Has fanart / fiction altered the way you perceive canon?

It sort of has for me. For example, "A Keen Observer," the fic I link to in my sig, is so beautifully written that it has become my canon back story for Andromeda to such an extent that I was more upset over the deaths of Ted and Nymphadora than I was for anyone else because of what Andromeda must have been feeling.
And makani's artwork (http://makani.deviantart.com/gallery/) has changed the way I perceive characters like Bellatrix and the Malfoys.

Did this sort of thing happen to anyone else?

Yes, for fanfiction. That was how I really entered into the fandom, through a fanfic writing friend. And that is precisely why I stopped writing fanfics myself, I felt I warped my view of the canon somewhat.

But I actually feel that there is fanart out there that is much more in tune with my perception of the characters than perhaps Mary Grandpre. And there is some out there that I can take with a grain of salt.

Shades and Shifts by Fernwithy gave me such a believable storyline for Remus, Tonks, Ted and Andromeda and the Order for the fifth and sixth books that I took it as canon. It made Ted Tonks' death have meaning, and Remus running out on Tonks more upseting.

Shades and Shifts by Fernwithy gave me such a believable storyline for Remus, Tonks, Ted and Andromeda and the Order for the fifth and sixth books that I took it as canon. It made Ted Tonks' death have meaning, and Remus running out on Tonks more upseting.
:agree:That's what A Keen Observer was like for me. It gave such an amazing look at Andromeda and co's backstory that it really became my canon for Andrmeda. Because of that fic the deaths of Ted and Dora affected me more than almost anything else in the book.
EDIT: I just realized that I pretty much repeated what I put in my first post...oh well.

Yeah, makani's artwork has definitely made me look at the Malfoy's in a different light.

My perceptions of canon haven't really altered through reading fanfiction too much. I think perhaps reading a certain Remus/Tonks fic changed the way I looked at those two characters and their relationship, but other than that, I try not to get the two mixed up.

I very rarely look at fanart, so that hasn't changed my perception at all. :)

It didn't happen to me just because I tried my best to avoid them till now. I always love to read fanfiction, but when I realised the impact that was having while I was reading OotP, I decided to stop and leave them to enjoy after the last book. It was so difficult because in the time between the book I was so anxious to read them.
Now I will devote a large part of my time reading the fanfiction.

Yes, it has. I still know the difference between canon and fanon but most good fanfiction authors go to great lengths to analyse the characters' possible motivations, something that is often missing in canon. Especially when it comes to minor characters.

Well, I suppose in a way it has. I've always loved the Marauders, and reading and writing fan fiction about them made me even more sympathetic towards their characters. Same thing happened for Draco--so while I dislike some of the things he has done in canon, I am still very sympathetic towards him due to his portrayal in other stories.
It doesn't affect me as much now as it used to before, though. For a time, I got so into fan fiction that I was blurring the lines between the two, and so I felt I had to stop reading because they affected my evaluation of the canon work.

I read a fic one time, I forget the name, but it was an in-depth fan fiction about Severus Snape from the time he started his first year at Hogwarts zooming into his adulthood. It was a fascinating story that really made me feel for Snape. It also had quite a few things that turned out to be right in canon (Such as his and Lily's relationship with each other) And other things that it just made me understand Snape better. I couldn't look at Snape the same in the books after that. It really made me sympathize.

Also there was a great series of Marauders era fics that was about the Marauders/Lily from their Sixth year at Hogwarts I think, until James and Lily's deaths. It was fascinating, and it went into the old Order of the Phoenix and things they might have had to do.

Yes. Before Lupin and Tonks became cannon I liked to read fictions about them. While I never thought they would actually happen; it defiantly softened me up to the idea. So that when it happened I felt like I'd met an old friend.

By in large I stick to fringe characters though. I feel satisfied with the core story about the core characters. Still fan fiction has given me a few new prospectives on Petunia, Greyback, and the Patil twins. For which I am grateful. :)

I came across Makani's (http://acciobrain.ligermagic.com/gen.php) work only recently, but she did fix some faces for me now, which I hadn't made my mind up about before. Her take on Abraxas is stuck with me now, just like her young Severus, Bill Weasley, Emmeline Vance and Hestia Jones, and her Lestrange brothers. Gawd, that girl's got talent, and should they decide to make an HP cartoon series one day (which would be a wonderful opportunity to get in all the lovely, lovely details), I sure hope they put Makani on the job together with a couple of others, whose name isn't present with me now. She's just - :love:

I agree with Fleur du Mal, Makani's art has that pesky tendency to get stuck in your head. I'm a bit of a Lestrange fan, and I just can't picture the brothers otherwise.

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only enthusiast, rappy :)

I would like to add one more thing that I forgot in my last post - I think Makani has a wonderful sense of humour. I lately listened to a couple of HP audiobooks, and for example in GoF, when Lucius and Arthur scoff at each other at the World Cup, I couldn't help it but 'see' Narcissa in the background, crying 'Yeeeah! I finally made it into the book!'. And Spinner's End has got an unexpected comical edge, too. ;)

What fanfiction really changed for me was the Marauders :love:

After reading Marauders and Mudbloods and Auburn Pride and a Chaser's Persuasion that's pratically all I think about whenever someone says/I read any of their names, whatever... I would really love a JKR detailled version of James/Lily ... But then again reading fanfic is more fun :p But a film ... That would be cool ^^ 'Specially for Sirius :love:

Hum ... basically yes.

I can't name any particular fanfic, but after reading a handful it has given me a greater appreciation for some of the minor characters. That's what I love about fanfic. It can be a place for the minor characters to get their say!

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only enthusiast, rappy :)

I would like to add one more thing that I forgot in my last post - I think Makani has a wonderful sense of humour. I lately listened to a couple of HP audiobooks, and for example in GoF, when Lucius and Arthur scoff at each other at the World Cup, I couldn't help it but 'see' Narcissa in the background, crying 'Yeeeah! I finally made it into the book!'. And Spinner's End has got an unexpected comical edge, too. ;)

Haha, indeed ! Her take on Spinner's End was priceless ! :D

She also made me like the Malfoys ever so slightly more... :scared:

Yes, it has. I still know the difference between canon and fanon but most good fanfiction authors go to great lengths to analyse the characters' possible motivations, something that is often missing in canon. Especially when it comes to minor characters.

Even without the confusion about events (which I agree is not hard to keep straight) I think it still has an effect, similar to the effect of participating in a forum like this one. Reading a persuasive presentation of a character's motivation can convince you it is canon (in the sense of a valid, or superior, interpretation of the text).

I have found writing fanfiction also affects how I think about the books. Writing something in character that describes events hinted at in the books, actually requires thinking through all the canon I know and how to put it together even more carefully than I would just to argue a point on a thread.

Definitely. I am a FanFiction freak. In my opinion, of course, there are so many fics out there that are a great deal better than the books themselves. I have been reading fics since the release of the Goblet of Fire, so I have really read almost ever good 100,000 words+ fic, that appeals to my tastes, out.

Check out the link in my signature for a complete listing on my favorite fics, and my critique of them.

At first I didn't like Harry and Ginny's relationship in HBP, but then I read a lot of fanfic that illustrates them as a couple more, and I now I really like Harry/Ginny.

I've only recently gotten into fanfiction, but a Keen Observer really altered my perception of the Sorting Hat as well as Andromeda and Ted.

What's more, for my own fanfic, I find myself asking questions that cause me to think more about a character's motivation. For example, I found myself driving home and figuring how much of or little of her life up to age 11 I would have to alter to make Hermione a Ravenclaw. My answer, alter her parents profession to make it include more inqirey or put her in slightly stranger positions then a dentist's daughter would encounter normally.

While I never wrote a Hermione Ravenclaw AU story. I applied that criteria when working on my version of Rose (the character that I've "fixiated" on) deciding that yes, she would be a Ravenclaw, though one who is an "almost Gryff".

All the Best,

Lunatic

This is really strange, but fanfiction gave me a more accurate outlook on characters. I've always been a Marauders fan, and when I started to read fanfiction, sometimes I saw the writers making them acting completely out of character. Usually I ended up picking up and that and stopped reading fairly quickly. Whenever I come across fanfictions like that, I wonder why it seems out of character, and then I realize why.

When the books came out and more was revealed about the marauders, I never found myself surprised. A lot of the way the characters behave is exactly how I imagined them to be.

So, overall, fanfiction enhanced my view on characters. :)

One of my favourites passages in the books is Tonks's outburst in the Hospital Wing at the end of HBP. I loved the Lupin/Tonks idea, and always wondered how they had come to that. Then I found a fic called The Trouble with me, which tells the story of Tonks and Lupin during OotP. Now I can't help it, and always think of that story as background for those characters.

And well, I wrote a fic with my own version of Book 7, but it doesn't follow canon... Oh, no, I can't believe I'm sppeaking of my own fic. Forget this paragraph!

Very soon after reading DH, I was browsing Deviantart and came across some drawings fo DD/GG. I saw them and was thought, "Wow that totally makes sense." So I read the book again and could definitely see the relationship between them being more than just friendship. So in a way it did make me perceive canon differently, until Jo confirmed it herself.

I haven't read too much fan fiction and I have written my own stories from Mary Macdonald's point of view, during the Marauder era. I think writing it has deepened the way I read and see the Marauders. Writing a character makes you get inside their head a bit and I think you understand them more or have a better view of them. Or at least a better view of who you think they are and what they were like. ;)

Makani's fanart has definitely made me appreciate the comical value of the Malfoys and Bellatrix. I see Lucius and Narcissa as a much more... loving couple, I guess? I just never really thought of them as in love, just as Draco's parents. Now I think of them more as a couple with a son. If that makes sense.

I'll admit, some very good fanfictions have made me alter my opinions of characters a bit. I remember reading one about Draco, and I completely fell in love with him (don't worry, he wasn't a Gary Sue) and now I have a hard time seeing him as badly as the trio do - I have too much sympathy for the guy, even after everything that happened. However, I do realise where to draw the line with things like this; I'll never go and say he's a respectable guy with a great heart.

For Harry Potter, there is a lot of fanfiction and fanart out there.

Some start up questions:

Do you like reading fanfiction and looking up fanart?

What are some of the sites you go on?

How does it effect your view of the books?

At first I didn't like Harry and Ginny's relationship in HBP, but then I read a lot of fanfic that illustrates them as a couple more, and I now I really like Harry/Ginny.

me too!! but its more of lack of 'romantic scenes' (for me) for Harry and Ginny but after reading "In The Words of Ginevra Molly Weasly" (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3728284/1/In_the_Words_of_Ginevra_Molly_Potter) i really become addictive to Harry/Ginny fanfictions...



Do you like reading fanfiction and looking up fanart?
- love them!!! but more of fanfiction than fanart...fanfictions serves entertainment for me whenever there are dull times (which in my case is...always)

What are some of the sites you go on?
- flourish and blotts here in cosforums and fanfiction.com and sometimes harrypotterfanfiction.com

How does it effect your view of the books?
- of course theres nothing that can beat books! one thing, reading books for me, always serves as an excuse to be lazy...theres nothing more relaxing than taking my favorite book and lie in my bed all day. reading fanfiction takes more activity coz i need to sit in front of my pc to be able to read, which is why i transer all fanfictions i want to read in my PDA so i can take it to bed with me...lol (thats just me im way toooo lazy)

No :p No means I have always been a tad rebellious against canon, and this is not the cause of fanfiction!

Not when we're talking about the canon that's already written in stone, i.e. books 1-6, but of the eras which we do not know a lot about, specifically the Marauder Era and New generation, it does help me with ideas. In particular it influences the way I perceive the personalities of the new generation; everytime I post about Rose, Scorpius or Albus, I think of a fanfic / RP character and then adjust how they're portrayed to determine my own view of what type of person they become, where they're sorted, their relationships etc.

I would say that it influences me, but it could never change or shape my perception. In the end we are only fans and we can never be sure how accurate we are about pretty much anything; that lies with Rowling alone.

Fan fiction hasn't really influenced me that much. I began with reading a few really bad fanfics and that kind of put me off reading them. As for fan art, it's actually been great seeing some amazing artists work and bringing the world of Harry Potter to life. I've seen a lot of beautifully drawn fan art and it definitely enhances my image of certain scenes or characters :D It's great :)

The canon can be a little disconcerting at times. I write a bit of fanfiction here and there, and the disjointed way the canon points are established can be a bit problematic, however, I don't write to drive the canon one way or another. In fact, as much as possible, I try to remain within canon, because this is JKR's world, not mine. However, once I establish a storyline and the canon changes, I keep true to the story as much as possible.

As an author, though, I HOPE I've had some sort of impact.

Fanfiction has absoloutly changed the way I see Cannon. I think I read more fanfiction then I do cannon. Reading all those Manipulative Dumbledore stories and then going back and reading cannon made me rethink how I see Dumbledore.

And it's thanks to Fanfiction that I firmly believe that Sirius and Remus are ment to be together. No matter what JKR says.

Yes, it has. I still know the difference between canon and fanon but most good fanfiction authors go to great lengths to analyse the characters' possible motivations, something that is often missing in canon. Especially when it comes to minor characters.

Yes, exactly. I was only vaguely aware of fan fic before, but another member (FleurduJardin, to be specific) and I started coming here to CoS, and a few CoS members have registered with our AV site, two of them fan fic writers. It was quite a discovery for the two of us and yes, reading their works and other fan fics they recommended have changed my (can't speak for Fleur) perception of canon. I still know the difference between canon and fanon too, but sometimes I have to make an effort to remind myself, for example, that Cedric is dead. http://www.avenueviet.com/forums/images/smiles/toothless.gif

Moriath is right, minor characters are more thoroughly explored, and that opens up whole new vistas. Alters our perspective on main characters. Some fan fic are parallel canon, but others turn canon upside down in intriguing ways that are always interesting to follow. Also, the internal logic of the Wizarding world at times is better constructed than JKR's herself. The writers spotted some of the inconsistencies and contradictions and kind of ironed them out when they could.

I became a fan of Hufflepuff and a defender of Slytherin because of some of those fan fics. Nothing, however, has changed my feelings of :love: for Cho. ;)

Apart from some avatars and signatures in here and on AV, I haven't seen much fan art, so that has had no influence on me. :shrug:

As an author, though, I HOPE I've had some sort of impact.


YES!! your fan fic is one of the most creative, thorough and well written I have read. I can see that you put a lot of time and effort into it.

Fanfic changed the way I see some characters like Draco Malfoy, Lupin, Snape. "the asp at hogwarts" in which albus potter is a slytherin, changed my view of that house.

