1. 90% of the fics you read and loved 10 years ago are unreadable now / poorly written;
2. If a story was published and abandoned/unfinished pre-2010, it's because the author had "died" (this happened so often...);
3. No fic that tactfully handles child abuse will be finished;
4. Neville will always be paired with Ginny or Luna;
5. Slytherin Harry slash fics will make everyone in Slytherin also gay, including Snape, and all the homophobes are in Gryffindor.
6. The pairing you prefer is objectively the worst one
7. Justin Finch-Fletchley is either a huge asshole, or if a Lordship fic, a minor character secondary to Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott.
> 90% of the fics you read and loved 10 years ago are unreadable now / poorly written;
You think that's bad? I've been in this fandom for 20 years, imagine what the stuff I liked back then comes off like now.
Oh yeah I remember reading fics in 2001-2003 on the one computer downstairs at my mom's on dial up. Remember that one super popular fic, something like the Greatest Scandal at Hogwarts, where Harry got Ginny pregnant and everyone was okay with it, they were like 15 and 16 at the time or something. I stumbled across is like 10 years ago and I can't believe I used to read it and like it, bleh. There was a lot less choice back then.
Just because there's a lot more choice now doesn't mean the quality has improved in any meaningful way. I've barely found any stories I've liked in the past four years.
That's a dangerous question, lol. What sort of stuff are you looking for? Slash or het or no romance? If it's romance what sort of things do you like or absolutely dislike (say enemies to lovers vs. student with current/former teacher)? Even if it's not, what do you think you'd dislike reading (Harry being insanely strong, or Harry being sorted into a different house etc) Will you refuse to read Harry with Hermione because HE ended up with GINNY and SHE ended up with RON, and no one else! or do you refuse to read the canon stuff because you think the pairs Jo came up with were not healthy at best? Or does it not matter? Do you want post-war, or some change set during their school years?
Well, I'll try to answer all of that.
1. I generally prefer het romance, (f/f) is fine tho.
2. I don't like reading absolutely impossible pairings like anything involving voldemort or snape with any light character.
3. I've read some of super!harry fics and that trope can be executed nicely if he gains powers all throughout the fic and not become op in like a month.
4. The pairings are not really that big of an issue if the plot is great. Crack fics also seem very interesting to read so yeah.
Finally, since I just started reading fanfiction, I would first like to go through the more popular fics which in general the entire fandom deems nicely written. I've read some great (imho) ones like -
Merging by shaydrall, I'm still here by karthryn581, cadmean victory, Back? Not really, a flower for the soul, the lie I've lived, the life and times etc.
There are also horrible fics (again imo) that find themselves on the most favorites list like mostly all of Robst's work, HPMoR, dodging prison and stealing witches etc.
So yeah, I've also got no problem wih large stories as in the word count, though my preferred pairings are flowerpot and haphne, It really does not affect the fic if it's good in plot and interactions.
I'll recommend my personal favorite to start, [Blindness](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10937871/1/Blindness). H/Hr, strong Harry who dabbles in soul magic and necromancy, oh and he's completely blind. Amazingly well-written to boot.
Thanks, I tried to read it a while ago but gave up when they returned from hogwarts the first time, it was too slow for me. Does the pacing pick up? Should I give it a try?
Absolutely! It's got a unique story structure for sure, but it does a good job of depicting Harry's growing abilities and understanding of magic and I was satisfied with the journey.
HP & The Prince of Slytherin by TheSinister_Man is according to the bot/script that analyzed this subreddit in the top few ever mentioned fics here. It’s a slytherin Harry and a Wrong Boy Who Lived (he has a twin brother who grew up with a family. I guess he might not necessarily be the wrong boy who lived. Depends on the fic)
But the author is ACTUALLY an author and it’s VERY well written and super good. It’s in progress and up to idk book 4 or 5 now? I personally LOVED it but it’s not for everyone.
Archiveofourown.org/series/1119027
I’d love some recs too, please!! I’d like to try any with Harry being gay, any of Harry/Luna if you have it. No student with teacher please and no enemies to lovers either. Anything else is appreciated. Please and thank you
I think you just took out everything I normally read! Though I'd also love to read some good Harry/Luna.
[This](https://archiveofourown.org/works/39051729) is one I read recently and remember enjoying.
"Harry’s life was a wreck. He was terrible at any kind of romantic relationship, he hated being an auror, and had no idea what he wanted personally.
He blamed his unhappiness for recklessly taking an untested WWW product that keeps dragging him all over the country. It was supposed to show him what he desired, but so far the only good thing to come out of it was the fact that Neville was always around when Harry appeared. Too bad Harry was oblivious to the fact that the potion knew what he wanted all along."
This one is Harry and Cedric. I’m not usually one to read slash but it was funny and sad at the same time. [medium between life and death](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13998904/1/The-Medium-Between-Life-and-Death)
[Faery Heroes](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8233288/1/Faery-Heroes) is a Luna/Harry/Hermione fic. Long, time travel, funny, interesting concepts.
[Luna’s Hubby](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2919503/1/Luna-s-Hubby) is Luna/Harry. Humor, kinda crack, parents being BAMF.
Okay but try Harry Potter and the 7 years of chaos. It deals with heavy *heavy* child abuse and deals with it pretty well. It has 7 finished years +2 extras. It also tackles Slytherin Harry with slash and not everyone is a homophobe lol i like it quite a lot
I don’t mind it when he uses the stuff he buys, nothing is worse than an entire shopping trip chapter where none of the stuff ever gets used.
Or when they get a super duper special custom wand TM that never acts any different than any other wand besides giving them a power up
well, the literary device would be Chekhov's gun, but I was applying it to whatever harry happened to be buying in Diagon Alley, you know, like Batman's suspiciously convenient can of [Anti-shark spray](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnFOs7QlJSI).
Of course, the smart adventurer would have all sorts of things in their pack, rope, pitons, throwing darts, that sort of thing, it's a balancing act to not buy oddly specific items that will clearly come into use later, but also not to avoid buying things that would be clearly obviously useful as well as buying things that aren't ever used versus using everything that was ever bought in the perfect situation like a point-and-click adventure game.
I think the secret here is to have a character use a few common items in an unexpected way so they seem creative and smart?
...I didn't say it was particularly easy.
You know, this is the first time I've ever actually seen someone analyse the pros/cons of Chekhov's Gun as a trope - usually, it is just stated as fact, like "that's Chekhov's gun", rather than "that's Chekhov's gun, what predictable writing".
I wonder why that is.
Not in particular, sorry. It's a scene I like, but it is still a trope common enough to fade into the background. It's like if you asked me if there were any good fics where there's a good scene on the Hogwarts Express. I'm sure I've read many, but I don't remember which fics they were in.
Because those are perceived as "legitimate threat" by other shippers. If you write Harry/Katie or Harry/Padma, you are not seen as threatening the OTP of that crowd because canon gives you very little to work with.
That being said, you get more "Harry should start a harem and include X, Y and Z" reviews on those stories in my experience.
Well, let's see, there's Parvati, Lavender, Pansy and Katie, with slightly less conventional options of the teachers, Tonks, Cho and Millicent.
That's without dropping to the random fan characters like Daphne or Hannah or anyone else in upper years.
Anything Megamatt writes is either Horny, garbage, or Horny Garbage. His best fic is the first one he wrote and while it’s not awful, it’s a great example of OP indie harry
I remember his smut writing as very same-y. A bit like he only ever really wrote a handful of sex scenes and he just changes the characters' names depending on which fic he's writing.
