Poll: New Fics Using Old Canon

[kennahijja]

I've been thinking about the advantages/disadvantages of writing stories with 'old canon' lately. With that, I mean stories that ignore either whole books (like HBP) or certain events in canon (the death of Sirius, for example), not older stories written before said new canon came out.

I see them occasionally, and don't mind reading them, but have the impression that they are rather frowned upon in fandom. Which, in a way, is understandable, since new canon means tons of new details to incorporate, new situations to explore, and writing in an 'old' context smacks of laziness or resentment against new canon developments. Or does it? Since I'm sitting on an *old* plot right this moment and am tempted to forget that the strange animal called HBP ever showed up in its context, I'd be curious about what 'public opinion' is on this. Hence, poll :).

That said, I really want honest opinions, not reassurance - my decision on said plot will be totally uninfluenced by the outcome of this. If I was going for what's popular, I'd not try to carry the candle for Ron/Lucius ;).


[Poll #785133]

Comments

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

If it was one of my favourite pairings, I'll read it no matter what (if it still seems well written after the first paragraph.)

But I usually stick to reading canon-compliant fics. Keeping in canon is part of the game, for me, and unless the writer has a really good reason for going AU (i.e., like you did in Syltherin Lovers) than I'm not really interested. For example, "I'm going to ignore HBP because I want to pair Harry with Hermione" = FEH, IMO.)

On the other hand, there are no rules in fan fiction. The whole point of it is to write what you want, how you want. I'm not going to judge or condemn a writer that ignores current canon. He or she is free to do what he or she wants.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Eeep, so late! Sorry!

I generally prefer canon-compliant fics too, although it doesn't matter that much since I'm reading older fic quite a lot, and am somewhat used to canon switches. And ohsoFEH! indeed!

AU proper (as in changing the whole setting like a 'What If' scenario in comic books) are a different kettle of fish - usually, I enjoy those a lot. Well, some, if they're well done :).

[painless-j.livejournal.com]

3. It's not my place to tell people what they should write. Everybody writes what they want; I'll decide for myself if I like what they've written :)

2 and 4. I'm rather less pleased to see new "old canon" fics than new "new canon" fics. When I see a new fic that ignores HBP (sometimes even OotP), I feel disappointed 'cos there are enough old fics, written before those, that I can enjoy if I want pre-HBP things. I sort of understand it when somebody was writing a long story, started it before HBP but is going to finish it no matter what. Cheers for them. But with new "old canon" stories, I probably just don't understand the author's way of thinking: how can one ignore new canon info? It's already so deep inside my head that I don't see the point of going without. What adds to it, possibly, is that most new "old canon" fics that I've read/tried reading were exactly those lazy or 'less good' ones, where it was clear the author just didn't want to bother for the sake of having fun with "the boys."

But if the plot/pairing/summary intrigues me, I'll give it a try anyway.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

3. You're one wise woman :).

*nods about the rest*
Having a plot solution that incorporates the newest canon is definitely the most elegant ideal for me too, and I prefer reading such fics. But it was still somewhat reassuring that the idea of dissing the latest book to pull off a fic wasn't quite as bad a fandom crime as I'd thought it was. Perhaps what made me so leery was that some people would actually try and make their old stories compliant with new canon once a new book came out. Which I find really excessive, but I've seen it quite a few times...

[starrysummer.livejournal.com]

I think that whether or not you're going to write something using "old canon" after new comes out depends... I can understand coming up with a long, involved plot or a specific idea to explore that gets jossed before you get a chance to write it. But to specifically brainstorm things based on old canon seems weird to me, as if it's picking and choosing the elements of a universe to which you'll comply. Which, yeah, we can do, but that seems to take some of the challenge out of writing fic.

Of course, I tend to write in the far-flung cracks and crevices of the Potterverse that will likely never be confirmed nor denied by canon, so what do I know.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Sorry for being so late replying! Yes, I pretty much think that WiPs starting in old canon timeline are fair game always, and, to a lesser degree, pre-existing plotbunnies probably as well. If I were heretic I'd say if Harry can shag Draco in a plot, he can just as well do so while Sirius is alive ;). But of course you're dead right - working with current canon is a far greater challenge.

