Started with Final Fantasy fanfics around '03. Stayed in that fandom until I read Goblet, and branched off from there.

My immediate family knows, and since they don't seem to care I don't bother to hide it. My college roommate was the first person IRL I knew read HP. I look over at him one day and I see him reading an update of nonjon's A Black Comedy. It was nice for a while to not be asked why I was laughing at my PC.

Aside from that, I keep fanfiction to myself.

 

I actually started with Yu Yu Hakusho fics, but I couldnt take it because the entire fandom even back then and certainly today is almost entirely various combinations of pairing Hiei with some male character, so I started to look at other stuff and I came across Harry Potter fanfiction. Also I got into Ranma much later than I think most folks did and I still read some of them from time to time.

 

I remember I started way back around 2002/2003. I was anxiously awaiting OOTP to drop and I started trying to find a copy in advanced. Eventually I was reading shitty fanfiction versions of OOTP until one day I stumbled across Barb's Psychic Serpent Series. That was when I really took a liking to fanfiction. Though I hated the fact that she used Ginny, it was bearable, probably one of the only bearable H/G fics to me. Soon I became a regular reader and found myself enjoying some fanfics more than cannon.

I think my girlfriend from sophmore year of high school is the only one that knew about me reading fanfiction. And that is only because she basically read fanfiction too, just in the form of those stupid quizilla quizzes that have you end up getting raped by Draco if you pick all the right answers. Other than her, nobody knows my dirty secret. In fact in some circles I'm positive I'd be ripped of my social status if this information were leaked lol

But hey, what can you do?

 

X-Files for me. Actually X-Files PWP for me.

Then Buffy (I actually wrote some of those), Then HP.

 

Link? I've been reading fanfiction for 2-3 years and I haven't seen shit resemble what you describe.

 

I would bet that many people, especially if they're from the anime/manga side, got into fanfiction through Ranma 1/2.

 

Link
While not exactly what I described, it's very similar in theory.

I remember that she would stay up for hours doing those stupid things, and they all pretty much resembled shitty slash fiction. It's like you could insert yourself into your own personal "My Immortal" quiz type fanfic

 

I was into Adult Swim around '04 (I was fourteen), and so I started fanfiction in Inuyasha and YuYu Hakusho. I switched over to Harry Potter when I was searching for the Fifth book that summer before it came out.

By the way, sappy Kagome/Sesshoumaru ftw...

 

That's cause Ranma 1/2 is such an awesome anime for a young boy. It has lots of tits, harems, martial arts action galore, crazy insane plots and hooks, etc. etc.

I got into anime through DBZ, but then I went into Media Play's (now non existent) anime section, saw Ranma 1/2, and well, the rest is history.

Even though it never got played on Toonami's anime block or any other english station, it was available on video and its internet following carried it for many years.

It was also probably one of the first fandoms that actually had a huge roster of fanfic authors and tons of available stories.

I know fanfiction didn't start with Ranma (not anywhere close), but I can't help feeling that Ranma helped propel fanfiction into what it is today. Maybe it's just nostalgia, but that's what I would like to think.

Even now I sometimes stumble upon some good Ranma stories that I haven't read before. While the fandom is mostly silent, it still produces the occasional great fic.

 

What's really sad about Ranma though is that after the series ended, the readers expected another awesome series... instead we got Inuyasha.

 

Fuck yeah, Tamers fanfiction. After reading every single good Portkey story that was on it in 03/04, I moved to Fanfiction.net and the Tamers fandom. Then back to Harry Potter fanfiction once I figured out how to not get stuck in slash stories, 12 chapters in. Then Naruto, then Naruto and HP, in an amazing display of multitasking.

 

Oh yeah, it's a secret for me. I'm known more as an outdoor nut with some gamer-nerd tendencies. When people ask me what I'm writing, I tell them about the original fiction story I'm working on, which always comes off sounding further along than it actually is (because I spend more than half my writing time working on fanfiction... gah).

