I think I may have a problem.
A good friend of mine convinced me to watch Once Upon a Time. I hadn't planned on it -- I have enough shows on my plate as it is, and the likelihood of it being good didn't seem very high, based on what I'd seen in the previews -- but he was dying for someone to discuss it with... particularly someone who'd just given him a big pile of Harry/Draco fics to read and who would thus obviously be on board with some pretty boy appreciation.
I watched it with the assumption that it'd be the sort of show I could take or leave -- the shows that really get to me are the ones with complex characters, which seemed unlikely for a bunch of fairy tale characters living in Maine -- and the main benefit would be good times with my friend.
That... is not what happened.
Instead, there was a clever, unpleasant middle-aged man with a lot of barely-contained emotional problems and a redemption story arc.
I am now utterly useless for pretty boy appreciation, because I've discovered a heretofore unknown weakness for weedy, middle-aged Scotsmen with bad teeth.
Back when I first started in fandom, I did nothing but mainline Snape/Hermione fic. These days I'll ship nearly anybody, but at the time, I couldn't go for any other pairing.
The OUAT fandom is much smaller, but guys, in this one the Snape/Hermione is canon. There is SO MUCH of it, and I've been reading it non-stop. I squealed when I realized I could download epubs from AO3 and make it my subway reading. And my every single evening reading. When I'm not re-watching the show.
I HAVE A PROBLEM. PLEASE SEND HELP.
...
OR MORE FIC.
It's so weird how well it matches up. My favorite Snape/Hermione fic of all time is Ordinary People, despite the fact that it's smut-free and pretty far removed from the source material. My favorite Rumbelle fic is Can't Take the Sky, which is also smut-free and wildly removed from the source material. (Also, it's the Firefly-universe-with-different-characters I've always wanted, so there's that.) There are a lot of just-underage fics that I love precisely because they squick me. There are a lot of obvious self-insert and Sue fics that I love anyway, because there's a little Sue-writer in me still. There's an 85-chapter WIP with an unbelievable number of sex scenes that I couldn't put down. There's a BNF who goes sweeter and more vanilla than I like, but whose fic I read anyway. There are writers with terrible grammar whose work I will trudge through anyway because when it comes to chemistry, they deliver.
If the last time around is any indication, there's going to be another 8-9 months of this, and then I'll start slashing him with everybody, making art, and moving on all the delicious femslash possibilities on this show. (Ruby, Mulan, Emma, your time is coming.)
This experience has also made it clear to me why I didn't get that involved when the rest of HP fandom took detours into Supernatural, Star Trek, or Avengers:
1. Not enough ladies.
2. No Snape.
(It also opens the somewhat bemusing possibility that ugly jerks become attractive to me when they're conflicted about it. Well, at least I'm letting that out in fiction instead of crushing on them in real life.)
Is anybody here actually involved in this fandom? There seems to be a younger crowd on Tumblr, but there be dragons (or at least sappy animated gifs and songfic). I don't know if I really *want* to get involved, though. I doubt I have time for more than one fandom, and the thought of leaving HP fandom makes me feel horrid.
Please feel free to tell me "get off the ledge", or "calm down; we all get new show obsessed sometimes", or "God, woman, you think he's hot? What's wrong with you?"
Originally posted at dreamwidth.
I watched it with the assumption that it'd be the sort of show I could take or leave -- the shows that really get to me are the ones with complex characters, which seemed unlikely for a bunch of fairy tale characters living in Maine -- and the main benefit would be good times with my friend.
That... is not what happened.
Instead, there was a clever, unpleasant middle-aged man with a lot of barely-contained emotional problems and a redemption story arc.
I am now utterly useless for pretty boy appreciation, because I've discovered a heretofore unknown weakness for weedy, middle-aged Scotsmen with bad teeth.
Back when I first started in fandom, I did nothing but mainline Snape/Hermione fic. These days I'll ship nearly anybody, but at the time, I couldn't go for any other pairing.
The OUAT fandom is much smaller, but guys, in this one the Snape/Hermione is canon. There is SO MUCH of it, and I've been reading it non-stop. I squealed when I realized I could download epubs from AO3 and make it my subway reading. And my every single evening reading. When I'm not re-watching the show.
I HAVE A PROBLEM. PLEASE SEND HELP.
...
OR MORE FIC.
It's so weird how well it matches up. My favorite Snape/Hermione fic of all time is Ordinary People, despite the fact that it's smut-free and pretty far removed from the source material. My favorite Rumbelle fic is Can't Take the Sky, which is also smut-free and wildly removed from the source material. (Also, it's the Firefly-universe-with-different-characters I've always wanted, so there's that.) There are a lot of just-underage fics that I love precisely because they squick me. There are a lot of obvious self-insert and Sue fics that I love anyway, because there's a little Sue-writer in me still. There's an 85-chapter WIP with an unbelievable number of sex scenes that I couldn't put down. There's a BNF who goes sweeter and more vanilla than I like, but whose fic I read anyway. There are writers with terrible grammar whose work I will trudge through anyway because when it comes to chemistry, they deliver.
If the last time around is any indication, there's going to be another 8-9 months of this, and then I'll start slashing him with everybody, making art, and moving on all the delicious femslash possibilities on this show. (Ruby, Mulan, Emma, your time is coming.)
This experience has also made it clear to me why I didn't get that involved when the rest of HP fandom took detours into Supernatural, Star Trek, or Avengers:
1. Not enough ladies.
2. No Snape.
(It also opens the somewhat bemusing possibility that ugly jerks become attractive to me when they're conflicted about it. Well, at least I'm letting that out in fiction instead of crushing on them in real life.)
Is anybody here actually involved in this fandom? There seems to be a younger crowd on Tumblr, but there be dragons (or at least sappy animated gifs and songfic). I don't know if I really *want* to get involved, though. I doubt I have time for more than one fandom, and the thought of leaving HP fandom makes me feel horrid.
Please feel free to tell me "get off the ledge", or "calm down; we all get new show obsessed sometimes", or "God, woman, you think he's hot? What's wrong with you?"
Originally posted at dreamwidth.