reasons for fanfic THE CANON

[Kristin]

No: HPFGUIDX 16350

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer <pennylin at s...> 
wrote:
 
It can make you look at the canon in a different way. There's no one 
set way to interpret canon & the characters.  Everyone puts their 
spin on it.  I think the advantage to reading fanfic is it may cause 
you to re-think your own perceptions about a particular character or 
plotline.  You may see alternate possibilties that hadn't presented 
themselves before.  You can also get this different perspective by 
debating on groups like this, but fanfic is just another medium to do 
the exact same thing (IMO).
> 
> Penny


I agree with Penny that fanfic can change your perception of a 
character or events that maybe you didn't entertain before. 
Discussion here can give you other people's insight to their 
perseptions of the canon but it's not quite the same as a narrative 
in fanfic. A narrative from a certain characters pov can give you a 
little more insight to where they are coming from. I know as a reader 
I can get an emotional connection, so to speak, to character that I 
couldn't get from just a dicussion about their personality traits.

I'll use Draco as a prime example. In canon I find him to be a nasty, 
self-centered, spoiled little boy without a redeeming quality to be 
had. Then I read Draco Dormiens and through Cassie's eyes I saw how 
Draco might view Harry's world and we saw what Draco's world might be 
like to cause him to be that nasty little boy. It's given me pause to 
go back and maybe look at Draco differently in the canon and see if I 
can find anything redeemable about him. I wouldn't have felt this way 
if I based my opinions on just what is posted on the different lists. 
I personally need to make a connection in order to change my view.

Cheers,
  Kristin