Proof that the remaining 10% is worth dying for.
These are recommendations made by Tropers for Beetlejuice fanfics, (both film and animated series) all of which have to be signed to stay on the page. Feel free to add a fanfic of your own to the list, but remember to use the template found here.
You can also add to the current recommendations if you want. Refrain from posting Conversation in the Main Page though; that goes in the discussion page.
Page Reconfiguration in Progress: Fanfic Recommendations is being split into pages for each individual series, so help is needed to classify each entry into the appropiate category, and to format it according to the template.
Authors, and Websites
Beetle Juice - A Minecraft Roller Coaster
by Neuropsych 1
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin
- Comments: 5 minutes of Minecraft art
Make the Best of Being Flesh and Bone by PastelCryptids
- Recommended by Phoenix Fire 69
- Status: Incomplete
- Synopsis: "Life is a goddamn rollercoaster. I don't know how you people do that, just like WHA! WHA! WHA! ALL THESE FEELINGS! One minute your on top of the world and the next minute, you feel like no one will ever love you. But it's worth it, every bit of it." Beetlejuice says.
"Interesting!" Says I.
Or, Beetlejuice and the Maitland-Deetz household experience something entirely new.
Bridge Over the River Winter by NeitherSparky
- Recommended by Lurkerbunny
- Status: Complete
- Pairing(s): Slight Beetlejuice/Lydia, so be warned
- Synopsis: This fanfic bridges (pun intended) the gap between the movie and the cartoon, putting them in the same continuity.
- Comments: And dammit, it works.
Life Won't Wait by dirtynastysmelly
- Recommended by Twoie 92
- Status: Dormant (not updated since 2013)
- Pairings: FRIENDSHIP!Beetlejuice/Lydia, with a very well done Lydia/OC
- Synopsis: As Lydia grows up and grows older, Beetlejuice must struggle along with her through many changes that affect the nature of their friendship through the years. Will they stay best friends forever? Or will she outgrow the 'ghost with the most' and leave him behind? Based solely on the cartoon.
- Comments: So well done that it's like an official continuation of the cartoon. Beetlejuice is very in character, and his friendship with Lydia is very fulfilling.
The Man Who Sold The World and its sequel Dialectics by Ayezur
- Recommended by Anonymous Apathy
- Status: Complete (both)
- Pairing(s): Beetlejuice/Lydia (morphs into something like Lydia/OC - it's complicated)
- Synopsis:
- The Man Who Sold The World: Lydia is all alone on Halloween night, and Betelgeuse is finally back in the land of the unliving after three years' punishment for his misdeeds.
- Dialectics: In which pasts are remembered, secrets are revealed, and everything generally goes to hell. Death doesn't fix anything, it just changes the scenery.
- Comments: A continuation of the movie. Both Betelgeuse (one of the few fics - even in the movieverse - to spell his name correctly) and Lydia are completely in character, and develop in a a realistic way. Even when things start to turn in an Out of Character direction, it is Justified because it fits within the fic's continuity. The fic is an exploration of both Betelgeuse's and Lydia's characters, as well as Betelgeuse's past. While the ending is... mostly satisfying, it's still rather bittersweet.
- Recommended by bookwormgal
- Status: Complete
- Pairings: Betelgeuse/Lydia
- Synopsis: Lydia discovers a monster is feeding on the magic of child ghosts. Looking for answers six hundred years in the past, she meets "the ghost with the most"—in the flesh!
- Comments: A highly intriguing tale based on the movie, but with enough shout outs to the cartoon to catch your attention.
Flooded (formerly titled Sleepy Seaside - alternate link) by Unusual-Underground (formerly Mina Little)
- Recommended by bookwormgal
- Status: Dead; last updated January 2017
- Pairings: Betelgeuse/Lydia, mentions of past Original Character/Lydia
- Synopsis: The Maitlands are missing. A Lydia on the verge of turning 18 is sent to live with her overly-religious aunt. Betelgeuse can't be reached. And the Netherworld is going haywire!
