That's an interesting question. I suppose that I always did think of AQ as YA, although that may be because I've always considered fanfiction to be young adult. I don't really think of anyone under 25 regularly reading fanfiction, and I would be shocked if there was more than 5% of writers/readers who were over 25.
I think it's silly to think that AQ isn't funny "enough", as though there's an invisible line of hilarity that your fanfic has yet to cross. I think that hilarity isn't your goal in this fanfic, an idea I strongly agree with. You've done a very good job of writing a pre-teen/teenager growing up and experiencing a very real, very adult world with very adult overtones and dangers, and very little arbitrary rules and cultural standards like we find in the first few HP books.
I think you've done a far better job of keeping your writing consistent throughout than Rowling, although to be fair, Rowling had to contend with her original fans growing into adults by the end of the series and keeping them interested in what was a children's book to start. Your aims are clearly different, so in that I can easily give her a pass.
And for the record, I do think that AQ is funny enough. You provide just enough levity, and instead of overtly humorous events (like Ron barfing up slugs, for example), there are things that I found very funny without being ridiculous.
Pretty much everyone I know in HP fandom, and most (all?) of the best writers are over 25. This could partly be because the fandom has been around so long that all those people started out when they were younger, and have now, after 10 years, passed that age line. But it's true I don't know most of the people in HP fandom, nor do I hang out on ff.net or hpff.net, both of which seem to have a large number of young teens. I think many other fandoms (ST, Dr Who) probably have older demographics as well.
I think it's silly to think that AQ isn't funny "enough", as though there's an invisible line of hilarity that your fanfic has yet to cross. I think that hilarity isn't your goal in this fanfic, an idea I strongly agree with. You've done a very good job of writing a pre-teen/teenager growing up and experiencing a very real, very adult world with very adult overtones and dangers, and very little arbitrary rules and cultural standards like we find in the first few HP books.
I think you've done a far better job of keeping your writing consistent throughout than Rowling, although to be fair, Rowling had to contend with her original fans growing into adults by the end of the series and keeping them interested in what was a children's book to start. Your aims are clearly different, so in that I can easily give her a pass.
And for the record, I do think that AQ is funny enough. You provide just enough levity, and instead of overtly humorous events (like Ron barfing up slugs, for example), there are things that I found very funny without being ridiculous.
~DarkSov
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