SHIP: R/H: Muddying the pool (also some FF)

[selah_1977]

No: HPFGUIDX 31352

Very tired tonight (been busy posting a new chapter of fanfic *g*) 
but this post caught my eye...

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "serenadust" <jmmears at p...> wrote:
>> 
> I've been trying to figure out a coherent way to make this point, 
and Dave has done it perfectly.  The relationship between the 3 kids 
has definitely undergone a gradual shift and now it's obvious that 
Ron and Hermione have a very different relationship from Harry and 
> Hermione.
> Hermione seems to be almost maternal (or if you hate the 
> term "maternal", then big-sisterish) with Harry, constantly fussing 
> over him and fretting about what she thinks he should be doing.  
This is obviously somewhat annoying to Harry, but instead of telling 
her to back off, he just quietly ignores her and refuses to even 
engage her on whatever topic she's going on about.
> OTOH, Ron can almost never resist arguing with her and she seems to 
> (mostly) thrive on this banter.  As a result, there seems to be a 
> sort of closeness between them, that does not include Harry.  I 
guess what I'm really trying to say is that in PS/SS, their 
friendship is all about being with Harry, but in COS JKR gradually 
begins to show a personal friendship between Hermione and Ron that is 
not Harry-centric, and by GOF whatever is going on between them has 
almost nothing to do with Harry.
> 

No, sorry, I didn't see *any* of that when I read the books.  This is 
why I'm one of those who believe that the underlying cause of the 
debate is not necessarily text or subtext, but how we as readers 
individually construe meaning from narrative.  

I read an interesting theory in another fandom forum about H/H and 
postmodernism.  This particular poster (who's a fanfic writer and 
more on the R/H-and-H/G side of things) spoke of H/Hers being mainly 
postmodernist writers/readers.  I found this theory fascinating, as 
it was nearly a year ago that I posted a rough draft of an essay to 
the list about H/H subtext and Lacan/Freud (which is really 
psychoanalytic crit, but still...).  

Certainly this is a tad more engaging than the oft-repeated "H/Hers 
don't read canon"... H/Hers, like all Harry Potter fans, have read 
canon and the most read H/H fanfic writers have read it over and over 
again.  The most vocal on our ship, fanfic writers or not, have read 
canon so much that we have it nearly memorized.  

Since H/Hers do indeed read canon, I think that the postmodern theory 
could have some basis in fact.  This means that we are reading the 
books; we are just not reading them the same way that some do.  

The tone of the average avid H/H shipper is pretty different than the 
tone of the average R/H shipper.  H/Hers say, "In canon, my favorite 
ship is H/H, but I don't think it's necessarily going to happen."  
You would be *very* hard pressed to find an H/Her who swears their 
ship is canon.  R/Hers (and to a lesser extent H/Gers) seem to have 
more of a "R/H (and/or H/G) is going to happen, that's what JKR is 
going for, that's what's in the books, so my ship is canon."  No, not 
canon *yet*.  There is no definite current-generation ship in canon 
as of GoF, save perhaps Percy/Penelope.

I find it interesting that the R/H-as-holy-writ tone only came into 
play post-GoF.  Pre-GoF, no particular ship seemed to have this 
strange sense of entitlement.  Most H/Hers see GoF as only one 
book... and canon could go anywhere from here.  We don't take 
anything for granted from here on out.


> I am not really into the "shipping" thing, and I trust that 
whatever > JKR comes up with in this area will be fine with me.  This 
is the > main reason I've stopped reading fanfiction.  For me, it 
really did> start to spoil the canon because most of what I've read 
seems to show > the characters developing in ways I find 
unbelievable, as well as > depressing. It's pretty certain that there 
will be tough times ahead > in books 5, 6, and 7, but I'd like to 
think that at the end, JKR will > set things up for hopeful, 
productive lives (yep, I'm betting HRH all > survive) for the trio, 
and not years and years of angst (broken up by  the occasional great 
shag).
> 

LOL!  I'm curious about which fanfiction you read.  ;-)  I can only 
speak for myself.  I wrote one of those "years and years of angst" 
post-Hogwarts stories NOT because I want canon to turn out the way 
that my fanfiction has (oh *Lord* no!), but as a cautionary tale.  
When I announced my story in December 2000, I called it the Post-
Hogwarts Worst Case Scenario Survival Guide... and I wasn't joking.

You see, fan writers write for a number of reasons.  I didn't write 
the ending that I really want for the characters... so in that sense, 
fanfiction writing was not some sort of wish fulfillment for me.  
I've written four completed original novel manuscripts; I'm getting 
over that stage in my development as a writer.  I began to write the 
ending that I *didn't* want, what I considered would be the most 
awful thing for them, just to see what would happen.  So I began with 
a premise and for the past year have just let the characters write 
their own story.  Sometimes I've got silly with the writing and 
melodramatic with the situations, but so what?  It's not like I 
actually *wanted* my premise to occur in the books.

I have always said my fanfiction is a Very Long HP4GU Shipping Post, 
and indeed, the sole inspiration for my fan writing was the Great 
Shipping Debate of nearly a year ago.  I had absolutely no intention 
of becoming a fanfic writer when I entered the fandom and wasn't for 
most of my first year around these parts.  

Fanfiction runs the gamut.  I should know... over the past couple of 
years I've read thousands of Harry Potter fanfics.  Thousands.  (Yes, 
I do hold down a job and have some semblance of a life, too!  I was 
thinking about doing a master's thesis on this stuff... but no 
longer, I've lost objectivity.)  Trust me when I say that fanfiction 
covers every single aspect of canon.  

There is something out there for everyone.  And if by chance you 
don't find it... do what I did... write it!

--Ebony, author of R/H fanfiction for H/H shippers *eg*

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< 
Ebony AKA AngieJ
ebonyink at hotmail.com
Come join us in Paradise!  
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HP_Paradise
Fanfics of All Shapes, Ships, and Sizes:
http://www.fictionalley.org
********************************** 

"You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the 
desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves."

--from Mary Oliver's *Wild Geese*