Flashbacks...

[heidi]

Originally posted by angiej:

18+ months and 14,000 stories after the debut of HP fanfiction
online, we've developed lots of extra canonical character traits that
are generally accepted. These are the ones I've noticed:

DRACO
--Is a great dresser with expensive taste.
--Takes issue with some of Lucius' ways.
(Sidebar: I re-read Cassie's DD this morning, and now it's
confirmed. I *adore* the fanfic version of Draco. You've GOT to
love the way he lights up a scene--even in canon.)

RON
--Has a temper to match his hair. (Anne-fan joke.)
--Is never the most perceptive character in the fic.

HARRY
--Has a tendency to be moody and rather secretive about his feelings
and personal affairs.
--Is the most famous person in the wizarding world throughout his
lifetime.

HERMIONE
--Is the center of the romantic universe, *even* in non-romance fics.
--Wins the Character Most Likely To BE OOC award... my favorite
manifestion of this is the damsel in distress syndrome.
--Often is a cover for the author's Mary Sue, self-insertion
desires.

GINNY
--Remains nearly as naive as she was in CoS throughout her lifetime.
--Has a superb sense of style... reminiscent of Draco, but she's
trendy where he's classic.

SNAPE
--Was secretly in love with Lily, a Mary Sue, or some other canonical
character.
--Has a perfectly reasonable explanation for hating Harry and the
Gryffindors.
--Is actually quite sympathetic if we'd just sit him down for a
session of psychotherapy, probing into his childhood, his tragic
Death Eater past, his lonely years at Hogwarts teaching Potions while
longing for the DADA position.

VOLDEMORT
--Is something less than Evil Incarnate and is in reality a
"grey"
character instead of the wicked-for-the-sake-of-being-wicked fiend
JKR insists she is.
--Was a sympathetic character in his Tom Marvolo Riddle days.

SIRIUS
--Is a dead sexy lady-killer, unreformed until some worthy lady
reforms his rakehell tendencies.
--Is a melodramatic tragic figure, reminiscent of "The
Fugitive", who
lapses into angst-ridden streams of consciousness about the Golden
Days Before Azkaban.

LUPIN
--Always turns into a werewolf in the fic, no matter whether it has
anything to do with the storyline or not.
--Is among one of the most underutilized canonical figures.

LILY/JAMES
--Wanted Harry and anticipated his birth.
--Either had a fiery love-hate relationship, experienced a Romeo-
Juliet like situation, or were platonic friends that secretly longed
for one another for years before becoming lovers... my theory is that
the POV is directly related to the writer's conscious or
subconscious
primary second-generation ship preference.

And now for the question of the day (asked because I'm being interviewed by someone who is very sympathetic-to-fans next week):

How did you get into the Harry Potter fandom?

My answer: I came in after reading an article about the HPfGU Yahoo Club in the Washington Post the day before GoF was released. I joined, I did a suitably stupid first post, I went to buy the book, and I came back and started discussing it with the likes of sjbranford and, iirc, folk, among others.

Comments

[chresimos.livejournal.com]

Well, my story's not very interesting, but if you want to know:

I finished the books and GoF in November 2002. It was fun. I wanted more. I'd never really been in an online fandom, or read any fanfiction, but I knew that such things existed, and I was curious about them. Harry Potter seemed like the perfect excuse - I liked it enough, so I wouldn't get tired of reading about it, but I didn't like it so fanatically I couldn't tolerate having my perceptions of the canon warped(of course, my innocent mind had no conception of just how warped the fandom could go!). I did a search. It led me to Draco Dormiens(it's interesting that so many people seem to come via the Draco Trilogy! Alas, I was one of the mob.). I was impressed because I thought fanfiction was supposed to be terrible and badly written. From there I went forth into other fics, and fictionalley. I stayed because the fics were good and because Fictionalley was so phenomenally well-organized. Really! I wish all fandoms had such helpfully labelled forums. *sigh*