Proof that the remaining 10% is worth selling your soul for a cupcake.
These are recommendations made by Tropers for Doki Doki Literature Club! fanfics, all of which need to be signed to stay on the page. Feel free to add to this list, so long as you use the template shown here. You can also add to the current recommendations if you want.
Reviews of fics are encouraged, but if you choose to write one, please make it substantive, and give specific details about what you liked/disliked in the fic. If you want to give a fic a thumbs-up without writing a full review, you can add your troper handle to the Recommended by line.
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General Fics
The Awakening of Monika
by ZoomFlare
by ZoomFlare- Recommended by: Fifty Thousand Strong
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: A fic in which Monika begins to gain some form of self-awareness after the narrator keeps his laptop turned on for a whole month. From then, both parties start finding ways to bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds, finding new ways to interact with each other. Takes place following completion of the game. Has its own trope page.
- Recommended by: Spirit Stoner
- Status: Complete
- Pairing(s): Monika/Sayori, Natsuki/Yuri
- Synopsis: A short series picking up at the end of the game's Golden Ending, with the newly-sentient Sayori coming to terms with her President role and trying to create a meaningful future for her friends. Has the same mixture of cute and raw emotion you'd expect from DDLC, as well as all the fourth-wall breaking (be sure to check the tags, the text AND the comments!). And of course, there's also a terrible twist in store...
- Recommended by: Saltminer
- Status: Dead; last updated April 2018
- Synopsis: An ongoing fic of DDLC with a minor twist— instead of studying books, the girls and the main character engage in recreational sparring. Little to go off of, but substituting poetry for fights between characters really is interesting, and will hopefully get better as it progresses through the story. Has good potential!
Writing a New Verse by Captain Combustion
- Recommended by: Flap Hat
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: "A painful crisis was averted, but the aftermath may be what hurts most of all. He needs her as much as she needs him. It's time to be a hero."
- Pairing(s): Sayori/MC
- Comments: Thanks to MC, Sayori survives her suicide attempt. While she's in the hospital recovering, MC sorts out his feelings for Sayori and resolves to better support her condition. Of the many 'Saving Sayori' fics, this is one of the very best. It is very long at 25,000+ words, but you will be thankful that it is.
Voices and Exceptions by josiahstick
- Unable to access link provided above, please post a backup link if found.
- Recommended by: TT Fan
- Status: Dead; last updated April 2018. Has vanished from Archive of Our Own.
- Synopsis: Yuri can still hear herself after the fact. This fanfiction is not suitable for children or those who are easily spoiled.
- Comments: A unique spin on the usual post-game story, wherein Yuri gains Medium Awareness after her resurrection, Monika is fully restored before the Downer Ending with no memories of the main game, and Sayori isn't willing to give up the title of Club President so easily...
Whose Reality Is It Anyway? by Hydroxide
- Recommended by: Fifty Thousand Strong, Robinton
- Status: Dead; last updated September 2018
- Synopsis: Okay, everyone. I can tolerate messing with game files. I can tolerate one-sided classroom conversations. But when you accidentally mess with critical system files and put the world's most powerful supercomputer at risk, this is where I step in. Fortunately, I have the tools. What I lack is the time. Which means arranging a meeting with my favorite lovestruck club president.
- Comments: A very, very different take on the Main Character, or rather the person playing him. Instead of a lovestruck otaku behind the computer screen, Monika ends up attracting the attention of someone able to manipulate the game world in ways that make her own attempts look amateur by comparison. What is more, romance is the last thing on his mind. Told from the first-person perspective of a much less likable and much more capable protagonist with an agenda that may not align with Monika's. Decidedly not a love story...at least, not yet.
Five Ways to Create a God When Your Regular One Stops Answering by rosyastronaut
- Recommended by: anthy
- Status: Dead (last updated July 2018, author has alluded to it being abandoned)
- Pairing(s): Monika/Sayori, Natsuki/Yuri (but really more gen at this point)
- Synopsis:
I'm so sorry," Monika murmurs. "This is not your fault. I need you to remember that."
Suddenly, Sayori is being enveloped in a hug. Her arms stay at her sides. She has no idea what to do. Is this a weird joke, or something?
