Fan Fiction Palooza!!

I read and write quite a lot of it (less now as the venue has gotten me into writing original stuff, but still love it). HPANA has a finished fan fiction section with a nice index that gives you the genre, main characters and whether canon compliant. There is also an in progress section if you like talking to writers while they are at it (that is the reason I chose it–instant, friendly feedback)

I am very picky about canon compliance and really will only tolerate those ships, but I prefer deeper character development or action over ships anyway. In particular, there is a full life story of Snape called “A Difference in the Family” that is SUPERB.

If you like the ‘post’ stuff, I’d recommend “Nineteen Years Earlier” which is filling in the gap between the end of DH and the epilog (not done yet, but GREAT). And I’ll give a plug for my own stuff. I am Gnargles&Snorkaks and have written an Eileen Snape history (amazingly not at all disproven by DH) called The Other Prince, a book 7 alternative (written before the release from the view of the 3 Malfoys and Snape) called The Best Laid Plans (sometimes go awry)–oddly both phrases that appeared in chapter 1 of DH–I’m SURE Jo was reading! And then Awakening, A James Potter Redemption story, trying to reconcile the canon jerk with the person he had to have been to have been so loved. Also have 2 in progress and lots of shorts, but that is good for now.

I didn’t read any fan fiction before the series was complete, but after the release of DH I started to read some. My go to site is Checkmated because it contains mostly cannon compliant fics and has a trustworthy rating system for ‘naughtiness’. I’m a big fan of post-epilogue stories. I love to see what people do with the next generation. In particular I like stories with a Rose/Scorpius pairing, especially those that give us a window into the Malfoy family dynamics post-war, or explore the relations between the Potter, Weasley and Malfoy families.

However, I am with Hart about preferring character development over ships. I think you can tell a lot about a fan fiction writer’s interpretation of the series in the way that they present the characters and how they interact with others. Thanks for the suggestions – I will definately check out your recommendations!

Not sure if this is a direction we want to take – nothing serious or scholarly about it. But it might be fun if we wrote and read our own here, depending on how many people are interested. The entries would have to be short – and I mean really short, otherwise it’s going to get boring for the readers. No more than 500-1,000 words. It would have to be PG-13. And it should not be a contest because we have to live with each other afterwards. But beyond that, anything goes: satirical, tragical, allegorical, romantical or comedical.

Ah fanfic, if only I had more time lately.

revegeorge if you like canon-compliant you might also be interested in alternate perspective fic. One of my favorites is “Second Life” by Lariope; you can find it on thepetulantpoetess.com. She writes all of books 6 & 7 from Hermione’s & Snape’s POV and is very, very compliant with the text/time line of the novels. You might not like it as much because the Hermione/Snape ship gets explicit, and DD is not treated sympathetically. But it’s an amazing work nonetheless, with excellent characterization. It’s long but so worth it.

Not counting the fan fic that I stumbled on while we waited for book 5, which was not well written and involved a Snape/Hermione ship (ewwww), I have only read two, by the same author.

They are by Theowyn, posted at Sugar Quill. We were discussing book 5 on a site that no longer exists, and the discussion turned to the whole concept of Occlumency and Legilimency, just how it works, how it could be used, and so forth. We also talked about how much simpler Harry’s quest would be if he would just resolve his issues with Snape – and that they both needed to forgive each other.

So, Theowyn wrote her first book as her version of book 6, while we waited for HBP, called “Harry Potter and the Enemy Within”. She emailed out the chapters to some of us and we read them before they were posted at SQ. Then we had the chance to discuss the chapters, why she had made certain choices about characters or events. That, in itself, was in interesting process. For the most part, what I really liked was that she kept the characters true to Rowling’s characters. I could easily picture the people and places and hear the same voices that I heard in Rowling’s canon.

When I started reading HBP, I had to remind myself to focus on Rowling’s book. At first, it was distracting because I did like some of the psychological depth that Theowyn explored in her version, and Rowling just didn’t go there, not did I expect her to.

Theowyn did go ahead and write her version of book 7 before we had Deathly Hallows. The first part worked well, for me. The last half went in a completely different direction than anything Rowling had written and it didn’t work for me. The characters no longer behaved according to canon. I really liked Deathly Hallows, but some of the people liked the fan fic better and really hated Deathly Hallows.

It seemed to me that, when reading fan fic, it’s important to make that distinction between the real author’s work and a fan’s imagination and wishful thinking. I prefer the author’s version – after all, s/he is the one who created a particular world and unique characters in the first place.

