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I think one of the big strengths of fanfiction as a medium is that it can, on average, assume the reader has a way higher degree of familiarity with canon than like…canon can. If you’re in the Star Wars AO3 tag you probably like Star Wars enough to remember more things about it than the average Star Wars-enjoying-ten-year-old. Which makes it way easier for fanwriter a to get to the juicy stuff and really engage with the worldbuilding or minor characters without having to spell out like. Who Wedge Antilles is for everyone who forgot or never noticed him in the first place. You could write a book about Wedge in the old EU because EU readers could also be assumed to be serious fans, but you can’t make a new canon Disney+ show about him. Those cost money to make and are intended for a broader audience.

And all this means that like. A good fic writer can and often will surpass canon when it comes to like. Thematic resonance and stuff, because they can really dig into something. Star Trek 2009 gave Kirk a new, more generic tragic backstory because it couldn’t expect the average moviegoer to be familiar with Kirk’s old, way more interesting tragic backstory. (Frankly, I’m not sure jj abrams knew about TOS Kirk’s backstory) whereas I have read a LOT of well-written, interesting, deeply resonant fanfic examinations of Tarsus IV, and what it means for Kirk’s character that he’s a genocide survivor. Star Trek 2009 answers the question “why did Kirk cheat on the kobayashi maru?” With “‘cause his dad crashed a spaceship when he was a baby.” A close examination of TOS canon implies the answer is “because he lived through a real-life Kobayashi that did have a win option, but which wasn’t taken.” BUT—and this is significant—even the TOS canon movies can’t really assume knowledge of the full TOS tv show, so that implication is never examined or made explicit. Instead it’s fanfic (and maybe spin off novels? Idk I’ve only read 2 trek books, if there’s one out there that covers this that would be really cool) where we get dives into that thread, where Kirk gets a commendation for original thinking because he can look a testing board in the eye and say “I’ve seen what happens when someone is entrenched in this kind of thinking, and I cannot let it happen to me. I understand the lesson, but it’s not hypothetical anymore and it never will be. I did what I had to do.” And that’s interesting! That’s meaningful! That can’t happen in a summer blockbuster. But it can happen in fic, easily, and that’s a strength of fic, I think.

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a comic about fix-it fanfics

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Reblog if reading someone else’s fanfiction has helped you get through a hard day

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(reblog for sample size, yadda yadda yadda)

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The Last Enemy by @chdarling

When I tell you I have dozens of notes on my Kindle that I need to convert into long overdue comments... This fic is the perfect canon-compliant Jily gem with eventual Wolfstar. CH's attention to detail, skill at foreshadowing, and talent for writing deep, complex characters that show real growth are unparalleled imo.

A celebration of WIPs 💖

Is there an unfinished fic or WIP (a Work In Progress) that you love even without the ending?

Authors give us so much, but sometimes life gets in the way or inspiration leads them somewhere new. But, that doesn’t mean we don’t love a great fic, even if it’s incomplete.

To celebrate all the WIPs out there please share this post with a link to your favorite WIP!

It can be someone else’s or even your own! No rules apply (but you’re free to tag the author or a friend). Just share this post and pass it on.

Lots of Love,

The Wolfstar Librarian ⭐️🌙

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I saw a Potter prompt on Twitter and had to draw something! I chose Hagrid and Fang as the “best friends”!

DAY ONE : BEST FRIENDS

DAY TWO : MUST BE A WEASLEY

DAY THREE : HOUSE COLORS

DAY FOUR : MISUNDERSTOOD

DAY FIVE : FLORA AND FAUNA 

DAY SIX : PARENTAL FIGURE

DAY SEVEN : YER A WIZARD, HARRY

#rubeus hagrid #fang #fanart

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Or, you know, 40 lines of non-dialogue.

#wolfstar

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two very good fictional relationship dynamics:

1. i would find you and love you in every universe. our love is inevitable and transcends reality as we understand it

2. this is the only universe where the dominos fell exactly right so that we could fall in love. we have something unique and we have overcome so much to get here

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S.P.E.W.!! I was always sad they left Spew out of the films, I loved Hermione all the more for it. ❤ Here’s the last of the exclusive comics from “Obliviate”! I’m not sure when the next one will be as I don’t currently have time for drawing outside of work, but hopefully someday soon I’ll at least be able to sketch something for fun! If you’d like to, please check out my Etsy shop with more HP goodness, including physical copies of the comics! ✨⚡

#hermione granger #best girl #ron weasley #harry potter #fanart

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“this character is dead” to you maybe. I don't know where y'all live but I live in denial

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people trying to insist a fandom is tiny when it /only/ has a few thousand works on ao3 meanwhile my current fandom is a sixteen book series and has several hundred fewer works than goncharov, a movie that, and i cannot stress this enough, doesn’t even exist

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There is a crack in the storytelling That’s how fanfic gets in

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Better luck next time, Draco

#draco malfoy #harry potter #drarry #fanart

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Harry and Hermione: Balancing Acts, Effort, and Compromise

One of my favorite aspects of Harry and Hermione's dynamic is the way it is marked by conflict. @ashesandhackles' meta over here expands on the way Harry's relationship with conflict evolve over time. For my own piece however, I wish to focus on the nature of Harry and Hermione's conflict, especially, and the way they add nuance and complexity of their relationship.

Given that the height of their tension appears in Order of the Phoenix, I will focus my exploration on their dynamic in this book.

Hermione has Harry's number. She gets how he thinks, how he feels, and knows full well how he will react in any situation they come across. We see this in how she greeted him when they first meet in OotP.

