DH spoilers bunnied me

[slashpine]

I'm eagerly awaiting my very own copy and a Saturday of reading. Followed by two weeks of reading internet howls of glee and/or despair. And then ... then things will actually get interesting as despite JKR's efforts to tie up, pin down, and rivet every plot point and relationship into exactly one and only one shape, fans will find a way to put

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[slashpine]

Yep, yep! Well, JKR's recorded as saying that she's a "total Gryffindor" so we can take that as confirming why she not only has turned that one House into a self-infatuated joke, but through sneering at Ravenclaws (ooh, too intelligent: aren't they all just snotty, or weeeird like Luna?), ridiculing Hufflepuffs (like there's something wrong with honesty, hard work & persistence) and making Slytherin the stand-in for everyone she'd ever hated (Snape famously being the stand-in for the prof she didn't like; I just *love* how Alan Rickman turned that around :-) has basically demonstrated (OMGwhatalongsentence!) unwillingness to portray the full range of human nature, or in an introspective way. Which is to say, JKR built a whizbang set of characters, but hasn't worked very hard at getting to know them. (Fortunately, they have fans who find them irresistible :-)

Ah, if only she'd read (or her editors had *made* her read) the literature on the dangers of Mary-Suing your fiction into sheer unadulterated spork-fodder. With DH, I'd say it's about ... what, 40/60?

Hmm. I'm thinking now about that age-old advice to authors, "Write what you know." Maybe one shouldn't misinterpret it as "Write what you like" (oooh like being a pR1ncess!).

Rather, focus on that directive to "know" something, and try to know yourself, know about life, know people, know how to write. ... No accident that some of the greatest authors are amazingly intelligent, experienced people, and remorselessly self-reflective. Heh: that's why so many fans enjoy Snape! He worked hard to become what he wished, then when it got Lily killed, he worked even harder for the next 15 years to become all kinds of things he didn't even want to be: a teacher, a spy, a protector of Harry, a tool of Dumbledore's, the Order, the Death Eaters, Narcissa even. And he excelled at every part of it (if you count getting students past OWLS as opposed to having them be happy :-)

So like a good author, Snape is a remorselessly self-sacrificing man. And for his pains, he got sacrificed by JKR to a predetermined plot. So much for justice and redemption as the ultimate values of this series - more like bad luck and genetics as destiny.