One of the things I figure that I will spend quite a bit of time ranting on/about, is fanfiction.
Gee, what a surprise, eh?
Anyhew, figured I'd split up my ranting according to fandom and this right here, will be the rants'n raves for Harry Potter fanfiction.
It's a recent fancy of mine, haven't been reading HP fanfiction for more then a month, but I have read quite a bit of it in this time.
And I figure I'll start off my HP fic rant with some general stuff on what I think about the scene in general.
First impression is that there's an horrifying amount of HP-fanatics that are obscenely facinated with very squicky pairings. I mean, Draco/Harry I can somewhat understand as they're at least of comparable age, even if I don't endorse it as I feel it would take quite a lot for these two to get together. But just what is it about Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy getting it on with young girls and/or boys that has everybody's boxers/panties in a bind?
Yaoi/Yuri in general has never been my cup of tea, not out of lack of interest or anything, but rather because it's only rarely worth the effort to read fics about it. Purely because the writers only rarely have the talent/personal maturity/knowledge/whatever to actually write a believable homosexual pairing.
In fact, many lack the talent to write a believable heterosexual pairing.
Then again, since it seems to me that the books have been written for a rather young audience, it's completely understandable that the majority of the fans have a less then satisfactory level of relationship-knowhow which would make it rather hard to write a believable story about it.
To say nothing of the added problems inherent in writing a believable homosexual pairing.
And the additional difficulties inherent in writing a believable story with a ship that's both homosexual antagonistic and has the people involved separated by more then a handful of years in age, makes it next to impossible to find fics worth reading with the more unusual homo-pairings.
Another thing I have noticed, this one to my great pleasure, is that amongst all the drivel to be found in this fandom, are some real gems. Including some gems with the sort of unusual pairings/situations that usually piques my interest.
In this particular fandom, I've gained a rapid appriciation for fics where Fumblebore gets what's comming to the manipulative bastard I perceive him as, fics where Harry gains independence in some way, fics where Harry turns dark or at the very least severely gray.
When it comes to pairings, I find myself favouring Harry/Bellatrix, Harry/Narcissa, Harry/Luna and Harry/Tonks.
After reading xxx number of HP fics in the last month or so, I must say that I'm pleased that at least one of the ideas I had for HP fics of my own still seems to be a fairly original one. A Harry Potter / Venom x-over is something I have yet to encounter, other then my own.
Two of the other HP fics I've started writing, has turned out to be less then original as I've discovered during my reading that similar premises have been used before. Oh well, I guess I can't be the trailblazer all the time, even if it is nice when I am.
Recommendations:
Transforming Harry
http://www.restrictedsection.org/story.php?story=1748
Weird multiship fic. A good read, despite the somewhat immature relationship-handling. A word of warning for the easily squicked, this fic features genderbending and people changing sexes to have sex with each other.
I dunno what it is about this particular fic that got me hooked, usually I'd just drop something like this upon the first appearance of 'Stella', in anticipation of the fic turning out to be utter crap before long. But, I find myself unable to stop reading and although I haven't actually finished the entire thing yet ( only at chapter ten at the moment ), I expect that I will finish it, if only to see how it ends.
Concern at the moment, before actually having finished the fic, is that Harry seems too bloody powerful and the rapid growth is somewhat annoying.
Then again, I should be the last one to complain about that, as Harry in Venomous Wizardry will most likely 'suffer' from a similar problem, if not quite as much as he appears to be doing here.
The Philosophers Stone Retransmutated
Chamber of Secrets Reopened
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2008185/1/
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2132034/1/
Excellent AU rewrites of the first two books. Oh, the 'Excellent' earlier should really have been 'EXCELLENT!!!!!'. There's a third rewrite in progress ( I'm guessing, due to the smaller number of chapters involved, haven't actually started reading that one yet however... ) which I'm really looking forward to having a looksie at whenever I have the time for it.
The AU bits comes from Tonks being the same age as Harry with her and Andromeda Tonks living near Privet Drive #4, resulting in her meeting up with Harry before he goes to Hogwarts. As a result of this, Harry doesn't wind up in his usual house and things change due to all this.
As I said, excellent reads and they're incredibly engrossing. The writing is at times better or at least just as good as the original books and the story is overall much better then the original books. Both rewrites strikes me as incredibly well thought out and contain a very good blend of action, drama, romance and humour.
All in all, these two are probably the best HP fanfics I've yet to encounter. Or at least the best that I can recall. Cudos goes out to Regulus for writing two such kick-ass examples of fanfiction perfection.
