The honeymoon period is over...

[graculus]

I have officially reached the 'meh' period where HP fanfic is concerned. So I guess that's not bad, considering I've been reading it for a solid 18 months now.

The 'meh' period can best be defined as: 'I will no longer finish everything I read regardless of how awful. I will wince at bad summaries and run away quickly, rather than allow hope to triumph over experience and believe that the story will be better than the summary. I will still slavishly read anything written by writers who I trust to know what they're doing, even in pairings I don't like, but other than that I will not scrape the bottom of the fic barrel in the hope there's... just... one... more... new... story'.

It could be worse, though. I could be torturing myself with half-written stories... lucky escape! :)

Comments

[xochiquetzl]

I remember the honeymoon in Stargate. I think I'm officially old and jaded and in permanent "meh" mode. I made one small attempt to find HP fic on google, burned my eyes out with a badfic, ;) and then immediately started looking for recs lists.

You know, just because something's recced is no guarantee it's good. ;) I managed to find some stories that didn't make me want to pluck out my eyes, but I feel no obligation to finish stories at this point if they suck.

I'm now reading your recs. Thus far I seem to agree with your pics more than that other person's who I found on google.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

I remember the honeymoon in Stargate. I think I'm officially old and jaded and in permanent "meh" mode.

I wonder whether not writing it makes the 'meh' period take longer to arrive. I felt no desire to rage at people's lack of grasp of canon, or to fume as they massacred the characterisation.

I'm now reading your recs. Thus far I seem to agree with your pics more than that other person's who I found on google.

Now there's a surprise. ;)

Yes, there's a scarily large proportion of incredibly awful fic, much of which has its proponents. In fact, this fandom made me feel much better about the bad fic in SG, since it's utterly eclipsed by the turgid stolid and just plain vile prose of many HP writers.

[xochiquetzl]

I wonder whether not writing it makes the 'meh' period take longer to arrive. I felt no desire to rage at people's lack of grasp of canon, or to fume as they massacred the characterisation.

I mainly felt the need to make bitchy comments and hit the back arrow really fast. I must be really, really, really old and jaded. ;) No, appalling characterization and canon errors merely prompt me to cry out, "Why does my head hurt?" and to move on to the next story.

I think all fandoms have a high signal-to-noise ratio when it comes to fic quality. OTOH, I read a couple of opening paragraphs that made blood spontaneously shoot out of my ears...

[graculus.livejournal.com]

I think all fandoms have a high signal-to-noise ratio when it comes to fic quality. OTOH, I read a couple of opening paragraphs that made blood spontaneously shoot out of my ears...

I always figure if I can make it through the first couple of paragraphs without goggling too much at the spelling, grammar, epithets, characterisation or sheer inanity of the plot, I have a chance of reading till the end. Doesn't mean they might not lose it at some point, but I can often tell right away...