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[Haly]

The point of fan fiction is, generally, to either work within the bounds of an established world or to take familiar characters and transplant them to a new setting to see what they would do.

If you're going to ignore both characters and settings then why write fanfiction at all? Just write an original piece.

 

[Ri'Orius]

For all my pride, I cannot stomach to read a Harry Potter Fanfic, even if it is brilliantly written. I'm sorry, I can't.

Now if it was an original story, I wouldn't mind. Hell, I'd jump on it. I'm not a fan-fic guy, but the majority here are loving his work, so I wouldn't mind reading it.

Just not Harry Potter.

Then give this a shot. It's an original story by the same author (predating HPMOR). It's not as good, but it's still entertaining.

The point of fan fiction is, generally, to either work within the bounds of an established world or to take familiar characters and transplant them to a new setting to see what they would do.

If you're going to ignore both characters and settings then why write fanfiction at all? Just write an original piece.

It's not like it completely ignores everything. And a lot of the changes are more exaggerations (Slytherins go from "generic evil" to "well-organized chessmastery evil") than completely new. Plus the amusement factor of seeing things you're familiar with in a new light. It just wouldn't work as well as an original story.

 

[Cyan]

The point of fan fiction is, generally, to either work within the bounds of an established world or to take familiar characters and transplant them to a new setting to see what they would do.

If you're going to ignore both characters and settings then why write fanfiction at all? Just write an original piece.

Indeed, but this one doesn't ignore the setting. And while some of the characters veer off a bit from the originals, they're largely just more competent versions of the originals.

 

[Vaporak]

He uses a time machine to find prime factors!

I dono, the author just detouring for a bit to copy out a wikipedia entry in story form isn't that clever. :/

 

[Cyan]

I dono, the author just detouring for a bit to copy out a wikipedia entry in story form isn't that clever. :/

Fair enough. I should note, though, that the author really knows his shit. He's definitely not just cribbing wiki entries. Didacticism, though... yeah. For sure.

 

[br0ken_shad0w]

It was great at the beginning, but started to drag when it stopped being about Harry Potter pointing out everything wrong about Rowling's world and more about everyone plotting their shit. I stopped reading around the time

Spoiler

Harry breaks Bellatrix out of Azkaban

, so I don't know if it became better since.

I did like a few things:
-The Houses actually feel equal to one another and Gryffindor is the jock house
-Harry using the Houses as his moral compass (awesome idea)
-Pointing out how broken the seeker is in Quidditch
-The science vs. magic angle

Reminds me a lot of another fanfic, that I eventually grew tired of: Shinji and Warhammer40k It had a decent premise, but became a complete clusterfuck once the author stopped using the EVA episodes as guides and made up his own shit. It didn't help that you pretty much have to know W40k lore to get the references. (which I didn't)

 

[Feep]

Reading this now, and enjoying it.

Also, definitely just hit a Death Note reference.

 

[SquiddyCracker]

Gave this a go.
I like the bits where he disassembles the magical system (in the process making up a system that's decent enough) of Harry Potter but there are some really boring bits that just makes my eyes roll (Light/Dark, Dumbledore is a fool, Harry is crazy, etc).

 

[DiscoShark]

This is fantastic and the supporting texts as well as the book itself may be radically changing my life as I read it. Thank you kindly for posting this. The premise itself is fantastic and the dialogue is witty and genuinely thought provoking. I'd add Kvothe from The Name of the Wind as another character this reinvisioned Harry Potter reminds me of.

I'll likely not be sleeping today.

 

[Cyan]

I did like a few things:
-The Houses actually feel equal to one another and Gryffindor is the jock house

One of the nice things about this fic is how he fixes a lot of niggling issues I had with Rowling's world. And yeah, Gryffindor=good, Slytherin=evil, everyone else=unimportant was one of those. See also: Welcome to Hufflepuff.

Gave this a go.
I like the bits where he disassembles the magical system (in the process making up a system that's decent enough) of Harry Potter but there are some really boring bits that just makes my eyes roll (Light/Dark, Dumbledore is a fool, Harry is crazy, etc).