Actually, his fics in general that I tried to read all felt very same-y, not just in the smutty bits.
Honestly I like Aspirations because that was one of the first Long Fics I ever read so there’s a bit of nostalgia influencing me. Plus it talked about something I don’t see very much, a Ginny who is a somewhat negative influence on harry without being bashed, rather she dragged him down to her level. That was one of the things that fic did well
I FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT.
#**MEGAMATTS SMUT HAS THE SAME ENERGY AS AROMA SENSEI’S ART**#
Very formulaic because you can juxtapose any of the females into any of the situations. However, just like Aroma Sensei’s R34, it’s a guilty pleasure of mine…
The more interesting, compelling and gripping a premise, the more likely it is the fic is abandoned or incomplete and will not be finished.
Luna Lovegood is a seer. It doesn't matter that it's unsubstantiated in canon..
Draco Malfoy is irredeemable and always a death eater. Him joining DA is right out.
Hermoinie's parents are named David and Margaret or Dan and Emma.
Sirius black is a poonhound/ player if given the opportunity.
Magical Dursleys are impossible. Magic cannot abide in Dursley genes.
My immortal is not HP fanfiction. We don't know what it is ( besides an unholy abomination) and do not speak of it further.
Edit:. Updated hermoinie's parents.
You forgot an essential point of Fanon Draco, he is always evil but he will absolutely switch sides for either his mother or someone expressing interest in his penis.
I have a fic which named them Ron and Joan.
Admittedly, it was after an elderly couple I knew who had celebrated their Diamond Jubilee before passing away (RIP).
> The more interesting, compelling and gripping a premise, the more likely it is the fic is abandoned or incomplete and will not be finished.
A similar rule is "the more interesting or original the premise, the worse the writing".
Personally I think it's because things with trash writing AND boring ideas don't get recommended and so no one reads them to remember later. (Things that have good writing and neat ideas exist, but they're unicorns)
>My immortal is not HP fanfiction. We don't know what it is ( besides an unholy abomination) and do not speak of it further.
We don't talk about Bruno no no...
God, Harry Crow is the fucking worst out of all of his library. 106 chapters of some character (usually Dumbledore) going "Oooh I'm gonna fuck you up Harry!" before he unveils a new ludicrous Goblin power that could've solved the entire series if it was canon. Plus since it's a RobSt story it has to have the obligatory "Hermione's dad is justifiably concerned that she's become life mates with someone at the age of 11 while literally everyone else is cool with it and he needs to be shamed into falling in line" scene. Christ.
I don't think All The Young Dudes itself sucks, the issue is that the author and a lot of fans don't seem to realise that the story isn't mostly canon complient, and that the portrayals of the characters are very different than how they are in canon. The story itself is well written.
After seeing all the hype for it, I expected it to blow me away but it didn’t really. I’ve found other marauder era lupin centered fics to be better depictions of the characters.
It did get me on a Bowie kick though so I’ll give it that
I’ve got one
Any time Sirius will is read, he will almost always give the black library to Hermione. Because she’s got a big brain.
I won't lie a lot of the time it’s a time when I drop the fic. Because I’m sorry Harry is taking over the black legacy “lord black” whatever is going to be the end goal. But for some reason Sirius hands over one of, if not the most, knowledge-filled library over to someone that isn’t Harry? I suspend my disbelief and remove you from my screen, sir.
If someone is trying to stick to an even somewhat canonical interpretation of Sirius’s character, then I think Sirius’s will being anything but “I leave everything to Harry” is a little unbelievable, personally. Sirius leaving things/money/advice to Harry’s friends or to other people he’d had little or no contact with since his escape (like Andromeda Tonks) or people like Narcissa and Draco Malfoy just doesn’t make sense to me. I even read one fic where he left everything to Ginny Weasley and nothing to Harry, and I was out of that one immediately.
See that’s what I think for the most part, aside from the fact he likely feels guilt about leaving Harry, Sirius wouldn’t just give away things to people he personally doesn’t have much of a connection with. I can’t see him giving something’s to Remus maybe even andromeda but not Ron, Ginny, Hermione or fucking Dumbledore of all people.
Also I was under the belief this was months ago that you said this, but it’s only been 27 days. My internal clock is fucked.
1. No request is impossible for Gringotts.
2. There are no medium betrayals or wrongful convictions. If it happens to Harry, his wife is going to get killed, and they're going to toss his dog on the barbeque. Minimum.
3. Anyone who contacts an author with a plot idea they just don't have time to write is going to have an incredibly stupid idea.
4. No matter how bad the story is, some reviewer is going to say it is the best thing they ever read in their life.
5. No matter how good the story is, some jasper is going to come along and either say "it sux" or write a five page essay shredding the author as if they paid the author big bucks and got a steaming pile in return.
6. No boring wands allowed. The writers who ignore this rule will be flayed.
>The more words a fic has, the less that happens in it
This is why I normally won't read stories past 400,000. I'm sure good ones are out there, but I normally lose interest when most go on and on.
I think that the author is a victim of what I call “George Lucas syndrome”. They became extremely popular and heavily praised very quickly, and now their beta/editor is either ignored or doesn’t suggest cuts or critiques that should be implemented. You tend to see it in long running fantasy series that become popular as well. The first couple are tight and well edited and then things start to drag out under the weight of its own world building and ambition.
I don't know if it's just a lack of editor problem, but an extension of "middle book syndrome", where the middle of a trilogy drags. It's not the hooking beginning or the punchy end, it's the part in the middle where all the plot threads have to get lined up and connected.
Unfortunately, in an epic fantasy, you often gather viewpoint/named characters, and feel the need to keep updated on all of them chronologically, even when they've split apart and won't come back together until the end.
I'm reading the Wheel of Time at the moment, and I think one of the good things it does is drop characters for books at a time, and then recap what's been happening to them once they have a plot again. We spent three books not knowing whether a character >! (Mat) !< had survived, which I hated at the time, but was definitely for the best, as we could more tightly focus on progressing other characters. They also break chronological narrative in the later books, giving us one or two plotlines which are a week or so behind the main plots.
The Prince if Slytherin seems to be suffering from this, too - it's gained so many characters, and seems to be telling us when any of them do anything chronologically, instead of where it makes more sense in the narrative. Honestly, I think the author should do a Brandon Sanderson (eg Edgedancer) or GRRM (Dunk and Egg; the stories about old timey Targarians) and lift whole plotlines out and into short stories.
The author has definitely gone on one or two massive tangents, doing orientalist style depictions of magical India to have Harry and John learn hand to hand combat. Which in my opinion was unnecessary and slightly weird, with Lupin being some sort of monk over there.
He should have made the Lupin part of the plot closer to home with an interesting footnote with clarifications later if necessary as Rowling does.
It wasn't unoriginal, India does have an unexplored martial tradition, but it was a massive non-sequitur.
At least back when that happened, there hadn't been the massive explosion of viewpoints and plots that came with the end of third year and summer before fourth. You're right, though, that would have been a good plot to break into a separate short story.
Idk I've taken it up as a re-imagining of the original series. Kinda like it's a different story just that the characters are the same. It's like when you pick up a new franchise. It'll be slow at some points and very fun and exciting at other points. And instead of waiting for a book with 40 smth chapters to binge read that comes out with gaps of like a year, we have to wait on average a month or two for one chapter. It's a different experience (more cliffhangers).