[snorkackcatcher]

It's an interesting question -- there's no logical reason why you couldn't do it, but in practice it's mostly going to be people annoyed at the new canon who do it. Being something of a canon stickler I probably wouldn't bother reading such a fic unless I had solid reason to suppose that it would be worthwhile. Even with fics written pre-HBP or pre-OotP, it can be disconcerting to read them for the first time now and suddenly have to mentally unpick a lot of what you normally assume about the Potterverse. It's a lot easier for fics I read for the first time pre-HBP, or sequels thereof, because that version had time to become familiar before new canon hit it.

(I've sometimes thought it would be an interesting and tricky challenge to throw out to write a reasonable length OotP-base or GoF-base or (for the truly ambitious) PoA-or-earlier-base story that used no information that was revealed later than the chosen book, but was nevertheless still compatible with the current story!)

Anyway, I'd call this sort of thing 'Alternate Reality', I think, and reserve 'Alternate Universe' for something where the change is more specific (e.g. 'DE!Peter induces Harry's birth early so MPP&L don't become targets'). But if people keep writing fanfic after book 7 (and why not, although there will probably be significantly less of it), a lot of it is going to be of this type, as time passes and details get blurred. It could well be the case that the characters are just used almost as archetypes, for their general roles and personalities, without any particular attempt to fit with more than the general idea of the story of the books, the way FFN poorer writers and hyperkeen slashers often do now anyway -- as with the many Holmes pastiches, films etc that ignore the details of what Conan Doyle wrote and have The Grear Detective fighting WW2 etc. (My vague idea for a crossover fic about the story of the giant rat of Sumatra, for which the world is not yet ready, just fell apart when I re-read the Holmes story it was mentioned in. Canon stickler, you see. :D)

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Yup, I also usually prefer fics up to current canon, even though I don't mind reading fic with older canon - especially since sometimes I just assume it's an older fic/WiP and don't question it unless the author calls attention to it being newly written.

To hold up the candle for the hyper-keen slashers, I think a Sherlock-Holmes-during-WW2 AU could even be good fun - well, if the author did it on purpose, and knew what he was doing. Like removing the characters into a very different world. I like that sort of thing - if it's well done.

[threnody.livejournal.com]

I'm really surprised at the results of #1. I'd expect to see 'not [insert book here] compliant' if it was an old story being posted at a new place, or a WIP from before whatever book came out. Anything that intentionally diverges from canon after a new book is released is AU, the same way a fic that takes Harry through a different third year would be AU.

For #3 I chose other, because it kind of depends on the sort of story you want to write. I've got no problem with a fic exploring Harry's thoughts on the dementors and hearing his parents' voices for the first time since infancy, etc.. But deciding you hate everything from GOF onwards and writing your own stories where Lupin and your favouritest OC shack up, and Harry goes to live with them, and they have lots of cuddles and Voldemort makes a stupid attempt at his life but Snape totally saves him thereby redeeming himself omg? Not really any point. Except the fill the world with crappy fic.

So I guess my problem is actually less with writing based on 'old canon' and more with stupid-ass AUs written by little girls who think violet eyes are original. :P

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

I'm really surprised at the results of #1.
So am I. I confess that I'm totally unclear about where the differnces between AU and AR lie anyway. My own hunch was more towards 'not XYZ compliant', because such a story would operate the same way an old one would, wouldn't it? Though sometimes with a smattering of new canon details. I guess it's time for a teensy, sneaky follow-up poll :).

[maeglinyedi.livejournal.com]

I like good AU stories, and to me ignoring/changing something from old canon is writing an AU story. I have no problems with it, and I'll happily read it if I like the pairing/plot/etc.

