Not spoilers, just thoughts on the spoiler rampage.
So, with a week to go before judgment day, it's really sort of sunk in for me that DH is coming, and soon all the theories we've spun in fanfiction will be settled once and for all. As such, there have been more alleged spoilers about the book running around than one could even imagine. I've no doubt that many of them are absolutely ridiculous, but some are very likely true. You don't have a book with this much hype (and not to mention so many copies) without any number of unscrupulous individuals dying to be the one who breaks it down first.
I've seen a few that I believe may be true, because I am not completely averse to spoilers in general. My pleasure comes from sitting down and reading the book because I love reading, and if I get some hints of things, even the ending, in advance, it isn't going to kill me. Now, that said, I will be staying offline starting Friday evening and not returning until after I have finished the book and had some time to digest it, just because I know that people in our region of the fandom are going to start having ideas about a post-DH fanfic world, and I want to form my own first. Rest assured that I will NOT post any of the spoilers I have read here or in comments, and after I read the book, any details about it will be behind a cut with ample warning. I do have some things to say, however, about the impact the book will have by virtue of it being the last book, so you can safely read the below regardless of your feelings on spoilers.
Let's face it, my dear fellow HGSS 'shippers, we were never going to have our dream become a reality. I don't think that any of us have started writing Hermione/Severus romances under any delusion that JKR would ever put them together. We may be a rather large counterculture in the fandom, but we are reviled by so many fans of the series (have you ever told a friend or fan who isn't in to fanfiction who you 'ship? I have. The reaction is not often positive) that I think we all know where we stand. Not that we haven't justified our position well, but it isn't a popular position.
If you are of a sort who wants to continue writing fanfiction after DH, I think you will agree with me when I say: we're going to be just fine. Characters have died in the first six books, and we've been fine. Romances have been hinted at in the first six books, and we've been fine. Undesirable things have happened in the first six books, and we've been fine. The writers in our part of the fandom are intelligent, daring, and creative women (I say women because I don't think I've run across a male author yet, but I could be wrong) who have already spun so many possible theories and explanations to keep us going after HBP that I find it shocking that we can't do the same for Book Seven. I truly believe that it can be done even without disregarding canon. Sure, many of us will for some stories (I've already planned to, as you know), but even after reading the doom and gloom of the world of spoilerage, I remain firm in my conviction that there is nothing JKR can do that will make it impossible to keep up the 'ship if one wants to keep 'shipping in the canon world. Nothing, I repeat, nothing in this fantastic and magical world is impossible to spin, reinterpret, or explain our way out of. Look at what's been done already; there's no reason why it can't keep going.
I never started reading and writing fanfiction because I wanted to predict or figure out what was really going to happen in the end of the series. I did it because I saw a potential for something more, something different, something that has given me infinite delight on countless days when I've just sat around with a nice hot mug of coffee and enjoyed the imaginations of my sisters in the 'ship. Stories like Master of Enchantment, Augury and Ardor, Love Him In My Absence, Vanity, Cloak of Courage, Traitor, Big Name Death Eater, and To Beget an Heir for me stand on their own as great stories regardless of how they will look after DH.
I've stopped being afraid of what's going to happen, and despite getting a taste of the possibilities that spoilers have suggested, I repeat: we're going to be fine. We've come this far on sheer nerve and genius, and I firmly maintain that there is nothing we can't do. So, buck up, kids, don't be afraid, don't be concerned. I carry around a replica of Severus' wand, I wear things like time turners and Slytherin crest necklaces, and I knit house scarves and sweaters. Do you really think that a silly little book is going to stop my fun?
I've seen a few that I believe may be true, because I am not completely averse to spoilers in general. My pleasure comes from sitting down and reading the book because I love reading, and if I get some hints of things, even the ending, in advance, it isn't going to kill me. Now, that said, I will be staying offline starting Friday evening and not returning until after I have finished the book and had some time to digest it, just because I know that people in our region of the fandom are going to start having ideas about a post-DH fanfic world, and I want to form my own first. Rest assured that I will NOT post any of the spoilers I have read here or in comments, and after I read the book, any details about it will be behind a cut with ample warning. I do have some things to say, however, about the impact the book will have by virtue of it being the last book, so you can safely read the below regardless of your feelings on spoilers.
Let's face it, my dear fellow HGSS 'shippers, we were never going to have our dream become a reality. I don't think that any of us have started writing Hermione/Severus romances under any delusion that JKR would ever put them together. We may be a rather large counterculture in the fandom, but we are reviled by so many fans of the series (have you ever told a friend or fan who isn't in to fanfiction who you 'ship? I have. The reaction is not often positive) that I think we all know where we stand. Not that we haven't justified our position well, but it isn't a popular position.
If you are of a sort who wants to continue writing fanfiction after DH, I think you will agree with me when I say: we're going to be just fine. Characters have died in the first six books, and we've been fine. Romances have been hinted at in the first six books, and we've been fine. Undesirable things have happened in the first six books, and we've been fine. The writers in our part of the fandom are intelligent, daring, and creative women (I say women because I don't think I've run across a male author yet, but I could be wrong) who have already spun so many possible theories and explanations to keep us going after HBP that I find it shocking that we can't do the same for Book Seven. I truly believe that it can be done even without disregarding canon. Sure, many of us will for some stories (I've already planned to, as you know), but even after reading the doom and gloom of the world of spoilerage, I remain firm in my conviction that there is nothing JKR can do that will make it impossible to keep up the 'ship if one wants to keep 'shipping in the canon world. Nothing, I repeat, nothing in this fantastic and magical world is impossible to spin, reinterpret, or explain our way out of. Look at what's been done already; there's no reason why it can't keep going.
I never started reading and writing fanfiction because I wanted to predict or figure out what was really going to happen in the end of the series. I did it because I saw a potential for something more, something different, something that has given me infinite delight on countless days when I've just sat around with a nice hot mug of coffee and enjoyed the imaginations of my sisters in the 'ship. Stories like Master of Enchantment, Augury and Ardor, Love Him In My Absence, Vanity, Cloak of Courage, Traitor, Big Name Death Eater, and To Beget an Heir for me stand on their own as great stories regardless of how they will look after DH.
I've stopped being afraid of what's going to happen, and despite getting a taste of the possibilities that spoilers have suggested, I repeat: we're going to be fine. We've come this far on sheer nerve and genius, and I firmly maintain that there is nothing we can't do. So, buck up, kids, don't be afraid, don't be concerned. I carry around a replica of Severus' wand, I wear things like time turners and Slytherin crest necklaces, and I knit house scarves and sweaters. Do you really think that a silly little book is going to stop my fun?