Curious reader is curious

[snorkackcatcher]

This isn't a new question, and probably doesn't have a single clearcut answer, but it's one on which comments are invited. And it's about time I posted about something.

It's inspired by seeing this fic turn up with the description: Challenge: From the bella_mione community. "Bellatrix seducing Hermione with tons of banter, and have it end in unresolved sexual tension." If you're anything like me, your reaction was probably along the lines "WTF?" Since I find it hard to imagine Bella bantering about anything (as opposed to taunting), let alone using banter in quantity to seduce a Mudblood, and since this pretty much has to be in AU territory given the canon timeline, I took a look to see what the writer had done with it.

It's only about 1000 words, so a quick read if you want to check it out, but the gist of it is: Hermione goes to a Muggle gay club with Luna after breaking up with Ginny, meets Bella there, and Bella tries to pull her as they dance with a rather aggressive approach that turns Hermione on at first, before being scared off by the D/s-y overtones in what Bella is saying.

Riiiight. The author does label it AU (you don't say), and mentions that Hermione is 'slightly OOC' (you don't say), although not why Bella has lowered herself to visit a Muggle club (they didn't say).

Even granted slash/AU genre conventions and the randomness of challenge prompts, this doesn't seem to be about Bella and Hermione as we know them -- it's about two characters with the same names but essentially different personalities, who could in fact be virtually anyone. So the question is: how is this sort of thing really a Bellatrix/Hermione? What's the appeal of it as fanfic, basically -- a story that in theory is about two already-familiar characters, even if the setting/context has been altered? And yes, I expect people to whom it does appeal do have their reasons. I'm just curious to know how they deconstruct it.

Comments

[plaid-slytherin.livejournal.com]

I have no idea why anyone would want to read it (my favorite aspect of fanfiction is the universe itself), though I have ideas as to why someone might *write* it.

It's a crutch on the way to original fiction. An author may feel (probably subconsciously) that he or she can't (or doesn't want to) write original fiction. Fanfiction gets immediate gratification. The fanfiction "industry" is less harsh than the original fiction industry. So people write these original fiction stories and use the characters' names to make it fanfiction. I think this entire thought process is subconscious but I think it is the reason for these fics.

This is why I prefer the AU/AR distinction. AU is for canon-based AU stories (Harry was sorted into Slytherin), AR is for crazy randomness (Harry is a policeman). I've only liked a few "AR" stories and that's because the author took time to incorporate canon details into the new setting. I like being able to spot things from the canon at the Hogwarts High School or the Torchwood Dude Ranch, but if it's completely random and OOC, you've lost me.

[snorkackcatcher]

That could be a reason for it -- after all, you're likely to get more readers for even the thinnest piece of fanfiction than you are for the average original story. I'm pretty much in the 'universe' camp too -- I haven't really seen many HP AR stories, but some fandoms (Stargate?) seem to go wild for them.

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

I don't get it either. It makes me kind of irritable. There's no characterisation or canon compliance at all. It's like the writer likes the look of the characters on a purely shallow, surface level, so tries to get them together, completely ignoring all history and background.

It's not fan fic. I don't know what it is. Original writing using HP characters' names, I guess.

Not for me.

[snorkackcatcher]

Yes, it's the vague idea of the characters rather than the ... er, characters. After all, a Bellatrix who is comfortable with being in a Muggle club and not itching to kill everyone in sight isn't really Bellatrix. :)

[quietliban.livejournal.com]

I think people it comes down to people are involved in fanfic/fandom for different reasons. I certainly didn't get into fandom to write fanfic and the first bits of fanfic I was exposed to had more resemblance to an ad lib meme than a story.

And then, you have fanon which to me seems where the fic you've described would fit in to, and I know fanon seems to have this definition of a cliche widely accepted by the people in fandom, but well, one thing about the HP fandom is that it is so overwhelmingly large that I'm not suprised that there are subsets of fanon in which that is acceptable.

So as to why someone would want to read it? Well, I accidently tumbled into fandom (in general, not specifically HP) as a twelve year old and I read a lot of trash back then and well, it was a little bit like playing with dolls...

