Five of my favorite stories from the fanfiction forum
The new official WoW fanfiction forum has been live for a little while now, and it's starting to fill up with a variety of stories for the interested reader. There you can find tragic tales of fallen heroes, tongue-in-cheek vignettes, and even some chronicles devoted to filling in the gaps of Azerothian history. Really, even after only a few days of existence, there are more than enough stories to keep a fanfiction enthusiast busy for quite some time.
In the spirit of drawing some attention to the forum as a whole, I've spent some time reading through a number of the threads there and picked out a few of my favorites. Mind you, this isn't necessarily a comprehensive list, because I simply don't have the time to give every single posted tale the attention that it deserves. The ones I've chosen caught my fancy for any number of reasons--the originality of the concept, some aspect of the writing, or the effect of the story. They are listed below in no particular order. Do click on over to check them out, and feel free to add favorites of your own in the comments!
1. Eventide, by Tickee.
"Eventide" is the story of gnome warlock Tickee and her relationship with her sister. It spans a great deal of time, from before the Third War all the way through to the events of Cataclysm, but does so in a way that doesn't feel clunky. I like this one for how it frames a few large-scale events through Tickee's eyes, and focuses on Azeroth's oft-neglected gnomish people. Though the tale is bleak, and the twist at the end a bit obvious, I thoroughly enjoyed this story. Perhaps you will too!
2. The Gundersson and Hammerstein Chronicles, by Gundersson
There's no way around it, this is one of the oddest and most entertaining WoW fanfictions I have ever read. The writing isn't perfect, and more than once it gets a little difficult to tell who various pronouns are referring to. However, all that is worth overlooking because this story takes a fantastic risk with its point of view character. The source of the voice telling the story isn't immediately obvious, and the author respects readers enough to let us figure it out on our own. I don't want to spoil it, because the small mystery is a good chunk of the fun. I am utterly charmed.
3. Pox, by Lilfeathers
I have a soft spot for Garrosh, and this story set during the days of the Old Horde on Draenor hits just the right note for me. Some of the descriptive passages get a little clunky, but the dialogue really shines. Lilfeathers lets the characters' interactions do the storytelling's heavy lifting, which I appreciate. Considering current events in WoW, this one's a bit of a heartbreaker, in the best way.
4. The First Paragon, by Deedle
Here I must admit to at least a little bit of a bias, because the author of this story is in my guild. Thus, personal disclaimer taken care of, onto the praise: I really enjoy this tale of of how Korven the Prime, many, many years ago in Pandaria, became the founding member of the Klaxxi Paragons. The story takes a couple paragraphs to get its legs under it, but manages to capture the atmosphere and mindset of Mantid society pitch-perfectly.
5. Incidentally Heroic, by Aedilhild
This one's an interesting bit of a throwback, because the author states up-front that it was an entry for Blizzard's 2010 Global Creative Writing Contest. To be perfectly honest, I consider this one to be the weakest of the five I've listed, but only because the story overreaches itself in its latter half, and goes on far longer than it needs to. The writing is sharp, entertaining, and engaging. I mean, check this out:
Garrulus was a burly, square-jawed, cleft-chinned man clad in plate armor that looked like it had once been a soup kettle. He spoke at one volume, loud, occasionally patting his steel warmace. His red handlebar moustache flapped and twitched when he talked as if two squirrels were standing on his lip doing the jitterbug rump-to-rump.
I can't remember the last time I read a better description of a chest-puffing, mustachioed windbag. The entire story is full of these wonderful descriptive passages, and they make it a joy to read despite the rickety second act. Definitely worth a look!
I hope you enjoy some of these recommendations, and if your tastes differ vastly from mine, may the links at least lead you to give the "Seat of Knowledge" a once-over. There's a lot of stuff there, and only more to come, so there's bound to be something for just about everyone.
