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sarea
Did you hear that Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy ran into each other (literally) in the hall? And now he has to tutor her in Potions? And by the way, the Yule Ball is next week and neither of them have dates?
Fanfic conventions: We all know them. Some of them we love, some of them we hate. Anyone who's read a story has encountered one or more of these conventions -- sometimes even in the same story. Some conventions show up in nearly every fic. If you've ever =written= a story, you've probably used one or more.
But conventions are conventions because they work, right? What ones work for you, and which don't? Are you tired of seeing the same old thing, or do you look forward to a new twist on an old favorite? Why do fanfic conventions come about, and are they necessarily a bad thing?
There's a reason why cliches/conventions exist. Actually, there are probably several, but this is the one that's clearest to me: They started out as good ideas, and *because* they were good, and didn't need a lot of background work, and weren't so clearly distinguishable as to belong to any one person, people started using them. A lot. Then once it's used a lot, it starts to feel like fact. Take Ginny's name, for example. Nowhere in canon is she called anything but Ginny; yet it is fanfic convention that her full name is "Virginia." Canon does not support this, but most people accept it as fact -- or, at the very least, accept it w/o much thought or difficulty. (I personally still don't understand why it's so popular for Ginny to start being known by her full name instead of the name we know her by.)
I'm most familiar w/ the D/G part of the fandom, so I can only speak with any real confidence about D/G stories and the conventions I've noticed. I would be interested to hear what conventions exist for other shipper pairings.
Ginny "running into" Draco or vice versa is an extremely popular convention. Which sucks, because there are times when that might really add to a story. But I would hesitate in putting it into any story I write now, because I see it all the time. And I think the reason why that is is because it's the easiest, most believable way for Draco and Ginny -- who would normally not share the same circles -- to interact. It's the catalyst that gets them talking to one another. This is probably true of most other conventions I can think of: Draco having to tutor Ginny in Potions or vice versa in some other subject; Draco and Ginny having to serve the same detention; they discover love through online chatting; they're locked in a broom closet together. With D/G fics, our two protagonists are typically forced into a situation where they have to be in close proximity to one another. Once we get them there, they can talk and generally discover that they're each not as loathesome as they might think. And then they're free to fall in love and suggest meetings of their own. But getting Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley to interact? Tough business, that.
We're all looking for a way to get them together in a believable way, but is that an impossibility, really? Are the characters so "wrong" for one another that the reason we keep going back to the same old thing is because there's no other way to do it? I don't think that, but it is incredibly hard to get a D/G fic jumpstarted, imho. Especially when they're at Hogwarts. It's a bit easier when we think about them as older people; Draco can have grown up/changed in the meantime, and they join forces to battle a common enemy.
Now I'm just thinking out loud. I'll stop, because who knows where this will ever end?
The thing is, if done well, conventions and cliches often make the best stories. I love the idea of Draco and Ginny having to partner together on a school project. But it's up to the reader to make the idea feel fresh and exciting, and if they can do that then I'll love it, cliche or no. And that's true of many things, I think.
Sarea
Fanfic conventions: We all know them. Some of them we love, some of them we hate. Anyone who's read a story has encountered one or more of these conventions -- sometimes even in the same story. Some conventions show up in nearly every fic. If you've ever =written= a story, you've probably used one or more.
But conventions are conventions because they work, right? What ones work for you, and which don't? Are you tired of seeing the same old thing, or do you look forward to a new twist on an old favorite? Why do fanfic conventions come about, and are they necessarily a bad thing?
There's a reason why cliches/conventions exist. Actually, there are probably several, but this is the one that's clearest to me: They started out as good ideas, and *because* they were good, and didn't need a lot of background work, and weren't so clearly distinguishable as to belong to any one person, people started using them. A lot. Then once it's used a lot, it starts to feel like fact. Take Ginny's name, for example. Nowhere in canon is she called anything but Ginny; yet it is fanfic convention that her full name is "Virginia." Canon does not support this, but most people accept it as fact -- or, at the very least, accept it w/o much thought or difficulty. (I personally still don't understand why it's so popular for Ginny to start being known by her full name instead of the name we know her by.)
I'm most familiar w/ the D/G part of the fandom, so I can only speak with any real confidence about D/G stories and the conventions I've noticed. I would be interested to hear what conventions exist for other shipper pairings.
Ginny "running into" Draco or vice versa is an extremely popular convention. Which sucks, because there are times when that might really add to a story. But I would hesitate in putting it into any story I write now, because I see it all the time. And I think the reason why that is is because it's the easiest, most believable way for Draco and Ginny -- who would normally not share the same circles -- to interact. It's the catalyst that gets them talking to one another. This is probably true of most other conventions I can think of: Draco having to tutor Ginny in Potions or vice versa in some other subject; Draco and Ginny having to serve the same detention; they discover love through online chatting; they're locked in a broom closet together. With D/G fics, our two protagonists are typically forced into a situation where they have to be in close proximity to one another. Once we get them there, they can talk and generally discover that they're each not as loathesome as they might think. And then they're free to fall in love and suggest meetings of their own. But getting Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley to interact? Tough business, that.
We're all looking for a way to get them together in a believable way, but is that an impossibility, really? Are the characters so "wrong" for one another that the reason we keep going back to the same old thing is because there's no other way to do it? I don't think that, but it is incredibly hard to get a D/G fic jumpstarted, imho. Especially when they're at Hogwarts. It's a bit easier when we think about them as older people; Draco can have grown up/changed in the meantime, and they join forces to battle a common enemy.
Now I'm just thinking out loud. I'll stop, because who knows where this will ever end?
The thing is, if done well, conventions and cliches often make the best stories. I love the idea of Draco and Ginny having to partner together on a school project. But it's up to the reader to make the idea feel fresh and exciting, and if they can do that then I'll love it, cliche or no. And that's true of many things, I think.
Sarea
