Stretching the Suspension of Disbelief

[icarus]

A while ago -- a long while ago -- copperbadge asked me why I would ship characters who have very little (or no) connection in canon. He could see Sirius/Remus but... Snape/Percy? Or Ron/Sirius. What was the point?

I was never really satisfied with my answer which amounted to: because I can! "Oh, I've written Lucius/Percy over here, ha-ha, and, and --"

The truth is, I began in Harry Potter as a Harry/Ron fan precisely because I needed that close connection in canon for it to seem plausible. Without that, the suspension of belief required was too steep. I couldn't get past the "What-hunh?" factor. (I still feel the same about Boromir/Faramir slash and anything involving Dobby.)

It's not that I shuddered or couldn't appreciate the pairing. It's just that I didn't believe it. Three years ago I would have agreed with copperbadge and ranted about how certain pairings -- like Ron/Draco -- were impossible in canon, so why bother?

In fact, that's what I told emeraldjay when he reviewed Guy Talk, following it up with a request for Draco/Ron. No way, no how, I said.

What changed?

I read fanfic. (Therefore it's all your fault HP fen. ;) I think reading fanfiction seduces you into reading things you normally wouldn't consider (hell, it's free) and then, as the good fanfic in your preferred pairing runs dry, you get a little desperate. No more Harry/Ron? Hm... maybe Harry/Twins? How about Harry/Bill? Some Gen?

In my case I started reading Snape Gen. Then, nervously, I peeked into Snape-slash.

Here's where availability becomes a factor. While I was having a miserable time finding Harry/Ron at all (let alone good Harry/Ron -- Circles of Power hadn't been written and Close Enough was two years away) there was plenty of Snape-slash. Entire archives dedicated to Snape. The Severus Snape Fuh-Q-Fest. The Snapeslash fleet. Walking The Plank. Where there's quantity you have a better shot at quality, percentage-wise, and I was more willing to believe in Snape's redemption than Draco's.

The door cracked open. And the willingness to suspend disbelief increases when you know the author from another pairing or fandom.

And I was already comfortable slashing Harry. When I found Cybele's Harry/Ron/Snape... it was easy to slide into Harry/Snape. As I read more and more fine Harry/Snape stories, the case grew in my mind for the probability of Harry/Snape. Of course! How could I have not seen it before? If the circumstances were to run just so, then Harry/Snape is not only possible, it's unavoidable. And Snape started to leak into the stories I was writing at the time. As writers we are what we read, n'est pas?

The willingness to suspend disbelief leads naturally to a willingness to veer away from or twist canon. Depending on your point of view this is either a slippery slope or a broadening of one's horizons.

But it doesn't end there. These stories are still firmly built on canon, albeit a reinterpretation that steers wildly away from JKR's (apparent) intentions. Harry and Snape have a strong (if antagonistic) connection. What causes one to spin loose from canon and explore the backalleys of minor characters or those who will likely will never meet within its pages?

Well, by this point your view of canon has shifted. It's no longer the sum total of your Harry Potter existence, the biblical alpha and omega -- it's something to build on. So there's just one last tether, easily snipped: the belief that fanfic must be a continuation or subservient to canon.

For me it took only one story, with an impossible pairing, by a writer I loved. Hallelujah, by dien. I sniffed around it for a while. Shuddered at the pairing, yet was curious. How could she pull this off? Yet she's a great writer. I trusted her.

The pairing: Snape/Dumbledore.

I can't believe she converted me. Convinced me. Yet didn't gloss over the squick factor.

You could almost hear my final tie to canon snap.

Clearly anything was possible given the right circumstances. My stepfather used to say of drag racing: "it's never the car, it's always the driver." I now say: "it's never the pairing, it's always the author."

Those dark corners and blank spots left by JKR, what did they hide? Percy was at the Ministry and so was Lucius -- it was improbable. But was it possible? Canon was no longer the bedrock on which a story was built. It was the springboard for ideas, situations, pairings that JKR would never consider, facts in canon mere constellations by which we steer.

Snape the crossdresser? Arthur the well-intentioned and bewildered pedophile? Sirius making a drunken pass at Ron, trying to recapture his lost youth? Lucius the inept lover? It's all possible, if delicately handled. Because although we began as a tribute to JKR (or maybe out of hunger for more than she could ever write...) the stories belong to the author.

