Basically, this is my first 'Characters read the books' story for HP - I've also got quite a few version I want to write as well, but I'm waiting on doing that until I see how this one does. As you can tell from the summary, I'm doing this story is a slightly new and different way than how it's usually done.
There almost seemed to be a guideline to how these fics have to go, as well as a guideline for how the characters act and this. The following are the observations I've noticed about these fics that usually happen.
1. A good number of these fics are set after Harry's starts school, by either a few months after the seventh - which makes reading the books rather useless, particularly for those who lived it - or set around fifth year, which not only gets repetitive, but also allows nothing of real change to happen, save for setting Sirius free - a good thing - and letting people know that Voldy is alive - only good thing about this is letting people know that Harry isn't lying. There are a few set in fourth year, a sort of champion reading deal, but, so far, they don't seem to be doing anything good, just somone wanting to do an RtB without wanting to make a plot to it.
2. Some of these fics are all of Hogwarts reading. Now, while I can see a big group, having all of Hogwarts is rather worthless, as most writers tend to stick with the named characters in the book, and some may put a few OCs in, but rarely is an OC a major character. Most of them just say a small line, and then are forgotten about. For the most part, though, unless its a group of people yelling, they stay silent and don't seen to be there, which is why I believe that they shouldn't be there at all.
3. Marauder's years RtBs. These don't completely make sense to me, at least, not all the way. While some of them are good - really good, in fact - there are quite a few that mess things up, or have the characters act extremely OOC from the way they're described in the books. Ex. being Whining Lily Evans. I can see her being a bit emotional, but not to the point that some take her. Another example of a Mess up is Remus and Sirius being gay and in love. I honestly don't know where people get that from. Nothing in the books points out as them being closer than friends - and note that I say friends, not best friends, because they do not act as best friends from the books at all. If they were gay and in love, then there is no way in hell either of them would have been suspicious of the other. Another thing is that Remus would not have been able to be with Dora unless she turned into Sirius, which probably would have made getting her pregnant a bit difficult. Finally, the part I have the most trouble with is hardly anything changing in the future after they mess with the past. They have characters act the same and get together with the same people, despite the fact that some of those may actually act differently, and not attract the attention of certain people that they did in the original timeline.
4. Future Gen fics. These are completely useless in my opinion, as reading about history most likely doesn't catch the attention of people - plus, while downplayed, the kids probably know what's going on. The only thing about these that would be good is to have it in a what if scenario of AU next gen reading CU books. They'd still be useless, but appear more interesting.
5. Who reads? I have yet to really find a group - outside my own fic, that is - that I like the readers for, though there are some close ones. My main problem is that the Weasleys - maybe not all, but at least a few of them - are usually present in the readers, and, if someone says something bad about one of them, whether one who is reading or not, they always, ALWAYS go off on the person, not allowing any insult. Now, I, person, don't mind some Weasleys being in the readings, but I don't like the going off on people for their opinions towards a member of their family. That said, it's nice to see ones that don't have the Weasleys in the readings, but, even then, the only ones I've seen that don't have Weasleys are usually Marauder year fics. Hence why my fic here doesn't have a weasley reading. I wanted to see one without them, so I made it.
6. Ron Weasley. From what I have seen, any Harry reading has Ron in them. I've yet to see one that doesn't. - or, rather, I should say, see one that doesn't that's readable and worth reading. I want to see more Harry reading the books without Ron, and with more Hermione reading with him. Also, I'd like to see more tasteful Ron bashing, nothing over the top, but nothing that makes excuses for him either.
7. Hermione Granger. My favorite character, I hate seeing the Harry reads without her as one of the readers. In truth, I rarely read RtBs without her in them. That said, I do not like the ones were she's either OOC, horribly bashed for no reason other than being logical (or people just want to make up for the lack of her bashing in RtBs that is scene), or that she's not bashed at all. I also will not read an RtB with her being overly friendly with Ron, or where she and Ron get together during the books. Those are wrong in my opinion and make a story worthless. However, something I don't like is people not bashing her at all, she does, after all, have some faults that shoud be addressed. I also believe that people should make note of her behavior in the sixth book as being suspicious.
