[HPforGrownups] A writer's power of imagination (was: Abusive behavior)

[Debba Robinson]

No: HPFGUIDX 1594

Peg - I agree with you, as well.  But, since I know that she is a teacher I
guess I felt I could make a few assumptions.  In the 25+ years I've been in
the education field I have seen far more than I ever dreamed possible.
But, YES - and a BIG, POWERFUL YES - good writers can certainly do their
homework and produce a very realistic portrayal of just about anything.

Thank you for adding in the information that I omitted.

Debba


>Debba Robinson wrote:
>
>"And I have to agree with your assessment of how JKR is able to write so
>vividly
>about this problem."
>
>> Debba Robinson
>>
>
>responding to Susan McGee, who wrote:
>
>"It's all so realistic it's very disgusting to me. I assume that Rowlings
>either was herself abused as a kid, or knows someone very well who was
>abused."
>>>>
>
>This is something I feel rather strongly about.  Please, please, please.
>It may
>very well be possible, but don't make that assumption.  You are denying a
>fiction
>writer's power of imagination when you do that.
>
>This is a common problem for fiction writers who write about painful subjects,
>particularly, say, incest or child abuse.  How can you write about
>something if you
>haven't experienced it, or if you haven't known/loved someone who has
>experienced
>it?  You do it by doing your research carefully, and by using your
>imagination.
>And then you have to correct everyone who says, "I assume you've gone
>through this
>yourself." As Nicola Griffith said in the author's afterward of _Slow
>River_, who
>wrote a gripping book about incest: "I'm a fiction writer; I made it up."
>
>My last book was about AIDS.  I do not have AIDS, no one in my family has
>ever had
>AIDS, I do not have any friends with AIDS or even any acquaintences, to my
>knowledge.  And yet I run into this assumption all the time.  "You can't have
>written about this so well if you hadn't experienced this personally."
>
>I assure you, that a good writer can.
>
>Peg
>
>
>
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