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Moments in Fanfiction

Discussion in 'Fanfic Discussion' started by Dark Syaoran, Mar 11, 2012.

  1. Joe

    Joe The Reminiscent Exile ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter ⭐⭐⭐

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    Yep, it is a good one.

    Thanks for remembering it, Portus.
     
  2. Schrodinger

    Schrodinger Muggle ~ Prestige ~

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    I don't know if anyone knows or remembers this story... something on fanficauthors.net, I think.
    Harry had a time turner, and he broke through a set of unbreakable wards by having himself open them from the inside so that he could then go back and open them for himself.
    Blew. My. Mind.
     
  3. T3t

    T3t Purple Beast of DLP ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    Time-travel shouldn't violate causality D:
     
  4. sirius009

    sirius009 Minister of Magic

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    That was the first thing that came to my mind when I read the idea for this Topic other moments from that story that come to mind:

    Luna interviewing Harry during the Tri-Wizard tournament, she mentions some alliance featuring merepeople and the acronym comes out as MILF: "Harry Potter Considering MILF's Offer

    I order ten copies."

    Also the scene with Harry/Fleur on the broom.

    Voldemorts characterization in "To Fight The Coming Darkness" is still the best Voldemort out there.

    I'm about to go way old school (about '04-'05) and mention Thor Nairda's "Shadow Play" where Harry gets some ancient spirit stuck in his head that teaches him all sort's of shit and turns him into a Playboy, it's the first real independent/dark!Harry story I can think of.

    Litany of Blood by Jon3776 was a really good Fem!Blaise story (before Blaise was confirmed as a boy) where she was a Vampire and Harry was forced to choose between her and Fleur, you get the feeling that he really wants to be w/ Fleur but needs what the vampires have to offer.

    RossWrock's "The Power of Time" revolutionized Ron!Bashing and started the expanded, apartment trunks and utilizing the Time Turner as a plot device to extend training times.

    EDIT:
    Didn't that story also have a pretty sweet ending where Harry, Ron, Hermoine, and Ginny break into Gringotts? I remember being disappointed b/c Voldemort was never defeated and there was never a sequel. I don't know I could be wrong on that one.

    Ruskbyte's "Flying Without a Broom" set the stage for stories like "We'll all Fall After The Yule Ball." http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1604214/1/Flying_Without_A_Broom

    "Make A Wish" by Roarsch's Blot was the first fic that had me laughing out loud.
     
    Last edited: Mar 13, 2012
  5. Another Empty Frame

    Another Empty Frame Fake Flamingo DLP Supporter

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    Holy fuck Wordhammer is right.

    Sanitarium, I love that story, or at least I did when I read it a year ago. It's dark, stupid, and angsty, but both the different reasons, and the progress of their recovery, and how cool I still think Ron's runes are beneath the tattoos. The idea probably isn't original but I've never read it anywhere else.
     
  6. Silens Cursor

    Silens Cursor The Silencer DLP Supporter

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    K, back for another round of these - but this time, these are a little different. For me, the writing and creative process is just as important as the active reading of fanfic, and at least for me, evoke just as many emotions. So here are a few of mine from actually writing.

    The first moment was when I finished writing that shitty little OC-centric story Dealer Agent on a POS computer at the back of my high school math class. It was about 55,000 words long and about half of it was badly written angst, but I remember being proud of finishing it in a way that somehow salvaged a happy ending out of all of it. It wasn't the first time I had completed a chaptered story (I had been writing fiction for a while before then), but I remember being inordinately proud of finishing it.

    The second was writing Chapter 6 of Rewriting The Song (no link posted because it's Lily/Snape and nobody here wants to read that). In that chapter, I got the chance to write that famous scene where Sirius runs away from Grimmauld Place when he was sixteen. In the throes of full-fledged teen rebellion at the time, I can't help but remember that scene with a massive smile on my face. But even looking back on it now, and rereading some of my stories, I can spot some moments behind the dross that surprise me. I think every writer gets that at some point - the moments that they're particularly fond of, even if nobody else really likes them. The highlights, the points of subtle brilliance that go in a writing portfolio somewhere, the points that even they are shocked they wrote.

    The third that really stuck me was the entire writing and conception of Silence Game. While I had worked my own personal likes and 'fetishes' into fanfic before, I had never actually written something that could be considered pornography, and considering that I was writing the story to try and claw my way back into Vash's good graces after behaving like a cretin, I had no idea of how to properly frame the story in a way that would satisfy me and anyone else.

    So after reading as many 'mature' fics as I could find to try and figure out how to properly write a sex scene with any degree of context (there aren't many, trust me, and I read a lot of squick that makes me wince to this day), I managed to write the story. Even today, I'm still shocked at how well people receive it. I also still maintain that everyone at some point should try and write a sex scene and give it more context beyond blatant fanservice or wanking material - it's a lot tougher than you might think.

