H.M:d-3

Dec 20, 2008 15:14

Another day of Happy Meme!

This one is a two-fers... well, maybe a three-fer, because two-fers make me happy... And it'll be a long one, because of it's Importance to me and my life, and how while I do try and keep a bit of distance between Fandom!life and Real!life, it's really hard to do that because the one feeds the other. Addendum-1: In a fit of self-editing, I'm putting all the ho-hum stuff behind a cut. Feel free to read it if you like, but you'll get the jist of what I'm trying to say [which is surprisingly difficult for me, actually, considering] by what's left out of the cut.

Audio Books & Harry Potter
I like audio books. I was never much of a reader until, oh, probably HP:PoA. [Seriously, I'm one of those statistics you read about when they say "HP made people read again!"] I read what was required of me and what I did read was mostly things about programming, HCI, and AI. But I had read HP:PoA after reading PS and CoS [the first two, I preferred the movies, I think, more than the books], and it was PoA that got me really interested. People say it's when it got 'dark'... and I believe CoS deserves that honor, because as light as it was, it was the first we actually fully grasp the seriousness of 'racism' and 'classism' and 'religious zealot-ism' in the HP world. But that's another discussion, as I'm sure plenty will disagree with me.

The problem was that I was traveling a lot, and by car. So I opted to buy the audio books. Jim Dale's characterization, more than anything, made me like the story more than I probably would have had I just continued reading. But HP wasn't enough! So I started downloading lectures from The Teaching Company and the Modern Scholar, stuff that interested me: Particle physics, quantum mechanics, Ancient Rome history, the Medieval Era, science during Antiquity. But then my traveling life changed and I was no longer trapped in a car for long periods of time. So I read. I wasn't really interested in the 'classics' quite yet-that wouldn't come until much later-but I needed to read something. Fandom pushed that need over the edge.

Now this is where circuitry crosses and things get a bit Harry hairy. My re-interest in learning German hits about the time of HP:GoF. Buying the UK editions helps me realize my interest in the evolution of the English language. How so? Because while English is closely-related to German, BE is more closely related to German than AE. How could that be? Well, of course proximity plays an issue. But I learned relatively early on that in order to grasp German prepositional use better, I may have to learn how BE handles prepositional choices: when to use above or at or about [the last to refer, for instance, to space as well as topic] or even against, as when Harry says: "Don't say anything bad against my father!" or how Elizabeth in Keeping up Appearances has to take a pill against her headache and not for it.

Then I got into Fandom, because waiting for HBP just... wasn't on. I mean, I didn't appreciate OotP as much as many others did, but I felt something was happening... probably because something was happening. Fandom helped satisfy my hunger, as I'm sure it did with most of you, until a new book could be released. And that, of course, brought me into writing, which got me closer to grammar, because I wanted to understand as much as possible about the nuances of BE vs AE. My ultimate goal was to trick people into thinking, if they read my story and didn't know me from Adam, that I was a Briton. I doubt I ever did it; plenty of people still point out Americanisms in my stories, but the point is that it brought me to a place where I had a bookcase full of style guides, usage books, punctuation guides, copyright/editing books, et.al.; which in turn got me an editor position on the school newspaper, being neither English major or minor, nor a Journalism major or minor. Point in fact, my Grad minor is Literary Editing, without having come from an English background. Not something that is impossible, mind, but I reckon a tad unusual, at least. I'm always the only one in my class without some sort of English degree.

The point here isn't to pat myself on the back; rather, I want to point out that Fandom [which I'll always capitalize for its importance in my life] by way of Harry Potter, by way of audio books, has opened my eyes to a part of my creativity that had been forgotten. I had always wanted to be a comic book writer growing up, but that gave way to audio/video production and programming... only to come back full circle to writing, in some sense. I don't want to say that I was lost before Fandom; I was perfectly happy in my chosen degree and field. But it has re-opened my eyes to new-old possibilities. I do want to be an editor, I think, even if freelance, but an editor like Perkins was for Fitzgerald-and believe me when I say, you lot should be studying Perkins, not Fitzgerald. I wanna hole up in some mountain retreat for two months with pir8fancier and be there when she creates her Magnum Opus, which I've a feeling is soon coming.

So because of audio books, I get into Harry Potter. Because of Harry Potter, I get into Fandom. Because of Fandom, I get into the English language in all its glory-and German, too-and it reinvigorates a desire to learn more, write again, and edit. Basically, because of audio books [and Harry Potter], I am where I am today.

Happy.

Oh, and this post is proof that even 'editors' need editors. I basically could have just let it stand with the last paragraph and you lot would have gotten my point. :lol: Rambling!Gabe does it again.

Sidepoint: Maybe this should be a fourth-day Happy post, but it's tied directly to reading, about which, as I've already prolixed* is directly related to my life in Fandom. But the love of new words. Well, maybe not 'new' words, but new for us. Either sassy_cissa or sesheta_66-one of my S friends, that much I remember!-used a word that meant 'to kiss, as if platonically', or something. I can't remember what it was-not osculate, was it?-and I just thought it wonderful and clever and so, so very appropriate! Then the other day, I used prolix, though I made it a verb, over on amanuensis1's journal, and she jumped for joy at a word she had to go look up.

For me, that's another reason why I read-to learn. I don't want a whole story filled with words that I have to highlight and run off to go grab a dictionary. But a story should remind us that we're adults, except when the story is to remind us that we're still children deep inside where it counts, and as such, it should challenge us to expand our understanding of the language, even if just a little. Now, I don't think every 100-word story-lette, or cute slice-of-life drabble, should do that, but if you're writing novella-length stories and you have that non-traditional word that is... is... just so damned perfect, then fuck that old adage that says "write with words your readers will know"! Fuck it all to heck! Challenge us! Were that a necessity, to write only with words we already know, then we'd be reading stories that have "see draco, see harry, see draco stick it in harry pooper. harry like it in pooper."

Actually, that could be quite funny, but I digress... er, too late, huh?

Anyway, my point is that Fandom-and reading, in general-should remind us English-speakers that English has the most words of all the languages. Some of it useless, some of it weird, all of it wonderful. If it fits your story and any less than that word would dull the shine [nice title, by the way!], then use it! Don't be scerd. For every one person who complains, they'll be at least three persons who love you for it, and at least 2 ESL'ers who appreciate-and rise up to-the challenge.

Big Gay Footnotes
* Yes, I know 'prolix' is not a verb, but hey... you can forgive me! I mean, it's English. If we can't make verbs out of nouns, then what's the point in living!!?!?!?!? ;-P
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