@Palindrome
That may not necessarily be the case. While I agree that it's more fun when fics deviate from canon, I think a good fic based on canon would be as Sesc put it, just an 'awesome' idea that ends up being discontinued because most writers lose interest in it.

But if the idea is done right, then it shouldn't matter whether it's close to canon or not. For example, I'd be pretty interested in reading what a Harry with a different attitude to that of canon might do in canon situations. It doesn't have mean that an author is scared to deviate from canon too much.

If you've read the first chapter of 'What Would Slytherin Harry Do?', you can see that plots close to canon CAN work. It's just up to the writer to make it work.

 

@ Taure and Sesc. I was being unclear.

Things to gloss over. Introduction to Quidditch. Him first seeing McGonagall transform. Him attending each opening class to introduce the general staff, save for when I change that professor. Explaining what Quidditch is. Those kinds of things. The kinds of things that people have read a million times.

The thing is, I want to right a seven year fic. Originally the idea oscillated between close to Canon with several changes, keeping the main themes of the books. Reading this another idea bloomed where I changed the main arch of each year. That's why I said to Demons he got a thumbs-up. I want to make fucking changes.

As to the pacing, let me clarify. In most fantasy we get the day-to-day happenings described in detail. In the HP canon she made the transitions pretty good, skipping months at a time to get to the next plot-point. That is what I want to practice on, being able to skip months with smooth transitions not...

Four months later....

The story I want to tell starts in Harry's first year. Sets-up the world and what will be happening in it from then on. How he interacts or acts will then have effects on the world, thus introducing my plot with year one, not fifth/sixth/seventh.

There, I hope I was clearer this time.

 

Meh. Crossover. Bring Harry Dresden. Watch the fireworks.


EDIT: Sooo... the comment I quoted is from the first page. I'm feeling all suave lately.

 

Easily done yes, but I want to connect the scene prior to the one leading into the one you just wrote.

Prior to what you wrote.

He looked to the trees as light from a setting sun played across the green foliage. He noted that around the edges ruddy browns and pale yellows were creeping in, a sure sign of summer's end.

Using this I'm hoping it will make it a bit more seamless.

 

@Sesc
Well, it wouldn't matter whether they started the fic from first year or from fifth year. They can write the fic however they choose and it can still be done well, even if they want to show the progression to whatever idea they had all the way at 7th year. Or if they did as you suggested and skip all that progression. I like that as well; it does make things interesting and unpredictable if done well.

And besides, fanfiction itself is AU. The idea of fanon characteristics don't really exist, so there isn't a need for the writer to explain oneself. Most readers just tend to go in to a story with pre-conceived notions of how a character should be, and if they see something that challenges that, they'll hate it and complain, or love it and compliment.

I did understand what you were saying (I think). I just used your comment in a different context to suit my own purposes. :awesome

 

Yes, I agree. I think this is a good way to write a seven year fic. Also I support you idea to gloss over the small things like introduction to quidditch, teachers, classes etc..

 

From experience I will note that the majority of FF.net readers will not grasp this time lapse.

 

This is patently stupid, and by couching it as "your opinion" you force me to say your opinion is stupid. Try thinking about things with some subtlety, okay? The "marking" is vague, as all prophecy language is, because if it was written out in plain English, anyone (read: you) could understand it.

By inadvertently making Harry a Horcrux, Voldemort "marked" Harry "as his equal" - that is, Harry contained a fragment of Voldemort's soul. It was never talking about the physical scar, and that's where the vagueries of the wording come into play.

And yes, there was a "power of love" although again, you need a grasp of subtlety to understand it. No, there was no pink-colored spell that caused razor-sharp heart shapes to erupt from Harry's wand in a burst of angelic voices when he shouted "Expecto Luvicus!" What Harry's real power consisted of was bringing people together and being a person they believed in, which Voldemort never succeeded in doing. Sure, Voldemort had fanatics and those who joined him for power or because of fear or, in the case of Bellatrix and Crouch Jr., some twisted love/need, but he never inspired true belief, as evidenced by almost everyone's disavowing him after his first fall.

