anime - amatsuki - smile - summer

Still morning and yet it's been a long, long day....

One of my absolute favorite fics of the hd_holidays fest is by someone who has never actually posted a Harry/Draco fic before. Normally new authors in this fandom tend to be peeps who are new authors, period. They work at it and with practice and some amount of luck, improve with time. Others may have the writing ability but they haven't gotten characterizations down completely or haven't quite figured out their own H/D style.

In other fandoms, it's more common to see talented writers pop in and do a fic that just happens to kick ass. I don't know why, but I don't expect it to happen in the H/D corner. Though I admit, if it were to happen, the best place to get exposure might just be in an anon!fic-fest where shippers read each fic like it *could* be written by a favorite author. And the reception can be really good.

For this round of hd_holidays I pretty much missed everything and started slowly catching up over the weekend. After certain family events in the past 24 hours, I had to take a time out from RL and just read through a lot of the fics I missed.

If I had read Now the Shining Sun is Up last month, I would have thought mahaliem or sarahtales had written it. Lo and behold it was written by lettered, who frolics happily in the BtVS/Angel fandom and dipped her toes in to this corner of fandom for a certain love of Harry and Draco.

There are so few stories that make you feel this awesome - and also just happen to hit you in the gut. Draco is not canon!Draco necessarily, but the characterization seems to take canon and run away with it and lets it develop to it's full potential. I understand why people would e-mail sarahtales thinking she'd written it. It's just fabulous.

When it comes to the H/D ship I admit it's Draco who really draws me into the pairing. But it's not very often I find authors who can write a Draco I can *really* believe in - get his character and thought processes and the completely twisted logic he has, whose cracky!genius and craziness and vulnerability and shocking depth makes you realize that yup, this is Draco...and while you're laughing you feel a pang because this is the guy you adore and don't get to see as often as you'd like.

So, if you can, go read the fic.
Tags:
  • 18 comments
  • —
    • :
    scrtkpr
    I haven't read that one yet! I told myself I'd keep up with all of them, since I was a participant, but I fell sadly behind midway through. Still have big plans to read them all and comment. But I think I'll bump this one a little higher up on the "to read" list. ;) You know how I feel about Maya, so a rec like this is hard for me to resist.
    gossymer
    I still have about a dozen or so fics to go through so we're in the same boat! I gave up on commenting on everything and decided to just rec the stuff I love, but I'm lazy like that.

    I rarely throw Maya's name around so do check it out!
    stereosymbiosis
    I'm definitely going to have to read this...

    Psst, I just friended you, because you look awesome, and your H/D directory makes me extremely happy. :)
    gossymer
    Oh do give it a try!

    Friend away :) I must warn you, this lj is kind of a one-stop-spot for everything fandom related - a bit of a mixed bad really. But *shrugs* that's who I am XD
    - (Anonymous)
    gossymer
    {How did you come across theis entry by the way -__-)

    There aren't too many fanon!Dracos I can embrace, but...&hears;

    In some ways I'm glad I waited till now to sink my teeth into the fics. I don't keep wondering who wrote what and I'm still reading a lot of the stuff anyway :)
    - (Anonymous)
    gossymer
    (No probs - I just wonder how peeps find some of the stuff here, lol)

    Will check out that fic! It *is* hard to find a goof fanon!Draco though I will admit that some canon!Dracos can be incredibly boring or just not the guy I've come to love. It's a bit odd - I sometimes need a blend where fandom takes canon!Draco and makes him all that he could be with time.

    I'm down to a handful of fics for d_hols and then I move on to the other fest \o/
    static_pixie
    I've felt the pang. :( Especially after book 7. There are people who laugh at fanon!Draco, but I think there are different levels of fanon and that some get closer to who he seemed to be then canon ever could.

    I admit, I've been ignoring the HP fandom in favor of the SPN one. But if it's as good as a mistful piece...
    gossymer
    I have this love/hate relationship in fanon. A lot of the times I can't stand it as it just resonates as wrong - but then there are peeps like Maya who write a Draco that can't be classified as canon - but you love him so much. tkp's has that type of characterization IMO.

    I specially love the ending - which truly capture the H/D and the ending line just made me sit back and go "whoa".

    I just took a month long hiatus from H/D so I get what you mean XD I think it was good for me oddly enough - things feel shinier.
    rumpelgeist
    That fic was really excellent. I liked it a lot and I hope I remembered to comment.

    You know, this is precisely why I am not v. strict about Canon compliance, because is that Draco that I love Draco? I'm not too Sure it is. Most of the Things us fans love about him are things that have been Examined and explained by fandom writers. Where is the canon to prove he is funny and not just the type of cruel and shocking that provokes unkind laughter? or Vulnerable in any other way that Doesn't involve fear? that he Has any depth? that he tries to prove anything by logic twisted Or not when "might is right"? I don't know anymore. It's hard to Tell.
    gossymer
    While there aren't too many fanon!Dracos I adore - this one if one of them - the funny, cracky and somewhat nuts Draco that just has me in stitches.

