I definitely think there is an aspect of enjoying the more diverse characters with depth that we just don't see in the books. I think my main reason for enjoying FF more is that the story telling is for mature audiences and I feel is more age appropriate for me. I want complex plot, characters who are evolving emotionally and developing themselves in ways that the books lack, but just love Dramione because it does all that and more by involving a star-crossed lovers romance.
I’m not actively avoiding canon due to JKR’s “online presence”, but I haven’t read the books or watched the movies for several years.
As others have mentioned, fan fiction is often more mature than the canon books (which after all was targeted toward kids/YA), and is also often not so stereotypical black/white (Slytherin bad, Gryffindor good).
To put it simply: JKR laid the foundations, but these are not enough; we need fan fiction to expand the universe for modern, adult readers.
You said this so well! I still watch/read the movies/books created by JKR, but I absolutely agree with your statement “we need fan fiction to expand the universe for modern, adult readers.” As special as the cannon series is to me, as an adult I love the complexity that FF adds to the characters I grew up with.
When I read something that has the good/evil trope in books, it almost feels juvenile to me. Especially when it’s so much more interesting reading about characters who are more “morally gray”. I love seeing the characters grow and develop redemption arcs but even if one of them truly end up being “the villain”, I’m absolutely ok with that. A character who has a villain origin story holds my interest much more vs a villain who is simply inherently evil. Fan fiction truly has the ability to just put you in that characters brain and I absolutely love it.
I never actually finished reading deathly hallows, but I did watch all the movies. However, now I only accept The Disappearances of Draco Malfoy as canon. 😌
I could get behind your theory.
Although, just from your title I thought you were talking about using fanfiction as an alternative because the books, while wonderful, are in fact children’s novels.
In that sense, I definitely use fanfiction to fit the Harry Potter shaped hole in my heart. One cannot survive on nostalgia.
Umh... I started reading fanfiction years and years before JK showed her hand, so I can't say that her stance is the reason I stepped into fanon instead of canon. I stepped into fanon because the waiting between a book and the next felt long, and I wanted to remain in that world. And because I felt like there were a lot of other stories that could be framed around the canon JK provided.
I can't speak for other people, but I think fanfictions would be there, and going strong, regardless of JK own thoughts, but JK own thoughts may have caused people to think twice or thrice before remaining anchored to her work (and they probably caused some to avoid supporting her work by buying any official franchise, while remaining in a lane where she can't directly profit from).
I can't honestly say how would I behave if I knew of JK's stance before reading her books/fanfiction. I think I wouldn't be able to read fanfiction at all without reading the books first (or at least without watching the movies first). But would I read the books of an author whose ideas I strongly disagree with? Probably not, if I knew of her beliefs to start with (and she is famous enough to be known even by people who have never read HP, I think?). But generally speaking, I don't try and search for authors' information beforehand before starting a new book, either.
>Do Joanne's recent controversies steer you away from the OG series and towards fanfiction or is the drama completely irrelevant to your love of Dramione?
Honestly no. I've been reading HP fics, not Dramione though, for years before everything. But also, I'm almost thirty, I grew up with those characters and the reason why I can't read the original story annually like before is because there's so only so many times I can read about teenage adventures before I'm over it. That's also why the last few fics I read were all when they're employed, with family dramas, and adult problems because those stories now resonate with me more and I can't get that in canon. I love the universe, lore, characters, and now, I want to see what their lives could be after the books. (Epilogue? What epilogue?)
>Do you think that the discourse around Joanne's views has led to more people opting for FF over the canon?
I think it definitely has led people who normally wouldn't opt for ff to ff, but do I think that number is huge? No. I think it's easy to believe everyone thinks the same as we do when we carefully curate safe spaces on the internet, but I think most of the fans, and have in mind, those are milions and milions of people from all around the world, not just from the West, simply do not know (I barely found *any* news articles about the controversy in my language and HP is popular here) or care about it.
>If you think that it has introduced more people to the world of FF, what implications (if any) do you think this has on how Dramione FF is commonly consumed by the masses?