:hmm:, no. :lol:

Well, I'm relatively new on this fanfic/fanart thing. I never read fanfiction before DH came out, so my way of perceiving canon is as it ever was.
In fact, I have to reminding myself, from time to time, that it is fanfic and I should read it as open-minded as possible.
I have find a couple of stories that are truly engaging in the process.
And Gator, you are just too modest! :rolleyes::p

I think if anything has change my view of perceiving canon is the movies ... :shrug:

To answeer Voldemorts8thHorcrux's start-up discussion questions:

Do you like reading fanfiction and looking up fanart?
Yep. :agree: I'm always looking at fanart (espially H/G -- my favorite couple! :love:) and I even draw some myself...but I also keep it to myself. ;) I also enjoy reading fanfics on CoS. (Inkwolf's The Asp at Hogwarts (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=110679)is amazing! Sorry to you other fanfic writers, but I haven't read very many fanfics other than that yet...but I will!) I have started to write some of my own fanfics, which I also keep to myself. Maybe I will post them later on when they are finished. And maybe my fanart, too.

What are some of the sites you go on?
Not many...mostly CoS (of course) and sometimes phoenixsong.net (http://http://www.phoenixsong.net/). Not much else. Sometimes I will just search fanart on Google to see what good sites pop up.

How does it effect your view of the books?
It doesn't really affect my view of the books. I enjoy reading fanfic, but to me, that's just what they are...fanfics. No matter how enjoyable they are. That goes for fanart, too. But that doesn't mean that I don't sometimes wish that what happens in a fanfic or fanart is true...

Then I found a fic called The Trouble with me, which tells the story of Tonks and Lupin during OotP. Now I can't help it, and always think of that story as background for those characters.

Could you give the link to that fanfic, MmeBergerac? I'd like to read it. Thank you. And thank you, GrangerHermione, for the link to The Asp at Hogwarts. I'm going to download it and read it. :)

I never read fan fic before, but since I started on HP fan fic, I've practically read nothing else but HP canon and HP fan fic! I haven't touched a Kung Fu book in months now. :lol:

And yes as I said before it did change the way I perceive canon but it's not a bad thing IMO. I wonder whether JKRowlings sometimes reads some of these fics? :hmm:

P.S. GrangerHermione, I don't know why but I can't access "The Asp at Hogwarts" - I get "Cannot show page" or an entirely different site. Does anyone else have the same problem? :grumble:

P.S. GrangerHermione, I don't know why but I can't access "The Asp at Hogwarts" - I get "Cannot show page" or an entirely different site. Does anyone else have the same problem? :grumble:
My sig has the link. Use it if you are interested. :)

P.S. GrangerHermione, I don't know why but I can't access "The Asp at Hogwarts" - I get "Cannot show page" or an entirely different site. Does anyone else have the same problem? :grumble:
I tried to fix the link. Does it work now? I tried it out and it worked for me...

I tried to fix the link. Does it work now? I tried it out and it worked for me...Works for me too. :)

This is really strange, but fanfiction gave me a more accurate outlook on characters. I've always been a Marauders fan, and when I started to read fanfiction, sometimes I saw the writers making them acting completely out of character. Usually I ended up picking up and that and stopped reading fairly quickly. Whenever I come across fanfictions like that, I wonder why it seems out of character, and then I realize why.

When the books came out and more was revealed about the marauders, I never found myself surprised. A lot of the way the characters behave is exactly how I imagined them to be.

So, overall, fanfiction enhanced my view on characters. :)
That's is how I feel as well, that reading fanfiction has enhanced my understanding of the characters because it feels so blatant and jarring when they're written out of character and it really expands my view of them when they're written well.

I'd read quite a few stories (probably more rightly called books based on their length) that took up the story during or after HBP, and they were really extraordinary! I've read some that are written so well with such great characterizations and plots that I do get them mixed up with canon a bit (and even prefer them in some areas I must say). I'll always love canon, but I adore fanfiction.

I agree with the others that have said that the motivations and characters of the more minor characters are great in fanfiction. The reason I love characters like Madam Pomfrey, Professor Sinistra, and Blaise Zabini is because of fanfiction.

As for fanart, I absolutely love when I find a piece that reflects my view of a character even when they look different from the movie version. It's great to see people's originality. :)

I tried to fix the link. Does it work now? I tried it out and it worked for me...
Yes, now it works, thank you, GH. Thanks also to GinnyIsGenius, the one in your sig works too. :tu:

That's is how I feel as well, that reading fanfiction has enhanced my understanding of the characters because it feels so blatant and jarring when they're written out of character and it really expands my view of them when they're written well.
Agree one hundred percent. :agree:

I'd read quite a few stories (probably more rightly called books based on their length) that took up the story during or after HBP, and they were really extraordinary! I've read some that are written so well with such great characterizations and plots that I do get them mixed up with canon a bit (and even prefer them in some areas I must say). I'll always love canon, but I adore fanfiction.
Me too! Possibly we read some of the same? Like "Finding Himsel" and its sequel "Dulce et Decorum Est"? That series is what makes me have to remind myself that Cedric died in the graveyard, and is not now (timeline: start of HBP) working in the Ministry of Magic and sharing an apartment with Bill and Fleur. I too prefer that particular fan fic version to canon :lol:

Yeah, fanfiction is great...brings the characters to life. That's where I've been for the last two months......with 'Trip to the Past' and 'History of Magic'. I just can't get enough....and when there is no new content.........!
FanFiction is fantastic, only trouble...I didn't realise it was around 'till late last year.

Yeah, fanfiction is great...brings the characters to life. That's where I've been for the last two months......with 'Trip to the Past' and 'History of Magic'. I just can't get enough....and when there is no new content.........!
FanFiction is fantastic, only trouble...I didn't realise it was around 'till late last year.

yeah fanfictions has truly altered the lives of many people specially when it comes to HP fanatics like all of us...good thing there are loads of talented writers who are kind enough to entertain our thirst for HP stories...

I was really into fanfic for a while, but then I kept almost mistaking well-written fanfic for canon and I was trying to suss out what would happen in HBP so I stopped for a while. I prefer fics about minor characters as opposed to those about main characters.

Not really. Ok not much. Before DH I never used to read a lot of fanfic and post DH i have just read one. So I may not be that qualified to judge that.
As for fanart i don't view it at all

Not really. All the Remus/Sirius "shipping" only makes me more devoted to the cannonical version of events.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through A Keen Observer and it has completely changed the way I see Bellatrix! I love how you see her unsteady mind at such an early age. I've always detested her, but I see her as a person now.

It's rare that I find a fanart that truly matches my image of a character.

For Harry Potter, there is a lot of fanfiction and fanart out there.

Some start up questions:

Do you like reading fanfiction and looking up fanart?

What are some of the sites you go on?

How does it effect your view of the books?

1) I really like reading well written fanfics that comply with canon, other make me want to throw my computer through the nearest window.

2) I like the Sugar Quill, and unless there's a really highly recommended fic on another site, that's pretty much the only one I'll go on. Aybody know of any sites which are similar?

3) It can affect my view of the minor characters, but not rely the main ones. I mostly read Mauraders or after Hogwarts fics so that my canon doesn't get screwed up.

I really like maurauders fics, anybody know any good fanfics/sites? Oh, and definately read 'A Most Unusual Student', it's by Alkari on the sugarquill. :]

This is really strange, but fanfiction gave me a more accurate outlook on characters. I've always been a Marauders fan, and when I started to read fanfiction, sometimes I saw the writers making them acting completely out of character. Usually I ended up picking up and that and stopped reading fairly quickly. Whenever I come across fanfictions like that, I wonder why it seems out of character, and then I realize why.

When the books came out and more was revealed about the marauders, I never found myself surprised. A lot of the way the characters behave is exactly how I imagined them to be.

So, overall, fanfiction enhanced my view on characters. :)

I agree with you completely. There are times when I start reading a fan-fic and after reading a few lines, I just want to stop, because something doesn't seem right. The characters are not behaving the way I have known and I dont go back to reading that fic again. I have only read about two fan-fictions so far, and I have continued reading (and re-reading them) as they portray the characters well (just how I imagine them). Like you said, fancfics have enhanced my view on characters.

I prefer fics about minor characters as opposed to those about main characters.
Yeah, me too. There's not much point in rewriting the main characters, JKRowlings already did a superb job. But fan fic gives an opportunity to dig more into a secondary character, and to see the whole story from a slightly different perspective.

For example, in those parallel canon fan fics I read, the reader relives the events in OotP and HBP from Cedric's point of view, which is slightly different from Harry's. They both resist Umbridge but in different ways, and they see Scrimgeour from a different angle. It also is more focused on Hufflepuff than on Gryffindor. Cedric's efforts to bring Slytherin into the common fold, not have it three Houses against one, are also noteworthy.

Reading fan fic - good fan fic, that is - doesn't alter my view of canon, it kinda sheds more light on it, sometimes ties up some loose ends. All in all a worthwhile experience. :) IMHO.

Fanart and fanfic has never altered my view of the books. Neither have the movies actually, with the exception of a few characters who I think were portrayed absolutely flawlessly. Mary Grandpre's art has influenced my perception a bit though. The one thing that I do see though, is I think the movies have somewhat influenced Jo Rowling's writing. I can't think of any examples right now, but I do believe that some things she's written seem to have stemmed a little bit from the movies.

I don't often find fanart that really speaks to me, but there is a YouTube video that has some of the most amazing fanart of Snape (I've posted it in the Favourite YouTubes (http://www.cosforums.com/showpost.php?p=4901345&postcount=50) thread) I'm not really a fan of Snape at all, but some of these pictures are amazing.

Muggle_Magic would you be able to post a link to the fanfic where Cedric is still alive? It sounds really interesting!

Fanction has never altered my perceptions because I can distinguish between canon and what is being made up in another author's mind, but certain fanarts did have an effect on how particular scenes may have been. There are some really good romance fanarts and I can't quite decide which suits the best, then there are ones of Dumbledore, Snape, the Marauders, the Weasleys etc that are so real and seem so attached to canon (including the facial expressions!), that I did envision a few scenarios according to the artwork.

This thread (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=47378) has artwork by Caladan, and it's some of the best I've seen so far, and they did alter how I imagine a few scenarios.

Muggle_Magic would you be able to post a link to the fanfic where Cedric is still alive? It sounds really interesting!

Yes it is, I'm sure you'll like it. Here's one link:
Cedric Lives! (http://www.avenueviet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1295)

It's actually a link to a thread on our own chat site (I'm a Mod there, FleurduJardin is an Admin), where one of our members gives the link to several of Minisinoo's fan fics about Cedric. Be advised that Minisinoo's books are as long as the originals, with shorter stories (novella length) thrown in.

We have other interesting fan fics in that same forum, you might want to explore it. Just go back to "Writers' Forum" and browse. There's one fun short story that's a crossover between HP and Serenity/Firefly, there's another book-length fan fic called "Stealing Harry" featuring Sirius and Remus. They're all good quality writing.

Happy browsing and reading! :)

P.S. We have a lot of spammers, so our Admins are a bit heavy-handed blocking unfamiliar IPs. If you have trouble getting on the site, send me or FleurduJardin an owl. :)

P.P.S. Re: Cedric trying to unify the Houses to fight both Umbridge and Voldie, you might also want to check this thread in the present forum:
http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=115082
:cool:

I didnt read fanfic for the longest time just so it wouldnt change how I thought about canon. I liked the story just how it is and didnt want any extensions or modifications to it.
But I started going through what I like to call HPW, more commonly known as Harry Potter Withdrawals, so I began to read USNAGators fanfic, and I absolutely love it. Its easier with this one because its after the series would have taken place, but I do sometimes forget when Im posting that its just fanfic and not canon.
For instance, in the Master of the Elder Wand thread, I keep forgetting that we know nothing about Harrys triumphs or battles as an auror, but I keep incorporating that into my opinions of who has the elder wand now.
But back on track, it hasnt changed my opinion, or the way I see what Jo has already written for us, I just forget that what fans right didnt "really" happen to Harry.

Fan fiction definitely changed the way I view canon, in that it raised the bar considerably.

There are a great many well written fan fictions out there, and a good number of the authors have put more thought into constructing the HP universe than JKR, who has always been rather vague and never really goes into any detail about magical theory, history, culture, politics and the wider world beyond Hogwarts in general.

Having read these stories (and I've read a lot of fan fiction) one tends to begin to see JKRs version of events as just one among many, though of course one always remembers that JKRs version is the "correct" one. With this view in mind, it is impossible to not compare canon to fanon, and often canon will come up lacking, though it must be said that JKRs writing style is very good.

After reading fan fiction, I also became rather dissatisfied by the direction that JKR was taking the series after OotP. When she started the series, it had seemed like it would be a tale of self-empowerment and Harry growing into the hero he was destined to be. Instead, JKR began to take the series in another direction - creating a far more moralistic tale. This is possibly due to the massive amount of attention the series had gained, which could have put pressure on JKR to start writing a story that would instill values into her child readers, rather than simply being a good read.

Whatever the cause, I did not like the change of direction. I like my heroes to be just that - heroes. They can be flawed heroes, but I do like them to be heroes. Instead, JKR made Harry pathetic, unable to do anything on his own. He became completely dependent on Hermione telling him what to do and leading him around by the nose. He became complacent.

Where was the ambition that almost got him into Slytherin? Non existent. The first scene in DH involving Harry exemplifies this. Harry notes that he doesn't know any healing charms - a rather significant deficit in his magical knowledge. But instead of taking charge of his own life and simply going and learning some, he decides to leave it to Hermione.

So, the direction of Harry's character in canon drove me even deeper into fanon and away from canon, in search of a superior Harry - a competent Harry, who lives up to his birthright and destiny, rather than just sitting back. This I found. I now learn towards reading a much darker Harry than the one presented in canon - and by this I don't mean dark as in "Emo", but as in Dark wizard.

Fan fiction also shaped my views on canon ships. I simply cannot stand Ginny as a character or as a partner for Harry. Fanon has shown me just how random JKRs choice to pair them up was. She's non-existent for the first 4 books or so, has a few lines in OotP, then suddenly: BANG! Monster in the chest. Yeah, more like love potion in the stomach.

Fan fiction also turned me away from Harry/Ginny due to the sheer number of incredibly poor fictions involving them, all using the same cliched, unlikely and unrealistic plot devices to get them together. If I see another story with the phrase "soul bond" again, or the device "Over the summer Harry had been sending letters to Ginny, and getting much closer to her. He couldn't believe how well she understood him." I might just explode.

As for where I read my fan fictions, I read most of them at Fanfiction.Net, and at PatronusCharm.Net. DarkLordPotter.Net is also a very good forum that I frequent, full of highly intelligent people discussing Harry Potter canon and fanon, and having possibly the best library of stories in the fan fiction world - hundreds of stories reviewed (often harshly - no feelings are spared) by the DLP members before being accepted into the Library and placed into the relevant category (e.g. Romance, Comedy, Time Travel, Dark Harry...etc.). Be warned though - DLP is not the most friendly of sites to newcomers, and actively encourages the flaming of those who are considered idiots. It's a highly elitist place, with strict grammar, spelling and formatting rules.

a lot of fan fiction is really about romance. The one subject the series lacked. I guess about 80% of fan fiction is the romance. People feel cheated by its omission.

