Where's Mary Sue When You Need Her?
Synopsis
A shaggy-dog story that depends as much (if not more) on Daria fan culture as knowledge of the series, "Where's Mary Sue When You Need Her" follows a day in the life of its author, Scissors MacGillicutty, as he chaperons Stacy Rowe around his (then) native New York, writes a old-style script fic under an assumed name, and then crosses dimensions to Lawndale where things really start to get weird for him.
Discussion
Despite much initial acclaim, the author now considers this story marred by repetitive exposition throughout, confusing and unnecessary discussions of self-referentiality in art at crucial points, and half-digested analytic metaphysics in the mouth of an impossibly off-canon Daria at its end. After some sober reflection, Daria fandom agreed, and the story won a CRAPPIE in 2006. The tale is online at PPMB, but the author plans numerous revisions.
Certain readers (i.e., cyde, The Angst Guy) disagree with this sentiment, and cite this tale as a masterwork of extreme angst-fic. The depiction of "Mad Dog" Morgendorffer and his poisonous legacy is especially good, with its cascade of disastrous consequences for the Morgendorffer family. The shock ending is very satisfying. A tour-de-force of upended character stereotypes and lurid secret agendas.