"Fanfic Tangent"

[Flourish]

No: HPFGUIDX 9960

> She never said Hermione and Ron belong together.
> She's never so much 
> as said Ron will survive Book 5! *chokes quietly to
> self* Oh, dear, 
> is the ship discussion hoving into view again?

LOL, I know she hasn't said anything... but you must
admit that the books are very vague on any H/H
relationship, whereas they definetly show that Ron
likes Hermione. 

Right now, I'm not going to commit to either side -
this I have decided <g> I enjoy both H/R and H/H fics
and that is that. Harrykins and Hermy-oh-ninny don't
belong together any more than Ronny-poo belongs with
Hermy-oh-ninny, at least, not until the Creator says
so.

> because I
> find him hard to 
> write than anything else.

I've noted that more fanfic authors find Ron hard to
write than any other character. Generally, I think
it's hard to keep characters in-character, because you
aren't the one who created them; you don't know what
Ron's favorite color is or even his favorite food,
whether he *really* loves Hermi or not or if it's just
puppy love, whatever. And Ron's quite hard to pin
down; he can be quite one-dimensional at times, yet
you know he's deeper than that - it's always just out
of your reach.

Er, just out of my reach. Really that whole rant is
rather me-centric. Cassie, d'you feel somewhat the
same? No offense, but when I've read him in DD/DS he's
been always rather angry. (I shouldn't scold you about
characterization, though, considering I've never
written a fic with Ron as a central part!)
 
> But honestly, I find the fanfictions where Ron, upon
> discovering that 
> Hermione is dating Harry or Draco or what have you,
> is so distraught 
> that he flings himself off Gryffindor Tower to a
> horrid death below 

There's a ton of Hermione-suicide fics, too, only one
of which I've ever liked (I honestly can't remember
the title/author right now, but it was a stream of
conciousness that was beautifully written but didn't
give you enough back story to ruin the moment). I do
think that our favorite trio, being in Gryffindor,
should show a little more backbone than that - after
all, in Gryffindor "dwell the brave of heart," and to
use a cliche, suicide is the coward's way out.

> Ugh, the whole scene makes me ill.   

Methinks you might be getting a little *too* into the
characters here!

> However, I
> was always 
> confused, as I had the distinct impression that V
> kept hammering on 
> how Crouch had "never wavered".

V probably didn't know that Crouch had wavered - if he
hadn't been told, how could he know? Especially if
Pettigrew didn't know that Crouch had begged to be
released, and he probably didn't - having not been at
the trial (as far as I can tell; if someone finds that
he was, I apologize)

> but one of my biggest pet peeves are the
> H/H fics that don't deal 
> with the Ron issue at all, or deal with it too
> tidily.  

Well, there are some that were written before Book IV
came out (pokes at "Shades of Grey" reluctantly) and
that's not the writer's fault. Okay, I'll admit that
I've written one of these: at that point in time there
was no indication that Ron "liked liked" Hermione, and
it really didn't need that much tidying (in my - erm -
twelve-year-old mind, because I was 12 when I started
writing that story).

> Ok first, where is the fanfic posted? I am sure this
> is a duh 
> question, if you know what I mean. Sorry for being
> dense!

Although others have answered your questions about
fanfiction.net, it *is* quite daunting to sort through
- I'd suggest looking at the Golden Toad Awards
(http://www.geocities.com/toadawards/) and looking up
the fics that have won at fanfiction.net. Although
it's not a guarantee that they're the greatest, these
are the "reader's choice" (and I've just realized I'm
plugging my/Firebolt's awards, so I'll shut up now).

Now, I've a question for you all: Does anyone else
agree with me in the thought that Lily might have
been, I don't know, less traditional than she is often
portrayed? With the (fairly) new information on how
wizards live much longer than "regular" folk, it's
becoming a possibility that Lily and James were older
than just-out-of-Hogwarts when they had Harry. What
did she do in the meantime? Could she have lived
through the Muggle-bra-burning era without becoming
some sort of feminist? Personally, I have an image of
a much "stronger" woman than most people describe her
as, and I'd like other fans' thoughts.

=====
-Flourish/Maddy/Nyx

Keeper of the bells on Flourish and Blotts' door
Cho no Seishi and Slytherin no Miko
Hogwarts Code v1.0 S++++++ WHp.Co++ CHFl+++ CHCo++/- CHMi++++ Bpoa++++ L.ca.us++/--

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