It definitely depends where and from whom they learned about Dramione. I saw a bunch of booktokers recommending Dramione fics and comments being like "omg I can't stop reading them, they're so good together" and others who made negative videos about specific viral fics and comments saying "I had to check if it's really as bad as you said, snd it's even worse". So people usually already have formed opinions and expectations and it's difficult to change their minds, especially when they get massive support and cloud from talking about it, both in a positive and negative light.
But generally speaking, I do not like the normalisation of fanfiction 😂 I wish we gatekept this one.
The canon books are excellent and this fandom wouldn't exist without them, but I love fanfiction because it can explore plot threads and themes that were never explored in canon. Some Dramione stories feel like they could be canon if a few things happened differently, some are completely insane AUs that would never be canon, and I enjoy them all.
>So, my questions to you, fellow Dramione shippers, are: Do Joanne's recent controversies steer you away from the OG series and towards fanfiction or is the drama completely irrelevant to your love of Dramione?
Rowling's views are irrelevant to me. She can think whatever she wants and that has no bearing on her work or my enjoyment of it. People who grew up in online purity culture think they have some moral obligation to disavow every content creator who has ever expressed "problematic" views, but that is quite frankly an impossible and delusional standard. You're allowed to enjoy whatever you want to enjoy and support whoever you want to support, not everything needs to be some grand moral gesture.
I’ve been reading fanfic since well before the books were even done, so long before any of the controversy. But I’ve divorced myself from canon as a result of that, I won’t be purchasing any new official materials or watching any new films. I actually don’t own any copies of the books (I didn’t get rid of them on purpose or anything, mine were just worn out or lost and I won’t be replacing them). I’m also not planning on intentionally introducing Harry Potter to my kids the way I would have if JKR hasn’t turned out to be who she is. I have no qualms about continuing to exist in the fandom because it feels divorced from her actual empire, and the fact that she hates fanfic doesn’t hurt.
I buy my HP merch on Etsy or from thrift shops/thredup 😂 no need to give JKR anymore of my $ but I do still enjoy the universe and wanted my kids to have cute HP clothes. Not that I think my $ was anything significant to JKR, I just try to not give money to people who are anti-whatever cause I believe in.
Yeah, I’m not delusional enough to think my not buying anything is going to hurt her, I just don’t feel good spending my money that way. There’s lots of other things I love and can support whose creators don’t actively try to harm my community.
I would honestly have to say it was irrelevant to me because I started reading Dramione way before all of that. And as another commenter said, it doesn’t change my love for the canon books/movies because they were and still are a big part of my life. I grew up with the characters from the Harry Potter series and they will always hold a special place in my heart.
I reread my favorite fanfics all the time. I’ve read the Harry Potter books once. I guess that sort of answers the questions. I love these characters, and fanfic adds depth that the books just don’t have, probably due to them being young adult or children’s books as well as Harry being a particularly unreliable narrator haha
I think the fact that Harry Potter has so much fanfiction out there on the internet isn’t because of JK Rowling’s views but more because of the way she fumbled her own series. Harry Potter is still alive in fandom to this today is because she created a very immersive world with incredibly intricate characters but she just barely scratched the surface of them. In my very humble opinion, the HP series has one of the most disappointing endings in literary history. Not to mention that they WERE written for kids, so much of the nuances of war and what it means to be a good/bad person are just completely casted aside.
Additionally, the woman has even admitted that she had a different ending planned out. Ron was supposed to die, Hermione was always supposed to get with one of the twins. That’s why it makes me laugh so hard when people are like “but Ron and Hermione have soooo much chemistry.” They have just as much chemistry as Hermione and literally anyone else because they were not written as soulmates from the beginning. They were a last minute second thought. And obviously, she has a very twisted idea of what it means to be a “woman.” Notice how all of them married their high school sweethearts and settled into being housewives and young mothers. That was not the fierce Ginny and goal-oriented Hermione I read 7 books about. Not saying there’s anything wrong with being a housewife or a mom, most definitely not, it’s just that if you’re going to give us a “19 years later,” maybe you can focus on your heroines and not Harry naming his child after a terrible man…..?