Some of the Dumbledore stuff definitely annoyed me (don't make Dumbledore a strawman, dammit!). Though the way Harry acts toward him is somewhat explained later on.

This is fantastic and the supporting texts as well as the book itself may be radically changing my life as I read it. Thank you kindly for posting this. The premise itself is fantastic and the dialogue is witty and genuinely thought provoking. I'd add Kvothe from The Name of the Wind as another character this reinvisioned Harry Potter reminds me of.

I'll likely not be sleeping today.

Awesome! Glad you've enjoyed it.

The author's non-fiction rationality writings range in quality, but some of it is really good stuff. In particular the early sequences--sensible, practical, and backed up by solid cog sci.

 

[FStop7]

The author gets too into the science bits sometimes for me.

People don't just drop whatever they're doing and launch into long winded monologues about history and science at the drop of a hat, especially not 10 year olds.

I liked everything else though.

Oh, so Aaron Sorkin wrote it?

 

[Ela Hadrun]

This fan fic actually talks a lot about the way I feel about kids. I am beginning to wonder if I actually *can't* work in education because I respect children *too much* to deal with the bullshit the other adults build up around them.

 

[Cyan]

This fan fic actually talks a lot about the way I feel about kids. I am beginning to wonder if I actually *can't* work in education because I respect children *too much* to deal with the bullshit the other adults build up around them.

You might find this Paul Graham essay interesting: Lies We Tell Kids.

 

[bengraven]

You know, he could easily publish this as a parody work.

People don't just drop whatever they're doing and launch into long winded monologues about history and science at the drop of a hat, especially not 10 year olds.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson does!

 

[Ela Hadrun]

You might find this Paul Graham essay interesting: Lies We Tell Kids.

I don't want to derail (okay, I do, but I don't want to make people MAD by derailing) but I like that essay, although it seems like it's missing the keystone of power structure. Parents don't want their kids swearing because being able to not swear in conversation is something that rich adults can do. I was raised super suffocated and as a result I have extremely good social performance skills where I can deftly cover a faux pas with a conversation-changing joke, etc. etc.

To bring it back, this fic's Harry can challenge the system only because he's a very rich-educated kid. He's not necessarily a billionaire (until he gets to Gringott's) but he knows how to speak the way rich and educated people do, and he knows how to present himself using the arguments that "authorities" use better than they do, thereby subverting their claim to total dominance over his behavior.

It also shows that power structures (especially family and school power structures) aren't something run by "love" or "wanting what's best" because Harry understands the power structures and how to manipulate them, while committing extreme social errors that a low amount of empathy and interpersonal competency would avoid.

Man, I wrote a lot about that Harry Potter fanfic and power dynamics just now. Maybe I should have a goddamn beer or something.

 

[Cousteau]

You know, he could easily publish this as a parody work.


People don't just drop whatever they're doing and launch into long winded monologues about history and science at the drop of a hat, especially not 10 year olds.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson does!

I got dibs on the NDT fanfic.

 

[siddhu33]

Once bitten, twice shy...

After My Immortal, i'm never reading another fanfic again. Especially a Harry potter one. The premise seems kind of interesting though.

 

[Pollux]

Might I recommend the series starting with the story "Saving Connor"

It's pretty good. Check it out.

 

[Cyan]

I don't want to derail (okay, I do, but I don't want to make people MAD by derailing) but I like that essay, although it seems like it's missing the keystone of power structure. Parents don't want their kids swearing because being able to not swear in conversation is something that rich adults can do.

Huh. So you think it's more of a class thing? Guess I never thought of it that way. I tend to favor Graham's interpretation, that it's a matter of wanting kids to be innocent, since it meshes with many of the other "lies we tell kids." But that's interesting about your upbringing.

To bring it back, this fic's Harry can challenge the system only because he's a very rich-educated kid. He's not necessarily a billionaire (until he gets to Gringott's) but he knows how to speak the way rich and educated people do, and he knows how to present himself using the arguments that "authorities" use better than they do, thereby subverting their claim to total dominance over his behavior.

