The 1st
zomg. So the reason for this journal isn't so much because I plan to write in it (at least not yet), but because I'm tired of being a lurker, and wish to comment without anonymity.
I’ve been in the fandom for about 8/9 years, although I’ve never seriously written anything. I was around when SCUSA was SCUSA, before SCUSA was SCUSA, when the Dames of Avalon existed, when angie_j still wrote, when Lissane wrote Love is a Battlefield, and when my favorite story came from an author named FUBAR on fanfiction.net, who wrote a songfic when I was 12 to the tune of “Original Prankster.” I was around when alaric darconville (fanfiction.net) wrote one of the few Harry/Ginny pieces I’ve ever liked, because the sex was so good in it, and I was young enough to really appreciate it (har har), and the descriptions of everything (physical and non-physical) were. . . astonishing. Ginny’s creamy skin; the color of her hair (exactly right, whatever it was); her freckles; her vulnerability; her desire so strong she acted and did something brash (Harry and her in the bathroom), and she did it at 14/15, because that’s what kids do. She’s not on fanfiction.net anymore (hasn’t been for a LONG time), but I think about that story often.
I’ve read fanfiction that’s drawn me in like Sports Night did, when I saw it airing on Comedy Central when I was 13, staying up late to watch a show that just seemed. . . right-well-written. Passionate. About people who were competent and extraordinary in their dedication to a thing they loved. I’ve read that kind of fanfiction and known it through the authors listed above, and through countless others. I’ve picked up a lot of my vernacular through them, and been taught (surprisingly) invaluable lessons: about the nature of the writer, of writing, of creation, of expression, and of living without fearing what others think. . . at least less than I might have. I was learning from people who were 15 and 25 and 35. I was learning about people who were bound to wheelchairs and blind and smart (wicked smart) and gay and straight and charitable and good. And I learned about their flaws. I soaked all of it up, because it was affirmation that the way I was was fine. For that matter, it still is.
In short, I grew up with this stuff. And far be it from anyone to ever tell me the Internet hasn’t done a great thing for a lot of people. Because without it, I wouldn’t know as much literature as I do, as many words, as many people, as many concepts/places/things/facts/etc. Without computers, and without the Internet, I’d have been a bit more boring as a kid. With it, I had freedom to explore.
I’ve known terrible fanfiction (the brunt of it, not surprisingly) that’s made me want to scream, and decent stuff that’s gotten better. I’ve seen writers take tentative footsteps into worlds they never thought they could craft, and did. I’ve seen (SO many) writers get exponentially better because they wrote fanfiction.
I’ve been a Harry/Hermione shipper since book one when I was 11. Most boys that age don’t think about romance (ask my friends whose parents divorced when they were young, and you’ll hear interesting tales of “romance”), and I didn’t-but then I did. Harry/Hermione makes sense. Harry’s good attributes complement Hermione’s. It’s almost a “‘Nuff said” kind of deal. Their rapport is great; their shared glances, significant; their compassion, palpable. Etc. Suffice it to say that I think it works, and I think there are some whose work work most closely echoes my feelings of why. There are those who envision them about the same age I do. They illustrate their struggle and paint realistic portraits of two characters who love one another. And they do it with such language-such seductive and dynamic language that you’ve maybe never seen before but should.
I’ve read Harry Potter for almost half of my life. I’ve read fic for just as long. I turn 20 in 17 days, and I wonder if I’ll ever “grow out of it.” I hope not.
I’ve been in the fandom for about 8/9 years, although I’ve never seriously written anything. I was around when SCUSA was SCUSA, before SCUSA was SCUSA, when the Dames of Avalon existed, when angie_j still wrote, when Lissane wrote Love is a Battlefield, and when my favorite story came from an author named FUBAR on fanfiction.net, who wrote a songfic when I was 12 to the tune of “Original Prankster.” I was around when alaric darconville (fanfiction.net) wrote one of the few Harry/Ginny pieces I’ve ever liked, because the sex was so good in it, and I was young enough to really appreciate it (har har), and the descriptions of everything (physical and non-physical) were. . . astonishing. Ginny’s creamy skin; the color of her hair (exactly right, whatever it was); her freckles; her vulnerability; her desire so strong she acted and did something brash (Harry and her in the bathroom), and she did it at 14/15, because that’s what kids do. She’s not on fanfiction.net anymore (hasn’t been for a LONG time), but I think about that story often.
I’ve read fanfiction that’s drawn me in like Sports Night did, when I saw it airing on Comedy Central when I was 13, staying up late to watch a show that just seemed. . . right-well-written. Passionate. About people who were competent and extraordinary in their dedication to a thing they loved. I’ve read that kind of fanfiction and known it through the authors listed above, and through countless others. I’ve picked up a lot of my vernacular through them, and been taught (surprisingly) invaluable lessons: about the nature of the writer, of writing, of creation, of expression, and of living without fearing what others think. . . at least less than I might have. I was learning from people who were 15 and 25 and 35. I was learning about people who were bound to wheelchairs and blind and smart (wicked smart) and gay and straight and charitable and good. And I learned about their flaws. I soaked all of it up, because it was affirmation that the way I was was fine. For that matter, it still is.
In short, I grew up with this stuff. And far be it from anyone to ever tell me the Internet hasn’t done a great thing for a lot of people. Because without it, I wouldn’t know as much literature as I do, as many words, as many people, as many concepts/places/things/facts/etc. Without computers, and without the Internet, I’d have been a bit more boring as a kid. With it, I had freedom to explore.
I’ve known terrible fanfiction (the brunt of it, not surprisingly) that’s made me want to scream, and decent stuff that’s gotten better. I’ve seen writers take tentative footsteps into worlds they never thought they could craft, and did. I’ve seen (SO many) writers get exponentially better because they wrote fanfiction.
I’ve been a Harry/Hermione shipper since book one when I was 11. Most boys that age don’t think about romance (ask my friends whose parents divorced when they were young, and you’ll hear interesting tales of “romance”), and I didn’t-but then I did. Harry/Hermione makes sense. Harry’s good attributes complement Hermione’s. It’s almost a “‘Nuff said” kind of deal. Their rapport is great; their shared glances, significant; their compassion, palpable. Etc. Suffice it to say that I think it works, and I think there are some whose work work most closely echoes my feelings of why. There are those who envision them about the same age I do. They illustrate their struggle and paint realistic portraits of two characters who love one another. And they do it with such language-such seductive and dynamic language that you’ve maybe never seen before but should.
I’ve read Harry Potter for almost half of my life. I’ve read fic for just as long. I turn 20 in 17 days, and I wonder if I’ll ever “grow out of it.” I hope not.