March Featured Author

[margotlefaye]

Thank you to everyone who voted to make me one of Hawthorn & Vine’s featured writers for the month of March. Herewith a bit of an introduction to me and to my writing. As I said in my HV biography, I’m an older fan, in my mid-fifties, married, with an adult child. We share our suburban home with a rescue cat. Or, she shares it with us, since

Comments

[akashathekitty]

*butts in* What? I stalk you, you know that.

I think the ship could have worked if she'd put some thought into it and made it clear that Ginny wasn't just some star-struck Lily look-alike that happened to be a Weasley as well (ok, ew on all that), but actually had developed the relationship between them to go beyond that and become something real.

I distinctly remember being disappointed in HBP that we didn't get to see any interactions at all between them during the summer holiday and then BAM, he was all possessive of her. There was this HUGE chunk missing of how the hell we ended up there. I know the books are hardly romance, but come on -- she could have given us something!

I actually sort of wanted them to get together somehow (yeah, sorry, I always saw Harry/Hermione as almost incestuous >_> Yes, I'm aware there's irony to be had), so I think -- don't know, but think -- that maybe some Harry/Ginny shippers/ficcers are trying to fill that canon hole and make the ship work in that healthier way that JKR just never did.

I abuse italics, sorry. And now I'm going to go wander off again. XD

[margotlefaye]

That's exactly the point. The pairing could have worked if the author had done something to develop it. But, she didn't, so all we are left with is the "ew" stuff.

It's fine that you saw the Harry/Hermione relationship as too much like brother and sister. A lot of people did. If I didn't, it's because Harry's feelings toward her were pretty much what I would have expected those of any little boy's to be before he becomes aware that his best friend has, in fact, become a desirable young woman. I never got that Harry felt anything particularly brotherly for her, so much as that he found her admirably smart, appreciated her friendship, and was sometimes irritated by her. So, when Harry was surprised to see her as a pretty girl at the Yule Ball, I thought that would be a turning point. But a few pages later, there was the argument between Hermione and Ron that made it clear her interest lay elsewhere and I was very much "You've got to be kidding me. The bookish girl falling for the slacker instead of the clever boy?" Because JKR also made it clear that Hermione was devoted to Harry, that she thought he was a great (as in, powerful) wizard, while she and Ron were always bickering. I expected Hermione's loyalty and admiration to mature into attraction, as I expected Harry's to do. Instead, the bickering between Hermione and the boy who is slightly contemptuous of her for her devotion to learning is somehow transformed into true love, as is Harry's mild affection for his best friend's baby sister. Um. Okay. Whatever.

The way that Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione were shoehorned into relationships rather than those relationships shown to be developed realistically is one of many reasons why I feel that JKR is the world's most engaging writer, but a very long way from being the world's best writer.

Because, again, a good writer could have made any pairing work. I mean, look at the part of the fandom we're in. We make an arrogant, prejudiced, spoiled, bullying Death Eater work with the poster girl for all things Muggle, smart, brave, idealistic, loyal...and bossy. *G*

So, no argument. JKR could certainly have made Harry/Ginny (and Ron/Hermione) much more believable than she did. And, doing what the author didn't, exploring subtext or what-might-have-been is rather the point of writing fanfic. Good luck, then, to the Harry/Ginny, the Ron/Hermione, and the Harry/Hermione writers. I'll just stick with the Draco/Hermione side of things.

[akashathekitty]

I don't think we disagree anywhere XD

I was ok with Ron/Hermione, really. I mean, I was never a great fan of Ron, but I don't really expect (or want) every relationship to make perfect sense to me. Sometimes people fall for the oddest people and they somehow make it work.

I mostly was disappointed at the lack of Ron-growth in the Epilogue that Never Happened and how Hermione was far too "Oh, you! *giggle*" about that. =/

[margotlefaye]

Yeah, I don't think we disagree about most of these issues, either.

One point though, and that's more about the craft of writing than any disagreement with your take on the relationships: while weird and inexplicable things happen in RL all the time, that doesn't make such things believable in a work of fiction. Fiction should be structured so that things are plausible, and develop logically. A writer should not expect her readers to swallow whatever inexplicable scenarios she comes up with, but can't be arsed to develop properly and believably.

I was a fan of Ron in the early books, because he was loyal and brave and, in playing that wizarding chess game in the first book, not only an intelligent, if not brilliant, strategist, but a young man capable of great self-sacrifice. Then he became a mean-spirited slacker who ridiculed Hermione's study ethic and used his status as a prefect and an older student to bully younger students, and take what they had for himself. His sudden ability to spout off complicated magical theory in the final book annoyed me no end because it just seemed like JKR, who did not like the popularity of Draco, was saying, "See, Ron is worthy of Hermione, so there!" instead of actually having made him worthy of Hermione throughout the series.

And, in the epilogue, when Ron admits to Harry that he lied to Hermione about not using magic to pass his driving test, and reveals that he used the Confundus charm on the person who tested him, I was thoroughly disgusted. Because that showed he was not only still an immature slacker, but that he was still somewhat contemptuous of his wife's feelings and her ideals. So, when Hermione is being "Oh, you *giggle*" about what Ron does, she is actually unaware of some of the worst things he's doing, even though they are logical progressions from some of the stuff she was perfectly well aware that he did in school.

More reason to go the EWE route, if more were needed.

[akashathekitty]

I agree that "show, don't tell" applies and maybe Ron had less redeeming qualities than I remember, because it's been a while since I read the books, but I think that I was able to forgive him for being a "mean-spirited slacker" because, eh, that's most of the teenage boys I know. I expected him to grow out of it.

It was when he didn't that I became disappointed. Also in Hermione because while she may not be aware of everything he does, she should know him well enough after twenty-six years to not be so indulgent with him. The whole thing just rang untrue to me.

TBH, one of the most significant "EWE?" things for me (apart from shipping Draco/Hermione instead, of course) is growing Ron the hell up instead of cheating him of some of the potential that I at least felt I glimpsed from time to time.

By the way, I don't think I have a snowball's chance in hell of finishing my DBB on time. I am sad. D: (and yes, that is slightly on-topic, but not going to go into why that is XD)

[margotlefaye]

I thought the topic of the entire post was writing, so I think we've been on topic all along. *G*

Sorry about the DBB. I may end up in the same place, though I hope not. Still, even if we don't finish by the deadline, we can always get back to our respective stories later, when we have the time.

ITA agree with your points about Ron: he did show flashes of potential, and the epilogue did cheat him out of them. Ah, well...