"Stick together. I'm trying to fix this. Pretend you never saw me."
A frantic kiss is pressed to her cheek, and then Monika runs off, disappearing into the crowded hallway.
Sayori is a girl who has been severely depressed all her life. On the first day at her new school, a note is pressed into her hand, and she realizes that things don't have to be this way.
DDLC_ESCAPE_PLAN_FAILED by MerleCorey
- Recommended by: anthy, Robinton, Fanficcer
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Under certain circumstances, Monika can attempt to escape from the game during Act 2. The attempt fails, potentially triggering the eponymous error message. What was the nature of that failure?
- Recommended by: anthy
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: After the end, Monika wakes up again. But everything is supposed to be gone. So why is she still here?
A Matter of Perspective by MerleCorey
- Recommended by: anthy, Robinton, Fanficcer
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: So many of the events of DDLC are tied to the story being told from the Protagonist's perspective. What happens when the perspective shifts... and Monika is aware of it?
- Recommended by: anthy, Robinton, Fanficcer
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: He just wanted to join a club and meet some cute girls. What's wrong with his life? What's wrong with his head?
Letting Go by Enigma
- Recommended by:T Jenkins 006
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Frank has a normal life until his friend gets into an accident that leaves him comatose. Recent advances in medicine reveals that to break a coma is to resolve their most repressed memories. It sounds simple, right? Unfortunately, Frank has never played the welcoming Doki Doki Literature Club, so he has no idea what he's got himself into.
- Pairing(s): OC/Monika, OC/Natsuki, OC/Yuri, MC/Sayori
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: MC befriended Sayori early in his childhood, but what if Monika took her role as his childhood friend? How would things be different between the two? Will they fall in love or will they be each other's "dearest friend"? Even if they wanted to be together, an outside force will interfere with their relationship, testing their bonds to its limits. Has additional routes to include Natsuki and Yuri, along with respective after stories for all.
- Comments: The longest completed DDLC fanfiction made, clocking in with 850k words. Despite the length, quality of work is very, very high. Has three distinctive routes, each with their own themes and explores each character's personality and thoughts. Author focuses on inner thoughts and interactions, at times where themes start to get dark. Separated into three arcs, Common route, the three routes, and three after stories/epilogue. Strong and interesting world building, along with small creative liberties on some character's backgrounds in an effort to fill in missing info; all found in the first part. Heavy emphasis on morals, mental health, and overall character development in second part. Has explicit sexual themes and further worldbuilding at the third part of the story. Highly recommended to read for a vanilla like experience found in game. Beware of dark themes such as suicidal thoughts, mental instability and strong violence.
- Pairing(s): MC/Monika, MC/Natsuki, MC/Yuri, OC/Sayori
- Recommended by: Fanficcer
- Status: Dormant (last update July 2021)
- Synopsis: Finding yourself trapped within the world of a game is already unlikely to be a pleasant experience. But finding yourself trapped in what seems to be the actual PROGRAM is potentially even worse... something made particularly apparent when, by all appearances, you belong there. Monika SI.
- Comments: A very unique self-insert that treats the world of DDLC as exactly what it is: a program. With the script dictating every move and the threat of "The Void" constantly looming, the person stuck in Monika's place has little choice but to try and figure out how the game works from the inside if they want to have any chance of escaping. A rather refreshing take on the genre that reads somewhat like a first-person suspense novel with a side of horror. Interestingly, it also uses the game's ACTUAL renpy code whenever the subject comes up in story, lending it an extra touch of "realism". Has discussion boards/mirrors on Spacebattles and Sufficient Velocity.
