Damn it! Curses! Infernal Tarnation!

[lavanya_six]

Why do I do this to myself? I'm happily chugging along on Taking Sights, Ineffable Crossover, and OoM/DADA... and then I write a detailed outline for another super-long fanfic! Damnation, I do NOT need to be possessed by this urge to rewrite all 7 books of Harry Potter for a gender-bending AU!

Comments

[blueinkedlines.livejournal.com]

...It's Harry, isn't it? XD

[lavanyasix.livejournal.com]

Yup!

The whole idea sort of spawned out of these girl!Harry fanfics I occasionally happened across, usually the ones where he's renamed Harriet. This rubbed my brain the wrong way for three reasons:

1. Calling "her" Harriet just confuses me. My brain just sees "H-a-r-r-" and keeps filling it in with "-y".

2. Girl!Harry stories seem to pair "her" with either Snape or Draco. Ew. The author's just giving Harry boobs because slash offends them.

...and most importantly...

3. If you're going to make an AU that's Point of Divergence from canon is *gender* then the story should have something to say about *gender*! You shouldn't write "Harry with boobs" that tells the same story as canon but with the pronouns switched out simply because you want a Harry/Draco pairing that doesn't squick you.


There's just so much wasted potential in girl!Harry stories it frankly surprises me that no one in whole HP fandom has really explored the concept seriously.

(Or, at least, no one has to the best of my knowledge. If anybody reading as a recommendation, drop a link.)

[blueinkedlines.livejournal.com]

In all my time reading fanfiction, I don't think I've ever come across a good gender-bender (let alone one that was finished) in any fandom, save for a few. To be fair, however, it's not really something I've actively persued.

Kind of but not really related? fernwithy and story645 did a gender-bending panel at a Harry Potter con.