I'm finally seeing this tomorrow! :D I've heard it's filled with a lot of fanfiction tropes, but I'm willing to forgive.

I can follow people saying there's a lot of fanfiction tropes or elements in this. (I've already called it full of fan service myself). It's just not "bad" fanfiction. because... You know... Bad fanfiction is... Kinda an experience in it's own. X)

I mean arguably, I'd say 'badness' is more of a scale than a fixed thing. Something can still be 'bad fanfiction' even if there's something way worse, it's just less severe. That being said, I haven't read this one for myself so I'd probably need to... do that before making any decisions on what it's like, haha. Sometimes, things with lots of fanfic tropes can be nice, easy reads, and I've been looking for something easy and nice.

I'd say the fair way to judge if something is good or bad, is to compare it with everything else within the same genre. So if you grade all fanfiction, one (optimistic) way to put it up would be like: 5 % that's really good. 10 % that's good 50 % that's varying degrees of average 20 % that's bad 10 % that's really bad 5 % that's "gouge out your eyeballs and use bleach on your brain" horrible. The more fanfiction a person has read, the more they know just how horrendously bad, truly bad fanfiction can be. This affects the scale, so stuff that would be label "absolutely rubbish! Don't go near it" for a published book, really just is average for fanfiction. Because so many amateur writers (including children) makes fan fiction. And it severely affects the scale of what is good and bad, compared to published literature. My point here is, that... Something has to be really, really bad, to qualify as "bad fanfiction bad". ;)

I feel as though having to pay for physical books and not for most fanfiction probably also has an effect on that, maybe. If a person is paying to read something, their standards are usually higher!

Absolutely. That's one of the reasons you rarely see truly bad printed books, the way you can find a lot of truly bad fanfiction. Going through a publisher means that they actually select the few things they believe will sell (note, smart publishers don't always pick the best books. They tend to pick the popular choice that'll sell over a better written book on a less popular subject). It also usually means there will have been a grammar and spelling check on the book. And maybe even some basic fact checks from "the person not the author" reading through it before printing. On the flip side, it also means people complain a lot more, if they don't feel they are getting their moneys worth. Fanfiction is usually free, so the only thing you invest in them is your time.

I read it! I thought it was interesting, but I have to admit to wondering they were reading fanfiction when they wrote it, because it seemed that way to me. XD I hope I get the chance to see it sometime! Honestly, I'm hoping they film the play rather than turn it into a movie though. I'd like it to stay truer to the original concept, and just seeing the play filmed would be awesome to me.

Alright, I saw the play on Saturday and it was INCREDIBLE. I'll admit that there were a couple of plot holes, but it was just so [i]Harry Potter[/i]. The characters were so great (Scorpius is the cutest), and it was so nostalgic it made me tear up a little. ♥ I really really hope they release a live recording of the play, all the amazing effects really made the experience. [spoiler]I'm still mourning Craig honestly. He had a little green hat and I loved him. And the trolly witch??? I laughed so hard it was SO GREAT. Oh my gosh and Albus and Scorpius. I'm mad at JK for throwing in the tiny heterosexual love interest scene at the end just to reassure us that they're [i]definitely straight[/i]. People are comparing it to fanfiction, but forgetting that tropes like time travel and 'the cursed child' are [i]so[/i] JK and absolutely consistent with the entire HP universe. I just loved it so much okay. I was in the front row of the balcony so I almost TOUCHED a dementor. [/spoiler]

@Winter Awesome. Harry Potter 7 got major criticism by fans for "seeming like fanfiction" when it came out. Thing is, if you've read a lot of fanfiction - especially if you've read a lot of good fanfiction - eventually it'll be hard to separate the real thing with the fanfiction, once new instances of the real thing comes out. Also, the world isn't always pure "gay or straight". ;)

[quote="Winter"] Alright, I saw the play on Saturday and it was INCREDIBLE. I'll admit that there were a couple of plot holes, but it was just so [i]Harry Potter[/i]. [/quote] That's good to hear! And yeah, I feel like plays and movies are just different and need to be treated differently. I watched [i]West Side Story[/i] as both a play and a movie, and the play was definitely better.