Whew.

[valis2]

Was on GAFF poking around. (It's a site called Godawful Fan Fiction and commemorates the very worst bits of fic.) I've checked it out before, but for some reason I'm not really into it that much. Anyway, I was thinking thoughts like we all do, and said to myself, "Self, I wonder if my fic is on here?"

So I did a search.

And it came up.

I nearly had a heart attack. Sure, I write SS/OC, which can be the worst Sue-ridden ship in existence, but I really, really had hoped I'd avoided the Curse of the Self-Insert. Certainly I understand that my writing has flaws. No one can write perfectly. And honestly, I've prepared myself as best as I possibly could for the possibility, because you never know, it could appear on deleterius at any time. It's not like I'm expecting it, because I don't think it counts as a "omg i liek rokk and harry poter is my boifreind!!!!!!11!" kind of fic, which is what they usually feature. But still, there are always people who aren't going to agree with your interpretation of canon (and all fanfiction features the author's interpretation, all of it!! No one can write the characters as they were exactly intended except for the original author. It's just like a camera...no picture is without the artist's peculiar view, because we make our mark on everything we influence) and I hoped that I would be ready for the moment when someone reports me and says "Check out her horrid Hermione!!"

Thank goodness, it turned out to be a compliment! It was not being discussed as a badfic; it was part of a recommendations thread! Someone named "Coffee is my Muse" was recommending it to people looking for Snapefics. Wow. I am so surprised, and so delighted, that I've missed the axe again.

In fact, one fic I have thoroughly enjoyed so far is valis2's work-in-progress, The Last Sanguimagus, which features a very convincing Snape paired with an OC. She's posted 54 chapters so far, taking things slow, and I love the way she writes

Yay! I love that Snape is "very convincing"...this makes me so happy. I re-read nearly the whole thing last night, while I was indulging in the heating pad on the couch, and I have to say that even though he is a bit softer than canon!Snape, I still tried to keep him in character.

See, I'm just not certain that canon!Snape would ever have a romantic relationship with anyone, but that's open to debate, of course.

I was also rec'd by someone on PottersKeys as well, the kind blackberry3.14, and having another nice comment makes me feel all glowy.

I am so delighted now.

I also have to say...my goodness, junediamanti, you really are everywhere. Saw a few of your comments there. Well, then again, someone has to defend Snape's character, and you're the best of us for the job. Hee.

*does a partial dance of joy, as neck hurts just a little too much to do the full dance of joy*

And now everything from Mt. Uncle Distillery has arrived. My dried ladyfinger bananas, the banana, lemon, and lime liqueurs...I am so delighted! I can't wait to have a dish of Rice Dream ice cream with banana liqueur and a dash of chocolate syrup. Mmmmm. Must finish chapter 59.

Comments

[zoepaleologa.livejournal.com]

Yup. I get around. I move in mysterious ways.

I don't post that much there these days. For a variety of reasons:

1. They do not pick up on what I consider to be truly terrible Snapefic often enough, and sadly because I tend to see it through admin duties, I cannot ethically post links to it. More's the pity. Otherwise I can think of about four really horrible fics I'd take malignant pleasure in dissecting.


2. There is and has been a tendency to be very sanctimonious. For instance, there was a rather nasty Weasleycest fic posted on pornish_pixies recently. Now I rarely tune in there - because it is not really my thing, though I might follow a rec from someone whose taste I trust. Someone on GAFF found this story and went all high toned about it. My own post was (in brief): Ignore it. However, a flaming and indignation party started and that was just silly, I think.

3. At the end of the day, I get more laughs out of picking over general badfic concepts, than individual fics. I've seen people licking wounds after flames, for say, Mary Sues. I think bitching at writers of OFC's and accusing them of Mary Sue is just going too far. I've liked some of the fics that have been really raked over the coals. I've seen authors I know get upset. So I don't often participate in individual fic picking. unless it's Porn to Queen or Roman Holiday.

4. It has to be a thread I am particularly interested in - I'll gleefully participate in a discussion of why rapefics are crap, for instance.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I've read lots and lots of badfic at this point in an attempt to find goodfic.

In fact, I do believe that I have looked at nearly every Snape story on ffnet that seemed promising to me, because in the very beginning I did not realize that ffnet harbored so much drivel. I thought it was one of the only archives, and I thought nearly everyone probably posted there, so I spent several weeks going through all the Snapefic there.

I can say that at this point I still laugh at some things I see in badfic, but I don't go looking for it anymore. I am lucky to have found LJ and rec lists and such.