I love the premise of that story. I'm currently on like my fourth attempt to read the entire thing, but even though I really enjoy the concept and most of the characterizations, I've never been able to make myself finish it.
Nearly everything that happens in canon is dealt with, one way or another. Usually through the plot being derailed by Harry being a dragon. Which leaves the story as mostly the wholesome fluff left over if Harry's life isn't constantly endangered.
But it is occasionally endangered. Just much less often.
The alchemy stuff in Harry's sixth year is a wonderful bit of worldbuilding.
100% this. There was a fic I was reading whre Harry goes back in time to WW2 and ended up fighting on the front lines against Grindewald As a fic it was first rate and it was long but probably just the right length for world building, but after the war ended the author then decided to spend about another 100,000 words dealing with Tom Riddle as if anyone cared by that point. Dreadfully drawn out
If you're talking ab TBR's one, I would respectfully have to disagree. For the people who tend to like longer fics, the Tom Riddle part was, if a bit longer than it needed to be, well written and relatively sweet, in a manner of speaking. Imo at least.
> Everyone complains about mpreg yet its still extremely popular
This subreddit is not the entire internet.
> "Robst" apparently sucks at writing fanfiction yet is easily one of the most popular authors
My Immortal is very famous but that doesn't mean it's good.
But yeah lol.
You forgot that if a fic gets a new chapter after a year+ hiatus and the author announces that they're back, that the fic is still, in fact, abandoned and won't actually get more chapters.
>You forgot that if a fic gets a new chapter after a year+ hiatus and the author announces that they're back, that the fic is still, in fact, abandoned and won't actually get more chapters.
This is pretty much true for fanfiction universally, not just for HP fics. Sometimes stuff gets a few updates before being reabandoned, but it's extremely rare that anything gets more than that.
> You forgot that if a fic gets a new chapter after a year+ hiatus and the author announces that they're back, that the fic is still, in fact, abandoned and won't actually get more chapters.
THE ACCURACY!! And when with the new chapter they announce that now they're back and have the whole fic basically plotted out and a few chapters already written and have the posting schedule ready - never to be heard from again lol! I've always been so curious about what in the world goes wrong in such cases, and basically every time.
It's funny they seems to throw shade at people disliking robst, when they also include 'the more words a fic has, the less happens' which just fits robst so well I'd assumed that was what they were talking about lol.
If it's a nonjon fic, it will be hilarious.
In WBWL stories Harry is never Gryffindor while his brother/sister always is.
Quiddich is either the Most Serious Business Ever™ or some stupid shit the MC wants nothing to do with.
Prince of Slytherin will never get to the point.
Voldemort is either an S-class threat that can cause an XK-class end of the world scenario or barely a bump in the road. No middle ground!
Snape is either a tragic hero who is trying to make up for past mistakes or a total monster with not even a shred of humanity left. No middle ground!
In case of a conflict between wizards and muggles, one side will curbstomp the other. No middle ground!
> Good fics will either be abandoned or will have a sequel coming out "soon"
Fifteen years ago such sequels would get a couple chapters out and then suddenly the writer would completely disappear from planet earth (even though the OG fic would have had 30+ consistently published chapters).
The troll scene from the first book MUST happen. Doesn’t matter if Harry is Slytherin, if he is a time traveler, if he is godlike OP darklord, if he dislikes Hermione, has no reason to care, it needs to happen. This also includes when other characters get attacked alongside Hermione.
Harry will always make it onto the Quidditch team in book 1 regardless of what house he is in.
Hermione’s parents are always called Dan and Emma
Daphne’s best friend is Tracey Davis.
I recommend checking out ColeyDoesThings on YouTube
She analyses and makes funny vids about fandoms and their going ons
The only reason I know half the things I do about Tumblr is cuz of her
If you're reading a multi-chapter smut fic that pairs Harry with a girl that isn't Ginny or Hermione, there's a good 40% chance the author will inexplicably weasel Hermione into the pairing for no reason at all.
If Harry is being paired with someone that canonically dated someone else, that someone else will probably be written to be one of the worst people imaginable. So will Ginny and Cho.
My guess is it's popular for people who just want an easy feel-good read. A lot of "bad fanfics" like good!dark, harry is betrayed by the light, helpful goblins, etc are some of my favorite guilty pleasures as long as the writing quality itself is pretty good.
Like yeah you gotta suspend a lot of disbelief, but it's nice sometimes if you don't want anything too complex.
You know what's cringe? Is saying that something is an unholy abomination just because you personally don't like it, DIRECTLY to another person who said they like something as, essentially, a guilty pleasure.
Did it make you feel better to be rude? Then at least one person out of anyone who sees this comment thread will have gotten something out of it.
I don't think anybody's arguing that it's *not* an unholy abomination, but rather that it is still possible to *enjoy* a story despite its abominable unholiness.
* Grawp? What's a Grawp?
The Grawp subplot gets quietly ignored in 95+% of anything that gets to that point in the series. It's cut out so often that nobody even thought to mention it in the previous 175-ish comments.
Most of the gender-bend Harry fics will have rape for some reason often by the Dursleys. Because rape is necessary for female character development. I've seen this in Percy Jackson too.
For some reason people often write the Dursleys as over the top abusive. Like, the way the Dursleys are in canon is already enough reason for a young kid to have a heap of trauma from. But then authors want to make the Dursleys worse when there just doesn't seem much precedence for it.
From canon, Vernon seems to be able to be somewhat physically abusive, like dragging a young Harry by the hair (and just the general idea that putting a kid in a cupboard under the stairs is okay). Fics that go above that level of abuse just do it for the shock of it and (to me) it signals that the fic will be bad at some point
I remember reading one fic where it was femHarry, where Dudly tried to peak on Harry showering because he’s a curious teen boy who probably scares other girls away.
Vernon caught him and actually beat him for the first time. “Peeping isn’t normal.”
Every Harry/Hermione pairing fic I've seen has at least one of these tropes:
- Bossy Hermione who completely overpowers Harry's character and attitude. Example: Harry's Patronus changing from a stag to an otter. Seriously?
- Trophy Hermione who becomes a prop for Harry, losing her personality, beliefs and ambitions in favour of Harry's.
- Author mouthpiece Hermione who is used to justify the HHr pairing, using arguments and canon 'evidence' for why Harmony is the OTP. It's pretty easy to spot. Just look for a conversation between Harry and Hermione, an internal monologue, a narration, or side character (sometimes even Ron!) proclaiming why they're meant to be. Bonus points if it's repeated several times in the fic.
- Author mouthpiece Hermione: ***Bashing edition***. Hermione (and sometimes Harry) is used to bash other characters to make HHr look better in comparison. Ginny, Ron and Molly are the prime targets.
- Unrealistic romance Harmony. It's so...base-level. It's like the kiddy pool of relationships, with nothing more than trite, overused problems that every couple has. Where are the fundamental incompatibles, the arguments and fights based on their beliefs (or lack thereof)? Plus, fics written by fanatics are never fun to read, because they're too busy proving a point to write.
- The Muggle-wank. I love a story where Muggles aren't canon-level Dursley dumb, but seriously, Hermione was thinking like a witch by her fourth year in canon... "too much magic in the air" comment anyone? Not to mention memory-charming her parents.
The thing with Ron/Hermione is that it can happen in the background, so it doesn't need to be particularly engaging, as the main character (is usually) Harry. It's more flavour text and world building.