I've written stories like that as well. My Of Wolf and Man series is an AU in which Sirius didn't die at the end of OotP. Instead Remus pulled him back from the veil. I think it works in those stories, and I've gotten a lot of positive responses for those fic.

On the other hand, I don't shy away from writing Sirius as dead since OotP, either. If the plot demands it, I go with it.

So for me there is a difference between someone writing a story that explores the idea of Snape not having killed Dumbledore (for whatever reason) in HBP, and someone in full denial of those events in HBP, unwilling to even consider them ever in a story. The first is playing with canon and creating what if scenarios. The latter is just plain denial. If that makes sense. :-)

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Lots of sense :). Denial is something I never understood, as I'm not that dependent on the way canon goes. I like nasty surprises ;).

Since you mention 'Of Wolf and Man'... I somehow have the impression that blanking out certain canon elements happens very often in smut/romance, to pull off a pairing that's become troublesome due to canon elements. Genfic might not need that much of it. (not meant negatively - that's exactly my problem with the fic I'm talking about, and somehow it feels exaggerated to try and write around half a dozen nasty canonical developments just to churn out 200 KB of smut. Yup, it may be lazy, but it's also economic).

[thistlerose.livejournal.com]

I don't have a problem with writers who stick to pre-OotP/HBP (or whatever) canon, but I'm not interested in reading their fics. I'll read a fic that was written before either of the latest two books came out because it's interesting to see what people were thinking then. Those fics are like time capsuls. I love some of them.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

That's perfectly fair! I love a huge lot of pre-HBP/OotP fics - they're our fandom's history, after all ;).

[darkrosetiger.livejournal.com]

Generally, I prefer fics that take the most recent canon into account, but it depends a lot on what specific changes are made and who the fic centers on. I could read a recent fic where Sirius was alive if he was a minor character; not so much if it's a Sirius/Remus fic, for example. I also tend to prefer it if there's a reason besides "I want it to be this way." We know in canon now that there is no Snape Manor, but if your premise is that Snape is from an old wizarding family and Lucius recruited him as a DE for that reason, that's one thing. If you make Blaise Zabini white because you can't deal with the fact that canon!Blaise is black, that's another issue entirely.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

*nods*
Especially since the two examples are on a whole different level of importance too - writing around Blaise's skin colour and the bit of history we have on him takes a handful of one-liners at most in an existing WiP (well, unless the writer has created an elaborate family background for him that carries the whole story). Writing Snape out of a member of the pureblood wizarding aristocracy plotline can pose a much greater problem for a story.

Though I'm not bemoaning the explosion of Snape Manor in fandom (she says, busy trying to eradicate the term 'Malfoy Manor' from her vocabulary).

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

I think it depends on why the writer is using old canon. If they were doing it to comply with the terms for a specific challenge, or if it's something that they started writing and plotting before HBP came out but they're only just now posting it, yeah, I'd read it. If it's because they hate HBP or OotP and are aggressively in denial about it -- well, they're entitled to their opinion, but my opinion of the canon is so different that it's unlikely that I would enjoy their writing.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

*nods*
That said, there was comparatively little of OMG! She killed Dumbledore-denial in the wake of HBP... not remotely on the level of Sirius. I don't think I've ever seen an explicit "I'm ignoring Dumbledore's murder because... how could she!" sort of denial :).

[meri-oddities.livejournal.com]

I prefer stories that stay with current canon, but I'd never say I wouldn't read one if the summary intrigued me. Generally I want to know *why* you didn't follow canon. I like a good AU, but I also like it when you know that the writer has a plan that isn't just ignoring the fact that Sirus or Dumbledore is dead.

What I mean is that I don't like a note at the beginning saying that they don't like new canon so they aren't going to use it. I usually find that the characters don't bear enough resemblance to the ones in the books to keep me with the story.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

I honestly also prefer current canon or simply older fic. But especially with shipfic, I don't mind much if it leaves out some canon details in order to make the pairing work. With genfic I'd have greater problems, perhaps, unless it's really to explore an interesting-but-old possible plotline.

