Blog 2: The Girl Who Lived

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This might seem a bit irrelevant to TG but if you bear with me, you’ll understand. After all I am writing a Harry Potter TG fan fiction!

My first encounter with Harry Potter was back when I was in primary school. I was about seven years old. My brother had just gotten a box set of books called ‘Harry Potter: Years One — Four’. He was a bit of a bookworm so he was totally engrossed in the writing and finished all books within weeks. Then my mother read them and she became addicted to the brilliant story. My mother and brother would discuss the story, plots, characters and predictions for the fifth book. I wanted to join in so I sat down and tried to read Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. I gave up after about three pages because I felt that reading was ‘daunting’, hey I was only seven.

The following year I saw the first movie in the cinema. My mother, my brother and I lined up outside the multiplex for over two hours and a half hours because it was a full house in almost every showing. It was crazy. Eventually we got in and ultimately, I was very excited because I always loved going to the pictures.

As the film opened on Private Drive, the old man with the half-moon spectacles perched upon his crooked nose gliding down the street, raising his hand, sucking the light out of the street lamps with his deluminator, I was immediately immersed in the magic.
I came out of the cinema that night a Harry Potter fanatic and it pretty much defined a great part of my childhood. I started reading the books the next day, starting freshly with Philosophers Stone slowly making my way through Chamber of Secrets, on then off to Prisoner of Azkaban and then finally the Goblet of Fire. I went to see the movies over the next few years and read the new releases.

Now, as much as I love the character of Harry, I always wondered what he would have been like if he was female. What differences to the plot would there have been? Would the books have been as successful? What would he have been like as a girl? All of these questions frequently swirled about in my mind. One of my close friends thought it would have been better if Harry was a girl. She was one by the way. But to be honest I don’t think Harry should have been female but I do think it would be interesting to read about what it could have been like.

So over a year ago I browsed the internet and found many stories involving Harry transforming into a girl. Some were absolutely great, some were just good and alright, some were complete bollocks and others were just plain creepy. It was then that I decided to write my own Potter TG fan fiction and so The Curse of the Emerald Witch was born. I planned it carefully, trying to keep as close to the books as possible while offering something new myself. I initially didn’t write it for people to read rather it was more of a personal pleasure, something I had always thought about being put into a story.

And then it expanded into something much bigger, a six part epic about the struggle between two identities and the darkness within. I have two parts left to post and they are both nearly finished. I hope you will all enjoy the conclusion and the shocking end I have in store. Then after that, who knows, I have a second and third instalment planned the third being the final story as Harry will be in his seventh year at Hogwarts. I hope to get started on them in the near future.

If anybody wants to discuss the story or anything else TG related then email me at bigassdonkey(at)gmail(dot)com or just comment on my blog!

Blog out!

Comments

Thus far, I'm actually liking the Emerald Witch story...

Almost in spite of myself. I say this because I'm not normally a fan of HP stories of any sort, but there are three, including yours, on here that have captured my interest and proven to be well writen stories. Please keep it going, I''m looking forward to reading more of it once I'm not so short on time.

Peace be with you and Blessed be

Blog 2: The Girl Who Lived

Wonder if there, are any where Harry was born a girl, not transformed into a Harriett, Holly or Heather?

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

Plenty.

There's a number of fanfiction.net C2's ("comunities", basically communal favorites lists) devoted to born-female and turned-female Harry (and others):

http://www.fanfiction.net/community/Miss_Potter/19146/99/1/1/
http://www.fanfiction.net/community/What_was_that_Miss_Potte...
http://www.fanfiction.net/community/Harry_is_a_GIRL/53612/99...
http://www.fanfiction.net/community/Harry_is_a_girl/9166/99/...
http://www.fanfiction.net/community/Where_Harry_is_a_girl/24...
http://www.fanfiction.net/community/Female_Potters/20474/99/...
http://www.fanfiction.net/community/HP_Genderbending_Stories...
http://www.fanfiction.net/community/Shapeshifting_Potter/167...
http://www.fanfiction.net/community/Harry_the_Girl/68023/99/...
http://www.fanfiction.net/community/Where_Harry_is_a_girl/24...

The problem with fHarry is that it's difficult for the writer to maintain any kind of trans-gender character continuity when the change starts at birth. Most all of those stories which I've read have the Harry role basically held down by a female walk-in. Only the surrounding context holds the HP framework together, and only by forcibly restraining the plot to the canon chain of events ...all of which must realistically change if the central character is a girl (and let's just not get into how many of them seem to be vehicles for getting Harry married off to worthless Death-Eater-wannabe scum Draco Malfoy -- chaos-theory aside, changing Harry's chromosome can realistically have had no effect on how Lucius Malfoy raised his son). It's a lot easier to read "Harry Potter" into a genderbender tale where the experiences and personality are canon-Harry up to the divergence-point.

Three WIP turned-Harry fics with some decent depth are:

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4606270/1/Effects_and_Side_Effects ...post-OotP involuntary change with a side of harem and Manimagus

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7465400/1/Jamie_Evans_and_Fates_... ...post-DH redo with an alt-HPU twist

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5301135/1/Distance ...post-OotP voluntary break for freedom

There's also Kim West's work on Fictionmania, two whole short tales IIRC.

I'm knowingly slighting you here, Ramona, but then I haven't actually read your tale yet, only skimmed the first part. I tend to sequester chapters to read all at once when there's perceptible angst, rather than let that mood fester while awaiting updates. Thus I can't really make any intelligent comment about the direction or quality of your work yet; sorry.