Fanfiction and expectations

[seangaffney]

As I get older, I find I am becoming more intractable in my fanfiction likes and dislikes, and especially in my liking of pairings. Sadly, I can't simply read 6 different fics where the main character pairs up with 6 different people like back in the days of Ranma 1/2

Comments

[strayfish]

Being a (rather unwilling, at first) Harry/Draco fan, I don't really see either H/G or H/L. I mean, in the canon I can accept Harry/Ginny and I can see where she's coming from, but I can't see them staying together and raising a family the way Rowling's set up the epilogue. But I hated the epilogue and it's not-leaving-it-to-the-imaginationness anyway. I just don't see actual feelings for each other in the pairing, beyong a high-school-sweetheart kind of relationship.

And as for Harry and Luna... well... Luna can do better than him. I totally ship Luna/Neville... >_>

On the topic of character-bashing, it is difficult to get away from for sure, in any fandom. I read a lot of Naruto, and for my particular OTP (Naruto/Sasuke) it's become harder and harder to find a good story where their teammate, Sakura, hasn't been disregarded/discredited entirely or completely character-bashed as being weak and insignificant. And that really sucks. (Although, there seems to be a backlash among some authors now, including myself, of specifically including her in stories or highlighting her role in some way.) But it can also be easy to mistake bashing from highlighting the character's flaws in a deliberate manner... hard to explain but I kind of like the Ron who is bull-headed and loud-mouthed as an adult, or Harry who never thinks before he speaks and is a bit of a bully, as opposed to sugar-coated lovely people all around.

Bleh. That was sort of incoherent, but I wanted to contribute!

[seangaffney]

Luna and Neville are both great characters, but I resist pairing them because it smacks too much of 'pair up the leftovers' to me. A lot of OBHWF shippers paired them not because they fit well together but simply as they were a group of 6 and 4 others were OTP'd. I realize there are many L/N shippers who don't ship the other 2, but it's grated mildly on me enough to give it a miss, mostly.

As for Naruto, I note that, with the possible exception of One Piece, shonen manga fanfic writers, especially females who write yaoi, tend to bash all the female characters in EVERYTHING. :D

[strayfish]

OBHWF?

I pair Luna and Neville based on character interaction in the books/movies, not based on who else is paired with whom in my head. :) Apparently I am in the minority ;_; I just think they're really cute together!

Heh, yes, female characters lose out in the yaoi universe and it's saaaad. They have characters too! Why not exploit their points of view?