~~ calling all in-character H/S fics!

[reenka]

So I subscribe to the V-Inc mailing list, and I get the digest so I skim all the the fics without reading, mostly. But seeing the random millionth reference to Harry confessing to Snape how much he finds his voice oh-so-sexy was just the last straw. I just need to know: Are there any fics out there that don't go in for these cliches? Anywhere? Anyone? Bueller?

In my sudden quest for an I-might-read-this-even-with-no-smut H/S fic, I'm looking for something--


- Where Harry isn't rabidly lusting after Snape's voice;
- Where Snape's wish to fuck Harry is UST or repressed for most of the fic, and he may not even know he wants to for the longest time-- he -definitely- didn't just suddenly have this lust-lightbulb switch on;
- Where they are not star-crossed lovers who're perfect for each other in every way, if only they'd get over themselves;
- Where no one feels the urge to call him `Severus', least of all Harry;
- Where Harry actually resents him and has childish issues with "but I HATE Snape, my GOD", through most of the fic-- and he never entirely learns to like him, though maybe he accepts that;
- Where Harry is not submissive and neither is Snape;
- Where Snape is not the most experienced and sexually potent and skilled person alive, and is in fact kinda bad except it's okay anyway. Kind of;
- Where Harry is still friends with Ron and Hermione and he's not any more "adult" or "intelligent" than ever;
- Where Harry doesn't have a "hormonal crush" and his feelings are all prickly and uncomfortable and confused;
- Where Snape is still greasy and mean to Harry, possibly moreso than ever in spite;
- Where Snape is still an amoral bastard and Harry still distrusts him and they don't like each other even though they maybe wouldn't mind using each other sexually. Maybe. Something like that. And maybe they're starting to reach an understanding (but it's an annoyed, exasperated understanding). Um?

EDIT - Trying to be reasonable, I'd say minimally:

- Harry doesn't suddenly like/want him;
- He doesn't obsess over Snape's voice;
- Both Snape and Harry remain basically the same;
- No gratuitous sweetness and usage of `Severus' occurs.

- Bonus points for this all not working out and being doomed (no, really??) and Harry -not- deciding to come back and be DADA professor, and instead getting into a nice committed hetero relationship while Snape grows more bitter. Mmmm, realism.

Is this even humanly possible to write? :/ ...I think maybe I'm impossible to please entirely, but an utter lack of "Oh Severus!-- Oh Harry!" and voice-lust would be nice.
    P.S. - heeeeee. Snape/Buckbeak - the perfect Snape pairing :D :D :D

Comments

[kaiz.livejournal.com]

ahahah, I love your icon :D :D

Hee, thanks!

Hmm. What does it say that there aren't many fics (apparently) that fit my criteria?

Well, I'd say that it says more about the fact that I was running out the door when I saw your post, and didn't have time to compile a lengthy list, than anything else! :-) Also, it wasn't clear to me that you were all that serious about actually reading the stories if I invested a bunch of time finding them, so, well, I didn't try all that hard. Just noted the ones that came to mind first.

Was my list completely unreasonable?

I think that you (the generic you) could draw up any lengthy list of requirements for *any* pairing and be hard pressed to come up with a bunch of stories that meet those criteria. I could just as easily assemble a list for H/D that would filter out 99% of all H/D stories ever written. (Just saying "No Suave!Sarcastic!Draco" might elinate a fair chunk of them! ;-) In this case, your list was pretty extensive, so yeah, it would be harder to find stuff that matched up with all those criteria.

does most H/S suck, or is it something else? 'Cause like, there's so much of it -out- there. Is it really all about the shmoopy luurve & the voice-lust? :T

Since I've read a lot of HP/SS (certainly not all!), and I do write it, I would say that in my experience, just like in all things, Sturgeon's Law applies. There are some stellar examples of HP/SS fiction, just as there are some abyssmal ones. YMMV depending upon what you're looking for and what criteria you use for "good." Heh. ;-)

Like all "ships" you'll find that certain cliches are more prevalent than in others. But I think that in *all* cases when it comes to romantic pairings, if you (the generic you, again) don't at least tentatively buy into a pairing, or at least the *possibility* of a pairing--be it het or slash--and suspend your disbelief accordingly, then 99% of the fiction for that pairing won't ever convince you in a hundred million years. I mean heck, the only pairings that we all can really buy into without suspending disbelief are the canon ones, i.e. Arthur/Molly, Lucius/Narcissa, etc.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean. I guess it's a little-known fact(?) that I -do- read H/S, unlike a lot of H/D old-timers on LJ (the pairings seem to repel each other somehow). I have suspended my disbelief plenty of times, it's just that once I get started on a list, it's really hard to stop, heh. I just keep going... and going... and going, by nature.

