Heh. Sam/Dean incest slash is actually pretty tame compared to some of the unholy shit in the HP fandom.

 

More to the point, HP is completely different to Supernatural. Supernatural's base element is two 'hot' brothers with dashes of angst + talking about feelings.

Of course the majority of Fanfiction about the show is going to be incest slash written by females.

HP on the other hand has a diverse cast and many different characters to focus on/emphasize. It just has a larger fanbase, which means that the diversity in the fandom that currently exists shouldn't dramatically change anytime soon.

 

As long as DLP exists, Harry Potter fandom will survive.

Anyways, we have Pottermore, which could get people into reading fanfiction, and brand new content from the word of God.

I have faith in the fandom. I'm not going to stop writing anytime soon.

 

The way I see it, there are two sub-groups within the HP fandom: on one hand you have the fangirls/boys, slashers, those who want to be entertained for a little while, hard-core fans of a particular genre; on the other hand there's the older crowd, those who have been reading fanfiction for years, people who are generally more mature, that have read some literature beyond Harry Potter and are notoriously selective about what they read.

Given that distinction, I think the second group will be the first to go. Said group demands better writing, proper grammar, thought-out plot-lines, complex characters -- it's not that they're better than the fangirls, they're just older and have been in the fandom for years. They -- and I include myself and DLP here -- have seen it all before, done over and over.

Satisfying this demand gets increasingly more difficult as people get more and more selective. Just head to the library and do a quick check. How many fics you used to love now look like the doodles of a particularly gifted gorilla?

There will come a point where few authors will bother with the HP fandom at all. In my opinion, writers like Taure, Pers, HSinclair, Shezza, jbern, Joe, CareOtters, VotN, Santi, Nuhuh, Swim, Silens probably began writing fanfiction because they wanted an audience. That want coupled with their liking of the HP series led them here. Just as easily they could have landed in any other fandom that met those needs. So as the audience grows smaller and the best writers in the fandom become interested in other things, who will write the good stuff?

Let me put it like this: if those writers I mentioned (and a couple more I forget, sorry!) colectively decided to leave the fandom, off I'd go as well, in a heart-beat. Would you stay?

You might argue that as "our" group gets bored and leaves, the fangirls and fanboys of today will fill that hole tomorrow. After all, they won't be fourteen years old forever. But I'm not sure it's that much of a cyclic thing. Keep in mind the HP fandom is unique because of its size, and its size comes from an unprecedented record in book sales. Those sales are dying compared to the peak Harry Potter hit a few years ago, and although there will probably be a sudden rise in sales because of the last movie, the frenzy will soon stop and settle into a more regular, lessened rythm. Then, the size of "our" group -- we are, in most ways, the "first" fans -- is huge compared to what, potentially, the fangirls and fanboys -- and only those who stay and mature as readers -- might one day form. The gap in size will only get bigger with time.

TL;DR: I think the mature sub-group within the fandom will slowly but surely die, or be reduced to a very small circle. The rest of the fandom -- slashers, fangirls/boys, irregular readers -- will likely last much longer, as they are more and easier to please.

 

I think a more likely place for these writers is original fiction, not another fandom. The authors you mention have semi-pro or pro writing chops. I know I spend most of my (limited) writing time on various projects and I'm not alone--jbern, Heather Sinclair, and Joe (I think) are the same. It seems a natural transition as one's skills improve to the point where breaking into pro markets or publishing a breakout novel isn't a complete pipe dream.

I've not been around in the fandom for as long as some (Cygnus Crux, one of the earliest giants in the fandom, had been out of fanfiction writing for nearly three years by the time I started), but in my time, I have seen several big names leave, yet still have found plenty of quality stuff and seen talented writers come on board. It's maybe hard to believe for those who have only read his recent (subpar) offerings, but Jeconais, when he was on his game, was one of the greats, a writer with a unique voice and style who was as influential as any in the fandom. Nonjon, when he still wrote fanfiction, was much the same in influence (though totally different in style), the writer whom I used to use as a yardstick against which to measure myself--typically in the context of, "Someday, when I have 1/10 the talent of nonjon..." I looked at writers like them and thought, "Man, if they ever left, what would there be to read?"

And then they left.

And folks like Ella/Deadwoodpecker came and went. And we saw other authors join or return with far stronger writing than before: Silens Cursor, Voice of the Nephilim, CareOtters, Inverarity, Lulu42, Dellacouer, nuhuh, Shezza, Joe, The Santi, and the list goes on and on. Even LessWrong can be credited with bringing something new to the game. Collectively, this new crop of authors pushed the boundaries of what could be done with Harry Potter fanfiction and set new standards of excellence. Compare old with new stories in the DLP Library and it's abundantly clear that fanfiction has changed. Our tastes and expectations have evolved. We expect more and we get it.

While HP fanfiction writ large is possibly in a period of slow decline, I don't think it's on its way out (in the near future, at least). It's just a different beast from before. It's not enough to just write wish fulfillment; to be noticed among those who matter, stories have to be solidly written, creative, and have a special something that distinguishes them from the half million other stories in the fandom. It's a tall order and even the best authors don't always succeed, though I think that the best of what's being written today is better than it's ever been.

