Major Works?

[laceblade]

So sometimes my friends in Stargate: Atlantis fandom will talk about the "major works" of fanfiction in that fandom, like they've all read the same ones - someone will talk about "the one where X happened" and everyone else knows that they mean.

Are there major works of FF7 fanfiction, and if so, what are they? Or is the fandom too huge/been around too long for that to be true?

Alternatively, use the post to rec your favorite fics - I guess that's really what I'm after, ^^

---

When I was younger, it seemed like Frank Vederosa's fanfiction was widely read, but maybe it just seemed that way because it was the easiest for me to find at the time. I haven't reread it lately to see if it stands to the test of time, though.

Comments

[eggcrack]

I'd say most of old-school FF7 fandom was more or less aware of Frank Verderosa's stuff, so I'd say his stories at least would count as major works. I do, however, feel that FF7 fandom at large is too splintered, especially after Compilation came out, to have major works that would apply to all parts of fandom, since dfferent sections have their own stories of importance. Sephiroth/Aerith fandom had Irony of Fate, pre-compilation Cloud/Sephiroth fandom had A Long, Hard Road, etc.

But since you asked for recs, I'm more than happy to share stories that were major works for me! :D

Shards, by Frank Verderosa. FF7 Internet series was probably Frank's most well-known work, but I will always remember Shards, a story about the five years between Nibelheim's destruction and the beginning of the game, and what happened in Tifa's life then.

Nursery Rhymes, by rahaeli aka synedochic is one of the rare, rare examples of Hojo-empathetic fics out there and my personal reason not caring much for the most common portrayals of Hojo.

Rufus and Cloud, by Athena, was possibly the first take ever on my favorite FF7 fanon: that Rufus and Cloud were brothers. It's an AU where Rufus and Cloud were raised together and went through the events of the game together, and therefore things aren't quite as they were in the original game. It was great overall, but one of the things that struck me the most about it was the empathetic portrayal of Shinra personel other than the Turks, which is still extremely rare in the fandom.

Toledo Blade and Sins of the Father by Cloud Strife, two stories about Cloud's youth, childhood and angst, written long before all the Cloud-cliches set in for real.

The Poetry In Blood, by GlassShard, a story about Cloud, Zack, Vincent and Hojo after the destruction of Nibelheim. Probably my most favorite retelling ever about what happened in those years.. though The Jenova Project, by Junj, was pretty good too. Junj also wrote Cloud Cover, a darkfic featuring a cliche that used to be rather popular in the early days of fandom, the evil Aerith.

Now, FF7 fandom's yaoi section and I are at major odds to say at least (doujinshi!Cloud is not canon!Cloud! ;_;), but I still enjoyed and loved The World Can Wait story arc by Tenshi and llamajoy, which focuses mostly on Rufus and the Turks, but also features some interesting insights to Reeve, Sephiroth and the AVALANCHE.

The One Who Wakes by delladella is a newer story, but I happily accepted it as my personal canon because it's simply the best take on how Cloud came to assume his SOLDIER identity in the beginning of the game ever written. It's dark and atmospheric, but gloriously so.

[laceblade]

Most of where I remember hanging out is Nanaki Lioness's website, I think I read everything on there and possibly even got a terrible fic of my own uploaded to it. The only title I can remember is "Crystal Bits of Snowflake," a very "n'awwww"-inducing Tifa/Cloud-as-kids fic.

I remember finding Icy Brian's site superfluous at the time, but I'm glad it's still around, b/c it's the only place to find the old fics I remember.

Anyway, my only "classics" were to affirm eggcrack's inclusion of The Poetry in Blood and Vederosa's stories.


I just read synecdochic's Conscience of the King and wondered how popular it was back in the day?
I'm very much digging her Lullabye for the New World Order and hope that there will be MORE! in the future.

Here from FF7_oldschool

[asylumiss.livejournal.com]

Now this is a trip down memory lane.

Looks like the big ones have already been mentioned. There's also MadamHydra's Conflicts of Interest, which apparently is going through a rewrite on ff.net.

As well as Irony of Fate, I also remember another big Aeris/Sephiroth fic that was set post game and they lived at Icicle Inn. It had a sequel too but I can't for the life of me remember the title.

[shahrizai]

Gah, what fic am I thinking of? The Road Less Travelled? Something like that? Cast fic, but mostly Cloud/Seph/Zack yaoi. Had two authors. Was Roo one of them? No, wait. Blah, my memory. Oh wait, derp, just read eggcrack's comment - "A Long, Hard Road". Damn, she got most of my recs.

"Sink to the Bottom With You" by Catalina was a big one in Vin/Yuffie fandom.

I Know What Lies Beneath the Snowfields by Zahra was popular in Vincent fandom.

The Yaoi Goddess did some FF7 yaoi too - I don't know how popular her Reno/Rufus fic was though.

Okay, the Rocket Town Archives are still accessible via archive.org.

Wow, I also found Scylla's Thicker Than Water.

Well then, I was just transported back in time 11 years. Random fact: looking back through my bookmarks, I found an aarinfantasy link. From back on Geocities, when they only hosted translations of BL games.

[laceblade]

Just as an update to anyone who's watching the post, I hope to update FF7's fanlore entry with the information and links people have given. The entry is pretty sparse for being such a huge fandom.

If anyone wants to join in, feel free!

[flecksofpoppy]

Man, I still say Verderosa's Tifa back story is the most epic freaking Tifa-centric fic ever written. I just came back into FFVII fandom earlier this year and totally re-read it. (Cue memory lane, as stated below.)

Stuff mentioned... Snowfields: YES OMG. God, best OC EVER. I used to follow her updates with bated breath and insomnia.

I was super into Turk fic back then, and there was an awesome fic by Second Impact called Modus Operandi: http://www.darknessrising.com/FF7/Fanfiction/SImo.htm

I actually didn't discover Tenshi until this year (probably because I ducked out of FFVII fandom in like, 2002); but god oh god, WAS I EVER HIT WITH THE MOST PLEASANT SURPRISED EVER. So good.

I'm trying to remember if there was anything of major significance posted on RPGamer. I feel like I'm forgetting something important. I was mostly into slash back then. Everyone's already mentioned the ones I always rec to people...but I will say. Ng (Angie) wrote some awesome stuff back in the day. She was on kekkai.org/ng...but she's been gone for a while. Her stuff is still accessible through Way Back Machine, if you look hard (ca. 2001-2002-ish), but yeah. Totally worth the rooting around for. http://web.archive.org/web/20020223030441/http://www.kekkai.org/NG/fanfiction.html. She also wrote a side story for CotK.

If anyone is interested, and looking for recs, I have sort of an embarrassingly long list here on my LJ because I sort obsessively do it. Can't help it. After bouncing in and out of this damn fandom since 1998...well...OHAI LIFE LONG OBSESSION.

So did anyone have a really embarrassing handle they went by or awful fic they wrote that they wish could be scourged from the Internet if it's still out there somewhere?