8. My final observation is pairings. They rarely change the super unsuitable ones, such as Ron and Hermione. This is either because the writer has no plot, is into abusive situations, thinks a fangirl who doens't actually see the real person behind their 'hero' is a good thing, or because the writers have the readers go 'oh, they get with this person, means I don't have a chance, and might as well not try to get with them, even though I know I'll treat the person better/am not into the BWL.' This is complete shit in my opinion, and just shows that writers have no taste for trying to actually change canon. The only writers that can get away with this - though not well - are those who are fans of such horrible pairings, and seemed to think the good non-canon pairings are bad.
Anyway, these were the driving forces behind my series, which is meant to be a bit of a change to these usual things. That said, I might actually do another of these that slightly follows one of these plots, though I can tell you right now that part of numbers one, three and four; and numbers two, six and eight will never been done. I'm pretty sure that, basied on my opinion of these ones, it's easy to see why I won't do them.
My Readers
Harry Potter - Age 10
As the main character of the series, and my first time writing one of these stories, I figured that I would do one that was slightly easy, in a way, and, in truth, it makes sense to have Harry in the reading. I'm not saying that I would always have him in it, should I decide to do another one of these, but, for the most part, I don't see having a story like this without him as a reader, especially when it takes place before he goes to Hogwarts. Now, his mistakes in the books will be highlighted a bit - especially when we come to later ones - as well as a few other things he does that I think he shouldn't have. Just because he's the main character doens't mean that he is unable to make mistakes, and he does, quite a few times.
Hermione Granger - Age 11
As my favorite character, there was no way I was leaving her out. However, just because she's my favorite character doesn't mean that her flaws and mistakes will be glossed over - if you've read my first story, which is completed and available to read on another site, then you would know this already. Just because she's my favorite character does not mean that I don't think she had flaws - everyone does. And, while this is a bit of an AU, at this point, I'm trying not to make them all OOC, so she is as close to the way she is in the books as she will get. Again, like Harry, she has not entered Hogwarts yet, nor has she recieved a letter yet - in my mind, she receives her letter sooner than Harry does, but not long before he does, either.
Cedric Diggory - Age 13
In this series, Cedric is my choice of man for Hermione - while I enjoy reading Harry/Hermione romance fics, I don't see them being anything but friends - and, if there is a bond, it is a sibling bond - in my stories. As the eldest and only one of the readers who's been to Hogwarts and knows how the classes go, I will mostly be relying him - probably a bit too much - in the first few books as the one who knows about Hogwarts the most, to a point, though. Once we get to the third year, he'll be just as cluless about the classes and some of the other things as the others are. He has finished two years of learning, and will be starting his third year when Harry and Hermione start their first.
Luna Lovegood - Age 10
As my second favorite character, there was no other choice for the fourth - and final - reader for this series. Now, she is probably the one who may seem the most OOC of them all, but that is because we are dealing with her ten year old self instead of her fifteen/sixteen and older self - not sure, but I think that she, like Hermione and Cedric, has a late birthday, so that's why she's the same age as Harry, but in the year after his. So, with that being said, she has not really had a whole lot of time in building up any defense for her mother's death, and so, she seems more sane in my stories, and not as into creatures as she is in the books. Again, like with Hermione, I will not be flowing over any flaws and mistakes of hers, though, in all honesty, she doesn't have that many, but that's only because she's a supporting character, so they are very minimal because we don't actually see her that much in the books. As for her mother's death, well, it has already been mentioned in the first fic of this series, however, I will say that, while it has been a year, it hasn't been one full year since her death actually happened - in my mind, since they don't give a date, I have decided that it happens just a week before her tenth birthday, making her claims of still being nine still true. As already mentioned, she is not in Hogwarts yet, and won't be getting an invitation until a year after Harry and Hermione gets theirs.
Time Line for Reading the First Book
Complete Time: 12:10pm – 11:10pm – Total Time: 11 Hours
12:10 – 1:20 Arrival to Lunch; 1:20 – 1:50 Lunch; 1:50 – 6:50 After Lunch to Dinner; 6:50 – 7:20 Dinner; 7:20 – 11:10 After Dinner to End of Book/Bed
9:00 – 1:40 Start of reading to Lunch; 1:40 – 2:30 Lunch; 2:30 – 7:10 After Lunch to Dinner; 7:10 – 7:40 Dinner; 7:40 – 8:50 After Dinner to End of Book; 8:50 – 10:30 Taking notes of the first book during rereading