reasons for fanfic THE CANON

[cassandraclaire at mail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 16432

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Steve Vander Ark" <vderark at b...> wrote:
> 
> That kind of coloring of what's actually there is what I do not 
want 
> to have happen to me. I don't WANT to feel sympathetic toward Draco 
> or Snape. That's not the way the characters are portrayed in the 
> books. (No, it isn't; they're stereotypes, let's face it). I want 
to 
> hold on to the actual characters, the ones JKR gives us, even if 
> they're stereotypical, and if she suprises me with a twist 
somewhere 
> along the line--if Snape turns out to be really a nice guy that 
we've 
> all misunderstood along with Harry, for example--I will be 
delighted 
> to let HER have that honor. Until then, I don't want someone else 
> doing it for me.
> 
> So by all means, enjoy fanfic. I'm really, honestly not against it 
at 
> all for anyone (but me). But understand that, as these posts have 
so 
> eloquently pointed out, you do lose something special along with 
the 
> things you gain. You forever lose JKR's own version of the 
characters 
> she has created. 
-------------------------------
<g> Only speaking for myself--and speaking heresy at that -- I can 
say I would have lost something else if I didn't read and write 
fanfic. I would have lost interest in the books long ago. I'm fond of 
them, love them, always will, will always look forward to new 
installments, but there isn't a chance on earth that I could have 
maintained this level of interest without fanfic. Fanfic is like 
discussion taken several steps farther -- I get to see 'what might 
be', and have never, so far, had any trouble keeping fanon and canon 
straight. I am fond of my Draco. I detest JKR's Draco. I have yet to 
experience a significant blurring of the line.

Also, I would disagree that fanfic *necessarily* has anything to do 
with people having sympathetic feelings towards Snape and Draco. I 
used to belong to the Harry Potter Table Talk group over on 
Salon.com, where *nobody* read or had heard of fanfic. There were 
dozens of enthusiastic Snape fans, based entirely on what is shown of 
him in canon. I recently talked to a friend who had just finished the 
books and has never read or heard of fanfic, and asked who her 
favorite character was. She said, "I get a kick out of Draco Malfoy." 
People have different interpretations of the characters, always will -
- there is no one 'right way to see them' and the only explanation of 
a disagreement of opinion is not contamination by fanfic.

Cassie