Guide to Completed SSHG Epics (HBP-era)
I mentioned in a previous post a friend had mentioned she hadn’t read a lengthy post-HBP SSHG story that matched the old classics, which left me to scurry to catch up on my reading to see if she was right. I searched through FanfictionNet, AdultFanfiction, Restricted Section, Ashwinder, Petulant Poetess and OWLBelow is listed every single completed
( Read more... )
Where is the HBP Falling Further In, it's Soul Searching? There are admittedly, stories on this list others love I despise that they'd champion, particularly among the non-compliant list.
The non-HBP-compliant list is quite different, isn't it? I haven't actually read more than a handful of the ones there.
Nine out of the 16 are by Ms Figg, and not to be unkind to an author where she could possibly see my comments, but I wouldn't recommend any of them--at all.
At least post-DH there seems to be a definite general switch towards lighter and less gloomy fics.
They are--and ZeeGrindylows is already proving a favorite, is epic length, and soon to be completed.
Reply
I did like five of the six you've marked (I haven't read As the Pages Turn yet) and would consider at least a couple of them among my most favourite stories in the ship - Accountable in particular.
I've read one or two shorter pieces by Ms Figg and I doubt I'll be trying the longer ones. I can see the appeal but it's not quite my cup of tea - PWP in general isn't, and I tend to avoid stories with too much smut, although there are exceptions (I do enjoy ladyofthemasque's writing for example, although there were chunks of For Someone Special that I skipped, and bits of In Annulo as well).
Reply
I actually wouldn't hesitate to recommend epics to newbies--I think this is a ship a bit hard to sell to those who've just heard of it, and something lengthy to brainwash to convince a good thing--and yes, I think Fire and the Rose would be just the right thing.
I liked In Annulo because it's on the whole well-written and very imaginative--but it has some things that struck me as hard to buy, I didn't like the N/C in it or think in necessary, and parts squick me--so I'd be hesitant to rec it to someone new to the ship, despite its virtues.
You're kinder to Ms Figg than I am frankly. Her characterizations make me want to claw my eyes out.
Reply
Then again, I suspect I wouldn't hesitate to recommend either Fire and the Rose or Hayseed's Ordinary People, as those were the two that I started out with and which cemented the obsession.
As for Ms Figg - as I said, I've only read one or two (might have been one and a half) shorter pieces, which seemed straightforward enough PWP, although not in a style or of the kind I might want to search out on those rare times I would actually want to read something like that. Perhaps I was just lucky. ;-)
Reply
Which is exactly my point. Ask SSHGers what fic did it for them--which are their favorites, and with few exceptions, it's epics like that which are listed.
Which is why that the HBP era gave us such a thin haul is rather worrying.
As for Ms Figg - as I said, I've only read one or two (might have been one and a half) shorter pieces, which seemed straightforward enough PWP, although not in a style or of the kind I might want to search out on those rare times I would actually want to read something like that. Perhaps I was just lucky. ;-)
*shudders* You were--I wouldn't push my luck further...
Reply
I still think it was just something to do with that particular book - going AU seemed to be much harder after that, and staying canon-compliant was very much dictated by the ending of HBP, which, I think, really tended to give the writers only a couple of ways to deal with things, going either for dark (all the kidnapping/hostage/rape fics) or going for good!Snape, but basically in all cases needing to deal with the events of HBP and finding a resolution for them.
Which set its limits, and I think it's quite obvious from the epics in the list here too that in most cases, the plots that HBP directed simply wouldn't be stretched to epic lengths.
The previous books left the field much, much more wide open - GOF and OOTP opened up huge new possibilities, especially with regards to Snape, and didn't really close up anything, while HBP was quite the opposite.
DH should really make it easier to go for epic stories again, as canon isn't restricting the possible plot developments nearly as much. On the other hand, apart from zeegrindylows' and juno_magic's stories, I can't think of any other current DH-compliant WIPs that are likely to reach epic length, although there are also several HBP-compliant or AU WIPs around which should be long enough once completed.
Reply
Although with a little imagination, it wouldn't have been hard to go canon-compliant and still have a rather traditional SSHG, only one with that acknowledged canon. You could have gone with Dumbledore being killed being a ruse (before DH) have Voldemort defeated, Snape cleared, and have him back in the classroom for the trio's last year. You could still have peril from the DEs still out there. But people instead choose to do things like ignore canon completely because they wanted to hold on to Snape Manor and what goes with it.
And I would have hoped, that HBP could have put in some judicious blasting powder to smash to bits some fanfic cliches (MLC *cough*)
I agree though DH should open things up again. And actually there are already 10 SSHG stories on FFN that have already reached that length (I noted that when making this list). And as you just pointed out--there's Spinster ;-)
Reply
Oh yeah, I know there are more WIPs in general that are lengthy enough - I was just thinking of DH-compliant ones in particular though, not AU or those started before DH or even before HBP. I did forget A Proper Romance though, which is DH-compliant.
