Orphaned Series/Fan Works

Examples of Orphaned Series in Fan Works include:

Harry Potter

Harry Potter and the Breeding Darkness might have run solely on Plot Bunny fuel, but it is very well-written, possibly even brilliant (although as always, Your Mileage May Vary). Unfortunately, the fic seems to have been discontinued due to lack of interest and time to continue writing for it, and has now been put it up for adoption.
The Shoebox Project is one of the most highly-rated Harry Potter fanfics ever, but it hasn't been updated since 2008 and never got a proper ending.
The extraordinarily well-done Harry Potter fic Realizations by "Wishweaver" reached thirty-six chapters between 2003 to 2010, at which point its author abruptly disappeared. It lay fallow for a decade, until in 2020 when Wishweaver reappeared and began posting a rewritten version on Archive of Our Own. Unfortunately, as of early 2021 Wishweaver has once again reached thirty-six chapters and stalled out; at the time of this writing it is too early to say whether it is again Orphaned, but it's not looking good.

Ranma ½

The Ranma ½ fanfic Hearts of Ice by Krista Perry Fisk. An epic in both size and subject matter, Hearts of Ice first appeared in 1997, and over the next two years, Fisk (then unmarried and writing under her maiden name of Perry) turned out some 25 chapters of exceptionally high-quality story, with the 25th -- the penultimate chapter -- ending on a heartbreaking Cliff Hanger. And then stopped writing for ten years. Ultimately averted when she finally completed it in 2009, but not before it gained the nickname "The Great Unfinished Symphony of Ranma Fanfic".
Girl Days, perhaps the best Original Flavour Ranma ½ fanfic in existence. Seventeen and a half chapters written between 1999 and 2002, after which its author vanished from the Net.
Tales of Ranma and Ranko by Jack Staik and Lady Tesser. An absolutely epic work of Ranma ½ fan fiction, it is composed of three massive (and complete) novel-sized stories (Ranma's Secret, Ranma's Fiancees, and A Matter of Romantic Chemistry) and one short story ("Nabiki's Plan"). A fourth novel-sized installment, Our Wedding Day, promised to wrap up the entire cycle -- but was left barely started when its husband-wife writing team suddenly disappeared from the Net in the early 2000s.

Other Works

Very common: depressingly common among The Other Ten Percent.
- See Dead Fic for more examples.
- Given that Dead Fics are often of the other ten percent, and that the ten percent often Needs More Love, it can be incredibly depressing or frustrating to an author to see that the ninety percent of crap gets more attention than their decently written fic ever will.
The Zelda fic Feel Good Hit of the Summer has died...after posting a very well-done Mood Whiplash Nightmare Fuel scene revealing some serious Break the Cutie in a flashback. (In fairness, it's a sequel to a decent-length complete fic, but still.)
The The Legend of Dragoon fic Rebirth of a Legend was four chapters from the end according to the author. He never came back to finish it.
The Avatar: The Last Airbender Azulaang fic "Lanterns" has also gone over two and a half years without an update.
The New Students. An incredibly good crossover between Yu-Gi-Oh! and Harry Potter. No, really.
Final Fighting Fantasy, in the most frustrating way. It's been 4 years since the last installment came out, and the prognosis for the final installment doesn't look good.
With Strings Attached was this for a long time. The author, who started it in 1980 and began posting it online in 1997, gave it up in 2002 after her personal life imploded (mother had Alzheimer's, laid off from her job, etc.). The two-thirds of the book she'd finished remained on her website to drive readers nuts. She never thought she would finish it, but in early 2009 she was hit by literary lightning, wrote 300 pages in 3 weeks, and finished the thing. (The final product in book form is over 650 pages long.) She is now working on the long-promised sequel, The Keys Stand Alone.
The Nunu Bot Show is in one, with creator Angry Goran not even logging onto YouTube for two months.^[when?]
Colonization: First Contact is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfic with the typical "human in Equestria" premise, except with a twist: instead of the typical self-insert, it features a space expedition of scientists and soldiers who stumble upon the planet Equestria. Unfortunately, it petered out just as things had started getting interesting; all we got are five chapters, and a piece of the sixth on the author's profile. The author later announced he will not be finishing the fic (and offers it to any enterprising author who would like to finish it.)

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