[mijmeraar.livejournal.com]

While Warnings or Notes should probably be attached to the fics, I wouldn't be fuming if I started to read one and realised that it was set in an alternate universe or such. Fandom has presented a lot of things that really don't interest me, but the beauty is that all people with all different preferences can be involved.

The biggest issue I would have is seeing characters or ideas of JKR's changed to such a degree that they're unrecognisable. As your prompt said, if it has the right plot/pairing/summary to suit me, and the story is well written, it's fair game.

[mad_maudlin]

I think that using the term "old canon" is very interesting: after all, it's not like OotP or HBP negated previous books, did they? PS-GoF are still canon; they haven't changed. I wouldn't necessarily call HP canon after these books "new," but "enlarged."

So if someone decides to use a point in an earlier book as the jumping-off point of a fic, well, that's AU. Just like writing a fic where Peter didn't escape, or Harry's name didn't come out of the Goblet, or Quirrell was not evil and actually stayed on to teach DADA forever, is an AU. And therefore, I hold the fic to the same standards an AU: that it's still recognizably the Potter universe and Potter characters, and the divergence serves some purpose in the story.

I think it can be very, very dangerous to worry about authorial intent, unless there is a big glaring A/N that says "I HATE YOU JKR AND WISH YOU WOULD CHOKE ON YOUR OWN SPIT!!!!" When the situation is represented as "ignoring new canon," of course, that implies the author finds the new canon objectionable in some way, compared to when the story is simply presented as "AU." It's a loaded phrase.

That said...I think that, if you were to write today and AU/ignoring canon fic, you would have to mark it as such somehow, whereas older fic can simply be marked "pre-[Book]". Why? Because you're writing from a different canon, even if you're, um, not. Let me see if I can explain this properly. When I was in the middle of writing one of my long fics, OotP came out. When I had started it, it was canon-compliant as far as I could make it. After the new novel, my entire plot, characterization and scenario was borked, with the story only 2/3 done. I carried on writing as if the new book had never happened, because retcon was simply not possible...but my story changed. I incorperated elements of OotP canon without even realizing I'd done it until after the new chapters were posted. It wasn't that I was writing the story in ignorance of what would come in book 5 anymore, I was consciously contravening that canon, and I think it's visible in the end result. If I'd been writing the whole story after reading OotP and simply using GoF as my jumping-off point*, then it would've been a very different story from the start.

(*Okay, that technically would work since it was set in sixth year, but this is all hypothetical anyway.)

I guess this is a long-winded way of saying that, in my mind, anything that deliberately contravenes the novels published by JKR is an AU and should be held to the standards of such. I've read some really kickass ones, in particular mad_martha's, so my standards are kinda high. Stories written before the release of a novel are a different beast, because they're not deliberately contravening known canon--they're speculation into what used to be the shapeless void.

[jedirita.livejournal.com]

I think that using the term "old canon" is very interesting: after all, it's not like OotP or HBP negated previous books, did they? PS-GoF are still canon; they haven't changed. I wouldn't necessarily call HP canon after these books "new," but "enlarged."

I just wanted to say - I think that's a very good point!

I have an idea for a Lupin/Snape fic. I thought about writing it post-HBP, but then I would have to deal with the whole killing Dumbledore thing, and that would distract too much from what I want to focus on. So then I felt it made more sense to take place during GoF, but it would mean the characters would go off in a different direction than they do in canon. But so what?

It all depends on what are the needs of your fic. I see no problem with people jumping off at an earlier point in the series. Since when was there a law that all fanfic needs to be canon compliant? Canon is just the playdough for my fanfic, to use or not as I see fit.

[chocolatepot.livejournal.com]

A lot of it really depends. It's the old "you've got to learn the rules before you break them". You can tell the difference between a fic that disregards HBP because the author is pissed off with a canon development and wants to write Harry falling for Hermione while Ginny shags Draco (angelic!Draco or evil!Draco, depending on the author's taste and feelings about Ginny) or because they have a plotbunny about defeating Voldemort that doesn't involve horcruxes.

