Fandom Bullshit
Nov. 24th, 2007 04:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedibuttercup*shaking head* You know, the reviews for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
backagainharry over at The Pit of Voles-- and the review thread at the Dark Lord Potter Forums (which has at least increased my readership, though I find it baffling that they reviewed it at all given their biases)-- have pretty much transcended annoyance now and reached the realm of an interesting sociological study.
It's fascinating to me how many people judge me as a writer based solely on this one story, less than thirty thousand words out of more than half a million in my complete body of work. And then they make assumptions that the story's going to be "just another canon-humper" based solely on the chapters available to view. Because they want instant gratification, and all this setting-the-scene shit is much too boring for them to tolerate, and makes Harry too "wimpy" for their tastes. Gee, should I apologize for trying to make it realistic?
I greatly appreciate the other sort of reviewer, many of whom read here on LJ, who have bothered to tell me what I'm doing right, and give me the benefit of the doubt as to what I have planned. You keep me going on this. But I don't think I'm going to attempt any more longfic in the Harry Potter universe after I'm done with it. And I'll probably even end BAH at a decent pausing point in the action sometime during the summer or the beginning of second year and leave the universe fallow a good long while. At least in the crossover (and small-fandom) realms, people usually at least assume that I'm intelligent and creative; it's a much more energizing atmosphere to write in.
~
backagainharry over at The Pit of Voles-- and the review thread at the Dark Lord Potter Forums (which has at least increased my readership, though I find it baffling that they reviewed it at all given their biases)-- have pretty much transcended annoyance now and reached the realm of an interesting sociological study.It's fascinating to me how many people judge me as a writer based solely on this one story, less than thirty thousand words out of more than half a million in my complete body of work. And then they make assumptions that the story's going to be "just another canon-humper" based solely on the chapters available to view. Because they want instant gratification, and all this setting-the-scene shit is much too boring for them to tolerate, and makes Harry too "wimpy" for their tastes. Gee, should I apologize for trying to make it realistic?
I greatly appreciate the other sort of reviewer, many of whom read here on LJ, who have bothered to tell me what I'm doing right, and give me the benefit of the doubt as to what I have planned. You keep me going on this. But I don't think I'm going to attempt any more longfic in the Harry Potter universe after I'm done with it. And I'll probably even end BAH at a decent pausing point in the action sometime during the summer or the beginning of second year and leave the universe fallow a good long while. At least in the crossover (and small-fandom) realms, people usually at least assume that I'm intelligent and creative; it's a much more energizing atmosphere to write in.
~
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-25 12:54 am (UTC)Seriously though... your fic is like nothing else anywhere. Almost all other fics remotely like it just use the premise as one of the many available excuses to GodMod Harry (the other main excuses being 'framed and stuck in Azkaban' and 'discovers letter from parents'; or crossover 'is trained by L33T warrior from another fandom'). I really can't understand why people are criticising your fic for not being exactly like the formula model.
So consider this a general review... Back Again Harry is an intelligent and moving exploration of both its concept and its canon, a series of quiet joys. Reading it makes me fall in love with these characters all over again; the relationship between the trio is a thing of wonder, and especially Harry - neither entirely PS!Harry or DH!Harry, but some combination of the two. And sorry for not reviewing every chapter.
But... give you 'the benefit of the doubt'? I don't need to. There is no doubt.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-26 08:24 am (UTC)I really don't understand why I'm being criticized for no originality, either. I guess what they really mean is, Harry's not proactive enough for their tastes? But then, I gather a lot of people think she "broke" her own series after GOF, or OOTP at the least, and that I'm trying to "fix" it. I'm not; I'm just exploring a different path with the same canon characters, whom I'm also quite fond of already. =)
Thanks again!