The chapter was supposed to change Harry. We'll have to wait I think to see if it did.

 

True but it shouldn't take 25k, that's pointless bloating.

 

Since this is the "Dumbest, Most Headslappingest Plotpoints or Events in Fanfiction," (Note, OP, that titles get capitalized), I'd say that every case of bashing fits.

And while we're on the subject . . . can anyone tell me why, outside of an unhealthy identification with Harry or a fascination with Hermione that would make Freud salivate to research, bashing shows up in so many stories?

To me, it smacks of immaturity, and I'm not talking about writing.

 

I don't think it has anything to do with immaturity. I see bashing as some kind of 'vent' for pent-up frustration with canon events. From this point of view, it seems that most fanfiction with bashing and clichés is more of a psychodrama, where writer thinks he is writing a serius story, but ends up bashing characters to subconsciously adress real (albeit illogical) problems.

It is probably coupled with inexperiences with reading fanfiction. Even mature person inexperienced with fanfiction can read (and write) bashing stories, while enjoying it. I personally don't mind bashing that much.

 

I think often it's just an easy way out. Don't want Harry to be friends with Ron and Hermione? Bash them. Want Harry to be on Voldemort's side? Bash Dumbledore.

To me bashing often looks like a cheap solution where an author knows where he wants his story to go (e.g. Harry fighting for Voldemort) but doesn't want to give the reasons for this much thought. Coming up with believable reasons for Harry changing sides in the war if you don't bash Dumbledore and the Weasleys is much harder than simply making Harry change sides because Dumbledore is evil and mean and stealing all his money.

 

Either that or the author's read so much fanfiction they've literally forgotten the original characterizations. Sometimes delusion is the only explanation.

 

An otherwise worldly, sixteen-year-old girl with intelligent, open-minded parents who nevertheless knows nothing whatsoever about sex (enough so that she confuses BSD role play with the act of reproduction) - Jeconais's White Knight, Grey Queen.

 

A lot of people bash characters because they don't know where to stop adding powers. If you make your character superpowered, super-intelligent and everyone else is just a bug beneath your boot, there is little else other than bashing to write. Just look at the garbage DZ2 writes.

 

It's been forever and a day since I read his stuff, but I do vaguely remember that he had some jolly strange ideas about sexual relations in general.

 

Just about all of Jeconais' work is ridiculous. I can't remember the name of the particular story of his, but it was Harry/Gabrielle soul bond thing where Harry becomes a professor at Beauxbatons and falls in love w/ Gabrielle. Amongst other things Harry ends up transporting Beauxbatons ENTIRE CASTLE to Hogwarts to some tournament. I remember reading that scene, sighing, saying "fuck this" then closing the story.

 

He has a thing with floating castles. At least three of his stories feature or mention them.

 

That would be "Hope", a piece of shit that solidified and managed to fool people into thinking it's actual writing. It's not just that Harry has a Veela/soul-bond with Gabrielle, the bond itself doesn't allow him to feel anything for any other female that might interest him. I think he remarks on it feeling hollow, like when he kissed Ginny and it just lacked any sort of spark. Naturally, since Gabrielle will go insane without Harry accepting the bond, he accepts it. There's a time-limit on it as well.

Oh and there's some retarded shit with Snape and Malfoy going on in the background, but that's par for the course.

 

I remember reading Hope back in the day day and it wasn't awe-inspiringly terrible; although it had all the requirements for a bad soul bond fic, I don't recall the castle thing bothering me (though it likely would now) and Harry at Beauxbatons had (probably) never been done before.

Anyway, Hope now reminds me of that Gabrielle/Harry soul bond where she kisses him after the second task and somehow he ends up an eight year old again and has to live with the Delacours to keep Gabby alive. Naturally, he abhors the transition from a grown ass person to a kid, and inevitably, they both commit suicide. It's really the only way a soul bond fic should end, 'cause you know damned well two people would go batshit in a situation like that.

 

Some time ago I started to read "One's Most Hated Name" by Forgotten Aspen. Didn't get past the third chapter, the story was just too stupid.

In this fic Harry is living on the streets because after he survived Voldemort's killing curse he started to fade away and reappeared on some street. In second chapter his best friend steals Dudley Dursley's wallet and Dudley kills him because of it. But it's not really that bad because his friend would have died soon anyway. He had a serious lung disease because he smoked pot a few years back. Because of that he had a letter ready to give to Harry moments before his death. They are ten at the time btw. Next James Potter makes an appearance. He delivers Harry's Hogwarts letter. At midnight. For a moment James Potter thinks he found his long lost son, but then Harry tells him some stupid made up story and James forgets all about his suspicions. I stopped reading there.

 

Shit I forgot about that. I also remember that Harry somehow recruits all his former Gryffindor teammates as "instructors" at Beauxbatons so that Beauxbatons can beat the evil Hogwarts staff in a game of Quidditch. Then, and this is a surprisingly large plot point, Harry et al. decide that they've missed playing together and the incredibly wealthy Harry starts his own professional Quidditch team.

 

Hagrid is a retarded evil guy. An Dumbledore tries to be a twirling mustache villain, but he is too dumb to remember how to do it. In an attempt to save hi ass the author says he is insane in the last chapter, then we have a shit eater Dumbledore, completely different from the rest of the 'story',

But the star making of Jeconais is that short story where Gabrielle has dreads, and metal spinning thingies that kill people on them. And she and Harry have sex becaquse reasons. Great times.

 

Here is something that made be facepalm:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7840508/1/Harry-and-the-Pirates

This story made me want to watch Black Lagoon. The story includes magical!Dudley, nice!Petunia along with being one of the few fics I've read that seems to have pulled off Slytherin!trio without leatherpantsing Malfoy and turning Slytherin into a club of misunderstood nice people.

However...

Spoiler

In chapter 40 the author practically ruined the story by having Dumbledore casually talk about horcruxes after receiving the diary in front of Lucius Malfoy and Parkinson Snr who then get into a shouting match/duel shouting about how they were both Deatheaters.

I suspect the author had a few weeks of stupid or something.

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And now a couple chapters later nothing has been done about despite the confession being in the presence of Dumbledore and half a dozen kids.

 

Marquis Black's HP fics rile me up like crazy where Harry ascends to become emperor, goes on towards world dominion and does so while having the entire world fanatically loyal to him.

 

True, though two of the stories are actually based on the same concept. Supposedly, Hope was supposed to be a fairytale, but he didn't feel like he took it far enough, and so decided to go a little over the top with the same idea in his other long Harry/Gabrielle story.

In truth, his stories are a guilty pleasure of mine, mainly because there's a known commodity there: decent writing, little spelling/technical issues, someone gets saved from something, and Harry becomes a badass (usually by the use of a Time-turner). I've collaborated with him on a short piece that I wrote, just bouncing back and forth the story, and I've noted a few things that has helped me write better as well. So, it's not all bad, IMO.

 

Jeconais isn't a bad writer in the most simplistic way, he has interesting ideas, decent writing skills and he can write romance in a decent way, I love his Harry/Daphne story. The problem is, he refuses to grow up as a writer.

He keeps repeating his stories, and keeps making them jumping the shark, instead of getting them to the next level. He is the Taylor Swift of fanfic, started pretty well, got a lot of attention, his ideas were attuned to the time and everyone expected him to grow. But he refused, and got back to write what everyone was tired, getting more and more ridiculous, self-centered and unoriginal. A shame.