A History of Roswell Fanfic

[xmag]

In relation to the history of candy fanfic, there aren’t really any trends. Authors come and go.

There have always been canon fics, or AU fics, with some famous, classic authors like DocPaul (epics such as “The Day We Never Kissed” and “Those Left Behind”), Chicky (with the seminal candy fic “Routines”), Mnemosyne, Belit, Vallygirl, Candyspark, Anla (The Mysteries universe), candylovespell (“Lost In America/Watercress Creek), CrazygurlBB, Donna, Catheryne, Aelita, Fehrbaby, Kateafur, That Maria Girl, Jennifehr, Xgirl22, Yettaren, Shelly, our dear Becky (who passed away), Katjen, Denise, kLyn (who can forget Masques and Unmasqued?), Lux, Sherry, Joanne, Natalie, Ossian, Kara and Emily (Roswell Elementary), Aurora Dawn (the Illusions/realities/through the looking glass trilogy), April…the list goes on.

Some authors can be found only on RF, though, like Tequathisy, Starcrazed, or Nibbles. Others only post at FF.net, like Mangoaddict, LadyKryptonite, Ashley, and plenty of others. And others only post at Alien Blast, like Louise, czarinabatty, rabbit, Shay or some others.

The new batch of writers are Crowskisses, ArchAngel1973, Misty87, Candygurl1718, Sanaazzy, DrankoftheSnapple, RynaLysee, zfehrian, ashleyt, Candygirl1980, girlinacoma/girl afraid (These are just the CID writers. For the rest, I don't remember the names of the group of new candy ficcers posting at FF.net, lately).

The only "constant trend" (past, present and future) I can think of is the lack of UC. Michael and Maria are holy, in the show and in fics. UC can be used to create angst in stories, but it’s always CC in the end (You can find maybe four or five UC fics at RU out of 500 and it’s probably because the owners of the site didn’t notice them. Same for CID, 2 or 3 UC fics lost in an ocean of other fics).

If you go to CID, there aren’t UC or X-over boards (crossovers at CID are always candy crossovers), which sets the candy fandom apart. Many authors love other shows and other characters but generally there is not much in the way of love for UC. It’s not a law but candies have always tended to stay loyal to their ship, only writing or reading stories with Michael and Maria together (there are always exceptions but I would say that they represent 1% of the candy fandom).

The candy ship is also very present in the fanart/icon/video part of the fandom.

[April]

If anyone would be the expert on Candy fic, it would be you, Mag. For sure.

-April

[Kath7]

Thanks to hauntedd and xmag for contributing differing viewpoints. Appreciate it, ladies! As I said, my viewpoint is pretty much through a dreamer paradigm, so any other views are very valuable.

[xmag]

I would like to know if there is a history of stargazer fics?

[cardinalgirl]

I would like to know if there is a history of stargazer fics?

I'll see if I can get Kay or Trude to come in... I've always been a gazer, but I started out reading mainly all CC stuff, or genfic, so I haven't read a few of the BNA's from back in the day, myself. My perspective is a bit skewed.

[Realistic Dreamer]

I can't really speak to the trends of other ships, only to the dreamer. And these are my own opinions.

It's the couple that I was interested in, and it was all that I read.

Season one fics were a joy to read. Max and Liz were evenly matched as protagonists. The fics driven by the show were good, because the show was good.

Season two fics became harder to read, especially after the end of the season. Max became the bad guy, both in the show and in the fics.

At this point, Dreamer fic, in my opinion, became Liz fic. There was, again in my estimation, an over-emphasis on Liz and no emphasis at all on Max. It seemed to be all about Liz and how badly she was treated and how Max broke her heart. While Liz's side was explored to death and beyond, there was almost a complete lack of exploration of Max's side that exists to this day and still astounds me. The White Room, Liz's decision to leave him, Liz's normal speech ... probably the most devastating thing that ever came out of her mouth and something that was never taken back ... the set up, her follow-up speech at Prom, none of these things are even alluded to in fic anymore.

Max was many times written as "controlling," though Liz, in my opinion, was the controlling one. She was the one who decided that their relationship was over, because she knew best how he had to follow his destiny. She (and Future Max and Future Liz) controlled all that Max saw and heard after TEOTW. Max was reduced to reacting to what he was being fed, and then often written to be held accountable for all the mistakes he made even though he didn't know what was going on.

Although Liz was the driving force in their relationship, or lack of it, there never seemed to be any recognition of that on her part. In the show, she was supremely unaware of the effect of her own actions when it came to Max's trust in her. She seemed to believe that no matter what she did, or how she treated him, he would always love her and be loyal to her. Most fic I've read isn't any different.

She expected Max to take her side with little or no effort on her own part after Alex's death. There is soo much more that went on during that time, yet absolutely no exploration of what Max was thinking and feeling. It's been almost completely dumbed-down (sorry, I can't think of any other way to call it) to Max being the bad guy for not "having faith" in Liz.