I have re-read both of Theowyn’s works since the end of the series, and the first one holds up well, even when I know where things are different. But, for me, the second one just doesn’t work well.

I will add, Theowyn hit a lot of things exactly right in her first one. Sometimes it was pretty amazing. So some of the things that were big twists from Rowling weren’t that much of a surprise because Theowyn had figured it out (Snape and Lily, but with different details).

Snape and the divine Ms. H. eh?

Only if he uses more shampoo and laundry detergent, and if they wait to consummate the relationship until she’s of age.

But you know what, they’re not really each other’s type. I can see Snape more easily with Luna, who could easily see past all his surface imperfections to the goodness and decency which we presume is there.

And I know that this is anathema to JKR, but I see Ms. H’s best match, her soul mate as it were, as Harry. For me it’s all over the books, and totally confirmed by that scene in the HBP movie where he’s comforting her after she witnesses Ron and Lavender. I think I understand why JKR didn’t write it that way and to a great extent I agree. But unfortunately I think this was another case of the characters getting away from the author.

I read the The Eagle and the Rose that Gwen recommended in the other thread. This is a Hermione/Snape romance where they switch bodies in a Potions Class accident. Much of it is strangely compelling, some quite funny (Snape selling cosmetics!). Other parts read like the old Penthouse magazine Forum and are pure porn. You can see these coming, and they are easily skipped. Hermione is 18 her 7th year when this all supposedly takes place. Harry and Ron are still their 14 year old GoF selves in their 7th year and the not-so-divine Miss H has moved on from them.

Eeyore, the distinction you describe between Rowling’s characters and a fan fiction writers’ imagination of them is exactly the reason why I did not read any fan fiction before the series was completed. I didn’t want my reading of DH (or the series as a whole) to be negatively affected because I would be comparing it to any fan fics that I may have read. I wonder if perhaps I was being a little closed-minded because I think that good fan fiction can enrich rather than detract from my own interpretation of the series.

I have to admit that I never even considered reading Hermione/Snape fictions before your comments Gwen and Hart. You’ve made me seriously reconsider the eww factor.

korg, no worries. It helps a lot of writers that Hermione is a year older than the boys, so in Year 7 she is 18; obviously for “Second Life” the author fudged a year to make it not as creepy.

With more heavily enforced child pornography laws of late most sites require that explicit relationships occur only between adults. And most sites (of the ones I’ve visited) require users to log in and declare their of-age status in order to read anything rated about “R.”

deacondon, I think you mean “The Fire and the Rose.” The Potions Accident is a somewhat standard trope within this ship, as is the Marriage Law challenge.

aerisflowers, glad to see I’m converting someone! HG/SS is a surprisingly large shipping community, with whole sites dedicated to it. I have plenty of rec’s, mostly on petulantpoetess.

That reminds me, another site I enjoy is Granger Enchanted, which (quite obviously) features stories in which Hermione is the central focus. There are many ships and gen fics as well.

i think fan fiction can be fun for kids but to a limit there is a danger people writing to much fan fic their forget to write their own orignal stories its make s m e mad when i see a 35 chapter well written piece of fan fic knowing the writer couldcd have written a 35 new story with new people and publish it
do anyone agrees with me

What bec said, but regardless of whether it’s one chapter or 35.

Using someone else’s characters, plot, world doesn’t seem like writing to me. It’s more like ruminating about something, trying to figure out different ways it could have turned out, or playing with something someone else has created. It feels like taking advantage of someone else’s work: they’ve done the heavy lifting by creating the context and framework. To go in and move a few elements around seems deceitful – and I’m not talking about passing the work off as your own – almost parasitical.

An analogy that occurs to me are those interactive “books” where “you” write your own story (or usually your child’s) by filling in the name, age, favorite colour, favorite food, and presto: it’s a story about you.

