To me, this story exemplifies why the Beholder is (was) such an invaluable contribution to the HP fandom - and not only becuase is it a beautifully crafted piece of prose. On the meta level, it showcases how differently we interpret supporting characters whose role within canon appears to be fixed. We are used to seeing a plethora of different interpretations for major characters and pairings, and it's great to see minor characters receive the same treatment.
Exactly! My first thought when I saw "By Theft or Force" was complete amazement--How could there possibly be another Arabella/Dolores fic in this fest?--but my second was smug delight--Of course they're both popular around here--in fact, it's amazing we haven't seen this pairing before. Thank you, Beholder.
I had so much fun reading your fic, D. I have to admit: I'd started off with a much darker, canon-like Dolores, but the more I worked on the fic, the more she seemed like someone I once knew in RL, and the more I felt like Arabella all over again, and the more unpleasant the entire task became (and not unpleasant in an exploring-the-psychological-depths kind of way, but in an I'm-never-going-to-finish-this-fic kind of way). So I dropped that storyline and started again with a Dolores who'd been hurt and side-tracked to the point of change (possibly), and I read your fic very carefully when it appeared in part because I'd wanted so much to write something like it. Brava! for letting Dolores be Dolores, and for showing us the worst parts of her character, and for letting it be an unpleasant surprise, just like she herself was in the books. (I was bright enough to learn from canon and suspect something early on but not bright enough to see the whole until the very end.) There seems to be wide-spread admiration in fandom for canon!Dolores as a villain--she's vivid and memorable in canon and genuinely frightening in her sickly two-faced sweetness--but relatively little fic about her, and I wish we fic writers spent more time exploring what I see as a very feminine kind of treachery. (Am I getting myself into trouble here? Perhaps I am. But I'm convinced that gender has everything to do with Dolores's brand of evil and our reaction to it.)
Arabella's a lovely character for fanfic, as you say--she's already surprised us once in canon, so we can cleave to the version with house slippers and tins of cat food, or we can take her in a different direction altogether. (Heaven knows the Ministry of Magic version might have been just as deceptive as the addled neighbor.) I especially liked the way that you show us how closely related her (learned) helplessness might be to her status as as Squib.
Did the cats get you started on the pairing? The image of Dolores in her office at Hogwarts with the decorative plates did it for me. (That and a thousand jokes about lesbians and their cats.) They work so well in your fic--a light note in a darker piece--that they seemed to be part of the larger concept. M.
Exactly! My first thought when I saw "By Theft or Force" was complete amazement--How could there possibly be another Arabella/Dolores fic in this fest?--but my second was smug delight--Of course they're both popular around here--in fact, it's amazing we haven't seen this pairing before. Thank you, Beholder.
I had so much fun reading your fic, D. I have to admit: I'd started off with a much darker, canon-like Dolores, but the more I worked on the fic, the more she seemed like someone I once knew in RL, and the more I felt like Arabella all over again, and the more unpleasant the entire task became (and not unpleasant in an exploring-the-psychological-depths kind of way, but in an I'm-never-going-to-finish-this-fic kind of way). So I dropped that storyline and started again with a Dolores who'd been hurt and side-tracked to the point of change (possibly), and I read your fic very carefully when it appeared in part because I'd wanted so much to write something like it. Brava! for letting Dolores be Dolores, and for showing us the worst parts of her character, and for letting it be an unpleasant surprise, just like she herself was in the books. (I was bright enough to learn from canon and suspect something early on but not bright enough to see the whole until the very end.) There seems to be wide-spread admiration in fandom for canon!Dolores as a villain--she's vivid and memorable in canon and genuinely frightening in her sickly two-faced sweetness--but relatively little fic about her, and I wish we fic writers spent more time exploring what I see as a very feminine kind of treachery. (Am I getting myself into trouble here? Perhaps I am. But I'm convinced that gender has everything to do with Dolores's brand of evil and our reaction to it.)
Arabella's a lovely character for fanfic, as you say--she's already surprised us once in canon, so we can cleave to the version with house slippers and tins of cat food, or we can take her in a different direction altogether. (Heaven knows the Ministry of Magic version might have been just as deceptive as the addled neighbor.) I especially liked the way that you show us how closely related her (learned) helplessness might be to her status as as Squib.
Did the cats get you started on the pairing? The image of Dolores in her office at Hogwarts with the decorative plates did it for me. (That and a thousand jokes about lesbians and their cats.) They work so well in your fic--a light note in a darker piece--that they seemed to be part of the larger concept. M.
Reply
Leave a comment