In fact, I would guess that what's really occurred is that original ideas and fiction have struggled to break free of the constraints of fanfic... and won.

What? You thought this was the end? Of course there's another step, if we dare.

Comments

[balfrog.livejournal.com]

Yes- canon works to ground the characters - but to figure out how hey'd click, change, work around each other in non-canon contexts, man, that's what the fic is about.

And you defined Ron/Draco for me.

*awes*

[story645.livejournal.com]

And you defined Ron/Draco for me.
Seconding that.

You're the author who made me give slash ships and stuff that would normally squick me a try, so basically, the type you're talking about in your post. You totally helped redefined my views on just how far you can take a character from canon and still be in character.
Here by way of daily snitch by the way.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I love Primer to the Dark Arts (and all my fics) but Beg Me For It is the one I'm most proud of. I unwittingly broke new ground, probably because I'd never read a single Ron/Draco story.

Now there are a lot of Ron-captured-by-the-Death-Eaters stories, but at the time... well after I wrote BMFI I started reading Ron/Draco (of course - I'd hooked myself on the pairing).

There wasn't a single story that focused on the Death Eater angle bringing them together, and in fact I couldn't even find anything with them post-Hogwarts. 99% of the Ron/Draco fics at the time were modelled after "I'm Not In Denial" and based the attraction between Ron and Draco on the theory there's a fine line between lust and hate, that lust can turn out to be more.

Two years later, Ron-captured-by-the-Death-Eaters is practically a cliche.

Beg Me For It cracked open another barrier I think. I watched as more and more Ron/Draco fics featured them post-Hogwarts, sans Death Eaters.

It's probably cocky of me to say so, but I really feel that Beg Me For It (the first part) had a lasting impact on the Ron/Draco fandom. I think it did for Ron/Draco what The Tea Series did for Harry/Snape, breathing fresh energy into a neglected pairing.

Icarus

[schiarire.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

*g* Thank you.

Icarus

[blackboggart.livejournal.com]

I think I'm just going to agree with everything you just said. :D

and then, as the good fanfic in your preferred pairing runs dry, you get a little desperate.

*nods* Hell yeah, that's what happened to me. I went from the safer cuter pairings, Harry/Draco, Remus/Sirius, to Snape/Harry.....and then. Well. Anyone/Anyone. *grins*

"it's never the pairing, it's always the author."

Yes. Definitely. When my friends ask why I like such.....'weird' pairings, that's pretty much what I answer with. Good writers can make things work. Though, some of my friends never really get it because they refuse to read the stuff I rec them. *cackles*

Interesting post, made me think about why I like alot of pairings. The answer that I came up was.....that I like reading. *grins* Far too much for my own good, and well....as a reader you're always searching for something new to read.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

When my friends ask why I like such.....'weird' pairings, that's pretty much what I answer with. Good writers can make things work.

I'm curious: what do you consider "weird" pairings at this point?

Icarus

[blackboggart.livejournal.com]

Mmhm, what I consider weird pairings at this point? I'm thinking along the lines of Houseelf/anyone (even though we've all seen that done. XD) and interspecies pairings. Centuar/Random mermish person...that kind of thing. *laughs*

[ella-bane.livejournal.com]

I love what you've written here. It's been a bit of a journey for me too. Where before I would only read Harry/Draco, I'll now read any pairing. Anything is possible in the hands of skilled author. I could sit down and list the stories that just "made" each new pairing work for me, for the first time. After that, even in stories that aren't so perfect yet feature the odd pairs, you can still see the glimmer of that lovely beyond -- because you've seen it once.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

you can still see the glimmer of that lovely beyond -- because you've seen it once.

Such eloquence can even seduce me into reading Harry/Draco. ;)

Icarus

[ella-bane.livejournal.com]

:) You're so sweet! Someday Harry/Draco will find you ♥ In the meantime, I may have to read some of your Percy slash. I fell hard for your Ron/Draco. Congratulations again on finishing up the soundtrack.

[dien.livejournal.com]

*is tickled *

Aheeheeahahhahha. I can now say I broke someone's last obedience to canon. Me! Little old me!