I mean, I really have a thing for daughters being reunited with their long-lost fathers (and given that I have lived with my father all my life and love him very much, this probably says something very odd about my psyche), like in Mariel of Redwall. Say someone were to go back to GoF canon and write a fic that involved Sirius meeting his kid during Harry's fifth year (DON'T JUDGE ME), it could go two ways: a) OotP is rewritten with OotP canon (Grimmauld Place and prophecies and Snape's lessons) but with a Sue (just making a guess) who helps out and befriends the trio and Neville; b) canon past GoF is completely rethought, possibly in line with the leading pre-OotP theories, and the daughter may or may not be a Sue who helps out &c. A sucks and B could be interesting. A rewrite of canon is always a bad idea.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Yup, I so agree with your point about the differences in motivation - there's one lot of 'omg, canon didn't go my way!' people, and another 'omg, this clashes with my plot' lot :).

Heh - I don't judge you. No, siriusly ;).

[likethemodel.livejournal.com]

I put down that I don't think people shouldn't write fic that isn't canon compliant, but that I wouldn't read the story. To me, canon isn't just new plots or new spells and such, it's new aspects to a character. If someone wrote a fic about adult!Harry using canon only up to CoS, that Harry wouldn't match up to who Harry became in HBP. I feel that someone who writes a character has to include the events that have shaped him/her or it's not truly that character.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

That's a totally fair approach. A CoS-only Harry would be a very different person indeed, although sometimes it's not quite such a big thing - more like dropping a smaller bit of the books. But still I'd agree - ideally, a new fic should include current canon, because that's where we are standing in terms of the series.

[leni-jess.livejournal.com]

This has sparked some interesting discussion, and statements of positions that I generally agree with (principally, if it's done for a good reason, I'll give it a go, because thought, not blind rejection, has motivated it).

As for 'Should stories using 'old canon' still be written after new canon has come out and some time has passed?'

I wouldn't say 'should' because I don't think we have the right to try to regulate people's preferences. I will say I think the author is taking a risk, and, for me, needs to have a good reason for doing so, with a good fic as the end product. I can always stop reading if the result seems to be lame. I would hate to try to stop people from exploring what are/seem to them to be good ideas! (Some writers have better judgement than others, of course...)

I clicked on 'not HBP/OotP compliant' as a sort of neutral label, but really, what you're proposing is AU: changing a circumstance that is (now) canon. AR seems generally to be taken to mean shifting the characters to some other setting, and playing out ideas in that looser framework.

I'll be interested to see what comes of this, in terms of your own writing.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

I agree that it's a risk, because there are potential readers who simply don't like it and won't read it. But well, that's probably on the same level as deciding to write a weird femmeslash pairing - in-built smaller audience :).

Agreed with your AU definition - well, that's how it's defined in my book, but the terms AU and AR seem to be pretty much used interchangeably.

The story itself - just a matter of tying right into the end of OotP with Lucius out of Azkaban... not such a big thing (I shouldn't leave stuff unfinished for years!).

[bellonablack.livejournal.com]

Go for it. That old plot bunny needs to be unleashed upon the world.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

It's in the process of birthing ;). Started one or two weeks *before* OotP came out - yup, I'm that slow :(.

[ct]

maeglinyedi said most of what I think more clearly than I could have.

One thing that I'd add is that the choice to only write stories that are compliant with current canon precludes the writing of certain well-established genres of fic. HBP in particular took away the nebulous future, and it's suddenly very difficult to write seventh year at-school romances, or final battles that aren't connected somehow to horcruxes, or pairings other than Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione without breaking up the canon couple first, or anything where Snape and/or Draco aren't on the run. Canon-compliant? No. Fun? Yeah. We've been reading and writing those for umpteen years now. I salute writers who can change with the times, but I'm not ready to completely give up what came before. Which isn't to say that I'd never write a story that is compliant with HBP, mind you. I just like having possibilities, and that's certainly one of them.

