Musings on the Severus Snape Fandom

[northangel27]

This is probably going to be of no interest to anyone but hardcore Severus Snape fans, but I feel the need to whine a little.  I know that awhile ago I bemoaned the slow dying embers of the Severus Snape fandom.  Well, I continue to see it dying out.  And god, how I miss it sometimes.  I miss searching ‘Snape’ on DeviantArt and clicking ‘Newest’ and seeing dozens of new pieces of fan art and fan fics that have appeared there over night.  I miss all the great conversations one used to see on Snapedom at Live Journal (also InsaneJournal), in my LiveJournal, and others, as well.  I just miss discussing all things Snape, gorging myself on glorious fan art and fan fic.  Whine, whine, whine…. ;-)

I’m as guilty as anyone.  I really don’t journal about Snapely subjects over at LiveJournal anymore.  I’ve all but given up on writing Snilly fics (my recent contribution to the LESS Flying Challenge not withstanding), and I know that the dying out of fandoms is natural (for me personally, my interest in a particular fandom seems to last about two years, and this September will mark the two year mark for my obsessive interest in Severus Snape).  But still, I can’t help but feel a twinge of sadness.

I remember the days when I used to write LiveJournal entries like this: http://lilyevans-snape.livejournal.com/40079.html and this: http://lilyevans-snape.livejournal.com/64831.html#cutid1 .  Where did all that love go?  I mean it’s not that the love is gone, per se, but just rather that real life has come along and stolen some of the joy.  If find that sort of unfortunate, really.

I suppose that fandoms develop sort of like relationships.  At the beginning you have all the rush of learning everything there is to know about a new book series, movie, or television series.  You pour over every detail, everything is new and exciting.  There usually tends to be a character that is your favourite, or a pairing, and you learn all about them too.  You theorize on their motivations, on what might have been if this or that had been different.  You are ecstatic over the newness.  And then, with time, you get to know all there is to know, and your feelings start to mellow with familiarity.  I guess one could say that the first spark dies out.

At this point one either has to find something new to love in the fandom, or they move on.  Most people move on.  I’m not sure why, but this has been more difficult for me with the Harry Potter (oh, I mean Severus Snape…) fandom.  Perhaps it is because it has meant to much to me.  It came into my life when I desperately needed it, it has spurred me onto heights of creativity I never thought I would accomplish, it brought so many wonderful new friends into my life!

I can honestly say that I would not have as much confidence in my writing, as much knowledge of Photoshop, or as many wonderful friends all over the world if it was not for the Harry Potter fandom, and specifically Severus Snape. 

I can literally say that I owe my life to Severus Snape.  At the time that I started to form an interest in this fandom, I was in one of the worst depressions of my life.  I had lost my sister-in-law very unexpectedly to heart failure a few months prior (she was only 36), and I was still having trouble adapting to living in the United States, where I had moved to marry my husband 2.5 years prior.  I hated my job, and I hated almost everything about my life.

But from the moment that I woke up to the delights of the Severus Snape fandom all that changed.  My outlook on life instantly improved.  I started writing the Alchemist.  I started drawing, and eventually learning how to use Photoshop, a tablet, etc.  I got first one and then another promotion at work.  I met so many wonderful people from all around the world, became members of different online communities, lost almost 30 lbs.  I never realized how much my life changed when I discovered Severus Snape, until I was talking to my husband the other day, and he mentioned that he hoped that Severus Snape never ceased to be a part of my life because it was when he entered it that I truly came alive.

So, now that I sit back and take a look at this, I realized that it started out as a bitch fest, another example of me feeling sorry for myself and ended up as another love letter to Severus Snape.  Huh…  It appears that the Muse still has what it takes ;-). 

