Post by Esmeralda on Mar 28, 2011 11:02:09 GMT -5
My favorite fanfics are still ones that take something in the original and either does it better or shows how it should've been done, particularly if it's not done by simply adding in a MarySue/HarryStu (like adding in Cole or the boys or the boys' sister or a long-lost brother or sister when they weren't part of the original story - seen too many of those. *yawn*), or adds a scene that wasn't part of the original, but could've been or should've been.
Here's my list of favorite fanfics from fanfiction.net. I'm including the author's description and also my own review, edited so it doesn't spoil what happens in the fic and so there's only one review per fic.
Most I was hoping for a sequel, but unfortunately, I came to ff.net late--after the show was ended and the authors have gone on to other things. But I still love these fics and highly recommend them to any Charmed fan:
"A Little Help to be Charmed Again" by Pendragon4
Prue finds it is hard to help her sisters, especially when she's dead.
Pendragon4 has all the characters down just right and I love the idea of getting to see Season Four through Prue's eyes! I truly wish she had written the rest of Charmed this way--it would've been fascinating!
"All Hell Breaks Loose Aftermath" by Lexi'sSpinOffs
What happened between All Hell Breaks Loose and Charmed Again, Part 1? I know that this has been done before, lots and lots of times, but this is my idea taken from Leo's POV.
For the Cafe's very own Lexi's first try at writing a one-shot and for writing from the first-person point of view, I think she did an absolutely marvelous job! Although the whole thing starts off slowly (I don't think she needed to do a lot of reviewing, since we readers already know what happened), once Leo tries to heal the sisters, it's one of the best fics I've read! I love how she shows how losing a charge, especially a Charmed One, affects Leo, especially because he could still remember before time was reversed and remembered Piper dying, letting us know the true reason why he healed *her* and not the innocent or Prue.
"And Then There Were Three" by the weeping willow
The Halliwells thought it was just another day... until they meet the REAL Charmed Ones!
An alternate-universe fic that was posted from November '02 to February '03 which disappointed me greatly, since I was pretty certain that the sequel that the weeping willow promises at the end wouldn't be written. I thoroughly enjoyed this one and would have loved to read more fics about the REAL Charmed Ones--ones who are of the Warren line, not the Halliwell one...
"Angel" by Silverstar03
Prue is gone and Piper feels lost. Unlike what happened during "Charmed Again", she doesn't turn on Leo but turns to her guardian angel, who helps her through this time.
I absolutely *love* this story! It makes me cry and cry and cry each time I read it. Although it doesn't follow the timeline of "Charmed Again", it shows what should've happened. The Cafe's very own Silverstar03 does such a fantastic job taking a song and making it fit Piper and Leo. This is truly what should have been--so much better than Piper blaming Leo for saving Prue rather than saving her--the start of the world revolving around her. If only...
"Blinded by the Witchlighter" by Princess Pinky
A rewrite of Paige's wedding from “Engaged And Confused.”
Princess Pinky is another name for the Cafe's very own Fourever Charmed, and this fic can also be found in the Cafe's fanfic section. I can't say much about this one without spoiling all of the fun surprises. Let's just say that the way other fanfics have become fanon in my mind, this is how I'll always think of Paige's wedding, not the rush job that we saw during "Engaged and Confused."
"Charmed's 12 Days of Christmas" by Kalena
A Charmed take on the 12 days of Christmas
ROFLMAO! Just thinking of this fic makes me laugh again. I was looking for a Charmed Christmas fic and found this one and it totally fit the bill. If I'm having a bad day, I'll re-read this one and it always perks me back up.
"Death Took a Halliwell" by Terence
One shot. What happened after Shax blew out of the Manor in the final scene of 3x22. A chance to get your closure ...
This is the entry that won the contest that inspired Lexi's "All Hell Breaks Loose Aftermath", and when you read it, you'll know why. This is truly what we should've seen either after "All Hell Breaks Loose" or before "Charmed Again". It would've given all of Prue's fans (like me) so much closure! I can't say too much about this one without ruining it, but it's the fanfic I count as fanon for this important missing part of Charmed.
"Following the Thread" by Ryeloza
'"You've got to save the family, Chris." Chris tries to piece together the events that destroyed his family in order to save it.
