Welcome, connoisseurs of bizarre fanfics. I’m Ellie Coral, and I’ll be taking you down a path that is sure to delight and astound, if not at least kill a few minutes of boredom. In these installments, we’ll be going over Cassandra Clare’s fanum opus and the originator of the Draco in Leather Pants trope, The Draco Trilogy, starting with the first installment—as opposed to being stupid and starting with the second or third one—Draco Dormiens.
I first found out about Cassandra Clare in 2009 while working in an independent bookstore. Her Mortal Instruments trilogy wasn’t exactly highbrow literature, but it was a fun diversion. Naturally, I was curious about the author. After I found out about her notoriety in the Harry Potter fandom, I was hooked. I hunted down the infamous Draco fanfics.
I read them.
I regretted it. Kind of.
I should have deleted the PDFs, but for whatever reason, I saved them. And now I’m revisiting them and sharing them with you, curious reader. It’s going to be a right adventure, and I hope you’ll stick with me the whole way because I’m going to need all the emotional support I can get.
Just a note: Being of the generation raised on Mystery Science Theater 3000 and other snarkfests, I have a tendency to make comments that may not reflect the true goings-on in a piece. There is no cure for this affliction. I apologize.
When I’m quoting something from a work without a screenshot, “I’ll be using the good ol’ quotation marks as seen here.”
If I’m making up crap for my own amusement…
ELLIE: I’ll be putting the name in all caps, bolding the text, and tucking it all in a nice indented box of sorts.
It’s not the best arrangement right now, but it will do.
I’m sure you have questions, and I’ll be glad to answer them. But let’s tackle a few I predict will come up.
Are you a Harry Potter fan?
Not really. I read the first two books and I’m collecting the illustrated re-releases as they’re published. I think it’s a gorgeous, fun world, but I’m not intimately familiar with the entire franchise.
While I’m not a “true fan,” I do appreciate its contribution to entertainment and the fact that it pretty much single-handedly resuscitated children’s publishing.
Are you a fan of Cassandra Clare’s?
Ehh…
I read the first two trilogies of the Mortal Instruments and I slogged through The Infernal Devices. At this time (May 2018), I still haven’t touched my copy of The Bane Chronicles, I read the first story from Tales from the Shadowhunters Academy, I sat through the movie adaptation of the first book, and I’ve watched two episodes of the TV series.
I got started on the books while I worked at the indie bookstore. I’ll admit, the covers drew me in. The first few passages, not so much. But when I read Simon’s dialogue, I was compelled to keep reading. When I met Magnus Bane, I was pretty much committed to finding out how the story transpired.
Then I began researching Cassandra Clare and discovered the controversy. I was interested enough to stay tuned.
So you hate CC?
Far from it. I’m not fond of her, either. It’s more of a “this person writes stories and I’m fascinated by her history” feeling.
It reminds me of the controversy surrounding How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life. By all accounts, Kaavya Viswanathan probably didn’t deserve a writing career after she’d plagiarized several sources for her young adult novel. But Clare did the same—albeit with fanfic—and still managed to secure a writing career with the help of bestselling young adult writer Holly Black. Natch.
I’m curious about how events will unfold, especially with the TV series planning to deviate from the original source and Clare’s alleged displeasure with this development.
Did you like The Draco Trilogy the first time you read it?
There were some parts that I found entertaining, touching, or humorous. But given that some of the best parts were plagiarized…
It’s an okay story, let’s put it that way. I’m sure there were teens back in the day who absolutely adored it and felt that it cemented their love of Harry Potter. I’m not trying to take that away from them. If you read the trilogy and still have good memories of it or of the fandom back in the day, then cherish them. If you felt betrayed by Clare and are still nursing wounds from that time, then maybe my feeble riffing can provide some balm for your weary soul.
So why read it again if you don’t really like it?
Because I don’t have enough projects to finish.
Did you read the original Mortal Instruments HP fanfic?
No. I’m glad I didn’t after finding out it was an underage incest fic featuring Ron and Ginny. But I will give Clare this: Calling genitals “mortal instruments” was kind of clever. If you want to learn more, the Fanlore wiki has an entire article about it.
Are you going to be covering the plagiarism controversy?
I’ll mention it where appropriate, but I’m not going to do any extensive detective work. Others more familiar with the fandom have already written about the controversy. Some of those blogs and websites have disappeared over the years, however, but I’m sure a Google or Wayback Machine search can turn up some kind of source.
Did you read any of the old forkings/commentaries/riffings of the trilogy?
I did see them in search results while doing research for this batch, but it never occurred to me to read any of them. I probably should have, just to avoid repeating any comments that those authors had made.
Can I contact you with info about Harry Potter/Mortal Instruments/Cassandra Clare, or just to gush over/vent about said topics?
Sure. Just keep it civil; if you’re rude or downright hostile, I won’t answer. I won’t even give you the pleasure of posting your message on social media to show the world how mean you were.
Prep Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Cleanup