The slash fiction has harmed several characters, especially Serius and Remus. A real shame. Even Rowlings knew about it. She went to great detail to mention in book 7 that Serious had pictures of bikini clad women in his room.

The entertaing fan fiction to me is the super Harry ones, complete with marial arts. Love them.

Hmm...not so much a fan of super-Harry. I like Harry to be strong and intelligent, yes, but not unrealistically so. I prefer to see a believable progression of power, rather than the massive leap that super-Harry usually follows.

I'm not a big fan of Evil!Harry, I just don't think it's realistic with his personality and upbringing. Dark!Harry really depends on the story, I've read a few that pull it off, but most seem really contrived.

I do like when his character is expanded more, as you said Taure, and he grows into a powerful wizard who is truly able to defeat Voldemort. Canon!Harry just seems to flounder so much, which may be in line with his youth, but definitely isn't in line with his bold attitude so much of the time or with all of the amazing mentors that are around him.

I hardly think fan-fiction has harmed any of the characters, least of all Sirius (that's Sirius, like the star :D). For the people who know that Sirius and Remus are sometimes portrayed that way (which is hardly every Potter reader) I think it can add dimension to the characters. Thinking about their pasts not just as bullies to Severus and trouble makers, and about Sirius' life not just as a reckless man consumed by cabin fever makes them more multi-dimensional whether you accept the pairing or not.

Regarding the assertion that JKR purposely tried to destroy those shippers is a bit ridiculous I think. There was little to no canon evidence for it in the first place, and she knows her audience, putting a poster on his wall is hardly going to quiet the crowd. In fact, while reading DH there were several times where I thought she gave a nod or two to fan-fiction as well as to her older readers. It definitely made me smile :)

I just don't think it's realistic with his personality and upbringing

I would disagree. Harry had a rather unhappy childhood, and could not be blamed for wanting to "get back at the world". His personality has also shown the capability for evil acts. He has a bit of a temper, and has a tendency to resort to torturing people when annoyed. He almost killed a student and felt no remorse.

I'm not saying I'm a fan of evil!Harry either - authors of evil!Harry tend to make him also insane, and I'm more a fan of smart!Harry, but I wouldn't say that it's beyond the realms of reason.

I would disagree. Harry had a rather unhappy childhood, and could not be blamed for wanting to "get back at the world". His personality has also shown the capability for evil acts. He has a bit of a temper, and has a tendency to resort to torturing people when annoyed. He almost killed a student and felt no remorse.

I'm not saying I'm a fan of evil!Harry either - authors of evil!Harry tend to make him also insane, and I'm more a fan of smart!Harry, but I wouldn't say that it's beyond the realms of reason.
I would hardly say he had no remorse for Sectumsempre, if that's what you're referring to. He was horrified by what he'd done, and only after Draco was healed did he make any off the cuff remarks. I think he would have had a very hard time of it if he'd actually killed him. (that would actually make a really good fic :lol: though I like Draco so I prefer the opposite)

He definitely has a temper, but I think he's in his father's camp. Being angry or having a streak of cruelty in you does not make you an evil wizard, and I just find it too hard to accept that he would embrace dark magic given all that it's done to him. Authors always go the line of "Harry realized that dark magic is not really dark, it's all in how you use it and why you use it." Gryff's are just too black and white for that. So then they make him a Slytherin--the only way it really makes sense to me is if you change his character entirely. Despite his upbringing he came into Hogwarts a loving brave little boy wounded by dark magic--I just can't unmake that in my mind and still have "Harry".

So then they make him a Slytherin--the only way it really makes sense to me is if you change his character entirely

The sorting hat thought he would fit in there.

And you could say that Harry is already evil. Torturing people is not to be taken lightly, especially when for the spell to succeed you need to enjoy the victim's pain.

And makani's artwork (http://makani.deviantart.com/gallery/) has changed the way I perceive characters like Bellatrix and the Malfoys.

Did this sort of thing happen to anyone else?

Oh definitely! Funny you should mention Makani, too, since I really like her work myself and thought immediately of her when I saw the title of this thread. She has an interesting slant on the characters- in her galleries, the Malfoys are central and the Trio is a bunch of irritating kids (which, to be fair, they sometimes are). A lot of her illustrations focus on the potential humor that could come out of the pretentiousness Lucius displays in the books. And Makani portrays Hermione as a total drama queen, which, after you take a look through her gallery and reread, you can sort of see. :lol:

The only fanfic I've really enjoyed is the Shoebox Project, which fills in the back story of the Marauders. The relationship between Lupin and Sirius takes center stage and it's nicely done. More importantly, it's believable and could be canon, in my opinion, just because it's clear that the writers really read and understood the parameters of Rowling's world.

When I reread, I tend to reinterpret things in light of that fic, and it makes the characters seem more human, flawed, funny, and sweet.

The answer to the original question is: no, not really.

I read some fantastic LotR fanfiction during my many years in Tolkien fandom, and no amount of that particular fanon would ever budge my respect - and indeed reverence - for the original.

The same principle applies to Potterverse. :cool:

I regard the best of fanfic as providing a wonderful additional resource. Some HP fanfic writers write about magic wonderfully well; they build upon canon, and that's great. :tu:

I like fanfic which 'fills in the gaps', e.g. fics about Snape's last, difficult year as Headmaster at Hogwarts.

I am also a big fan of AU fanfic: I adore the 'how Snape survived Nagini' theory and there are some crackingly good fanfics out there on that subject!

Canon!Snape makes sense to me, the way JKR wrote him, but I frequently prefer the characterisation of Fanon!Snape.

So, fanon doesn't replace canon. But I'm glad it's there. :cool:

Oh definitely! Funny you should mention Makani, too, since I really like her work myself and thought immediately of her when I saw the title of this thread. She has an interesting slant on the characters- in her galleries, the Malfoys are central and the Trio is a bunch of irritating kids (which, to be fair, they sometimes are). A lot of her illustrations focus on the potential humor that could come out of the pretentiousness Lucius displays in the books. And Makani portrays Hermione as a total drama queen, which, after you take a look through her gallery and reread, you can sort of see. :lol:
Absolutely, she's far and away my favorite fan artist, and she's definitely the only one who's ever altered my vision of a character. The Malfoy's, the Blacks, various Death Eaters, Moody, and Arthur especially are amazingly well done by her. I don't really like Mary Grandpre's stuff :shrug:

Canon!Snape makes sense to me, the way JKR wrote him, but I frequently prefer the characterisation of Fanon!Snape.
Honestly, fanon!Snape is the one that bothers me. His representation is so colored by Alan Rickman's performance that he often becomes very suave and intense, far more so than I ever imagined canon!Snape being. He's one of my favorite characters in canon, but I try to avoid fanfics that focus on him. Maybe I've just been reading the wrong ones.

a lot of fan fiction is really about romance. The one subject the series lacked. I guess about 80% of fan fiction is the romance. People feel cheated by its omission.

The slash fiction has harmed several characters, especially Serius and Remus. A real shame. Even Rowlings knew about it. She went to great detail to mention in book 7 that Serious had pictures of bikini clad women in his room.
You have a point about romance, but this started as a children's series, and it's more about coming of age, war, right and wrong, good and evil, than about romance. In Lord of the Rings also, romance, though there is a bit, stays in the background. It's more about the fight between good and evil. I actually didn't miss it all that much. :shrug:

Slash fiction: I don't think it actually "harmed" the characters. Some people insist that the Sirius/Remus pairing was apparent from the books. I didn't see it myself, and it seems JKR didn't intend it. But if people want to pair off Sirius and Remus (some even pair Cedric with Harry), well that's their privilege. I don't particularly like it, and I tend not to read it, except when the plot is really fun, like in the fan fic "Stealing Harry".

I agree with the person who said earlier she didn't like Ginny or the Harry/Ginny pairing. I didn't like her, or the pairing, either. For that matter, as a friend of mine put it, the Ron/Hermione pairing was "a divorce waiting to happen". :lol: Seems like when she does go into romance, JKR didn't pair up the "right" people together, for some readers. On the other hand, I know there are a lot of people with the opposite view. It just shows JKR did good characterizations, with people identifying with characters, and that's a great accomplishment. We can just leave it at that - or write our own fan fics with the pairings we'd prefer. ;)

If we all agreed on everything, this whole forum would just be an echo chamber and we wouldn't have as much fun! :cool:

I actually discovered fan fic when I joined this CoS forum. I never read any before, on LotR or any other - with the exception of "endorsed by the authors fan fics" like Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover take-offs, or Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar take-offs). I'm enjoying it a lot, but that doesn't alter my view of canon. I may prefer fanon in some aspects, especially the AU fan fics and those about secondary characters, but canon is canon.

Someone mentioned a fan fic written from the Malfoys' point of view? Would that person be kind enough to give us a link or a web address here? It sounds like something that'd be really fun do read. :)

You have a point about romance, but this started as a children's series, and it's more about coming of age, war, right and wrong, good and evil, than about romance.

Oh true! But a lot of us are older and I think that's where the fanfic and art fills a niche- it "adults it" all up for us, if that makes sense :lol:

Slash fiction: I don't think it actually "harmed" the characters. Some people insist that the Sirius/Remus pairing was apparent from the books. I didn't see it myself, and it seems JKR didn't intend it. But if people want to pair off Sirius and Remus (some even pair Cedric with Harry), well that's their privilege.

I'm not a fan of slash, generally, because aside from SP most of it is just badly written and aims solely for titillation rather than revealing something about the characters (ie feelings or emotions) or telling the reader anything at all. I didn't really see the Lupin/Sirius pairing from the books, but SP was a gentle, nudging, "what-if" scenario that I quite enjoyed. As you say, if people want to pair characters off that's their privilege- I just want them to do it well, is all.

I don't particularly like it, and I tend not to read it, except when the plot is really fun, like in the fan fic "Stealing Harry".

Ooh, I Googled that fic and just read a bit and it's like SP- love it! Thanks :)

I agree with the person who said earlier she didn't like Ginny or the Harry/Ginny pairing. I didn't like her, or the pairing, either. For that matter, as a friend of mine put it, the Ron/Hermione pairing was "a divorce waiting to happen". :lol: Seems like when she does go into romance, JKR didn't pair up the "right" people together, for some readers. On the other hand, I know there are a lot of people with the opposite view. It just shows JKR did good characterizations, with people identifying with characters, and that's a great accomplishment.

I think she said in an interview that she wasn't entirely comfy in the romance genre (meaning it wasn't really her thing). That explained a bit for me, since I wasn't a big fan of Harry/Ginny either! :lol:

Honestly, fanon!Snape is the one that bothers me. His representation is so colored by Alan Rickman's performance that he often becomes very suave and intense, far more so than I ever imagined canon!Snape being. He's one of my favorite characters in canon, but I try to avoid fanfics that focus on him. Maybe I've just been reading the wrong ones.

But Canon!Snape is intense. :cool: He is perhaps rather too prickly to be suave. :lol: But I've read some very good Snape fics in which dear Severus is every bit as prickly and bitter, simmering like a cauldron with his repressed emotions, as in canon. :)

I agree with the person who said earlier she didn't like Ginny or the Harry/Ginny pairing. I didn't like her, or the pairing, either.

Nor me. Ginny very often - not always, to be fair - comes across to me like a character straight out of fanfiction. :shrug: I've never got used to the Personality Transplant that JKR gave Ginny between books four and five. I would have far less problems with Canon!Ginny had I felt that JKR had presented this character in a consistent way. I really liked the shy, sweet little Ginny of book two: if the character had kept on that track (obviously maturing and growing more confident) I would find her more convincing. Personally I would like to see Harry with someone more empathetic (And no, I'm not a Harmonian. :p )

But I tend to follow canon in my own fanfics so if I have to portray Ginny, so rest assured I treat her nicely. :)

For that matter, as a friend of mine put it, the Ron/Hermione pairing was "a divorce waiting to happen". :lol: Seems like when she does go into romance, JKR didn't pair up the "right" people together, for some readers. On the other hand, I know there are a lot of people with the opposite view. It just shows JKR did good characterizations, with people identifying with characters, and that's a great accomplishment. We can just leave it at that - or write our own fan fics with the pairings we'd prefer. ;)

I too can see a lot of problems with Ron/Hermione: Ron is not Hermione's intellectual equal, which could lead to a lot of tension. He can be very jealous and insecure, and Hermione can be insecure too, and rather bossy towards him at times. :shrug: However, I can also see them working their problems out, so I'm certainly not dooming this couple. :) R/H is a very realistic relationship, with its strengths and weaknesses, and that is refreshing to see, in a Young Adult book. :) If their marriage were to get into trouble, you can bet your boots Hermione would seek couples counselling. ;)

Anyway ... perhaps I should take this over to the shipping thread. :lol:

Fanart: Makani's work is clever - I love the way she portrays the Slytherins :D - and she's done some nice Marauders stuff. :)

For representations of the characters that agree with the images I have of them in my head, I really like the art of Sherant, RohanElf and Jenny Dolfen (who posts here as GoldSeven). :)

Oh true! But a lot of us are older and I think that's where the fanfic and art fills a niche- it "adults it" all up for us, if that makes sense :lol:

It does. Most fanfiction I read is written by adults for adults.

I'm not a fan of slash, generally, because aside from SP most of it is just badly written and aims solely for titillation rather than revealing something about the characters (ie feelings or emotions) or telling the reader anything at all. I didn't really see the Lupin/Sirius pairing from the books, but SP was a gentle, nudging, "what-if" scenario that I quite enjoyed. As you say, if people want to pair characters off that's their privilege- I just want them to do it well, is all.

A year or two ago I would have said that I would only read fanfiction in which in the characters are in character. By now I would say something different. I do no longer care if a fanfiction character behaves like the original character in the HP books as long as he is written consistently and his actions are motivated and plausible. It's really a matter of good or bad writing.

Sometimes I do think that fanfiction writers worry more about a character's motivations, feelings etc than JKR did, especially when it comes to minor characters. That's probably why lots of people were disappointed with what happened to their favourites in the books.

A year or two ago I would have said that I would only read fanfiction in which in the characters are in character. By now I would say something different. I do no longer care if a fanfiction character behaves like the original character in the HP books as long as he is written consistently and his actions are motivated and plausible. It's really a matter of good or bad writing.

