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Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Stranger Than Fanfiction

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• Stranger Than Fanfiction

  (#) DrT 2009-06-19

  How many chapters are you planning for this? Just interactions with the players, or how they use the info?

  Author's response

  Hi DrT,
  
  I gotta say I got a buzz out of seeing your review.. the first review for my story.. again! :)
  
  I don't have everything planned out, and I confess that the length of the story is going to be at least in part dependent on the interest people have in it. No point writing something that people don't want to read is there? I've got Voldemort's end plotted out, so really it comes down to how much 'filler' to include between where this first part ended up, and taking care of ol' snakeface.
  
  I do have a few ideas around the Room, as well as 'Bruce's' existence (or lack thereof), discussion of the various plot points in the HP stories and how they can be improved, manipulated, etc, and of course using the plot points from some of the more well known (and maybe lesser known) fanfics.
  
  I guess it all depends on whether people are going to want to read that sorta thing or not. I know I'd want to, and personally I hope a bunch of people jump on this idea and write a bunch of fics like this.

• Stranger Than Fanfiction

  (#) michae1ange1o 2009-06-19

  Hey this is actually a very cool story. I gotta agree with ya about Ron, I so wish JK would have killed him off instead of Sirius. I could gripe about Ron, Jinny, Dumbles and Remus all day. My God Harry could do with someone giving him a good shake and a few slaps around the head for good measure.

  Author's response

  Heh heh.. Yeah, I don't think either Dumbles or the ranga are going to appreciate Bruce's views. In fact, I'd say both of them are far from getting an 'Outstanding' or 'Exceeds Expectations' for their efforts. Lupin I'm bit 'meh' over.. he hasn't done anything wrong, he just hasn't done anything much right as far as Harry goes. Same goes for Ginny really. Can't blame the little ginger for having a crush over a celebrity can we? Still, If she was really in love with Harry, she sure has a funny way of showing it.. dating Corner for most of her 4th year, then moving straight on to Dean without even taking a shot at Harry when Ron hints at it on the train back to Kings Cross? Sure, it shows she's lost the crush, but she seems a little too... opportunistic to me.

• Stranger Than Fanfiction

  (#) drdeth 2009-06-19

  Hey,
  Intresting start, I have read a lot of Fanfictions, but this is one of the more orginal ones out there as i don't think i have seen the room used this way before and i look forward to the next chapter.

  Author's response

  Hey, thanks for the review. I haven't seen anything like this done in HP before either, though I am surprised it hasn't been done before. Then again, I've only read some hundred of fics, not the hundreds of thousands, so who knows..

• Stranger Than Fanfiction

  (#) siaru 2009-06-19

  "I guess it all depends on whether people are going to want to read that sorta thing or not."
  
  Count me in. Even keeping the SI to an advisory level by not letting him leave the RoR, you can knock down a bunch of 'duhhh'-points in canon (and canon characters). Or maybe give him a more active Oracle role, using the detention mirrors. Either way, this can be a very interesting meta-fic.
  
  Oh, and Voldemort is the symptom; the tight grip held by the Dumbledore/Pureblood axis is the problem, and the story's not done until it's broken for good (DrT, Bobmin, Nightelf, Robst, Perfect Lionheart, DisobedienceWriter etc. have written about this).

  Author's response

  Cheers for that, glad to have you on board for this little romp. One of the things that I'm going to enjoy about writing this is the opportunity to get Harry to reconsider everything that has happened to him , and the part various people have played in his life to get him to wake up and smell the coffee. Wonder if we'll end up with the Dark Lord Rettop afterwards? (kidding!)
  
  It's funny you should mention the issues of whether the OC can leave the room or not. Since we know Bruce is a Star Trek fan, you just know he's wondering how many of the holodeck limitations apply to him, and whether he is as real as he thinks he is, etc.
  
  As for the post-Voldemort stuff... Let's get through that first and see where we are then. It wasn't part of my original idea, but then again, I haven't plotted out any form of epilogue yet. I need to find out what the characters want to do before I can decide that.