On the other hand, I realize there is a continuum there. Famous writers, talented writers – some of the best writers of all time – have taken other author’s characters and stories, and produced works of genius. Shakespeare comes to mind: so many of his plots were lifted. Here’s Wikipedia’s entry:

As was common in the period, Shakespeare based many of his plays on the work of other playwrights and recycled older stories and historical material. His dependence on earlier sources was a natural consequence of the speed at which playwrights of his era wrote; in addition, plays based on already popular stories appear to have been seen as more likely to draw large crowds. There were also aesthetic reasons: Renaissance aesthetic theory took seriously the dictum that tragic plots should be grounded in history. This stricture did not apply to comedy, and those of Shakespeare’s plays for which no clear source has been established, such as Love’s Labour’s Lost and The Tempest, are comedies. Even these plays, however, rely heavily on generic commonplaces. For example, Hamlet (c.1601) may be a reworking of an older, lost play (the so-called Ur-Hamlet),[27] and King Lear is likely an adaptation of an older play, King Leir. For plays on historical subjects, Shakespeare relied heavily on two principal texts. Most of the Roman and Greek plays are based on Plutarch’s Parallel Lives (from the 1579 English translation by Sir Thomas North,[28] and the English history plays are indebted to Raphael Holinshed’s 1587 Chronicles.

I am not arguing by any stretch that fan fiction can be great literature. I’m just saying there is probably a continuum between fan fiction and fiction.

Of course all this is from the perspective of the writer. From the perspective of the readers of fan fiction, there seems to be little doubt about the motivation: the need to read more about one’s favorite characters, to see those characters act in ways one would have preferred, to spend more time in a captivating world.

I hate to nitpick, but one of my biggest pet peeves with respect to fan fiction is the incorrect usage (or attempted usage) of English (as in UK) coloquial phrases, expressions and sentence structure. I was born and raised in England so it is jarring to me, as a reader, to come accross a phrase where the writer seems to be trying too hard to make the story ‘British’. In my head these passages sound like an American trying (and failing) to mimic an English accent.

In response to Red Rocker and bec: I used to think that all fan fiction was essentially ‘lazy writing’ because writers (and I just want to add that I will never use the word author to describe a fan fiction writer’s relationship to their fan fiction) do not come up with their own characters and universe. However, I believe that in some cases writing fan fiction can be just as challenging, if in a different way, than writing original fiction. If a fan fic writer is trying to be canon compliant, he or she must ensure that the characters act and speak in a way that is believable according to their development in the series. The writer must also attempt to fit their plot into the world and its laws as they exist in the books. I prefer to read canon-compliant fiction because I like to see how a writer can be creative within these confines. I also like to get a sense for how others are see passages, characters and moments in a way that differs from my own interpretations.

I have to side with those who would rather see the effort poured into writing fan fiction put to better use composing original fiction.

I can see the value of writing fan fic. To learn to draw, you sometimes have to start by tracing, and the same principle would apply to writing. But it’s hard to imagine the number of creative stories that might have found their way to bookstores if all of that enthusiasm went into producing something new, even if it were more of an homage to a beloved world or set of characters.

Spielberg and Lucas’ love of the old Republic serials inspired them to create Raiders of the Lost Ark. Terry Brooks built an entire library on a riff of The Lord of the Rings. Rowling’s love of C.S. Lewis and The Chronicles of Narniaat least influenced her writing of Harry Potter. Who’s to say what Harry Potter might inspire if the creative spark were left to burn just a little longer.

i was not saying people shouldnt write fAN fic not at all bu t there should be a balance between fan fic and you own orignal stuff dont just write fan fic try and move on

It seems to me that fanfic writers are of at least 2 types: those who want to be writers, and those who are just satisfying their need to pursue a different plot line, fill a gap, or develop a character more or differently. The latter might develop an interest in writing through doing fanfic, or they might not.

I read fanfic because some of what Rowling did with her characters jsut didn’t work for me, given how she set up the characters. And lots of other people seem to feel the same way, or they see other possibilities. I like to explore the possibilities they see. And since there is often a lot of autobiography in fiction of this sort (indeed, the whole HP series seems to me to have a lot of very strong messages from Rowling on what parenting should be), it also makes me speculate about what it says about the fans. Why do so many write stories about a Hermione who doesn’t marry Ron and have children at a yong age? Why do so very many write about Snape surviving? I wish I had a research assistant I could put to work doing some tabulating and categorizing!

Fanfiction is also interesting to me because it existed as interactive communities before the internet; Marion Zimmer Bradley published anthologies of stories written in her universe, for example. Now, even if the author doesn’t get involved in fanfic, communities develop around different traditions and sites, as far as I can tell (I’m pretty new to this).

I have found a few good things at Fiction Alley. It has several sub-sites: Schnoogle for book-length, Riddikulus for humor, Dark Arts for angst, Astronomy Tower for romance, and you can browse by character or era, among other things. There are ratings and labels, but I suspect these are assigned by the authors.