    The next is one that caused something of a kerfuffle on DLP, instigating a Hall of Shame thread (although one could argue it was long in coming), and that's the infamous 'acid' scene in Chapter 30 of Renegade Cause (if it gets mentioned anywhere in the thread, I'd ask for it not to be spoiled, as I know some members have been waiting for the story to be finished to start reading, and they might not have gotten there yet). I remember how hard I was working to get the tension between Harry and Malfoy just perfect so that the scene hits with the right impact - and then the long-in-coming conflict between Jigokuno and Giovanni exploded during the response. Most of my post in that thread is driven out of pure, pent-up frustration, simply because I had worked so fucking hard on that scene, and I was pretty damn proud of it, even despite the fact that on reflection, the scene is more cathartic than particularly meaningful.

    The final 'moment' for me is not a proud moment, by any stretch, and that's the writing of a certain set of scenes of Chapter 42 in Renegade Cause (again, please, no spoilers). Anyone who's read the chapter knows the scenes I'm talking about. Writing those scenes... well, after I was finished, I made a beeline for the bathroom and the contents of my stomach exited my body via my mouth. I was physically nauseated and downright horrified by the fact I had written such scenes. I held onto the chapter for a while too, I was terrified to post it and have something happen like what happened with Dagger & Rose, only a million times worse.

    In the end, it didn't happen. If I had published such a story between 2006-2009, at the height of HP fanfiction, I suspect the fallout would have been significantly worse. As it was, I think I only lost about 10 favourites on fanfiction.net, and the scenes weren't nearly as heavily criticized there as I had expected. Not sure what that says about anything, but it was interesting to note.

    So, other writers: any moments for you that really stand out?
     
  7. knothead

    knothead Groundskeeper

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    A lot of people have been mentioned & deservedly so. I'll just write this:

    Like oephyx, Barb's trilogy got me hooked into the HP fandom.

    While I could mention a lot of the same people who've been mentioned by others here, I'm going to emphasize people who've not been mentioned with maybe one or two exceptions.

    Jeconais's 'This Means War' got me hooked into reading his, as well as some others at his site (notably, Crys and to a lesser extent Kokopelli-- a couple stories I'd read at Sugar Quill).

    And there have been a bunch of stories I wouldn't have read if it wasn't for DLP and I think the most notable early ones of these would be Shezza's. The threads here and C2 list are also great.

    As far as an writer still in the fandom whose stories I like & whose works generally aren't liked here. I'd have to go with DrT. His first story 'Harry Potter and the Old Believers' is a rarity-- the first fanfic that is the writer's best fanfic.

    He still hasn't topped it but he'll produce okay stories that are much more guilty pleasures than anything else.
     
  8. T3t

    T3t Purple Beast of DLP ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    As a writer? Well... by the standards of the forum, I'm a relative novice - I've only written roughly 110k words, and only completed one "full-length" story - but nonetheless, I do have a few.

    The first was a gigantic burst of productivity while writing Thunderstorm - I pounded out roughly 12k words in a week, finishing up chapter 1, writing all of chapter 2, and a good bit of 3. To this day the closest I've come is writing about 5k words in a week. For the life of me I can't remember what inspired such productivity, but to be fair it was a lot easier to write when I wasn't really paying that much attention to quality.

    The second was much more recent, about a week ago, in fact. I went back and reread Frozen Heart, and oddly enough I think it's my best piece of writing. In terms of style and narrative, at least, if not the plot. It came out exactly the way I wanted it to, which is rare enough that I'm proud of it.
     
  9. MattSilver

    MattSilver The Traveller

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    As a reader, I think I've had a lot that have stuck with me, but if I had to narrow it down, one would definitely be in DobbyElfLord's Altered Destinies, in that last chapter where Harry realises his wife has died as a consequence of him jumping forward in time. It was just a straight-up sad moment that made me feel for the guy, even though in hindsight it's kinda, you know, DobbyElfLord-y, and was an inspiration for trying to convey the same emotions in my own stuff later on. Hell, I even named Sarah Fawcett from Incorruptible after AD's Sarah Underhill, years back. Stuck with me.

    And what else? Daemon battle in Bungle, ending to Intoxication, the humour of Vlad's Harry Fucking Potter (And while I will always love Black Comedy, I failed to get into it too many times for it to stick with me as much as Vlad's instantly did), All of The Song Of The Trees and Ectomancer for being the most creatively awesome things I'd read at the time, and are still my favourite two fics (If I had to pick two direct moments, gotta be the Department of Mysteries fight in the former and the Lucius Malfoy fight in the latter). But those have all been mentioned, practically, so I'll drop one more before moving onto writing moments: Harry's escape from Hogwarts in Traitorous, and all that ensued. One of my nostalgic favourites, that one. The Atrum Effect, especially, loved that concept.

