I was wondering if everyone had a 'favorite year' for fanfics that they especially liked.

I love fanfics featuring the Tri-wizard tournament (although GoF was'nt my favorite book).

 

I think fics with the most potential are post PoA fics. The plot of the GoF is a reason to have Harry develop some skills, especially after we are teased with his potential in PoA in terms of him being able to cast the Patronus Charm. You also have Sirius and Remus as an unknown quantity, which might lead to slightly more exciting characterisation of the two.

 

I used to always say that Post-GoF fics are by far the best time to start from if you want to make a decent fanfiction, but here I go acting the sheep and agreeing with what Randeemy is saying. Now, thinking about it, the only reason I really liked post-GoF was because of the smut possibilities. Damn my sick mind.

 

Personally, I prefer complete AUs, but that's not the point of the thread . My favourite year would have to be... Well, it used to be Post-GoF, cause I like plots where Harry is force to mature early, and it did spawn off the whole indy!Harry genre. Now though, if anything I like adaptions of PoA, because I love time travel.

Just a random thought here, has anyone seen a fic where the time turner malfunctions and Harry (and possibly Hermione) are thrown back/forward in time and are unable to get back? Just a sudden urge to see a fic like that...

Aekiel

 

Personally I would like to see more post CoS, there's a lot of potential there.

Post PoA has great potential as well, and can be done decently.

Post GoF is usually good.

Post OotP is the most common and is a good jumping off point for fics.

HBP and DH just aren't worth talking about.

 

Years 3-5. They're basically the only years Harry takes the time to actively improve himself outside of class. Before that, he's too young to appreciate the danger he inevitably finds himself in. After that, he's just an idiot; that and Rowling comes out with increasingly convoluted deux ex machinas so that Harry prevails in the end.

 

I second that.
I like Post-OoTP because you already have a very good setup. (the Order, the DA, the prophecy etc.) And Harry already knows Luna and Tonks.
Sure, every author could just 're-introduce' all that but then he would need a good number of chapters in which he would repeat many things from the fifth book until he got to his actual plot.

 

There is a fic that has a very promising start, where Harry goes back to his 11 year old body. Cliché I know, but the author develops an interesting world before Harry goes back. Its called Sealed Fate and its over on PatronusCharm.

http://www.patronuscharm.net/s/67/1/

You say you like complete AU, and it has an interesting system of Magic and the best application of Remus I have seen

 

I agree with the general sentiment. During books 2-5 and the beginning of book 6 are the best.

During 2: Best if you want Ginny dead, want a Dark!Harry, or want a G/H soulbond!

During 3: Best if you want a back in time that isn't based around ZOMG!SuperSpell. Also probably the best year if you want to start an early H/Hr romance. That's all I can think of for this one, unless you want something to change with the Marauders.

During 4: Best if you want an Indy!Harry that doesn't focus around the classical 'Goes home, decided to change, goes to Gringotts, gets families names, trunks, uber!wands, Re'em hide wands, etc.' Also good if you have some hate of Cho Chang and want Harry to lust after someone else before he ever likes Cho.

During 5: Here Harry can change the DA, Sirius can live, Harry can end up with Luna, Hermione can die, Ginny can die. A lot of stuff can happen in this one, but unless you change Harry from the very beginning I have trouble reading it, because he was so god damned whiny and clueless that year.

Post 5: Best along with 4 for changing Harry into being more independent. They both have reasons for him changing. This one is so cliché though that if a Diagon Alley trip is even mentioned I hit the big red X. Also, I won't read it if it isn't a complete re-write. book 6 blew.

Complete re-writes starting pre-Hogwarts are also fun, but they are never finished.

 

I have to agree with there. The problem is that most authors who write alternate Book 3/4/5s only do it for the pairing. Or the ones I've come across, at least...

Call me a racist, but I never got why Harry suddenly got a hard-on for the Welsh Chinese girl. Fleur wasn't the only hot French girl there during the Triwizard Tournament.

