Why I'll keep writing fic after the end of the Harry Potter series
Well, first, writing fic is fun. It's no-stress writing (short of fest deadlines). It's my chance to experiment with different writing styles, exploring different characters, etc., without the stress of having to juggle all the balls of writing your standard novel.
Besides the fun factor, though, is my personal feeling that no matter what happens in Deathly Hallows we will never have a truly closed canon.
Think about it. There are about 135 characters that appear, for however long or short a period of time, in OotP. That's 135 backstories waiting to be told, 135 ways of living and speaking, 135 personal histories that got them to where they appeared in the books. There is No Way J.K. Rowling, despite her verbosity, can completely close the canon, telling us everything we ever wanted to know about everyone we've ever wanted to know about. I have doubts that I'll ever learn what I've truly wanted to know since PoA: the reason Peter Pettigrew betrayed the Potters to Voldemort, and leading up to that, why no one, particularly Sirius, saw anything in Peter beforehand that would lead them/him to think that Peter might not be all he says he is. I also want to resolve the ongoing (very friendly!!) argument I have with psychic_serpent over whether Percy is a spy for the Order or not (she says yes, I say no). I want to see more of Narcissa Malfoy because I think she's tough and sharp. I want to know exactly how one gets a job working as a curse-breaker for Gringotts. The list goes on. There's no way all of that can fit in the books.
Then, there's my personal rule: I like to finish what I start, even if it takes me forever. I can say "Canon-compliant through the end of OotP; does not include information from HBP and DH" with the best of them. Just because X amount of canon exists doesn't mean you have to incorporate all of it into every single fic you put out. It works for TV show fandoms and there's no reason it shouldn't work for book fandoms. Despite the overwhelming RL work load (it's a 2007 thing; I ended up on way too many committees the same year I took on a major writing project, plus my regular reading and work), I do try to tickle my fics every once in a while. They WILL get done (I promise, ellen_fremedon!!), but alas, sometimes RL has to come first.
Lately all I've wanted to do is sit around and watch Numb3rs. That is, when I'm not reading Numb3rs fic. I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR ANOTHER FANDOM. ACK.
Audioslave - Set It Off
Besides the fun factor, though, is my personal feeling that no matter what happens in Deathly Hallows we will never have a truly closed canon.
Think about it. There are about 135 characters that appear, for however long or short a period of time, in OotP. That's 135 backstories waiting to be told, 135 ways of living and speaking, 135 personal histories that got them to where they appeared in the books. There is No Way J.K. Rowling, despite her verbosity, can completely close the canon, telling us everything we ever wanted to know about everyone we've ever wanted to know about. I have doubts that I'll ever learn what I've truly wanted to know since PoA: the reason Peter Pettigrew betrayed the Potters to Voldemort, and leading up to that, why no one, particularly Sirius, saw anything in Peter beforehand that would lead them/him to think that Peter might not be all he says he is. I also want to resolve the ongoing (very friendly!!) argument I have with psychic_serpent over whether Percy is a spy for the Order or not (she says yes, I say no). I want to see more of Narcissa Malfoy because I think she's tough and sharp. I want to know exactly how one gets a job working as a curse-breaker for Gringotts. The list goes on. There's no way all of that can fit in the books.
Then, there's my personal rule: I like to finish what I start, even if it takes me forever. I can say "Canon-compliant through the end of OotP; does not include information from HBP and DH" with the best of them. Just because X amount of canon exists doesn't mean you have to incorporate all of it into every single fic you put out. It works for TV show fandoms and there's no reason it shouldn't work for book fandoms. Despite the overwhelming RL work load (it's a 2007 thing; I ended up on way too many committees the same year I took on a major writing project, plus my regular reading and work), I do try to tickle my fics every once in a while. They WILL get done (I promise, ellen_fremedon!!), but alas, sometimes RL has to come first.
Lately all I've wanted to do is sit around and watch Numb3rs. That is, when I'm not reading Numb3rs fic. I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR ANOTHER FANDOM. ACK.
Audioslave - Set It Off