[Ms Irate & Grumpy yet Gentler than Average Reader at your service]

[reenka]

I think I'm experiencing a resurgence of... something. Or other. Fandomy. I blame MsScribe!!1 >:O!!
    But anyway, I think furiosity's Don't Like? Don't Read! a Tragedie in Five Acts pretty much sums up my life in fandom :D :D Hahaha, I too was Ms Gentle Reader once upon a time. And then I read too many questionable fics of the same questionably plausible pairing for a questionably long time, 'tis true. *wibble*

What I wanted to say was-- though I have no problem with headers/warnings etc. in theory, I've never seen them as useful in the 'don't like, don't read' fangirl philosophy of avoiding fics I wouldn't like...
    

Sometimes (if I trust the source), I've enjoyed pairings that make no sense in theory and which I would've avoided, normally, based on warning alone (like Draco/Dumbledore) or scenarios I generally find squicky (like Lucius/Draco chan). Basically, what warnings don't address (beyond the obvious usefulness of pairing labels for shippers) is the question of quality, which is overriding in terms of what makes a fic readable. Not only that, even given pure writing quality, it doesn't address fanon characterization issues-- I mean, even if you did warn for fanon!Draco, say, it would depend on the author as to what that means in practice. (Meaning, very different characterizations are still fanon stereotypes, some more palatable than others to a particular reader.)

I think for some people, it -would- be enough to know a fic doesn't include their worst squicks (like, for me it would be deathfic & rapefic + ice-prince!Draco) and/or included their biggest kinks (for me it'd probably be stuff no one ever warns for, like snark & cute plot-devices like detentions or potions and such). Myself, I'd just be a lot more careful with stuff that really squicks me, as in, I'm less likely to trust an author I don't know, and more likely if the unknown wrote a favorite cliche of mine, like Harry & Draco need to fuck or the world will END (no one does that anymore, man). I mean, to me, my squicks are really a fuzzy line, 'cause many of the best H/D fics have included death, like Olympia's and Amalin's and Maya's, and a lot of the sexiest scenes for me walk the edge of consent (and it's really a toss up whether you could call it rape from another person's pov).
    (And need I even say that ice-prince!Draco is in nearly all the well-written/classic H/D I myself loved?)

More detailed things like reviews aren't reliable either, 'cause so much depends on a reviewer's individual bias. Just yesterday, I came across a glowing review of a popular fic I absolutely hate, written by an apparently intelligent reader in articulate terms. If anything, often the more 'intelligent' and articulate reviewers seem to go easier on fics than I do 'cause they focus more on the writing itself & less on canonical plausibility or stuff that's particular to a ship (like, how a particular fic reflects or comments on the ship, which always concerns me).

So basically I don't care about the things people warn for one way or another (like I've never read a fic I'd say had a true Mary Sue, no matter how white-washed Draco gets), and never get warnings for what really annoys me (like flowery writing, stupid fanon excuses, shmoopy sex, Sex God!Draco, etc). Possibly warnings are meant for more 'standard' readers... whatever -those- are. I don't know, really. Are there really People Who'll Read Anything Well-written or People Who Read For Kink & that's it?
~~

So many people hatin' on H/D fanon cliches here made me a happy, happy (less alone!) fanpoodle! :X!

Comments

[scoradh.livejournal.com]

Resolutions! That's the one I was totally hooked to! That's my problem. I can read a story as happy as a clam, and then get to the end and realise 'Man. That was fucked up.' I wholeheartedly endorse each and every writer's view of the characters while I'm reading their stories. Mostly that's enough to get me hooked and to ignore the canon betrayal. If I don't like the writing ... that's when the trouble starts.

Amalin, Amalin. You mention her a lot. Is she gone from fandom?

"Your Every Desire" chilled me to the bone. I still have nightmares about it. Me, I am not a horror and gore sort of girl. I like romcoms. But still, I'm glad I read that one.

Must check that one out ...

