reasons for fanfic

[Carole Estes]

No: HPFGUIDX 16283


----- Original Message -----
From: "Amanda Lewanski" <editor at texas.net>


> Magda Grantwich 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.

Well isn't this the basis of most good fanfic?  It's about predicting future
actions and/or deducing past actions in a narrative setting.  Rather than
doing a detailed character summary or discussing the charactrer as a post to
the list, some of us write fanfic.  Its a way to illustrate in a creative
way our "take" on the characters and settings.  Instead of saying...in this
circumstance I think Ron would do XYZ.  You create that circumstance in the
story and show how you think he would resolve it.


> This is the main reason why I won't read fanfiction. Judging from the
> quality of the posters who say they write it, some of it's fantastic,
> but I know me and I will inevitably "fuzz" the line between the canon
> characters and their fic cousins. I have a lot of fun speculating on the
> canon, and I want my "take" on the flavor and "feel" and well, character
> of the characters to be strictly based on JKR, at least during the
> production of the seven books.
>

For me, writing fanfic is a way to further define my "take" on the
characters.  Most fanfic writers will tell you that their take on a
character is canon based, but it still may differ from your take on that
same character, based on the same canon.  Granted JKR might further refine
some character into someone completely different by Books 5,6, and 7...but
it does give us something to do and illustrates more deeply different takes
on the characters.

You can discuss character traits ''til the cows come home, but to read those
traits in the context of a story is far more enlightening and interesting,
IMHO.

carole