It also shows that power structures (especially family and school power structures) aren't something run by "love" or "wanting what's best" because Harry understands the power structures and how to manipulate them, while committing extreme social errors that a low amount of empathy and interpersonal competency would avoid.

This is quite true, and while the whole understanding power structures and where they come from thing is one of the points of the early story, you're right about Harry's inherent advantages. Not least of which is high intelligence, something most folks don't have in their favor.

Man, I wrote a lot about that Harry Potter fanfic and power dynamics just now. Maybe I should have a goddamn beer or something.

Haha. Maybe you should.

After My Immortal, i'm never reading another fanfic again.

*shudder* I am so sorry, dude. Why would you do that to yourself?

But come on, if you can't trust me, who can you trust? Mwahaha.

 

[finowns]

My first fan fiction and it was surprisingly good. Any other recommendations Cyan?

 

[Cyan]

New progress update. Not much new progress.

Real life still slaying me. I did manage to put out the new, British English versions of Ch. 1-17, with significant tweaks to the writing in Ch. 6, Ch. 7, and Ch. 9. I know a lot of you will probably decide you liked the originals better. But they were polarising chapters; and I believe, though it’s impossible to know using Fanfiction.net’s current web stats, that they were scaring away some readers. I’m okay with driving off some readers for major reasons, but not for minor ones, and it’s quite understandable to me why someone might have a conditioned pain response to songs in fanfiction.

I have completed the scene-by-scene plot of the next arc, working in Scrivener for the first time. I do still need to review that plot; detail it to the sub-scene level; check tension levels, goals/resolutions, character conflicts, etcetera; but hopefully – this is the hypothesis being tested – once all that is done, the actual writing should go fast. The current layout has the next arc carrying to Ch. 91, though I suspect at least one of those “chapters” will break in half.

At least he got rid of the painfully bad Ghostbusters thing. That literally almost made me drop the thing altogether when I was first reading.

 

[Cyan]

New progress report:

15,000 words and two more scenes into Ch. 86, one scene left to go after the current one, and then it’ll be on to Ch. 87. Further chapters will be shorter and less dialogue-y, I dearly hope (action takes much less time to write than dialogue).

15000 words, jebus. That's a long-ass chapter.

I think the first chapter of the most recent arc was of a similar length. Can't wait.

 

[rar]

obligatory Wizard People, Dear Reader post. the only good harry potter "fanfic"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u981JhkK46o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygqh8xZwekI

 

[Chavelo]

You read Harry Potter fanfics?

...

:lol

This guy... amirite, GAF? HA! You made my day, good sir!

Spoiler

/downloads ePub version
/remembers that he also read that "leaked" copy of Deathly Hollow

 

[Trojita]

I take your not Harry Potter and give you Shinji and Warhammer 40K

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanFic/ShinjiAndWarhammer40K

 

[Cyan]

obligatory Wizard People, Dear Reader post. the only good harry potter "fanfic"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u981JhkK46o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygqh8xZwekI

Wizard People, Dear Reader is a damn classic. <3 Roast Beefy-Weefy.

The fact that my favorite mod even considers reading fanfic makes me happy.

I read a lot of fanfic, but AU stuff like this doesn't really draw me in. I am also not in the Harry Potter fandom anyhow

Mumei's a cool guy. I think that post was pre-modship, though. Now he's got standards to maintain.

 

[JohnDoe]

Does this count as fanfic?

<JonJonB> Purely in the interests of science, I have replaced the word "wand" with "wang" in the first Harry Potter Book <JonJonB> Let's see the results...

<JonJonB> "Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry. <JonJonB> "Oh, well -- I was at Hogwarts meself but I -- er -- got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wang in half an' everything

<JonJonB> A magic wang... this was what Harry had been really looking forward to.

<JonJonB> "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wang. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wang for charm work." <JonJonB> "Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wang. Eleven inches. "

<JonJonB> Harry took the wang. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. He raised the wang above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls

<JonJonB> "Oh, move over," Hermione snarled. She grabbed Harry's wang, tapped the lock, and whispered, 'Alohomora!"

