Fan Fiction can be something that
can be looked upon harshly by many for various reasons, some petty, some that
make sense. Regardless, it is a thing that is beloved by many, both by reading
fan fiction and also writing it. And since this is a blog that does celebrate
the very best in geek culture, there is nothing too low brow for me to discuss.
One of the most popular fan
fiction genres would have to be Harry Potter. On fanfiction.net, there are
580,830 published stories of Harry Potter in the Harry Potter fan fiction. Even
if interest of the franchise kind of has tapered off in the recent years, with
the final movie being put out last year(until the inevitable remake about
twenty years down the line that is, and don’t think its not going to happen
either), it is still a very popular franchise, when many children discovering a
love for reading towards Harry Potter. So really the franchise should be
admired. It was a bit into my teenage years when I discovered Harry Potter, but
I discovered my love through reading through my own geeky way through X-Men and
Spider-Man comics back in the mid 1990s. So there you go.
People eventually decide to try
their hand in writing about their favorite characters from short stories to
full blown mini-novels. With various degrees of success and quality. There are some
good stories, some not so good stories, and then…well My Immortal. If you never
heard of those stories, then you need to look up the worst Harry Potter fan
fiction level. There are several highly entertaining dramatic
readings/commentary.
As with all forms of media, there
are clichés and some of those clichés are too often.
Most overplayed clichés in Harry Potter fan fiction
Let’s first say that not all clichés
are going to be bad at all. In the hands of a capable writer, clichés can be
fairly entertaining. It is a rather tough road to travel to get over the hurdle
but there is one thing to consider. Those who know what is in fact cliché in a
certain genre of fan fiction like Harry Potter, likely has been reading far too
much fan fiction to really be mentally healthy.
Like when I start noticing storylines
being recycled in wrestling or comic books. Because I’ve seen far too much of
it, so I start sensing trends.
Be that as it may, here are some
common clichés within Harry Potter and its various forms of fan fiction. Not
saying you can’t include these in your fan fiction but just be mindful that you
may receive some negative feedback.
The
Shopping Trip of Death
Not as common anymore, because
the fact that this has been really burned out. Where in Harry Potter is on a
shopping trip and purchases a bunch of books, the mystical magical trunk that
defies time and space, and a bunch of clothes. Things that really are not
relevant to the plot but its a good way for a lazy writer to write about four
or five chapters.
Inheritance
The trip that Harry Potter takes
to Gringotts and learns that he is the heir to a boatload of families. Even
many of them don’t make sense and barely have any canonical bearing in the
world of Harry Potter. If you want to do the Dumbledore keeps Harry’s
inheritance plotline from him, that’s well and good. But keep it within reason, where he isn’t the
heir to eight families or ten families or whatever.
Remembering
the Name of the Freaking Goblin
And blast you JK Rowling for
using this cliché in canon. In my mind, I’ll never accept the fact that goblins
would give two Knuts about remembering their name. So it does rather annoy me.
Soul
Bonds
Yeah, I find the idea that
someone would have only one person that they would be destined for to be kind
of reprehensible. It doesn’t matter what the pairing is, it still is bad. And I
realize that at one time I might have done this, but it does seem to be an
absurd plot device. Anything regarding destiny being chiseled in stone. Soul
bonds, whatever you want to call them, seem like something that is defined by a
twisted sense of idealized love by teenage girls. And a boy telling a girl that
they’re soul mates really is just a cheap ploy to get into their pants. I’m
just saying.
Prophecies
Another thing used in canon, but
I’m kind of fine with that, because I can reconcile the fact that Voldemort was
an utterly paranoid loon with issues that had to eliminate any threat to
himself, so he may have hoisted himself upon his own petard. It was mental
sabotage at its finest. But any other prophecies but the one that was in canon
is just too much.
World
of Gay
Homosexual relationships can be
done in any kind of fiction and when done right, they can work. But the problem
is, pairing both characters together in a mature manner is something that most
fan fiction writers struggle with. It often has to do with the fact that they
think that they are being progressive by putting two guys together but really
they are doing so because the thought of two particular characters make them
wet in the panties.
But the problem is this. Once
every single pairing in the story is same sex. Granted there is only so much
realism that you can have in a world of magic, but the suspension of disbelief
only so far. And when there are more same sex pairings than opposite sex
pairings, then it really does strain believability. In the world, you’re going
to notice more heterosexual couples out there than homosexual couples. Whatever
the reason for this is, that’s another debate for a different blog.
And male pregnancy is just wrong.
I don’t care if magic is involved, biology just doesn’t work that way and if it
did, we’d be sliding down a rather slippery slope that I’m not going to go
into.
Mary
Sues
And let me clarify, not all
original characters are Mary Sues and not all Mary Sues are original
characters. There are times where people take a canon name and expand the role.
Which can be done well or not so well. In Harry Potter, if someone is right
away established as more talented than the characters who have been established
as a talented or powerful character in the books. It’s not to say that someone
can grow in this way in a credible manner, but this should be done over a few
chapters or throughout the progress of the story. Not the first time they show
up, because even if there is a good reason, it throws up as a flag.
There are many more clichés in
Harry Potter fan fiction then I can name here. Just remember that just because
something is a cliché does not make it unusable. It just takes a special kind
of writer to get it write to a fan base that has been there, seen that, wants
something new.
