JKR's style, Lewis Carroll, HP vs LOTR

[Tabouli]

Susanna (who very kindly dedicated her amusing Death-by-Chocolate fic to me!  Awww):
> You see- not to wonder that book 5 isn't yet ready, or do you think 
JKR could write THAT?

Given the discussion of fanfic of late, and David's comment that none of the fanfics could possibly be confused with the Real McCoy JKR style, what do people actually see as the identifying characteristics of JKR's style?  Fast-paced, witty, ingeniously convoluted plots, snappy dialogue?  On the main list Luke mused on how authors give characters a unique 'voice'... what is JKR's voice?  Ahaaaa... (now, Mods, is this Off or On-Topic?  It concerns canon, so it might even be On!)

As for Lewis Carroll, and being on track to memorise his two most famous Alice poems by twenty (if only, sighs Tabouli, averting her eyes from her next and rather alarming birthday), fie!  I had 'em memorised by the age of 14, I'll have you know.  Used to recite them in maths classes with a fellow fan.  Even wrote a parody of Jabberwocky at the tender age of 12-13 called Sabberwocky (Sab was the nickname for our geography teacher)!  I also have a little collection of copies of "Alice Through the Looking Glass" in different languages and editions, a junior abridged edition in Japanese with candy-coloured illustrations, a grungy standard-issue cheap Chinese paperback Mandarin edition, a classy-looking Greek edition with the original illustrations in colour, a French schoolteachers' edition, complete with exercises and essay questions in the back, and, of course, both of the two different editions of "The Annotated Alice".  I even have "The Annotated Snark" somewhere...

In the midst of the word he was trying to say,
In the midst of his laughter and glee,
He had softly and suddenly vanished away - 
For the Snark was a Boojum, you see.

Mahoney:
> the neighbor kid (age 12) who got me into Harry Potter had gone 
from Robert Jordan to Harry Potter, loved them both, then thought he'd
 read Tolkein...and hated it.  Couldn't get into Lord of the Rings.<

Heh heh heh.  Now this links back to my long ago theory about why HP is so popular - it is pacy, modern and accessible enough to appeal to the realist readers who don't want to read anything they can't directly relate to their own lives.  My brother is a case in point.  As a child, he wouldn't have a bar of fantasy.  What's the point, it's stupid, it's not real, he complained (while his older sister spent her days wallowing in shelves full of books full of unicorns and dragons and wizards).  However, ironically enough, it was *him* who got me onto Harry Potter... at Christmas last year, he'd grown bored with my constant avowal that I was quitting full-time work and becoming a writer and if I starve to death too bad, so he bought me a copy of PS as a present.  "If you want to make a living as a writer, this is the way to do it," he told me.  I'd heard of HP, of course, even had a friend who was a fan, but I'd never seriously considered reading it.  After reading PS, however, I became curious, cranked up the Web and was still reading open-mouthed several hours later.

Unknown single mother with tragic past makes gazillions out of a series of children's books!  Released in sombre covers for adult readers!  (this was a personal favorite of mine).  Eight year old children reading 700 page novels!  Film rights, action figures, pop-up books, diaries, children *wanting* to wear glasses to look like Harry!  NYT setting up a new children's bestseller list to stop HP dominating!  I had never seen anything so wonderful.  I was amazed, inspired... all this for a WRITER!!  YESSSSS!!  A beacon for us all!!  I rushed out and bought the remaining HP books and never looked back.

So, you see, in stark contrast to those who disdain HP because it's so *popular* (contemptuous sniff), it was the social phenomenon of HP that actually *attracted* me, at least as much as the books themselves.  I liked PS, but I wasn't overwhelmed by it... it was my inner social scientist that prompted the shift from reader of a likeable novel to rabid HP fan (confesses Tabouli timidly).

As an epilogue, my brother, who proceeded to borrow and read each of the HP sequels I bought (this from a man who has probably never owned more than 15 books in his life and almost never reads for pleasure), decided he ought to read Lord of the Rings before seeing the movie.  I nodded equably, and lent him my copy (I like LOTR well enough, but it doesn't inspire any great passion in me, apart from Tom, of course...).  A month later I asked him how he was going with it, and he said he'd given up after about a chapter and a half... too slow, too boring, couldn't be bothered, remind me to give it back to you when I see you next.  Hee hee, I exulted to myself, Harry one, Frodo nil...

Rachel:
> I'm thinking about wearing my Gryffindor Seeker jersey, 
just to annoy them.  :-)  Perhaps accidentally calling 
Gandalf "Dumbledore"....Frodo "Harry"....Gollum "Dobby".<

Sauron "Voldemort", Sam "Ron", Boromir "Quirrell", Galadriel "McGonagall", Aragorn "Sirius"... actually, the actor they've dug up to play the striding one is quite a close match for my mental image of Sirius.  Tortured, handsome, stringy black hair, about the right age... he's American, I think, but otherwise I'd give him at least an audition!

Noel (very seasonally appropriate name, I must say):
> Did you (or he) see wossname (Frodo) on The Daily Show last night? He 
said hardcore LOTR fans "....make Trekkies look like dilettantes."

So what does that make us Potterphiles?

Tabouli.


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