Incidentally, I'd be interested to know how opinions on this issue line up with a person's other fandoms, if they have any. I was raised, fannishly speaking, on scifi and fantasy television shows where canon comes in faster than the average writer writes and alternate universes are canon. I have no problems whatsoever with the idea of branching off from canon at any given point if it's convenient for the story or setting a story in the vague whenever. For me, it's characterization that counts above all, and I can't see that I see Harry Potter any differently.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the late, but yes, I can see your point - I mean HBP left its own exciting paths to take future stories, but as you say, they're quite limiting after the first enthusiasm has passed.

The other fandom issue is fascinating... I've been a lurker in BtVS while it was still being aired (the only fandom of mine where that happened), and remember that it also had a lot of different timelines because it was aired a lot later in most parts of the world. So the cutting edge of fandom differed, and you had tons of different timelines, and spoiler warnings, and 'set during/after season whatnot' was pretty much a standard staple of labelling fic.

[lira-snape.livejournal.com]

I'm reading lots of fics that are not HBP-compliant (though they often contain some HBP-spoilers), several of which were started after HBP came out.

HBP - while I actually like the book - severely limits a lot of choices for a Seventh Year story taking place at Hogwarts. As an author expressed it so well in his summary, it leaves us with a half-played chess match.
There are basically only two possibilities open to an author who continues after HBP: story takes place very far in the future, with Harry having found the Horcruxes and defeated Voldemort already, etc. Or you write a story focussed more or less on Horcrux-hunting.

Also I love stories where Dumbledore plays an important role - both as Dumbledore as the leader of the Light and a mentor to Harry and well-written manipulative Dumbledore. HBP basically kills the latter interpretation of Dumbledore's character. (I know of only two post-HBP stories that present Dumbledore in an unfavorable light.)

So, if the story is well-written and the author wants to write a plot where HBP is in the way, why not discount parts of it?
I myself actually have a plot-bunny which only works post-OotP. If I actually ever wrote it, I'd use the facts we learn in HBP (Snape's ancestry, the fact that Snape overheard the prophecy, the Horcrux-stuff) but nothing that actually happened in HBP (Unbreakable Vow, Dumbledore's hand and death, etc.)

Concerning Sirius and OotP, that's harder for me. Few authors can write Sirius decently (his only job in life sometimes seems to be arguing with Snape pages over pages), and as such I'm usually glad that he's dead. I prefer stories that follow OotP and where - if Sirius is alive - they actually had an original idea for a comeback.
Also OotP is the one book which gives you the broadest possible jumping board for your fics - as it gives many characters the most depths to their descriptions.
Moreover it's been out so long, it's hard for me to discount.

As to warnings, I don't need AU in the summary. But a quick Author's Note in the first chapter (as it usually won't fit in the summary) telling me what I can expect. Something along the lines of "Post-OotP, some HBP-spoilers".

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Agreed - a sort of warning really should be there. I completely agre with your analysis of the limited directions of HBP-compliant fanfic - and perhaps this issue is going to become even greater once the last book is out (ok, for those who might still want to write HP fic after that).

Sirius... yes, I also prefer a however skimpy 'how he came back to life' explanation (they're not that hard to do) to totally ignoring his death :).

[tinnidawg.livejournal.com]

I read fics that hold my interest. For me, if the author makes it believable, I'll read it. The only things I don't read are incest and bestiality and fics that glorify rape.
I even read a lot of the HG/SS fics, not because I ship that pair, but there are some writers who write marvellous stories in that ship. (Also,some of the archives that host that pairing also have requirements as stringent as FA for grammar, canon etc.)That ship also has quite a few writers who stories I would rather not read.
Basically, the author has to make the plot and the story fascinaing and believable.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

*g*
I also read a lot of HG/SS because it's the S.O.'s OTP, and she foists a lot of it on me in exchange for having to test-read all my weird slash ;). And - truly horrible grammar and 'write me feedback or I won't write any more/don't give me concrit' comments aside, I'll read just about anything. But I had the impression that neglecting current canon is less than popular (as reflected, for example, in a number of people trying to rewrite their old fics to make them compliant with new canon).

