Attention Hostile Reviewers: Its "fan" FICTION. Don't like it? Move on!

I've written 3 fanfics of my own and posted them on facficion.net. Each one is written in my style: character bonding first, and then mayhem. That's how I roll, and I make no apology. I like sentiment, mixed with peril, mixed with snark, and finally more sentiment. If you read my stories, the journey you experience makes you feel like you've also overcome one heck of a hardship just like the charcters, and you have been introduced to your own inner badass along the way. You'll know the heroes as well as they know each other, and when you finish, you'll have that Life is good! kind of feeling.

That's my product. That's the cre8tvdeb brand.

So, I finished the last of the 3 stories in June of 2014, and have since enjoyed watching the traffic to my work and readers adding one or all to their favorites list, and getting the occasional review. Those positive reviews feel fantastic.

The chiding confrontations about how I'm stepping outside of canon for someone's favorite character are understandable. I certainly feel that disappointment when I'm reading a story that takes a turn I don't like. So, those constructive criticism reviews are also all good.

It's the hostile ones that boggle my mind. And typically, the reviewer posts as a guest so that I can't respond to their nasty diatribe. But occasionally a reader posts through their account (which I can reply to), and says just enough to insult or dismay me, and those reviews become a permanent part of my posted story's stats.

It's the hostile reviews that distract me for days sometimes. What exactly does one achieve by posting a discouraging comment that may be taken as a warning that a prospective new reader should avoid my story? Is it really such a violation that a statement of denouncement must be made?! Well, lo ciento, amigo, its fan fiction, emphasis on the fiction. There are over 750K HP fanfics on fanfiction.net alone. Find another story and get over it. Sheesh!

~cre8tvdeb

Fan Fiction vs. Canon... Can We Keep It All Straight?

I'd been thinking a lot about my own perception of blurred lines of "canon" created by the multitude of fan fiction retellings or renegotiations of story lines, character traits, and imagined backstories. My memory of HP facts has been failing me recently. I've really only noticed when mugglenet.com tweets a quiz or question that I could have easily answered at some point, but now draw a blank.  I definitely have a flawed memory of certain events in Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix, now that I've written three fanfics of my own, addressing the most horrible injustices in Harry's life that occurred when he was 15.

But now the new stories have come out, and I'm not keeping up with them (yet). I've wondered if the saturation of fan fiction would begin to dwindle down in the world of original Harry Potter fandom, now nearly 10 years after the release of the last book, perhaps redirecting to The Cursed Child, or to Fantastic Beasts.

One day a few weeks back,  I saw this comment on reddit addressing the subject and find it thought provoking at the very least and thought I'd share:

Comment from discussion Do you consider Cursed Child as canon?.

~cre8tvdeb

A Humorous Jaunt in Post Deathly Hallows Terrain

Hooligans by rdholmantx
hosted by ThePetulantPoetess.com

I did a random search through the newest listings on TPP last night and found Hooligans, and gave it a try. This is a Post-DH story that disregards the Epilogue (I chuckle with glee every time I read the "Epilogue? What Epilogue?" rating on P-DH stories). We enter the author's take on Severus Snape awakening about a month after the Final Battle having survived Nagini's attack and having been secretly hospitalized and comatose for the duration. Harry and Hermione are there, keeping a vigilant watch, and stay with him through his release and take him back to Spinner's End. They have a game plan, in which Snape will remain Headmaster of Hogwarts for a couple more years while all of the younger stars of the Final Battle (Hermione, Harry, Neville, Earnie, even Draco) apprentice towards teaching positions in their respective strongest subjects.

I liked the game plan, but wasn't sure about the OOC take on Snape's post coma persona until I'd stuck with it through the second chapter. By that point, I was hooked. This Severus Snape loves junk food, fast food, muggle music and televised sports. Rdholmantx has a droll wit and great comedic timing as she carries us through her tale of post war psychological angst and misbehavior. We are treated to Snape's, Harry's, and Hermione's perspectives as we go along. I laughed out loud regularly as I read, but chapter eleven literally had me howling. Hilarious! We're up to chapter twelve as of today. Check it out!