Warning:  This page contains SPOILERS for the TV series through TRY. Also contains opinions, which may or not be offensive. 

Part the First:  Q and A

How can I find Slayers fanfiction on the web? 

For volume, there's darknessrising.com. Anipike has a small selection of links as well, but most of them are repeats. I have a links section here for the most comprehensive archives. 

You know, there's so much crappy fanfiction out there!!!! 

If you thought about it, this should not be surprising, because anyone with a web connection can publish fanfic or have it published for them on the web. They aren't paid for it either. Also, writing ability tends to go with ability to evaluate writing, making it more likely that those who write badly will be the least shy about exposing their work to the world. Plus, 90% of everything is crap. When it comes to fanfic, make that 98%, putting it generously. To say that most fanfiction sucks is like saying that bureaucracy is inefficient. Rating sites and discriminating archives will help you with this problem, as well as recommendations and awards. 

I read a fanfic about a topic that offended me. What should I do?

Well, you might consider learning how to read the labeling system. Some things which tend to upset people are shounen-ai/yaoi/boy-love and lemons. Shounen-ai refers to homosexuality in fanfic; its literal translation is boy-love. It's similar to the Western slash fanfic genre, though there are more technical differences between the two. For more information, go to aestheticism.com. Fanfics with explicit sexual content are normally called lemon or lime. Pairings are often indicated with slashes, such as Xelloss/Filia. If you feel that a certain fic should be labeled, or that the warning was inadequate, an email to the webmaster may be in order to explain this deficiency. I should note that most are pretty good about it. You then might want to avoid more fanfics by the same author, or avoid the webpage where the fanfic was archived. If the mailing list you are on features such fics regularly, you might also try unsubscribing. 

You misunderstood me. I'm offended that the author even thought of the topic in the first place. What should I do now?

Nothing. Why should you do anything? 

Because it's not right! They have to be stopped from thinking their thoughts, expressing them, and sharing them with like-minded people. It nauseates me. There's just some things you shouldn't do with other people's characters; it's against the intent of the creators....

First of all, there really is nothing you can do. Flaming will shut some people up, but 80% of the time, hatred, resistance, and ridicule only makes people more determined. People don't like it  when you try to control their behavior, especially if you're rude about it. 

Secondly, it's bad manners to flame people. If you don't like the raison d'être of their site or their fanfiction, you have nothing to say to each other. Satire is also (and I'm guilty of violating this rule too) unlikely to change anyone's mind, but promote retaliation in like form. Laughter can be immensely cruel, and I'm sure if the other side tried hard enough, they could lampoon you as well. Any sort of lapses of judgment or taste on your part may haunt you later down the road (not in the sense of karma, but in the sense of revenge and bad reputation...on the net, I've lost some respect for a lot of people I used to have respect for based on them having lapses in judgment on certain occasions). Give up the fantasy of changing other people's minds. If they care about something enough to devote their time to making a site dedicated to it, you're unlikely to convince them that it sucks. If you can't understand their mentality at all, that is a sign that communication will probably be unprofitable. Most of fandom is based on irrational preferences, which aren't amenable to argument anyway. Don't you have any irrational likings that others ridicule? Try to have some empathy here. 

Thirdly, since when did we think with our stomachs? Does it really affect your happiness that other fans don't have the same feelings as you? Do you secretly wish that they'd devote their time to making sites that you'd enjoy but that they wouldn't? If we elevate everyone's gut feelings to universal edicts, great stupidity will be the result. Who knows, what you like might make other people vomit. 

But to answer the last part of this question,  and to segue into the next topic....

Phase II:  The Whole Idea of Fanfiction

A lot of fans don't read fanfiction. I myself, in some fandoms, steer clear of it for various reasons; i.e. the dominant genre is not to my liking, or because the canon isn't finished yet, or just because I don't feel the need to. In general, I believe that as fanatics (which is really what fan means), we are all guilty of taking our specific fandom too seriously, more than is rational. But this is okay, if we understand this and don't become obnoxious about it to non-fans or to other fans who enjoy the series in different ways. Too many people, in my opinion, are far too moralistic about their leisure activities and could probably improve the world greatly by channeling their outrage to more worthy causes. Of course, in the hierarchical hell that is fandom, I'm probably in a lower circle than you, the reader, because I'm actually bothering to consider fandom in a semi-serious light. 

Fanfiction is inherently anti-canonical. We have no real way, especially as non-Japanese reading people, and non-mindreading people, of knowing the complete intent of the creator. People attempt to draw lines in the sand between canon and non-canon when dealing with fanfic, but these distinctions are not really important ones; we're dealing with a continuity here. The important distinction is in deciding to read or write fanfiction, or not. 

On a legal level, fanfiction is illegal. But at least in Japan, fancreations such as doujinshi (and whatever you think of American fandom, it has nothing on the Japanese fandom) are tolerated by the publishers. They are said to look upon it more as free publicity. If you believe that the creation of the author is sacrosanct, and that no one but the author should be writing the setting or characters (actually, I tend to believe the two are inseparable, or should be artistically), then it's pretty obvious that reading fanfiction will only raise your blood pressure. I recommend that you engage in another equally irritating fan activity that I also enjoy, canon nitpicking. You will find some kindred spirits in your reverence for the original text there. 

