I often see people mourning what Rowling has done to HP fandom. The fandom meant so much to them, they say; they can’t just stop loving it. Ah, but can’t you? If a friend said that about a problematic ex, wouldn’t you say that wasn’t a healthy outlook?

Look, I get it, about fandom being mega-important. Fandoms have kept me out of despair at various ( Read more... )

In her books about happiness and habits, writer Gretchen Rubin describes the Four Tendencies, the personality framework she created. I realized in studying them that these tendencies are not only a fabulous way to learn about ourselves and our friends, but to flesh out our fictional characters too.

Brief description of the Four Tendencies:

( Read more... )

I finally read The Cursed Child. Thoughts:

1) Wow, people weren’t kidding about Albus/Scorpius being practically a canon couple. I’m going, “sweet! we finally get an on-page HP gay relationship?” …haha. No. Of course not. Truly Johnlock levels of Suspiciously Close Friendship. It’s like Rowling wanted people to write All the Fanfic but didn’t want ( Read more... )

The more I read of currently popular fantasy, the more dismayed I am that there tends to be such a huge focus on weaponry and fighting and the protagonists being (or becoming) martial arts geniuses. I stick with some of these books anyway if, such as in The Hunger Games, they're written really well and the plot and characters are compelling. But I' ( Read more... )

Hi everyone,
I finally rounded out my Harry Potter condensed parody collection by writing one for Order of the Phoenix, and it is now done and you can read it here! (Also here.)

Or at least, my parody series WAS complete until they released that eighth book yesterday. I'm ignoring that detail for now.
Feel free to send anyone to my full collection of ( Read more... )

So I'm re-reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in order to (finally!) round out my condensed parody collection. And here was this I came across at the start of chapter 16:

"Hermione had actually progressed to vanishing kittens"

Another item for the list of times the Hogwarts curriculum really disturbs me. Making KITTENS VANISH ( Read more... )

I see that the small class size of Hogwarts is a trending topic lately. The "Voldemort-era anti-baby-boom" explanation as shown there on Buzzfeed may actually make some sense. But on the whole I'd attribute the small-ish cast to a trope you see a lot in fantasy, sci-fi, and other works involving extensive world-building. As far as I can tell, TV ( Read more... )

It's not The Onion, nor even Fanfiction.net:

"Rowling says that she should have put Hermione and Harry together in the Harry Potter series instead of Hermione and Ron.“I wrote the Hermione/Ron relationship as a form of wish fulfillment,” she says. “That’s how it was conceived, really. For reasons that have very little to do with literature and far ( Read more... )

My favorite influences, of the moment, for series that do a good job juggling large casts, humor, angst/tragedy, romance, a teen angle, and a strong supernatural element: the Harry Potter books, the Buffy TV series, and the Avatar: the Last Airbender series ( Read more... )

Latest parody. I manage about one of these a year, it would seem. Only one HP book left for me to do, though! Enjoy ( Read more... )