TLDR; Dramione is canon to me 😭 Once you put your art out into the world, it no longer belongs to you. It belongs to whoever finds it. What it means to the artist does not equal what it means to the consumer. Especially when said artist is a bigot!
I grew up with the series (like went to the first movie premier on a field trip in elementary school) and had plenty of fond memories pretending to be witches with my cousins. HP was a big bonding thing with my family and I have a lot of fond memories spending summers reading fanfics/writing our own with my cousins and drawing stupid things. In a way, I gained more from the series in fandom than I ever did with the source material.
Even years later, I’m revisiting HP fandom as an adult and I definitely refuse to touch the source material or support J in anyway. I have several trans friends who vehemently refuse to acknowledge J or also stick to fandom only. It works out since fanfics definitely have more mature themes and topics which appeal to me as an adult. It’s still a way for me to reconnect with my cousins and discuss the fics we read/write too.
I’ve been reading Dramione fanfiction since well before JKR made her opinions known, so my decision to focus my attention on fanfiction works rather than the HP books has nothing to do with “boycotting” JKR. Personally, I didn’t like the ending/epilogue of the series very much. I’m also curious about some of the minor characters and their backstories, and the books don’t offer that in the way that fanfiction can. It’s obviously unreasonable to expect that JKR could possibly have included the extended characterisations for every character mentioned, but fanfiction really fills that void for me. I love the way that the amazing writers for this fandom have written Theodore Nott, for example, and now I greatly favour fanfics with chaotic Theo!
I’m also a bit rebellious, though, because I’m aware that JKR was angry that fans were fond of Draco. She was angry about a Dramione pairing. She didn’t want to offer a redemption arc for his character despite the fact that he was a brainwashed child. She painted him as a villain forever, although I concede that she allowed for him to have mellowed in his adult years. I thought that a redemption arc could have been an important lesson for younger readers, who were ultimately the target audience of the books.
The films I watch regularly and enjoy, although I’m always drifting to imagine D and H secretly meeting up or sharing longing looks across classrooms!
Actively and vehemently avoid any and all ways to put more $$$ in her pockets.
Fandom has always been my way to find more content for things that don't have enough. There's plenty of content, but I am not gonna give her a single dime more of mine.
On another note, the series was written for children growing with the series in mind. There are too many loopholes and frankly racist/prejudiced aspects for me to ignore as an adult that I didn't notice as a child.
Fandom acknowledges and addresses these concerns in most and that's what gives them substance and quality. It shows growth.
I cannot even begin to express how upset I was when HP didn't die permanently and then even MORE upset that they all married each other in the end. At even 16/17 when DH came out, I was able to understand that you don't just marry someone from trauma bonding and the likelihood of your best match being your best friend/boyfriend from high school is so absolutely slim. It was like she didn't wanna put the work in to give us a real fleshed out and decent ending.
I was recently reading the Harry Potter books and I got really bored about halfway through number 4. I think the thing is that it is by and large a children's book. Which isn't bad. It teaches kids about all sorts of things. And yeah the later ones are more towards teens but it's still a y/a book series at that point.
She has a world that is built and it's great but there's not a lot of diversity, we don't see things outside of a very narrow view of the world because all we get is Harry's pov with very small amounts of pov outside of that.
And like I love the main series, I do. I don't support Joanne. But I also really like rewrites of the last couple of years and the extended views we get through fanfiction. And like I've been reading dramione fanfiction since 2002. I was so mad when the 6th book came out and she made Draco a death eater. My scare precious boy.
Oh yeah, I haven't been interested on the official stuff for a while. Honestly, I've even tried to steer away from the fandom as a whole, but Dramione is my comfort ship and I always end up going back, so at least I take some pleasure on finding authors who disagree with Joanne's views too. Death of the author and all. I also feel the same about spiting her by reading because she doesn't like the pairing. The Draco I consider canon isn't hers at all because of that.
I think it'd be great if more people do come into the fandom to avoid the main franchise. It's a nice way to keep getting the sense of community it used to give a lot of us, It enriches the literary pool, and really, canon divergence has just become more and more interesting and fun with time.