Reply
And actually, given I was able to find a posting date pre-DH on LotM's Yahoo group, I added it to the HPB epics above--haven't had a chance to check it out though.
I'm on Chapter 4 of Chocolate Enchantment thus far, and that I got even that far puts it ahead of 60 percent of the fics I tried. So far I'd say you've called it--entertaining, even though not impressive--though that may ultimately be enough to gain it a star--Spinster given LotM's track record, will probably make it in as well.
Reply
Which isn't to say the others don't count, I was just thinking specifically DH-compliant as I was considering how much of a push DH in particular has given to writing epics.
I was also thinking about AU in general, reading the comments below - it is a concept that can be applied to both taking a quite different turn from canon as well as using canon but for different outcomes. It does seem the latter is quite uncommon in SSHG at least. And apart from ayerf's necromancer!Hermione trilogy (Redivivus, Tabula Rasa & Resurgam), I can't at the moment think of anything properly AU, written post-HBP, that I really loved, although this might be because I've just woken up.
Reply
Ah, I noted their presence, but didn't check them out, so I didn't register that the weren't DH-compliant. (I did note 3 out of the 10 are MLC *groans*). My impression from when I checked out what was going on in SSHG in the first weeks postDH as well as the Exchange was that this time, the ship was finally dealing with canon, but I guess we're not so lucky....
I've never tried Ayerf's--though maybe I will if I keep this project going. But yeah, real AUs in the ship, as opposed to "non-canon compliant" are rare.
Reply
I wonder if the exchange is partly responsible for the current relative lack of longer DH-compliant fics? As I think a good deal of the writers were involved in that, and there hasn't yet been time for those (many of whom would also have had their own other pre-DH WIPs going and would need to complete those first too) to really tackle the post-DH world in a proper epic way? Not that it's necessarily a bad thing, considering the number of quite wonderful shorter stories we're getting in return!
I love Ayerf's trilogy - even though it's not the sort of thing I usually like (it's much darker and bleaker, and includes things that often bother me in other fics, like a Hermione-with-superpowers), but I got drawn in right from the first chapter and am quite glad I did. I've read so much over the last year and three months (i.e. since getting into the whole SSHG thing) that I'm having big problems recalling the details of most of what I've read - hers is one of the relatively few things that have stayed with me since reading it. It's probably not for everyone though!
Reply
And yes, though I wouldn't complain about it--I love the freshness and quality of the fic the Exchange engenders, I'm sure that's bottled up the talents of our ship for a while, which is why we haven't seen a huge amount of SSHG postDH up till now.
I'll have to try Ayerf sometime.
Reply
It's an interesting point, the one about the stories that aren't written - but one could ask if they would be written even without MLC? I'd guess not, in the majority of cases anyway, as a lot of the more recent MLC writers (I'm thinking particularly of those I've seen on ff.net, and not really including the epics - and I really wouldn't consider juno_magic's The Apprentice and the Necromancer a MLC story at all, regardless of what the summary says, as it has little to do with the original MLC idea) don't seem to have the experience or originality (yet) to tackle more original topics.
On the other hand, I think it's one way for many beginners to try their hand at writing in general - having a premise and a plot that a hundred people have done before gives them a semi-solid base, which they can try and use for practising story-telling and writing in general. One can hope that most of them learn from it and can then move on to new stories, having gained some experience. I'm very much looking forward to seeing what miamadwyn will do next, for example, as I've found her current MLC WIP well-written and quite original for that particular kind of story.
The Exchange really is a wonderful thing, offering both quality and the kind of variety one doesn't really see outside it. I suppose one of the best things about it is that it also seems to draw people who don't generally write (or not that much anyway). There is something tempting about the whole thing. Although it's also quite intimidating, simply because of the quality we've got used to in the last few ones! I'm half relieved to be just a reader and half envious of all the people participating, heh.
On the other hand, while the exchange fics are being posted, I'm horribly behind in knowing what is happening elsewhere - I've not really even started reading any new WIPs (and there have been a few summaries that have looked interesting - and there are all the Potter Place challenge stories at TPP, some of which have sounded quite intriguing), and even keeping up with the ones I started earlier has proved difficult.
Not that the abundance of current reading material should really be a cause for complaint. ;-)
Reply
Reply
And I mean that btw--I've had a lot of nastiness thrown my way because I can't in good conscience recommend something I don't enjoy or don't think is (in my opinion) well-written, and lots of writers apparently just aren't willing to just see it as one opinion (or several such) and let go. (Or at least a few very loud mouths).
There's certainly no doubt considering the hundreds of reviews you've obtained, that lots of others do enjoy your stories.
I still don't think it's a great thing though, to pick an author's story apart to death where they can see it. Muses are onery things, and I don't want to dim someone's joy in their writing.
Reply
Leave a comment