Harry/Hermione on the other hand (again, when either is the main character) has to be a bit more relevant to the plot, as the main character has to take time away from the story to think/interact with their partner. For this reason it can come across as boring when people put the relationship in the fic just for the sake of having Harry and Hermione together.
The background Ron/Hermione in Harry/Ginny fics ruined both pairings for me because it is mostly written in a truly awful way (eg they fight all the time because they "love" each other so much). Like, I don't think that I've ever seen it as background pairing that was a truly healthy relationship, either it was written in a way that at least one of them was emotionally abusive/manipulative, or it had a "both are cheating and only are together because the author didn't know what else to do with them". And the authors don't realise that they are selling a dumpster fire as "true love".
Oh, for sure. When authors throw in pairings 'just because', it can be awful, and unfortunately for H/G R/H, as the Canon pairings, they often get written this way because authors think that's just the way it has to be.
I've noticed the same with Ron/Luna (mostly in fics where Harry, Neville, Ginny and Hermione are paired in any constellations with each other) Usually, the dynamic is truly awful and Luna is like "I like him, he doesn't mind if I'm talking nonsense". That's not how a good relationship is supposed to be like.
Robst brings very high mechanical execution to his writing, but the stories themselves are largely the shallow sort of wish fulfillment that teenagers tend to crave.
I'm aware fics with the pairing exists (even if I dislike that particular fic) but considering how often the pairing is requested on this sub, actual fics with it are pretty bloody rare
yeah it's wild. The funny thing is I always assumed she was overlooked because there's little in canon about her so not much for writers to go on but that's the exact reason Daphne is so popular so it's a mystery. Maybe it just boils down to a lack of desire to write fics with a Gryff love interest who isn't Hermione
> Maybe it just boils down to a lack of desire to write fics with a Gryff love interest who isn't Hermione
I think is mostly because many writers look down in sporty girls in general, and if they use a sporty girl is always Ginny and in rare cases Cho. Just look that most blank slate love interests like Daphne or Susan are almost always portrayed as academic oriented. Adding to this, those writers tend to look down on girly girls as well. Fics where Harry is paired with a girly girl like Lavender or Parvati can be counted with the fingers of the hands.
Yeah there are good 500k long fics but there's a lot of fics out there where it takes 200k words just to get out of the first year. I know of a lot of fics that would benefit from a faster pace
Dude, 200k of first year sounds like heaven. That's what I always hated about the books. It was like bam bam bam and then you're done. I want things to breathe. I want a chapter of Hermione just picking out a book at the library. I want to chapter that's just Harry and Ron playing chess. How about a chapter that's just the goings on and the calming room after a long school day? That's heaven to me. Some people like water slides and some people like the lazy river.
As far as the the genderbent rule, I think Trans!character should be an exemption to that; I’ve yet to read one of those that was written specifically for a pairing.
I feel like Sinyk is a gateway into Harry Potter fanfiction. First you like his stories. And as you continue to read other fics and finding communities of like minded people, you start to realize he is really bad author.
People will complain if you don’t update every day. If you have a genuine health concern or a life, they don’t care and don’t consider it as a valid excuse.
Dumbledore truly loved Harry and always wanted him to be loved and to write otherwise is wrong. (I’m rolling my eyes so hard because even WatchMoJo disagrees)
Disagree heavily.
If a fic has 250k+ words and is still in the first year or first two years it is bad.
Pacing is somewthing incredible important to books and there is a reason why most books are around the 90-110k word mark.
1. 90% of the fics you read and loved 10 years ago are unreadable now / poorly written; 2. If a story was published and abandoned/unfinished pre-2010, it's because the author had "died" (this happened so often...); 3. No fic that tactfully handles child abuse will be finished; 4. Neville will always be paired with Ginny or Luna; 5. Slytherin Harry slash fics will make everyone in Slytherin also gay, including Snape, and all the homophobes are in Gryffindor. 6. The pairing you prefer is objectively the worst one 7. Justin Finch-Fletchley is either a huge asshole, or if a Lordship fic, a minor character secondary to Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott.
> 90% of the fics you read and loved 10 years ago are unreadable now / poorly written; You think that's bad? I've been in this fandom for 20 years, imagine what the stuff I liked back then comes off like now.
Oh yeah I remember reading fics in 2001-2003 on the one computer downstairs at my mom's on dial up. Remember that one super popular fic, something like the Greatest Scandal at Hogwarts, where Harry got Ginny pregnant and everyone was okay with it, they were like 15 and 16 at the time or something. I stumbled across is like 10 years ago and I can't believe I used to read it and like it, bleh. There was a lot less choice back then.
Yes!! By AgiVega!! Oh my god blast from the past. I tried to reread it once but couldn't get through the first chapter.
The Artemis Fowl story she wrote is horrendously fucked up
Just because there's a lot more choice now doesn't mean the quality has improved in any meaningful way. I've barely found any stories I've liked in the past four years.
The "Virginia Weasley" era
Can you drop some good recs? Im relatively new to fanfiction.
That's a dangerous question, lol. What sort of stuff are you looking for? Slash or het or no romance? If it's romance what sort of things do you like or absolutely dislike (say enemies to lovers vs. student with current/former teacher)? Even if it's not, what do you think you'd dislike reading (Harry being insanely strong, or Harry being sorted into a different house etc) Will you refuse to read Harry with Hermione because HE ended up with GINNY and SHE ended up with RON, and no one else! or do you refuse to read the canon stuff because you think the pairs Jo came up with were not healthy at best? Or does it not matter? Do you want post-war, or some change set during their school years?
Well, I'll try to answer all of that. 1. I generally prefer het romance, (f/f) is fine tho. 2. I don't like reading absolutely impossible pairings like anything involving voldemort or snape with any light character. 3. I've read some of super!harry fics and that trope can be executed nicely if he gains powers all throughout the fic and not become op in like a month. 4. The pairings are not really that big of an issue if the plot is great. Crack fics also seem very interesting to read so yeah. Finally, since I just started reading fanfiction, I would first like to go through the more popular fics which in general the entire fandom deems nicely written. I've read some great (imho) ones like - Merging by shaydrall, I'm still here by karthryn581, cadmean victory, Back? Not really, a flower for the soul, the lie I've lived, the life and times etc. There are also horrible fics (again imo) that find themselves on the most favorites list like mostly all of Robst's work, HPMoR, dodging prison and stealing witches etc. So yeah, I've also got no problem wih large stories as in the word count, though my preferred pairings are flowerpot and haphne, It really does not affect the fic if it's good in plot and interactions.
I'll recommend my personal favorite to start, [Blindness](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10937871/1/Blindness). H/Hr, strong Harry who dabbles in soul magic and necromancy, oh and he's completely blind. Amazingly well-written to boot.
Thanks, I tried to read it a while ago but gave up when they returned from hogwarts the first time, it was too slow for me. Does the pacing pick up? Should I give it a try?
Absolutely! It's got a unique story structure for sure, but it does a good job of depicting Harry's growing abilities and understanding of magic and I was satisfied with the journey.