I must say, I am more intrigued by the fact that Mary Sue and Gary Stu pop up so often in other media. Popular movies, TV shows, novels...I am now much more interested in what gives rise to them, and how they reveal something about ourselves when we write them. It fascinates me that so many young American girls write nearly the same scenario, over and over again. And it fascinates me that the Mary Sue changes with age. I read one awhile ago, and within a chapter I had guessed (correctly) that the girl was nearly out of high school and into college just by the wish-fulfillment fantasy she wrote.

I am beginning to see more and more that the HP fandom has some very distinct pecularities, partially because it is so large. The number of unusual sex fics is staggering. And how unusual they are is amazing. Nearly every fetish has a fic.

Nearly every concept has been explored, and it's hard to find new ground to cover.

[absurdwords.livejournal.com]

It fascinates me that so many young American girls write nearly the same scenario, over and over again.

I found those fics extremely annoying at first. Well, I guess I still think that way. On the other hand I must admit that if I had known that fanfiction existed when I was 14 - that's long before the LotR movies and the HP books - I would have written a horrible Sue/Aragorn fic. Maybe writing Sues is just writing teenage girl fantasies?

At that time, I wrote some original fiction, the main characters were self-inserts and there was a lot of angst and a very implausible plot. I translated a part of one of my stories in a lj-post. It's a bit like a V.C. Andrews novel. Now, she wrote some of the worst Sues I've ever read and her stories bored me to death even when I was a teenager. The only redeeming quality of my story was that it was decently written. I could use a spell check at that age and I knew the conventions for punctuation. By the time I was 17 I wrote more plausible plots, thank God.

One thing which really bothers me in fics is the inability of Suethors to use a spell checker, or to start their sentences with a capital and end it with a full stop. Or native speakers of English writing worse English than Belgian high school kids. There's simply no excuse for things like that.

And looking on ff.net for fics of authors you don't know? I end up at deleterius every time I do that.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

My first couple stories were quite awful Mary Sues...glad no one has seen them, honestly. They were horrid. One followed my and my friends' adventures as we went through several parallel worlds. I can say with conviction that I have the only Mary Sue ever to feature a world where sentient, sword/bow&arrow/knife-wielding cats use balloons as transport. And not big hot air balloons...nope, heart-shaped balloons with each cat's tribal insignia on it.

I checked out the link...ah, teh angst!!11! right mor plz!!1!

I would say that most Mary Sue fics are written by the teenage population...perhaps around 70%.

As for ending up at deleterius...interestingly enough, I knew little of Mary Sue at first, until I had gotten halfway through my ffnet trawling. Then I found pottersues and I laughed and laughed.

It was a good thing that I spent so much time at pottersues and deleterius...really gave me a good guide of how not to write. It also showed me the very worst cliches.

I wonder where these scenarios come from, and then I watch something like Van Helsing (oh the pain, (http://www.livejournal.com/users/valis2/27925.html) and even more pain (http://www.livejournal.com/users/valis2/28501.html)) and I see immediately where they get it from.

[julian-black.livejournal.com]

I'm probably the meanest, pickiest, most canon-thumping reader of Snapefics going, and I can't even begin to tell you how much I've enjoyed TLS so far. I was stunned that nobody else on GAFF had recommended it as an antidote, so I took the liberty. And, dolt that I am, I even squeed when I saw that you'd friended me.

...I have to say that even though he is a bit softer than canon!Snape, I still tried to keep him in character.

We usually only see canon!Snape, however, through Harry's eyes, and that's when he's usually at his nastiest.

Not that he's gregarious or a sweetheart when the students aren't around, but I've always suspected that Snape is, at the very least, civil toward his colleagues, and probably better than that to some of them. He couldn't get away with being as cruel and snarky towards staff as he is with students--not for all these years. Even Flitwick, who seems a good-natured sort, would have hexed him into the next century at some point.

In my own fic, I'm looking into Snape's relationships with his colleagues, which we don't get to see much of in the books. I see him as intensely private and reserved, but not a complete misanthrope. Something tells me he has an interesting friendship with McGonagall, and I'm working that out right now.

Your characterization of Snape matches what I've long thought he would probably be like in private, among adults, away from the little "dunderheads."

Enough on that--I'm glad you liked my review.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

And, dolt that I am, I even squeed when I saw that you'd friended me.

Awww...*blushes* Friends are lovely things.

We usually only see canon!Snape, however, through Harry's eyes, and that's when he's usually at his nastiest.

I agree! Someone once put together a set of quotes where Snape was talking to adults in the book...hmm...can't remember where it is now, I'll have to try to find it. Anyway, his best snarkiness is reserved for Harry & Sirius and such. I can't imagine him being that way all the time, just as you said.

I just really, really hope that I can spring a romance on him real sly-like, before he senses what I'm doing and runs away, attempting to hex me over his shoulder.