    Now, as for moments that have stuck out when writing, it may seem kinda pretentious to list some of these off, but I'm not above that, so here we go! I'd be getting into spoiler territory for Incorruptible, and as Bill Door said back on Page 1, still rather recent, so I won't get into specifics, but yeah. The moments mentioned by fics written by me - Bill's comment on Page 1 and Portus's about Breach of Contract on Page 2 - stuck out too, but, to expand, here's some more.

    Actually completing a fic, my first one, To End In Serenity, after a week of solid writing. Not particularly proud of it now, but I remembered how I did that thing where you call back to earlier points and jokes, and how circular the ending can feel to the themes of the beginning. I did it in a much more overt, yet unplanned, way with To End In Serenity, but I loved doing it.

    My second fic, Tis The Season Of Summertime, was on the other end of the spectrum in that I felt like it was a failure, 'cause let's all be honest: it was. And what sticks with me is how quickly I wanted to belt out that ending and move on like a bad plague. I was only in that situation because I went off plan and decided to write more than I had planned and had already written, and let me tell you all, that was the stupidest thing I've ever done. So I vowed to never do that again, and Breach of Contract and Incorruptible followed in the next two years. You're welcome.

    Breach of Contract, when writing, came together in three scenes: the flashback at the end of Chapter One that revealed the nature of the contract (It was the first scene I actually finished, after procrastinating over the beginning for months); the Kingsley flashback in Chapter Two (Which was in the midst of one of my best writing sprees within a number of hours. 12000 words. Like three hours.); and the graveyard scene in Chapter Five. It put all the pieces of the puzzle together, and it felt like I had actually hit some human motivations in the midst of it. Cap it off with an action scene, sprinkle in some dark humour and finish with some poignancy in the end, and bam, all fun.

    Anyone who's read Incorruptible (And those that haven't, get on it) should know what I'm talking about specifically, so I can safely be vague: first Draco/Astoria scene in Chapter Two (Set the tone well and pushed me onwards after the bump in the middle of the chapter called politics exposition), second Nott scene in Chapter Six (Felt like I had finally pushed Harry to the edge there, even though I knew I had plenty left to go), Malfoy monologuing in Chapter Seven, the two major deaths in the flashback chapters Ten and Eleven (The latter especially), the ending to Chap Thirteen, the big speech in Chap Fourteen, and most if not all of Chapter Sixteen. Just felt like the perfect culmination, at least to me, at the time, and still is, even though not everyone will see it the same way. But that's cool. (And the best part is that I feel like I've missed noting so many milestones that I hit as personal challenges. And I haven't even covered the downs of the scale that are affecting my writing lately, making me retool certain ideas or work on language conveyance a bit. I could go on all day, but it's really uninteresting unless you're me, so I won't!)

    Well now that I've gotten that out of the way, I should stop this post while I'm ahead. Getting kind of long-winded. Good thread, Syao, good thread, 'cause it's made me think about the moments that have stuck with me, even in little ways, reading or writing, and I just know there's plenty of missing.
     
  10. Ayreon

    Ayreon Unspeakable DLP Supporter

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    If we're already at DobbyElfLord I had one big, huge pet peeve with his/her story that almost ruined it for me and I still remember this moment of realization and it making me so angry.

    Now this is colored by my memory of course and maybe by rereading the story very carefully you could interpret it differently, but this thread is about subjective moments so I mention it anyway.

    In the story Harry repeatedly mentions and emphasizes how he gives every enemy at least a chance to survive, to surrender, that this is what makes him different from his enemies etc.
    But at the same time this doesn't count for 'normal' guards and German soldiers. They're probably much less guilty than the high-ranking enemy wizards that he tends to give a chance, but apparently they don't count.
    I know this is an old movie trope and probably has multiple entries in TvTropes, but here it really infuriated me, because it was so obvious to me.

    Maybe not to others, because the guards were Nazis, so you don't even have to think twice about killing them, but it was just the contrast between his words and his treatment of different foes that made me so outraged.
     
  11. Celestin

    Celestin Dimensional Trunk

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    I don't remember interesting moments from writing my stories, but I have few moments from reading them much later. Most of times I just see how terrible they are, but even then usually every story have a scene, dialogue, idea or even one quote that surprises me how good or clever it was. And gives me a hope that maybe I have at least a little talent in writing. :)

    One scene that comes to mind is from my unfinished attempt at HP/Firefly fic. It has Harry/River/Inara sex scene and let me just say that it wasn't as bad as it could be, but not good either. But short "morning after" scene at the breakfast is so much fun and has so good characterization of Serenity's crew (compared to the rest of the fic) that when I was reading it few months later I couldn't believe that I actually wrote this.
     
