FF: Speculation; Fanfic as Laboratory

[jferer]

No: HPFGUIDX 39010

As someone who's read and  written fanfic, I'm here to defend it as a 
way to understand the Harry Potter universe and the people who live 
there.  It seems to me that fanfic is an even clearer way than 
discussion to throw light on how we think the Potterverse works and 
what makes its characters tick.

Jo Serenadust, commenting on Heidi's theory of a Draco/Hermione 
romance possibility, said:" just don't see how you were able to do 
this without ignoring 4 volumes of careful character development by 
JKR.  I guess I'm just too literal-minded a reader to manage this 
leap."

There's no better way for Heidi to make her case than by showing us 
how Draco's redemption and a Draco/Hermione romance could happen. Any 
discussion we could have is more abstract and detached than what Heidi 
does. She *shows* us. Once she's done that, we're perfectly free to 
debate how successful she was and how we were or weren't persuaded. In 
other words, I believe fanfic is _the most direct_ way to make our 
points, and Heidi makes them really well. That I, for example, don't 
agree is neither here nor there, and has as much to do with my gut 
dislike of Draco as anything. 

Penny:"I  still stand by my position that it is impossible to say that 
you are reading a work with authorial intent in mind, unless you've 
got firm unequivocal written evidence of authorial intent from the 
author."

I think it's perfectly fair for Serena to infer what the author's 
intent is, so long as she can defend her view. We try facts all the 
time based on a preponderance of the evidence. (And end up wrong much 
of the time). It's also fair to criticize a fic if it seems too far 
off JKR's intent to be believeable.

Jo Serenadust:"Fanfic IMO brings a whole new, subversive level of 
distortion to the characters in particular.  They aren't JKR's Harry, 
Ron, Hermione, et al; they *can't* be.  I wouldn't care so much if I 
hadn't read so many posts citing other author's versions of the 
characters in support of the posters perceptions of the canon 
characters."

Fanfic can distort, but so can discussion or any other medium. It's 
the potential power of the fic form that makes "character distortion" 
so disturbing. The further the author strays into controversial views 
of the characters the greater the burden to make it believeable.

I see fanfiction as a laboratory for experimenting with these 
characters and the Potterverse itself. We can use it to explain, 
debate, or speculate about JKR's world (and it's a tribute to the 
greatness of what JKR has done that we feel like doing it). It's also 
a good place to walk around in and send postcards home.