Sometimes I do think that fanfiction writers worry more about a character's motivations, feelings etc than JKR did, especially when it comes to minor characters. That's probably why lots of people were disappointed with what happened to their favourites in the books.
Yes exactly, JKR was so plot driven that though the characters were very well formed their motivations and emotions seemed to fall off in favor of the complex plot. FF has really made it more clear to me that while plot and characters are important if you don't have good, well-thought out writing you might as well give it up.

A year or two ago I would have said that I would only read fanfiction in which in the characters are in character. By now I would say something different. I do no longer care if a fanfiction character behaves like the original character in the HP books as long as he is written consistently and his actions are motivated and plausible. It's really a matter of good or bad writing.

Sometimes I do think that fanfiction writers worry more about a character's motivations, feelings etc than JKR did, especially when it comes to minor characters. That's probably why lots of people were disappointed with what happened to their favourites in the books.

I still care about if the character relates to the books, but I'm beginning to not care as much as I did before. For some reason as I've gotten so used to the characters in the books I like fics to stay true to those characters. Although I agree with you that as long as the character is consistent and well written I don't mind.

I like seeing different types of writing and different takes on JKR's world. I find it fascinating to see the different interpretations, and ideas that have been sparked from Harry Potter. Unfortunately, I've read so many fan fictions that have been poorly constructed, poorly written and that don't have a good concept of the books. Great fan fictions, with strong storylines and characters, have been quite hard to find, in my experience.

One thing that I find particularly annoying in fanfic is the use of Americanisms. Saying 'candy' instead of 'sweets' for instance. It's such a small thing but it really takes me out of the 'zone' that I get into when I'm reading.

I've read no more than 10 fanfics that really spoke to me. Most I give up on after a few chapters.

One thing that I find particularly annoying in fanfic is the use of Americanisms. Saying 'candy' instead of 'sweets' for instance. It's such a small thing but it really takes me out of the 'zone' that I get into when I'm reading.

Even as an American I agree to certain extent on that. Some of it can be really distracting, though you've got to take it if the story is well written.

As for fanfic it altering my view, it doesn't really doesn't affect me. It's fun reading some of the alternative stuff but generally I don't like the non-cannon Hogwarts stuff if it's not over the top.

There were a few fake DH that were actually quite good and got so much right that I was reading the real book and got caught wondering if J.K. had stolen fan ideas. lol

"Harry Potter and the Paradigm of Uncertainty" is a great read (Ron fans beware), mostly I like reading stuff about the Marauders, I LOVE that era and anytime I find a writer willing to put the time in for the whole experience (5-7 years) it's amazing.

My current addiction is "memento mori" by mementomori. Excellent piece that runs from Lucius, Narcissa's and Serverus' days to the next generation, it's a work in progress and some of the chapters can be a bit boring but there's 110 so far and most are great. I highly recommend it.

As for fan art, I like Makani's work, got her on my watch list. I wonder if anyone else watched hito76, she's got some excellent work as well. http://hito76.deviantart.com/gallery/

P.S. Sorry for the long links, I forgot how to hide it within a word.

One thing that I find particularly annoying in fanfic is the use of Americanisms. Saying 'candy' instead of 'sweets' for instance. It's such a small thing but it really takes me out of the 'zone' that I get into when I'm reading.

I've read no more than 10 fanfics that really spoke to me. Most I give up on after a few chapters.

You haven't been reading the "right" kind of fan fic. Minisinoo, for example, has someone check her British English, she's careful to say "lorry" instead of "truck", "football" meaning "soccer", etc., and overuses "whilst" instead of "while" (which she insists is a Britticism but that I find mildly annoying if the word crops up every paragraph or so).

This being said, most fan fics we have access to are written for a mostly American audience... at least I think so. I don't know enough about fandom and fan fic in the UK. But most writers I've read are Americans and their readership is American too, so it's kind of normal. After all, they had to "translate" JKR's British English into American English for the American audience - like the Philosopher's Stone became the Sorcerer's Stone, lemon sherbet became lemon drop, and a rounder bat became a baseball bat. :shrug:

I only read Draco/Hermione fan fiction, which is about as far away from cannon as possible.
As far as fan art, then I would have to say that www.artdungeon.net is in my opinion the truest representation of what the characters look like in my head.

It does. Most fanfiction I read is written by adults for adults.

Henh. Saw this and thought of you, by the way: http://pics.livejournal.com/lillbet/pic/0007a7gw Don't recall who made it, sadly.

A year or two ago I would have said that I would only read fanfiction in which in the characters are in character. By now I would say something different. I do no longer care if a fanfiction character behaves like the original character in the HP books as long as he is written consistently and his actions are motivated and plausible. It's really a matter of good or bad writing.

Sometimes I do think that fanfiction writers worry more about a character's motivations, feelings etc than JKR did, especially when it comes to minor characters. That's probably why lots of people were disappointed with what happened to their favourites in the books.

Consistency is a big issue for me as well, which is a big part of why I don't like certain pairings. For example: Hermione/Draco pairings (AU, etc.) irritate me silly simply because it would never have happened: it's pure Mary Sue. Lupin/Sirius might have- based on canon they have a close relationship and we don't know about the years between Hogwarts and adulthood- which is why I like those fics. I think the point of fanfic is to delve further into the things that are only hinted at in canon, so while motivations and feelings can bog things down they are sort of part of the fabric of fic, methinks.

I think the point of fanfic

I would say that there isn't a point of fan fiction. It has no purpose. People just write what they find interesting to themselves, and people read what they find interesting to themselves. There's no "point".

But isn't that the point? There's a point to everything other wise you wouldn't do it. Why do you write/read fanfic? Because I have an idea of how something might have happened and I'd like to create and I'd like to see how it works out.

But isn't that the point? There's a point to everything other wise you wouldn't do it. Why do you write/read fanfic? Because I have an idea of how something might have happened and I'd like to create and I'd like to see how it works out.

I completely agree. The point of fanfiction is to hypothesize the"what if's" that is missing in the HP books. Thats where the fun starts, reading the continuation or the past that you dont read in the books....

I would say that there isn't a point of fan fiction. It has no purpose. People just write what they find interesting to themselves, and people read what they find interesting to themselves. There's no "point".

Of course it has a purpose- you just stated it. "People just write what they find interesting to themselves" etc. It's a way of entertaining oneself and expanding on something the reader enjoys by adding to it and exploring it. That's the point.

No.


It's a way of entertaining oneself and expanding on something the reader enjoys by adding to it and exploring it.

That may be a point, but it is not the only one. A person might write fanfiction to practice their writing technique, they may write it as a present to someone else, they may write it because they're simply bored, they may write it as a polemic against a genre or type of fan fiction...there are many different reasons for writing fan fiction, each of them as justified as the next.

Saying that there is a point implies that there's a right or wrong about it, like mathematics. Saying there is a purpose implies that someone one day thought "I'm going to create the idea of fan fiction, because of X".

A suitable analogy would be the idea of God creating the world. Religious people would say that the world has purpose because it was created for a reason. Atheists would say that there is no purpose - the world just is.

So it is with fan fiction. It just is.

Any one fan fiction might have an intended purpose by the author, but to say that fan fiction as a whole has one is not true.

After all, they had to "translate" JKR's British English into American English for the American audience - like the Philosopher's Stone became the Sorcerer's Stone, lemon sherbet became lemon drop, and a rounder bat became a baseball bat. :shrug:

Seriously???!!! :wow: Gaaaaah! :grumble: Hardly anybody plays baseball in the UK. That's just ... wrong.


As far as fan art, then I would have to say that www.artdungeon.net is in my opinion the truest representation of what the characters look like in my head.

Ah, I'd forgotten Marta's art. Yes, she's fantastic. :tu: Her Hermione is perhaps a tad prettier than she ought to be, and her 37 year old Harry is far sturdier (and taller!) than I imagine him :p but those are very minor quibbles. I think her Hermione is lovely :D and I also really like her Ginny. :) And, as many of you will have gathered, I am not a Ginny fan. :p Yes, Marta is terrific. :) I particularly love her James, Lily and Sirius. :love:

On fanon pairings ... Remus/Sirius strikes me as being quite a credible pairing. I don't read any of it, because Remus, as much as I like him, is a rather depressing character to be paired with anybody. I mean, just look at his canon romance. :whistle:

And I really don't see Sirius as gay. :D But Remus ... actually, I could.

Any one fan fiction might have an intended purpose by the author, but to say that fan fiction as a whole has one is not true.

Um, you just told me it does and doesn't have a point. People do it for any number of reasons, but it springs from a basic desire to explore the work further and expand on it- Rowling's characters lend themselves to other things based on what the writer is interested in expressing and whether that stems from boredom or interest is immaterial, the outcome is the same, and that is expanding on the experience of that first read and recreating it in another form via a "what-if" scenario, Mary Sue-ism or whatever. Whether folks know it or not, and mean to or not, that's what they are doing. There's a number of ways you can do that- most popular is exploring different pairings and thus sexuality.

Since your "no" isn't a valid response here, because we're just seeing it from different places (I used to teach English and writing and encouraged fanfic-ing to help ESL kids write more easily in English), I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one ;)

No.

You're not seeing what seems to me to be a very simple distinction indeed - the distinction between any single piece of fan fiction and fan fiction as a whole.

Yes, when writing a fan fiction an author will usually have a purpose. But fan fiction as a whole does not have one.

I don't know how to make it any simpler to you. I'll use an analogy.

Any single television program may have a purpose intended by its creator. Some people may even use television programs for a purpose - such as teaching English. But television as a whole does not have a purpose - it is merely a medium through which a wide variety of programs are shown.

So too it is with fan fiction.

Any particular fan fiction may have a purpose - this is your program. But fan fiction as a whole is just a name given to a whole medium.

Fan fiction has no more "point" than music, television, film, literature and art.

No.

You're not seeing what seems to me to be a very simple distinction indeed - the distinction between any single piece of fan fiction and fan fiction as a whole.

Yes, when writing a fan fiction an author will usually have a purpose. But fan fiction as a whole does not have one.

I don't know how to make it any simpler to you. I'll use an analogy.

Any single television program may have a purpose intended by its creator. Some people may even use television programs for a purpose - such as teaching English. But television as a whole does not have a purpose - it is merely a medium through which a wide variety of programs are shown.

So too it is with fan fiction.

Any particular fan fiction may have a purpose - this is your program. But fan fiction as a whole is just a name given to a whole medium.

Fan fiction has no more "point" than music, television, film, literature and art.

I never looked at it that way. I think the purpose of music, television, film, literature, and art is either to entertain or to educate. The same with fan-fiction/art. I think the overall purpose of fan-ficiton/art would be to entertain people.

:lol: there's no reason to try and be patronizing!
I think you have a different understanding of what the word "purpose" means. Anything with an intended goal or desired aim has a purpose, no matter how important or specific those goals are. Entertainment, letting off steam, going down in history, changing the world, or annoying your family are all purposes for writing fanfiction or regular fiction.
In the end, I don't think it really matters one way or another does it, especially if it's just semantics?

Anything with an intended goal or desired aim has a purpose

An intended goal implies someone/something doing the intending. For there to be someone with an intent towards the entirety of fan fiction would mean that there was one creator of the entire medium of fan fiction, which there isn't. It just sprung up and evolved on its own.

An intended goal implies someone/something doing the intending. For there to be someone with an intent towards the entirety of fan fiction would mean that there was one creator of the entire medium of fan fiction, which there isn't. It just sprung up and evolved on its own.

I beg to differ. European art has been religious for centuries and the reason was cultural as well as theological. However, there was not one single presence or mind that controlled and directed all of Europe. But as interesting as it is, this thread of discussion gets us off topic.

I still care about if the character relates to the books, but I'm beginning to not care as much as I did before. For some reason as I've gotten so used to the characters in the books I like fics to stay true to those characters. Although I agree with you that as long as the character is consistent and well written I don't mind.

I like seeing different types of writing and different takes on JKR's world. I find it fascinating to see the different interpretations, and ideas that have been sparked from Harry Potter. Unfortunately, I've read so many fan fictions that have been poorly constructed, poorly written and that don't have a good concept of the books. Great fan fictions, with strong storylines and characters, have been quite hard to find, in my experience.

It is indeed hard to find. Being familiar with the HP fandom, however, means that one gets to know the different authors and their writing. One can see their interpretation of canon and their preferences in their fanfiction and one can pick the ones that interest one the most. There are also rec list that helped me enormously to find quality fic.

It is indeed hard to find. Being familiar with the HP fandom, however, means that one gets to know the different authors and their writing. One can see their interpretation of canon and their preferences in their fanfiction and one can pick the ones that interest one the most. There are also rec list that helped me enormously to find quality fic.
I guess I was lucky. Here on CoS, I made friends with Minisinoo as soon as I read her first posts, because of our common interest in Cedric Diggory. Which led me to read her own fan fics, and those she recommended. She is an excellent writer (she also writes mainstream fiction) and is picky in her choice of books or fan fics to read.

Funny, because I haven't (even now) read any of the HP fan fic posted here on CoS. And I haven't read anything else but Minisinoo's fics and those she recommended. So one could say my experience, though limited, has been positive from Day One (to paraphrase a certain presidential candidate) ;)

Moriath, what is the rec list you mention here, and where does one find it?

Has it changed the way I perceive canon?--I ddn't get into fan fiction much--spinning my own versions of popular but minority theories (as a Harmonian who also liked the idea of Harry as a metamorph--to a point, as a way to explain how his hair grew back so fast in SS). I dabbled in a couple of fanfics--but generally left them alone. There was one bad moment just before the release of HBP where I actually conflated a fanfic speculation with what had already been stated--I was embarrassed at the time, but nothing more came of it. I didn't slip again (at least not to my knowledge). The fic I referenced was explicit, but well-written (for a fic), and I guess it affirmed my faith that an intimate relationship between Harry and Hermione could work. I don't know if this made me more intractable than I might have been as a Harmonian--but the mods can attest to the fact that I was an idealogue.

I'd like to make an important side note. I have to say garbled canon, or canon read in the wrong order can have almost as great an impact--perhaps an even greater impact on one's perception and enjoyment of the series as a superfluity of fanfic. I've noted before, and I may note again that I believe that my perception of Ron Weasley was irreparably damaged because I read the first three books out of order (SS, then PoA, then CoS). His squabbling with and hurtful behavior toward Hermione drowned out the bond he felt with her (I believe that his reaction to her Petrification was supposed to provide a baseline through all their yearly squabbles, no matter how venomous they became) and I missed out on that). It's rather like the rejiggering of the Narnia series to reflect Narnian chronology instead of publication chronology--some of the bonds that the original audience formed with the characters weaken or disappear if the books are read in a different order.

