Comments | harmony_bites: Guide to Completed SSHG Epics (HBP-era)

harmony_bites

Guide to Completed SSHG Epics (HBP-era)

Jan 18, 2008 18:03

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... )

sshgguides, hbp, fic recs, hbpsshgguide, ss/hg

Comments 81

ginny_weasley31 January 19 2008, 02:28:38 UTC

Oh, goodness! That does seem like a rather small number, doesn't it?

I read epics, and I've read almost all of these, except for Ms. Figg's stuff. (No disrespect to her, because she does have her fan base and damn, that woman writes, but I simply can't read them.)

But I wouldn't say that epics are my favourite type of fic. I mostly prefer something 40-90k. It's enough to give me a detail without drawing things out forevah! Though, the really good ones, I want to keep going, but... that's just the nature of a good story, I think.

However, I also hadn't realised that some of these were epic lengths. (I really did love Accountable and His Draught of Delicate Poison.)

harmony_bites January 19 2008, 02:32:07 UTC

I read epics, and I've read almost all of these, except for Ms. Figg's stuff. (No disrespect to her, because she does have her fan base and damn, that woman writes, but I simply can't read them.)

::bites tongue:: ::tries to channel Bambu:: Er...yeah, I tried, but can't read them either.

But I wouldn't say that epics are my favourite type of fic. I mostly prefer something 40-90k. It's enough to give me a detail without drawing things out forevah! Though, the really good ones, I want to keep going, but... that's just the nature of a good story, I think.

Always--true even of short stories.

However, I also hadn't realised that some of these were epic lengths. (I really did love Accountable and His Draught of Delicate Poison.)

I think the best ones read so quickly you don't really even realize how long they are. I certainly agree with you about Accountable

ginny_weasley31 January 19 2008, 03:19:51 UTC

I think the best ones read so quickly you don't really even realize how long they are.

That's quite true. I love when I'm pulled into a story and don't even realise how long it is as I'm reading it.

I just recently realised why I fell in-love with fanfiction and this ship to begin with. I think I'm finally coming out of my post-DH blues and I'm hoping that means that others will be soon too... and hopefully bring plenty of new stories into the mix for me to enjoy.

harmony_bites January 19 2008, 03:25:46 UTC

I just recently realised why I fell in-love with fanfiction and this ship to begin with. I think I'm finally coming out of my post-DH blues and I'm hoping that means that others will be soon too... and hopefully bring plenty of new stories into the mix for me to enjoy.

Yay! Truly, I think DH improves things enormously--JKR gave us three gifts:

1) "The Prince's Tale" - she might not see it--but that's a heroic Snape painted there--and a vulnerable and loving one. I know people before DH who claimed Snape couldn't love. Well, stuff and nonsense to that--and he's absolutely on the "good" column now.

2) So many holes in Snape's "death" you can drive a lorry thru...

3) That little itty bitty crack a_bees_buzz found in the epilogue--that there's nothing absolutely pinning down Hermione was even ever married to the kids.

I actually think both Snape's character and the character of the fics have lightened--I feel I can see it in the epilogues. And mundungus42 mentioned above how much more multi-chapters there are this Exchange and I looked at my spreadsheet ( ... )

Thread 7

tkurogrym January 19 2008, 05:05:53 UTC

This will be brief because I'm exhausted, but ... how brilliant you are to have done this. And how depressing the results are, as well. Agreed on every point -- including the benefits of length for a problematic 'ship. (I just read a short Snape/Luna piece just to sample that one and found myself squicked all over again by the power differential. It isn't his age so much as his experience with life that makes even "believable" relationships with newly graduated former students a bit hard to swallow. It reminded me of what I thought when I first stumbled on HGSS.)

harmony_bites January 19 2008, 05:13:02 UTC

Otoh, mundungus42 just mentioned Textual Sphinx's "Letter from Exile One Merciful Morning"--that's a mid-length fic--not much more than 10 thousand words I think. It's the first extant SSHG, a classic, and a ship converter.

But yes, partly its the age/power difference that makes the ship a hard sell that needs an author to take their time. Though a lot of it is just Snape's nasty canon persona. It takes a fic that allows you to walk in his shoes a bit--with Hermione watching--for both her and the reader to overcome that.

And yes, the above is a rather depressing result. Especially because I loved the developments of HBP which are what made me love Snape, and the book imo had so much potential to shake the ship out of a rut. Makes me want to continue on and do the novels to see if I can do better. Though that would be quite the project. Surely there are a few hundred?

brisinggammen January 27 2008, 14:46:30 UTC

I'm not sure, but I think SW69's Luring the Enchanteress was finished after HBP (althoug not compliant as far as I remember).

It does seem like there are rather few though. And none of them would go on my top five list, although some of them are excellent. There are some very promising WIPs out there though, so there is still hope.

harmony_bites January 27 2008, 15:59:47 UTC

Luring the Enchantress might have been finished after HBP, but it wasn't started before HBP--witness it's presence in the SSHG Awards, nominated as a "classic" For something to be on this list, it must have been started after 7/15/05, it must be over 100,001 words, it must be complete. And yes, that is true of few stories.

There are however, loads of WIPs that might eventually make this list that are not yet complete nor yet epic length--bloodcult's Seven Prepostrous Things, Hypnobarb's Looking for Magic, Wonderfulchild's Walking Through Fire, Wade and Danae's Thirty Pieces of Silver and my own Book of Shadows--that maybe be why this list seems short to you--because it doesn't yet include such stories, or because epics posted during HBP (but started before) are not included.

autumnmist February 24 2008, 05:55:35 UTC

Happy you have the motivation to do this. :) Thanks!

Sad though because I'm reading through your lists hoping to find more good stuff to read but I've already read all the stories you starred so far.

*sighs*

Feed me! :)

harmony_bites February 24 2008, 07:50:15 UTC

Hmmm--maybe in the novels or the 3 novella posts you'll find new gold? I did find new favorites doing this--Kailin, Arsenic, Swooning... Camillo... Or maybe it was in all those short stories that are too many to list...

You're just too well-read in the ship I guess...

lady_rhian March 5 2008, 02:27:41 UTC

Thank you for perfectly expressing why I prefer my fic canon compliant. You said it far better than I could right there. However, noting that these are what hooked most of us - too true. Dafina's Unlikely Partners and Ramos' Hinge of Fate were what really hooked me. Again, my thanks to you for putting up such fabulous lists.

harmony_bites March 5 2008, 02:33:36 UTC

You're welcome.

KazVL's Falling Further In hooked me to SSHG. In a way, epics in general hooked me into HP. We didn't by and large have them in my former fandom, Trek, and I found myself fully immersed in stories like Soul Searching and Before the Dawn before I knew it and their visions certainly influenced my own take on our favorite pair and my own writing. Hopefully they'll be some great epics in DH that can take their place among our favorites.