I’m another fan of The Fire and the Rose at http://www.witchfics.org (which has other fanfics that I like as well). There’s also a cross-over with Pratchett’s Discworld in which Death comes for Snape after the final battle (Next Great Adventure) which I thought was wonderfully written; much more humor than angst. Fire & Rose isn’t a quick read (40 chapters). I love the way the writer depicts Hermione and Snape learning to live each others’ lives for a few months – not just in their roles, but in their bodies (Snape learning to be a teenaged girl).

I hope I didn’t sound disparaging about fan fiction; I didn’t mean to if I did! While I confess I don’t quite understand the intensity of some people’s fascination with it, I do think playing around in someone else’s fictional and imaginative worlds can be a very creative exercise. Selene, I think your comment about the two kinds of fan fic writers/readers is very insightful. For some people, perhaps the main fun is extending the kind of pleasure they had as readers — with the added benefit of getting to call the shots, so to speak and to think more about certain characters. For others, that pleasure may be there as well, but added to it is the opportunity to hone writing skills in an environment that already feels familiar and doesn’t have to be created from scratch.

I think story nerds of any sort (love that title, Library Lily!) have probably been doing this sort of thing from a young age. I learned how to write stories in part by imitating the writing in the books I loved most. (Yes, I wrote some Trixie Belden inspired adventures…) And I still occasionally try my hand at stories and poems inspired by books I love, including HP, though I usually only share them with close friends or family. (The only full HP short story I ever wrote came after I finished reading OotP — after that darn prophecy I was so worried about how Harry was going to survive/finish off Voldemort while remaining grounded in love … i.e. not resorting to Voldemort’s methods… I had to sit down and write my imagined series-ending confrontation. I got it out and had a good laugh post-DH!)

Anyway, all this to say that I do think imitating good writing is a good way to learn to write…to learn to shape narrative and develop character. But I agree that moving onto “original” work (with the understanding that lots of stories plow similar ground, and shape/influence each other!) would seem like a natural next step.

And one more stray thought — did JKR’s little James/Sirius story fragment (the one she sold for charity) remind anyone else of fan fiction? It was dashed off, in a spirit of fun, and it felt to me like she was having fun playing on her own playground, if you know what I mean. Of course I know she’s not a fan, she’s the author herself, with access to far more riches of back-story and thought about this fictional world than anyone else. Still, I somehow get the sense that sub-creations grab their authors and compel them back, as though (a bit like us?) they’re pulled back by their own imaginative fruitfulness and the ‘realness’ of their people/places. Somehow I doubt that Orson Scott Card ever intended to write as many books about Ender Wiggin as he’s done…but he just seems compelled to keep playing in Ender’s world. And Tolkien (probably the best example) never really left Middle-earth alone once he created it. And since his death, his son Christopher has continued to inhabit it and work with it as well.

Forgive my rambling…the mysteries of creative process fascinate me no end!

The Fire and the Rose was the name of the fanfic I got wrong up in post 13. That’s what I get for posting here from my phone while I was supposed to be working, and I couldn’t look the name up. That story was my first experience with fan fiction. It was pretty interesting, and quite funny, but the smut in it was unnecessary. The characterization of Hermione was unrecognizable. I hate to sound like a prude, but scanning other fanfic seems to indicate that a lot of writers just aren’t satisfied with the geeky chasteness of Rowling’s work. That must be true of a lot of readers too.

Beth, I completely agree with your comments on Jo’s short piece about James and Sirius. I agree that there was a sense of exhileration for Jo in being able to return to her world and her characters for a few brief moments. I believe that the main reason the whole series seems so rich to us readers is because Jo is able to convey the sense that the stories we read are just a small window into this fully-existing world that she has imagined. All the extra snippets that she reveals such as the Black family tree and the James/Sirius piece just give us more access to this world.

Gwen, when I was a senior in high school, we had to read Lord of the Flies, and one of my classmates suggested to the teacher that as an alternative to the exam for the unit, we be allowed to write an epilogue to the book. She didn’t really expect the teacher to go for it, but the teacher loved the idea, and about half the class ended up doing that. I think that ended up being my favorite assignment of that class.

I’m not sure if this is the best forum for this posting, but here goes.

I recently finished reading Deathly Hallows and realized that once the last two movies are complete, there will be no more of this wonderful world to escape to and explore. From what I have read, Rowling hasn’t planned anything past “The Tales of Beedle the Bard”, and I imagine she would not want to “pigeon hole” herself into just the Potter universe.

