Wishing someone else would do the work

[rabidsamfan]

As I read Lord of the Rings fics, and wander from website to website -- often finding the same stories -- I have yet to find an archive that has the subdivisions that really matter to me. While traditional genres are useful (is it romance? is it a mystery?) I'm far more interested in whether or not it's a drabble, ficlet, novel, filk or poetry. I want to know if it's torment or fluff, or a gap-filler, or book-canon, movie-canon, mixed-canon, AU, etc. And more than anything else I want to know where the story belongs in the timeline. Is it a Cormallen fic? Does it explore the missing three days and four nights at Rivendell? Does it spring off into it's alternate universe before the hobbits ever leave the Shire, or does the variation begin because Boromir survives the attack by the Orcs? Who's got the major point of view? Someone we know and love, or someone (or something!) unusual?

I've already got a list of more than 200 stories I've read and could categorize if there were more hours in the day, and I want someone else to make the list for me. Or at least redesign their website to let me search my own way!

Comments

[arwen-baggins.livejournal.com]

You should take that suggestion to Stories of Arda.com, they might actually do that. They expanded the search engine to include more book characters at my request, so they might take yours into consideration as well. Contact info can be found at

http://www.storiesofarda.com/about.asp

And Henneth-annun (http://www.hennenth-annun.com) has a search engine which identifies a story as pre-quest (and which age), Quest, or post-quest. So they're half-way there.

still searching

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Henneth Annun's search engine is pretty good, although you don't get the full list of characters unless you specify The Ring War, which is confusing (particularly if you like Sam.) It's frustrating though, because you can't search by their lovely standardized recommendations -- at least I can't. Stories of Arda won't let me in tonight. But my connection is kind of wonky.