God, I love Severus Snape…

Comments

[bemoan1000.livejournal.com]

I honestly thought that I wouldn’t be around by now. I thought a few months max. I don’t see it as ending, but only begging. There are characters and universes that seem to grab hold of people through out the ages. And I know that the Harry Potter world is one of them. Here is where I believe that we differ; I don’t look at “what could have been” but “what’s going to be”. I think of other characters that I love, such as, Superman and Zorro and how they always seem to live on. Severus Snape is one of those characters. It isn’t the numbers that are important, but the love we feel for his character.

[lilyevans-snape.livejournal.com]

Well, the love I feel for the character is definitely still there, and probably always will be. I can't fathom that going away, that's for sure!

[bemoan1000.livejournal.com]

I remember someone on a board asking why we Snape lovers liked him so much. She couldn’t stand him. We tried to explain, but it’s hard, because sometimes I think some of us don’t understand it ourselves. But when you and others write about their love for him, I totally understand. I just can’t express it in words. I know that some lurkers might think we are insane, but I really don’t care. I’m glad for the internet where we Snape lovers can gather. I’m also grateful for the people in my real life, who accept me for caring so much for this character.

Well, the love I feel for the character is definitely still there, and probably always will be. I can't fathom that going away, that's for sure!

I totally understand. For me this is more than a feeling. Yeh I’m thinking of that Boston song. You got to know that I have a song for this. ;)

[lilyevans-snape.livejournal.com]

Of course, bemoan1000, you have a song for everything ;-)!

Let people think we are insane. If the way I was before Severus came into my life was an example of sanity, then I'd much rather be mad ;-).

[bemoan1000.livejournal.com]

Let people think we are insane. If the way I was before Severus came into my life was an example of sanity, then I'd much rather be mad ;-).

True. He has opened up my creativity. There were so many creative things I hadn’t done for years, but he got me going again. What I create might not be the greatest, but at least I’m doing something.

I’ve also been reading some of the other comments here and at DA, and it is amazing all the responses your posts are getting.

But I guess I’m in my own bubble, because I don’t think of fandom as dying. I think that there is just so much that can be said on certain subjects, so that is reason for some of the silence. I also think that it will come in waves, and I expect a big one after the HBP movie. My prediction is that it will spark a lot of interest in Severus and also Regulus.

[lilyevans-snape.livejournal.com]

Oooo... Regulus interest is always a good thing. I started writing a Sev/Reg fic this afternoon. That was hours ago. I got out like one paragraph and then ran out of steam, lol. Most unfortunate.

I guess I'm still not quite ready to leap back into the literary deep end where my writing is concerned. Baby steps...

[bemoan1000.livejournal.com]

You’re just incubating baby. I also like to quote movies, just don’t get me started on Imitation of Life. But I get incubating from the movie The Miracle of the Bells where Fred MacMurry’s character says "Hang on a minute, I'm incubating, baby."

I think a muse needs a time of rest. My muse was so generous this past month, but now he has ran out of gas. (I think part of the problem is that a vampire moved in next door.) For now I’ll listen, try and read, support and try and work on little Regulus, and see if the vampire next door sparkles.

[brandi1498.livejournal.com]

I can honestly say I know exactly how you feel, I too came 'alive' after seeing Severus Snape...OMGosh when I watched Chamber Of Secrets, and saw Severus do that little move *gotcha* after blasting GL...I was IN LOVE!

Severus changed my life too, I too was depressed and hated almost everything in my life..but like you it all changed. I came home from the theatre "HAVING" to know more about Snape...

THEN I found the stories..To say they were life savers is an understatement...They opened up a whole new world to me...One that eventually I had to be a part of..and so I began to write...7 years later I have written several drabbles and am working on an Obadiah Slope Story that so far has 52 chapters...

I have to thank Severus Snape for opening up a whole new world for me...Thank you Lily for your post..I don't believe SS fandom will ever go away...It will just keep getting better!!!

[lilyevans-snape.livejournal.com]

I hope you are right. It is so encouraging for me to hear of all the people whose lives have been touched by Severus Snape. I hope it is a fandom that goes on and on, precisely for that reason. Any character that can touch so many lives so profoundly is very important indeed!

