... Reading fanfic, reading slash.



I remember when I found fanfiction. It was after I read Goblet of Fire and was waiting for OotP to come out. I found a story, I don't remember how, I didn't know what "fanfiction" was, so I thought it was just someone writing how they wished/dreamed/thought the books would continue; a short story inspired by the books. And so read it.

In retrospect, I realise this was a Draco/Hermione story. It was PG (from what I recall) and it was good. I was a bit confused though, because I didn't understand why Draco was being nice all of the sudden, and why Hermione wanted to hang out with him instead of Harry and Ron. I didn't know what "ships" were either! But still, I thought it was a pretty nifty idea.

Went looking for more. Did some more searching and Ta Dah! Slash. Or rather: SLASH

I read my first slash fanfiction. It was Harry/Draco, NC 17 and a PWP to boot! It was pretty much the hottest thing I had read in my life, up to then. It was. . . it was like seeing life in colours, with the celestial illumination and miracle music and all. (For a more accurate illustration of my actual reaction, see here. Yes. That was me all right.)

I was all, "Oh, this is awesome. I wonder if there's more?" (Only, you know, in CAPS LOCKS and with a crazy/obsessed glint in my eyes.)

And thank you, Internet, because, yep, it turned out there was quite a bit more out there. :D

I found websites and slash web-rings. Eventually I made my way to the yahoo groups, which is where the Harry Potter community lived; slash, femslash, het, it all happened through yahoo groups, later on I found fanfiction.net (I still remember when ffnet was cool), and after a couple of years there, it all moved to livejournal. The rest, is history.

But man, what a thrill; finding, discovering! Opening your eyes to something new, falling in love with a fandom, finding people who loved something as much I did and created all these amazing stories and art, being part of something bigger. *happy sigh*

What about you? How did you find fanfiction? How did you find Slash? Was it Harry Potter first or a different fandom?