Gee, what a surprise, eh?
Anyhew, figured I'd split up my ranting according to fandom and this right here, will be the rants'n raves for Harry Potter fanfiction.
It's a recent fancy of mine, haven't been reading HP fanfiction for more then a month, but I have read quite a bit of it in this time.
And I figure I'll start off my HP fic rant with some general stuff on what I think about the scene in general.
First impression is that there's an horrifying amount of HP-fanatics that are obscenely facinated with very squicky pairings. I mean, Draco/Harry I can somewhat understand as they're at least of comparable age, even if I don't endorse it as I feel it would take quite a lot for these two to get together. But just what is it about Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy getting it on with young girls and/or boys that has everybody's boxers/panties in a bind?
Yaoi/Yuri in general has never been my cup of tea, not out of lack of interest or anything, but rather because it's only rarely worth the effort to read fics about it. Purely because the writers only rarely have the talent/personal maturity/knowledge/whatever to actually write a believable homosexual pairing.
In fact, many lack the talent to write a believable heterosexual pairing.
Then again, since it seems to me that the books have been written for a rather young audience, it's completely understandable that the majority of the fans have a less then satisfactory level of relationship-knowhow which would make it rather hard to write a believable story about it.
To say nothing of the added problems inherent in writing a believable homosexual pairing.
And the additional difficulties inherent in writing a believable story with a ship that's both homosexual antagonistic and has the people involved separated by more then a handful of years in age, makes it next to impossible to find fics worth reading with the more unusual homo-pairings.
Another thing I have noticed, this one to my great pleasure, is that amongst all the drivel to be found in this fandom, are some real gems. Including some gems with the sort of unusual pairings/situations that usually piques my interest.
In this particular fandom, I've gained a rapid appriciation for fics where Fumblebore gets what's comming to the manipulative bastard I perceive him as, fics where Harry gains independence in some way, fics where Harry turns dark or at the very least severely gray.
When it comes to pairings, I find myself favouring Harry/Bellatrix, Harry/Narcissa, Harry/Luna and Harry/Tonks.
After reading xxx number of HP fics in the last month or so, I must say that I'm pleased that at least one of the ideas I had for HP fics of my own still seems to be a fairly original one. A Harry Potter / Venom x-over is something I have yet to encounter, other then my own.
Two of the other HP fics I've started writing, has turned out to be less then original as I've discovered during my reading that similar premises have been used before. Oh well, I guess I can't be the trailblazer all the time, even if it is nice when I am.
Recommendations:
Transforming Harry
http://www.restrictedsection.org/story.php?story=1748
Weird multiship fic. A good read, despite the somewhat immature relationship-handling. A word of warning for the easily squicked, this fic features genderbending and people changing sexes to have sex with each other.
I dunno what it is about this particular fic that got me hooked, usually I'd just drop something like this upon the first appearance of 'Stella', in anticipation of the fic turning out to be utter crap before long. But, I find myself unable to stop reading and although I haven't actually finished the entire thing yet ( only at chapter ten at the moment ), I expect that I will finish it, if only to see how it ends.
Concern at the moment, before actually having finished the fic, is that Harry seems too bloody powerful and the rapid growth is somewhat annoying.
Then again, I should be the last one to complain about that, as Harry in Venomous Wizardry will most likely 'suffer' from a similar problem, if not quite as much as he appears to be doing here.
The Philosophers Stone Retransmutated
Chamber of Secrets Reopened
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2008185/1/
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2132034/1/
Excellent AU rewrites of the first two books. Oh, the 'Excellent' earlier should really have been 'EXCELLENT!!!!!'. There's a third rewrite in progress ( I'm guessing, due to the smaller number of chapters involved, haven't actually started reading that one yet however... ) which I'm really looking forward to having a looksie at whenever I have the time for it.
The AU bits comes from Tonks being the same age as Harry with her and Andromeda Tonks living near Privet Drive #4, resulting in her meeting up with Harry before he goes to Hogwarts. As a result of this, Harry doesn't wind up in his usual house and things change due to all this.
As I said, excellent reads and they're incredibly engrossing. The writing is at times better or at least just as good as the original books and the story is overall much better then the original books. Both rewrites strikes me as incredibly well thought out and contain a very good blend of action, drama, romance and humour.
All in all, these two are probably the best HP fanfics I've yet to encounter. Or at least the best that I can recall. Cudos goes out to Regulus for writing two such kick-ass examples of fanfiction perfection.