WAS: UnFunny Things - NOW Something Else

[heidi.h.tandy.c92 at alumni.upenn.edu]

No: HPFGUIDX 16259

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Magda Grantwich <mgrantwich at y...> wrote:

> Several times I have read that a particular character is
> such-and-such because this and this and then this happened as
> detailed in someone's fanfiction and thus this is what that section
> of PS/CoS/PoA/GoF refers to or means.  Just where does fanfiction 
sit
> in terms of discussion of the books?  
> 
> I haven't read anything but the books.  I'm prepared to make
> predictions of future actions or deduce past actions (like Snape's
> background or Draco's home life) but based on the "canon" as it's
> been called.
> 
> Clarification, anyone?

I think you might be refering to my post of earlier this week, where 
I mention "backstory" - that specifically meant something in my head 
(although I put the whole of it into the post) which is based on 
canon, but is really, admittedly, just how I personally view a 
character. Other examples of "backstory" which are not part of canon, 
but which have been discussed on-list are:
1. Sirius was a flirt/ladies man at Hogwarts
2. Snape was in love with Lily
3. Remus Lupin started Hogwarts a few years after first years 
normally do - maybe at 13 or 14 - when Dumbledore became headmaster
4. Vernon & Petunia Dursley have had more contact with Dumbledore/the 
wizarding world than they admit to Harry
5. Lucius Malfoy & Arthur Weasley were at Hogwarts together
6. the Dark WIzard Grindlewald worked with Hitler during the 30s and 
40s
7. The whole "why Sirius & James suspected Remus of being the spy" 
thing

Some backstories come from/are incorporated into fanfics, others are 
just discussed onlist. IMHO, predictions of future actions and 
deductions of past actions are all canon-based, BUT the reason the 
admins keep asking for people to post book citations when they 
discuss "facts" from the books is to prevent "bleed-in" from fanfic. 
And the reason I always make it clear in my posts when I'm discussing 
fanfic, and I only discuss it as an "option" or a "possibility" of 
what might have happened/might happen in the future.