Life update + Thoughts on Hermione in Problems with Purity vs Mists of Time
Life: I passed my qualifying exam in early June (yay!) so I'm officially a PhD candidate now. I probably have another 3-4 years of research to do before I finish. So uh, that's where I've been/been doing for the past year. I find it takes far less time to read, comment, and keep up with all of you than to sit down and actually compose entries for my own journal, so sorry! I'm not a writer though, so at least you haven't been deprived. :)
manic1066's comment to my previous entry reminded me that I would feel far less annoyed by the Mary Sue aspects of TPwP!Hermione if she didn't have the Fawkes-mind-speech ability at her disposal. I feel like some of it is just lazy/shortcut writing and it's the final straw for me that pushes that Hermione into Mary Sue land. (I still like the rest of the story though as I mentioned).
Some thoughts on Hermione in The Problem with Purity by Silver Birch vs. The Mists of Time by amr (not updated regularly, alas, though I'm pretty certain it's not abandoned):
So something that's been turning over in my mind while considering the Mary Sueness of TPwP!Hermione and that makes me not mind it so much is the contrast with the Hermione in MoT. I don't know why, but for some reason, I'm constantly reminded of one by the other story. Now overall, I definitely find the writing and plot in MoT *much* more engaging and exciting (the twist that was revealed two chapters ago was fan-friggin-tastic and tied together many unanswered questions so neatly, it was perfect), and at first I rather liked the portrayal of Hermione as a teenager (not fully mature, etc.). But as the story progressed and Hermione became more and more fleshed out, I've come to the realization that I prefer the mostly-too-perfect TPwP!Hermione to the not-really-grown-up-yet portrayal of MoT!Hermione... in MoT, I feel like every time Hermione considers Ron or Snape, she has an innocent childlike-wonder quality to her inner thoughts that really doesn't jive with my image of her mental maturity (she acts/thinks like I did when I was... 14/15 not like I was when I was 17 and Hermione even has the added maturing experience of growing up during wartime). Essentially, I want to shake MoT!Hermione very hard and tell her to grow up, which is funny because I'm pretty sure amr is deliberately attempting to write a "realistic" teenage Hermione.
But the thing is that Hermione is no ordinary teenager (that's why we love her). Especially in fanon, she's smart and she's learned by the age of 17 how to keep her know-it-all tendencies contained. Not all smart (intellectually "mature") teens are also emotionally mature, but Hermione *could* be and should be (if she's going to be paired with Snape -- in a natural evolving-relationship sort of story) and it drives me nuts to read a Hermione who acts like a (stereo)typical teenage girl. This is probably in large part due to the fact that I remember being that age quite clearly and I identify myself with her. Hmm.
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Also, I'd just like to say that the bf and I have been watching Torchwood: Children of Earth and it's freaking awesome! We couldn't stand the original Torchwood (couldn't force ourselves to watch past ep 4 of season 1), but CoE is entirely different.
manic1066's comment to my previous entry reminded me that I would feel far less annoyed by the Mary Sue aspects of TPwP!Hermione if she didn't have the Fawkes-mind-speech ability at her disposal. I feel like some of it is just lazy/shortcut writing and it's the final straw for me that pushes that Hermione into Mary Sue land. (I still like the rest of the story though as I mentioned).
Some thoughts on Hermione in The Problem with Purity by Silver Birch vs. The Mists of Time by amr (not updated regularly, alas, though I'm pretty certain it's not abandoned):
So something that's been turning over in my mind while considering the Mary Sueness of TPwP!Hermione and that makes me not mind it so much is the contrast with the Hermione in MoT. I don't know why, but for some reason, I'm constantly reminded of one by the other story. Now overall, I definitely find the writing and plot in MoT *much* more engaging and exciting (the twist that was revealed two chapters ago was fan-friggin-tastic and tied together many unanswered questions so neatly, it was perfect), and at first I rather liked the portrayal of Hermione as a teenager (not fully mature, etc.). But as the story progressed and Hermione became more and more fleshed out, I've come to the realization that I prefer the mostly-too-perfect TPwP!Hermione to the not-really-grown-up-yet portrayal of MoT!Hermione... in MoT, I feel like every time Hermione considers Ron or Snape, she has an innocent childlike-wonder quality to her inner thoughts that really doesn't jive with my image of her mental maturity (she acts/thinks like I did when I was... 14/15 not like I was when I was 17 and Hermione even has the added maturing experience of growing up during wartime). Essentially, I want to shake MoT!Hermione very hard and tell her to grow up, which is funny because I'm pretty sure amr is deliberately attempting to write a "realistic" teenage Hermione.
But the thing is that Hermione is no ordinary teenager (that's why we love her). Especially in fanon, she's smart and she's learned by the age of 17 how to keep her know-it-all tendencies contained. Not all smart (intellectually "mature") teens are also emotionally mature, but Hermione *could* be and should be (if she's going to be paired with Snape -- in a natural evolving-relationship sort of story) and it drives me nuts to read a Hermione who acts like a (stereo)typical teenage girl. This is probably in large part due to the fact that I remember being that age quite clearly and I identify myself with her. Hmm.
--
Also, I'd just like to say that the bf and I have been watching Torchwood: Children of Earth and it's freaking awesome! We couldn't stand the original Torchwood (couldn't force ourselves to watch past ep 4 of season 1), but CoE is entirely different.