Shipping Forecast

[lightofdaye]

All my stuff is done and dusted for the moment. No obligations, woo. To make up for my dreary posts of late lets do something fun!

Slag of other people's ships! That's always good for a laugh. But really, I've reached the last chapter of Half Blood Prince on audio book and it struck me again how I have absolutely no feeling for Remus/Tonks. It's just dumb y'all! It's like even worse than Harry/Ginny.

I mean I do admire the way Harry is absolutely clueless and the book has him noticing what's going on but attributing it to Molly wanting Bill/Tonks when really she's trying to get Remus and Tonks together.

But the pay off at the end... this ship does neither of the main character's any good. Tonks turns into this lovesick unfun idiot and just whiny at the end (wha! why on't you love me! wha!) and I never get the impression Remus actually cares for Tonks. I mean its more like that everyone in the room just nagged him into putting up with her at the end. Especially given his attitude at the start of the next books.

So how many people on my f-list have i just mortally offended?

Comments

[leigh-adams.livejournal.com]

*wanders over to toss my two cents in* >.>

There are very few canon pairings I can get behind. Aside from Bill/Fleur -- whom I will defend to my last breath, they do nothing for me. I don't think Harry/Ginny or Ron/Hermione would have made it in the long run, but that's just drawing from my own experiences. I'm from a very small Southern town, and a lot of people I know married their high school boyfriend/girlfriend relatively quickly after we graduated. Cut to now, when we're all in our mid-twenties, and a good majority of them are now divorced.

Do I think it's possible one of them might have made it? Yes -- my own grandparents were high school sweethearts. But for all of them to last that long with the person they got together with in their teens? No, I don't think that's realistic. That's one thing I've tried to explore when writing, especially pairings like Harry/Pansy post divorce. I think that explaining that Harry and Ginny got married too young is entirely within the realm of possibility.

I also think that one reason a lot of people "don't see that from canon" is because all seven books are from Harry's POV. And teenage boys are, for the most part, utterly oblivious to the feelings of people around them. It makes sense that Harry wouldn't have picked up on Tonks' feelings for Remus, or vice versa. There's only so many places a narrator can be at once.

This post has been brought to you by the bottomless blood orange mimosas from today's brunch. Carry on, now. >.>

[lightofdaye]

Very thoughtful thoughts. What do you find so appealing about Bill/Fleur if you don't mind me asking? (and do you concur with Tam about bill being pussy-whipped? ;) )

Like I said, Harry's limited PoV is used very well for Remus/Tonks. He first hears a rumour about Mrs Weasley wanting Tonks instead of Fleur to marry Bill and Harry then slots everything he sees into that frame work but on a second read you can really see that she's trying to hook her and Remus up.

You're right about high-school romance not lasting in a lot of cases. But you're heading into an area there i like to think of as realism vs story telling. I've seen plenty of people defend Harry/Ginny and HBP in general as having 'realistic corny teenage romance' (and Star Wars Episode II as well) to which my counter point would be 'so what? its not entertaining) Some of my intial objections to harry/ginny was that it comes nearly out of nowhere. (though i have noted more foreshadowing on re-reads)

the epilogue is the opposite case, as you say, high school marriages lasting forever is not very realistic. But it makes decent sense storywise for invoking 'happily ever after'. You don't really want to end your book 'and then harry grew up and married someone who's never seen in the books'.

Now for myself when writing i don't really go so much with things that can be justified in canon so much as things i find entertaining or will make a good story. I wouldn't say there's a scrap evidence in canon for Harry/Pansy for example but that won't stop me reading or writing fic about them.

[leigh-adams.livejournal.com]

Haha, I'm going to have to disagree with Tam about Bill being whipped. We don't see a whole lot of Bill in canon -- most of what we do see/hear is second hand and in passing. I've always thought of him as more of an alpha male in the Weasley family, and I think that he found an equal partner in Fleur. Fanon likes to focus on her being a bit shallow, but let's not forget that she was a Triwizard Champion. There's a lot more to her than meets the eye.