[snorkackcatcher]

Oh, definitely, people like to play with the characters and I suppose it's not everyone who cares about the canon compliance thing (or even keeping more than a tenuous connection). I suppose it's just a game that I don't find all that interesting. :)

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

So the question is: how is this sort of thing really a Bellatrix/Hermione? What's the appeal of it as fanfic, basically -- a story that in theory is about two already-familiar characters, even if the setting/context has been altered? And yes, I expect people to whom it does appeal do have their reasons. I'm just curious to know how they deconstruct it.

Personally, I write fanfic for the characters and for the universe, depending on the fic. I have written a number of AU stories (not all in the Potterverse), but what makes them interesting to me is seeing how the same characters would deal with a different world. The fic you've described makes absolutely no sense to me, although some of the comments have at least given me an idea of how I could categorise it...

[snorkackcatcher]

The thing about AU to me is that changing more than one major thing probably weakens the story as an AU rather than strengthening it, especially if you introduce something brand new rather than a shift in the original (e.g. Stealing Harry where you have the basic "Lucius not Sirius confronted Peter" premise, but you also have what Peter is doing offstage, which if possible in the Potterverse is something he could have done even more easily prior to PS/SS in the actual story).

This story is more an AR, as plaid_slythrin put it, but even there I'd venture that you need to retain more connection to the original than that to be a good fanfic.

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

::nod:: It's been ages since I read Stealing Harry, I must admit, so I don't quite remember what went on with Peter there. The only Potterverse AU I ever wrote literally changed one thing in canon and charged off in a different direction. Surely one thing is enough, really!

For other fandoms, though, it can be different. In Shakespeare fic, for instance, I absolutely love temporal AUs (where the action of the play is transplanted to a different time period) -- I guess it's a very similar sort of interpretation to the kind you get in theatrical productions that change the time period.

[snorkackcatcher]

Mm. I suppose in theatre and certain types of film you can get away with more because the whole thing is quite literally 'stagey', and already a somewhat abstract representation due to practical constraints on what you can portray -- especially when you only have a handful of thesps to represent teeming crowds or huge battles. :) So I'd feel the transplanting is more imagery and evocation than AU -- e.g. that film version of Richard III with everyone in Nazi gear, except that presumably they didn't change the text which referred to a dynastic civil war fought with swords not a continental invasion with tanks? I do remember an old b&w B-movie called Joe Macbeth which probably counts as transplanted -- Joe is a gangster whose moll eggs him on to off the capo and take over.

As I remember Stealing Harry, at the end Peter turns himself into a super-mage even more powerful than Voldy with some bizarre ritual, having planned this all along. I don't recall that it really followed from the other changes (there was also Remus/Sirius, of course, but that was pretty much orthogonal to the rest in a pre-HBP base).

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

So I'd feel the transplanting is more imagery and evocation than AU -- e.g. that film version of Richard III with everyone in Nazi gear, except that presumably they didn't change the text which referred to a dynastic civil war fought with swords not a continental invasion with tanks?

Yes! I love that film so much. :)

But, yes, I see what you mean. With a series of books where the world is explored in detail, it's very difficult to define what AU even means. That is a bit weird about Peter; I don't remember it at all.

[snorkackcatcher]

That's quite a likely scenario, yes. Come to think of it, I've seem non-shippy (or non-specifically-shippy) fics too where I felt that the author seemed to have had an idea, and then tried to map it onto the HP world or particular characters without adapting it sufficiently to be a reasonable fit.

[ashez2ashes.livejournal.com]

Heh, I think it appeals to the authors of said fanfiction, so they can get people to read their original fanfiction by giving their characters familiar names.

And as for why people would read it or something like it... I suppose in this example at least they were wanting free (near?) erotica and weren't too picky, heh.

Those types of stories annoy the heck out of me personally.

[snorkackcatcher]

Yeah -- this one seemed to be a fairly routine R-rated fic, of the kind where you could do a search-and-replace to change the characters to (say) Narcissa and Lavender, or Sharon and Tracey for that matter, and it wouldn't make a great deal of difference. The 'disguised original fic' interpretation seems to be a popular one!