I'm pretty sure this is it?

 

How did I ever miss that post? Damn, but that hits really close to home with a fascinating, yet disturbing feeling that as I read the post I am looking in the mirror.

But it's truly frightening how many people seem to never reach stage four.

I think I have to admit to lingering a bit in stage one still, but my slight obsession with Hermione has never been exactly hidden.

 

Doesn't really seem to apply to me. Always hated evil Harry. Always thought dumbledore was relatively awesome. always shipped toward Harry/Hermione though if written well enough id read any non slash.

I did however go through something like this in the Ranma section. It transcends genres.

 

Taure's Stages are not laws of nature nor the unique path from 1) to 4), but they do capture how people's tastes tend to change over the years with fanfiction. (I personally never went through the "harem" stage and, while I enjoyed a handful of Evil Harry stories over the years, never went "all in" into the subgenre. I've also probably enjoyed and written more Harry/Ginny pairings than most on the site, but it helps having never really seen the films and having a different mental picture of the Ginny character than Bonnie's Wright's sub-par performances.)

Understanding the stages helps understand DLP as a site as there's a sense of stories falling out of fashion. Ones that were "Indy!Harry" awesomness back in 2006 and fast-tracked for the Library are boring, annoying angst-fests in 2013. Occasionally, new people will get upset, not realizing how tastes have changed. ("Why is Less Wrong's MoR in the Bin when story X is in the Library? Have you no taste!?")

I think stage 4 is pretty much universal for those who stick around the site:

These are the types of stories with the best chance of success here.

To elaborate more on my prior post, Myth & Legend's stories are technically well written, the characterization is solid, and the plotting is sound. Her stories offer consistent storytelling as well, so why am I not more enthusiastic? To a reader who's read thousands of stories by now, have read the banal exchanges between Harry and hateful Dursleys, the "talk about nothing" exchanges between Harry and Ron, seen every incarnation of Malfoy's and Snape's taunts, they just seem to take forever to get anywhere good. This isn't the fault of the author, but more a matter of there not being enough shiny for jaded eyes. These types of stories (I'd include sib's, Melindaleo's, and Viridian's from the site and Abraxan from FFA as well) just don't age well for many people's tastes, perhaps because "near-canon alternatives to 6th and 7th years" is a genre that's been done at least as exhaustively as Indy!Harry.

If you are in the mood for an alternative canon sixth/seventh year story, I suppose they could be considered "almost recommended," as per the thread's title. You certainly could do worse, but the stories just seem to me the literary equivalent of eating a bag of stale Ritz crackers. My apologies for being vague in my prior post.

 

It's a sad sad world for people in stage four, too. 600,000 fics on ff.net. I bet not even 10% of those have a likable Dumbledore. I'd also lay a few sheckles on over 50% of Dumbledore portrayals being downright evil.

Random aside: Percipacity, your fic "A Mother in Law's Love" was reccommended to me recently and I loved it. Felt guilty though. I built my story on the belief that all other HP soul bond fics were terrible. Turned out I just hadn't looked hard enough.

 

rofl!

Probably the best (concise) description of Tell vs Show I've ever seen.

"This happened, then this happened, then another thing happened.

R.I.P.

He was also ten-time skittles champ at the local pub and enjoyed collecting rare, Victorian, furtling books.

He will be missed." :facepalm
​

 

Replying after ages have past, Melior. Thanks for the book link, I should have read up on outlining and plotting before starting my first story.

I guess I'm in the phase of fan fiction reading where I'm obsessed with cool concepts and ideas and don't want to read tons of chapters (often of filler or fluff) to get to the good parts.

Then I look at my own main story (18 chapters strong) and wonder if it's all filler.

 

Well, I ran across this story in ffn.net search a couple of days ago. It's 'different'. And no, it's not slash.

Title: Fire Born

Author:wickedlfairy17

Link: This

Summary: Being the Master of Death was a curse, plain and simple. That had been death's intention when he 'gifted' his trinkets to the brothers three. The sound of shedding skin crackled loudly in his ear as he got up to look over his new body, he was a girl this time, maybe eight or nine years old. Time travel fic Tom RiddleX Harry potter.

