While working on these two pages and their several dozen stories I was faced with two completely different eras of my life.
Xena Warrior Princess was not the first series I’d written fanfic for, but it was the first I ever made public. Not because I was scared, back in the 70s and 80s the fanfic I was into had no ‘zines. My first real fanfic was a massive multi-series story with my (now) sister-in-law which we called “letter letters.” These were delivered casually, flung across a room, spitballed over, lightly toasted, frozen, ripped and distressed. These went on for the better part of my high school years.
But Xena was the first fandom I joined in this new online world. I was incredibly lucky, reading Melissa Good’s work and stuff by other excellent writers and for the first time, I began to believe fanfic didn’t have to suck. As I dipped my toes in, I had a thriving and enthusiastic fandom to engage with. I found my first fans and collaborators. Thank you to all of those folks. So many of you were my first lesbian community.
Card Captor Sakura is completely different. I had created the Fanfic Revolution to make space for fanfic writers who were looking write better-than average fanfic. We edited each other, gave each other criticism and support – we were all collaborating constantly. As I reformatted these stories, I see that Sparkle, Stirling and I were clearly writing for one another as much for ourselves. These stories are mostly expressing the kind of joy one has sharing a beautiful sunset or watching fireflies at twilight with a dear friend. Looking back, I have a sensation that feels a bit like finding an old toy one was very fond of once, when one was younger. ^_^