Season 3 was a disaster all the way around. I ignore it, although there are parts that stick out to me. One of them was Liz leaving to go to Vermont. In the note she left him, she told Max "what's so great about normal," and then proceeded to tell him that normal was what she needed, and that she had to get away from him to find it. Well. Shades of the normal speech. She just completely validated the horrific speech she gave Max back in season 2. But, this wound to Max's soul is just a distant memory, if that. I have yet to read a fanfic that even mentions this event, or what Max felt about the normal speech, part deux. I'm more than willing to be led to such a fic if it exists. And Liz is again supremely unaware.

Max the bad guy was pretty much set in stone by this point. Liz seemed to become superwoman, Max the guy who couldn't find the loo without her help. Many UC fics (yes, I've looked at a few) were rife with Max-bashing, and Lizzie must be saved from him. There was, and is, also quite a bit of Max-bashing that went on in dreamer fic.

This is actually why I don't read much in the way of dreamer fic anymore. The inequality, for me, is just too great to make for satisfying reading. The evenly matched protagonists when I began to read Roswell fanfic don't seem to exist much anymore. The over-exploration of the distaff side, coupled with nearly no exploration of the male side, leaves me hanging with too many unresolved issues. After all these years, I've accepted the fact that this is the way it's going to be.

[sylvia37]

OMG, Sandy, you're still here! I've missed you. And you know I totally agree with you. Some of us have tried to explore the other world in which Max was not the total bad guy in our fics. It seems to me that there's been a slight trend toward in the last year or so.

I stopped reading Max bashing fics a long time ago. My feelings were always that his character was at the mercy of the writers and that what they saw as "growth" was really just plot device. And you know that you and I are the same mind as far as the fact that our anger and disappointment over Max's fall from grace was in that, we the audience, were given so much from Liz's point of view. Her struggle over her feelings in season 2 were obvious, yet was hard to see Max's. He comes off as unreasonable and controlling only because WE KNOW that what he believes is untrue. WE KNOW the true nature of Liz's actions and it's hard to remember that he has no clue. He only see's them for what they are on the surface. She abandoned him, she pushed him at Tess, she slept with Kyle, she lied and lied and lied again. And yet, you see Max with Tess and you just want to scream at him not to be an idiot even though she's all sweetness and light at this point.

I'm in the midst of writing a fic that explores this a little. It's going to be Mid "Heart of Mine". I'm hoping to show both points of view. We'll see.

Sylvia

[CandyDreamQueen]

Reading this sure takes me back. I remember seeing a lot of these early trends appear in fics. I started my fanfic obsession my freshman year in high school, early season one. my sister and I used to print out chapters of our favorite fics and read them on the bus ride home from school. We even had a fanfic box full of all the fics we loved. And I’m telling you, it was full. Sadly, that box is long gone now.

But I fell out of the fanfic reading world at around the middle of season 2 so I missed some of the later trends. I do however feel blessed to have been around to have read some of the greats while they were in production. Although it's easier now to read them now that they are already completed, I recall the excited feeling of waiting for some of my favorite authors to update my favorite stories. The Way You Love Me by LivE comes to mind.

Anyway, thanks for sharing. There are some very interesting observations here.

<<<Candice>>>

[StarJet]

Really enjoyed reading that. After all, I only started reading fanfics this year.

I myself only enjoy M/L Dreamer fics. Is that a sad situation actually? (I've tried reading other kinds, but never liked them a bit. )

[Morning Dreamgirl]

Wow that takes me back!

I remember when it was Jenn's board - hosted on the ezboard website!

I used to wake up around two in the morning at times to read fanfic just because i'd be board. (Random, I know!) I have to say that I started reading it almost immediately. Roswell was, in fact, my very first run in with any kind of fanfic.

I knew each of the stories that you were talking about and could remember how frustrated we would all get reading the spoilers and then watching the show and realizing what they were doing to 'our' characters.

It's been interesting watching the different types of fanfic emerge and change over the last several years.

One thing that I have noticed is that originally the fanfic was almost very abrupt in it's beginning. It was as though a show would be watched and since everyone knew what had happened, the authors would start from a particular part and take off. Now there seems to be a slightly more in-depth look at it. That is, instead of the author and readers jumping in and trying to quickly fix whatever the issue is, stories now seem to evaluate what happened (and why) before fixing the issue. Perhaps 20/20? With what we know now there's more to go over and more to consider when changing even some small fact (i.e. how much Tess used her mindwarping abilities).

Not that I'm bashing the stories in any way. But there are unmistakable tones when reading some of the earlier fics in comparison to some of today's fics.

Overall, it was a very good observation of the history and I love that you posted it! It takes me back and gives those who came in after [the beginning] a new appreciation for how it all started - and recommended some amazing fics to boot!

Thanks Kath!

Ashley