Sorry that this is repetitive with earlier comments in the thread, but I thought I'd share my take on where things are and are going.

 

I think Harry Potter fan-fiction would face a steep decline and then eventually die out (quality fics). My reasons being

1) End of movie series, no need to say anymore.

2) Overused plots and cliches, for example the "Sirius and inheritance", or "the secret library in chamber of secrets", let us not forget kind Goblins who solve all problems etc, etc.
The number of times a story starts as such is overwhelming and the authors then leave the stories abandoned and this continues. These days if I see a crying Harry Potter who is beaten after Vernon is warned to treat him better, well I close the tab.
To some extent it isn't writers fault either. The better plot bunnies become cliches.

2) No clear system of magic is defined and all we see are "magical exhaustion", and "scientist Harry" who achieve breakthroughs and then crush Dorky.

3) Then there are those fics that rant about "muggle superiority" and how magic is useless, comparing brooms with air-crafts, it is like comparing a motorcycle to an aircraft. Brooms and motorcycles are personal. My point being that people simply take out magic out of "magic" and define it as some sort of energy, completely neglecting physics in their haste, that is, energy follows laws of physics and is defined as ability to do work, and magic is shown to break all those laws like brittle glass.
What is the use of writing fiction with magic if you declare that people are better off without it? The blame goes to Jkr since she never defined magic/powers like it is done in most manga's. It simply takes the joy out of reading.

The number of times we see Malfoy, Snape or Tom shot is ridiculous. Why Harry simply snaps his wand and then goes on a killing spree with a machine-gun is the question I ask myself when I am unfortunate/idiotic enough to read such a fic.

4) There are bashing fics and Dumbledore is shown as a moron! O.K, I do not like Dumbledore does not mean the guy is an idiot. I wont go into other character bashing.

5) The number of slash fics is ridiculous and shadows good fics. I mostly visit reader profiles that i bookmark to read new fics from their favorites, it is very difficult to find new fanfics even if you use communities. But such a thing would deter new authors as most people write ff because they read fanfics.

I am drawing a line on occurrence of a Harry/Dobby fic, if i find one, i would probably stop reading H.P FF.

6) Overpowered Harry fanfics, Harry is calling firestorms without a wand! I close the tab.

7) In canon Harry is shown as an incompetent idiot who by seventh part, if takes part in a lottery draw, would win 10 times the worth of maximum prize with one ticket. The last book should should have been named - "Hermione Granger and Three artifacts of idiocy." When the protagonist cannot do anything on his own, the author fails the readers. I was waiting for a good showdown and Dorky croaked because of stupidity and bad luck.

With so many plot-holes, cliches etc, why would a new author write HP stories, when similar thing is already done?
Fan girls and yaoi-fanboys have nothing else to do and would continue writing( read --continue pissing upon) HP fanfics.

 

You've clearly not read the Plot Bunny Thread. Or the Plot Bunny Thread 2.

You've clearly never seen neither the Library nor the WbA subforum.

 

An auspicious first post, nissassa. You don't like Harry Potter canon and you don't think much of fanfiction either, apparently. And you're here why?

Enjoy.

 

Thank you,

I LIKE canon till 5 year, I grew up reading Harry Potter. One doesn't expect fifteen year old to beat a terrorist madman, but when 17 year old Harry Potter cannot tie his shoelaces properly in book 7 when first time using magic out of school, it is disappointing.



Tom Marvolo Riddle - At seventeen, According to Dumbledore created a Horcrux, pinnacle of dark arts apparently.

Draco Malfoy - Successfully infiltrated Hogwarts at seventeen.
Albus Dumbledore- Prodigy, dreams and plots for world domination at the age of 17

Gellert Grindelwald - Dreams to conquer the world and is largely successful for at least one continent until his old friend turns up.

I like fanfics, but i dislike slash, and when someone writes that magic is useless compared to technology( why write it?), and repeated bashing fics.
There are good fics like "the Lie I've lived" by jbern ( i spelled it correct?) and The Black Comedy by nonjon, and some more. But if i see a fic where Harry is a male Veela and Draco is his mate who is going to give him a child, i prefer going back to solving differential equations ( i hate the subject and the topic).

as to why I'm here? It is a good site, worth my time. The previous one was my first post because the discussion is a good one.

Missed it the first time i posted this reply, but really creepy fic.

I took a look at it, but i like reading complete/ongoing fanfics. There are many authors with plot bunny fics. Each chapter a new plot bunny, usually and i read a lot of those.

Is library is the same as DLP community on ff.net? If it is i visit it. I don't know wba sub-forum, pardon my ignorance, I'm new here.

good luck with writing, but past five or six years the movie series was not complete and HP book series was not too old either. Now the movie is complete and the last book published in 2007.
Maybe there would be a complete animated series of Harry Potter declared, if not declared already ( i do not know) and it would cover all books completely, then fanfiction would live for a few more years.

 

Harry Potter Fanfiction will continue, so long as there are those still here who believe in it.