One of the major reasons people (especially canon types like myself) are annoyed with fanfic writers is the creation of "fanon," meaning fan-created canon. These arise out of little things that a fanfic writer has added onto canon in his or her fics, or little bits of characterization that the author finds appropriate. These may not be incompatible with canon, but are not canonical nonetheless. Then people confuse them with canon, because they're very apposite to the character or psychologically convincing.. Famous examples in Slayers include the idea that Deep Sea Dolphin is insane and hates Xelas Metallium, nearly everything about the pasts of Xelloss, Zelgaldis, and Gourry not explicitly shown in the anime, and any characterization of Luna Inverse by anyone who hasn't read the novels.  I don't think canon enthusiasts should blame fanfic writers for this, unless they misleadingly state their fanon to be canon. It's the fault of the fanfic reader alone for being careless. 

What is being non-canon? Many people assume that it simply means not contradicting anything said in the series. But it's possible not to contradict any of the facts of the series, and still wind up with something that all would agree to be very un-Slayersesque. There is nothing in Slayers that says that Lina and co. are immortal, but one would agree that seeing them all get killed, or even one of them, seriously and for good, would never happen in the original series. In talking about canon, we have to talk about typical events of the series (because characters are determined by deed, and deeds are contingent on circumstance), typical tone of the series, and typical themes of the series. If you mess with these, you're being un-Slayersy. You also have to look at things which the canon ignores, or isn't interested in, sometimes unaccountably. If you start exploring these things, you're also messing with creator intention, because often there are good reasons the author doesn't wish to explore these things. If you change perspective, you're also messing with the foundational rules of the series, though this is perhaps not strictly anti-canonical. If we look at TRY from Valgaav's perspective, in tone and in event, this would be very unlike Slayers, because it would omit much of the story of TRY (remember he doesn't show up for the funny episodes, which are very important to what we think of as Slayers)  and would have an entirely different tone.

What are the various reasons people decide to write fanfiction? They like the story, and they want to see it continue. In Slayers, a lot of people are dissatisfied with the TRY ending, which they feel had an inadequate amount of closure. Many people feel when they do this, they somehow are more canonical. But actually, in terms of creating the fan conventions that have no place in canon, and blurring the boundaries between the two, this is the worst sort. If the fic is to be interesting, the writer must develop the borrowed characters in various ways. All sorts of objections may be raised that the original writer would have never allowed such situations to change the characters in the first place. Plus original characters must be created. (Slayers never just has Lina and friends; they always are meeting people on their journey.)  It's even worse if these fics are enjoyable and well written. Continuation stories add on to canon, and they attempt to do so with an impression of certainty, which promotes the dreaded fanfic-bleed (hated by canon mavens) far more than other genres of fanfic. The more non-canonical types of fic are free of pretensions towards canonical faithfulness, and so the chance of people taking them to be canonical are lessened. So actually, if you want to find a good fanfic, ask for the one that created the most fanon. Chances are you won't be disappointed. In Slayers fandom, probably the most influential in creating fanon are Twoflower's fanfics. They are, by the way, most excellent fanfic. 

Other reasons are that they want to see a romantic relationship developed that was not or has not yet been in the series. In Slayers, it's the former, because it's pretty much over.  If the relationship hasn't arisen, in the case of non-canon ones, or not been developed (by developed, I mean poured over seriously and mushily in that way that so much Slayers romancefic does), in the case of the canon ones, this is probably because the author didn't want to do it, because it would interfere with the tone of the story. This assertion is even more valid when we factor in the comments that Mr. Kanazaka, the novelist, has made about his disinterest in or aversion to romance in his stories. 

Others are angsty in their tastes, and want darkfic. Slayers has dark moments, but on the whole it doesn't espouse tragedy or nihilism, especially with the main characters. Some people just want to see lots of sex. I don't think I need to take a great deal of time convincing you that this isn't canonical, either strictly or in terms of tone. 

So, in general, people write and read fanfic because they want what the original series refuses to deliver. What the creators didn't intend the series to do. In other words, they want non-canon. 

As a practical matter, each fan must decide where his or her personal line on the canon-non-canon continuum is, a line that has meaning really only to his/her own self. By criticizing on those who draw their lines farther towards the road to noncanon land, we open ourselves up to being criticized by those on the other side, and by non-fanfic readers as well, who stand on a circle above us. I think the torture in our circle is being forced to read bad fanfic, as a punishment for daring to descend. Well, actually I'm in the circle below you folks. Please don't throw those wadded-up self-inserts at me.  ^_^. But what have we learned, if anything, besides the fact that I'm extremely talkative?  The relationship between canon and fanfic is less a question of hard and fast rules, than a range of personal preferences. So flaming fanfic writers and self-righteousness over canon are exercises in pointlessness.