Try reading between the lines next time.

That would involve a wholesale restructuring of his basic character. That's fine, but if you'll remember, Harry liked his scar because (a) it made him different and was his main distinguishing feature, (b) it was something he had from when he was with his parents (I think), and (c) the Dursley's (esp. Petunia) hated it, so he liked it by default. When he found out it was a memento of his parents being murdered, and that people gawked at it instead of talking to him, he lost any interest in it.

I disagree. Hermione would make a very good fanatic, though not in the insane Bellatrix way. She is a fundamentally good person (innate, not because of upbringing) but she is also willing to go to great lengths for Harry and/or his cause. I could definitely see her going far beyond her normal moral boundaries, and being able to justify it to herself with the very Dumbledore-esque "it's for the greater good". Yes, she might hate herself, but I think that she'd go about as far as necessary to accomplish what she believed to be "right".

I'll admit that you don't need any to write a shit-fic.

No one but you wants to read that. And write your own sad fapping material, please.

I don't agree with all that, but that's the most intelligent post I've seen you make, so kudos.

 

Probably because the vast majority of Fan Fiction readers aren't all that well read or well educated. Possibly because many of them are 13 year old girls looking for buttsecks so they can shlick to it or 13 year old boys looking for harem stories.

 

Sounds about right.

 

Heh, I think that's just a teeny little bit of an understatement.

 

This made me think of A Black Comedy where Ginny shouts "Love Shield" to block Voldemort's AK and dies. :awesome Awesomesauce

 

Tiny bit of a bump here.

I was thinking of a way to do a HP fic without Horcruxes and maybe have it where Voldemort in the aftermath of recieving a Killing Curse wants to get his power back, quicker, and reaatches his Horcruxes souls to him, if that's possible at all? It deletes the horcruxes without getting rid of the plotline of them, and it adds an AU...

 

According to canon that would require him genuinely expressing remorse for all the terrible things he's done, and by extension removes him as an enemy. (Unless you plan to turn the fic into a political one)

 

I don't think that Voldemort is even capable of remorse.

He didn't display any when Dumbledore came to visit his orphanage, nor did he I assume when he framed Hagrid for Myrtle's death in order to keep Hogwarts open, or when killing that tubby Smith for Hufflepuff's cup.

And that was during/before his descent into bat-shit insanity.

 

It could be possible that he's capable of reattaching his soul pieces whilst he's in his spirit form. Though he probably wouldn't be capable of actually "healing" his soul without feeling remorse. I suppose it would be like gluing the broken pieces of a plate back together.

 

Since he created each horcrux at a different time, they would presumably all have slightly different personalities. Would they all mush back in to one person, or would he end up with like a multiple personality disorder? Hmm...

 

Horcruxes sound a little double edged to me; since the horcrux created has the personality of the creator in that specific time frame (eg, 16 year old Tom Riddle), what's to say that the incarnation of horcrux used would agree with the methods done by the primary chunk of soul today? (Eg, Voldemort himself).

Would Tom Riddle, the sixteen year old, be disgusted at the insanity that his primary self has degenerated into? Would he act against himself?

Thus, whilst a horcrux would keep you anchored to this world instead of passing through the Veil, it also leaves relatively autonomous chunks of yourself running about.

Double edged sword...one that could easily turn and stab you in the back.

 

Tom Riddle, the sixteen year old, would be possessed and pwnd by Tom Riddle the Elder - because I don't see Voldemort wasting time entertaining such a discussion with what's essentially a benchwarmer.

That said, I think the diary horcrux's behavior was as much of a fluke as the scar horcrux. Voldemort told Lucius to keep it safe, he never said anything about activating it in the event of his death - because he didn't expect to die. If he had known what the diary would be capable of, I'm almost certain he would've kept it as close to himself as he did Nagini. And since Nagini never attacked her master, it's not unreasonable to assume that Voldemort would've exacted a level of control on any fully horcrux-possessed being.