I'd like to make an important side note. I have to say garbled canon, or canon read in the wrong order can have almost as great an impact--perhaps an even greater impact on one's perception and enjoyment of the series as a superfluity of fanfic.
What exactly do you mean by "garbled canon"? I don't grasp the concept. :hmm:

Reading a series out of order is a strange idea to me. It wouldn't occur to me to do that, except I did do it in one case - the "Prince Eric" series (which is a series aimed at young boys, the heroes are boy scouts growing up on the eve of WW2, then become very young officers at the start of the war) but only because the last book was a flashback whose action took place, chronologically speaking, before the next-to-last. Back to HP, I see what you mean, how reading PoA before CoS would kinda skew your view. Whyever did you do that? :hmm:

Back to main topic: Fan fic doesn't alter my view of canon, but I think broadens it, opens up new perspectives. I'm talking quality fan fic, of course. :)

Fanart has really helped me visualise some characters. I really enjoy looking at the amazing artist works that are on deviantART and other sites like it. The kinds of things they draw on the computer or by hand is just mind blowing. The better fanart has helped me get a new perspective or image in my head of characters such as Ginny or Lucius, who I didn't have much of an idea of before. I think it's great and as long as people are taking the time to draw fanart or write fanfiction, the fandom will still be alive :D

Moriath, what is the rec list you mention here, and where does one find it?

Rec lists. I forgot the s. :blush: You can find them on Livejournal and fanfictionnet and it depends on your preferences. I was mostly interested in non-canon pairings and there are communities for every major and a few minor pairings. One can also search for general fanfiction that does not focus on any pairing. I must say that fanfiction altered my view on quite a few adult characters that were hardly mentioned or neglected in terms of character development in the books.

I've surfed fanfic.net numerous times--and the intriguing piece I discussed in my last post was actually there. I think it's since been removed, though I don't know why--I found several bits of it truly enjoyable.

Muggle Magic--Okay, garbled canon means reading either abridged versions of books, or reading books in the wrong order. In my case, I read the HP books 1, 3, 2 because of a freak accident. I was given the first and third book as gifts and told I wouldn't receive the remaining one for several months. I hadn't ever heard of the series before I got them as gifts. I buzzed through SS, and couldn't wait for the next one. I swore I wasn't going to read any more Potter until I got the second book--but the temptation was just too strong. Impulsively, I grabbed PoA off my shelf and started reading--it took me three days--but I devoured it in great dollops. I then had to wait until my birthday to receive CoS. Turns out--the person giving me the gifts wrapped all three and forgot which was which. Anyway, because I couldn't contain myself, I got the PoA impression of Ron more deeply imprinted on my brain than the CoS one--and since his reaction in the latter third of CoS is supposed to cover a multitude of sins in the latter five books, my impression of him was irrevocably injured.

Fanart/fanfiction has not altered the way I perceive canon, but it does give me something to think about.

I love reading fanfictions about the Marauder Era, especially J/L. There's so little information about the Marauder Era, it is fun to use fanfiction to fill in the gaps in my mind. The thing is, I like my Marauder Era fanfics as canon as possible.

I also love reading fanfictions about the Black family. They sure are a interesting bunch, and it is cool to explore their dynamics. Especially the Black sisters, and Sirius and Regulus.

When I am not in the mood for canon, I sure love my crack!pairing. Though, as much as I love crack!pairings, I am just not fond of slash fanfictions. I ship the most random characters together, but once it comes to slash, it is just not my cup of tea. There's some slash couples I am cool with, but Remus/Sirius makes me cry. Idk...

Fanart/fiction has not altered the way I perceive canon.

This sort of thing did not happen to me.

There is a reason that I don't read fanfiction. I don't want it to alter my perception of cannon. I'm afraid that if I read it that I will soon not be able to distinguish the difference between the two, remember what happened in which medium. No, I don't read it. I think I would enjoy some of them, but I won't allow myself to.

I like fanart though.

There is a reason that I don't read fanfiction. I don't want it to alter my perception of cannon. I'm afraid that if I read it that I will soon not be able to distinguish the difference between the two, remember what happened in which medium. No, I don't read it. I think I would enjoy some of them, but I won't allow myself to.

There are really only a small portion of fanfics that even have the possibility of confusing you about what is and isn't canon. Most are so far away from canon that it's not at all hard to distinguish. The few that may, only do so in really minuscule things--like I started to think that Snape was actually Draco's godfather because so many fics portray him as such :lol: or you get a picture in your mind of who some minor characters are and are surprised when they don't speak up in canon :). If you know canon well, I can't see it being a big problem for you, especially since the series is done.

Yeah it is a bit extreme and if you're that afraid there's plenty of fanfic that is ultra non-cannon. They take the story into a completely different way, some are sexual, some are funny and others are pretty beautifully written pieces that give alternate versions of what happens in the series from OoTP and beyond.

Plus there's plenty of stuff that Rowling didn't touch upon like the marauders, there's plenty of fanfics that concentrate on that stuff and it's great since Rowling is unlikely to really go into that era.

Yeah it is a bit extreme and if you're that afraid there's plenty of fanfic that is ultra non-cannon. They take the story into a completely different way, some are sexual, some are funny and others are pretty beautifully written pieces that give alternate versions of what happens in the series from OoTP and beyond.

Plus there's plenty of stuff that Rowling didn't touch upon like the marauders, there's plenty of fanfics that concentrate on that stuff and it's great since Rowling is unlikely to really go into that era.

I agree. The great thing with fan fiction is that you can access it from so many different genres and interpretations. It can be really interesting to read. Also, I love that authors delve into parts of the story that JKR hasn't touched upon and probably won't delve into in so much detail. Sure, you get some rubbish ones, but there are some really awesome fics out there :D

As I read this thread and a similar one in another forum, there's something that came out over there that I don't think has been discussed here: That sometimes people write fan fic because they're not quite satisfied with "canon", much as they like the original work. "Not quite satisfied" meaning not liking a certain plot theme, or the ending, or character pairing, or finding "plot holes, contradictions and inconsistencies" in the canon book.

Someone in the other forum made the point that no one would even think of writing a parallel canon or different version of "To Kill A Mockingbird" because it's perfect as it is.

In the HP world, the "world construction" does leave a bit to be desired, and some pairings seem psychologically "off". Sure, JKRowlings isn't into writing romance, and that played a minor part in the books. But I've read somewhere in here that many people were dissatisfied with the Harry/Ginny and the Hermione/Ron pairings. "A divorce waiting to happen" is how it was put at one point. :lol: So I guess writing fan fic is a way to relieve some frustration. It is also a tribute to canon, because if one didn't feel strongly about a work, one wouldn't bother writing about it or trying to plug some holes and tie up some loose ends.

Whether the readers let themselves be influenced by what they read or not is up to them. But I guess only "parallel canon" can do that. Some of those fan fics (like Sirius falling through the Veil to find himself on Serenity/Firefly being befriended by Rivers) are so far, far away from JKR's world that it can't possibly impact on one's perception of it. Just give you a good laugh. :cool:

oh sure, I think that's true, but I don't think it's necessarily because Jo's work is any more flawed than the average book. Her "world" is far more complex than what's in the average work, so it's impossible for there to be no inconsistencies or dissatisfaction.

Also, I think HP really hit the pocket, so to speak, of the fanfiction craze. HP started building a huge following just as the internet was getting more and more widespread, and it's a universe which allows and even encourages expansion. It has the ability to create and keep fans of many age groups who are interested in fantasy. What do many bookish people who like fantasy do? write or read with their favorite fantasy springboard.

People don't write To Kill a Mockingbird fanfiction, not because it's perfect but because it's wrapped and tied. There aren't a lot of directions you could go that would add any real interest to the world of the book. So is a book more perfect or inherently better "wrapped and tied" than with gaps and imperfect outcomes? I dunno. But I know which I'd like to read again, which I'll always want to hear more about.

Snape having a huge, disturbing crush on Harry can alter your perception in many ways. :D

You're right Mockingbird doesn't lend to Fanfic, but Narnia, especially now with the movies and real human faces being attached makes for some fun inspiration.

As I read this thread and a similar one in another forum, there's something that came out over there that I don't think has been discussed here: That sometimes people write fan fic because they're not quite satisfied with "canon", much as they like the original work. "Not quite satisfied" meaning not liking a certain plot theme, or the ending, or character pairing, or finding "plot holes, contradictions and inconsistencies" in the canon book.

Read my post a few pages back...being dissatisfied with the direction JKR took the series in after OOTP is my primary reason for reading and writing fan fiction.

As I read this thread and a similar one in another forum, there's something that came out over there that I don't think has been discussed here: That sometimes people write fan fic because they're not quite satisfied with "canon", much as they like the original work. "Not quite satisfied" meaning not liking a certain plot theme, or the ending, or character pairing, or finding "plot holes, contradictions and inconsistencies" in the canon book.

I think that is a very good point and I don't think it necessarily means that HP readers - for example - think that JKR is not a good writer.

Tolkien fandom is chock-full of this kind of thing. And Tolkien fans, in general, have a deep reverence and respect for JRRT's work. However, there are some things in his universe that intrigue, disatisfy or just downright bug his readers. Frodo's ambivalent ending is one of the prime examples of this and there is a TON of fanfiction out there which often takes an intelligent (and frequently provocative) view of Frodo's departure for the Undying Lands.

In the HP world, the "world construction" does leave a bit to be desired, and some pairings seem psychologically "off". Sure, JKRowlings isn't into writing romance, and that played a minor part in the books. But I've read somewhere in here that many people were dissatisfied with the Harry/Ginny and the Hermione/Ron pairings. "A divorce waiting to happen" is how it was put at one point. :lol: So I guess writing fan fic is a way to relieve some frustration. It is also a tribute to canon, because if one didn't feel strongly about a work, one wouldn't bother writing about it or trying to plug some holes and tie up some loose ends.

I find myself in sympathy with what you say here. LOL at the "divorce waiting to happen"!! That could be true of both those pairings, IMO.

I find Ron/Hermione a realistic relationship, flaws and all: and I think it's obvious they love each other. :) But one can also see where tensions could arise between the two of them.

Harry/Ginny: they come across to me like a couple of passionate teenagers who could very easily find other people to fall in love with after the war was over. I have no quarrel with the pairing, but I can imagine the H/G relationship being pretty rocky for a while after the stresses and strains of the war. I would find that completely realistic. He's only 17 and she's only 16. I'm not convinced that everyone in Potterverse has to find their soulmate by the tender age of seventeen!

When I write fanfiction, I do like to make it canon-based. (My own interpretation of canon, of course! Because all fanfic is really AU.) So in my fics Harry will be married to Ginny etc.

I love writing 'Snape survived Nagini' fics too though. :D That of course would be AU. :) But everything else in my Snape-fics will be canon-friendly*. :p Relatively speaking. :D

When it comes to reading HP fanfiction, I like a lot of obviously AU stuff. :) So I will read some wildly AU 'ships, just because it's fun. :D :)

* By canon-friendly, I mean - for example - good characterisation and doing research on the magical references. :)

Yes - prior to 2007, I spent almost all of my HP-related time reading fanfiction. It was where I saw all of the fan theories - heck, I didn't know what 'Shipping' was until I stumbled upon to a Draco/Hermone fic - which I disliked. I later found H/Hr and warmed up to it quite a bit - and I eventually entered the Ship Wars, although not the extend of some people (Honestly, not reading HP because H and Hr didn't end up together? Even I think that's crazy!)

In the HP world, the "world construction" does leave a bit to be desired, and some pairings seem psychologically "off". Sure, JKRowlings isn't into writing romance, and that played a minor part in the books. But I've read somewhere in here that many people were dissatisfied with the Harry/Ginny and the Hermione/Ron pairings. "A divorce waiting to happen" is how it was put at one point.
The reason I write fanfic is to relieve boredom. It's not that I don't like writing, it's that I personally have grown out of Harry Potter fanfiction. With all Seven books out, all windows are closed except for the Marauders, which I personally don't experiment with - it's gotten to a point where I'm annoyed to see all of the Marauder-fics around. I wonder if there's more of them than Modern-HPverse fics!

The real problem with Fanfiction/Fan Art is one that we've all remembered and dreaded - the Ship Wars. There probably wouldn'tve been such thing without all of the Fanfiction and Fan Art.

Has fanart/fiction altered the way you perceive canon?

I don't read a lot of fan fiction any longer - I'm too lazy to be looking through the sleazy, the less-than-well-written and the unfinished promises to find the rare piece that catches my eye. The only piece that has stuck with me, and that does colour my perception of canon, is “The Shoebox Project”. I used to follow it, way back when, and am very fond of the picture it paints of the characters.

Yes, I have several fanfics that I enjoy reading more than the books if you can believe that... anyway, if I may be allowed to advertise if you ever wanted to read more about Dudley then try a story called Recall Alice when she was young. Hardly any magic but it's one of the latest fics that I have read and it's amazing.

Hmm... not really. If I read a fanfiction, when I finish it, I usually forget everything that it says because it just isn't JK. I think that's what a fan should do, a fan wouldn't read lots of fanfiction so much that this changes his mind over the original books.

I think fanfiction has not altered the way I precive it, but I always think of weird fanfiction whenever I read the books now. Like every time Draco and Harry are talking I always think of "Drarry" which is really annoying because I HATE that couple.

Not at all I don’t read a lot of fan fiction for one but the ones I have read I have had no issues keeping that story separate from the official series. I have some fan fiction that I’ve written/worked on just for myself and to practice story writing in general.

Being able to keep them separate official series and fan fiction is probably one reason I don’t have a problem with alternate universe fan fiction because I can separate it. I think its interesting to think and see what could have happened , what if something had turned out differently in the OS.

I think fanfiction has not altered the way I precive it, but I always think of weird fanfiction whenever I read the books now. Like every time Draco and Harry are talking I always think of "Drarry" which is really annoying because I HATE that couple.

True! I hate that type of couples, like Hary/Draco or Albus/Gridewald or even Remus/Sirius! I mean, why??? :wow: I also get a bit annoyed by the whole Nevil/Luna thing. Come on guys, if they were to be together Rowling would make them love each other... :p

True! I hate that type of couples, like Hary/Draco or Albus/Gridewald or even Remus/Sirius! I mean, why??? :wow:

Ugh, I know! That last one really gets me... people take Remus's sweet disposition (and association with chocolate :p ) and automatically label him gay. No notice taken of the fact that he marries a girl and has a kid. :grumble:

As for the question; no whenever I look at fanart or read fanfiction I kind of put up these mental reservations and barriers to keep anything that I don't like from staying with me. Sometimes it's hard, but I've gotten quite good at it. :) Although sometimes I'll be reading the books and be inadvertently reminded of some creepy fic I read. It's rather annoying... (anyone else notice that the Room of Requirement is the favorite haunt of disturbing couples in fanfics? Now whenever I read the books the RoR brings back memories of a slew of weird fics I've read. :p )

I also get a bit annoyed by the whole Nevil/Luna thing. Come on guys, if they were to be together Rowling would make them love each other... :p

I think with a lot of the older fanfic there was some logic, at least with the straight ships that they might have turned out that way. When the newest book was OotP, you could logically see Luna ending up with Harry or Neville. People got attached to these 'ships' and couldn't let go.
Simularly, you could, up until OotP concieve of Remus as a gay male, to the point that the actor in the PoA played him a little swishy. Draco getting "stung" by Lord Voldemort and bonding with Ginny over the 'common experience' seemed like something that could happen.

