Proof that the remaining 10% is worth surviving high school for here.
These are recommendations made by Tropers for Daria fanfics, 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.
Authors and Websites
Outpost Daria Reborn
originally by Martin J Pollard; reborn by Kevin Bess (Neon Homer)
- Recommended by Ranchoth
- Synopsis: The largest, oldest surviving Daria fansite online. With information about the show, characters, episodes (with transcripts), and a good deal of fanfic and fanart. Sadly closed as of June 2013, though its archive is still maintained at a new website.
- Recommended by Ranchoth
- Synopsis: Only a few years old, the Daria Wiki contains quite a bit of thorough information about elements of the show itself, as well as a storehouse of information on Daria fan fiction and projects. Speaking as someone who knows this particular fandom, it can come in surprisingly handy.
- Comments: To put it another way, the fandom is a generally very nice, very creative, very bright, and fairly ''small'' amount of people, who're all fans of a semi-cult TV show, who've stuck around for more than a decade. The chances there weren't going to be multi-season continuation, spinoff, and crossover fics detailed like the Sistine Chapel is almost nil. But in a good way, I swear!
''The Driven Wild Universe'' by Kara Wild (Fanfiction.net link)
- Recommended by Ryan Lohner
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: A 22 episode virtual season begun while season three was airing, with ongoing story arcs like Quinn's eyesight declining so she needs glasses, Helen trying to have a closer relationship with her daughters, and Jake and Helen's marriage suffering greater strain than ever before. Also featuring fan art, character bios, and possible story ideas from the DWU.
- Comments: Each episode feels just like the show, with everyone in character and a wonderful balance between jokes and moving personal drama. Though be warned, the author is very much an anti-shipper and even brings this up herself in a couple episode summaries.
- Kara Wild's website has frequent outages, and she posted all but the last two chapters on Fanfiction.net
- Recommended by Hyrin
- Synopsis: One of the most active locations in the fandom, there is new fan fiction posted daily.
- Comments: This site is essentially Home Base for Daria fan fiction, and most of the fandom's authors post here on a regular basis.
The "Have Faith" Tetrology: April 10, 1997, The Sum of Their Parts, That's What You'll Take to the Grave and The In-Dark by Mediancat (Crossover)
- Recommended by Looney Toons, Marvel Girl Ack Sed LentilSandEater and RookEncounte
- Satus:
- April 10, 1997: Complete
- The Sum of Their Parts: Complete
- That's What You'll Take to the Grave: Complete
- The In-Dark: Dormant
- Synopsis: Four stories based around a unique crossover between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Daria. The first is April 10, 1997, in which a mandatory psych examination in prison reveals that Faith may not be who she thinks she is. She's actually Daria Morgendorffer. It is followed by The Sum of Their Parts, That's What You'll Take to the Grave and The In-Dark.
- Comments: Well written, and implements a crossover by way of a device that I don't think I've ever seen before.
- Better than it sounds. The second story then drops Faith into the middle of Buffy Season 5. You know what that means. Daria's brain makes things change.
- This troper read after watching up to Season 6 of Buffy and all of Daria, and found it to be at least as good as all of BtVS. And given how Daria has to learn about a new world of the fantastic, it stands by itself as a good Daria/Fantasy crossover without any knowledge of Buffy at all.
Drive by The Angst Guy
- Recommended by Brother Grimace
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: A post-canon Daria fic that envisions Daria and Jane as TV show hosts on a trip to a secret government base of a Pacific island, and how they become involved in a crisis that forever changes the entire world.
- Comments: One of the best offerings from one of the best-ever Daria fan fiction writers, this fic takes the characters we know and love, and expands upon them in unusual ways, but never lets us lose sight of who they are. Definitely a must read - but be prepared for copious amounts of angst.
Daria's Christmas Carol by John Takis
- Recommended by Robert
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Exactly what it says on the tin.
- Comments: An effective, and somewhat novel, use of the trope. Greed is not the only vice.
The Lost Seasons by C.E. Forman
- Recommended by Tarvok
- Status:
- Season 1: Complete
- Season 2: Dead
- Synopsis: A series of fics that blend so well with the canon, some have been known to misremember events that occur in this series as canonical.
- Comments: Should this have gone under "Authors and Websites" instead?
The Last Summer / Falling Into College Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, and Year 4 by Richard Lobinske
- Recommended by Kchishol
- Status:
- The Last Summer: Complete
- Years 1 - 4: Complete
- New Born: Complete
- Synopsis: The life of Daria, Jane and all her friends, old and new, in the summer after graduating Lawndale High and her college years in Boston.
- Comments: A richly detailed and deeply moving fan sequel of Daria's post-secondary student years where she grows even more dramatically than in high school.
- Now has a new entry, First Born.
- Not to cause strife, but much of this, particularly when it's not about Daria, tends to ramble and get really boring. Far too much time is spent on flat, boring characters like the cat.