  12. LittleChicago

    LittleChicago Headmaster DLP Supporter

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    As a reader, the first moment that ever really stuck with me and made me think, "That was cool," was Harry's Waterfall Trampoline spell in Wastelands. It fit both the story, and canon, by being both brilliant and slightly tongue-in-cheek at the same time. Loved it two years ago, still love the image.

    As a writer? The day after I posted Broken Mirror here and actually got better feedback than I was expecting. Warm-fuzzy moment.
     
  13. lilandriss

    lilandriss Second Year

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    Do you mean you haven't seen anything like the story or clones of Death Eaters? I can't for the life of me remember what fic it was since I've read so many, but I did read one where Voldemort created multiple copies of Death Eaters. I think it was the one where Snape is his 'Magical Guardian.'
     
  14. Mock Moniker

    Mock Moniker Professor

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    Squib Nicholas Flamel and his blunderbuss.
     
  15. iLost

    iLost Minister of Magic

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    One great scene for me was the broom ride with Harry and Fleur in TLIL by jbern. Somehow it was just perfectly erotic.

    Laughter-wise I have two. In "A Black Comedy" I can always remember the image that Sirius and Harry had as their calling card. It always brings a smile to my face.

    The second is from "Contemplating Clouds." Not a very popular one I know. ;P. At the end of chapter one. "'Telling him about nargles'? Is that what they're calling it these days, Filius?" It just clicked in my mind as hilarious.

    I think one moment of awesome from me was from a more recent fic. The MLP/Fallout X-over. Having Ditzy Doo perform the equivalent of a Sonic Rainboom, forgot what they called in story, to save the town. Loved it.

    All the comes to the top of my head for now.
     
  16. Celestin

    Celestin Dimensional Trunk

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    Yeah. You also reminded me that it ended rather disappointing. Never mind we didn't get any following sex scene with the same level of erotism since it's not a smut fic. But lack of any reaction from Fleur after she sleeps with Harry and he tells her about HJ business was weird.
     
  17. knuckz

    knuckz Seventh Year

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    Inquiring Minds

    From back when Fem!Blaise was the thing, it's actually a shame this never got finished. I'd still recommend it, though I know it'll never be updated. It's a tad bit on the dramatic side, and the premise of letting everyone view her memories is ridiculous, but I'd say
    it's still enjoyable.

    I'd post a summary, but I'm on a phone.
     
  18. Tareth

    Tareth Squib

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    Only Enemies when Harry and Bella dueled Dumbledore and Moody. The best Harry Potter ff fight scene I've ever read.

    Really sad the story never got finished, one of the best Harry/Bella stories
     
  19. Inert

    Inert Headmaster

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    ^Great scene, definitely.

    For me, Jeconais' This Means War was the first real, credible fanfic I read in the Harry Potter fandom. The rest had been mostly drabbles and oneshots before.

    But beyond that, the scene from what I remember being the second chapter of jbern's To Fight the Coming Darkness where Harry portkeys in, throws a curse, and sends Voldemort careening away sticks out to me as being that "Oh my God" moment. That fic remains one of my all time favorites. It has IMO the best Voldemort other than Silens' one in Renegade Cause.

    I refuse to reread it though, cause I know that I'll not be able to enjoy it what with all the rampant cliches. Don't want to spoil the fond memories.
     
  20. Sn0rkack

    Sn0rkack Professor

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    This moment from Dark Lord Potter is one of my favorites. The story wasn't that good, but it does have several parts that do stand out - this is one of them.



    Minerva McGonagall stepped out of the fire in the headmaster's office to a strange sight. Professor Dumbledore was attempting to feed his pet Phoenix a lemon drop. The Phoenix seemed to be chirping in annoyance while the headmaster persisted that he try it.


    "Albus surely you can see that Fawkes has no desire for your candy." McGonagall said.
    Fawkes thrilled in agreement. Dumbledore sighed and put the box of candies back on his desk.


    "I never understood why no one appreciates a good lemon drop, Minerva." Dumbledore said with a smile.


    ...



    Dumbledore looked to Fawkes who was eying him carefully.


    "Do you think I did the right thing just now?" Dumbledore asked his phoenix.


    Fawkes thrilled in affirmative and Dumbledore took solace from that. Smiling slightly, he took out his lemon drops. "Fawkes I get you a package of lemon drops for Christmas each year, and every year you refuse to eat them. Can't you just try them once?"
    Fawkes just chirped indignantly at the headmaster.
     
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