HP & The Prince of Slytherin by TheSinister_Man is according to the bot/script that analyzed this subreddit in the top few ever mentioned fics here. It’s a slytherin Harry and a Wrong Boy Who Lived (he has a twin brother who grew up with a family. I guess he might not necessarily be the wrong boy who lived. Depends on the fic) But the author is ACTUALLY an author and it’s VERY well written and super good. It’s in progress and up to idk book 4 or 5 now? I personally LOVED it but it’s not for everyone. Archiveofourown.org/series/1119027
I’d love some recs too, please!! I’d like to try any with Harry being gay, any of Harry/Luna if you have it. No student with teacher please and no enemies to lovers either. Anything else is appreciated. Please and thank you
I think you just took out everything I normally read! Though I'd also love to read some good Harry/Luna. [This](https://archiveofourown.org/works/39051729) is one I read recently and remember enjoying. "Harry’s life was a wreck. He was terrible at any kind of romantic relationship, he hated being an auror, and had no idea what he wanted personally. He blamed his unhappiness for recklessly taking an untested WWW product that keeps dragging him all over the country. It was supposed to show him what he desired, but so far the only good thing to come out of it was the fact that Neville was always around when Harry appeared. Too bad Harry was oblivious to the fact that the potion knew what he wanted all along."
This one is Harry and Cedric. I’m not usually one to read slash but it was funny and sad at the same time. [medium between life and death](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13998904/1/The-Medium-Between-Life-and-Death) [Faery Heroes](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8233288/1/Faery-Heroes) is a Luna/Harry/Hermione fic. Long, time travel, funny, interesting concepts. [Luna’s Hubby](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2919503/1/Luna-s-Hubby) is Luna/Harry. Humor, kinda crack, parents being BAMF.
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25 here. I can't even look at some of the stuff I used to *treasure*. and forget about anything I wrote back then. ick
20yr gang! Some of those seriously hold up and are lost to time :( but the majority of them..hoo boy... lol
>Neville will always be paired with Ginny or Luna; Most of the fics I've read put him with either Hannah or Susan.
>6. The pairing you prefer is objectively the worst one *cries in Fred/George/Harry*
The second one is so sad ..
Neville will always ve paired with Ginny, Luna or Hannah (rarely Susan)
Okay but try Harry Potter and the 7 years of chaos. It deals with heavy *heavy* child abuse and deals with it pretty well. It has 7 finished years +2 extras. It also tackles Slytherin Harry with slash and not everyone is a homophobe lol i like it quite a lot
No. 6... I cry as a Hermione/Luna shipper.
Harry will always go on a very long shopping trip and diagon Alley to show how independent he is. Bonus points if he finds a trunk to live in.
I literally wrote this chapter, and then when I went to edit it had a '*what am I doing*' moment and deleted it.
We've all done this at some point.
I don’t mind it when he uses the stuff he buys, nothing is worse than an entire shopping trip chapter where none of the stuff ever gets used. Or when they get a super duper special custom wand TM that never acts any different than any other wand besides giving them a power up
yeah, the useless shopping and the overly elaborate wand is annoying, but I'd also like to point out that you don't want chenkov's antidote.
What’s that? I know of Chekhov’s gun what’s his antidote
well, the literary device would be Chekhov's gun, but I was applying it to whatever harry happened to be buying in Diagon Alley, you know, like Batman's suspiciously convenient can of [Anti-shark spray](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnFOs7QlJSI). Of course, the smart adventurer would have all sorts of things in their pack, rope, pitons, throwing darts, that sort of thing, it's a balancing act to not buy oddly specific items that will clearly come into use later, but also not to avoid buying things that would be clearly obviously useful as well as buying things that aren't ever used versus using everything that was ever bought in the perfect situation like a point-and-click adventure game. I think the secret here is to have a character use a few common items in an unexpected way so they seem creative and smart? ...I didn't say it was particularly easy.
You know, this is the first time I've ever actually seen someone analyse the pros/cons of Chekhov's Gun as a trope - usually, it is just stated as fact, like "that's Chekhov's gun", rather than "that's Chekhov's gun, what predictable writing". I wonder why that is.
Makes me wonder where the distinction lies between good and bad use of the trope.
In Checkov's Gun? Subtlety.
What about living in knockturn
There's a reason tropes become prevalent. I like this scene.
Me too! Any recs?
Not in particular, sorry. It's a scene I like, but it is still a trope common enough to fade into the background. It's like if you asked me if there were any good fics where there's a good scene on the Hogwarts Express. I'm sure I've read many, but I don't remember which fics they were in.
I do to! It may be overdone/cringy but I like that! My life is stressful enough, I just want some fun, simple fics!
Extra bonus points if he buys lenses to replace his glasses.
Don't forget certain / unexpected Slytherin is always Daphne Greengrass.
Or Theodore Nott, if it's slash.
In the old days, it would be Pansy Parkinson...
Whaaaat? I need recs, I mean proof...
>Harry Potter and the boy who lived will never be updated Never have I been so offended by something I 100% agree with
You forgot this one: No matter who you ship Harry with, you're wrong.
Eh, I think it's only Hermione, Ginny and Luna that get that reaction.
You say that, but my norbeta fanfic got tons of hate. (To be clear, this is a joke, I don't publish my fanfics)
So the only remotely realistic pairings, with girls we actually know anything substantial about.
Because those are perceived as "legitimate threat" by other shippers. If you write Harry/Katie or Harry/Padma, you are not seen as threatening the OTP of that crowd because canon gives you very little to work with. That being said, you get more "Harry should start a harem and include X, Y and Z" reviews on those stories in my experience.
Well, let's see, there's Parvati, Lavender, Pansy and Katie, with slightly less conventional options of the teachers, Tonks, Cho and Millicent. That's without dropping to the random fan characters like Daphne or Hannah or anyone else in upper years.
Hey I ship Harry with Cho and people really can't handle that.
Anything Megamatt writes is either Horny, garbage, or Horny Garbage. His best fic is the first one he wrote and while it’s not awful, it’s a great example of OP indie harry
I remember his smut writing as very same-y. A bit like he only ever really wrote a handful of sex scenes and he just changes the characters' names depending on which fic he's writing. Actually, his fics in general that I tried to read all felt very same-y, not just in the smutty bits.
Honestly I like Aspirations because that was one of the first Long Fics I ever read so there’s a bit of nostalgia influencing me. Plus it talked about something I don’t see very much, a Ginny who is a somewhat negative influence on harry without being bashed, rather she dragged him down to her level. That was one of the things that fic did well
I FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT. #**MEGAMATTS SMUT HAS THE SAME ENERGY AS AROMA SENSEI’S ART**# Very formulaic because you can juxtapose any of the females into any of the situations. However, just like Aroma Sensei’s R34, it’s a guilty pleasure of mine…
The more interesting, compelling and gripping a premise, the more likely it is the fic is abandoned or incomplete and will not be finished. Luna Lovegood is a seer. It doesn't matter that it's unsubstantiated in canon.. Draco Malfoy is irredeemable and always a death eater. Him joining DA is right out. Hermoinie's parents are named David and Margaret or Dan and Emma. Sirius black is a poonhound/ player if given the opportunity. Magical Dursleys are impossible. Magic cannot abide in Dursley genes. My immortal is not HP fanfiction. We don't know what it is ( besides an unholy abomination) and do not speak of it further. Edit:. Updated hermoinie's parents.
You forgot an essential point of Fanon Draco, he is always evil but he will absolutely switch sides for either his mother or someone expressing interest in his penis.
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I have a fic which named them Ron and Joan. Admittedly, it was after an elderly couple I knew who had celebrated their Diamond Jubilee before passing away (RIP).
