I came across AFF only a few days after my first introduction to K-Pop.  Despite being new to K-Pop, I was not new to the idea of fan-fiction.  (I actually had begun reading it during my scene-inspired phase as a pre-teenager—spin the bottle fics.—they were horrible and trite and ALL IN SECOND PERSON and ugh. Why.)

When I got interested in anime (specifically Naruto, having remembered seeing it advertised on Cartoon Network as a littler kid) in my early teenage years (I grew up with an otaku father who raised me on the classics like Tenchi Muyo and Studio Ghibli movies), I not only began reading but writing fan-fiction.  I wrote on quizilla first…until it was officially taken over by Nickelodeon and anything with the word “damn” was taken down for inappropriate content.  I then moved to mibba, but couldn’t stand the people there.

I wasn’t in a tight-knit community at quizilla, but people didn’t make a point of making me feel like an idiot there.  If you don’t know, mibba actually has a rule about any content posted there needing to be grammatically correct.  I have a better understanding of grammar than most people, and definitely did for my age at the time, but people who comment on my stuff to tell me I needed to add a comma or take my content down because I was ruining the site? …Talk about pretentious and absolutely ridiculous.

At the end of 8^th grade (age 13/14) my friend has indirectly and unintentionally gotten me obsessed with K-Pop through the singer Rain.  She, knowing my interest in Asian culture and similar topics, had mentioned in passing that when searching online for a picture of rain, she had found a bunch of pictures of a random Asian guy.  I ignored it for a long time, but then I finally looked it up.  I got really into his music and just him as a human being (his story’s totally inspiring, look it up if you haven’t…or PM me because I can tell you about it).  So, naturally, my slight obsession led me on a search for fan-fiction about him. Enter: flirtygurl34’s story that brought me to AFF.

The story has since been removed, but the whole concept of this type of fan-fiction was very new to me.  All of my prior dips into the fan-fiction pool had been with fictional characters or fictionalized characters (there was a picture of a person, but the story wasn’t about them) and this stuff was about actual people.

I held off on writing for a bit (I didn’t register an account until a little later) because I guess the idea kind of weirded me out..?  I don’t know, and obviously my opinion has since changed, but it was definitely something new for me.

I registered an account on May 2, 2010 (I was 14 at the time) and began writing my first story I’ll Stay BEHIND the Camera, Thanks. on the same day.  I finished it just over a year later.

I made a ton of friends, wrote (or started…and haven’t finished) a ton of stories, and became a moderator here along the way.  I still keep contact with a few of my original friends, but many have left the site for personal or other reasons since.  Unfortunately, my writing has since dwindled to almost nothing with the addition of an expanded course load in school over the past few years.

I’ve watched the site grow and change a lot over the almost four years that I’ve been here.  I wish I had screenshot the old layout to show to those of you who weren’t around for the sidebar-type chat boxes (ages before the walls you all know today).  Back then, the site was pretty small and most people knew each other or knew of one another.  (Anyone else remember the friend tributes everyone had on their profiles? Haha.)

I stay for the people here.  My writing has suffered as a result of my schoolwork (though schoolwork will always be first, as I have always said), so I can’t say I stay mainly for my writing any more.

Through AFF, I have been able to share my thoughts in the form of my stories.  Close to 1,000 users have subscribed to my 26 stories.  My most popular story has close to 60,000 views. 

AFF has given me the tight-knit community I needed and didn’t find at quizilla.  AFF has given me the confidence I didn’t have at mibba.

More importantly, AFF is a documentation of my growth as a writer, my triumphs and my shortcomings.  It shows my development not only as a writer but as a person.

I matured on AFF.  I grew from an unconfident 14 year-old writer of sorts to a 17 year-old author. 

I was happy to announce my college acceptance to everyone this past December through this outlet.  AFF is a group of people that mean a lot to me.  I’ve learned a lot over the past 4 years here and hope to continue learning and maturing along with the others here for a long time to come.