<JonJonB> The troll couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but even a troll will notice if you stick a long bit of wood up its nose, and Harry's wang had still been in his hand when he'd jumped - it had gone straight up one of the troll's nostrils.

<JonJonB> He bent down and pulled his wang out of the troll's nose. It was covered in what looked like lumpy gray glue.

<JonJonB> He ran onto the field as you fell, waved his wang, and you sort of slowed down before you hit the ground. Then he whirled his wang at the dementors. Shot silver stuff at them.

<JonJonB> Ok <JonJonB> I have found, definitive proof <JonJonB> that J.K Rowling is a dirty DIRTY woman, making a fool of us all <JonJonB> "Yes," Harry said, gripping his wang very tightly, and moving into the middle of the deserted classroom. He tried to keep his mind on flying, but something else kept intruding.... Any second now, he might hear his mother again... but he shouldn't think that, or he would hear her again, and he didn't want to... or did he? <melusine > O_______O <JonJonB> Something silver-white, something enormous, erupted from the end of his wang

<JonJonJonB> Then, with a sigh, he raised his wang and prodded the silvery substance with its tip.

<JonJonJonB> 'Get - off - me!' Harry gasped. For a few seconds they struggled, Harry pulling at his uncles sausage-like fingers with his left hand, his right maintaining a firm grip on his raised wang.

 

[Rubbish King]

85 chapters?! wut.

 

[Cyan]

85 chapters?! wut.

And still going!

It's starting to look like it's going to wrap up fairly soon (my guess would be one more mini-arc after the current one, maybe two), and honestly I'll be a bit sad when it does.

It sounds enormously long for a single novel-sized story, which it would be, but that's not really how it's set up.

 

[ascii42]

Spoiler

/downloads ePub version
/remembers that he also read that "leaked" copy of Deathly Hollow

Would that have been Melinda Leo's Harry Potter and the Seventh Horcrux?

Spoiler

I read it too

 

[Mister_Bubbles]

Does this count as fanfic?

I figured that was what <JonJonB> everyone did on their second read <JonJonB>through. Elevates the series to even greater <JonJonB> heights.

 

[Christine]

I tried reading this once, couldn't make it very far in.

 

[Cyan]

I am a total supporter of fanfic, and everywhere I go its automatically dismissed as terrible. I've read some amazing fic in my day, some terrible ones too, but its insanely refreshing to find people at enjoy it as well, so thank you for this thread.

You seem like you have good taste in it too, got anything to recommended in Jossverse, Doctor Who, or Sherlock fandoms?

I'm actually not particularly widely read in fanfic, largely because I used to automatically dismiss it as terrible.

I don't usually recommend things I haven't actually read, but one of my favorite authors, Steven Brust, wrote an entire Firefly fanfic novel a couple of years ago. Can be found here, and is apparently up to his usual standard.

Haven't gotten a chance to read it yet, but I definitely intend to.

I tried reading this once, couldn't make it very far in.

Aww. How far did you get? I know it took me a little while to get used to the style of the early chapters, but it was totally worth it.

 

[lastflowers]

Does this count as fanfic?

This gets me every time. So good.

 

[Christine]

Aww. How far did you get? I know it took me a little while to get used to the style of the early chapters, but it was totally worth it.

I made at least as far as .5 - Fundamental Attribution Error. It was just a little bit too dry and tedious to hold my attention.

Of course, the actual Potter books didn't manage to hold my attention all the way through, either. Got through the first chapter of Deathly Hallows and decided that the only reason I was still going at it was the sunk cost fallacy, so I said to hell with it.

 

[Cyan]

I might even have to try this one since you are so passionate about it.

Mwahaha.

I thinking of starting a thread for "You awaken in razor hill", the best wow fanfic ever. Good idea or no?

Hard to say. I'd say as long as you're not going to be too bothered by the inevitable "lol fanfic" replies, go for it. You might or might not get a whole lot of interest, but if you like it a lot, why not try to introduce a few other folks to it?