The only important bits was:
- Harry doesn't suddenly like/want him;
- He doesn't obsess over Snape's voice;
- Both Snape and Harry remain basically the same;
- No gratuitous sweetness and usage of `Severus' occurs.

I think that's what all that boils down to.
I -was- serious about reading it (though I do read flippantly, as to what I read when, eventually my desperation always rises to the occasion, heh).
I -am- curious as to which point was most detrimental to me finding a lot of fic. Does Harry really always lust after his voice, for example? Does Harry always find him a sex-god? Do they always magically get over disliking each other? (I mean, in a good number of H/D fics, there's a lot more residual resentment left in, it seems to me). I both buy & don't buy into H/S. I read it, so I -must- be able to see it somewhat (unlike say, Dumbledore/Harry which is JUST WRONG, hee-- though I -have- loved Silvia's Draco/Dumbledore, so what do -I- know, except that silviakundera can sell me anything).

I myself have never actually written Suave!Draco, btw. I've always liked my characters maddened, raw and ugly :D :D :D
Um -.-

[kaiz.livejournal.com]

I have suspended my disbelief plenty of times, it's just that once I get started on a list, it's really hard to stop, heh. I just keep going... and going... and going, by nature.

I totally hear that! ::g::

Re. your truncated list...sure, there are a ton of stories that meet those criteria! (Some of them are even on ff.net. ::veg::) But seriously, yes, right off the top of my head I suggest that you take a look at stories written by Nym, by Luthien, by Telanu, by JiM, by Femme, by Tira Nog, and also by JayKay. You can find links to their pages at my recs page (http://www.squidge.org/~kali/hprecs.html).

I -am- curious as to which point was most detrimental to me finding a lot of fic.

I'd say that it was the requirement that they overcome their hostility towards one another. And, I think perhaps I interpreted the "magically" in the broadest sense, so I was thinking of stories where they never *do* get over their animosity at all and yet have sex anyway, not stories that overcome that problem via a magic potion or a spell or something (if that makes any sense).

Dumbledore/Harry which is JUST WRONG

Ooo, yeah. I've only read one story like that and wasn't left desperately jonesing for more of the pairing. ;-)

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

That's strange, since I thought I said I'd prefer it if they -didn't- just overcome their hostility. Where did I say "magically"? *confused*

I did say,
and he never entirely learns to like him
and so on. I think in most of the fics -I've- read, Harry realizes, after working with Snape or being rescued by Snape or suddenly realizing how sexy Snape is, that there's definitely More To Snape or... something. Snape is slower to change his mind but you get the feeling that's just because he never admits to anything, not that there's actual bad blood there.

Maybe I've been reading all the wrong fics? (Admittedly, most of what I do read have been porn one-shots, so I suppose there's a limited range there). Still, the sudden-lust thing doesn't make sense to me even if the resentment remains, and especially if it does, since a purely lust-based relationship doesn't make sense for Harry when it comes to Snape, since one doesn't just decide to shag one's teacher as far as I know, in real life anyway.

I read H/S smut 'cause I -like- H/S smut, which is strange 'cause I don't like thinking of Snape nekkid & I can't see either of them being really secretly harboring all this animal passion for each other, and yet I really dislike star-crossed-lovers!H/S on some "but this is INSANE" sort of level.
I like the sillier, more irreverent fics best of all. Like where Snape became a bunch of inanimate objects (Predatrix, I think), the one where Snape was a snake & Harry masturbated with him (ahahaha) and the one where Harry had an impotency problem Snape helped to cure him of.
Angst and sincere earnest fic makes me all critical and hard to please, but gimme smut & humor and I'm oh-so-easy. It's like this with any pairing, really~:)