[logospilgrim.livejournal.com]

Ah, dear Professor Snape. I credit him with my conversion. I was a bitter atheist when a loved one told me about him, and the next thing I knew, I was a devout Orthodox Christian and lay monastic ;-)

I can hardly believe that I am in the midst of writing yet another book about him, but it is a call I cannot resist... He is such a powerful image of redemption and hope despite all odds. I read a wonderful quote today, and I think it applies...

"I have been all things unholy. If God can work through me, he can work through anyone."
~Francis of Assisi

[drinkingcocoa.livejournal.com]

Oh! I've heard of your book and want to read it before my presentation on Snape at Azkatraz! Looking forward to it.

[logospilgrim.livejournal.com]

Oh, goodness, most beloved! I am not sure it will be finished in time... I am so sorry about that. It will probably be finished by the end of july or mid-august... But I have another silly book that is already finished; it might be helpful? I have a copies of the first edition (which contains a dozen errors -they were corrected in the second edition); I could send you one of them, if you would like...

Well, I shall see what I can do... If I manage to finish The flawed master before Azkatraz, I could perhaps send you a copy of the manuscript (at that point I would be waiting to approve the lulu version, and there is always a delay, since it takes at least a week and a half for the copy to reach my mailbox).

I was looking for an excuse to work like a maniac, and you may have provided me with it, my dearest one ;-)

[drinkingcocoa.livejournal.com]

It was "Bring forth the best robes" I'd heard of and plan to read. :-)

[logospilgrim.livejournal.com]

Dang -and here I was, all excited at the prospect of working like a maniac. Seriously though, as tempting as that notion is (sometimes, I do not know which is worse: working slowly and resting, but prolonging the agony re: "Is this garbage?" or working at a mad pace and shortening the agony re: garbage), loved ones would have probably tied me down to a chair ;-)

I could still send you a first edition copy of Bring forth the best robes, or if you would rather have the corrected ISBN version, it is available on my website (logospilgrim.com) or amazon. In any event, I am humbled that you wish to consult my scribblings, and hope with all my heart that your presentation will go well! I only wish I could be there to see it. I shall travel again in 2010; I shall go to Infinitus then. I am not a seasoned traveller and need long periods of rest between trips, I fear :-p

Do you know if your lecture will be recorded, most beloved?

[lilyevans-snape.livejournal.com]

I need to read "Bring Forth the Best Robes" as well. I've been meaning to do so forever. I shall have to hurry over to amazon and order myself a copy.

[logospilgrim.livejournal.com]

*bows to the ground*

I have been told that by God's grace, it has helped loved ones cope with what happened to him. As you know, I do not at all hesitate to call him a saint (for one does not need be perfect to be a saint... Even difficult people have been saints). Towards the end of the book, I wrote,


Lilies are called the “white-robed apostles of hope.” Snape was just such an apostle.

Hope is the power behind love.
~ St. John Climacus

As the golden anthers inside the Easter Lily are a symbol of heavenly light, thus was Snape’s heart a fragrant white vessel overflowing with the radiance of Paradise.

[lilyevans-snape.livejournal.com]

That is so beautiful. And you know I was discussing Severus with my husband just the other day, and I was trying to explain to him, how I view Severus as a sort of link to the divine for me, and I actually said to my husband, that I viewed Severus almost as a saint.

It is amazing to me how God can use even the most flawed and broken of vessels in such amazing ways. In some ways I feel that Severus is so affective a Muse to so many precisely because he is so flawed and broken. We see our worst in him, and yet we also see the power of love overpowering all that is low, and dark and base, and creating hope where there was no hope.

He has healed me more than I can ever say, and I shall always be grateful to him for it, and to God for sending him my way just when I needed him.

[lilyevans-snape.livejournal.com]

How beautiful. I adore Francis of Assisi, and that quote speaks so beautifully of Severus and his impact on the lives of so many. I wonder if he ever could have guessed, when he was ushered into this world beneath Rowling's pen, that he would ever be such a huge force for good to so many.

