(no subject)

[bubosquared]

Stolen from Katie, because it looked like fun.

Summer 1996
I, fifteen and a half, am your average nerdish wannabe writer chick. We got online a month or so before, and I'd surfed a little, but got really bored really quickly. I pretty much only use the internet for a few assorted research things, and spend the rest of my days reading, studying, and being your average bookwork.

Then, one day in about early to mid-July, I watch the X-Files episode Ed Jerse, and I go "Hey! I know that buy! That's Cooper Hawkes from Space: Above and Beyond!" So I get my ass online and, after some poking about, I find out that yes, that's the same actor, all right.

I also find a S:AaB fansite, which pleases me to no end, as I had no idea that a) other people had even seen this show, b) they loved it as much as I did, and c) I was not the only one to want to discuss shows I liked down to the nitpickiest detail.

Go back to fansite the next day. Spot link labelled "erotica". Blink, click. Discover 1) fanfic, 2) smut and 3) slash all in one hour. Decide I really prefer slash to het, even though I have no idea of labels yet at that point.

Cue slash reading binge, lasting all summer and reaching across to most of the major slash fandoms -- The Sentinel, Highlander, Star Trek in pretty much all its incarnations, Hercules, and probably a bunch I'm forgetting.

September 1996 - February 1997
Reading binge continues. Slowly come out of rosy, happy haze, and realise not all slash is crap. Realise that actually, quite a bit of slash is kinda crappy. Re-read Jen Riddler's stuff a lot. Slowly prune down list of fandoms I'll read from "All of them" to a slightly more manageable level.

April 1997
Slowly, realisation dawns that since I am a wannabe writer, and since I've been making up stories about tv shows since I was barely old enough to watch TV, why don't I try my hand at writing fanfic myself?

I spend the rest of my Maths, English and other assorted classes writing either VRStory with Linz, or In The Name Of The Father, and am very grateful for the fact that the bloke I sit next to in Maths not only doesn't mind my writing gay porn, but also covers for me when I'm in danger of getting caught by the teacher.

July 1997 - August 1998
I spend the summer just like the last one, reading slash, and the school year writing an dreading slash and trying to write The Shintaid. At some point halfway through the year, I sign up for a bunch of Space: Above and Beyond lists (general discussion as well as fanfic), where I lurk quietly save for the posting of ITNOTF. I also start writing the sequel to ITNOTF, supposedly second in a four-part series.

September 1998 - February 1998
I start uni, and consequentially have unlimited access to fast internet. Join a plethora of fanfic mailing lists, lying slightly about my age, and being slightly pissed at having to lie. I finish and post ITNOTF part 2.

I start my own website on Geoshitties.

At this point, I'm already a bit bored with the mainstream fandoms, and start searching out the rarer slash. I get annoyed at the fact that anything rare is a) hard to come by, and b) usually ignored on multi-fandom lists.

I turn eighteen, much to my dismay, and the only good thing about that is no longer having to lie about my age. My annoyance increases.

12 March 1998
In a fit of something, I start RareSlash. We hit fifty members in the first month. My mind boggles. Mona Ramsey joins, and I have a fangirl moment. In general, I come off as exactly the immature little twat I was. Somehow, I manage to scrape together enough brain cells to consciously not have an age policy.

March 1998 - December 1999
I live my life in a blur of slash. My days become a comfortable routine of reading and writing slash, updating the RSA, and school.

I spend a lot of time at swansongs, and consider all swans to be goddesses.

I start a plethora of lists, mostly redundant ones.

I lurk in Buffy fandom. Te posts Post Grad, and I fall for Spike/Xander. I start Nummy Treats, then get fed up with it -- and all of Buffy fandom -- as the teenies flock in post-Hush.

I get into Harry Potter fandom, where I am, at the time, one of the few (it seemed) who preferred the younger generation to the Sirius/Lupin/Snape triangle. Shalott posts her Weather series, and I have an epiphany -- of course Harry and Draco are boycrushing on each other. Shalott posts her Doorkeeper series, and I break my heart several times over. People start writing H/D.

I enjoy my not-that-brief stint in Biker Mice from Mars fandom, where I write crappy stories and make lots of friends, and don't really stop to think about the fact that not only are Mary Sues and OCs highly encouraged in this fandom, most of them also aren't half bad.

I start reading Metallica slash.

January 2000
I join Tallific, vowing to lurk and never, ever write, because dude, my brother likes these guys!

I start a debate on RareSlash re: allowing RPS or not. On the whole, it turns out surprisingly civil, although I won't realise for some time yet exactly how civil that was. I start RS-X as a result of said discussion.

I start reading and writing Matt/Ben, punkslash, and Metallica slash.

February 2000 - August 2000
I immerse myself in Tallific and RPS in general. I appoint myself unofficial RPS spokesperson, and spend a lot of time being told I'm a subhuman. I can't particularly be arsed to care.

Ruth comes to Europe in the summer, we hang out for a few days.

September 2000 femgeeks.net goes live.

October 2000 - December 2000
Ruth starts metslash, marking the start of the Great Metallica Fandom War. I leave Tallific.

I don't go to classes, preferring to spend my days sleeping and my nights at the cybercafe chatting with people. I get actual online friends.

I turn twenty reading *NSlash.

When the crap-to-gold ratio in H/D becomes unbearable, I leave the fandom.

2001
I spend my days in *NSlash fandom and on LJ, happily wiling away time at work. I swear never to write popslash, and end up doing so anyway.

I'm offered a ticket for U2 at Madison Square Garden by Steve. Plans are made to attend a concert with Jess and Molly. We start writing U2 slash. I go to NYC, and fall in love with the city. I go to two U2 concerts and fall in love with the band. I see Bono smooch Edge five feet away from me.

I spend the summer talking to Katie and Zarya about Cureslash, and am appointed Secretary To Lol Tolhurts, Lord of Heck. I consume large amounts of crack.

I gradually grow old and bitter and can no longer be arsed to play RPS spokesperson.

January 2002 - June 2002
I become a Bitter Old Fandom Person, and people start recognising my name. I freak.

I get into lotrips, then get right the fuck out again after a month or two, because the twits are giving me panic attacks. I rant a lot about how people are freaks, and how they're tearing down everything I fought for in the past three years. My inner RPS spokesperson comes back with a vengeance.

I write Sin and come to the conclusion that I prefer writing darkfic over writing pure dialogue-based fluffy humour.

July 2002 - August 2002
People on my friends list (notably, Fleur and Zarya) get involved in a Harry Potter RP. I innocently follow some links, am dead amused by the Marcus/Oliver innuendo, and ask for fic recs. I read Mireille's M/O and fall in love, get involved in the RP, become all about the M/O, and manage to drag a number of people down with me.

RP characters take over my brain. I could care less.

I get my first (?) het bunny.

Okay, god. That was a lot longer than I expected. And I glossed over a lot of the details, too