• Stranger Than Fanfiction

  (#) MonCappy 2009-06-19

  It is good to see this posted to a wider audience. I have high hopes for this story. This has been a good introduction and I hope that we get to see how Harry and Hermione use this information to their benefit (while providing both Dark Lords and Snape the gruesome deaths they deserve).
  
  I would say that Snape wasn't on the side of Light at all. He was merely at the side of another Dark, namely Dumbledore's. The only Light was Harry and Hermione.

  Author's response

  Heh heh.. Well, I'm not sure if you're going to get what you want, but I'm not saying you aren't either.. We'll see how the story goes.
  
  I know you want to see Snape fed slowly through a chipper, but despite how much we both want to think of him as only an evil git, he actually was fighting gainst Voldemort. Doesn't mean he was doing it for good reasons, and doesn't mean he wasn't evil, and it also doesn't mean he was actually light himself! It just means that by opposing Voldemort he was on the side of the light, even if only slightly..

• Stranger Than Fanfiction

  (#) fic_reader1 2009-06-19

  could be intersting depending where you take the stor good first chapter for sure. the one thing that I noticed is that you went with the midly timid harry that is easly handled by herm and a take charge herm but she just sits bake and takes abuse frome bruce? just a thought cant wait to see where you go with the story.

  Author's response

  Thanks for the review and I'm always interested in discussing the motivations of characters (we can do more of this on my thoughts_of_pudding yahoo group if you like).
  
  Hermione knows that Harry has created the room and its contents, which includes Bruce, so I suppose the question is, would she fel the need to argue with a non-entity? I don't think someone as intelligent and logical as Hermione would be the kind of person who would yell at her computer screen for instance, and arguing with Bruce might be considered much the same way.
  
  I'm not sure I'd consider Harry timid, but he is used to accepting a lot of abuse, presumably thanks to the Dursley's raising of him. I know I'd never have put up with Snape's crap without giving him a mouthful back, and Umbridge's quill would have been snapped the first night of detention (just as in some fanfics).
  
  Once Harry's had a few things explained to him and a chance to consider his lot in life, I suspect he'll start doing things a little differently.

• Stranger Than Fanfiction

  (#) gamemaster101 2009-06-19

  I love it!!!!! I have been reading fanfiction for years, mainly since I decided that OotP sucked compared to the wonderful fanfiction universe, and this has to be the most original plot I have yet seen. The thing that really tipped it though was the spelling grammar and overall writing, many authors overlook this aspect but I find it refreshing to find an author who has dotted his i's and crossed his t's. I will be eagerly awaiting the next chapter in this wonderful story.
  
  the reader-Lucas
  
  p.s. HARMONY ALL THE WAY!!!

  Author's response

  Thanks muchly for the praise. You know, it doesn't seem to matter how many times I go through my stories, there are always things that slip through. Even posting the story here and adding the italics back in I noticed a couple of errors.. Reading it over again last night I found a couple of other extra words that had snuck in after some editing. I had hoped my beta would get a chance to look over it, but haven't heard from her for a few weeks.
  
  I'm glad you liked the plot - once it occurred to me I wondered why nobody else has already used it, as it seems kinda obvious now. There are a few where Harry gets some advice and suport in the room, mostly it seems to be avatars of the founders, or Hogwarts that appear, or a recreation of someone he knows, but I haven't read one with a fanfic reader.

• Stranger Than Fanfiction

  (#) bigshot 2009-06-19

  this story is gonna be VERY interesting to read. I hope you do write all of it, but try to keep Harry at a believable power level in my opinion.
  
  Definitely keep Sirius alive, I can't think of a believable way that Harry could have prior knowledge of his death, fail to keep him alive, and not have a complete breakdown.
  
  btw, Ron and Lupin are complete asses. Go Chonks!