I don't mind Harry and Ginny as a couple in the books mostly because they're just kids. Ginny is established as having a thing for Harry which we know cools (or so we're led to believe) by the time she starts dating Michael and Dean. Is it plausible for Harry to suddenly open his eyes and notice Ginny's a girl? Sure, why not? And I do get why JKR went the 'happily ever after' route with the epilogue, but for me as a reader, I like conflict. Probs shouldn't be looking for said emotional conflict in HP, but that's what fic's for.

Most of what I write is not canonically justifiable. My first OTP was Draco and Ginny. Nuff said. Fic is meant to be entertaining, and I have no problem with that. The more minor the pairing, the better. :)

[tamlane.livejournal.com]

Is it plausible for Harry to suddenly open his eyes and notice Ginny's a girl? Sure, why not?

Agreed. Especially once she started dating Dean. Nothing makes a person more appealing than knowing they're desired by others. And suddenly 'off the market.' I think that was a brilliant invention of JKR's. There was some playful tension in the beginning of HBP, but boy howdy, once Harry saw Ginny snogging Dean, it was all over.

And just yes to everything here. *hand flaps at your comment* Needing conflict. Willfully disregarding canon HEAs. Loving ridiculously minor pairings. Just yes yes yes.

(But come on. Fleur was FEEDING Bill in HBP. Feeding him off her own fork. *shudders* :P)

[leigh-adams.livejournal.com]

The monster in his chest came out to play. Rawr. ;D

The concept of HEA is so fluid that I think it's a lot of fun to play with. Yes, a lot of people like the traditional "hero & heroine end with a kiss, all is well" version of HEA. But, for example, it's perfectly valid if Ron divorces Hermione, shacks up with Pansy, and has three illegitimate children. If he's happy with that, that's his HEA. Take that, fairy tales.

Alright, that bit I attribute to the honeymoon phase. How long have they been dating, less than a year? Lots of manly, masculine men do stupid things early on in the relationship (two words: couples yoga). Also, Fleur is supposed to be this smoking hot woman with a supernatural allure, and Bill's like, "Yeah, I get to see that naked." If she wants to fee him off her fork (in one scene), what's the harm? ;D In any case, I doubt that was an everyday occurrence.

[tamlane.livejournal.com]

Couples yoga!!! ROFLMFAO.

OMG, you are making me want to read Bill/Fleur. Well, your Bill/Fleur.

What are you even doing here? Will you please go write some right now?

[leigh-adams.livejournal.com]

Yay! I love Bill/Fleur fans -- I'd point out Don't Blink if you're jonesing for some of my work. That's my fave.

As for writing, I consider it a huge accomplishment I managed to finish my fortheloveofhp fic semi-on time. For what I'm doing now... I'm going to go get ice cream with my roommate, and then watch True Blood. ;D

*snogs*

funny you should say that

[nevrafire.livejournal.com]

I really have to agree that it's based on experience wether someone can see Ron/Hermione work in the long run--- cause I had exact opposite experience from you.

My best friend (who like Hermione- is a Virgo- you know -always had to have the right answer, pretty nagging, bit of control freak,etc,etc) started dating a guy that was the youngest, academically slacker,etc

at first it was insufferable- but the more they got to know each other-everyone could see that it was more them trying the other to be better (in a really weird bickery way) an in the long run- it worked. they actually got married recently-ish (5 years ago) and they want to be parents- some day.

heck, My parents would give the most extreme bickery ron-hermione stereotype, A shameful run for their money.

and yet- when we're on family vacantions (or when they go on vacations by themselves and we stay with grandma and they call to see how w'ere doing) they act like the cheesiest newlyweds you ever seen-- it's bizarre.

so yeah- from my experience- I can totally seen Ron/Hermione working. we also have to keep in mind that- yeah they're high-school sweethearts- but the War probably helped them mature a lot and the problems they had-to me at least- seem typical hormoned-related, inmaturity misunderstanding things-- and from text I don't see those issues crossing over into adulthood.

(plus- I'm re-reading the books now and I'm noticing A LOT of mentions of Ron-hermione having alone moments without harry (hogsmeade weeked in poa- for example-- where they seem to be having a great time by themselves)

so yeah. Go Ron/Hermione!