As most Charmed-fans know, I've always hated Season Six; it never made much sense to me, especially Chris. Like Ryeloza, I particularly hated what Chris did to Leo, turning our pacific angel into a murdering Elder, setting him up to become Piper's little errand boy, and ending up with me hating my favorite show. But fanfic writers have helped me love it again by writing Chris as he should've been written, and Ryeloza does a much, much better job than most of showing why Chris does what he does in S6. Best of all, she shows that Chris isn't the perfect hero he is in most fics...he screws up by being typically impatient Chris and not following his grandfather's advice of following the thread all the way back. And the irony of that screw-up makes for an ending few fans will see coming.
"Fourever Charmed" by Princess Pinky
This is a four-part rewrite of the Charmed series finale. It's my own version including characters such as Prue, Cole, Andy, and other series favorites.
I wish that Princess Pinky aka the Cafe's very own Fourever Charmed had just summarized the parts that are the same as Charmed's finale and made her original stuff the major part of the fic, because they are tremendous--so much that should've been included--she uses an entire chapter to show us The Charmed Ones' futures and makes me wish that Charmed had done the same thing.
"Lonely Girls and Late Night Drives" by Ryeloza
What if Prue and Paige did meet before Prue died? A story of what could have been.
This was the first of Ryeloza's many marvelous short fics that I ever read. She did an amazing job of writing both Prue and Paige and writing a scene that truly could've happened some time during Season Three. This one was recommended to me and after I read it, I had to read more of her stuff--the highest recommendation I can give.
"Out of the Blue" by namjai
With Prue's secret no longer secret to him, Andy muses on what he never expected to learn about her -- and what was always constant.
Nam Jai has Prue and Andy down perfectly and the little bits of Piper and Phoebe are so them, too. I can *so* see this happening to Andy just before he goes to meet Prue at the park again... It makes me love him and Prue even more than I did before.
"Paige's Christmas Angel" by astronomygirl85
Songfic in the spirit of Christmas. After the party at P3, Paige gets a present and an unexpected visit from the sister she never met.
This is a beautiful Christmas fic that brought tears to my eyes. I especially love Paige singing one of my favorite songs by my favorite group-I'd LOVE to hear Rose McGowan sing "Angels Among Us" - I love her voice almost as much as I dislike her acting ability.
"The Stolen Child" by namjai
Melinda was lost, forever six years old in a future that would never happen. Then, when I found out about me, I finally understood our kinship.
What happens when Changed-Future Chris turns 23--the day that Unchanged-Future Chris died? Nam Jai does a beautiful job of telling us just what happens on that momentuous day--and you'll swear it's Chris telling you the tale. Another fic I'll always count as fanon.
"The Ties That Bind' by scififantasychic
This story takes place immediately before "Oh, My Goddess" and assumes Chris had been in the past, laying the groundwork for his plans, for some time before actually "saving" Phoebe in the attic. We follow him through the hours leading up to his arrival.
Scififantasychic is the Cafe's very own Scifi, one of my all-time favorite Charmed fanfic writers. I'd met Scifi and fell in love with her fanfics on other sites, including this one (her fics can be found in the archives), so when I first joined fanfiction.net, it was *so* nice to see the fanfic that originally made me think that maybe Chris wasn't such a bad guy after all. (As most of you know, I abhored him on the show, counting him as the True Big Bad of Charmed due to the way he changed his parents and his aunts) Scifi does such a fantastic job of getting into his character, explaining why he's the way he is, and what exactly happened when he was 14. I just wish she had posted the rest of her series at ff.net so I could link to them, too.
"There's Always a Choice" by magicmyth
An alternative view of Cole's return. What would happen if the Charmed Ones questioned why they so desperately wanted to vanquish Cole and decide to find another way.
This fic reminds me a lot of S8 and how The Charmed Ones always thought they didn't have a choice in what they did, but more, it makes me think that had Connie Burge still been in control, this might have been how Charmed would've handled Cole in Season Five.
"What Did We Do Wrong?" by WelshCanuck
On the day she was burned at the stake, Phoebe is wondering what they did wrong to change the future and in the end not have Prue in their lives.
Just when I was about to recommending this story at a different site, I was very surprised to realize that I never marked it as a favorite and never even gave it a review. I hope that sentence lets you know how much I love this fic; I was that anxious to share it. I truly think the author has come up with the answer to two important Charmedverse questions: Who did Cal Greene murder that caused Phoebe to go berzerk and why did Prue have to die? Of course, the Charmed Comic Books also tackled this question, and although I like their explanation, I love this one even more.
