Harry/Ginny = Vanilla?

[pumpkinpasty]

I won't pretend I'm not spamming your flists tonight. Ahaha.

But, okay. I am musing.

Must Harry/Ginny always be considered vanilla? Why?

- - -

Generally speaking, I don't like this 'fandom stereotype' (presuming I have to give it a name). In and around fandom, I get the feeling that because I choose to write H/G, and because it's my OTP,

Comments

[verogeller]

You have no idea how much I agree with you

[reallycorking]

YOU ARE IN MY BRAIN. THINKING MY THOUGHTS. lsadjkf Except that this post seems so much more valid coming from you, because you're a writer and if I ever made a post like this I would feel rather like the dumb fanartist whose opinion matters not. XD

But anyway, I agree with you on like...EVERYTHING.

H/G is so formulaic most of the time, so there are only a few authors that I actually read. And most of them are listed in your post, for the same reasons you listed. I'm also a huge fan of magnolia_mama's fics--did you read last year's ficafest entry of hers, the one with Ginny living by the seashore, waiting for Harry to come back. I really wish that someday I could capture the amazing atmosphere of that in a drawing, but I don't think I could possibly do it justice. Her writing is just so thoughtful and real and she actually pays attention to the characters. SHOCK. /ramble

You can find them elsewhere -- dig in the archives of (the rightfully) popular slash and other-het writers, and you'll see. There are complexities, there. Uniqueness that's hard

[pumpkinpasty]

YOU KNOW I LOVE YOUR BRAIN, AND ALL THAT.

But EEE! Yes. It makes me happy to see that people actually agree, because I was hesitant to make this post to begin with.

Except that this post seems so much more valid coming from you, because you're a writer and if I ever made a post like this I would feel rather like the dumb fanartist whose opinion matters not.

Hee, you're not the first who's said this, and of course in response I say PFFT. I'm not a filmmaker, but I know what kind of movies I want to watch, yeah? So it's the same thing. Readers' opinions are generally pretty fantastical and important, imo.

And OH. magnolia_mama's 'Midsummer Night's Dream,' yes. I don't print out fics, like, ever, but that one I did because it was just. so. gorgeous. I wanted to have it forever, like, in my hands. XD *dorkorama*

emmagrant01 and foreword! *flails* I've edited the post to add these, plus a few others, because people are asking for recs, and it's making me full of OMG.

But yes. AGREED. ♥ ♥

[magnolia_mama]

Jeeeeezy-creezy, y'all. I'm sitting here tearing my hair out (what's left of it, anyway), over THIS ficafest entry, because it's looking at me with these beady little eyes and going, "Neener neener neener, you suck!" and threatening to go belly-up with schmaltz, and now I've got pressure slathered all over me like mayonnaise on a turkey sandwich. :-P

Someone else who really gets into the emotional core of Harry/Ginny in antonia_east -- Chasing Clouds is brilliance embodied, and so is A Hundred Years.

[pumpkinpasty]

Gosh, I definitely know what you mean -- this post was never meant to be so big, and it was written at, like, two in the morning. And now I fear I'll never be able to write fluff again. O___O

*woes*

I honestly think that, despite everything, writers should write what they want. And if that's fluffy-married fic or angsty-dark fic, then that's awesome. Writers should write for themselves first.

Besides, I am such a slave to my muse, I wouldn't have it any other way. XD

And yes! antonia_east is fantastic as well. :) *edits*

[biggrstaffbunch]

Hee. I knew there was a reason I loved you.

I'm really flattered you lumped me in with such consistently amazing authors, because my angst is always so trite. It's actually, interestingly enough, post-DH that has given me more ideas for angst. My ficathon entry for last yr was the beginning of my...never-writing-H/G-fluff again phase. Because you're right...there is already WAY too much of that. I calculate about YEARS before they logically HAVE to get married...years of angst! Struggle! Woe!

...or what if they havent married at all? Whats more realistic than kids out wedlock, right? I dunno, I need more hate!sex. I've been corrupted.

There's no logic to this post either, but I find myself writing hate!sex now too. Corruptions!

[pumpkinpasty]

Oh, yeah, you're exactly right! I think fireworkfiasco was saying this somewhere up there (*points*) -- that because H/G is canon and involves Harry, our writers can be, well, lazier, to put it bluntly. That because Jo wrote it, some writers think that's all the basis we need.

And that would be all well and good, if Jo herself didn't write the ship in such an underdeveloped way.

Of course, while it does bother me that Ginny and H/G weren't developed in canon as much as I would have liked, this also makes the ship more appealing to me, because I have more liberty as a writer. I get that chance to develop the two of them as much as I want, with the challenge of keeping them characterized canonly.

Ron/Hermione -- you're right; fic about them can be repetitive, too. And I think that goes back to the issue of it's canon.

But yes! You've made perfect sense; more so than I think I have. XDXD

[author_by_night]

Take this to mean what you will. 90% of the time, our writers are looking for ways to get Harry and Ginny married, into bed, and pregnant (not necessarily in that order, although I'm sure you'll agree that the pregnant must come after the in-bed).

In this fandom, I actually wouldn't be surprised.

But you know, that's always been my big thing. I don't actually even see a lot of H/G smut - just... fluff. And hey, that's fine when it's good fluff, but there's a lot of bad fluff where Harry is OOC to no end. And like you said - I want substance. I want to know what it's like - does dating The Boy Who Lived ever cause complications and pressure? What about dating the only girl in a family of nine, who is also the youngest? And who is Ginny? I want to know her character. And what is it like post-war?

Like you said, there are many good H/G fics out there that emphasize those things. I'd just like to see even more. And yeah, of course fluff has it's place - but it's not the only thing. :)

[author_by_night]

Oops, re: beng surprised, I meant I wouldn't be surprised if people wrote Harry and Ginny concieving without the, um, conception part. Not that I wouldn't be surprised if they got pregnant after sex. :p

[pumpkinpasty]

Haha, I knew what you meant. :D

But yes. Utterly agreed. There's more to this ship than the fluff -- though that has it's place -- but few writers seem to see that, and that's why no one seems to take H/G very seriously. :/