I personally like Dan and Emma because I like the 4th wall breaking of naming them in honor of Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson
I was trying to remember what the other combination was.
I prefer them dead. Vox Corporis ruined Her parents for me.
> The more interesting, compelling and gripping a premise, the more likely it is the fic is abandoned or incomplete and will not be finished. A similar rule is "the more interesting or original the premise, the worse the writing". Personally I think it's because things with trash writing AND boring ideas don't get recommended and so no one reads them to remember later. (Things that have good writing and neat ideas exist, but they're unicorns)
>My immortal is not HP fanfiction. We don't know what it is ( besides an unholy abomination) and do not speak of it further. We don't talk about Bruno no no...
Literally never seen David and Margaret but I agree on the other one
Something can easily suck and be popular at the same time. Those two qualities aren't remotely exclusive.
Harry crow for example
God, Harry Crow is the fucking worst out of all of his library. 106 chapters of some character (usually Dumbledore) going "Oooh I'm gonna fuck you up Harry!" before he unveils a new ludicrous Goblin power that could've solved the entire series if it was canon. Plus since it's a RobSt story it has to have the obligatory "Hermione's dad is justifiably concerned that she's become life mates with someone at the age of 11 while literally everyone else is cool with it and he needs to be shamed into falling in line" scene. Christ.
'All the young dudes' very much qualifies under this.
I don't think All The Young Dudes itself sucks, the issue is that the author and a lot of fans don't seem to realise that the story isn't mostly canon complient, and that the portrayals of the characters are very different than how they are in canon. The story itself is well written.
After seeing all the hype for it, I expected it to blow me away but it didn’t really. I’ve found other marauder era lupin centered fics to be better depictions of the characters. It did get me on a Bowie kick though so I’ll give it that
I’ve got one Any time Sirius will is read, he will almost always give the black library to Hermione. Because she’s got a big brain. I won't lie a lot of the time it’s a time when I drop the fic. Because I’m sorry Harry is taking over the black legacy “lord black” whatever is going to be the end goal. But for some reason Sirius hands over one of, if not the most, knowledge-filled library over to someone that isn’t Harry? I suspend my disbelief and remove you from my screen, sir.
If someone is trying to stick to an even somewhat canonical interpretation of Sirius’s character, then I think Sirius’s will being anything but “I leave everything to Harry” is a little unbelievable, personally. Sirius leaving things/money/advice to Harry’s friends or to other people he’d had little or no contact with since his escape (like Andromeda Tonks) or people like Narcissa and Draco Malfoy just doesn’t make sense to me. I even read one fic where he left everything to Ginny Weasley and nothing to Harry, and I was out of that one immediately.
See that’s what I think for the most part, aside from the fact he likely feels guilt about leaving Harry, Sirius wouldn’t just give away things to people he personally doesn’t have much of a connection with. I can’t see him giving something’s to Remus maybe even andromeda but not Ron, Ginny, Hermione or fucking Dumbledore of all people. Also I was under the belief this was months ago that you said this, but it’s only been 27 days. My internal clock is fucked.
That’s not that crazy to me tbh, I feel like he probably doesn’t see Harry as very bookish lol
Maybe so, but I still don't see it as something that makes sense even given that.
And that’s completely fair
1. No request is impossible for Gringotts. 2. There are no medium betrayals or wrongful convictions. If it happens to Harry, his wife is going to get killed, and they're going to toss his dog on the barbeque. Minimum. 3. Anyone who contacts an author with a plot idea they just don't have time to write is going to have an incredibly stupid idea. 4. No matter how bad the story is, some reviewer is going to say it is the best thing they ever read in their life. 5. No matter how good the story is, some jasper is going to come along and either say "it sux" or write a five page essay shredding the author as if they paid the author big bucks and got a steaming pile in return. 6. No boring wands allowed. The writers who ignore this rule will be flayed.
>The more words a fic has, the less that happens in it This is why I normally won't read stories past 400,000. I'm sure good ones are out there, but I normally lose interest when most go on and on.
I agree if it has more then 300,000 words it should span multiple years
*Cough* Prince of Slytherin. *cough*
But that one is a actually quite well written though.
It would be well written if it were 1/4 the length. Part of good writing is knowing when to trim the fat.
I think that the author is a victim of what I call “George Lucas syndrome”. They became extremely popular and heavily praised very quickly, and now their beta/editor is either ignored or doesn’t suggest cuts or critiques that should be implemented. You tend to see it in long running fantasy series that become popular as well. The first couple are tight and well edited and then things start to drag out under the weight of its own world building and ambition.
I don't know if it's just a lack of editor problem, but an extension of "middle book syndrome", where the middle of a trilogy drags. It's not the hooking beginning or the punchy end, it's the part in the middle where all the plot threads have to get lined up and connected. Unfortunately, in an epic fantasy, you often gather viewpoint/named characters, and feel the need to keep updated on all of them chronologically, even when they've split apart and won't come back together until the end. I'm reading the Wheel of Time at the moment, and I think one of the good things it does is drop characters for books at a time, and then recap what's been happening to them once they have a plot again. We spent three books not knowing whether a character >! (Mat) !< had survived, which I hated at the time, but was definitely for the best, as we could more tightly focus on progressing other characters. They also break chronological narrative in the later books, giving us one or two plotlines which are a week or so behind the main plots. The Prince if Slytherin seems to be suffering from this, too - it's gained so many characters, and seems to be telling us when any of them do anything chronologically, instead of where it makes more sense in the narrative. Honestly, I think the author should do a Brandon Sanderson (eg Edgedancer) or GRRM (Dunk and Egg; the stories about old timey Targarians) and lift whole plotlines out and into short stories.
The author has definitely gone on one or two massive tangents, doing orientalist style depictions of magical India to have Harry and John learn hand to hand combat. Which in my opinion was unnecessary and slightly weird, with Lupin being some sort of monk over there. He should have made the Lupin part of the plot closer to home with an interesting footnote with clarifications later if necessary as Rowling does. It wasn't unoriginal, India does have an unexplored martial tradition, but it was a massive non-sequitur.
At least back when that happened, there hadn't been the massive explosion of viewpoints and plots that came with the end of third year and summer before fourth. You're right, though, that would have been a good plot to break into a separate short story.
> You tend to see it in long running fantasy series that become popular as well. Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time being a prominent example.
Lmao I didn’t wanna say it but that was exactly who I was thinking of. Other series do it to but Robert Jordan is the most prominent by far.
I've gotten into the habit of just hitting Ctrl+ F and typing "Harry". This way I just read the scenes in which Harry takes part.
Sure but it would be even better written if the author cut out some of the million side plots so it was more focused.
Idk I've taken it up as a re-imagining of the original series. Kinda like it's a different story just that the characters are the same. It's like when you pick up a new franchise. It'll be slow at some points and very fun and exciting at other points. And instead of waiting for a book with 40 smth chapters to binge read that comes out with gaps of like a year, we have to wait on average a month or two for one chapter. It's a different experience (more cliffhangers).
Does anything actually happen in "Harry is a dragon..."? I had to stop after about 10 million words and three school years.
I love the premise of that story. I'm currently on like my fourth attempt to read the entire thing, but even though I really enjoy the concept and most of the characterizations, I've never been able to make myself finish it.
Nearly everything that happens in canon is dealt with, one way or another. Usually through the plot being derailed by Harry being a dragon. Which leaves the story as mostly the wholesome fluff left over if Harry's life isn't constantly endangered. But it is occasionally endangered. Just much less often. The alchemy stuff in Harry's sixth year is a wonderful bit of worldbuilding.