If anyone else wants to use this format to list links to their own favorite fics at fanfiction.net, go for it!
Here's my list of favorite fanfics from fanfiction.net. I'm including the author's description and also my own review, edited so it doesn't spoil what happens in the fic and so there's only one review per fic.
Most I was hoping for a sequel, but unfortunately, I came to ff.net late--after the show was ended and the authors have gone on to other things. But I still love these fics and highly recommend them to any Charmed fan:
"A Little Help to be Charmed Again" by Pendragon4
Prue finds it is hard to help her sisters, especially when she's dead.
Pendragon4 has all the characters down just right and I love the idea of getting to see Season Four through Prue's eyes! I truly wish she had written the rest of Charmed this way--it would've been fascinating!
"All Hell Breaks Loose Aftermath" by Lexi'sSpinOffs
What happened between All Hell Breaks Loose and Charmed Again, Part 1? I know that this has been done before, lots and lots of times, but this is my idea taken from Leo's POV.
For the Cafe's very own Lexi's first try at writing a one-shot and for writing from the first-person point of view, I think she did an absolutely marvelous job! Although the whole thing starts off slowly (I don't think she needed to do a lot of reviewing, since we readers already know what happened), once Leo tries to heal the sisters, it's one of the best fics I've read! I love how she shows how losing a charge, especially a Charmed One, affects Leo, especially because he could still remember before time was reversed and remembered Piper dying, letting us know the true reason why he healed *her* and not the innocent or Prue.
"And Then There Were Three" by the weeping willow
The Halliwells thought it was just another day... until they meet the REAL Charmed Ones!
An alternate-universe fic that was posted from November '02 to February '03 which disappointed me greatly, since I was pretty certain that the sequel that the weeping willow promises at the end wouldn't be written. I thoroughly enjoyed this one and would have loved to read more fics about the REAL Charmed Ones--ones who are of the Warren line, not the Halliwell one...
"Angel" by Silverstar03
Prue is gone and Piper feels lost. Unlike what happened during "Charmed Again", she doesn't turn on Leo but turns to her guardian angel, who helps her through this time.
I absolutely *love* this story! It makes me cry and cry and cry each time I read it. Although it doesn't follow the timeline of "Charmed Again", it shows what should've happened. The Cafe's very own Silverstar03 does such a fantastic job taking a song and making it fit Piper and Leo. This is truly what should have been--so much better than Piper blaming Leo for saving Prue rather than saving her--the start of the world revolving around her. If only...
"Blinded by the Witchlighter" by Princess Pinky
A rewrite of Paige's wedding from “Engaged And Confused.”
Princess Pinky is another name for the Cafe's very own Fourever Charmed, and this fic can also be found in the Cafe's fanfic section. I can't say much about this one without spoiling all of the fun surprises. Let's just say that the way other fanfics have become fanon in my mind, this is how I'll always think of Paige's wedding, not the rush job that we saw during "Engaged and Confused."
"Charmed's 12 Days of Christmas" by Kalena
A Charmed take on the 12 days of Christmas
ROFLMAO! Just thinking of this fic makes me laugh again. I was looking for a Charmed Christmas fic and found this one and it totally fit the bill. If I'm having a bad day, I'll re-read this one and it always perks me back up.
"Death Took a Halliwell" by Terence
One shot. What happened after Shax blew out of the Manor in the final scene of 3x22. A chance to get your closure ...
This is the entry that won the contest that inspired Lexi's "All Hell Breaks Loose Aftermath", and when you read it, you'll know why. This is truly what we should've seen either after "All Hell Breaks Loose" or before "Charmed Again". It would've given all of Prue's fans (like me) so much closure! I can't say too much about this one without ruining it, but it's the fanfic I count as fanon for this important missing part of Charmed.
"Following the Thread" by Ryeloza
'"You've got to save the family, Chris." Chris tries to piece together the events that destroyed his family in order to save it.
As most Charmed-fans know, I've always hated Season Six; it never made much sense to me, especially Chris. Like Ryeloza, I particularly hated what Chris did to Leo, turning our pacific angel into a murdering Elder, setting him up to become Piper's little errand boy, and ending up with me hating my favorite show. But fanfic writers have helped me love it again by writing Chris as he should've been written, and Ryeloza does a much, much better job than most of showing why Chris does what he does in S6. Best of all, she shows that Chris isn't the perfect hero he is in most fics...he screws up by being typically impatient Chris and not following his grandfather's advice of following the thread all the way back. And the irony of that screw-up makes for an ending few fans will see coming.