The entire premise of the story is during the depression of the 30's and when Tom Riddle is just a small boy in the orphanage. Tom Riddle's way of thinking was portrayed very accurately and the author got it spot on regarding his behavior before Hogwarts.

I particularly enjoyed the latest chapter and hence am posting this here.

 

The 4th chapter brings to mind the possibility of a feminist Voldemort. How odd.

 

This story was marvelous. The prose flows easily and the grammar and spelling are nearly flawless. I do think I caught an error or two but they were hardly noticed in the grand flow of the story.

Enthralling from word one, Harry's morose attitude towards the world is almost painful.

At times it did run a little dry. And I'm disappointed by the lack of interaction between Harry and the other kids in the orphanage. Not one single conversation between her and the others? Really?

Still, that's only a small nuance.

4/5 solid. I very rarely read anything under 60k words so that's probably part of why I'm not giving it the full 5/5. It was a great read. Well worth the time spent. Highly recommended.

 

I just can't get past the gender change... The plot can't be good if you need to change the sex of the main character to make it works, and if it isn't plot relevant then it's just stupid and the story shouldn't be written.

Edit: Well, I decided to try reading it despite my instinctual dislike. God was I wrong to even read the tenth of the first chapter. You really got some weird taste here because it's absolutely horrible. Another author who enjoy making Harry the Bitch of the Universe for absolutely no reason, and the writing is just bland, there is nothing enjoyable in it even if it is at least error free.

But you got something right:

I just don't see how it's a good thing.

 

Well, read on till the 4th before deciding. Like I said, the story is 'different'.

 

I really have no interest in doing so, the first paragraphs are so cringes worthy that I know this isn't for me. And frankly from what I have seen, you and I have completely different taste. In fact so much that I know for sure that most of what you find good, there is a strong chance that I will find it unreadable.

 

I began fanfiction in Ranma 1/2 section. Gender change is bread and butter over there. If its done in a reasonable way I don't see a problem with it.

Characterization (For Tom anyway) is spot on. Harry seems a bit out of character but that's to be expected given the background. Frankly, you can't look at it and say the writing is bad. The quality is there.

One man's bland is another's build up. Give this story another 40k and I bet some sort of shit hits the fan in a great way. I hope so anyway.

 

Ah, gender-bender?

Meh.

 

It was like the HP-version of Twilight. No joke, the moment Harry comes into the room, all Riddle can do is rhapsodize about her/(his?) perfect rose-colored hair, and perfect lips, etc etc. This might be a good read for preteens but for anyone else, it's just excruciating.

 

I have no problem with the genderbender (though Harry's attitude to it is so passive that you wonder what point there was in doing it). The real problem is Harry's character. He's got the experience, knowledge and wisdom of several lifetimes. He should be far more active a character - much more than the "moth" to Tom Riddle's "flame".

 

Gender bender is a genre I enjoy; albeit, somewhat guiltily. This had none of what makes me enjoy the genre, and struggled to read the first chapter. The fact that Tom seemed so accomidating killed any interest in reading further.

 

Title: A Year Abroad

Author: Dream Realmer

Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8973124/1/A-Year-Abroad

Summary: AU - Harry decides to take a year off and travel before deciding whether or not to join the Aurors. When he reaches L.A. he meets a peculiar waitress named Anne.


First off this is a crossover with Btvs though you can read the story without being a huge fan of the show. It takes place post-Deathly Hallows, the story starts summer 1998. The war is over, and Buffy is living in L.A. under the alias 'Anne.'

I thought about putting this up for review instead of here but from what I remember this isn't exactly a well liked crossover.

That being said 8 chapters in this may be the best of these crossovers I've ever read.

 

How can you know if it's well liked or not, it's only been out for like, a month.

Also, if that's the best crossover you've ever read, you need to read more crossovers.