mock the characters and how they were always in a state of being almost-about-to-kiss but never actually going for it. My new Ron/Hermione is Michael/Maria. I’m halfway through Season 2 and so reading fanfic has spoiled a few plotlines for me, but overall I’ve found some great stories with great characterization and banter.
The only problem is that the show was on in 1999 and in internet years, that’s a long time. Most of the links I find for recommended stories are for Geocities or Angelfire and many of them don’t work. One of the more elaborate archives had its database wiped, and years after the show, authors aren’t exactly jumping to resubmit their stories. The websites are poorly designed at best and painful at worst. It’s nice to see how far we’ve come (the HP fanfic sites are run so well, searchable, and indexed with tags/ratings/warnings/pairings) but going back to an old party isn’t going so well for me.
I need to find a show to obsess over with a very big, current fanbase. I’m a quick reader.