The point is all of these were concievable 'once upon a time' and as such should be seen as 'historical artifacts'. It's also notable that most of it doesn't hold up.

As for the question; no whenever I look at fanart or read fanfiction I kind of put up these mental reservations and barriers to keep anything that I don't like from staying with me. Sometimes it's hard, but I've gotten quite good at it. Although sometimes I'll be reading the books and be inadvertently reminded of some creepy fic I read. It's rather annoying...

I think my response to mental reservation has been to mostly read side stories or clearly AU rather then ones deal with the main character's directly. I think I like to read stories where Andromeda Black meets a young Ravenclaw named Teddy Tonks. I also like stories which deal with the evolution wizarding world, something JKR didn't do well. It's fun to read about Teddy Lupin's school friend Kai Chang impulsively inviting Harry to his half sister's wedding (And later realizing that Mr Chang traded Cho's mum in for a 'newer model' about the time of HBP, no wonder she was a mess a little longer then she "should" be). I cried in a next gen fic when the DADA teacher, Professor Patil, takes down the moth eaten Gryffindor scarf hanging in her classroom and talks about her sister, lost at the Battle of Hogwarts, bringing home in very human terms why DADA is so important.

I guess I read fanfic to expand my take on the universe, and that's okay.

I think if fanfic has had any influence on me, it's been to make me less supportive of the "JKR said" or "we'll just have to wait for Jo to clarify" arguements on this and some other boards. To me these arguements are too often used with the subtext "I'm right, your wrong, now shut up" often when they don't apply. I think when JKR didn't say or when she contradicted herself it's okay to look at the world and say, okay, this makes sense, this doesn't, lets run with this.

All the Best,

Lunatic

I personally love fanfiction, but not long drawn out ones. Just short pieces that bring to heart the most beautiful aspects of the series and make poetry out of them. Fanfiction is such a great output for so much creative energy, because they're inspired by something a lot of people are really passionate about. They explore situations and relationships in the series that haven't been explored.

Also, Stefynik's (http://www.flickr.com/photos/19005142@N00/46206977/) portrayal of Hermione is my personal canon.

I guess I read fanfic to expand my take on the universe, and that's okay.

I think if fanfic has had any influence on me, it's been to make me less supportive of the "JKR said" or "we'll just have to wait for Jo to clarify" arguements on this and some other boards. To me these arguements are too often used with the subtext "I'm right, your wrong, now shut up" often when they don't apply. I think when JKR didn't say or when she contradicted herself it's okay to look at the world and say, okay, this makes sense, this doesn't, lets run with this.

All the Best,

Lunatic

Very well said. I agree with you 100% :lol:

Ugh, I know! That last one really gets me... people take Remus's sweet disposition (and association with chocolate :p ) and automatically label him gay. No notice taken of the fact that he marries a girl and has a kid. :grumble:

True!!! :grumble: (and I'm totally associated with chocolate all day too, does this means I have to be labeled as something like that?:lol:)

I think with a lot of the older fanfic there was some logic, at least with the straight ships that they might have turned out that way. When the newest book was OotP, you could logically see Luna ending up with Harry or Neville. People got attached to these 'ships' and couldn't let go.
Simularly, you could, up until OotP concieve of Remus as a gay male, to the point that the actor in the PoA played him a little swishy. Draco getting "stung" by Lord Voldemort and bonding with Ginny over the 'common experience' seemed like something that could happen.

Yeah but the problem is that the whole Luna/Neville thing or whatever remains till now with the book fans. But come on, Rowling never really considered any of her characters gay She might have said something similar to an interview, but her books never really pointed out that kind of behaviour. After all, it was written to be a children's book at first. :)

Fanfiction has changed my view of cannon. It makes me sad, but now I re-read the books looking for any slight hint that my ships might be real. I am now a super fan of Remus/Sirius, Oliver/Percy, and Rose/Scorpius.
I love it!

)
Yeah but the problem is that the whole Luna/Neville thing or whatever remains till now with the book fans.

But it's reasonable that they date, remain good friends and if your an SU fan, marry. So does Luna/George (Not at Hogwarts, but several years latter), as does Luna/Harry under the right cannon compliant circumstances (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3943025/1/Antithesis). Luna is just lovely, looney, lovable, and likable and so it's easy to picture her with a lot of people.

)She might have said something similar to an interview, but her books never really pointed out that kind of behaviour. After all, it was written to be a children's book at first. :)

Agreed. I think the "Dumbledore is gay" thing was a post DH tack on because she was reacting to her gay fans. But there were some things that could reasonably interpreted as gay friendly if you were so inclined.

Finally, I thought I'd bring the best description from an older fanfic.

Your best friend is an utter idiot. Your teachers don't understand the significance of sporting trendy and exotic hair accessories. Your dream guy is a complete prick, not to mention slightly twisted and evil. Your sister is smart. Really, really smart. And Blaise Zabini wants to beat you up. But life is still bearable because, after all, you are the prettiest witch in your year. Oh, no wait. That's Padma...

The reason it holds up is that the author knew darn well that it would never be "cannon".

All the Best,

Lunatic

But it's reasonable that they date, remain good friends and if your an SU fan, marry. So does Luna/George (Not at Hogwarts, but several years latter), as does Luna/Harry under the right cannon compliant circumstances (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3943025/1/Antithesis). Luna is just lovely, looney, lovable, and likable and so it's easy to picture her with a lot of people.

I agree. :tu: But Luna and Neville never dated, in the book at least. I don't know about fanfiction... Do you understand what I'm trying to say? I mean that if never Rowling had mentioned that Luna liked Neville or Harry, it would be reasonable to think they will be together before the next book will be published. But Rowling never metioned something like that, she even made Harry believe Luna's weird. And she never said Luna liked Neville. Luna was treating Harry and Neville as friends till the end of the whole book, and then suddenly some people come and say: "ZOMG im a harry/luna shipper!1!!1!!" (no offence, im not talking about anyone of you guys! :) I'm talking about what I have heard in general.)

Luna was treating Harry and Neville as friends till the end of the whole book, and then suddenly some people come and say: "ZOMG im a harry/luna shipper!1!!1!!" (no offence, im not talking about anyone of you guys! :) I'm talking about what I have heard in general.)

Yeah, the whole 'OMG! Luna and Harry are so Haute togetha' thing doesn't work for me either. That's why I think I prefer non ship fics in like this (http://www.fictionalley.org/authors/inverarity/HHD.html) which deal with a significant "piece" of the Potterverse in a logical or reasonable manner.

If I'm going to "ship" something non-canon (http://forums.fictionalley.org/park/showthread.php?s=&threadid=135597&perpage=20&highlight=&pagenumber=1) I like to think it out logically, like I did here.

All the Best,

Lunatic/Kerney

I really don't understand why complain about fan fiction not following canon. That's why it is fan fiction. Otherwise everybody would just stick to what the books say and never explore other possibilities. Does it mind if Neville never dated Luna in the books?? Can't we write about them because it's not hinted in the books??? What about a Severus/Lily fanfic written before DH???

I read a lot of fan fiction. There are some very good authors out there. Some are so good that make you believe the most impossible things. I remember that one of the first fanfics I read was called "The apprentice". LV kidnapped Harry at the end of the triwizard tournament, replaced him with a dummy, made people believe he was in a comma, and then made him his apprentice. So Harry became a killer, he even got to the point of killing Hedwig, Ron and Hermione. Now, this is so bizarre and crazy I thought I would hate it. But I really liked it. I was hooked up.

Has fanart/fiction altered the way you perceive canon?
It has. I don't see Draco or Slytherin in the same way now.
And suddently Harry is much hotter than in the books ;)

It's a bit complicated.
If I look at a well-made fanart, I might, next time I pick up the books, picture the characters looking like they did in the fanart, but then after a few more paragraphs, they go back to looking as they originally did.

Fanfiction has made me enjoy some non-canon ships and scenarios, but when I read the books, it doesn't really cross over into that realm. I look at fanfic more as an interesting branch-off from some point in the books or as a vehicle for alternate endings Jo didn't consider.

I think most people can differentiate between the canon and the fanfiction universe. In Harry Potter, JKR created a massive and varied universe that leaves many possibilities unexplored. I think it's a tribute to the possibilities of her universe that there is such a massive amount of fanfiction out there exploring those possibilities.

The vast majority of fanfiction focuses on the frustrated "ships" from canon. The Harry/Hermione contingent is alive and well in fanfiction, and many find the underdeveloped Harry/Ginny "ship", fertile ground for stories. Unfortunately some people see this as a way to continue the "ship wars", and there is plenty of irrational Ginny and Hermione bashing, but real gems can be found.

Fanfiction also raises many valid issues that deserve to be explored. One cannot read canon IMO, and not come to the conclusion that Dumbledore is extremely incompetent. Despite the fact that JKR does not dwell in his actions, it is glaring that Dumbledore not only never teaches Harry a single spell to protect himself or to fulfill his destiny, but also appoints a string of incompetent professors who hinder his education. What is most glaring is that said professors keep their jobs (including Snape and Trewlaney) despite the fact they are not fit to teach children. Lockhart is only the most extreme case of this. There are many fanfictions that explore the Harry/Dumbledore relationship quite rationally. They have changed my perception of Dumbledore from the amiable, eye twinkling old man, to the either incompetent fool, or wannabe puppet master.

Well, to be fair, Snape and Trelawney had to be there-- Snape needed his "I'm spying on the old fool" excuse for when Voldemort came back, and had to keep an eye on Harry, and Trelawney originally gave the Prophecy and was therefore in real danger from Voldemort.

I too have noticed that fanfiction deals heavily with Puppetmaster!Dumbledore. I think people are using their stories to convey their frustration at the old headmaster and his plans/failings. He's very frequently portrayed as an untrustworthy party that the main character(s) try to avoid or fool.

It hasn't really affected my perception of Dumbledore much, mainly because I don't see him as purposefully conniving-- I get frustrated at him sometimes (what was he playing at, watching a whole 1/4 of his school sign up with Voldemort without actually doing anything?) but when I turn to fanfic, I can't see his role as untrustworthy puppetmaster to be entirely canon-compliant. Add a bit of guilt in there, and then I'll really buy it, because I see Dumbledore as a very guilt-ridden guy.

A lot of it's really how we perceive the original characters, I think. There are some fics where we think: "Yeah, that's a lot like how the person would act in canon," but there are others where we just shake our heads and think, "Oh man, another cliche/OOC moment". :lol:

Well, to be fair, Snape and Trelawney had to be there-- Snape needed his "I'm spying on the old fool" excuse for when Voldemort came back, and had to keep an eye on Harry, and Trelawney originally gave the Prophecy and was therefore in real danger from Voldemort.

I too have noticed that fanfiction deals heavily with Puppetmaster!Dumbledore. I think people are using their stories to convey their frustration at the old headmaster and his plans/failings. He's very frequently portrayed as an untrustworthy party that the main character(s) try to avoid or fool.

It hasn't really affected my perception of Dumbledore much, mainly because I don't see him as purposefully conniving-- I get frustrated at him sometimes (what was he playing at, watching a whole 1/4 of his school sign up with Voldemort without actually doing anything?) but when I turn to fanfic, I can't see his role as untrustworthy puppetmaster to be entirely canon-compliant. Add a bit of guilt in there, and then I'll really buy it, because I see Dumbledore as a very guilt-ridden guy.

A lot of it's really how we perceive the original characters, I think. There are some fics where we think: "Yeah, that's a lot like how the person would act in canon," but there are others where we just shake our heads and think, "Oh man, another cliche/OOC moment". :lol:

Quite, Dumbledore is portrayed as evil and manipulative in many fanfictions. I personally don't mind this portrayal. Especially because it tends to make for more interesting reading than generic stories which involve Harry doing something, and then going and killing Voldemort.

Of course, even those fictions are better than ones with any sort of "ship" in them.

<hr style="color: rgb(146, 118, 52); background-color: rgb(146, 118, 52);" size="1"> I really don't understand why complain about fan fiction not following canon. That's why it is fan fiction. Otherwise everybody would just stick to what the books say and never explore other possibilities. Does it mind if Neville never dated Luna in the books?? Can't we write about them because it's not hinted in the books??? What about a Severus/Lily fanfic written before DH???

Because fanfiction, and especially ships included like Neville/Luna sometimes change the reader's opinion about canon. I don't say that works with all of us, but it does often. And I also believe that that's just wrong. I mean, Rowling wouldn't be so happy if someone took two character she made and make a ship with them. IMO she would bothered if she ever read fanfictions about Hermione/Harry. At least, I would. :)

And I also believe that that's just wrong. I mean, Rowling wouldn't be so happy if someone took two character she made and make a ship with them. IMO she would bothered if she ever read fanfictions about Hermione/Harry. At least, I would. :)

Why wouldn't Rowling be happy? She has admitted she likes some fanfiction, even to the point of "seeing" what other people saw in Neville/Luna. If someone wrote a convincing Harry/Hermione, for example something like Harry Mcgonagall (http://www.harrypotterfanfiction.com/viewstory.php?psid=199463) which is clearly AU but close to cannon, I don't think she'd mind.

She is clearly not like Anne Rice, who has basically banned fanfic based off her work. Most fanfic readers and HP fans in general are not as fanatic as some Stephenie Meyer fans, who have gotten on Youtube and told Stephen King to F---- off for critising the quality of their favorite author's work.

All the Best,

Lunatic

Why wouldn't Rowling be happy? She has admitted she likes some fanfiction, even to the point of "seeing" what other people saw in Neville/Luna. If someone wrote a convincing Harry/Hermione, for example something like Harry Mcgonagall (http://www.harrypotterfanfiction.com/viewstory.php?psid=199463) which is clearly AU but close to cannon, I don't think she'd mind.

She is clearly not like Anne Rice, who has basically banned fanfic based off her work. Most fanfic readers and HP fans in general are not as fanatic as some Stephenie Meyer fans, who have gotten on Youtube and told Stephen King to F---- off for critising the quality of their favorite author's work.