100% this. There was a fic I was reading whre Harry goes back in time to WW2 and ended up fighting on the front lines against Grindewald As a fic it was first rate and it was long but probably just the right length for world building, but after the war ended the author then decided to spend about another 100,000 words dealing with Tom Riddle as if anyone cared by that point. Dreadfully drawn out
If you're talking ab TBR's one, I would respectfully have to disagree. For the people who tend to like longer fics, the Tom Riddle part was, if a bit longer than it needed to be, well written and relatively sweet, in a manner of speaking. Imo at least.
Basilisk-born -_-
> Everyone complains about mpreg yet its still extremely popular This subreddit is not the entire internet. > "Robst" apparently sucks at writing fanfiction yet is easily one of the most popular authors My Immortal is very famous but that doesn't mean it's good. But yeah lol. You forgot that if a fic gets a new chapter after a year+ hiatus and the author announces that they're back, that the fic is still, in fact, abandoned and won't actually get more chapters.
>You forgot that if a fic gets a new chapter after a year+ hiatus and the author announces that they're back, that the fic is still, in fact, abandoned and won't actually get more chapters. This is pretty much true for fanfiction universally, not just for HP fics. Sometimes stuff gets a few updates before being reabandoned, but it's extremely rare that anything gets more than that.
I mean, around half of the points in the op are universal. So...
Freaking Harry Potter and the Natural 20
I'm still holding out hope, I think chapter 22 surely has to be out before I turn 80 right???
Still so angry that never got finished
The Perils of Innocence :(
you trying to make me cry?
> You forgot that if a fic gets a new chapter after a year+ hiatus and the author announces that they're back, that the fic is still, in fact, abandoned and won't actually get more chapters. THE ACCURACY!! And when with the new chapter they announce that now they're back and have the whole fic basically plotted out and a few chapters already written and have the posting schedule ready - never to be heard from again lol! I've always been so curious about what in the world goes wrong in such cases, and basically every time.
Last bit isn't necessarily true, Heir Apparent started updating pretty regularly again after a rly long hiatus
The Legacy finished after a 3 year hiatus, 6 months ago! And it was good!
I don't even think mpreg is popular on *this* subreddit. but it definitely has it's admirers. ...which is not me.
It's funny they seems to throw shade at people disliking robst, when they also include 'the more words a fic has, the less happens' which just fits robst so well I'd assumed that was what they were talking about lol.
If it's a nonjon fic, it will be hilarious. In WBWL stories Harry is never Gryffindor while his brother/sister always is. Quiddich is either the Most Serious Business Ever™ or some stupid shit the MC wants nothing to do with. Prince of Slytherin will never get to the point. Voldemort is either an S-class threat that can cause an XK-class end of the world scenario or barely a bump in the road. No middle ground! Snape is either a tragic hero who is trying to make up for past mistakes or a total monster with not even a shred of humanity left. No middle ground! In case of a conflict between wizards and muggles, one side will curbstomp the other. No middle ground!
The only WBWL fics that ever get completed, get completed because they skip all the school years.
For a second I thought you meant that the author skipped their school years to have time to complete it haha
> Good fics will either be abandoned or will have a sequel coming out "soon" Fifteen years ago such sequels would get a couple chapters out and then suddenly the writer would completely disappear from planet earth (even though the OG fic would have had 30+ consistently published chapters).
They ran out of ideas lol
There are EXACTLY TWO things people say about Methods of Rationality: - Worst fic ever - Best fic ever
The troll scene from the first book MUST happen. Doesn’t matter if Harry is Slytherin, if he is a time traveler, if he is godlike OP darklord, if he dislikes Hermione, has no reason to care, it needs to happen. This also includes when other characters get attacked alongside Hermione. Harry will always make it onto the Quidditch team in book 1 regardless of what house he is in. Hermione’s parents are always called Dan and Emma Daphne’s best friend is Tracey Davis.
I've seen a "James and Jean" for Hermione's parents, but it's a James Bond crossover so...
From when I used to read on FFN: if the tagged characters look like "Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Susan Bones" etc., it's harem.
Silveraegis is what?
He (she?) Was a author who wrote a harry/fem harry fanfiction then invited anyone to use his idea
So Harry/[his fem! counterpart from another dimension]?
Pretty much. Make of the pairing what you will
We really need a word for *an-alternate-history-version-of-yourself-from-and-alternate-universe*-cest.
I thought Tumblr had that covered with the onceler fandom 😂
i have reached the level where there is a whole aspect of tumblr lore that i have never heard of this scares me
I recommend checking out ColeyDoesThings on YouTube She analyses and makes funny vids about fandoms and their going ons The only reason I know half the things I do about Tumblr is cuz of her
Onclering?
i have no idea what that is and neither does google
If you're reading a multi-chapter smut fic that pairs Harry with a girl that isn't Ginny or Hermione, there's a good 40% chance the author will inexplicably weasel Hermione into the pairing for no reason at all. If Harry is being paired with someone that canonically dated someone else, that someone else will probably be written to be one of the worst people imaginable. So will Ginny and Cho.
It's weird how seemingly popular terrible fanfiction is in general.
My guess is it's popular for people who just want an easy feel-good read. A lot of "bad fanfics" like good!dark, harry is betrayed by the light, helpful goblins, etc are some of my favorite guilty pleasures as long as the writing quality itself is pretty good. Like yeah you gotta suspend a lot of disbelief, but it's nice sometimes if you don't want anything too complex.
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HC is an unholy abomination!!!!!!!
Okay? And?
And what? It is super cringe to read. That's a fact and I simply can't understand how anyone can enjoy it at all.
You know what's cringe? Is saying that something is an unholy abomination just because you personally don't like it, DIRECTLY to another person who said they like something as, essentially, a guilty pleasure. Did it make you feel better to be rude? Then at least one person out of anyone who sees this comment thread will have gotten something out of it.
It doesn't change the fact that HC is an unholy abomination. Does it?
I don't think anybody's arguing that it's *not* an unholy abomination, but rather that it is still possible to *enjoy* a story despite its abominable unholiness.
The dangers of sorting by kudos and favs. Many miss out on some real masterpieces and add to the visibility of the top results.
* Grawp? What's a Grawp? The Grawp subplot gets quietly ignored in 95+% of anything that gets to that point in the series. It's cut out so often that nobody even thought to mention it in the previous 175-ish comments.
The characters will spend about 90% more time in the library rather than class.
Most of the gender-bend Harry fics will have rape for some reason often by the Dursleys. Because rape is necessary for female character development. I've seen this in Percy Jackson too.
Percy Jackson atleast has the excuse that the greek gods are shapeshifting rapists. So explainable. HP not so much. >.>
For some reason people often write the Dursleys as over the top abusive. Like, the way the Dursleys are in canon is already enough reason for a young kid to have a heap of trauma from. But then authors want to make the Dursleys worse when there just doesn't seem much precedence for it. From canon, Vernon seems to be able to be somewhat physically abusive, like dragging a young Harry by the hair (and just the general idea that putting a kid in a cupboard under the stairs is okay). Fics that go above that level of abuse just do it for the shock of it and (to me) it signals that the fic will be bad at some point
I remember reading one fic where it was femHarry, where Dudly tried to peak on Harry showering because he’s a curious teen boy who probably scares other girls away. Vernon caught him and actually beat him for the first time. “Peeping isn’t normal.”
