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Harry Potter and the Realm of Terrible, No-good Fanon

Or, Why do we prefer to change a character to suite our wants?

Part II

by Mina

(Who is currently surprised at how long this dratted thing is getting, and wonders whether she’s standing on a soapbox or the damn washing machine.)

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Research, despite what you may have heard, is important. Just as it is in real life, spouting something that you actually know nothing about is considered bad form. Not only does researching your topic (this could be for a character, a situation, a place, etc.) make you appear knowledgeable about your subject, it conveys to the reader a sincere desire to engage the reader with the truth rather than suppositions. For example, don’t go writing about a boomslang in Harry Potter fandom without knowing what exactly a boomslang is. If someone out there knows the truth, you’ll look quite foolish, and if you’re anything like me, blushing makes you look horrible.

Research also applies for such things as the use of other languages or cultural idioms/colloquialisms/standards. Remember that in novel writing you can’t put footnotes everywhere; if you use another language, it either needs to be a fairly well-known phrase, or it needs to be explained to the reader, either through thought repetition in English, actually narrative repetition in English, or eventual explanation through conversation. This is another thing that romance authors have a tendency to abuse. You know how many times I tried to read a romance story that took place in Greece, where everyone was spouting Greek but [their] words were never explained? I typically never made it halfway through those books, disgusted that it was so “Greek to me.” No, I won’t beg forgiveness for the cliché; it’s my essay, I’m allowed.

Learn to say exactly what you mean with as few words as possible. Cutting to the chase, as they say (drat, another clichéd phrase), may seem a bit abrupt, but it’s much better than stringing a reader along for two paragraphs in order to convey a meaning.

Choose a writing style and stick with it for the entire story. Don’t go jumping from first to third person (not unless it serves a special purpose, and then you’d better do it very well), or from past to present to future tense. Don’t change from third-person limited (such as the style Harry Potter is written in, with all events being seen through Harry’s eyes alone) to third-person omnipotent (my favourite style, since it’s as close as I’ll ever get to being God). It confuses people and makes them stumble over verbs, wondering if the story suddenly shifted time periods without them noticing.

Another thing to make note of is consistency. If you suddenly change a character’s eye colour or their birth town, people will pick up on that. It’s bad enough when a character’s described as being blonde and they’re a brunette on the cover; unless magically changing hair colour is a plot device, be sure you don’t do it. Consistency also applies to a character’s speech and thought patterns. You can’t have a character speak in Middle English in one chapter and then have them slip into a Bronx accent in the next. For one thing, it’s not believable. For another thing, it changes the readers’ perception of the character. Considering a characters looks, mannerisms, attitude, and style of speech should play an important role in their development in your story.

Do use accents in your story and colloquial turns of phrase for characters. Just make sure that the writing style is clear so the text is easily conveyed.

Don’t use cut out characterisations for your villains or hero/heroines. Not only is this cheating yourself, you’re cheating your readers. Not to mention that such things typically only work in Marvel Comics.

Do think outside of the box. This mostly pertains to fan fiction. Don’t be content to simply retell what’s already been told; go ahead and put a twist in things, throw a “wrench in the gears” as the cliché goes. Just make sure that it’s believable, that your theories and story elements are grounded rather than floating up somewhere in the ionosphere.

Don’t dismiss any idea out of hand. Think every element of your story through before committing yourself one way or the other about a character’s actions or a situation.

Do be original. Don’t go grabbing lines from other works of literature or from television shows and randomly throw them into a characters mouth because they impressed you. If they truly impressed you, figure out a way to improve on them or to make a similar turn of phrase sound as though it actually came from your character’s mouth. For truly brilliant lines, record conversations with friends some time; you’d be surprised how many wonderful gems of witticism you’ll come across.

So…

So. My biggest problem with most Harry Potter fan fiction is similar to my problem with romance novels. Part of it is because I’m more interested in seeing the characters deal with problems and have conversations and fight and go shopping than seeing them snog or shag. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I enjoy reading a well-written PWP (Plot? What plot?) on occasion, but for the most part it’s the Human Condition factors of a story that interest me. Yeah, I still want my favourite characters to get together in the end, but I don’t want their “romantic” relationship to be the main focus of the story.

I’ll admit, I’ve read several stories that seem to be this way—and I’m not afraid to name names. Rhysenn’s Irresistible Poison, Aja’s Love Under Will, Aiden’s Unthinkable Thoughts, and Frances Potter’s Resolution. Of these, Resolution is fairly well-written as far as canonical behaviour goes, and her descriptions of the common room discussions between the boys, as well as the classroom interaction and school talk in general, makes the none-sex moments of the story interesting and believable. Unthinkable Thoughts has a great premise that I feel was ruined by too much focus on the Harry/Draco dynamic and by leaving too many unattached plot threads when the story was announced complete. I’ve fought with Love Under Will like a seesaw, and I’m finally beginning to warm to it. Though it still focuses a bit too much on the H/D romantic relationship, the last few chapters showed a bit more of the canonical tension between characters and seems to be finally going somewhere other than to shag. And Irresistible Poison…well, it’s pretty writing but the characterisations seem too wild to be believable, even given what the characters are going through.

And before I get bombarded with the subject of the infamous Cassandra Claire and her Draco Trilogy, let me say this: Cassie is becoming an amazing author. I had to force myself to read the first two instalments of the trilogy; the style didn’t seem to flow correctly, the characterisations were so unbelievable that I had to constantly remind myself I was reading a Harry Potter fan fic, and her overuse of quotes from literature, television shows, movies, etc. annoyed me because I knew were 9/10 of them came from and they just didn’t seem to fit with the context of the story. However, Draco Veritas, her latest and last instalment to the trilogy, shows how much her style has improved and that she seems to finally be comfortable with what she’s writing. I still don’t agree with her characterisations, but reading it as an AU story and reading it that her characters act differently because of their circumstances, I’m able to mostly enjoy it. In truth, I feel that Cassie’s best works-to-date are A Season in Hell and After the Flood. Why? Because even though the “timeline” is considered AU, the characterisations are so much more believable.

That said, what stories do I prefer to read? Kristi’s Psychopomp, Maya’s Underwater Light, Ishuca’s A Plague of Legends, Antenora’s The Losing Side, and KazVL’s Falling Farther In, of all things (it’s a Snape/Hermione story with Lupin/Black on the side, and there’s a bit of a “romance” feel to it in the scenes with abundant sexual tension, but it’s well-written and interesting). Why do I like these stories? Because of the characterisations and because the premise of the story is fairly original yet you can see obvious tie-ins to the canon thus far.

The biggest reason I can’t stand the fanon style of many characters—especially Draco and Ginny—is because I just can’t picture them behaving that way. It’s not necessarily that the author’s premise is so unbelievable, it’s just that we’ve seen/heard the character react in a certain way for four books, and to suddenly alter that without a plausible explanation…