Hmm, while I agree with you totally about the desultory aspects of fanon H/D I don't agree that the "only way" to get these two adversaries together is through some cracky premise, which seems to be some people's motivation behind their cracky premises. Don't get me wrong, crackfic has its place, but it's usually not my thing, and I get annoyed that people say they must resort to crack to get H and D into bed together when to me... it's really not that far-fetched!
Okay, sure, all slashfic has to suspend disbelief in one aspect, usually that the characters are gay or bi. Fine, I accept that as a necessary condition, but it doesn't have to go all the way to "and then one day Harry woke up and realized he was gay and WANTED DRACO MALFOY'S BODY..." (or vice versa). I think maybe that's why I tend to write the H/D relationship as a little more singular--like maybe it's not that they are "gay" so much as attracted to each other despite their gender.
I try to write H/D (and other pairings too) that makes a little bit of sense, where the attraction and the accomodation the characters come to is at least a tiny bit believable. It's why I write them 19 years old and older a lot of the time, because I have to project them forward just a little to keep them in character yet changed just enough that it isn't a stretch. The canon has some wiggle room but not that much...
One of the problems with the "Draco suddenly becomes a much better wizard" fics is that in the canon JKR doesn't really give us much of an indication as to how powerful either Harry or Draco are. Harry thinks of himself as average and as much of the book comes through the Harry-filter I doubt he thinks of Draco as much better. we don't really have an objective idea of how Draco and Harry compare. (And Draco fans who want to undo his inferiority complex, and yes, he has one in the canon, overcompensate.)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2006-07-03 10:43 pm (UTC)Okay, sure, all slashfic has to suspend disbelief in one aspect, usually that the characters are gay or bi. Fine, I accept that as a necessary condition, but it doesn't have to go all the way to "and then one day Harry woke up and realized he was gay and WANTED DRACO MALFOY'S BODY..." (or vice versa). I think maybe that's why I tend to write the H/D relationship as a little more singular--like maybe it's not that they are "gay" so much as attracted to each other despite their gender.
I try to write H/D (and other pairings too) that makes a little bit of sense, where the attraction and the accomodation the characters come to is at least a tiny bit believable. It's why I write them 19 years old and older a lot of the time, because I have to project them forward just a little to keep them in character yet changed just enough that it isn't a stretch. The canon has some wiggle room but not that much...
One of the problems with the "Draco suddenly becomes a much better wizard" fics is that in the canon JKR doesn't really give us much of an indication as to how powerful either Harry or Draco are. Harry thinks of himself as average and as much of the book comes through the Harry-filter I doubt he thinks of Draco as much better. we don't really have an objective idea of how Draco and Harry compare. (And Draco fans who want to undo his inferiority complex, and yes, he has one in the canon, overcompensate.)