 

Well, there is Regulus' "R-Series" which is at least almost finished.

Re-writes are one of my favourite kind of fanfiction, but there can be (and almost always are) many problems the author has to face. For example the parts where there aren't many changes - skipping them very often disturbs the flow of the whole story and retelling anything would just bore the reader.
And then there is the problem that re-writes are mostly not very well thought out and the whole plot becomes illogical because the author hasn't thought of everything that actually would change with the new background.

And most authors (to a lesser extent even JKR) just can't write children, but thats a problem almost every story pre-GoF has to face.

 

I agree with this.

During 2: Plenty of material to make Dark!Harry where he turns dark slowly over time, be the start of Indy!Harry (which we don't see often starting in CoS), etc. So many ways to spin the Chamber of Secrets plot so that Harry starts learning and training, becoming independent or dark, discarding useless friendships (Ron), etc. I was just reading a Harry/Luna CoS fic earlier today where Ron is attacked (and petrified) with Hermione, and Harry is alone and gradually becomes friends with Luna. It was a good read but only 40,000 or so words and a WIP.

During 3: Time turner can be used for any sort of time travel fic (even though I'm not really into that genre), or some other new plot divergences. You can have Harry being tutored by Remus (as in more than just the Patronus) and gradually become more intelligent and proficient at magic, and you can do a great amount of stuff with the Marauders' story that either hasn't been done before or is rarely explored.

Post 3/During 4: This is my mind has the greatest potential for rewrites or the starting point of Indy and Dark!Harry. It supplies enough canon evidence where you can make a tweak here and there and have Harry not make up with Ron and discard him for good (or make him the subject of much bashing), have him hook up with whoever (preferably lesser done pairings like Fleur, Luna, Pansy/Daphne, Padma, etc), have him train and learn and gradually become powerful, spice up the Triwizard tourney, and so on. Currently my favorite GoF fanfic is The Lie I've Lived by jbern. It is really great so far and has so much potential. We need more good GoF starting point fics.

During 5: A lot of potential here as well for the reasons you've said above. I'm more a fan of early year rewrites and starting point Indy/Dark!Harry fics though. Not much of a fan of post OoTP fics simply because Harry is such a whiny, impetuous bitch which may be hard to reconcile without treading on cliches and plots that have been done a million times already.

Like you said, complete rewrites are fun but the author either abandons them, takes forever to finish them, or it jumps the shark somewhere in the middle and you are left with a nasty taste in your mouth. I simply don't bother with post HBP and DH fics.

 

I really like post-POA for fanfics because if the author wanted to write something not following cannon and wants Harry to starts improving is skills realistically its a logical place to start.

reason 1.= You cant blame Harry for being stupid or incompetent because he was only 13 going on 14. Which is much too young to even stand a chance against fully trained Death Eaters except for in fics like Shezza's The Denarian Renegade

reason 2.= Its not to late for Harry to start trying to look for ways to defend himself (studying more, asking for help ect.)

reason 3.= A fanfic author can choose where, if and how Voldemort will be resurrected (Voldemort resurrection pissed me off in cannon)

 

I agree totally with this, twisting CoS around has a lot of potential IMO. Having Harry get up of his arse after the Quirrell debacle isn't unrealistic, either.

I think my current favourite year is probably GoF also. The Triwizard Tournament was just COOL!

 

I'm with MellowYellow. I liked the tournament when I first read it, but the graveyard scene leaves a bad taste in my mouth now, looking back on it, as it foreshadowed every other confrontation between Harry and Voldemort. Voldemort kicks his ass, someone else dies, and Harry lives by luck alone.

Really, complete AU's- either from the very beginning or after a certain book- are best. Following JKR's screwed up plot is pointless and boring.

 

My favorite stories would have to be either 3rd or 4th year. There was an actual story he went back in time, got together with Tonks, and told Ron what happened in the end. Was a pretty good read, but its a bit old now. Acted as a German too.