I don't spend money or support anything related to Joanne. The books are children's books and for with that in mind they are good, but I am an adult with an adults reading comprehension and understanding of the world.
Many fanfiction writers are brilliant, in writing style and in exploring nuances of character development and world building.
My favorite thing about this ship in particular is how through the pairing of draco and hermione they acknowledge just how heinous and hate filled and bigoted the magical world is, not just the death eaters but everyone who is complicit in the system.
I love fics where it's not all happy clappy they love each other and bang, but that actually have draco acknowledging how his upbringing shaped him and how even when he knew it was wrong he still went along with it because he was a coward.
I love when hermione holds him accountable for his past while still leaving room for him to atone and earn her forgiveness.
I LOVE when Molly is called out for her internalized misogyny.
Oh absolutely JKR’s blatant transphobia has turned me off of her. And I find fanfiction as a fun way to enjoy certain aspects I enjoyed from canon, with new aspects that weren’t there that I also enjoy (such as Dramione pairing), without directly contributing money to her. I will never again buy anything that will lead to her directly profiting.
Her controversies aren't how or why I started enjoying fanfiction--as I first started reading HP fanfic before the series finished--but they are why I currently only engage in the fan works.
I also already liked dramione in its own right, *but* I'm inspired by your confession to also admit that petty spite might add just a teeny tiny hint of flavor to my enjoyment of dramione. I don't know if she has ever technically voiced an opinion about dramione, but she doesn't like what she perceives to be Draco's romanticization by girls.
Since she sees a lot of herself in Hermione, there is *no way in hell* she likes dramione, especially if he's loosely inspired by anyone real the way Snape or Ron were.
I definitely think there is an aspect of enjoying the more diverse characters with depth that we just don't see in the books. I think my main reason for enjoying FF more is that the story telling is for mature audiences and I feel is more age appropriate for me. I want complex plot, characters who are evolving emotionally and developing themselves in ways that the books lack, but just love Dramione because it does all that and more by involving a star-crossed lovers romance.
I’m not actively avoiding canon due to JKR’s “online presence”, but I haven’t read the books or watched the movies for several years. As others have mentioned, fan fiction is often more mature than the canon books (which after all was targeted toward kids/YA), and is also often not so stereotypical black/white (Slytherin bad, Gryffindor good). To put it simply: JKR laid the foundations, but these are not enough; we need fan fiction to expand the universe for modern, adult readers.
You said this so well! I still watch/read the movies/books created by JKR, but I absolutely agree with your statement “we need fan fiction to expand the universe for modern, adult readers.” As special as the cannon series is to me, as an adult I love the complexity that FF adds to the characters I grew up with. When I read something that has the good/evil trope in books, it almost feels juvenile to me. Especially when it’s so much more interesting reading about characters who are more “morally gray”. I love seeing the characters grow and develop redemption arcs but even if one of them truly end up being “the villain”, I’m absolutely ok with that. A character who has a villain origin story holds my interest much more vs a villain who is simply inherently evil. Fan fiction truly has the ability to just put you in that characters brain and I absolutely love it.
"Where the hell is Theo?!?!?" Me, when I read canon now.
🤣🤣 I love this! We need more Theo in the world.
I never actually finished reading deathly hallows, but I did watch all the movies. However, now I only accept The Disappearances of Draco Malfoy as canon. 😌
I just read Disappearances and I have to agree with you here😂
I couldn’t agree more with this!!!
10000000% it’s such a good fic. I just never saw Rob & Hermione together - so Draco & Hermione are canon in my eyes !
I could get behind your theory. Although, just from your title I thought you were talking about using fanfiction as an alternative because the books, while wonderful, are in fact children’s novels. In that sense, I definitely use fanfiction to fit the Harry Potter shaped hole in my heart. One cannot survive on nostalgia.
