Interesting essay. I’m a big fan of the show, but not of the pairing (I watched it for the music/style/atmosphere, the rather dark and morally ambiguous issues raised in the eps, and the terrific supporting cast). I do, however, know many Michael/Nikita fans and I’d say you did a good job capturing why they like this couple.
The thing about this fandom is that it was at its height several years ago. When the series was still airing original episodes, there were quite a few more fansites -- including ones with vids, by the way. Many of these (especially high-bandwidth ones like sites with vids or downloadable music from the series) have now vanished. Others linger on in cyberspace but have not been maintained by the owners. What remains of the fandom is *not* Livejournal-oriented, and it has tended to split off into sub-specialty communities -- some are fanfic-oriented; others tend to be Roy Dupuis squee communities. There is fanfic posted in the latter types of communities (some of which you have linked to), but it tends to be of fanfic.net-level quality -- so if you happen to be browsing randomly through LFN sites (as it looks like you have done, from what I can tell from your links) and stumble across those, I can understand why you would have a negative reaction. Overall, however, the ratio of bad to good fic is about the same as in most other fandoms (and I read in several). And believe me, I am as picky as they come with respect to plotting, characterization, and writing mechanics. (I’ve run across a number of LFN fen who work as editors or writers in one form or another, so your standards aren’t alien to the fandom.)
Nice essay -- Part 1
The thing about this fandom is that it was at its height several years ago. When the series was still airing original episodes, there were quite a few more fansites -- including ones with vids, by the way. Many of these (especially high-bandwidth ones like sites with vids or downloadable music from the series) have now vanished. Others linger on in cyberspace but have not been maintained by the owners. What remains of the fandom is *not* Livejournal-oriented, and it has tended to split off into sub-specialty communities -- some are fanfic-oriented; others tend to be Roy Dupuis squee communities. There is fanfic posted in the latter types of communities (some of which you have linked to), but it tends to be of fanfic.net-level quality -- so if you happen to be browsing randomly through LFN sites (as it looks like you have done, from what I can tell from your links) and stumble across those, I can understand why you would have a negative reaction. Overall, however, the ratio of bad to good fic is about the same as in most other fandoms (and I read in several). And believe me, I am as picky as they come with respect to plotting, characterization, and writing mechanics. (I’ve run across a number of LFN fen who work as editors or writers in one form or another, so your standards aren’t alien to the fandom.)