All the Best,

Lunatic

I said IMO. I didn't say that I'm sure she wouldn't. Personally, I would bother if someone read an piece of writing that's not mine and that's promoting thigs like Hermione/Harry or whatever, and then told people that he prefer that from canon. Because that's what many fanfic readers do, and I don't say that all of us are like that. Only some, and I have actually met loads of those people in this site too, you can even seen this from the posts in this thread. Many people are influenced by fanfiction to a point that they sort character to other Houses or whatever. (I don't mean to offend anyone, I don't say that as an insult, it's not bad. :))

And the Anne Rice thing, well I don't think she can ban fanfiction, only prevent it from being published. Nobody can ban things in internet, not even his/her own books/CDs from being spread through the internet. :shrug: And I never said that I'm keen of the way Meyer's fans treat the rest...

I said IMO. I didn't say that I'm sure she wouldn't. Personally, I would bother. :agree: And the Anne Rice thing, well I don't think she can ban fanfiction, only prevent it from being published. :shrug: And I never said that I like the way Meyer's fans treat the rest...

Second part was more of a general comment. I had just read an essay about how fanfic was evil as well as the appaulling behavior of the Meyer fans, and it and some other frustrations kind of leaked through. My applogies.

All the best,

Lunatic

Fanfic has made me appreciate some of the minor characters more. Also it helps me see details I've otherwise missed.

Second part was more of a general comment.My applogies.

No need to apologise.


Fanfic has made me appreciate some of the minor characters more. Also it helps me see details I've otherwise missed.


Hmm... yeah, that might be a good statement, but, they're still not written by Rowling, so the details you see are propably made up by the fanfic writer. :)
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That's not always true; many times, fanfic writers use little details in the books about minor characters that are otherwise easy to miss, or sometimes they will use what JKR has said in various interviews and I like being able to see those bits when I've inadvertently glossed over them in the reading of the books themselves. I've noticed this when some of the Black family is mentioned and I realize I've completely forgotten about the various members mentioned on the family tapestry in Grimmauld Place.

Hmm... yeah, that might be a good statement, but, they're still not written by Rowling, so the details you see are propably made up by the fanfic writer. :)
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Not true. Some fanfic writers know the characters they're writing about really well. It's all stuff Rowling included in the books or interviews.

Maybe you're true guys. But while reading a fanfic, I found myself not able to relate to the character - mostly because the fanfic writer can't produce a "Rowling" Harry's character as Rowling would. :) If there's a fanfic writer that can write books and produce character at the point that you think he's/she's writing like Rowling, I don't know. xD

http://www.cosforums.com/picture.php?albumid=1300&pictureid=11122

Maybe you're true guys. But while reading a fanfic, I found myself not able to relate to the character - mostly because the fanfic writer can't produce a "Rowling" Harry's character as Rowling would. :) If there's a fanfic writer that can write books and produce character at the point that you think he's/she's writing like Rowling, I don't know. xD

http://www.cosforums.com/picture.php?albumid=1300&pictureid=11122

I you want exactly how Rowling writes, your not going to find it. If you want something pretty close I'd go with Inveriaty (Third from the left on my signature) and read Hogwarts Houses Divided. She is very good at following a Rowling Formula yet her issues are post-war, for example, does Slytherin regain it's honor, the treatment magical creatures etc. It also treats the Potter characters with respect. While mostly OC based (Teddy Lupin's first year) Luna, Pansy, Harry, and every other character from the seres feels right.

All the Best,

Lunatic

I you want exactly how Rowling writes, your not going to find it. If you want something pretty close I'd go with Inveriaty (Third from the left on my signature) and read Hogwarts Houses Divided. She is very good at following a Rowling Formula yet her issues are post-war, for example, does Slytherin regain it's honor, the treatment magical creatures etc. It also treats the Potter characters with respect. While mostly OC based (Teddy Lupin's first year) Luna, Pansy, Harry, and every other character from the seres feels right.

All the Best,

Lunatic

Thanks, but I prefer fan-fics about HP past, which go through the books. I don't really enjoy reading about the character's children. But as long as it doesn't have any weird ships with canon characters, it would be great to read. xD

Thanks, but I prefer fan-fics about HP past, which go through the books. I don't really enjoy reading about the character's children. But as long as it doesn't have any weird ships with canon characters, it would be great to read. xD


I think you hit on something here. My interest in the potterverse tends to be post war. My intersts seem to be how a character or wizarding society evolves. I have no desire to "re-create Rowling" and I really don't think we can. I read little Marauder era stuff because the answers are already there, their fate pre-determined etc. When it does interest me is when a mystery is solved, how Andromeda Black became Andromeda Tonks for example.

It also explains why I spend a lot of time at the Wand when I'm here.

What I'm getting at, is that there are different strains of HP fans, and I think fanfic tends to write to peoples particular tastes and I kind of think that is a good thing.

All the best,

Lunatic

I do enjoy fanfiction a lot, but I do know the line between canon and non-canon when I read the HP books. When I read the series, I am completely fine with the canon the way JKR wrote it because that is how the books are supposed to be. When I'm reading non-canon fanfiction, I try to keep the the two seperate :)

So I would have to say no, fanart/fanfiction has not affected the way I perceive canon :)

I didn´t read any Harry Potter fanfiction, actually.

But I have been in fandoms and forums for 5 years, and so, yes, it happened to me with theories.

I read a lot of theories and the most reasonables of them influenced my expectations a bit.

I listed, on a previous topic, the group of theories I was expecting to happen, cuz I really liked them.

Fanfiction has definitely altered how I view cannon. But I think that's what good fanfiction is supposed to do. Bring you deep enough into that story, that you start to believe that it is the direction the series should go. I've read one fic a long time ago (just before HBP came out) and in it Dumbledore was just really mean and evil, and when I finally read HBP I hated Dumbledore for the first few chapters. Eventually I began loving him again, but it just goes to show how good fanfiction can change perspectives.

Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness certainly affected my perspective on both the seventh book and the minor characters themselves, that never got fleshed out in the canon. Who'd have known I'd end up caring so much about the fates of Terry Boot and Ernie MacMillan?

Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness certainly affected my perspective on both the seventh book and the minor characters themselves, that never got fleshed out in the canon. Who'd have known I'd end up caring so much about the fates of Terry Boot and Ernie MacMillan?

I think Minisinoo's Finding Himself, Deep Down Slytherin's A Keen Observer, Inverarity's Hogwarts Houses Divided (something she does with only a few scenes, Luna speaking to Pansy's daughter about their roles in the war, Harry and Cho meeting on platform 9 and 3/4 many years later, Slughorn speaking about what he takes pride in), are stories that do something similar, illuminating minor characters in ways that help us appretiate them.

All the Best,

Lunatic

For minor characters It might have but other than that I think Im pretty good from seperating fact from fiction

My view of canon hasn't really changed, but then I only tend to read fanfiction that gets the characterization right so my opinion of characters hasn't really changed. I read a decent R/S fanfic that made me quite fond of that coupling but I don't get confused between that and canon because it's so obviously different to what happens in the books. The only time I get a bit confused with what's canon and what's not is if I've read a good fanfiction that went into the background story of characters that are a bit ignored in the series, so where we have no canon to go off, I accept the fanon as canon. Plus, there are some things that you'll find in lots of fanfiction that I just accept as canon, I've found that a lot of people assume that Sirius was on the Gryffindor Quidditch team with James. I don't know if JKR has said that in an interview that I haven't seen but it's quite a popular thing to put in fanfics based around the Marauders.

I only read fanfiction about non-canon pairings, or one-shots about a random character (and as long as it is in character, so no way-out-there pairings for me). Not as a rule but just because I feel that since J.K has already written it, I don't like to see other authors write it. For example, I won't read Harry/Ginny, but I will read Harry/Luna, Harry/OC, or something like that.

For me, fanfiction is more fun when writing "What If...?" rather than continuing the story of canon characters, or trying to write more detail on canon couples.

So no, fanfiction doesn't really alter the way I see canon, because the fanfiction that I read doesn't exist in the real books. Fanart doesn't effect me too much either because I seperate one from the other.

However every so often it is possible to find a story that is really in character and actually changes my perception of a main character. I actually changed my opinion of Ginny and her back story somewhat due to some fan fiction that i read.

If a story has good characterisation then i will read it but unfortunately characterisation is usually the first thing that goes out the window in a lot of fan fiction.

I don't read much fanfiction, atleast not religiously so, but what I have read hasn't really altered my interpretation of Canon. Perhaps this is because I find so much of the FF I come by to be distasteful and jarringly unrealistic, in regards to canon. Something I'm very particular about, extremely so even, is whether characters are portrayed as they are in Canon. I really can't tolerate stories where writers blatantly change a character (i.e. super-heroine Hermoine, Evil!Harry, and just fanon!Snape in its entirety). To take multi dimensional characters, like Snape or Dumbledore, and reduce them to dull one-dimensional 'characters' does such an injustice to the books, imo.

I mostly read ff about characters less integral to the plot(Luna, the Malfoy's, etc), or stories with no central character at all, because there is more leeway to assess the characters, behaviorally, emotionally and cognitively.
I don't really go for romance fics because most of them are terribly written. I opt more for insightful fics... fics that offer a more psychological assessment that could fit with Canon.

I don't look at fanart, so I can't comment there. :)

I only read fanfiction if I find it to be believable- that is, the characterisation of each character is spot on. I usually draw a line between fanon and canon, but if, say, the work explores actual canon events that Harry, being the narrator, didn't see, I sometimes accept that as canon, depending on the quality of writing.

The only exception is The Shoebox Project- I tend to accept it mostly as absolute canon. (Even if, sometimes I think their portrayal of Snape is a little off). It made me think of the relationship between Sirius and Remus as canon, and also fleshed out the characters of James, Lily and the whole Marauders dynamic in general. I also like the inclusion of otherwise minor characters (Fabian and Gideon) that we can sympathise with.

I agree with most members on this thread- if minor characters are given a proper 'voice', I accept the fanon work as canon.

All just my opinion. :)

I only read fanfiction that is strictly canon. It bohters me to see out of character events and I'm a bit too attached to Rowlings views (they are law for me). But fanfiction is a great way to fill in gaps of minor characters stories and future speculation... I like it, it comforts me.

I really like fan fiction, but I do sometimes find myself saying to friends, "Do you remember that one time- oh wait, that was a fanfic. I feel like when I'm reading I pay closer attention to characterization, though.

I think I've been more affected by the counter reaction to fanfic writers then the fanfic itself.

On thing I like about fanfic is that it isn't as worshipful of Rowlings views. That can be a good thing or bad thing depending on how it's done, but regardless, most good fanfic authors put a lot of thought into their premises and how it would fit into Rowling's universe. It also leads to them to perhaps empathize with characters we might not normally empathize with, like Romalda Vane, Cho Chang, Parvarti Patil etc.

Some of this seems to annoy the fans who think Harry/Ginny is just wonderful, Zacharias Smith deserves to enveloped in a bugger because he's annoying, and Cho's just a winey little female dog. What many fan fic authors do is put fans in the situation of being enveloped by Ginny's giant bugger, and letting us think about how we would like that.

Things like that can't help but change perspectives and this annoys some 'strictly cannon' fans.

I've noticed that the subtext that many people say when they mean 'Cannon' is 'my interpretation of cannon, which I know JKR would back.' That is is fine in and of itself.

But too often, it is followed by a underlying subtext of "I know cannon, you don't, so shut up" or "I'm a true fan and you aren't" or "I support Rowling's interpretation----which happens to be mine." Worst of all, these attitudes are sometimes shared by the moderators on some Potter sites and influence their moderating.

This has turned me off more to the more strictly cannon interpretations of the Potterverse. When someone tells me I 'must' accept JKR's interviews as cannon (something that has happened on this website), I shudder.

But I shudder more for the bright young fan who comes to a 'strictly cannon website' brimming with ideas and speculation about what happened in the 19 years later, loves Rose/Scorpius, and maybe feels a little sorry for Cho, and is told to shut up, shape up, and toe the line, then leaves part of their soul at the door to join the 'club' or leaves a saddened, disappointed ex-fan.

That is far worse than anything fanfiction does.

All the best to you all,

Lunatic

I do see the difference between cannon and fanon. However it always amazes me the fact that there are some ideas of fannon that seem to be shared between many fans; such as the pre-arranged marriages in purebloods, or Remus-Sirius relationship, or the "initiation ceremony" for DE. This leads me to the thought that there are things that are in some ways implied in the books so that all the fans get to the same conclusion, so to a degree, although not explicitly they are ther and thus they can be given certain degree of credibility.
I think JKR plays a lot with this, when she gives information about characters whitout specifically mentioning it; for example procedence of characters (Cho Chang, the Patil twins). So in my oppinion, we can trust or discuss those things that are not mentioned directly but generally accepted by fannon.

Another point is fanart: it is amazing that Lucius Malfoy is always portrayed with long hair the same of the movies despite not being said anywere in the books. I think this is an example of how fanon tends to add shades to canon, as I consider the movies to be mainly fanon, as we all know they differ from the books in several things.
Similar example is that James Potter is usually portrayed with square glasses, despite I cannot remember that being mentioned ever in the books, I think someone started to paint square glases in fanart and the idea spreaded because it "fits". Other example is Lupin's hair, which is nearly as long as Sirius or Sirius nearly as short as Lupin's when they are portrayed as young (Marauder's Era).
So yeah, I daresay fannon affects cannon to some degree. It gives some shades to character's personality and appearance.

It also leads to them to perhaps empathize with characters we might not normally empathize with, like Romalda Vane, Cho Chang, Parvarti Patil etc.

I get the idea of fanfic giving a bit more detail on background characters, but I find it offputting when it completely changes the canon portrayal of characters - for example - portraying Zach Smith as a heroic and open-minded character, or a Cho who's as devious and insensitive as Rita Skeeter.
And I'd better not get started on my opinion of the fics which bash a character to get a non-canon couple together. :argh:

I do see the difference between cannon and fanon. However it always amazes me the fact that there are some ideas of fannon that seem to be shared between many fans; such as the pre-arranged marriages in purebloods, or Remus-Sirius relationship, or the "initiation ceremony" for DE. This leads me to the thought that there are things that are in some ways implied in the books so that all the fans get to the same conclusion, so to a degree, although not explicitly they are ther and thus they can be given certain degree of credibility.

I'm not sure if these things are implied, I think fans sometimes read things into the series that are not suggested, and things that are not canon are repeated so often, they're believed to be canon.

I think this is an example of how fanon tends to add shades to canon, as I consider the movies to be mainly fanon, as we all know they differ from the books in several things.

I consider the movies to be completely fanon, they change so much from the books, and in some cases, completely change the characterisation. :no:

I consider the movies to be completely fanon, they change so much from the books, and in some cases, completely change the characterisation.
LOL!! Sorry but yeah, lol. Thats like comparing the films to cheesy fanfiction. If thats your opinion, fine but i find that pretty insulting to the people who made the films and those acting in them.