- Recommended by: Auditore 569
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: "You ever get that feeling when you wake up in the hospital after being beaten senseless by your piece-of-shit dad because he found out that you dig chicks after reading your diary? And then you get put into a foster home with one of the most popular girls at your school, your childhood best friend who tried to commit suicide a year ago, and another girl who you end up getting the hots for? No? Just me? Ugh, well, whatever. It's not like you have to read this or anything." ~Natsuki
- Comments: It's quite the well-written fic, exploring what would happen if Natsuki's dad was arrested for beating his daughter to near-death, leaving the heavily-injured Natsuki Kizami in a foster home with Monika Amano, Sayori Ozaki, and Yuri, supervised by Monika's biological parents. MC has been Adapted Out, (leaving Natsuki in the role of Sayori's childhood best friend) The Dokis have more fleshed out backstories, and Monika has no Medium Awareness. An all-around great fic to read, especially if you like Natsuki-centric storylines. ~Auditore 569
- Pairings: Natsuki/Yuri, Monika/Sayori
- Tags: Alternate Universe, Girl on Girl Is Hot, Hurt/Comfort Fic
For the Longest Time by Social Coyote
- Recommended by: MANGOM 1 LK
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: "Monika is back in the literature club after having been deleted, but the world she finds herself in is not the game nor reality, but some surreal mixture of the two. Monika will have to prove she's willing to face her own flaws as well as her clubmates' for a chance at a happy ending. After all, a poem never is never actually finished, it just stops moving."
- Comments: This is an incredibly compelling premise just for how it forces the characters to interact. Monika and her inner conflict about reacting to her surroundings is the main focus, at least for the start. She ends up having to justify to herself her own coldness, and there are some dramatic moments. Very good read, glad folks are still giving it their all for DDLC so many years after the fact.
- Recommended by: chamo
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: "A new student enters school with the girls. MC is nowhere to be seen, will he be the new fifth member of the club? Monika seems to know more that what she's letting on, are we ready for Another Chance at the literature club?"
- Comments: After tracing almost the same steps as the original, this story brings an all-encompassing take on the Dokis where each one gets their day in the spotlight(especially Monika), telling an original tale while still being faithful to the source material.~chamo
Crossover Fics
In Another World with JUST MONIKA by Charles Bhepin (yes, that Charles Bhepin)
(yes, that Charles Bhepin)- Recommended by: Andrzej, CrusaderJerome
- Crossover with: In Another World with My Smartphone
- Status: Ongoing (last update January 2022)
- Synopsis: aka Player and Monika's completely Wrong Genre Savvy adventures! OCSI.
- Pairing(s): OC/Monika. The story plays around with the Harem Genre tropes present in the source material, but other pairings are unconfirmed as of this writing.
- Tags: It should be called a Crack Fic, but it's too much of a Rational Fic and the two main characters are WAY too well-read for that.
- Notes: It updates first in spacebattles.com, sufficientvelocity.com and webnovel.com, one or two scenes at a time that are later compiled into long chapters in fanfiction.net
- Comments:
- Take a charming Cliché Storm isekai series, up and including a Overpowered Nice Guy Stock Light-Novel Hero, and replace him with the kind of fun-loving Bookworm you can find in SpaceBattles.com and This Very Wiki. Enough saying that his first action after discovering that his smartphone's digital assistant based on his beloved waifu Monika was granted real sentience upon arrival to a fantasy world is to don his VR headset as a faceplate and decide to style his new life as a Char Aznable Expy and even go by the name "Zah Playa von Khara" despite her complains he should tone down the chuuni.
- One of the best parts is the Rational Fic treatment the author gives to the entire In Another World with My Smartphone cast and worlbuilding. To name a few, it took some time for twin sisters Linze and Elze to actually trust someone as eccentric as Playa until they realized that he's more of One of the Kids than actually dangerous except when circumstances take a turn for the serious. The King and Duke of Belfast are warily welcome of him and his "spirit companion" because their power and early 21st century understanding of politics, military, and economics makes them all-too-capable of improving or destroying a kingdom like theirs. Princess Yumina doesn't fall in Love at First Sight with him, yet she still wants to get married to him because her empathic powers tell her he's uniquely unlikely to use her for political power or wealth, nor he'll feel threatened if she eclipses him by actually ruling Belfast despite the kingdom's Heir Club for Men laws and culture.
Crisis At The Literature Club by Honeybarry Cutiedoobles
- Recommended by Lord Vectorum 84
- Status: Complete
- Crossover with: The DC Universe
- Pairings: Jon Kent/Sayori, Damian Wayne/Natsuki, One-sided Yuri/Damien.
- Synopsis: Following a special arrangement made by their fathers, Jon Kent and Damian Wayne are now attending Gotham High, together. They soon find themselves joining a Club all about Literature, meeting four unique girls in the process. What could go wrong?