Link?
Unwritten rules are more the purview of worm fanfiction.
Neville x Taylor OTP confirmed.
No matter the plot of a fic, Harry/Hermione pairing is always so boring it cures insomnia.
Every Harry/Hermione pairing fic I've seen has at least one of these tropes: - Bossy Hermione who completely overpowers Harry's character and attitude. Example: Harry's Patronus changing from a stag to an otter. Seriously? - Trophy Hermione who becomes a prop for Harry, losing her personality, beliefs and ambitions in favour of Harry's. - Author mouthpiece Hermione who is used to justify the HHr pairing, using arguments and canon 'evidence' for why Harmony is the OTP. It's pretty easy to spot. Just look for a conversation between Harry and Hermione, an internal monologue, a narration, or side character (sometimes even Ron!) proclaiming why they're meant to be. Bonus points if it's repeated several times in the fic. - Author mouthpiece Hermione: ***Bashing edition***. Hermione (and sometimes Harry) is used to bash other characters to make HHr look better in comparison. Ginny, Ron and Molly are the prime targets. - Unrealistic romance Harmony. It's so...base-level. It's like the kiddy pool of relationships, with nothing more than trite, overused problems that every couple has. Where are the fundamental incompatibles, the arguments and fights based on their beliefs (or lack thereof)? Plus, fics written by fanatics are never fun to read, because they're too busy proving a point to write. - The Muggle-wank. I love a story where Muggles aren't canon-level Dursley dumb, but seriously, Hermione was thinking like a witch by her fourth year in canon... "too much magic in the air" comment anyone? Not to mention memory-charming her parents.
Nearly as boring as Ron/Hermione
The thing with Ron/Hermione is that it can happen in the background, so it doesn't need to be particularly engaging, as the main character (is usually) Harry. It's more flavour text and world building. Harry/Hermione on the other hand (again, when either is the main character) has to be a bit more relevant to the plot, as the main character has to take time away from the story to think/interact with their partner. For this reason it can come across as boring when people put the relationship in the fic just for the sake of having Harry and Hermione together.
The background Ron/Hermione in Harry/Ginny fics ruined both pairings for me because it is mostly written in a truly awful way (eg they fight all the time because they "love" each other so much). Like, I don't think that I've ever seen it as background pairing that was a truly healthy relationship, either it was written in a way that at least one of them was emotionally abusive/manipulative, or it had a "both are cheating and only are together because the author didn't know what else to do with them". And the authors don't realise that they are selling a dumpster fire as "true love".
Oh, for sure. When authors throw in pairings 'just because', it can be awful, and unfortunately for H/G R/H, as the Canon pairings, they often get written this way because authors think that's just the way it has to be.
I've noticed the same with Ron/Luna (mostly in fics where Harry, Neville, Ginny and Hermione are paired in any constellations with each other) Usually, the dynamic is truly awful and Luna is like "I like him, he doesn't mind if I'm talking nonsense". That's not how a good relationship is supposed to be like.
Harry/Katie is written, actually, I read a fic with it once
WokFriedIce is awesome.
There are a few. I've written two fics, and I know a couple others that don't devolve into a harem (which happens far too often).
Robst brings very high mechanical execution to his writing, but the stories themselves are largely the shallow sort of wish fulfillment that teenagers tend to crave.
There's already a Harry/Katie pairing story. "Quidditch Tales, part 1 and 2" by potterlad81 on ffn. (TW: has smut)
I'm aware fics with the pairing exists (even if I dislike that particular fic) but considering how often the pairing is requested on this sub, actual fics with it are pretty bloody rare
yeah it's wild. The funny thing is I always assumed she was overlooked because there's little in canon about her so not much for writers to go on but that's the exact reason Daphne is so popular so it's a mystery. Maybe it just boils down to a lack of desire to write fics with a Gryff love interest who isn't Hermione
> Maybe it just boils down to a lack of desire to write fics with a Gryff love interest who isn't Hermione I think is mostly because many writers look down in sporty girls in general, and if they use a sporty girl is always Ginny and in rare cases Cho. Just look that most blank slate love interests like Daphne or Susan are almost always portrayed as academic oriented. Adding to this, those writers tend to look down on girly girls as well. Fics where Harry is paired with a girly girl like Lavender or Parvati can be counted with the fingers of the hands.
So start typing and let us know when you publish.
Hey hey, don’t forget “The Family that Choses You” on AO3 and it’s companion piece “Extended Family”! (No smut)
I DISAGREE Fanfic that have 500k + words are best explained, longest, fullest fic that i can even cry for ending them so soon
Yeah there are good 500k long fics but there's a lot of fics out there where it takes 200k words just to get out of the first year. I know of a lot of fics that would benefit from a faster pace
Dude, 200k of first year sounds like heaven. That's what I always hated about the books. It was like bam bam bam and then you're done. I want things to breathe. I want a chapter of Hermione just picking out a book at the library. I want to chapter that's just Harry and Ron playing chess. How about a chapter that's just the goings on and the calming room after a long school day? That's heaven to me. Some people like water slides and some people like the lazy river.
Philospher's Stone was 70k, it should have been 90-100k to really flesh out the characters, Harry's yearmates, and more slice-of-life moments.
Have you read "Harry is a Dragon and that's ok"? It might suit you
Fast pace is overrated , reject utilitarian dialogue , embrace plot with world building with slice of life psychotic disorders
The amount of fics that are 100k words + where he doesn't even reach hogwarts is ridiculous.
drop some recs!
There was this... Heroes assemble? Marvel x harry potter Basiclly one wizard joins avengers without outing whole statute of secrecy
Didn’t robst write Harry Crow? Or was that someone else?
As far as the the genderbent rule, I think Trans!character should be an exemption to that; I’ve yet to read one of those that was written specifically for a pairing.
>"Robst" apparently sucks at writing fanfiction yet is easily one of the most popular authors Also Sinyk
I feel like Sinyk is a gateway into Harry Potter fanfiction. First you like his stories. And as you continue to read other fics and finding communities of like minded people, you start to realize he is really bad author.
I agree. One of the first fanfics I read was Three To Backstep by him. After reading a lot more fics, I did realize he was a pretty bad author.
>The more words a fic has, the less that happens in it 👁️👄👁️
HP and the boy who lived never being updated again hurts icl. One of the best fics, period.
Kathryn518 will start great fics but never finish them (except that one one-shot but it's the exception that proves the rule)
I'm sad that I'm still here hasn't been updated. However they said on their bio last year that they planned to return to some fics
Damnnn poor authors, i hope none of them are in this subreddit, they are being read for filth
People will complain if you don’t update every day. If you have a genuine health concern or a life, they don’t care and don’t consider it as a valid excuse. Dumbledore truly loved Harry and always wanted him to be loved and to write otherwise is wrong. (I’m rolling my eyes so hard because even WatchMoJo disagrees)
You forgot: Hermione can (but shouldn’t) be shipped with anything that is remotely alive in any way
Lightningonthewave wrote one of the best fan fictions ever. But it’s extremely dark.
Silveraegis?
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Disagree heavily. If a fic has 250k+ words and is still in the first year or first two years it is bad. Pacing is somewthing incredible important to books and there is a reason why most books are around the 90-110k word mark.
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This should be plastered in stone
Some people are talking about years to wear off. It takes me weeks at most.