I made at least as far as .5 - Fundamental Attribution Error. It was just a little bit too dry and tedious to hold my attention.

Gotcha, gotcha. He did revise the early chapters recently, so you might find it less so now.

Or maybe I just need to accept that not everyone will like the things I like.

Of course, the actual Potter books didn't manage to hold my attention all the way through, either. Got through the first chapter of Deathly Hallows and decided that the only reason I was still going at it was the sunk cost fallacy, so I said to hell with it.

Ha! Nice.

 

[Sirpopopop]

Whenever I run out of material to use to make fun of Cyan with in the CFB threads, I remember that he started this thread.

 

[Cyan]

Whenever I run out of material to use to make fun of Cyan with in the CFB threads, I remember that he started this thread.

Whaaaaat, when have you ever run out of material?

 

[Link Man]

Ooh, a new chapter coming up! In the interim, I've read through 4 1/2 of the real Potter books, and pretty much forgot everything that's going on in this.

Perhaps when he finishes, I'll give it another read, but it's a bit too long to re-read just to catch up with the new chapter.

 

[br0ken_shad0w]

Is Harry still in his first year? I stopped reading when the story felt like it was going nowhere.

 

[K.Sabot]

Some of my favorite videos have to do with harry potter fanfics.

 

[Cyan]

Is Harry still in his first year? I stopped reading when the story felt like it was going nowhere.

Yep. Pretty sure the story will end at the end of the first year.

 

[SnakeswithLasers]

Whaaaaat, when have you ever run out of material?

I didn't know you were at Cal, Cyan...

 

[LuffyZoro]

This is the only Harry Potter fanfic I've ever read, and I basically agree with the OP. It was fun, but fairly pretentious.

15000 words, jebus. That's a long-ass chapter.

I think the first chapter of the most recent arc was of a similar length. Can't wait.

15,000 words ain't nothing. A fic I read (pony, so I won't link it here) regularly has ~25k word chapters, with at least one being ~45k.

 

[TacticalFox88]

Some of my favorite videos have to do with harry potter fanfics.

And now you got a mofo interested. Mind sharing?

 

[Cyan]

I didn't know you were at Cal, Cyan...

Yep, few years ago at this point. I'm an old man now.

15,000 words ain't nothing. A fic I read (pony, so I won't link it here) regularly has ~25k word chapters, with at least one being ~45k.

*boggle*

Got damn. That's like a short novel right there. In fact, yeah, I think that's nearly the length of The Great Gatsby. :O

Ooh, a new chapter coming up! In the interim, I've read through 4 1/2 of the real Potter books, and pretty much forgot everything that's going on in this.

Perhaps when he finishes, I'll give it another read, but it's a bit too long to re-read just to catch up with the new chapter.

I'll bet there are summaries out there for this purpose.

I've actually found that I get canon Potter confused with Rationality Potter. Like, details about the school, or the way magic works, or things that the characters have done. Especially when it just makes more sense, like Neville being in Hufflepuff.

 

[TacticalFox88]

Yep, few years ago at this point. I'm an old man now.



*boggle*

Got damn. That's like a short novel right there. In fact, yeah, I think that's nearly the length of The Great Gatsby. :O

It's clear you don't read much fanfiction (though I guess with the reputation they have, that's hardly surprising). There are stories in the HP section alone that are close to approaching 950k words in total length.

To put that in perspective, that's more words than all seven books combined.

 

[SnakeswithLasers]

Yep, few years ago at this point. I'm an old man now.

Well, I don't go there. I work here. Am also old man.

 

[LuffyZoro]

*boggle*

Got damn. That's like a short novel right there. In fact, yeah, I think that's nearly the length of The Great Gatsby. :O

Yep, 15 chapters so far and 328,899 words. Not to mention it was only started around April of this year, and that the writing is consistently high quality.

 

[Kimaka]

Never thought I'd see a fanfiction thread on Gaf.

I tried reading this years ago and couldn't get into. Its written well but AU stories bother me.