OotP and me.

[jlh]

So I've come to a few conclusions.



*looks at recent posts from ivyblossom and vanityfair*

I've really been struggling with my feelings on writing from new canon all week, and then I suddenly realized: one week. It hasn't even been a week. Kudos to those of you who have had time to read canon five or six times by now; I've read it once, and I barely have the time to read a chapter a day. I neither absorb nor write that quickly. I can't imagine that I will be producing anything of merit regarding OotP until I've finished this slow read and have a think, and I would think it would be S/D as they are the only ones that jump out at me at the moment. *hugs the little ship that could*

Speaking of ships, someone on the Wolfstar, the Sirius/Remus ship over at FA, pointed out that there are plenty of James/Lily shippers and they are BOTH dead. So I don't know why Sirius/Remus should sink. No, perhaps it doesn't have a future, and no, it doesn't look like Sirius ever really was able to come back. But oh, what clues! What subtext! What backstory! *loves* Nothing is dead. The only ship that took a hit was Ron/Hermione (points at the Sugar Quill). But that's what you get for betting on canon.

What I'm hoping, and this really follows on what Ivy was saying, is that the AU becomes less of a pariah. I've always looked to fanfic for the "what-if", the characters that won't be featured by JKR, the answers she will likely never give us. I've never cared for predictive fic; JKR will tell us all of that sort of thing sooner or later. (I also am not a big fan of canon speculation.) It seems to me that during the, as SQ called it, Three Year Summer, readers were looking to fic to fill the yen for new canon. But I'd much rather see fic that does something canon probably won't do, and I don't just mean slash. I'm very much hoping that we won't call every story with a still-living Sirius "denial fic" and that the previously-scorned AU will garner a bit more respect.

Speaking of which, I'd been futzing with the outline and arc of a big post-H EWFS sequel, but hadn't gotten as far as I'd liked because of one thing and another, and then Ali said, wait until new canon. Which was absolutely the right advice, but in a sense, I needn't.

Which is to say, EWFS will certainly not be recanonized (why? it's done!) and the sequel will be pulling from events in EWFS. There are tons of small things that I can work in from OotP, I'm sure, like further details of the universe. But no, Sirius won't be dead; I need him too much. Whether I keep the posited romantic history for Ron and Hermione is up for grabs, but it certainly makes it easier to explain why and how Seamus and Dean grew apart during that year. That said, I was on the subway a few days before the book was released and I realized, no matter what happened, Seamus and Dean would not be coming back to school relatively out of the closet, Seamus would not have an affair with Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Hermione and Seamus woul not become close friends. So, EWFS unsurprisingly, is going off into that good AU. How AU it will be depends on how the sequel shapes up.

I also have a few fics that were finished but never posted anyplace that will need homes and that obviously were written before OotP. So look for those, because they are good and worth reading, I think. And of course more smut! How could I not? But not for a good little while.

Until then, duckies, rearead book 5. Or read Tithe

Comments

[marysiak.livejournal.com]

I think we will still be predominantly, although not quite as much as before, predictive fic (aside from the series that are in mid writing like Circles etc). The real surge in AU will happen after the furor over book 7 dies down, when we all still want to write about the halcyon days of the gang at Hogwarts.

I myself have an AU crossover starting in second year floating on the backburner but I dunno if I'll ever get around to writing it. maybe in a few years time if I ever finish Circles and TWA2DM.

[ladylisse.livejournal.com]

Word.

I write fics set in the far future, so by the very nature of the beast I have to wander into AU territory. As far as I'm concerned, the only one of my ships that really took a hit was Harry/Cho -- painful date much? -- and you know what? Oh well. That's what fics are for, and that's what speculation is for. I don't think Ron/Hermione's sunk, and Draco/Ginny was always AUish in the first place. And Sirius/Remus? Theirloveissocanon. :D

Hmm. Must go kill characters now. Yes, this sounds like fun.

[evil-erato.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I don't think that the EWFS universe becoming AU matters that much. It is still a good story, with good writing, and interesting characters. I may be in the minority (I hope not!), but I think that those things count more than a strictly canonical fic. I think it was Val who said something about her being surprised at the condescension that HP fandom has toward AU's, and I agree. Every other fandom I've been in has been all about the AU. I think what people forget is that just because something is AU, it doesn't automatically mean that it is bad. Like Aja (I think - my brain is mushing everything together!) said, when you think about it, EVERYTHING we do fanfic-wise is AU. It really is just a matter of degree.

Hmm. Not really sure where I was going with this. My brain seems to have derailed. Anyway, keep writing, ignore the people who hate AU on sight, and ignore my lack of eloquence and comprehension :)

[misscora.livejournal.com]

*loffs*
I can't be really coherent today, cause I'm dead on my feet and in my head, but if nothing else there is always the Clio-loff.

I also have a few fics that were finished but never posted anyplace that will need homes and that obviously were written before OotP.

Always willing to provide webspace, even if they're not going to be "in the archive" due to not being S/D or something. Of course, if they are S/D and you haven't told me about them yet I shall be forced to hunt you down and make you give them to me so I don't wibble myself to death. *smiles*