<----------so tickled pink
<---------and not a little flattered. Damn you for saying such wonderful lovely things about me!

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Every word of it is true. You're an excellent author. I've read you in both Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.

Icarus

[cyanei.livejournal.com]

Sirius/Ron is one of those pairings that could totally be my OTP had I read more than one story about it. Hm.

[story645.livejournal.com]

I know of two, and I'm sure I could dig up more. What have you read, and do you want links?

[cyanei.livejournal.com]

I've only read Icarus' story (the name of which escapes me), and links would be fab. ( :

[story645.livejournal.com]

My first and fave, (and therefore easiest to find link) is Barb's "The Substitute", written Post-OoTP.
http://www.thedarkarts.org/authors/barb/S01.html

[cyanei.livejournal.com]

Thank you. ( :

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Hey, thank you!

Icarus

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

You mean, A '57 Vincent And A Red-Headed Boy (http://www.icarus.slashcity.net/stories/a57vincent.html)? *g*

Icarus

[cyanei.livejournal.com]

That's the one. ( ;

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I'd be interested in seeing more.

Icarus

[electricandroid.livejournal.com]

Stop Stealing My Brain.

(translation - complete agreement, even if I could never be half as coherent)

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

You can have it back later. ;)

Icarus

[underlucius.livejournal.com]

I absolutelty agree. Writing is all about pushing the boundaries and seeing what happens, as far as I am concerned anyway. I started off in the fandom with the puppies because it's a nice safe place to be. Then I re-read the books and wondered about other relationships, I had read Severus/Lucius and that made perfect sense, and there are several canonical hints about their friendship, so I dabbled there.

Then I considered the twins, yes, another possibility, they are never apart...

But then I read, as you did, a LOAD of other pairings and realised anything was possible. The challenge for me, is to write a pairing that people don't agree with, or would never read - Fenrir/Draco for e.g. and make it plausible. I don't like fics where I think, "Nah - that would never happen." (Like lovey dovey Ron/Draco) but I love fics which take the canon and then do an unlikely pairing like Lucius/Bill and make me believe it.

Arthur the well-intentioned and bewildered pedophile? oh yes yes yes indeed - that fic is one of my favourite pieces in fandom EVER.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Writing is all about pushing the boundaries and seeing what happens, as far as I am concerned anyway.

If the story's there, you have to run with it. (Or ignore it, but you can't say "No, I don't want to write Snape/Percy Hurt/Comfort, thanks -- serve up the Ron/Draco, will you?" What's there is what's there.)

oh yes yes yes indeed - that fic is one of my favourite pieces in fandom EVER.

Thank you!

Icarus

[ptyx.livejournal.com]

It's funny how everyone has an individual path and different views on most things. I started like you, reading Snape gen fics, and then Snape slash, but then I decided to focus on a single pairing (SS/HP) because I didn't have time to follow everything that was being posted. I have never felt inclined to read or write about secondary characters.

I loved dien's stories, but I have always considered Snape/Dumbledore practically canon, and after HBP I'd say it's the most canonical Snape slash pairing. IMHO, of course.

[kaalee.livejournal.com]

I like your explanation - it makes a lot of sense to me. ♥

[marauderthesn.livejournal.com]

Well, I disagree with you about Arthur the pedophile, but it is fun to write things that have no basis in canon. I love Percy/Oliver, for example, and we never see them together once in canon, though they must have shared a room because they were Gryffindor boys in the same year. I like Lucius/Blaise as well, where the characters have even less of a connection to each other.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_tehshush_/]

I actually started with unbelievable pairings, I wanted to see if the author could convince me and make me a fan, and many did. There's one I know of which has unusual pairings and are all reasonable in some way or another... if I find it, I'll send you the link.

[millefiori.livejournal.com]

Clearly anything was possible given the right circumstances. My stepfather used to say of drag racing: "it's never the car, it's always the driver." I now say: "it's never the pairing, it's always the author."

This is so true! I don't believe there's any such thing as an impossible pairing. Anything can work in the hands of the right author.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

In fact, I would guess that what's really occurred is that original ideas and fiction have struggled to break free of the constraints of fanfic... and won.

You can hear the sounds of the victory cheers coming from my house, I'll tell ya. Thank you for detailing more reasons to celebrate fanfiction.