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

[mickawber_fics]

This is a really interesting point!

My problem, I think, is that I love both Luna and Ginny-though I saw that JKR was definitely headed in the direction of H/G since early in the series, I enjoy the idea of H/L and G/L relationships every bit as much.

Alas, since HBP it has been hard to find a Harry/Luna fic where Ginny isn't totally trashed-even by writers I'd loved, like Michelle_31a-or shipped with Draco, which I consider to be worse disrespect than simply calling her a two-sickle whore and getting it over with.

Likewise, in Ginny/Luna fics, Harry is either an insensitive jerk with his head up his butt (well, okay, I can buy that one a bit, at least) who both girls decide isn't worth bothering with, or he's gayer than a three-dollar bill. Usually, again, he's off doing utterly out-of-character things with Draco. Pheh.

The problem is that when a really lovely ship is sunk by canon, the only real way to fight back is to take potshots at canon.

I prefer the middle Nargle way. ;-)

[mickawber_fics]

Well, of course, that makes sense to me (though I'm happier with the H/G dynamic than you are)-but it's a different point from the one I think our good host was trying to make. ;-)

[seangaffney]

To be fair, that's a quality Luna embodies in general - it can also be a great argument for H/L/Hr, or H/L/D, etc. :)

[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

[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?