[HPforGrownups] Re: FF: Speculation; Fanfic is like TBAY

Thu May 23 03:29:45 UTC 2002

No: HPFGUIDX 39012

Sorry for the length of this post, but it's a topic that I personally find important to me.

I myself enjoy reading and writing fanfiction and I find that one of the things I most enjoy about it is the exploration of options.   In fanfiction any theories can be explored in some format.  Here on this list we have TBAY where people make up all sorts of anagrams to explain their views, on other lists people write stories to explain theirs.  Its really the same thing in a lot of ways, just presented in different formats.

Ill be the first to admit that not all fanfiction is of high quality or very creative or well thought out, but then some of it is ~very~ good and canon based.  Fanfiction, like other ways to express your views varies a great deal.  There are serious stories that are very plausible according to canon (Ron/Hermione ships for instance) and others that are downright scary (anyone and Voldemort).  Some stories are simply done for humour because someone was struck with an odd idea like what if Draco hit Harry with a spell and made him a girl? Or what if Fred and George put a love potion in the soup?  Its done for pure entertainment value and isnt always meant to be in character. 

Fanfiction is also a place to explore relationships that will probably never show up in canon simply because theyre not really socially acceptable if for no other reason (ie. slash) A lot of people like slash as a genre and they have few outlets for exploring their options really ~besides~ fanfiction.  Ive actually read some very well written slash stories that are very believable when filling in the blanks left in canon that are not touched on because theyre not in Harrys direct experience (most notably PoA and Snape/Lupin relationships).

Granted, some fanfiction is wildly implausible. I personally dislike the I-woke-up-one-morning-and-realized-that-I-love-<insert name>-even-though-we-hated-each-other-until-last-night type of stories simply because they ~are~ so wildly implausible and, unless its a PWP that doesnt have to be realistic because thats the nature of the fic type then I can rarely enjoy it.  

Some fic ideas seem implausible at first but when the theory behind them is examined, they works. Take the previously mentioned Draco/Hermione ship.  I dont really see this happening in canon because by all appearances Draco hates Mudbloods and its hard to picture him loving one, and while Hermione is forgiving, shes not stupid.  If these two were to get together some things need to happen such as a) Draco having something previously unknown in his past that explains his behaviour (abused at home, fears father, terribly insecure, punished for liking a Mudblood before etc) or b) something terrible happens to him to make him realize how wrong his views are.  In both situations Hermione might feel sympathy for him, or take him up as a cause etc to get her past her initial dislike and distrust.  In either case it now becomes plausible for a relationship to occur between them.  Will it happen in canon?  Unlikely.  Is it believable given the characterizations  if well written
, then yes.

Now, this is my personal approach to fanfiction, but it lends itself to good and convincing writing.  Part of the challenge is to take characters that dont seem likely to get together or interact in a certain way and find a situation that will make it work believably based on their canon characterizations.  Not everyone is successful at doing this, but others do amazing jobs.  It all depends on the amount of thought the author puts into the idea. 

jferer wrote: >>Some fics are written to look at questions, like "What if we found out the Potterverse was real?" or "What if *my* kid got a Hogwarts letter?"<<

Now for me personally, I dislike this type of fanfic.  Id rather stick to the characters that JKR has written as much as possible and use any original characters as minor characters rather than main ones (unless theyre worked in really well and even then I prefer them to be secondary characters not focus ones).  To me the fun in reading and writing in JKRs universe is to explore her characters.  After all, we know a lot about Harry, but what about others?  Do we really know how Draco ~thinks~?  We know how he acts, but how many people have said things in front of others that they may not believe but do so to be liked, or because theyre expected to act that way etc.? (I dont really believe this about Draco, but we dont ~know~ it isnt true  not yet at least)  Fanfiction allows us to explore these options in a format other than essay-type discussions.  What are descriptions such as Redeemable!Draco, Evil!Percy, Ambitious!Ron but fan speculations into possible character mot
ivation?  Why not express it in story format?

Alternate timelines can also be interesting.  I mean, what ~would~ have happened if James and Lily had survived but not Harry?  What if Harry ~had~ been put into Slytherin?  What if Dumbledore had that glint in his eye because he really ~was~ evil all along?  What if Harry was really Harriet?  The possibilities are endless.  The best fanfiction keeps the characters close to JKRs characterizations and simply puts them into new situations to see how they will react.

For me, I read tons of fanfiction, but I usually ignore all of the TBAY posts because if Im going to be examining theories put forth by people Id rather do it in narrative form.  That could just be a quirk of mine but I think that a lot of people think the same way which could be one reason that at places like FanFiction.Net there are over 36 000 HP fanfics (most of any fandom by over 10 000 fics).  Are all of these high-quality?  I doubt it.  Do they explore the authors theories in a way thats satisfying for the author?  Probably.  Does everyone have to read and enjoy them?  Of course not.  Its purely another way to express our love of the wonderful universe and characters created by JKR.

---
--Hana

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