I always have a window for some less nerdy site open in case someone sneaks up on me so i can quickly switch to it. Often I'll delete my history, and don't keep fanfiction sites in my bookmarks. It's sort of awful, but kind of fun being all clandestine about it.

As for your question, Demons, I was going to say I started with HP fanfiction, but then I remembered long, long ago when I was just a wee lass in sixth grade, I stumbled across the concept of Pokemon fanfiction, and well... I'd forgotten all about that, haha. So it was Pokemon, and then I forgot about the idea of fanfiction until after DH came out, and I was lookin for a digital copy cause I didn't want to buy it (scandalous, I know) and found this site, the Sugarquill. I'm sure at least a few of you know about it. And yeah, eventually I learned how to sort through the slop at ffnet, and then you guys came along.

Damn, I totally blocked out a chapter of my life, though--until you'd brought up the question, I'd forgotten all about pokemon. Hahaha, god, I'm feeling embarrassed.

 

Haha, I started out in Pokemon fanfiction too, ended up developing a liking for bash/kill fics where pretty much everyone dies at the age of 12. Probably explains why I like horror films so much, random gore has always fascinated me . Then I think there's a gap of a couple of years where I was more of a gamer than a reader and then I hit college and got into HP, and now I'm diversifying out into Dresden and Naruto/anime in general.

 

AAAAAH, I found it! I'm cracking up inside, oh my god.... Okay, this is like the pokemon version of DLP, and I remember thinking it was the best damn thing I'd ever read. Check it out: http://members.iinet.net.au/~aceywacey/pokemon.htm

Talk about a blast from the past... I guess that was when I was in seventh grade. Ah, memories.

On another note, I've actually been getting into more Star Wars fanfiction (which is already fanfiction at its finest with all the expanded universe shit) but it's really hard to find anything good that isn't Anakin/ Obiwan or hurt/ comfort. I want some outer space swashbuckling, dammit. That, and Batman. Same general problem, except with the Joker.

 

... what is this I don't even

 

Seems like a lot of people got into HP fanfiction while searching for OotP the summer before it came out... what the hell is up with that? I mean, it's like we all decided to google Order of the Phoenix at the same time and found fanfiction. Hell, I don't even think I google'd it; pretty sure I was still using Yahoo at that point.

Anyway, it's a private thing for the sole reason that no one else I know is really into... well, reading. I'm the only person in my social group who actively reads anything, so I don't mention it at all.

I remember checking out some Yu Yu Hakusho fanfiction shortly after discovering the world of HP fanfiction though, because I think it was airing on Cartoon Network around that time, and Hiei was like the coolest thing I'd ever seen. Mini ninja with a sword?

It's annoying, how naive I was back then.

 

I got started with Naruto something like 5 years back, for a year or so I read all I could, and then I got started on HP. Craziness ensued.

Now I don't read half as much as back then, and I read mostly other fandoms (BtvS, Firefly, Star Wars, TSCC, Dresden...)

 

Haha, searched for OotP in a filesharing program and got the first story of Barbs Trilogy. Took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that it wasn't the real one. (But I blame that on it being the first english book I read.)
After that it was an easy and enjoyable way to learn to read english stuff and before I knew it I was hooked.

I generally don't bring it up and don't advertise it either, but if it comes up in a conversation or someone asks me, I won't hide it or lie about it either.

 

Tales from the House of the Moon - not really sappy, but fucking awesome.

On topic: public. All my friends know, my boss knows, my coworkers know... yeah, it's not a bad conversation starter, and sometimes I find someone who is really into fanfiction too.

 

I started out in Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced, and then after I'd finished reading the ~100 good ones, I started browsing for other things I knew. Cue, Harry Potter.

I'm taking the secret of reading Harry Potter fanfiction to the grave. I'd rather admit to regularly visiting DLP, because that could explain some of my personality quirks, and it isn't just Harry Potter.

Whenever people ask what I do all day, I just say that I read. Not sure how long they're gonna accept that, though.