And I'm very glad to see you up and about again!

[siamkatze.livejournal.com]

If Sirius is alive, go for it! *grins*

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

*grins back*

Sirius is dead as a doornail. It's mainly a matter of Lucius being out of prison, with very close end-of-OotP issues. I should really write faster!

[snapelike.livejournal.com]

I like the 'canon to [insert book]'

I don't care where in the timeline the fic is placed as long as the writer is good, and I would quite likely read it if it was one of my preferred pairings.

I don't care to read anyting, no matter the compliancy, if the pairing is not to my taste. (Unless it is one of my trusted authors).

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

I like the 'canon to [insert book]'

That's a very neat way of putting it - no negative vibes attached.

[chthonya]

Tried to respond to this last night, but my connection refused to let me post anything longer than a sentence. Grrr.

So. I chose 'AU' because to me, non-[insert book here]-compliant implies that the fic was written before that book came out. And as someone else said, it's very difficult to ignore new canon - the basic facts of who lives and who dies, perhaps, but less so new information about relationships and wizarding socieity and spells. It's interesting so go back to stories written before OotP, because it reminds me of what the fandom felt like at that point - the sort of plotlines that were still open, the questions we were pondering. I can't help feeling that a fic written in a later period would feel different, and I'd want that differentiation in the labelling.

I'd also like something in the author's note explaining why it was done - whether it's an old idea that you hadn't got round to writing before the new canon appeared, or a new 'what if...?' Doing that would reassure those who don't know you that you're not doing it through laziness, as well as answering the curiosity of those of us who know you better!

For the last question, I chose 9 - generally I prefer to read up-to-date canon (because it's less disorienting - I don't have to adjust my picture of the Potterverse and I can concentrate on the story), but I don't have any objection so long, as many others have said, it's not coming from a fic writer's rejection of canon (though I don't think that was what you were talking about anyway).

For shipfic, though, it probably wouldn't make any difference, as extrapolating from old canon would probably give more possibilities, and widening the possibilities is always good in shipfic, especially for rarepairs that weren't being thought of a few years ago.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Yes - getting an idea about *why* something is taken AU would be useful. For some shipfic it's probably self-explanatory (i.e. everything involving Sirius that has actually a future element), but as you say, it'd be instructive (I've been sneaking away from fics ANs announcing they leave out HBP because it exploded their pairing/character of choice).

For shipfic, though, it probably wouldn't make any difference, as extrapolating from old canon would probably give more possibilities, and widening the possibilities is always good in shipfic, especially for rarepairs that weren't being thought of a few years ago.

Any interest in looking over a longish R/L featuring my version of your brilliant 'encounter at Quality Quidditch' and owing quite a lot to Amanuensis's 'Droit du Seigneur'? Just asking, no pressure - as I said, it's long and wobbly and not your cup of tea...

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

I don't read fic as much any more, mainly cos gah! Lack of time, but I did once consider trying to keep my fics, especially my crossovers, in line with current canon as it emerged. I have since said "sod that" and now, indulge in AU :)

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

*grin*
I can imagine how the current canon thing would be nightmare-inducing for someone as fandom-versatile as you. I mean I get into trouble and only with bloody HP to look at...

[snakeling]

*coming late to the party* ;)

I don't mind if people write stories which ignore canon. If the story's good, who cares? I do mind when people don't warn for it. When I go into a story and there are no AU warnings or whatever, I expect Sirius and Dumbledore to be dead as doornails, and I'm extremely annoyed when they aren't.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

*nods*
The warning would be pretty self-evident. Although I tend to read a lot of older fic, so Dumbledore and Sirius gallivanting about doesn't surprise me that much while reading. But it's just polite to mention.