[HPforGrownups] Re: reasons for fanfic THE CANON

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 16468

Ebony AKA AngieJ wrote:

> It's quite easy to separate Lori's Hermione, Penny and Carole's
> Sirius, Cassie's Draco, Heidi's Lucius Malfoy, and Al's Harry from the
> JKR Authorized Version.  Anyone beyond the intelligence level of a
> cockroach can do it, and do it easily.

Couldn't you have picked a more attractive basal measure? A squid? A bed
of kelp?

For my part, when I read I internalize things. My perception of
literature involves many more levels than the intellect. Like when I
drive. I am capable, regardless of what my husband may tell you, of
using a map, and I do when I am navagating unfamiliar territory. I can
also tell the cardinal directions. But in general, when I'm going
somewhere in an area I know, I drive by "feel." I'll know I'm in the
right neighborhood because it feels right, and I seldom get lost.
However, my mental image of my known territory is not linear. It's not
even an image. It's gestalt. [Which explains why I have such trouble
giving directions to places I can take you in a heartbeat.]

So when I read, I seldom if ever build up an actual mental "picture" of
a character (or locations, for that matter. I'm just not good at
visualizing, I find it very difficult). Just like I seldom have an idea
of what a radio personality "should" look like. But I know what they
"feel" like. It's gestalt, and it involves more little threads and
details and observations than I can possibly track. The casting of the
movie pleased me because those actors whom I have seen, "feel" right in
their roles, and even better, they look it!

So, on to fanfic. Intellectually, yes, it probably would be easy to keep
everyone's versions separate. But I know the way my psyche works, and I
will invariably on another level weave someone else's version of the
characters into my take on the canon characters. I won't be able to help
the bleedover. That's how my mind works, that's why I can make good
intiutive jumps and analogies, because I connect things. I seem to have
a natural talent for linking disparate things. So I will not be able to
avoid linking, in some way, very similar ones.

I will have no problem reading HP fanfic *after* JKR finishes her
series. I just want to limit myself to her characterizations, until
she's done playing with them. After she's through developing them all
she intends to, then I won't have a problem with adding other flavors. I
just want to keep it all JKR as I experience the books themselves.

As for the reasonable observation that the discussions alter my view of
the characters, well, yes they do. They alter my viewpoint of JKR's
words. But they do not *add* anything. As someone said, showing is
stronger than telling, it sticks with you more and gets the point across
better. Fanfic is showing and these discussions are telling.

Hope I made sense.

--Amanda, wondering if it was too many Texas summers, marrying the
Polack, or the three children, that lamentably reduced her to the
intelligence level of a cockroach


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