"Fourever Charmed" by Princess Pinky
This is a four-part rewrite of the Charmed series finale. It's my own version including characters such as Prue, Cole, Andy, and other series favorites.
I wish that Princess Pinky aka the Cafe's very own Fourever Charmed had just summarized the parts that are the same as Charmed's finale and made her original stuff the major part of the fic, because they are tremendous--so much that should've been included--she uses an entire chapter to show us The Charmed Ones' futures and makes me wish that Charmed had done the same thing.
"Lonely Girls and Late Night Drives" by Ryeloza
What if Prue and Paige did meet before Prue died? A story of what could have been.
This was the first of Ryeloza's many marvelous short fics that I ever read. She did an amazing job of writing both Prue and Paige and writing a scene that truly could've happened some time during Season Three. This one was recommended to me and after I read it, I had to read more of her stuff--the highest recommendation I can give.
"Out of the Blue" by namjai
With Prue's secret no longer secret to him, Andy muses on what he never expected to learn about her -- and what was always constant.
Nam Jai has Prue and Andy down perfectly and the little bits of Piper and Phoebe are so them, too. I can *so* see this happening to Andy just before he goes to meet Prue at the park again... It makes me love him and Prue even more than I did before.
"Paige's Christmas Angel" by astronomygirl85
Songfic in the spirit of Christmas. After the party at P3, Paige gets a present and an unexpected visit from the sister she never met.
This is a beautiful Christmas fic that brought tears to my eyes. I especially love Paige singing one of my favorite songs by my favorite group-I'd LOVE to hear Rose McGowan sing "Angels Among Us" - I love her voice almost as much as I dislike her acting ability.
"The Stolen Child" by namjai
Melinda was lost, forever six years old in a future that would never happen. Then, when I found out about me, I finally understood our kinship.
What happens when Changed-Future Chris turns 23--the day that Unchanged-Future Chris died? Nam Jai does a beautiful job of telling us just what happens on that momentuous day--and you'll swear it's Chris telling you the tale. Another fic I'll always count as fanon.
"The Ties That Bind' by scififantasychic
This story takes place immediately before "Oh, My Goddess" and assumes Chris had been in the past, laying the groundwork for his plans, for some time before actually "saving" Phoebe in the attic. We follow him through the hours leading up to his arrival.
Scififantasychic is the Cafe's very own Scifi, one of my all-time favorite Charmed fanfic writers. I'd met Scifi and fell in love with her fanfics on other sites, including this one (her fics can be found in the archives), so when I first joined fanfiction.net, it was *so* nice to see the fanfic that originally made me think that maybe Chris wasn't such a bad guy after all. (As most of you know, I abhored him on the show, counting him as the True Big Bad of Charmed due to the way he changed his parents and his aunts) Scifi does such a fantastic job of getting into his character, explaining why he's the way he is, and what exactly happened when he was 14. I just wish she had posted the rest of her series at ff.net so I could link to them, too.
"There's Always a Choice" by magicmyth
An alternative view of Cole's return. What would happen if the Charmed Ones questioned why they so desperately wanted to vanquish Cole and decide to find another way.
This fic reminds me a lot of S8 and how The Charmed Ones always thought they didn't have a choice in what they did, but more, it makes me think that had Connie Burge still been in control, this might have been how Charmed would've handled Cole in Season Five.
"What Did We Do Wrong?" by WelshCanuck
On the day she was burned at the stake, Phoebe is wondering what they did wrong to change the future and in the end not have Prue in their lives.
Just when I was about to recommending this story at a different site, I was very surprised to realize that I never marked it as a favorite and never even gave it a review. I hope that sentence lets you know how much I love this fic; I was that anxious to share it. I truly think the author has come up with the answer to two important Charmedverse questions: Who did Cal Greene murder that caused Phoebe to go berzerk and why did Prue have to die? Of course, the Charmed Comic Books also tackled this question, and although I like their explanation, I love this one even more.
If anyone else wants to use this format to list links to their own favorite fics at fanfiction.net, go for it!
You guys make me glad that I decided to post these links. It makes me so happy to know that you've also enjoyed the Charmed fics I enjoyed.
I definitely would suggest that to any Charmed fan; those in particular who are fond of Chris.