"HARRY! Ron, he’s here, Harry’s here! We didn’t hear you arrive! Oh, how are you? Are you all right? Have you been furious with us? I bet you have, I know our letters were useless — but we couldn’t tell you anything, Dumbledore made us swear we wouldn’t, oh, we’ve got so much to tell you, and you’ve got to tell us..."

She knows full well that the silence will bother him. She understands that he would feel angry at the isolation and opens up their conversation with an apology and explanation.

This is an ongoing theme in OotP. The problem with Hermione is that as much as she understands how Harry's head is going, her position in whatever argument they are having is often diametrically opposite to his. And she doesn't know how to get him to see her side of the bargain.

Harry is itching to join the Order and fight, but Hermione understands (and agrees) with the need to keep them out of the loop. Harry doesn't feel qualified to teach DADA, but Hermione believes he can succeed. Harry doesn't want to share his experiences in the graveyard with anyone, feeling that what he had given should have been enough, but Hermione understands the curiosity and skepticism of everyone else and so pushes him to share anyway.

In OotP, Hermione is dealing with two separate and often conflicting agendas when it comes Harry. There is the war effort (eg. Umbridge, the DA, counter-propaganda) in which she recognizes Harry to be an extremely valuable resources, and there is Harry himself, her friend who is hurting deeply.

OotP is a balancing act for Hermione, and the problem in their relationship is that there is actually no way to balance both. Giving Harry the time and space he needs requires that she put her plans on hold. Her plans mean pretty much forcing Harry to do extremely painful things he would rather not do.

And so, failing to strike a balance that works, we see Hermione choose the war over Harry's well-being. It's not an easy choice though, and we see her try to be Harry's friend even if that friendship jeopardizes her painstaking plans.

We see this best in the Hog's Head. This chapter opens with Hermione's repeated assurance to Harry that these people just want to hear Harry's side.

We can therefore infer that her pitch to them was that they come to Hog's Head and Harry will tell them what they need to know.

"I’ve told you, they just want to hear what you’ve got to say,” said Hermione soothingly; but Harry continued to look at her so furiously that she added quickly, “You don’t have to do anything yet, I’ll speak to them first."

But the moment the meeting shifts, and these newcomers demand the story that was promised to them, Hermione backpedals hard.

"Zacharias Smith,” said the boy, “and I think we’ve got the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who’s back." “Look,” said Hermione, intervening swiftly, “that’s really not what this meeting was supposed to be about —"

She sees Harry's discomfort, and despite the success of the meeting hinging on his story, she tries to divert the attention away from him anyway. She's protecting him at the expense of her meeting.

But an interesting thing happens - stubborn Harry Potter CONCEDES.

“It’s okay, Hermione,” said Harry. It had just dawned upon him why there were so many people there. He felt that Hermione should have seen this coming. Some of these people — maybe even most of them — had turned up in the hope of hearing Harry’s story firsthand. “What makes me say You-Know-Who’s back?” he asked, looking Zacharias straight in the face. “I saw him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year, and if you didn’t believe him, you don’t believe me, and I’m not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone.”

He tells her it's okay and then proceeds to give up his stubborn reticence to support her. He compromises and tells them a version of the story he feels comfortable sharing with these strangers.

While understanding doesn't come easily to both of them, there is clear and concentrated effort from both parties to try. They listen to what the other person has to say. They freely voice their counter-arguments. They figure out compromises and accommodations that they can both live with.

We see this best even in what is arguably one of the biggest and most important fight between them: Sirius's rescue in OotP.

The interesting part here is that Hermione's approach is actually all wrong (at least at first). Her comment on his saving-people-thing has him becoming defensive. And upon seeing this, Hermione CHANGES track.

"I’m trying to say — Voldemort knows you, Harry! He took Ginny down into the Chamber of Secrets to lure you there, it’s the kind of thing he does, he knows you’re the — the sort of person who’d go to Sirius’s aid! What if he’s just trying to get you into the Department of Myst —"

She elaborates on her points, explains what she means in ways that not only Harry can understand, but also makes him feel less judged and attacked.

And it works - Harry understands. More importantly he LISTENS.

"But if this is a trick of V-Voldemort’s — Harry, we’ve got to check, we’ve got to —” “How?” Harry demanded. “How’re we going to check?"

Considering Harry's mindset here, it's actually quite impressive that Hermione managed to change his mind as much as she did. We can see here that he is in complete panic. He dismissed Ron and Ginny's protests outright. He is losing his head and wants to go charging ahead, Voldemort be damned.

But he listens to Hermione. He pays attention to what she has to say, and he does adjust his course of action according to her advice no matter how begrudgingly.

All of this is to say that Harry and Hermione's relationship is defined by compromise above all. It is a constant negotiation between the two of them, and this pattern persists all the way through HBP and DH.

Hermione insists that something dodgy is going on with the Potions book, so Harry let's her check it. Harry wants to stay in Grimmauld Place in DH, so Hermione goes with him. They both decide to go to Godric's Hollow, and while Hermione wants to focus on finding mission-relevant information, she looks for the Potter's graves too. Because that mattered to Harry.

What makes Harry and Hermione's relationship so compelling is how hard they try for each other. Their relationship only survives through a lot of effort on both sides. There is nothing instinctive or easy about the way communicate with each other. But they also love and respect each other enough that they willingly put in all the effort necessary to make it work between them.

From OotP onwards, Harry and Hermione stand as equals. They fight together, support each other, and it is only when they work together that they manage to see their missions through.

#hp meta #harry potter #hermione granger

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