  Author's response

  Well, keeping Sirius alive is going to be one of the objectives of course. We'll have to wait and see how that works out.
  
  'Chonks'? I can't say I've heard of that.. I'm guessing Charlie/Tonks? Hmm, apart from fanfics like This Means War, and one other (whose name escapes me) I haven't seen much of that ship.. Then again, after reading Lorddwar's HP & the Summer of Change, I don't want to read Tonks with anyone but Harry anyway. So she'll just have to stay single in any non-Honks fics I write. :)

• Stranger Than Fanfiction

  (#) taxzombie 2009-06-19

  Considering you mentioned fanfics and the fact that the last two books were not that great. I stopped reading after book 5. Ok, I admit I got about 100 pages into 6 before I threw up my hands in disgust. As for 7, deep, dark pit, cement, Jimmy Hoffa. Give you a clue? End of rant.
  
  Back to my comments, you mentioning fanfiction opens this up to all kinds of things. It's already out of canon so I say go for it. You can have one heck of a romp what with cluing Harry in on the stuff from book five and then having him, get a clue, get trained and then kicking both dark lords butts or at least ruining the plots of the demented one while killing the other.
  
  Thank god you don't plan on having him hook up with the stalker. As for the brainless one, don't really care what happens to him.
  
  Don't slap an 'S' on his chest but get him up to speed, and have his brain start firing on all cyclinders. With 'the bushy/bossy one' finally truly in his corner he should be able to whip moldishorts.
  
  Wouldn't mind seeing Luna brought into the mix either. Doubt this would phase her at all.
  
  Enough rambling. Stop reading this drivel and give us some more story - PLEASE!
  
  

  Author's response

  thanks for the review.. I pretty much agree with everything you wrote. As for the 'S' on his chest, I'd like to think he's not going to get anything that Jo didn't already hint at through canon. though I will be ignoring anything she's said in interviews later.
  
  Maybe he'll get a little more.. After all, the prophecy does talk about being marked as Voldemort's equal, and Voldemort is at least at the level of Dumbledore based on the fight in the Ministry.
  
  Personally, I can't see how Harry can create a Patronus at 13 that can drive off over a hundred dementors (when any Patronus is supposed to be hard to create), and not be considered very powerful. I think his otherwise generally average performance is the result of a lack motivation and discipline. With more focus and intent, I suspect his magic and studies will improve a lot (just as in other fics)
  
  Still, unless Voldemort has an 'S' on his chest as well, Harry won't have one.

• Stranger Than Fanfiction

  (#) siaru 2009-06-19

  Heh. This'll be great for first-wave metafic. For the second wave, deal in all the crossovers... hardsuited kage bunshin tossing batarangs that splash DE targets with Jusenkyo waters, then collect up the resulting mice into hammerspace...

  Author's response

  "hardsuited kage bunshin tossing batarangs that splash DE targets with Jusenkyo waters, then collect up the resulting mice into hammerspace..." Ummm, no. LOL! There won't be any anime/manga crosses in my story, and while I won't automatically rule out Harry getting another familiar, it sure as hell won't be a pikachu, etc. :D
  
  As far as using crossovers goes, I wouldn't be surprised if Bruce doesn't start suggesting some more interesting trainers for Harry generated by the room.
  
  For example, how about Clint Eastwood from Heartbreak Ridge as a physical ed instructor? (or maybe Arnie?) Learning some martial arts from Jean Claude Van Damme? How about learning how he might use the Room more effectively from the original holoaddict; Reg Barclay? I suspect that like Reg, he wouldn't mind getting some counselling from an attractive Betazed, maybe learning how to block her empathic ability from her, or perhaps Spock?
  
  The skies the limit really, since thanks to Bruce we aren't limited to Harry's timeframe and what he is aware of.
  
  I doubt any of that (if actually used) would be mentioned much more than in passing. The biggest problem I'm going to have with this story is to try and keep it Harry-centric, but that's what I want to end up with if I can.

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