#hp headcanon
[[project idea: wizarding decameron]]
[[So I just finished reading American Decameron by Mark Dunn, a book of 100 short stories each covering a year between 1901 and 2000. (The link goes to the Amazon page.)
Each story is a slice-of-life about somebody living in that year somewhere in the US. The stories are really diverse - a man with Alzheimers reminiscing about old college days, jilted couples or various sorts, a teenager who manages to get her grandmother’s lesbian lover permission from the hospital to visit, survivors of a sunken ship, talent show winners, family conflicts, heartbroken schoolteachers, crimes big and small, all sorts of things. All the stories are centered around one or two characters and a very specific moment in their life. They span forms too - most are short narrative fiction, but some are written in character, there are letters and meeting minutes and legal documents and all sorts.
Significant historical moments are referred to, but more as something that is affecting the main characters’ lives semi-directly rather than being the center of its own story - for example, one wartime story is about a journalist who is being pressured to write pro-war material, two employees of an ice factory are waiting for midnight on the end of Prohibition, and the AIDS epidemic is represented by a story of a gay man who loses his best friend and secret crush to war, goes to the war memorial, and runs into his best friend’s brother who is HIV+ and a current activist. There’s plenty of queer, feminist, anti-racist content in there and not just in the stories set in the late 20th century.
I was thinking of a way to expand this concept further, since it’s super genius (especially the year 2000 story, where all the characters connect to each other). I thought it seemed ripe enough for a fandom project - and since I’m reintegrating myself into HP fandom and there seems to be a growth of HP headcanon/minific blogs, I thought a Wizarding Decameron would be fun.
Basic Skeleton of the Wizarding Decameron:
- 100 stories - each story represents a year between 1901 and 2000.
- All stories are set in the wider Potterverse - which includes areas not directly explored by J.K. Rowling (e.g. non-British wizardry)
- Characters in the stories are primarily minor or original characters in the Potterverse. Significant characters may have stories written about them, but ideally it should be about a time and place that is not already covered in depth in the books.
- Stories follow a coherent timeline, and are internally stable (e.g. a character who is killed off in 1914 doesn’t just suddenly come back to life as a normal person in 1980 unless there’s some really good in-universe example for it).
- Stories stay as canon-compliant as possible, including Pottermore (so Lord Voldemort was defeated, Harry married Ginny and Hermione married Ron, etc).
- Stories don’t need to cross-reference each other, but it’s useful (I would like the year 2000 story to tie everything in).
- Significant events in the Potterverse timeline are referred to but not directly if possible (e.g. a story about the First Wizarding War from the point of view of a young man whose dad supports Grindelwald rather than about Grindlewald himself).
- Stories set outside explored-in-canon Potterverse (e.g. non-British wizardry or pre-Hogwarts) are highly encouraged, but should have some tie-in with the general Potterverse so we can see there is a link.
- Stories can take any form - narrative, scripts, owl post, a series of Howlers, a Quibbler report, dispatches from the Ministry - though it should be some sort of prose.
- Stories also take into account what is happening in the wider world at the time wherever possible (think of what a Muggle or Muggle-born would have been dealing with in that year).
- Diversity in race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, ability, age, educational status, political bent, class, blood status, adherance or lack thereof to Statute of Secrecy, magical predispositions, etc are highly welcomed and prioritised - though there needs to be some relation to social structures and language of the time (e.g. someone in 1910 in India may be a genderqueer aromantic demisexual in practice, but isn’t likely to have named themselves exactly that at the time or look like a modern-day American genderqueer aromantic demisexual).
- Each stories follow the lives of unique people, but there may be some crossover (e.g. the main character in 1937 shows up again in 1958 having a conversation with that story’s main character).
- Stories are slice-of-life and follow an event that may or may not have a clear resolution (as opposed to a philosophical ramble on that year in general) - e.g. someone having lots of trouble finding a potions ingredient because it turns out that the ingredient is banned for ‘possibly intoxicating’ reasons, but the main character may not have necessarily found the ingredient by the end of the story.
- Stories are about ~1000 words each, kind of the length of the average Tumblr headcanon post.
- Writers should concentrate on the writing (so no obligation to create graphics or find photos or videos to accompany your writing)
Additional ideas:
- An extra set of stories that go from 2001-2014, maybe even till 2017 (setting of Epilogue in Deathly Hallows).
- Other fans contributing fanart, edits, graphics, etc that relate to the story.
- A suggestion box for headcanons by fans who want to contribute but don’t want to submit a story.
- Fan stories of the original set of 100 that show that year from another perspective (whether referencing the original story or not).
- Making reference to information already provided by other HP headcanon blogs.
- KeepingAmerican Decameron’s titling style - [Fancy Adjective/Verb That Sums Up The Story] in [City]
I could see this concept being exported cross-fandom too, or pretty much in any kind of (sub)culture - say the Malaysian Decameron or the Queer Decameron or the Hunger Games Decameron. It’s a format that has some specific guidelines but allows a lot of flexibility.
I have a LOT on my plate, especially this month, so I’d rather not be in charge of putting this together, but I’m happy to help out with getting it started. If you’re interested, do get in touch!]]
284. A lot of slytherins had that ‘bad bitch’, 'don’t mess with me’ kinda vibe, but there are those that just want to make friends, from any house, and have a group of people to talk to, or that like giving hugs, or that like helping out those group of first years with transfiguration. Not all slytherins are these fierce, unemotional characters, we can’t forget the cinnamon buns too.
requested by anon
283. At some point James Potter and Sirius Black found all of James’ old glasses from throughout his life and placed every single one of them on James’ face, all 12 of them, and wore them to transfiguration.
Mcgonagall was so done with their antics by then that she didnt even realise and just continued teaching the lesson as if nothing was amiss.
281. Okay but ravenclaws door knocker was the biggest gossip in school. I mean, the amount of shit it must’ve heard in all its years at Hogwarts. If you asked, the knocker would always tell, and probably ramble on for a good hour about other unrelated gossip, but it was always interesting for the ravenclaws to listen too.
requested by @dice-gobliny
280. Not many people knew but the ravenclaw door knocker was actually amazing at giving advice. Ravenclaws would stand and vent, only for the knocker to reply back with wisdom and help.
requested by @dice-gobliny
279. hufflepuffs are like the mediators of all houses. they try and keep everyone calm, and inter house peace is a priority to them. they feisty asf about it too.
submitted by @venusremus
278. Not all gryffindors were boisterous or loud or chatty or extroverted in any way shape or form.
You had gryffindors who would rather curl up on the armchairs by the fire and read a book.
Gryffindors that just wanted to sit on the window ledge, staring off into the forbidden forest, a blanket wrapped around their shoulders.
Gryffindors that preferred a calm, slow walk around the black lake instead of the quidditch pitch.
Not all gryffindors are like the stereotypes, each are individuals; courageous and brave in their own ways.
requested by anon