The universe is indeed a wonderous, beautiful and mysterious place.

[drinkingcocoa.livejournal.com]

I love Snape too, and yes, his character has had tremendous meaning for me during difficult times. I think it is neither a good nor bad thing that any fandom flares up or dies down. It's just natural. If one doesn't produce as much writing or art, it's because that's not what's most important at the moment. I think I am going to be an active Snape fan until I work everything out in my own mind so that I am no longer agonized by his fate in canon.

[lilyevans-snape.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think I'm almost to the point of working all that out for myself. His pain and suffering in canon were just too much for me to bear for a very long time.

I can't really imagine every fully divorcing him from my life, however. I owe him too much :-).

[ravenstar84.livejournal.com]

Good Lord, you've explained what I've been going through almost exactly. -_- Only with me, it's with the HP fandom as a whole. Other fanfics writers have mentioned almost the same thing about not many people read and review their stories anymore. People have just moved on, and with 2 years since Book 7 came out, I think it's expected. Snevans pretty much became my new religion in Summer 2007. I think since HP was officially over, and I needed something to keep hanging on to. I think you explained it best with how fandoms are like relationships. I've pretty much speculated all I can about Snevans from fanfics, web boards, and essays. And spark really has died out. Whatever questions I have now can only be answered by JKR herself.

I've mentioned in another post here how I've been busy with school and all. I'm done for the summer, so I've been catching up with my favorite fanfics for the last week and checking livejournal pages of fellow HP fans to see what they've been up to. I'm trying to get back in the swings of things before I have to take another on and off leave of absence again in 3 months.

I really hope that something in the future will bring everyone back in the fandom again. Maybe the Scottish Book will do it, but I doubt it's going to be that much of an impact. But hey, there's still a good amount of us who are still here. And I think it's going to take a lot more time before the Snape fandom or any HP fandom dies out completely.

[lilyevans-snape.livejournal.com]

I agree. I have a feeling that Harry Potter will probably live on, at least for some, for many years to come.

[mimimanderly.livejournal.com]

I figure that I have been in love with the character of Severus Snape for over six years now, although I have been aware of him as my Muse for only about a year and a half. To say that he has enriched my life would be a drastic understatement. He has influenced every facet of my life, propelling me into drawing and writing, changing my appearance, has even helped me resolve problems in my marriage. I, too, have never had such a long "relationship" with a fictional character before. Generally, I always knew going in that any interest in a character would probably only last for the duration of the series. And if he had remained fictional, that may have been the case once again. But it's different when he's your Muse. The relationship is more involved than merely having a crush on a character. I would be lost without him. He is part of my very soul. And I know how crazy that sounds. Before I had the experience of having a Muse, I had always scoffed at people who spoke of them. Overactive imaginations, I thought. And then HE initiated a conversation with me... and I realized that there was something more at work here than just wild imaginings. He has helped me to see that nothing is impossible, and I can achieve anything I really want to. And I love him more than I could ever adequately convey.

[lilyevans-snape.livejournal.com]

Beautiful Mimi. I know just what you mean, of course. I adore my Muse, and though he is flawed and broken that makes me love him all the more. He is a gift of a character, to be sure, and has been the greatest divine gift of my life.

[beffeysue.livejournal.com]

Hi, my name is Beth, and I found my way to your LJ by way of your DA.

I am another Severus Snape lover who thinks that he represents the best that flawed humanity has to offer. None is perfect, but God can use any and all of his creation to achieve his will, and the best bearers of the truth are those who have had to fight their own demons to remain in or return to the Light.

I was so thoroughly devastated when I finished Deathly Hallows that I carried a dark cloud with me for weeks. I had begun reading the Harry Potter books within the first few years of publication, and eagerly awaited each new volume. During that time my husband became ill, and the books were the one sure escape I had at the time. I lost my husband in 2004, and the books took on an even more important role as far as being able to have something to take my mind off my reality for a while. Then came Deathly and I cried. Not fair! Unnecessary! Wicked, wicked ending...

