Authorial Intent, the Word of God, and Why All Comic Books Are Fan Fiction

[inverarity]

So I'm taking a wee bit of a breather, now that the rough draft of AQATDR is done. Which means I'm only skimming it now and then and revising a paragraph or two... I'll get back to serious revision once I get my next batch of comments back from my betas

Comments

[swissmarg]

Hm. Interesting. I agree with you in principle, that if it wasn't written, it's open to interpretation and opinion, but I still have a hard time really truly putting myself into the mindset where Draco married Pansy (without coming up with some sort of explanation that also includes Astoria, such as Astoria was his second wife), and similarly with anything else that clearly contradicts Rowling's interview information. I think though that's partly because so many people *do* consider the interviews canon, that if a fan fic is written that contradicts them, they sort of need an author's note explaining themselves. And yes, I realize that Rowling has contradicted herself both between interviews and what is written in the books, and between various interviews.

So, yes, I would consider it 'canon' for Constance's middle name now to be Gwendolen, even if it is not mentioned in your books. If I were to write a fan fiction of Alexandra Quick in which Constance's middle name is Gumption (lol), some nitpicker would be bound to point out that you'd actually said somewhere it was Constance, and who needs nitpickers?

[inverarity]

I am so tempted to name one of Constance and Forbearance's sisters "Gumption." :)

In practice, I tend to agree with you and follow Rowling's canon, even her interview canon. So in Hogwarts Houses Divided, Draco was indeed married to Astoria (though I still found a canonical way for him to have a child with Pansy), Harry was an Auror, etc.

If, however, I'd decided to write Draco married to Pansy, I think I would still call it canon-compliant, but I would specify in my author's notes that I was ignoring "interview canon."