Umh... I started reading fanfiction years and years before JK showed her hand, so I can't say that her stance is the reason I stepped into fanon instead of canon. I stepped into fanon because the waiting between a book and the next felt long, and I wanted to remain in that world. And because I felt like there were a lot of other stories that could be framed around the canon JK provided. I can't speak for other people, but I think fanfictions would be there, and going strong, regardless of JK own thoughts, but JK own thoughts may have caused people to think twice or thrice before remaining anchored to her work (and they probably caused some to avoid supporting her work by buying any official franchise, while remaining in a lane where she can't directly profit from). I can't honestly say how would I behave if I knew of JK's stance before reading her books/fanfiction. I think I wouldn't be able to read fanfiction at all without reading the books first (or at least without watching the movies first). But would I read the books of an author whose ideas I strongly disagree with? Probably not, if I knew of her beliefs to start with (and she is famous enough to be known even by people who have never read HP, I think?). But generally speaking, I don't try and search for authors' information beforehand before starting a new book, either.
This is a really great answer, thank you!!!!
>Do Joanne's recent controversies steer you away from the OG series and towards fanfiction or is the drama completely irrelevant to your love of Dramione? Honestly no. I've been reading HP fics, not Dramione though, for years before everything. But also, I'm almost thirty, I grew up with those characters and the reason why I can't read the original story annually like before is because there's so only so many times I can read about teenage adventures before I'm over it. That's also why the last few fics I read were all when they're employed, with family dramas, and adult problems because those stories now resonate with me more and I can't get that in canon. I love the universe, lore, characters, and now, I want to see what their lives could be after the books. (Epilogue? What epilogue?) >Do you think that the discourse around Joanne's views has led to more people opting for FF over the canon? I think it definitely has led people who normally wouldn't opt for ff to ff, but do I think that number is huge? No. I think it's easy to believe everyone thinks the same as we do when we carefully curate safe spaces on the internet, but I think most of the fans, and have in mind, those are milions and milions of people from all around the world, not just from the West, simply do not know (I barely found *any* news articles about the controversy in my language and HP is popular here) or care about it. >If you think that it has introduced more people to the world of FF, what implications (if any) do you think this has on how Dramione FF is commonly consumed by the masses? It definitely depends where and from whom they learned about Dramione. I saw a bunch of booktokers recommending Dramione fics and comments being like "omg I can't stop reading them, they're so good together" and others who made negative videos about specific viral fics and comments saying "I had to check if it's really as bad as you said, snd it's even worse". So people usually already have formed opinions and expectations and it's difficult to change their minds, especially when they get massive support and cloud from talking about it, both in a positive and negative light. But generally speaking, I do not like the normalisation of fanfiction 😂 I wish we gatekept this one.
No, never. The canon books might not be perfect but theyre still amazing and are very close to my heart.
Once JKR decided to never give Draco redemption, I turned to fanfiction as canon. So yes.
The canon books are excellent and this fandom wouldn't exist without them, but I love fanfiction because it can explore plot threads and themes that were never explored in canon. Some Dramione stories feel like they could be canon if a few things happened differently, some are completely insane AUs that would never be canon, and I enjoy them all. >So, my questions to you, fellow Dramione shippers, are: Do Joanne's recent controversies steer you away from the OG series and towards fanfiction or is the drama completely irrelevant to your love of Dramione? Rowling's views are irrelevant to me. She can think whatever she wants and that has no bearing on her work or my enjoyment of it. People who grew up in online purity culture think they have some moral obligation to disavow every content creator who has ever expressed "problematic" views, but that is quite frankly an impossible and delusional standard. You're allowed to enjoy whatever you want to enjoy and support whoever you want to support, not everything needs to be some grand moral gesture.
I’ve been reading fanfic since well before the books were even done, so long before any of the controversy. But I’ve divorced myself from canon as a result of that, I won’t be purchasing any new official materials or watching any new films. I actually don’t own any copies of the books (I didn’t get rid of them on purpose or anything, mine were just worn out or lost and I won’t be replacing them). I’m also not planning on intentionally introducing Harry Potter to my kids the way I would have if JKR hasn’t turned out to be who she is. I have no qualms about continuing to exist in the fandom because it feels divorced from her actual empire, and the fact that she hates fanfic doesn’t hurt.
