~~gotta love those love spells, heh.
Nov. 14th, 2002 02:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reenka*happy sigh*
ah, the truth is, i have very simple preferences when it comes to fics. it all hinges on whether or not it makes me happy. really, that's the point. now, i'm not a subscriber to the philosophy that the whole big point of -life- or love or ...well, Big Important Things is to make you happy-- but yes, fiction is all about the endorphins, for me. er. yah, i enjoy the intricacies and the Questions and the insights into humankind and the effect it has of jump-starting my creativity, and so on-- but i wouldn't read so much if it didn't feel like mental ice-cream.
the question of quality and characterization and style and plot-- all those things, when done well, end up making me happy. bad writing is annoying, most of all. people might ask, why do i care, i can just not read it, but you know, it's hard. you never know when the bad writing will jump out at you in a perfectly good story. you're never prepared for the evil lure of a sexy plot done badly.
it occurs to me that when i delineated h/d fanon cliches, i didn't exactly include magical gimmicks, but then, i haven't read more than one at the time....
artificial plot-devices-- love potions, spells, magical toys, enchantments, and so on-- don't get taken very seriously. i mean, this -is- a fantasy story we're writing about, but it's also a romance, and an unrealistic romance isn't as pleasant. it's difficult to keep the plot-device -and- the realistic responses. `irresistible poison' does it really really well, but it's angst, which makes it easier. i mean, even though there is the supposed "crutch" of the love potion, it's balanced out by the amount of -problems- that are invoked, rather than solved. it pretty much seems like a curse, side-stepping the schmoopiness. also, the one-sidedness makes IP stand out as different-- it's the two-sidedness that really makes it hard to not descend into complete contrived sap.
so. there's IP, `unthinkable thoughts', `it all started with a potion gone wrong', and now, `protective bonds', as far as fics using spells to get a romance started.
it's funny. `protective bonds' is most definitely a gimmick fic, and yet it's just so yummy i don't care. it remains realistic, i think, using as much banality and humor as possible. awkward attraction, awkward harry, awkward sex, everyone acting their age and no one being any more witty or suave than anyone else (even ron and hermione get to be adorable, heh).
i think there's something to be said for the judicious use of embarrassment and dorkiness. it sort of takes you back to 15 like nothing else, i find.
i mean, if you're gonna write a gimmick fic where two worst enemies just -need- to touch each other-- come on..! think of the humiliation..! you would just -die-, wouldn't you?? it would be worse than -anything-. and, oh my gahd, what if you secretly -liked- them?? and had to sleep with them??! it would be.... just... hell. *grins*
i wouldn't say she milked it for all it was worth, but she really did better than any of the other fics in that department.
all in all, i think we need to forget about harry & draco in -specific- and remember the utter humiliation inherent in being a teenager :D yes, there was angst, but there was also -sooo- much wibbling and pouting and huffing and giggling and blushing and snorting and growling and so on. losing that essential dork factor just makes for an unrealistic story, really~:)
ah, the truth is, i have very simple preferences when it comes to fics. it all hinges on whether or not it makes me happy. really, that's the point. now, i'm not a subscriber to the philosophy that the whole big point of -life- or love or ...well, Big Important Things is to make you happy-- but yes, fiction is all about the endorphins, for me. er. yah, i enjoy the intricacies and the Questions and the insights into humankind and the effect it has of jump-starting my creativity, and so on-- but i wouldn't read so much if it didn't feel like mental ice-cream.
the question of quality and characterization and style and plot-- all those things, when done well, end up making me happy. bad writing is annoying, most of all. people might ask, why do i care, i can just not read it, but you know, it's hard. you never know when the bad writing will jump out at you in a perfectly good story. you're never prepared for the evil lure of a sexy plot done badly.
it occurs to me that when i delineated h/d fanon cliches, i didn't exactly include magical gimmicks, but then, i haven't read more than one at the time....
artificial plot-devices-- love potions, spells, magical toys, enchantments, and so on-- don't get taken very seriously. i mean, this -is- a fantasy story we're writing about, but it's also a romance, and an unrealistic romance isn't as pleasant. it's difficult to keep the plot-device -and- the realistic responses. `irresistible poison' does it really really well, but it's angst, which makes it easier. i mean, even though there is the supposed "crutch" of the love potion, it's balanced out by the amount of -problems- that are invoked, rather than solved. it pretty much seems like a curse, side-stepping the schmoopiness. also, the one-sidedness makes IP stand out as different-- it's the two-sidedness that really makes it hard to not descend into complete contrived sap.
so. there's IP, `unthinkable thoughts', `it all started with a potion gone wrong', and now, `protective bonds', as far as fics using spells to get a romance started.
it's funny. `protective bonds' is most definitely a gimmick fic, and yet it's just so yummy i don't care. it remains realistic, i think, using as much banality and humor as possible. awkward attraction, awkward harry, awkward sex, everyone acting their age and no one being any more witty or suave than anyone else (even ron and hermione get to be adorable, heh).
i think there's something to be said for the judicious use of embarrassment and dorkiness. it sort of takes you back to 15 like nothing else, i find.
i mean, if you're gonna write a gimmick fic where two worst enemies just -need- to touch each other-- come on..! think of the humiliation..! you would just -die-, wouldn't you?? it would be worse than -anything-. and, oh my gahd, what if you secretly -liked- them?? and had to sleep with them??! it would be.... just... hell. *grins*
i wouldn't say she milked it for all it was worth, but she really did better than any of the other fics in that department.
all in all, i think we need to forget about harry & draco in -specific- and remember the utter humiliation inherent in being a teenager :D yes, there was angst, but there was also -sooo- much wibbling and pouting and huffing and giggling and blushing and snorting and growling and so on. losing that essential dork factor just makes for an unrealistic story, really~:)