I carried an empty space around with me until I found the Harry Potter and Snape fandoms and I have no plans of leaving it. I have found so many like minded friends here that I cherish because they understand all about my love for Severus without my having to explain... it is intuitive.

Beth

PS- I am friending you, but I realize that you don't really know me, so if you choose not to friend me back I won't be offended in the least. You will recognize me if you check the reviews I left for Solace -- I'm braye27 and signed my reviews Beth. I'm the one who wrote the review asking you about Severus' mother in relation to the Jewish Laws passed in Hungary before and during the Second World War.

[lilyevans-snape.livejournal.com]

Yes, I remember you, for sure, and I saw your comment on DeviantArt as well. Thanks for sharing your story of how Severus Snape came into your life and touched it. I always love hearing each persons individual story. They are so uplifting!

Thanks for friending me :-)!

[beffeysue.livejournal.com]

I'm glad my comments did post on DeviantArt. I tried twice to post but neither time did they show up, so I thought that there was a block or something to didn't allow me to post comments.

[lilyevans-snape.livejournal.com]

They actually posted twice. DA does that alot. It will give you this weird error message, something like - "div no call", or something like that. I have no idea what it means, and so you keep trying to submit, and finally you refresh the page only to discover that you have posted the same comment like ten times ;-). I have a realy love/hate relationship with DA. It is hopelessly full of technical glitches.

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

I entered Potterverse pretty late in the game -- with all the hoopla surrounding the release of Deathly Hallows in July 2007, I figured that I'd bite the bullet and read all the books in the series just to see what all the brouhaha was about.

I immediately recognized Severus Snape as the most complete and complex character in the series, so I guess you could say I "fell in love" with him at that time.

Can't say any apocryphal or epiphanical events have occured in my life because of discovering the HP series and the Severus Snape character, but the challenge I received on a Snape-centric email list DID prompt me to start writing my own fanfic, and I hadn't written any fiction in decades...so I guess I have Severus to thank for that! LOL

I suspect that when the HBP movie comes out later this summer there will be some resurgence in interest in all things Potterverse, and definitely when the 2 final DH movies come out. So I don't think the fandom is quite dead yet, only sleeping...

[totalreadr.livejournal.com]

He's such a *vivid* character, isn't he? He seems more three-dimensional than the others. I think that's because the others are either Mary Sues (like Lily and Harry) or more or less just plot devices.

But Snape...I think you're right that he's JKR's shadow, and that's what makes him so vivid. Kid!Snape is probably the way she was as a kid, and maybe even the way she would still be if she'd never become rich and famous. I notice she scorns her younger self ("I looked like a pig in a wig, just like Dudley") just as Snape seems to scorn his. I hope the fact that so many people do love Snape lets her know that even those things she dislikes about herself aren't universally repulsive. /psychologist

BTW, I read the first three HP books because my students kept telling me Snape reminded them of me. Heh. I thought they were entertaining enough that when it occurred to me, I got on the (several months long) waiting list for GoF at the library. When I then got on the waiting list for OotP, my partner decided to surprise me with a copy. And has regretted it ever since, poor woman. (Well...she liked Snape until he was "ruined" by DH. Her attitude probably wasn't helped by my gloating over having predicted LE/SS. She is determined that LE/SS makes no sense and is completely inconsistent with the character as previously written and there WERE NO HINTS AT ALL EVER SHUT UP.)

[slasherfersure.livejournal.com]

Snape has his own fandom? For a Snape fan, I'm really out of the loop. (secret: only became a Snape fan when I learned that he had a hardcore crush on Lilly)

I'm the same with my fandoms. Like, for a little bit I was obsessed with Heroes - esp. Sylar/Claire - but after a month or so I was like "Whoa..." because I'd written probably more fic for that fandom in that month than any other fandom. Oh, fun times...