    What I want to see is this Draco in an epilogue!fic - where we have all the events that happened in canon ut Draco has grown into the character we see in the best of fanon!fics - it's sort of like the best of both world IMO.
    rumpelgeist
    You are absolutely Right because I have not read One post-DH story {that accepts the epilogue} that includes That kind of Draco. I Have to admit that I have a few fanon versions of Draco that I like {Mistful's, Femme's, Frayach's, Pir8's, Fourth Rose's, Crawford's, Furiosity's}. I don't think Any H/D writers truly write Canon!Draco because I don't think Canon!Draco exists in the author's mind as little more than a Prejudice against Prejudice, even if He declares His autonomy now and again as in the bathroom scene. I don't Think most of us took that scene the way It was intended; doesn't mean we're wrong.
    gossymer
    (Totally failed to mention it but your fic, Cupid, is also a favorite of mine for this round of hd_hols - it was unique and just fantastic and I need to find more words for a proper rec later)

    There aren't too many peeps who can capture the Draco I see in Maya's, mahaliem's and tkp's fics...which there were though :(
    carameltrap
    I don't think I've read that one yet. I actually had forgotten about hd_holidays. *le gasp* I managed to catch up but they were fics rec'd by cutecoati. :)

    Anyway, thanks for that rec. I'll be scurrying off to read that now.
    lettered
    Wow, thanks again, so much. This is one of the nicest recs I've ever received. As you state, I'm so much more comfortable in Buffyverse fandom, but I fangirl a few different things and have just been too intimidated (and. Well. Lazy) to try to do stuff in the fandoms. It's really awesome that y'all are so welcoming. <3

    As for Draco. I'm finding the discussions of fanon! vs canon!Draco above really really interesting. I guess because most of the other fandoms I've been in, everyone's trying to stay really true to the characters, and often "fanon" is equated with automatically bad. The issue's giving me thinky-thoughts, obviously I must do meta.

    Thanks again for this--for the rec but especially for your thoughts on the piece. I can't tell you how much it means, really.
    a bit of a ramble...
    gossymer
    I'm a lazy bum and tend to think recs can replace proper comments at the stories *headdesk* But am very glad it worked for you :)

    I find there are too many shiny things to be a single fandom!ho so I encourage multiple fandoms! The H/D corner does have it's giant share of silliness, and wank but just don't pay attention to that ^__^

    Fanon! vs canon!Draco may be because before Half Blood Prince, people generally dismissed Draco as a two dimensional character. There was a corner of fandom that could see him as more and developed his characterization - hence the fanon cliches and leatherpants!Draco et all.

    And then HBP came out and I wanted to yell "I TOLD YOU" to my friends XD I don't thinks it's ever just been about loving the character we see in the books though - but also about looking to what he *could* become - his potential for development into so much more. Which is the root of fanon!Draco IMO.

    And for meta which takes you back you could check out ship_manifesto's H/D post, draco on idol_reflection and sistermagpie's meta tag for lots of ramblings ^__^ (if you haven't already read it, that is)

    For me, I do love fanfic with canon - where the events in the books aren't changed - but characterizations are developed to the point where they do begin to include fanon elements...and yet they ring true - you look at Draco and just say, yes

    (In any case, I am very excited about hds_beltane now and it's all because of you *__*)
    Re: a bit of a ramble...
    lettered
    The thing is I mostly still see canon!Draco as a 2d character. Or rather, he is 3d, particularly because of HBP, as you mention, but the views of each dimension we're given are so minute, disparate, and frankly bizarre that who Draco would be, if he was a real person, remains mostly shrouded, imo.

    Of course viewing any fictional character as a "real" person requires a certain amount of extrapolation, but I just feel that with Draco it requires far more "invented material" than usual to actually get a real person out of what we're given. The most generic interpretation, by most considered "canon", that he is a spineless whiny git who does what Pa tells him, doesn't seem to take into consideration his zany plots and weird obsessions, his stubborness and awkwardness and frequent lack of control. I mean really. What kind of person gets that creative just to show someone up, and keeps doing it again and again even when he's been beaten, embarrassed, hurt, punished, and afraid for his life?

    Sorry. I'm just dumping all my random thoughts all you. I'd read the first two meta pieces, but not sistermagpie's stuff--thanks for the heads up!

    Lots of cool people signed up for hds_beltane, so I'm excited too. I'm very flattered you're looking forward to it; I tend to write in different styles according to the piece, so you might not like other things I write as you enjoyed this one--just thought I'd warn you against possible disappointment :o)
  • 18 comments
  • —
    • :