I hate fanfiction of all sorts. I dont read it. I find it horrible. So no, it doesnt change my perspective on things in the series. I dont see the films as on the level of fanon or fanfic either. I see those to be companion pieces.

Fanart is nice to look at but it doesnt change much. Its just cool to see how other people imagine the characters. Its when the fanart goes along with the fanfiction, do i get turned off.

LOL!! Sorry but yeah, lol. Thats like comparing the films to cheesy fanfiction. If thats your opinion, fine but i find that pretty insulting to the people who made the films and those acting in them.

I don't see how it's insulting. I don't consider the movies canon. They simplify so much, thematically, and worse, IMO, take a lot of the characterisation far away from what it is in the books.

I enjoy the movies, but I'm not wild about them, and I don't consider them canon, or on a par with the books.

I see it as horribly insulting because thats insinuating that those films which took ten years to make are on the same level as internet fanfiction. :no: Its fine if you dont care for them or dont like the way they were made but really.
The films may not be 100% canon, no but they are not on the same level as fanfiction! :no:

I see it as horribly insulting because thats insinuating that those films which took ten years to make are on the same level as internet fanfiction. :no: Its fine if you dont care for them or dont like the way they were made but really.
The films may not be 100% canon, no but they are not on the same level as fanfiction! :no:

I don't think they're on the same level as fanfiction. Yes, I am aware that a lot of work and skill went into the movies, and that isn't the case with fanfics. But nor do I think the movies are on the same level as the books. I think they are fanon in that they change things, the characters are not the original book versions - they're not the canon versions of the characters - quick example, but not the only one, is the trio becoming more of a duo in the movies. (And I think it's sad when this is taken as canon over what happens in the books :no:) I don't think they films are at all canon.

I get the idea of fanfic giving a bit more detail on background characters, but I find it offputting when it completely changes the canon portrayal of characters - for example - portraying Zach Smith as a heroic and open-minded character, or a Cho who's as devious and insensitive as Rita Skeeter. :

I agree with this. But I think I have more problems with people who go too far the other way. For example, I've seen some people complain basically that any negative portrayal of Hermione or Ginny or whomever is non cannon. Are some non-cannon? Yes. Are all? no.

Is there room for interpretation and gray area where one person may see something as cannon compliant and another may not, yes. Good example is the common existence of a Ravenclaw Rose in next gen fanfic. I find it an acceptable interpretation of cannon and was even thrilled, in one story, where a thirty something Rose is telling he daughter to 'think Ravenclaw thoughts' in way very much like Ron's 'Gryffindor but no pressure' comment.

I seen more than one reviewer object to the very thought that a Weasley not being a Gryffindor, citing cannon, and being rather rude about it.

I have no problem with their opinion, other than privately I think it's a little narrow and the claim that its not backed by cannon is flimsey. I do object to the rudeness.

I see it as horribly insulting because thats insinuating that those films which took ten years to make are on the same level as internet fanfiction. :no: Its fine if you dont care for them or dont like the way they were made but really.
The films may not be 100% canon, no but they are not on the same level as fanfiction! :no:

I can think of many fan fictions superior to the movies, two by published authors. There are many many more which are worse than the movies. That you may find my opinion 'horribly insulting' to the movies says more about you than me, JKR, or the relative merits of either, I suspect.

Back on topic, folks!

You are not supposed to discuss who of you is insulting whom here. We have the report button for that.

Also comparisons between fan art or fic and the movies is off topic.

This thread got me curious so I went looking for fan art for the first time last night. One thing I noticed is how much fan fiction (and the movies) influence fan art.

Neville is described in the books as blond, but almost in all portraits I saw he had brown hair, just like Matthew Lewis. It is stronger than canon. I think if one was to ask fans what color Neville's hair is, the answer would be brown.

Also the pairing Neville/Luna (very much loved in fan fiction) is a lot more common in fan art than the canon pairing Neville/Hannah.

Thank you for this thread! I learned something new. :)

This thread got me curious so I went looking for fan art for the first time last night. One thing I noticed is how much fan fiction (and the movies) influence fan art.

Neville is described in the books as blond, but almost in all portraits I saw he had brown hair, just like Matthew Lewis. It is stronger than canon. I think if one was to ask fans what color Neville's hair is, the answer would be brown.

Also the pairing Neville/Luna (very much loved in fan fiction) is a lot more common in fan art than the canon pairing Neville/Hannah.

Thank you for this thread! I learned something new. :)

That is wonderful.

I have to blame me liking Friendly!Draco entirely on my reading of fanfiction. I've somehow gotten it into my head that, had Harry and Draco not been total rivals from the word 'go,' things would have turned out differently enough to where it'd be a whole new book series. It's not so much Draco In Leather Pants (seriously, who actually wears leather pants?) so much as Draco has no reason to be antagonistic.

Other things I've gotten into my head as a result of fanfiction is that the Veil in the Room of Death actually goes somewhere, that somehow there really will be a Crumple-horned Snorkack to be found one day... and somehow I've gotten it into my head that it's pure fanon that the Twins complete each other's sentences, but that it's okay if they alternate sentences with each other (which I know is either Fanon or Movie!Twins).

I can think of many fan fictions superior to the movies, two by published authors. There are many many more which are worse than the movies. That you may find my opinion 'horribly insulting' to the movies says more about you than me, JKR, or the relative merits of either, I suspect.

There are fanfictions by published authors?! I have never heard of that. Can I please be linked, if its allowed? :) Thank you so much.

There are fanfictions by published authors?! I have never heard of that. Can I please be linked, if its allowed? :) Thank you so much.

The HP fanfiction isn't published; the authors have published non-HP fiction. IMO their HP stories are excellent, but might not be everyone's cup of tea as the authors are Snape fans.:huh:

^ Yes yes, thats what I meant, sorry if that wasn't clear. I meant, I wanted to read stories by published authors, I know fan fictions haven't been published yet ofcourse, copy right and all :). Though, I don't think I want to read pro Snape fiction, not that I don't think greasy hair looks smashing, its just not something I want to read these days :). Though that being said, I have read fiction by some brilliant authors, who are just regular people with no inclination towards creative writing. I mean, its remarkable you know, the kind of creativity HP has unleashed within the entire community.
I have never been too keen on stories that explore the minor characters, I somehow was always more focussed on the trio, and particularly Ron and Hermione who are my favourite characters. So I always really enjoyed stories that were from their perspectives, and so in character too :).
Though I have noticed that fanfiction writing has come to quite a low point now, or am I mistaken? So many of the good authors I read a couple of years back have just vanished, and that kind of quality is now hard to find. There was such a good crop of writers during 2005-2008. :)

The HP fanfiction isn't published; the authors have published non-HP fiction. IMO their HP stories are excellent, but might not be everyone's cup of tea as the authors are Snape fans.:huh:

You're thinking of different authors the I am I think.

There are fanfictions by published authors?! I have never heard of that. Can I please be linked, if its allowed? Thank you so much.

One I was thinking of is Minisinoo who did write up until 2010. Unfortunately I can't link to her stories because they include R rated material. Google is your friend. The other is an academic writer, Inverarity (http://www.fictionalley.org/authors/inverarity/HHD.html) who wrote one Teddy Lupin novel and also probably the single most successful series of OC stories in fannon.

Romeo's Ex (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/761849.Romeo_s_Ex), The Seven percent Solution (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77378.The_Seven_percent_Solution), and Anno Dracula (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33535.Anno_Dracula) are all examples of books that had they been written close to the original copyright date, they would have been fanfic.

Do you think Rowlings work will survive long enough have such treatment treated as legit?

Does anyone know of authors that still write brilliant fanfiction? I have a feeling that the fanfiction community for HP might be declining, no? Especially in quality, if not in quantity (though this too).

Does anyone know of authors that still write brilliant fanfiction? I have a feeling that the fanfiction community for HP might be declining, no? Especially in quality, if not in quantity (though this too).

Three recomendations for other places to ask this question. The Help I'm looking for! (http://forums.fictionalley.org/park/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=19) forum at Fiction Alley and the dark lord potter (http://forums.darklordpotter.net/) review forums. Know that the 'mores' on both these forums contrasts sharply with the Mugglenet forums. Finally, Television Troupes and Idioms (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanficRecs/HarryPotter) has a good selection of fanfic recomendations.

A personal recomendation is Secrets and Second Chances by Potterhead37.

h ttp://potterhead37.livejournal.com

It's a Rose/Scorpius story. What makes it different from most of this genre is that both are thirty something divorcees with children of their own and the intelligence that it extrapolates what the Weasley/Potter/Malfoy clans might be like 30-40 years latter. Has the most beautifully written sorting scene, though it's Rose, James and Scorpius talking about the past over drinks. It's in Chapter 3.

It's also is a good sample story which shows what fanfic lovers love about fanfic and what nonfanfic fans are not so fond of.

Does anyone know of authors that still write brilliant fanfiction? I have a feeling that the fanfiction community for HP might be declining, no? Especially in quality, if not in quantity (though this too).

Me. :p (though I haven't updated in a while, but I am working on it!). I'm just kidding about being brilliant. Might be best to ask this question in Flourish & Blotts.

I personally dispise fanfiction so I activly avoid it. The world should remain in Rowlings hands and I dont think other people should try and change it.

Fan Art on the other hand is usually quite fun to look at to see how other people imagine certain scenes and characters.

Yes. I don't know if it is a positive or a negative thing but "Fury"s fanfics gave me a great story, very very near of how i imagined it after the battle of hogwarts. I Still know the canon/Fanon diffrence but I take some of the fanon as canon now as it is something that I belive too.

Fanfiction has definitely changed the way I perceive canon. I like to read fanfiction from the Marauder's era, but before I read fanfiction I never really paid much attention to the school days of the marauders for some reason. But now I really appreciate how close the Marauders were, and the fact that it was Pettigrew who gave them to Voldemort is so much worse. And also Lily and James' deaths, I never gave it much thought before and just accepted it, but reading fanfiction from their perspective makes it so much sadder.

I'm gonna be like the millionth person to say it - Makani's art is awesome and has totally informed my view of certain characters. I also liked her take on the Lestrange brothers, I don't think they're ever clearly described in canon. I picture them as Makani's versions.

Her Malfoys art is simply awesome. There's one of hers called "Blue" that's a full-colour illustration of (I assume) the time Lucius spent in prison. Hold on I can't really explain it properly, I'll just link to it:

http://makani.deviantart.com/art/fanart100-blue-25856722

I think she captures something we don't really see in canon (how Narcissa felt at the time) beautifully. A picture is truly word a thousand words. I WISH I could draw, but even my stick figures are unrealistic. *sighs*

I personally dispise fanfiction so I activly avoid it. The world should remain in Rowlings hands and I dont think other people should try and change it.

Fan Art on the other hand is usually quite fun to look at to see how other people imagine certain scenes and characters.

Not all fan fiction is trying to change Rowling's world. Some authors are more interested in filling in the blanks she has left. How did the Dumbledore/ Grindelwald duel play out? What exactly happened, when Sirius told Snape how to get under the Whomping Willow? What was Rowena Ravenclaw's relationship to Helena like and how did she feel when Helena stole her diadem and left? (To pick three not entirely random/ unrelated examples... ;) )

Not all fan fiction is trying to change Rowling's world. Some authors are more interested in filling in the blanks she has left. How did the Dumbledore/ Grindelwald duel play out? What exactly happened, when Sirius told Snape how to get under the Whomping Willow? What was Rowena Ravenclaw's relationship to Helena like and how did she feel when Helena stole her diadem and left? (To pick three not entirely random/ unrelated examples... ;) )

:agree: The thing about the HP world is, there's so much we DON'T know. So many things that are hinted at but not explicitly portrayed. Fanfic is mostly harmless to me, and at the end of the day it's only one person's imagining of how things MIGHT have happened. It's not meant to be definitive. I personally have a problem with things that portray a flagrant defiance of canon (some of the slash pairings out there make my brain hurt) but again, they are only one person's imaginings of something that may have happened. It shows how much the world JKR created has captured people's imaginations that they invest time and effort in writing HP fics. No copyright infringement is intended and since no-one's making money from their fics, no harm no foul :)

Not all fan fiction is trying to change Rowling's world. Some authors are more interested in filling in the blanks she has left. How did the Dumbledore/ Grindelwald duel play out? What exactly happened, when Sirius told Snape how to get under the Whomping Willow? What was Rowena Ravenclaw's relationship to Helena like and how did she feel when Helena stole her diadem and left? (To pick three not entirely random/ unrelated examples... ;) )

Yes but sadly, i havent come across any that are any good. (nor do i care to at the moment.) Ive actually thought of writing my own just to be like that. You know, the one that writes accurate fanfiction? But alas...I dont know enough about certain characters to do so without it turning into to drivel.

Neville is described in the books as blond
Yeah...like once.

Not really. I haven't really read that many fanfics, to be honest I find some of these ideas quite bizarre (no offence, it's just what I think!I've never been into this sort of thing lol)

Be aware that we actually don't allow discussion of Adult/child relationships on CoS Forums. Since Hermione is a minor for most of the books this ship with Snape isn't sailing in our book.

I refuse to look at fanfiction written work just scared that it will change my memory of the real thing. I also don't want to get confused with what's real and what's not

I do like fan artwork though but I try to keep my mental image when reading, though its almost impossible because of the movies.

I am one of those people who write to fill in the blanks, I'm working my way through a Severus Snape biography (155 pages and going), and that kind of fanfiction is the one I prefer reading. I have noticed that the things I write have changed my view of the characters, and sometimes it is hard to seperate real facts from 'my facts'. :)

I know that, between GoF and OotP, I read a ton of fanfiction to fill the void. Jumping back into canon was a little strange at first.

I like fanfiction that somehow manages to stick to canon :P. I came to realise what an awesome pairing Sirius and Remus could make after reading, I think, a couple of well written fanfic.

I personally dispise fanfiction so I activly avoid it. The world should remain in Rowlings hands and I dont think other people should try and change it.


I agree and disagree. I agree with your sentiment in the sense that most fanfiction out there is downright shoddy, and does such a disservice to JKR's world, IMO, that it is best to just leave her world alone. I mean, I've passed a couple of stories that completely change the context of Rowling's story. :no: But with that being said, I have stumbled upon a couple of good FF's (mind that I am not an avid fanfiction reader, either) that are actually well written and offer interesting insight into gaps left in JKR's story.

I don't read fanfiction, but I write it. I'm writing something called BloodSnitch that does not follow canon in any way. It's completely made up and it basically changes the plots of books 5-7. I wouldn't write canon fanfiction because canon is what's there. Non canon pieces give you more room to move around and they can be more "for fun". It doesn't alter how I perceive anything, because I read the series and I know what's there.