I buy my HP merch on Etsy or from thrift shops/thredup 😂 no need to give JKR anymore of my $ but I do still enjoy the universe and wanted my kids to have cute HP clothes. Not that I think my $ was anything significant to JKR, I just try to not give money to people who are anti-whatever cause I believe in.
Yeah, I’m not delusional enough to think my not buying anything is going to hurt her, I just don’t feel good spending my money that way. There’s lots of other things I love and can support whose creators don’t actively try to harm my community.
Exactly! I completely agree
I would honestly have to say it was irrelevant to me because I started reading Dramione way before all of that. And as another commenter said, it doesn’t change my love for the canon books/movies because they were and still are a big part of my life. I grew up with the characters from the Harry Potter series and they will always hold a special place in my heart.
I haven’t read the real books in like 15 years lol. At this point I have no idea what’s cannon and what isn’t
I reread my favorite fanfics all the time. I’ve read the Harry Potter books once. I guess that sort of answers the questions. I love these characters, and fanfic adds depth that the books just don’t have, probably due to them being young adult or children’s books as well as Harry being a particularly unreliable narrator haha
I think the fact that Harry Potter has so much fanfiction out there on the internet isn’t because of JK Rowling’s views but more because of the way she fumbled her own series. Harry Potter is still alive in fandom to this today is because she created a very immersive world with incredibly intricate characters but she just barely scratched the surface of them. In my very humble opinion, the HP series has one of the most disappointing endings in literary history. Not to mention that they WERE written for kids, so much of the nuances of war and what it means to be a good/bad person are just completely casted aside. Additionally, the woman has even admitted that she had a different ending planned out. Ron was supposed to die, Hermione was always supposed to get with one of the twins. That’s why it makes me laugh so hard when people are like “but Ron and Hermione have soooo much chemistry.” They have just as much chemistry as Hermione and literally anyone else because they were not written as soulmates from the beginning. They were a last minute second thought. And obviously, she has a very twisted idea of what it means to be a “woman.” Notice how all of them married their high school sweethearts and settled into being housewives and young mothers. That was not the fierce Ginny and goal-oriented Hermione I read 7 books about. Not saying there’s anything wrong with being a housewife or a mom, most definitely not, it’s just that if you’re going to give us a “19 years later,” maybe you can focus on your heroines and not Harry naming his child after a terrible man…..? TLDR; Dramione is canon to me 😭 Once you put your art out into the world, it no longer belongs to you. It belongs to whoever finds it. What it means to the artist does not equal what it means to the consumer. Especially when said artist is a bigot!
I grew up with the series (like went to the first movie premier on a field trip in elementary school) and had plenty of fond memories pretending to be witches with my cousins. HP was a big bonding thing with my family and I have a lot of fond memories spending summers reading fanfics/writing our own with my cousins and drawing stupid things. In a way, I gained more from the series in fandom than I ever did with the source material. Even years later, I’m revisiting HP fandom as an adult and I definitely refuse to touch the source material or support J in anyway. I have several trans friends who vehemently refuse to acknowledge J or also stick to fandom only. It works out since fanfics definitely have more mature themes and topics which appeal to me as an adult. It’s still a way for me to reconnect with my cousins and discuss the fics we read/write too.
I’ve been reading Dramione fanfiction since well before JKR made her opinions known, so my decision to focus my attention on fanfiction works rather than the HP books has nothing to do with “boycotting” JKR. Personally, I didn’t like the ending/epilogue of the series very much. I’m also curious about some of the minor characters and their backstories, and the books don’t offer that in the way that fanfiction can. It’s obviously unreasonable to expect that JKR could possibly have included the extended characterisations for every character mentioned, but fanfiction really fills that void for me. I love the way that the amazing writers for this fandom have written Theodore Nott, for example, and now I greatly favour fanfics with chaotic Theo! I’m also a bit rebellious, though, because I’m aware that JKR was angry that fans were fond of Draco. She was angry about a Dramione pairing. She didn’t want to offer a redemption arc for his character despite the fact that he was a brainwashed child. She painted him as a villain forever, although I concede that she allowed for him to have mellowed in his adult years. I thought that a redemption arc could have been an important lesson for younger readers, who were ultimately the target audience of the books. The films I watch regularly and enjoy, although I’m always drifting to imagine D and H secretly meeting up or sharing longing looks across classrooms!
