Inevitable, Harry, Ginny, and the fandom

[mhalachai]

I think I've been spoiled a little, coming from a fandom like Anita Blake, where there doesn't seem to be any canon paring that people rabidly and loudly avoid. I'm not one chapter into the Hogwarts section of Inevitable, and someone has already told me they're done with the story because they don't like Harry/Ginny. (Who is unimportant, and this is not an attack. I suspect several of the non-commenting readers may have the same reaction. I'd like you to stick around, obviously.)

I was wondering if anyone would do this, and I have to say that I'm not shocked, given the nature of the Harry Potter fandom, but it's still a bit of a surprise.

Here's my opinion: It doesn't matter if this story will have aspects of Harry/Ginny. It doesn't matter if this story has aspects of Ron/Hermione, either, because that's not the point. This is a story about Harry and his friends, his enemies, his goals and aspirations. Ultimately, it's entirely about him.

We're 46 chapters in. Harry had one late-night conversation with a girl he's known since he was 12, and who has battled Voldemort since she was 11 years old. I will still continue to tell the story I created before HBP came out.

This isn't an angry, off-the-cuff rant, it's just my thoughts on my story, and HP fandom in general. I was wondering if this would happen after the die-Ginny-die calls started after HBP.

That's all I have to say.

Comments

[cgilmore.livejournal.com]

Me too!

Er... That is to say, I agree with other people making comments here that getting twitchy over Harry/Ginny, much less what actually *appeared* in the last chapter, is just plain silly. I commented elsewhere that I'd like to see it stay relatively relationship neutral, and that kind of reaction is pretty much spot on why.

There are a lot of pairings that just bug me, but I can be sold on given a good author. There are even more that I'm utterly indifferent to, and a few that I enjoy. I don't really identify myself as part of the HP fandom (nor the AB fandom, for that matter), so I don't have a banner to wave nor a 'ship to crusade for. There also aren't any that I'll read just because of it being X/Y - either I'm sold by the plot or not at all.

Anyway, my point is this: It's your story. Tell the story you want to tell. You won't please everyone, but then, you're not supposed to.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

The G/H relationship won't become the story. Harry being Harry will remain the story. It's like, in 20 years when I'm rich and famous, and someone writs my biography, they won't focus on that relationship I had when I was 21. That's sort of what this is.

You won't please everyone, but then, you're not supposed to.
But I still want to. When I get told I'm doing it wrong, I get all twitchy. and defenseive. And slightly over-reactive. But hey.