My favorite thing to see in any story are magical traditions, old traditions, and stuff that some would call 'dark magic' but is really misrepresented or misunderstood by the majority of people. One thing I dislike is how wizards celebrate Christmas (I have nothing against Christmas, I love presents) but really, I think wizards should have their own holidays, and I like fics which incorporate stuff like the solstices, Samhain, Beltrane, etc... or using ideas like 'witching hour'. It's one thing to be drawn into the world of Harry Potter, but it's a whole different thing to be drawn to a world inside a world, dig past all the muggleborn trivialities and rejoice in a culture steeped in tradition. It's why I like fics like Out in the Night and On the Wings of a Phoenix.

 

LA, whilst its true that its nice when an author develops wizarding culture like that, it happens very rarely simply because the authors use their own impressions of the festivals without understanding any of the history behind them (which is very important if you are trying to actually portray them as part of a culture).

 

It's because most people do not try to take an initiative; they always stick to the same old cliches/what's been written in the books.

Muggles and muggleborns/some half-bloods? Christmas. Pure-bloods and some half-bloods? Winter Solstice. Easy conflict point between two cultures right there, but is anything like this actually used? Rarely, no.

 

The purebloods wouldn't hate the muggleborns so much if they at least put the effort in to understand their society. They welcome them into their society, into their school, but the muggleborns always ignore the old traditions, take all the knowledge they can get, and flee the wizarding world once they graduate. That would get real old to me too, if not once did a muggleborn have an inkling of learning the traditions that make the magical world what it is. Instead we get Hermione calling them 'barbaric'. Wizarding traditions/holidays don't have to be limited to purebloods, but we don't even see muggleborns trying to fit in, they just compare everything to muggle culture and how its so much better, and trying to change the wizarding world for the worse.

So yeah, it would make my day if there were more stories that played around with ideas like that. I've written some outlines like that, but none of the stories will probably ever see the light of day.

 

What and when did Hermione call "barbaric"? Are you referring to the Wizard's Chess moment in PS/SS, or the treatment of House Elves in OotP?

With the former, even Harry admits (who in PS/SS is basically meant to guide the reader's response) that the game is pretty gruesome and violent. There's a reason why McGonagall chose to utilise the game as a barricade for the PS.

And Hermione herself did make an effort to learn about wizarding traditions in PS/SS. She clearly regurgitated Hogwarts, A History enough times to acclimatise to the wizarding traditions when it at least came to Hogwarts. For example, she knew that Halloween was much bigger in the wizarding world than in the Muggle world, about the enchanted ceiling, etc., etc.

I know that it's your own opinion, but imo Rowling was pretty heavy-handed in depicting many of the Purebloods as metaphors for the Nazis. It doesn't help that the films seemed to equate the Death Eaters with the KKK.

It is fun to depict a pro-Pureblood and anti-Muggleborn universe, but we should be careful to describe the Pureblood POV when we're discussing the canon universe. Whatever terms you try to justify it, some racism is just pure racism.

I'm a little uncomfortable trying to defend the Purebloods, because of my own experiences to racism in Australia. We can understand that the Purebloods may fear what they don't understand, and may be rightfully protective of their world, but we can't defend their stupidly xenophobic stance.

Don't want to sound like Draco Malfoy, do we?

Sorry, I derailed the topic, lol.

On the topic: I do find it weird that the Purebloods celebrate Christmas, but at least Rowling gave us a halfway concession by acknowledging that Halloween may be bigger in the Wizarding World than in the Muggle World.

 

Just had an idea. You know would really be awesome in a story? Remember in GoF, at opening feast when Dumbledore started to tell a joke about a troll, a hag and a leprechaun who all go into a bar?
I'd like to see that joke finished.:awesome

 

I'm surprised I've never read that before, come to think of it.

Also, I like to see well-thought out Wizarding economy. It is rare, but it makes me happy.

 

Personally, I like where there is some mental struggle within the protagonist. I guess the general term is where they are fucked-up, but nothing like a cop-out. Insanity has always interested me and seeing it employed in the protagonist realistically always gets my interest ramped-up.

One of the reasons I enjoy CR so much is Harry's inner struggle.

 

That feeling when you see an email notification for that fanfic that hasn't updated in a while.

 

Unless it hasn't been updated in a really long time, in which case the feeling is more mixed "Awesome, more of this fic I apparently enjoyed reading"..."Oh shit I have no idea whats going on"..."How many chapters are there? Only 56"..."Fuck, I don't have anything better to do than reread the entire thing so I can understand the update the author has finally delivered after two years of waiting."

 

Harry flirting with his darker side (has to be moderately well written).

Reading new stuff by Nuhuh & Nonjon.

 

That's happened to me a few times; I sometimes have to re-read a lot of a fic just to remember what was going on!

Alternately, the whole "SORRY BUT I IZ ABANDONZING THIS!" 'chapters' piss me off to no end - if it's abandoned, it's fucking abandoned! Just type in 'ABANDONED' or something in the title summary!

Fics, serious or crack, that 'break' the mold set by current fiction trends (e.g. the same shit recycled over and over by different authors on ff.net.) Good examples would be Rymrock's 13th Stepping Stone, and works by Nuhuh and nmb.

 

...what fic is this "YoR" that everyone keeps mentioning?

 

Years of Rebellion, I think.

 

I always appreciate a story that includes multiple genres. For instance, an adventure story with some funny moments and a good romantic subplot. Most fics only utilize one genre, and it gets repetitive quickly.

Another thing I enjoy is when one of the main characters is killed off. A well written character death can really elevate a story by playing on your emotions, but it seems that very few authors do this. Mostly it's just minor characters, villains, and Dumbledore that end up dying. Why not kill off Harry's romantic interest? Or his best friend? Seeing how Harry will overcome a death is always interesting to me.

 

Because it's then easy to fill the fic with an overabundance of angst.

 

Or not enough. Also, there's the fanrage resulting from you killing off someone's favorite characters.

I like to see snark, sarcasm, and dark humor used well. Barely-controlled chaos that actually works with the story instead of making it stupid or crack. Lovecraftian themes, properly handled evil/darkness. Old world magic, folklore, and myth, spun into something that actually works in the story in question. A well-done crossover. That feeling when you read the innocent and pure character's dialogue and realize that maybe they aren't so innocent after all, maybe they're really complete fucking batshit.

 

I second this heartily. In fanfiction, I like it when Luna has a touch but not too much of that flavour. I also remember there was this crazy chick in Buffy who said some really effed up things. The one who sounded innocuous, but was completely insane. Who was she again?

 

Drusilla? Spike's bitch.

 

Or Anya, the thousand year old ex-vengeance demon who almost made Xander her bitch. She said some semi-innocent crazy shit.