 

There are two eras of canon which offer very promising avenues for fiction but have so far been largely ignored.

The first is during the summer after the second year, when Harry goes to Diagon Alley after running away from the Dursleys. The opportunities here are tremendous: this is the only substantial period during canon in which Harry is not with Dursleys and not with his friends. Many OotP stories start with Harry trapped at the Dursleys; after CoS, this is no problem, because Harry is already free. The potential during this summer is so vast; the author can introduce his own parts of the magical world, such as secret organizations or OC mentors.

Couple this with a Chamber of Secrets scene, during which Harry fails to rescue Ginny and is shown by Tom Riddle how weak he really is, and you can create the determination driving Harry to improve himself. By losing his friendship with a grief-stricken Ron (there doesn't have to be a fight, the two can just drift apart and become very awkward when talking with each other), you get rid of something holding Harry back. Then, with such an open summer ahead of him, an author can fundamentally change Harry's life.

Another avenue is to have Harry = Salazar Slytherin, and for this connection to be discovered in the Chamber of Secrets. With the loss of his friendship and a free summer, the plot is unconstrained.

Sadly, there has only been one fic I know that has used the plot device of a summer without Dursleys or Weasleys interfering; it had Harry being trained by Ollivander.




The second time period is after HBP. It's another area which has great potential but has been undervalued by fanfiction writers. Cue Harry becoming determined to become stronger by his utter failure in the duel with Severus Snape. A man who he has hated throughout his school years, who he learns has killed his parents, and who has murdered in front of his eyes the closest thing to a mentor he had, has soundly kicked his ass. Thus, driven by hatred, Harry vows to become stronger.

You can start an AU here, with plenty of action in the war against Voldemort, no Hogwarts to go back to, and a Harry who is cunning and powerful.

Or you can follow canon up to the scene where the trio abandon the home of the Blacks and start wandering about Britain. During this time period, Harry trains and grows stronger, driven by his hatred of Severus Snape, while Ron estranges himself from the rest and runs off to the Burrow. Then you break with canon and start the plot of your own story, with the foundations of a powerful and independent Harry.

There are many roads to go from here. Harry and Hermione may decide to go to Albania to look for a Horcrux, a mysterious organization may recruit Harry, Harry and Hermione may find a mentor who trains them, the author may decide to do a Miranda Flairgold, etc. Then kill Hermione, with Harry unable to do anything (better yet, have Snape do it while Harry is fighting another Death Eater), and Harry has nobody (the Weasleys, the Order, Dumbledore, Hermione) to stop him from going dark. And hate is welling up withing him.

Sadly, I have seen NO stories use this plot device after HBP. Still, it's a promising place to write a story.

 

I think most people don't use the post HBP starting point is that quite simply, Harry's time to shit or get off the pot has passed.

It is very difficult to keep Harry realistic and suddenly go from mediocre, lazy, quidditch-when-Voldemort-wants-me-dead idiot into a determined warrior. Even with Dumbledore's death for motivation, Harry is so far behind that without massive cliches, it can't be done (or at least it's far too daunting to even bother trying) Even Rowling recognized this, Harry cursing his own lack of healing charms right at the beginning of DH. Fortunately, Canon!Harry has every solution available to him in Granger - something most people try to avoid doing here.

Those early summmers though... that you've got absolutely spot on.

 

Total Au's have the most potential, but you rarely find one that gets finished with a good, fluid, continuous plot and decent writing. I've started reading Regulus' R Series, but it actually feels like work to get through some of the convoluted conversations in the first story.

I like the idea of a Post-CoS AU, and have only started reading one (To Define Treachery) that interested me.

Belerdorhan, do you have the title of the Ollivander mentor fic? Or maybe a link? It sounds like an interesting plot device, if nothing else.

 

I believe the fic in question is "Unknown Memories" by Fission 25.