Fandom

=__The HP Fandom __=

The Harry Potter fandom is a community of HP fans dedicated to moving beyond the text itself through the use of fanfiction, fanart, fanvids, and text based roleplaying in which their favorite charaters are shown as lovers, martyrs, tortured souls, heroes, etc. Traditionally, the moment you think fandom you think fanpairings, or the setting up of relationships between characters that may or may not have had a clearly defined relationship within the text itself. There are a plethora of pairings from the ever popular heterosexual pairing of Snape and Hermione to the slashy [|Snupin] (Snape/Lupin) pairing, and even cannonically based Rom/Hermione fics. What is the appeal of these stories one might ask. If done correctly, the appeal is that of reading a great story about characters that fans already know they enjoy hearing about and possibly even identify with. The best fanfics, fanvids, etc. allow additional glimpses into a character, setting them in unfamiliar situations (in regard to the series itself), whilst still striving to keep them 'in character,' or close to the book version of themselves personality wise. Those that are unable to keep any semblance of the original characters tend to write piece that aren't worth reading.

**Fanart:**

Much of the Harry Potter fanart found on the net to day is inspired by 'mainstream fandom' pairings. In other words, if you can find a decent fanfic about it, chances are you can find a picture of it as well. Ranging from the tame to images that sites like Deviantart stamp a content warning on, fanart can be or represent just about anything in the series, be it cannon or otherwise. Images of Snape toiling over a cauldron or carefully drawn renderings of his 'worst memory' are just as prevalent as pictures of him caught in the midst of embracing -insert character name here- clothed in -insert articles of clothing (or lack thereof) here-. The most prevalent styles of fanart are based upon those styles used to draw anime (japanese cartoons), they include the tradition [|anime/cartoonish] style and [|chibi] style. There also tend to be a fair number of [|'real life'-esque/realistic] drawings based upon the looks of the actors in the films and various [|comic] styles (usually humorous). [|Deviant Art] [|Art Dungeon]
 * HP Fanart Links:

Fanfiction: ** Fanfiction is, arguably, the driving force behind the fandom (and currently the most popular method of expressing one's love for a series), breathing new life into it each time it flounders. It serves as the basis for a good potion of fanart and fanvids, as well as the guide for which canonical traits can be kept, and which can be dumped. Fanfiction is carried by both the readers and writers, the readers almost always being able to leave reviews as chapters of the story are written, thus allowing them to directly influence it's course, and the writers who take those ideas into accoutn and balance them against their own ideas and the direction in which they had originally intended the story to go. As mentioned in the article "To Sir With Love," Snape is often heavily focused upon or at, at the very least, least mentioned in Harry Potter fanfiction and often ends up paired with just about anyone you could imagine (most commonly: Lily, Hermione, Harry, an OC or original character, Lupin, Draco, Sirius). **Example of OC/OFC use in a fic: [|Tea With the Black Dragon.] Fanfic Archives/Archival Sites: [|FanFiction.Net] [|AdultFanFiction.Net]

Specialized Fic Archives: [|Checkmated] ** (Ron/Hermione)
 * [|Aversion To Light]** (Harry/Draco)

**Fanvids:** media type="youtube" key="3QRKpfA6Pwo" height="344" width="425" align="center"

Fanmade videos featuring clips from movies followed the rise of amvs or anime music videos. Through this, fans use the films to support there favorite, theme, idea, and pairings. Fanvids tend to focus on synching the sounds or lyrics to a song (well known or otherwise) to fitting clips in order to bring some aspect of a character or a relationship to life. However, in this context rivalries, such as that between Harry and Draco, as well as single characters, are focused on just as much as love, friendship (ex: the golden trio), or close familial ties (Harry and his protectors, esp. Sirius).

**Roleplaying:** No, folks, this isn't D&D, in fact there are no dice, character sheets, or 'stats' involved at all. Many fandoms (HP included) have forums dedicated to them. Upon signing up on one of these sites, an individual must read the designated rules, check the canon list (if one desires to see which of the book characters remain playable), and create a profile for a character (be it a preexisting one or an original) for acceptance following a designated template. The aim of good roleplaying is to play your chosen character whilst adhering to the general tone and personality that they had in the books, or interacting with a book character (if you have an original) using the knowledge that you have from the series. This leads to the formation of plots, which are exactly what they sound like and can extend to the whole site (site wide plots), or just a few characters (character plots/relationship plots). As for the forums themselves, text based roleplay sites will boast a certain level of 'literacy,' which determines the properness of grammar and spelling to be used, as well as the minimum length (in paragraphs) of IC (in character) posts. Literacy levels range from semi-literate, to literate and advanced literate. Anything without one of these three or below them tends to be a chaotic mess lacking in sentences and sense. Generally speaking, most roleplays hosted on proboards forums cater to those in the lower literacy levels (though this is not always so), while those hosted on invisionboards/invisionfree tend to be lit-adv. lit. Keep in mind that different forums are set during different time periods including; the marauders era, the first war era, the potter era, and the post-deathly hallows era. AC (another century) and AU (another universe) forums also exist and may be termed in conjunction with one of the earlier specified eras if non book/time related plots devices are used to explain the main plot of the site.

[|Nos Sumus Hic](deceased?) [|Chase the Morning] (active)
 * HP RP Forums:**