- Comments: An entertaining story that takes the premise of Doki Doki Literature Club and sets in the DC Universe with Monika as a metahuman and Jon and Damien bringing their unique friendship to the Literature Club's interactions. Great characterization all around with some fun twists on the characters. Especially Monika who goes from pitiable to despicable to tragic over the course of the story. Well worth a read.
Dangan Dangan Literature Club by Petilda Fan
- Recommended by Nightfurywitch
- Status: Complete
- Crossover with: Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
- Pairings: Kaede Akamatsu/Shuichi Saihara, Kaede Akamatsu/Korekiyo Shinguji, Kaede Akamatsu/K1-B0, Kaede Akamatsu/Kokichi Oma
- Synopsis: Welcome to the Hope's Peak Literature Club!
- Comments: One of the best DDLC based fics I've seen yet. The glitches are mimicked perfectly, and there's even an interactive poem minigame in the comments!
Fan Songs / Covers / Mash-ups
Doki Doki Forever by OR3O
by OR3O- Recommended By: Warrior Sparrow
- Synopsis: A collab song from the perspective of the four girls. Note there are spoilers and jumpscare bits.
- Now has a fan work of its own, done in MikuMikuDance by MagicalPouchOf Magic, ramping up the cute *and* the creepy.
Why Did I Say Okie-Doki? by The Stupendium
- Recommended By: anthy
- Synopsis: Beautifully animated original song from the perspective of the protagonist/player.
- The Stupendium also created an Orchestral remix as well as a Minecraft version. The latter was created with the help of ZA Mimation and includes two alternate endings.
Until I've Got Your Heart by RecD
- Recommended By: anthy
- Synopsis: An Original Doki Doki Literature Club Musical Experience, sung by all four girls
Virus by Andrew Stein
- Recommended By: anthy
- Synopsis: An original rock song sung by the protagonist and focused on Monika
I Belong With You by MandoPony
- Recommended By: anthy
- Synopsis: An original pop/(country?) song by the protagonist/player about all four girls
- Recommended By: anthy
- Synopsis: An original rock/metal from Monika's perspective
Get Out Of My Head by TryHardNinja sung by Sailor Ur Love
- Recommended By: anthy
- Synopsis: An original pop song about the game. Not entirely sure if it's from the perspective of the player or Monika (seems to switch midway?)
Shelter In Your Reality by Emdyion and Ninja Sen3.14
- Recommended By: anthy
- Synopsis: A mash-up of Porter Robinson and Madeon's "Shelter" and various songs from DDLC (mainly "Your Reality," but also "Poem Panic," "Sayo-nara," "I Still Love You").
- Recommended By: Kayube
- Synopsis: Natsuki's poem, set to music.
Fan Videos and Animations
Monika Can't Help Falling in Love with You (Animatic) by Emirichu
by Emirichu- Recommended By: anthy
- Synopsis: Music is a cover of "I Can't Stop Falling In Love With You" by OR3O
Fan Comics
Doki Doki Literature Girls!
- Recommended by: Minmus
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Set after the game's Downer Ending, Sayori convinces Monika to recreate the Literature Club so that Sayori, Yuri and Natsuki can have another chance at happiness. Monika does it to prove Sayori wrong in which it's impossible for the literature club to have any happiness. Over time, the girls start warming up to each other significantly, and several shenanigans ensue, often including Monika's programming skills and Sayori having to cover for them so Yuri and Natsuki don't learn of Monika's universe-altering skills. All four characters still retain their flaws from the original game, although Monika's obsession is mostly - but not entirely - supplanted by her tremendous guilt over her actions in the game.
- Pairing: Yuri/Natsuki, Monika/Sayori
- Comments: Although it's often extremely ham-fisted during the romance scenes, the comic maintains the girls' characterization very close to their original portrayals in the game, and deals with subjects like depression, love, and the emotional impact on abuse victims very seriously and realistically, offering useful advice on what to do. Monika and Sayori are arguably the main characters of the comic as it deals significantly with their personal issues, Unresolved Sexual Tension, and they're often the ones offering advice to Yuri and Natsuki. However, the latter two are still important characters in the comic and are most definitely not shafted aside for the former two's sakes.
- Note: Now has a page.
