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

[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.