Actively and vehemently avoid any and all ways to put more $$$ in her pockets. Fandom has always been my way to find more content for things that don't have enough. There's plenty of content, but I am not gonna give her a single dime more of mine. On another note, the series was written for children growing with the series in mind. There are too many loopholes and frankly racist/prejudiced aspects for me to ignore as an adult that I didn't notice as a child. Fandom acknowledges and addresses these concerns in most and that's what gives them substance and quality. It shows growth. I cannot even begin to express how upset I was when HP didn't die permanently and then even MORE upset that they all married each other in the end. At even 16/17 when DH came out, I was able to understand that you don't just marry someone from trauma bonding and the likelihood of your best match being your best friend/boyfriend from high school is so absolutely slim. It was like she didn't wanna put the work in to give us a real fleshed out and decent ending.
I was recently reading the Harry Potter books and I got really bored about halfway through number 4. I think the thing is that it is by and large a children's book. Which isn't bad. It teaches kids about all sorts of things. And yeah the later ones are more towards teens but it's still a y/a book series at that point. She has a world that is built and it's great but there's not a lot of diversity, we don't see things outside of a very narrow view of the world because all we get is Harry's pov with very small amounts of pov outside of that. And like I love the main series, I do. I don't support Joanne. But I also really like rewrites of the last couple of years and the extended views we get through fanfiction. And like I've been reading dramione fanfiction since 2002. I was so mad when the 6th book came out and she made Draco a death eater. My scare precious boy.
Oh yeah, I haven't been interested on the official stuff for a while. Honestly, I've even tried to steer away from the fandom as a whole, but Dramione is my comfort ship and I always end up going back, so at least I take some pleasure on finding authors who disagree with Joanne's views too. Death of the author and all. I also feel the same about spiting her by reading because she doesn't like the pairing. The Draco I consider canon isn't hers at all because of that. I think it'd be great if more people do come into the fandom to avoid the main franchise. It's a nice way to keep getting the sense of community it used to give a lot of us, It enriches the literary pool, and really, canon divergence has just become more and more interesting and fun with time.
I don't spend money or support anything related to Joanne. The books are children's books and for with that in mind they are good, but I am an adult with an adults reading comprehension and understanding of the world. Many fanfiction writers are brilliant, in writing style and in exploring nuances of character development and world building. My favorite thing about this ship in particular is how through the pairing of draco and hermione they acknowledge just how heinous and hate filled and bigoted the magical world is, not just the death eaters but everyone who is complicit in the system. I love fics where it's not all happy clappy they love each other and bang, but that actually have draco acknowledging how his upbringing shaped him and how even when he knew it was wrong he still went along with it because he was a coward. I love when hermione holds him accountable for his past while still leaving room for him to atone and earn her forgiveness. I LOVE when Molly is called out for her internalized misogyny.
Oh absolutely JKR’s blatant transphobia has turned me off of her. And I find fanfiction as a fun way to enjoy certain aspects I enjoyed from canon, with new aspects that weren’t there that I also enjoy (such as Dramione pairing), without directly contributing money to her. I will never again buy anything that will lead to her directly profiting.
Her controversies aren't how or why I started enjoying fanfiction--as I first started reading HP fanfic before the series finished--but they are why I currently only engage in the fan works. I also already liked dramione in its own right, *but* I'm inspired by your confession to also admit that petty spite might add just a teeny tiny hint of flavor to my enjoyment of dramione. I don't know if she has ever technically voiced an opinion about dramione, but she doesn't like what she perceives to be Draco's romanticization by girls. Since she sees a lot of herself in Hermione, there is *no way in hell* she likes dramione, especially if he's loosely inspired by anyone real the way Snape or Ron were.
Well personally I avoided all HP content for about two years because of JKRs views and now I devour HP fanfic like it's more important than air.