Albus Dumbledore/Minerva McGonagall (Harry Potter)

[emeraldharpy]

Title: Ginger Newts and Sherbet Lemons
Author: emeraldharpy
Spoilers: through Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Disclaimer: The following are my opinions and insights only, and do not necessarily reflect those of the majority of AD/MM shippers.

Comments

[poisonivory]

Very interesting and well-written, and actually made me quite intrigued by this ship. You might want to put the essay behind a cut, though. :D

[emeraldharpy]

Thanks! I realized that it needed a cut the minute I posted, so I went back and fixed it. :)

[shoorihoshi]

Frankly, your last paragraph about "the fandom" really, really pissed me off with it's sweeping generalizations. Who's to say that the narrowness of vision you've encountered is a result of the age of the writer? One of the best fanfics I have ever read in my LIFE was written by an eighteen year old girl. Who was raised in a "strictly religious" household. There's a world of implication in that last paragraph that just really bothers me, because it's all based on stereotypes.

[emeraldharpy]

I'm sorry that you find the paragraph offensive, but I must point out that I did say "for the most part". Certainly not all of the young religious writers I've read have a narrowness of vision, nor does age uniformly confer broader vision. In fact, most of the stories I've recommended are by young writers. However, my experience with the AD/MM fandom is, unfortunately, accurately reflected in that paragraph.

[uffishthought]

sorry to intrude, but I wanted to say that while I have read many excellent stories by young writers, so far I've found that most of the stories that deeply affected me or were especially well written have been by older authors. I think one of the key problems facing younger writers (especially when writing for a 'ship that involves much older and more experienced characters) is that they learn much of their characterization from *other* fiction's characterization. When someone is eighteen and just out of high school, they really haven't gone through anything equivalent to much of what they're writing about, and more importantly for romantic fiction usually haven't had any -or enough- of the deeply loving, deeply painful, or deeply dysfunctional relationships that are usually drawn upon to write convincing stories.

Mention age as a determining factor, though, in any fandom (at least that I've seen) and people get up in arms immediately.

[emeraldharpy]

I am in complete agreement with you here. In following the dictum "Write what you know", many young AD/MM writers fall into the trap of having the characters behave as they themselves would. The problem is, of course, that a seventy-year-old witch is not going to behave like a seventeen-year-old muggle. Perhaps young writers who wish to write about things outside their immediate realm of experience should go through some of the exercises actors perform in order to play difficult parts. A little research and a little observation certainly wouldn't be amiss.

[goldy_dollar]

Oooh, I thought that was very fascinating. I've always thought there was something more going on between those two. There's something very simplistic about the pairing that makes it really quite beautiful. You *know* the two of them would make a fantastic pair. Thanks!

[emeraldharpy]

Thank you very much! :)

[rosehiptea]

I enjoyed this. I've always thought Albus and Minerva made a great couple, and I have no problem with age or age differences, but I think I've only read one fanfic so far. I'll put this in my memories and check out your recommendations. Thanks very much!

[emeraldharpy]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)

[maexle]

Dearie, I think your essay is fascinating and I'm absolutely agree with you.

Yet the link to my story seems broken. Here's one which should work:

http://lumos.sycophanthex.com/viewstory.php?sid=1444

[emeraldharpy]

Thank you! Thank you also for telling me about the link. I typed it in correctly, but formatted all the links incorrectly. They're all fixed now.