- Now has a new entry, First Born
Blood, Sweat, and Cheers by Kristen Bealer
- Recommended by Ryan Lohner
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: At the end of "The F Word" Jane decides to keep her conventional image and join the cheerleaders, creating a huge rift between her and Daria. And now that she's off the squad for good, Brittany displays some Hidden Depths and becomes Daria's new best friend.
- Comments: A sometimes painful but always fascinating AU with great alternate takes on the rest of season four following "The F Word."
Turnabout Confusion by DennisWe All Fall Down and All the King's Horses
- Recommended by Ryan Lohner
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Daria and Quinn bet that they can survive in each other's worlds for a week. Little do they know that they'll turn Lawndale High upside down in the process, bringing out the Magnificent Bastard in some of their classmates and ultimately causing an epic Gambit Pileup to determine the most popular girls in school.
- Comments: If the creators of Death Note had made Daria, it would probably be like this. The constantly mutating power struggle and Quinn and Daria's attempts to fix it are an incredible look at the Serious Business of high school popularity, all fitting surprisingly well into the show as we know it.
Finn Morgendorffer by HolyGrail2007
- Recommended by Matt 620
- Status: Dead
- Synopsis: Quinn is changed from female to male and becomes Finn, a little brother. The two siblings get along quite poorly, and the relationship between mother and son gets far worse.
- Comments: It was very fresh and felt a lot like the canon series, with interesting relationship dynamics, especially in the later chapters.
- I'd like to point out that this fic is complete. The linked version didn't get beyond chapter 35, for some reason. The Paper Pusher forum (PPMB) has all the remaining chapters (an account is needed to read them, though).
God Save The Esteem by Charles RB
- Recommended by Excellence Of Execution
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: You know how Helen and Jake were once hippies? Now imagine that, due to a shift forward in time to 2010, they were punks instead, never grew out of it and Quinn was a punk as well? A unique re-interpretation of the series crossing multiple genres.
- Comments: One of the best Daria fic series out there today. Mostly a comedy series, it can suddenly take a depressing or emotional turn when you least expect it...
- This one can get a bit weird as it's clearly written by a Brit, given the abundant use of "Mum" and "Maths class." Though if you're able to get past that, it's definitely worth it. Plus, easily the best version of Stacy I've ever seen.
- Now has its own page.
Smoke and Ashes by Yui Daoren.
- Recommended by Judgement
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Daria, Jane, and Quinn survive a school shooting.
- Comments: This story takes a realistic approach and has a serious tone. It focuses on the way the characters deal with a traumatic event, keeping them IC.
Lawndale Fighting Championship by The Excellent S
- Recommended by C2
- Status: There are three main stories in the series so far, with a fourth in progress.
- Synopsis: The main cast clash in the Professional Wrestling ring (unlike the event the title is derived from). The adults serve as announcers and referees. Not a Crossover since no one from the world of wrestling appears.
- Comments: This series has a lot of fun with wrestling's tropes, and there is a good attempt to maintain a sense of canon.
Quinn's Code by cfardell_Brenorenz29
- Recommended by Eegah
- Status: Dormant
- Synopsis: A Setting Update to 2005, in which Quinn has become a computer and anime geek. But she still manages to be just as popular as in canon, which irritates Sandi even more than Daria.
- Comments: The author's aversion to contractions can get annoying, but there's some great use of minor characters, and Quinn and Sandi's adversarial relationship is a lot of fun.
Winter In Hell by The Angst Guy
- Recommended by Sara Jaye
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: A day in the life of Sandi Griffin, now a senior in high school and a social outcast after undergoing a massive Break the Haughty. It started out on a sour note and things are only going to get worse from there.
- Comments: As someone who despises Sandi's canon behavior but loves analyzing what a complete mess she must be underneath, this is one of my all-time favorite fics. I especially enjoy the irony in Quinn, the girl she used to jealously pick on, being her only true friend left.
High School Never Ends by Well Tempered Clavier
- Recommended by Rogersz
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: An unexpected interruption in her college career sends Daria back to Lawndale, where she ends up tutoring her old high school's first fifth-year student: Kevin Thompson!
- Comments: An interesting, if somewhat pessimistic, look at Daria's post-high school life.
Out of Fashion by Kristen Bealer
- Recommended by Volantredx
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: When the Fashion Club disbands at the end of "Fat Like Me," the consequences spread throughout all of Lawndale. An AU story that turns the lives of Sandi, Quinn, and Stacy upside-down.
- Comments: A very fun and fairly deep look at how each of the Fashion Club members might have grown and changed had the club broken up when Sandi gained weight after her broken ankle. This story does a lot to make each of them feel like fully fleshed out people facing a fairly radical shift in their lives.