(and continue to write it)

 

Have you seen kids these days? They don't have time to read canon forget fanon! All are hooked on call of duty, GTA, WOW and some more.

 

Evidently you've never seen 'WTF fics'...

Anyway, about the taboo of writing/reading fan fics, I know about five people who do, most of them read slash and the one who doesn't reads odd stuff, I tend to keep it quiet, because people don't really know about it that much and if I explained it, they wouldn't really get it. I find that writing it is more taboo, for whatever reason.

As for what will happen to the fans, at the end of the day they are going to start leaving the fandom, I think that IdSayWhyNot is wrong on who will leave first. The people who write bad fics mainly write fan fiction because they don't have the skill to make an entire universe, but they enjoy writing, but they could write it anywhere, and are going to be more likely to abandon the fandom after it starts slowing down. A few of them might end up writing better fics, and stay with the fandom but I would say that the majority will leave. Also people who write slash are mainly writing a story about a romantic relationship and you can write that in pretty much any fandom where there is more than one character. But there will probably still be slash writers for a long time, since you can never escape the 'where there is fan fiction there will be slash' rule.

Then the people who are big fans will end up writing for a very small audience since there will be less people who are in the fandom, but will probably leave eventually. The people who write/read AU are probably going to be the last to leave, as they are the ones who want to explore the books are the plots within them, and also they are more skilled in terms of writing because they have to create more within their stories, rather than just the plot.

But there will always be new fans, this can be seen in the LoTR fandom, LoTR was written quite a while ago and still attracts new fans. If Harry Potter does the same, which is not too unlikely, there will still be people writing fics for a long time, with less demand. The less demand there is for fics, the less 'GIVE ME 57 REVIEWS OR ELSE!!11!!' writers there are going to be, because there are going to be less new readers who will actually read that kind of shit, and although there will be some, there aren't going to be many. This may mean that the amount of writers who grow into good writers will be lower since some are going to abandon the fandom early on. But the fan fic scene will still exist, although it will be much smaller.

To be honest, they'll probably remake the Harry Potter films in twenty years, so it'll probably rise again...

 

Heh. I remember hearing something very similar before HP become a worldwide success, because of these kids.

 

As much as I hate to admit it, nissassa has a point regarding the youth preferring video games and such to reading. While I'm not claiming that, say, twenty years ago, reading was the main activity of leisure for the young (it probably wasn't) they still spent more time on it than they do today.

 

And yet the hit counts continue at a steady rate, even for my dodgy efforts.
Somehow, I see a vast population of kids reading what they find interesting, rather than re-simulating the victories of others.

They'll read fanfiction and realise 'I could do BETTER than that'. They'll be able to write their own versions and post them. This is a potent thing. They can't do that anywhere as easily with game design.

And DLP will be here to tell them 'That sucked; try harder! Here are examples to inspire you.'

You'll note that the list of stories grows over time, just like the subscribers. Feel free to bemoan the limitations of the great many horrible writers of fanfiction, but don't think that they'll stop just because you don't like their work and don't think that some talented people won't find their voice by trying the same thing.

 

Your efforts are good, read retroactive and liked it.
Mine are worst, most of it written when i was half asleep. Would rewrite the whole story after I write some one shots to improve my writing. Never written anything in English before except project reports.

a valid point and I never thought it that way. But you apparently don't know about map editors and game editors, character editors and game modders.

I don't bemoan anyone's work or flame it. If i like it, i usually review else there is always the option to close the tab. I just don't like slash and ff.net does not have such filter.

I am one such horrible writer myself and would rewrite it all when i get the time.

 

If quality fan fiction of Ranma 1/2 can still be made 15 years after the series and most of its popularity ended, then Harry Potter fan fiction will continue for some time. As long as people are willing to read the books and enter the fandom, fan fiction will remain for any series.

 

I don't understand why FFnet can't just incorporate a Slash tick box for every story, same principle as a complete story except it would tell you if the fic is slash or not. Whilst it might not get all of the slash out of the way it would take the majority of it.

I've tried to introduce friends to the HP fandom and I've come to realise how long it takes for a person to really sink their teeth into it. I started reading Pellinor fanfiction when I was twelve, then moved to Alex Rider and then Artemis Fowl. I only discovered the HP fandom when I was 14 and have been a part of the SPN fandom for less than 6 months.

It's taken me 5 years to really understand the fanfiction landscape and I'm not going to get bored of it anytime soon. I love it, I'm obsessed, I'm looking forward to seeing what I'll be able to write when I'm 20 because I know I'll still be here (bet there's a couple of people not happy to hear that). Every fandom is a work in progress, every fandom is a slow hike uphill to get from this to this.

I think it will take even longer to peter out than it did to plumb the depths it has so far, if it even does. If the Harry Potter fandom does reach its end it will be pretty far off in the future. I'm thinking 2030 here. The only thing that could really, truly end Harry Potter is if an even bigger book series hits the shelves and Harry Potter becomes something we tell our kids (or even grandkids) about.

 

We only need look at Star Trek to be reminded of the longevity of fanfiction. Admittedly it's a much longer-running series, but I daresay the HP fanbase is larger.