- Comments: Manages to combine the cartoon and the film into a pretty entertaining whole.
Cobweb and Stripes by cobweb&stripes (link leads to deviantArt; can also be followed on Facebook or Tumblr)
- Recommended by Lady Norbert, Bookworm Gal
- Status: Orphaned; the artist has stated that she has abandoned the project at least for the foreseeable future.
- Pairings: Eventual Betelgeuse/Lydia; also Jacques/Ginger as a married pair in the background
- Synopsis: Two years after the events of the film, only Lydia and the Maitlands remember the events of that strange, strange night. But when the Maitlands are able to move on, Betelgeuse returns with a strange request.. Having been arrested for a crime unrelated to what happened in her house, he invokes an ancient, rarely-used magical law to have her serve as his "anchor" in the living world. The relationship takes turns for which neither of them were prepared, not least because they find that they like each other a lot more than they expected.
- Comments: It's a webcomic, not a fanfic, and definitely worth perusing. The artist is Polish, and the translations aren't always perfect, but otherwise it's rather exceptional. A really good merging of the plots of the film and the cartoon, with plenty of original content and a very distinct art style. Now with its own trope page.
Cinderjuice (alternate link) by Lady Norbert
- Recommended by Bookworm Gal, Rassilon001
- Status: Complete/In Progress (some stories are complete, one is back to being updated after a Series Hiatus)
- Pairings: Eventual Lydia/Beetlejuice
- Synopsis: Cartoonverse. Lydia's about to graduate from high school and wants to attend her senior prom, so Beetlejuice asks the Neitherworld's Fairy Godfather to let him be human again for one night. Shockingly, things don't go according to plan, and the pair find themselves in serious hot water. It's going to take more than 30 minutes (with commercial breaks) to get out of this one. Pass the popcorn!
- Comments: This is the first of what became the "Contractually Obligated Chaos" series. It starts out as a pretty clear Cinderella parody (with a little The Godfather thrown in), but things quickly jump the tracks. Very entertaining; now has a trope page.
Alive Without Breath by penniless1
- Recommended by Gryphon Fledgling
- Status: Complete
- Pairing(s): Betelgeuse/Lydia, Tarrant/Alice, Hamish (Death)/The White Queen (Life) (trust me, it works somehow)
- Crossover: With Alice in Wonderland (2010)
- Synopsis: With Death's guidance, the Mad Hatter, Tarrant Hightopp, will wait forever for The Alice to return to Underland; though Time stand still and teapots turn to dust! They might get some extra help though, from the world's foremost bio-exorcist - Betelgeuse!
- Comments: Set after both movies (quite a long, long time after Alice). A glorious crossover dealing with a reincarnated Alice Kingsleigh befriending Lydia Deetz. Both have seen Death. Both have hazy memories and dreams dealing with their own personal obsessed poltergeist. Follows said poltergeists (one Betelgeuse and one Antares... long story) as they are dropped into the waters together to deal with their respective objects of obsession. Really beautifully done, with the tie-ins between the movies and the girls' pasts explored.
- Recommended by treeclimber42, Lady Norbert
- Status: Complete; now with a prequel in progress
- Crossover: With Danny Phantom
- Synopsis: "Death was a familiar concept to Lydia. But not all ghosts are the same as those she knows. And thanks to an accident and an aunt she's quickly growing to hate, she'll have the perfect chance to witness these other types of ghosts in Amity Park. Meanwhile, someone is plotting and a poltergeist refuses to let go." Mostly the film, but minor influences from the cartoon.
- Comments: The Ghost With The Most meets Danny Phantom? Lydia and Sam, face to face? Worldbuilding? A serial killer ghost, an evil aunt, and a variety of different kinds of ghosts? If any of these ideas spark your interest, this story might just be the one for you. Furthermore, there's a Tropes Page for the story.
