Posting challenge

[magnetic_pole]

Can I say something churlish here and just get it off my chest? I really wish we didn't have additional Pottermore back story for the characters. I know, I know, I can ignore things I don't want to read, but it's getting harder and harder to work around the fact that there are recurring characters and themes that now shape the work we create about these characters, particularly with respect to Minerva McGonagall. *shakes fist* I like the fact that there was this air of mystery about her--it gave her a versatility as a character that (to my mind) helps make up for her lack of strong connections to the main plot lines of the books. I've always liked Harry's parents' generation because they're clearly up in each other's business, and you start off with more clearly defined and compelling characters and themes because you know they have these strong ties that help determine the shape of things to come. Minerva's just the opposite--you can slide her around, create different romantic attachments, friends, allies, and enemies. I don't want to know anything that limits her versatility. I don't have to use it in my own writing, true, but it changes things, to know that these details are out there.

Sorry, Pottermore fans. *grumps*

Comments

[delphi]

As long as we have leave to be churlish: I've largely been ignoring the Pottermore material, but I've yet to learn anything that I'm happier knowing. HP has always been a fanon-first fandom for me (that is to say, it's the possibility that grabs me more than what's on the page), and I'm selfishly always a little sad to lose those tantalizing empty spaces and the opportunity for a little more diversity and weirdness and randomness than Pottermore provides.

[magnetic_pole]

[Oh, sorry, I think I hit the wrong "reply" key.]

I've yet to learn anything that I'm happier knowing.

*nods* This is the second half of the argument, isn't it? It's not just that extra-canon material diminishes the general sense of possibility we feel about the characters--particularly Minerva, who's got this great Zelig-like relationship with canon--it's 1) more or less guaranteed to be more normative than what I usually find in the small corner of fandom I frequent and, from what I can tell, 2) seems to be largely annotated authorial headcanon rather than a full-fledged story, which means that it tends not to lend itself to interpretation.

JKR's characters and themes got more and more complex though book six, when, faced with the task of wrapping things up, she seems to have reverted to an earlier, less-developed set of ideas and assumptions about this world. From what I can tell, Pottermore seems to have come from her early and undeveloped notes, rather than her deep thinking about what the wizarding world and its inhabitants could be. M.

[delphi]

From what I can tell, Pottermore seems to have come from her early and undeveloped notes, rather than her deep thinking about what the wizarding world and its inhabitants could be.

That's a really good point. (Not that I would remotely compare myself to a published author but) I'm always falling in love with details before writing a story only to find that the process of actually writing the story introduces unexpected turns and textures and throws the old ideas out the window. Some of the Pottermore information just seems superfluous to me, but I would wager that I'd find more of it interesting if it had been through the rigours of being worked into a functional narrative.

[magnetic_pole]

I've yet to learn anything that I'm happier knowing.

*nods* This is the second half of the argument, isn't it? It's not just that extra-canon material diminishes the general sense of possibility we feel about the characters--particularly Minerva, who's got this great Zelig-like relationship with canon--it's 1) more or less guaranteed to be more normative than what I usually find in the small corner of fandom I frequent and, from what I can tell, 2) seems to be largely annotated authorial headcanon rather than a full-fledged story, which means that it tends not to lend itself to interpretation.

JKR's characters and themes got more and more complex though book six, when, faced with the task of wrapping things up, she seems to have reverted to an earlier, less-developed set of ideas and assumptions about this world. From what I can tell, Pottermore seems to have come from her early and undeveloped notes, rather than her deep thinking about what the wizarding world and its inhabitants could be. M.

[primeideal]

All I can say (given a sampling of the LJ responses) is that your fears of being churlish are, perhaps, decidedly overblown!

[magnetic_pole]

I hope I haven't offended the Pottermore fans--or those folks who want to use Pottermore for their fic. Over at LJ kelleychambliss has an excellent point when she says new material (even quasi-canonical rather than new canon, and even ill-thought-out background information) will do wonders for fandom, and I do appreciate that. I've just worry, you know? *frets more quietly* M.