What's the best site to introduce someone new to fanfic?

[averygoodun42]

Without freaking them out.

A RL friend and fellow HP nut hated the epilogue and doesn't want it to be over. She's looking for fanfic, and probably not of the shipping variety. Not really wanting to introduce her to our oddball ship (though I have told her about it), where should I direct her?

TPP is pretty heavy on the good ship Grape, Ashwinder is right out, and I don't think any of the other archives at SH are any better (for the non-shipper). I dare not introduce her to the pit of voles, though Owl has some possibilities...

Anyway, I'm not really much up on the gen stuff. Where should I direct her?

Comments

[keladry_lupin]

Well, Ashwinder is just one of eight Sycophant Hex archives. If Remus Lupin is her favorite character, she needs to try Wolfsbane. If she likes the Weasleys, send her to the Burrow. The Malfoys' archive is Pureblood, I think, and Severus (sans Hermione) has the Occlumency archive all to himself. I can't recommend any specific fics, except for "The Shipping Forecast" by Azazello, over at Occlumency. ("Shock and Awe," also by Azazello, is at Occlumency, too, though it's a bit norty.)

Good luck!

[averygoodun.livejournal.com]

Ah, but unfortunately, she is not so much a Snape fan. Yet. I'm sure I can lure her over, but it will take time.

No, I suspect she's looking for *gasp* Hermione/Ron fics, Harry/Ginny... you know, the stuff normal people look for. I'm sure she'll eventually come round to the good stuff, though. ;-)

But really, I'm looking for a good all-round archive. SH is good quality, but you have to know what you're interested in to really get the most out of it, ya know?

[maddyriddle.livejournal.com]

Not having a determined thing to look for makes starting anywhere else than at the Pit of Voles quite difficult.

It would be better that you recommended fanfics in particular and not archives in general.
Maybe introduce her to fanfic by pointing her towards a few gen fics and then try to figure out what ships she may be interested in.

[rosedemon.livejournal.com]

springtme_gen?

hp_smutfree?

[rosedemon.livejournal.com]

springtime_gen that is. LOL.

[minuet99.livejournal.com]

OWL's got a gen-fic category called "The Common Room'

http://owl.tauri.org/search.php?action=categories&catid=10

[muggle-prof.livejournal.com]

I first stumbled into fanfic at FictionAlley. That's probably a safe place to send her.

[ashfae.livejournal.com]

At the risk of bragging, you could direct her to some of mine. Granted most of it's back in MWPP days but it's harmless as fic goes. *wry gryn*

Fictionalley is nicely divided so that you can find what you want, but it's also seriously intimidating for someone who's never read fanfic before...

It was Lori's Paradigm of Uncertainty hooked me, I confess it. The thing is most of what I read is MWPP era or Harry/Hermione (I adore Ron and Hermione too, I just don't read much fic about them; it's Lori's fault I like H/Hr at all, her plot hooked me). I used to love genfic but I'm having trouble thinking of any offhand. Bah! Or at least, any set in Harry's own time period. I tend to prefer things set in other periods.

On that note, one of my favorite fanfics of all time is deralte's Uric the Oddball series, which I adore. Sheer HPish hilarity, with a serious plot and a main character who's possibly insane, possibly brilliant, and entirely whimsical.

But I think you probably want shorter things, to start with.

Bah! Will let you know if I think of anything.