Quinn by WildDogJJ
- Recommended by Trevor807
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: A fanfic set post-"Is It College Yet?" that follows Quinn throughout her senior year in high school, college years, and into adulthood.
- Comments: A nicely handled look at Quinn's life after her sister's graduation. With writing and characterizations that stay true to canon while building on top of the existing character development throughout the show, this fic is certainly worth a read. Proofreading may be necessary on the writer's part, though.
John Lane by RLobinske (AU)
- Recommended by Kchishol
- Status: Complete
- Pairing(s): Daria/Male!Jane Lane
- Synopsis: Rlobinske's John Lane takes an intriguing twist by imagining what Daria would be like if Jane Lane was male.
- Comments: An intelligent and deftly sweet romantic variation on the TV series.
- I hate for people to think of me as contradictory, but when the story got to about the third season, John started to get on my nerves and seem like a total Stu. He somehow manages to avoid all the bad things that happen to Jane AND remove most of the bad things that happened to Daria, completely removing the point of a great deal of chapters.
The Passion Club by Gystex
- Recommended by Sara Jaye
- Status: Complete
- Pairing(s): Mainly Sandi/Quinn, but also a bit of OS!Stacy/Sandi, Jane/Stacy, Tom/Daria and Stacy/Tiffany
- Synopsis: Sandi reveals her real reason for being so hostile towards Quinn, and after a lot of soul-searching on Quinn's part they begin a relationship. But the drama doesn't end there, and soon the two are embroiled in a web of secrets, lies and angst.
- Comments: An amazing epic that mixes character development with romance, tension and hot sex. It's quite a ride, but well worth the trip in the end. The author also began a sequel, which unfortunately seems to have been abandoned.
Life Happens When You're Drinking Coffee at Starbucks by MissCar
- Recommended by Mochitachan
- Status: Complete
- Pairing(s): David/Quinn, With some Upchuck/Stacy and other minor couples
- Synopsis: At 16, Quinn Morgendorffer was a conceded little nightmare who dreamed of becoming a supermodel. By 28, she doesn't resemble that person at all and she is proud of that. How did that happen? A post-graduation story.
- Comments: This might be one of the most grounded Distant Future fanfics and some of the pairs mentioned come out of nowhere, but the writing is good and the focus on Quinn keeps her sympathetic.
Crossovers
A Cynical Shade of Green by Echopapa (Justice League of America Crossover (More specifically Green Lantern) )
- Recommended by Kchishol
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Due to an error by Green Lantern John Stewart, his power ring goes out and recruits Daria as Sector 2814's new Green Lantern.
- Comments: This is a fun story with Daria becoming a superhero in a surprisingly creditable fashion with some playful prodding by Jane. The Daria and Justice League of America characters alternate chapters until they are brought together for an awesome conclusion for anyone who ever dreamed of becoming a superhero.
Is it Doom Yet?/ Daria R/Succession_Crisis/ by RLobinske (Marvel Universe Crossover)
- Recommended by Kchishol
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Daria finds out that her biological father is Doctor Doom, and he is calling her to Latveria to become his heir.
- Comments: Although how the story gets Tom out of the way is annoying, the series quickly more than recovers with a neat story of Daria becoming a princess and then Queen of Latveria, taking on her responsibilities and her interactions with the MU's superhero community her way.
Daria 40k: Is It The Grim Darkness Of The Far Future, Yet? by RX-87 (crossover with Warhammer 40,000).
- Recommended by fhtagn
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: The cast of Daria (and some old friends from Our Heroine's past) take on the roles of Imperial and Chaos forces as the battle for the fate of Planet Lawndale rages and Hilarity Ensues.
- Comments: Utterly hilarious, though it does require a working knowledge of both the 40k and MTV Animation-verses to really appreciate. The characterizations are spot-on almost to a fault (Jane's libido does veer uncomfortably close to OOC (and Fluff-inaccuracy) once or twice, but it does get an amusing justification towards the end).
Legion of Lawndale Heroes by Roentgen
- Recommended by Brother Grimace
- Status: Ongoing
- Synopsis: A crossover between Daria and the Legion of Super-Heroes has several Lawndale students gaining super-powers, and after rescuing a reclusive billionaire, find themselves as part of his plan to save the world.
- Comments: An excellent use of both series, with the focus on the Daria characters, and the author keeps them firmly grounded and moving in the relative storylines of the series, while bringing in engaging new characters and focusing in excellent character interaction.
Misery Chick, Pig-Tailed Warrior by Cypher3au (Crossover)
- Recommended by SAMAS
- Status: Dead
- Mirror archive of the original addventure.
- Synopsis: Misery Chick, Pig-Tailed Warrior features an amnesiac Ranma Saotome sent to Lawndale by an enigmatic being to rest for unknown reasons.
- Comments: Short but Funny, and not a pairing in sight (thankfully). last updated in 2006.
