Based? (was John Weasley)

[gulplum]

David wrote:

<snip> 

> I am not an author of fiction, so I take these statements at face 
> value: there is a degree of resemblance between the character and 
> the real person.  To my mind, that is something different from 
> saying that character X is 'based' on person Y.
> 
> The use of this language doesn't bother me in itself, but I wonder 
> about the deductions that are then made.  For example: "Hermione is 
> based on JKR's teenage self, and Ron is based on Sean.  These two 
> are old friends but have never had a romantic relationship [as far 
> as the post author knows] so R/H can't happen."
> 
> My question - I would particularly like authors of fiction to share 
> their own experience here - is: Is this a valid form of reasoning?  
> In the particular case where a character is assumed based on the 
> author (I have seen Hermione described as 'JKR's avatar'), is it 
> valid to deduce that future plot developments will follow the 
> supposed wishes of the author, or avoid her supposed mistakes ("X 
is 
> based on Arantes so Hermione will never get together with *him*!")?
> 
> I always feel these sorts of arguments come perilously close to 
> accusing JKR of Mary-Sue-ism myself, but I would like to know.  
Even 
> where characters not resembling the author are the subject of the 
> argument, it feels as if the author's imagination is being 
> discounted.

There are three options for characters based on the author's 
experience of specific individuals: 

1) they look like, sound like, or behave like the real person, but 
that's as far as the resemblance goes (i.e. inspiration);

2) they make their way into the fiction wholesale, but with a "twist" 
at the end so that e.g. the author can imagine having had a 
relationship with someone they liked, or perhaps give someone they 
didn't like a grisly death (i.e. wish fulfillment, for good or bad);

3) they make their way wholesale into the fiction (i.e. direct 
transference).

I've written various bits of fiction in the past (none published) and 
I've done all three at one time or another. From what I've seen or 
read of "famous" authors' "sources", it seems like I'm not the only 
one, and indeed it's extremely common (not surprisingly). The kind of 
terminology authors use for each kind of "source" is inconsistent and 
interchangable, so there's no way of knowing exactly how far each 
character represents a real person.

Back to JKR and Sean (or Hermione and Ron). I would consider it 
extremely dangerous to draw any kind of conclusions regrding the 
characters' fates from their real counterparts' lives, and to be 
perfectly honest, I think JKR's too good at what she does to 
transplant the second and third most important characters in the 
books from real life quite so completely.

Incidentally, from the documentary in which Sean appears, I get the 
feeling that they didn't tell quite the whole truth. One thing I 
found particularly "suspicious" was JKR's statement that she and Sean 
would go off for hours in his turquoise Ford Anglia and sit under the 
Severn Bridge. Considering they were 17 at the time, I seriously 
doubt that all they ever did there was sit and enjoy the view... :-)



-- 
GulPlum AKA Richard, who popped in mainly to inform folks that Philip 
Pullman is the subject of The South Bank Show just starting on ITV on 
UK TV (off to watch).