Okay, so I sit down to read a story that has a promising, though not spectacular summary. Half way through the first chapter, Harry has moaned that fate's a bitch, slit his wrist, kept quiet about his visions where he constantly feels the Cruciatus Curse and the abuse his suffers at the hand of his uncle and has stopped eating. With a quick flick through the next few chapters, the whole story is about Harry being berated by Hermione/Ginny "You're not alone!" Naturally, I gag myself and click the magic X, but it led me wondering.

Why did authors write those types of stories? Seriously, what could possibly be the motivation behind a story with examples of the above? Psychologically, why do people enjoy writing or reading these stories?

Thoughts?

 

Author is expressing the way they feel through Harry.The readers and Author probably /wrists themseves,damn emofucks.Who knows what go through their little emo mindset.

 

Some of them, and I stress some, have actually experienced it, gotten over it, and now want to share to get some attention. Others, which is the majority, just want attention because apparently being a cutter is "cool". Like on my bus one girl started randomly going around asking for a pair of scissors and showing off the tiny cuts she made on her arm while grinning and absorbing the attention. People who write the emofests are probably like her.

Or they just want Harry to suffer and get comforted 'cause that "OMG lyk soooo SWEEEET!" and the reviewers who have less of a life than I do will fawn over the story and comment on how Harry must be strong and say stuff like "aww, thts soo sad!".

You only got the Hermione/Ginny saying the "you're not alone"? The ones I found all had Snape and Malfoy saying it.

 

Well, most popular genres of fanfiction are targeting certain primal instincts in their readers. And while Dark!Harry stories are playing on the teenage boys' craving for power and superiority, and slash offers teen girls a safe avenue for exploring their own sexuality (without them feeling like sluts), abuse stories are playing on the (mostly female) readers' instinct to nurture and basically play mothers.

At the start, you have your abused and hurt Harry. And then the author self-insert character comes along (Marry-Sue, hijacked canon girl or Snape, if the author wants to mix it with sexual elements) and starts mothering him - teaching him to explore his feelings, giving him back his sense of self-worth and all other touchy-feely crap girls love. Harry's occasional relapses are used to bring his character back to earlier stages of the 'therapy', allowing teenage reader to go through them again and again and again... until they get it right.

In the end, the point of these stories isn't in Harry's character or the war or any sort of plot, but in the (pre)teen reader living through nurturing her favorite hero into health and consequently training herself into a future soccer mum, where she'll try to apply that knowledge into practice.

 

I disagree with the people saying that you must be emo or must have experienced emotional trauma/stress to write stories such as that. When I write, I try to put myself in the place of the character in question. I'm assuming that most people do this as well, or atleast I hope they do as it makes it much easier to create a realistic character. When you do this however, your own choice of action may conflict with the canon character's because you are not Harry Potter, you do not think like him, he is not a real person... (*gasp* nowai!!1) So, when someone else writes him who thinks that he should rightfully be cracking under the pressure he is in, they make him do so. That does not make them emo, or even a weak person. Harry Potter is depicted in the books as a very strong willed kid, not many people in real life could match up to him I'd wager. For example, if I was him, I'd have run away long ago . Of course the type of story you're writing severely affects the characters' attitudes in general as can be seen in Enigma.

...oh and there are also emo kids out there who write him like that as an outcry for help... what the hell are they thinking. Don't they know that if we get ahold of their fics they'll likely commit suicide after reading our comments .

 

Rid an evil from the world, our comments will.

 

I really think that's exactly right. I'm guilty of some of that shit. I'm trying to get out of it, though, and I think I'm succeeding with my newest fic.

I also think that they just can't help themselves. They probably invision this strong, powerful, oh so sad epic fic that tugs the heartstrings of their readers and makes them empathetic and makes them feel the way the writer's feel--but that all kind of falls flat in the writing. Especially if the writing is not very good. Well-written emo fics fall flat, and poorly written emo fics go up in flames.

But, for every sappy emo kid who writes a fic, there are a hundred more sappy emo kids who will read one. So the cycle continues...

 

Heh, yeah. Emofics happen because the writers like picking on Poor Harry, and nurturing him back into Hero Harry, or HarryWhoCanSaveTehWORLD!!!
They just like the whole process. >_< urgh

 

Herei s what I have to say about these kinds of writers: they are nothing but depressed little newbs who aren't even trying to develop Harry at all. If you want ot make Harry depressed, you have to develop the feeling! Not just put it out like that.

 

How lovely of you to post a family portrait, Bio.

 

Who Knows?

There is a certain psychological low involved when someone considers the "emo" part of life. This low is somewhat addictive. It's like those who are submissives: the lowering of themselves into something, in this case despair, brings some sort of pleasure to them. It is rather odd, and may have been caused by the desensitization this generation has undergone (not that that's a bad thing, ).

So the writers get to craft in their minds an image of someone they like, in this case Harry Potter, and then fit him into their life. The get to experience the severe sadness, depression, and temporary high caused by the "emo" experience. Notice the word temporary. The pain of cutting brings only short bits of happiness and feelings of control. Then more is needed. This way, the control and happiness is gained, and the author is not physically harmed.

This is, of course, extraced from the experiences of my friends, each of whom had a brief "emo" period before righting themselves. This does not apply to all writers, merely those who are, shall we say, "disturbed", but not to the extent the "emo" crowd is.

Have any of you never had a low period in your life where sad music makes you feel better? It is possible that crafting a character that can both resemble and differ from themselves creates an image of the author. The author can express their frustration, pain, etc. in a way that does not involve sappy teenage poetry, rather just crappy teenage writing that destroys the IQ of all who read it and make me consider myself sane next to these people. This is saying a lot.

Teenagers are masters at crafting masks, which means that it is hard for one teenager to look for someone like them in another. Creating an "emo" Harry is an alternative to finding someone sharing their pain. It's like making an imaginary friend, except this one is copyrighted and is no where near as whiny as they are (in most cases).

 

I think I did a little study on this once. I created an alternate profile on FF.Net , wrote and posted a completely (on my end) satire fic about Harry going Goth, etc.

For two half-heartedly written chapters crammed with angst and goth-ness, there were over 50 reviews. To this day, I still get pathetic reviews saying, "plz update".

Ugh. Personally, I concluded that the majority of people that read fics like that are young and immature, going through that stage in teenagers lives where they're "trying to find themselves". Mostly, I blame this on society...

Nobody even got that the fic was satire, either...>.<

 

These are the things they live for! Don't encourage them!

 

Gah!

If there is one thing I cannot stand it is the entire Emo movement. One day -- and that day may never come -- I shall compose a 5,000 word (minimum) rant about exactly what I think of Emoness. Here's a hint, none of it is positive.

As for why the fic turned into an emofest -- the Cutter! Harry Slash! Harry Pussy! Harry segment of the fandom is fricking huge! And they have fricking sharks with fricking laser beams attached to their heads!

 

I sometimes wish that all the emo kids would just drop off the face of the Earth.

 

Forgive me! lol.

I was trying to prove something to someone -- I'm not entirely sure who now, as it was a long time ago -- by writing it. Of course, I couldn't stomach continuing, which is why it will be stuck as the gruesome two chapters forever.

 

Believe me sweetie, I have seen worse! And when I say worse, I mean 'I think my eyes are bleeding, I just threw up my liver and oh look, my heart stopped bleeding' worse.

 

thats harsh. this kind of emo shit is nothing more than a never ending cycle that won't stop, unless the society changes fo the better. Everyone had there low moment and they get out of it one way or another. shit happens. thats life.