Unlike the worlds of Middle Earth that have a well documented beginning, middle and end; Rowling’s works leave open a door for a prequel and sequel in my opinion. There is vast uncharted elements of the Lives of James, Lilly, Albus, Snape and Voldemort that are hinted in the seven books that would make for very entertaining reading. Of course this has been done before with less than stellar success in the works of George Lucas prequels. Though these works were made for film, the principle is the same (again) in my opinion.

So I am left to find fan fiction that may or may not be true to Rowling’s original creation and this is how I found my way to this wonderful site. I was searching for some kind of hybrid cross over of the worlds of Rowling and Lovecraft when I stumbled upon “thehogshead.org” I thought of how interesting it be if in the nineteen year lapse of the last two chapters of DH if Harry had continued his education to what would be the equivalent of gaining his masters in witchcraft and wizardry. The first thing that came to mind was, Miskatonic University of the Lovecraft universe. Since Harry has defeated the Dark Lord; what would be an even greater adversary? The Elder Gods? The Old Ones? Does any fan fiction of this caliber exist?

In reading the post of of more enlightened Potter readers, what recommendations for prequel fan fiction would be recommended?

Snape Fan I solemnly swear “A Difference in the Family” at HPANA is the best exploration of Snape as a character you will EVER read. Rannaro, the author, was likewise frustrated with Rowling’s lack of explanation, but she gives the character both reason for FLAWS, leaves him socially isolated and cantankerous, but layers him in such a way that you feel for him, even while you want to shake him for his ineffective choices at times. You will not be disappointed.

Snape fan–actually as you get to the years where Snape’s house mates abuse him, the Marauders bully him, and he gets trapped in his life, she justifies and explains ALL of Snape’s later horrors fairly unflinchingly. I agree she is more sentimental about Snape than I am, but as a study in Psychology, she covers every base of plausibility. I think you might be surprised if you go a year or two farther.

Snape fan–I think I actually agree with you on all your premises (you might like my version, actually–the Other Prince) though that is Eileen’s story, and Eileen only knows of her son what she can get from interactions with him, but I definitely set up his reasons for his bitterness). rannaro and I just have enough common ground (Toby as an alcoholic, and love by Eileen FOR Toby–otherwise why would a witch put up with that violence). Where she is harder on characters than I am is on Lily and Dumbledore–the one that might have saved him and the other that used him. I really love her peek at peer dynamics though, and Snape becoming as powerful as he is through self-defensive need.

Before you put this thread to bed Revgeorge, I would just like to mention the immense output of videos on Youtube that are essentially fanfiction visualized. You can see any ship you want, any deconstruction, any variation on any theme there. They utilize HP film footage as well as any footage from any film to flesh out their story. Sometimes, you’ll even see orginal footage filmed by the author and married with the established footage available.

When it first started to appear on youtube, I was stunned. It was very precocious. It seemed ingenious and childlike at the same time. And if you trace the timeline of these videos, they grow in sophistication of skill and volume. Also, the fact that they increase in variation as each new film adds more footage to play with. They utilize music as tropes, messages, intent and atmosphere.

It took some of the sting out of non-canon fanfiction for me, which always embarrassed me for the author. It’s storytelling/fanfiction in a way that is original and yet derivative. I love it.

Yes revgeoge, you’re right – some of those videos do make me cringe just a little too. I usually can tell in the first 5 seconds if there’s going to be a cringe factor.

Hart, it is hard to track down good fanfiction videos – but not impossible. One way is to just watch a lot of videos and eventually find ones you like. The problem is there is so much to wade through. Here’s what I have discovered while watching over the years.

HP fanfic videos are divided into major groups. I like to call them supercells – huge storms on one topic ie. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Snape, Dumbledore, Quidditch, Ships like Snarry, Snape/Hermione, Snape/Lily, Harry/Ginny, etc. – and under these supercells are posses. A posse can be 2 to 10 auteurs who cluster together under the supercell umbrella. They concentrate on the same things and comment on each other’s works. I’ve watched some posses for five or six years – essentially growing up together on Youtube. Some posses are known for their finesse and skill in editing, or incorporating original work, or fealty to book or film, or their deeper tropes, or their erotica (which I kind of avoid, but have occasionaly watched for the sake of scholarship ) or their music or any number of identifying trademarks of their videos.

When you find one video that you like – you will find a trove from the posse. Just click on those who comment on the video and it will lead you to your treasure.