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Hahah, I remember when -I- liked Resolution, dude ^^;;; Well, at some point it just got too much for me, but okay, I thought the porn was hot ><;; I MEAN, that was the first... um... thigh!sex I read, okay, ahahahalkfjsadl;kjfadlkj *coughs* ANYWAY. Yeah, I read a lot of fics in my early days (aka my first 2 years in fandom) which now... seem embarrassing, but I can also see the good in them. I'd probably still find the thigh!sex hot ><;; I AM SORRY, GOD :( Basically, it's not so much with the 'canon betrayal' and more with the WTF CRACK IS THIS? (evil!Ron... need I say more) which goes beyond that somehow...

But yeah, 'Your Every Desire' is scary as fuck. Hard to find a flaw in it other than that though, isn't it :> :>

You should also read 'Red (http://bloom.velveteen.net/red.html)' by Miss Breed, or that wanking fic that's also on her site, though the wankfic is less with the classic!H/D and more with the IC wanking. Heh. Amalin... yeah, was like one of the first 5 H/D writers I found, and there's a list of her stuff here (http://monochromal.livejournal.com/67726.html), though most of what -I- read, she links at the bottom at her website. I dunno how it holds up characterization-wise (her longfic-- the one at the top-- that one does, but the other old H/D ficlets are just REALLY well-written. uh. *cough*)

I'm really a style-whore who got burned too many times :/

[scoradh.livejournal.com]

Yes. Evil!Ron -- even I was a bit 'Dude, whoa, I don't want to think of Ron being a nasty pureblood kthanx'.

Very hard. Very very hard.

Ah yes, monochromal! I remember her very last longfic coming out (I did not read it). I'm a bit bored with the H/D dynamic nowadays, frankly. Everyone is so keen to write worthy, non leather pants wearing or sex gods that ... well ... it's a bit dull.

Or maybe I just want more spin the bottle fics. I think they're so cute.

I'm really a style-whore who got burned too many times

Hehehe. (I don't know why that's funny.)

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, I actually think most people's idea of post-HBP!H/D is boring also ^^;; I'm not for being upright & 'proper', just less cracky and badly done :P I think, actually, my favorite H/D fic-writers (Silvia Kundera, Aspen, Breed, Aja, Sara, Maya & Trin & Ivy too I guess)... anyway, they mostly wrote cute, funny/porny snarky things that still managed to be... connected with what I thought of as reality, though I may have been wrong. Aspen and Sara especially mostly just write (really good!) porn :))

...See, see, people TRY to be better but really they just get worse :/ Like, seriously, they may talk the talk (and they don't really talk -my- talk anyway), but no one walks the walk. HBP isn't the best soil for cute H/D, but then no one agreed with me about the wonderousness about OoTP!H/D anyway... but yes. Aspen & Sara/addictedkitten = good porn, that's really what's important.

[scoradh.livejournal.com]

Where would we be without the porn?

Probably in some grotty little newsagents, but I digress.

Really, I just wish kabeyk would write more anything.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Me too! Except by 'anything', I really mean 'R/S', 'cause I'm picky and OTPish like that ^^; And also 'cause James is straight in my head even though I liked that James/Snape she did a lot... I actually like the idea of James/Snape & wish more people wrote it :( But then I liked James/Lucius ones upon a time (Amalin wrote it!). I sort of hate other people liking Remus and him liking them back, that's what it comes down to. BAD REMUS, BAD! NO BISCUIT!

[scoradh.livejournal.com]

I'm all about the James/Sirius, babe! (So was K, initially, but there's not a big market for those fics.) The problem with James is always Lily. Unless it's AU. MORE AU I SAY.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Well, it's better than Remus/James, I dunno why, hehe. I don't mind the idea-- they're certainly close enough!-- but it's hard to picture James without Lily being -James-, somehow, since he did like her since 2nd year or whatever. It would just be weird, like... it would change a -lot- of things. Plus if Sirius didn't like-like Remus (which is probably canon... er..) it's kind of depressing, y'know. I mean, it -is- depressing, but less depressing with S/R, 'cause... I just feel like it's hard to both focus on J/S and have Remus be important and not become another Peter, even though Remus -did- distrust Sirius in the end. Argh, my head... -.-;;

[scoradh.livejournal.com]

[pets] All Marauder era fic is a dead end anyway. What this fandom needs is ... multicoloured werewolf babies!!!