(no subject)
I'm posting my answers to the following questions given to me by Laliandra.
1. Well if you feel you haven't already said this I'd love to know what you would change about Harry Potter?
2. What was the first piece of fanfiction you wrote?
3. Do you do any other sorts of writing.
4. And, because I thought this was a lovely question that really got me thinking, 4. If you could sit down and talk with one person alive or dead and tell them something you've never said before, to whom would you talk and what would you say?
I know it's only 4, but it's late. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!
As usual I am longwinded. I took horribly long to post these because I didn't know how open to be about the last question. I can dish questions out, but I cant take them.
If you want five questions feel free to mention this in the comments.
1.I'm going to cheat and give three things. First I hate Harry's use of the Cruciatus curse against Carrow. I thought the provocation was minimal and the act was contrary to the growth in Harry's character. How does Harry torturing Carrow jive with Harry having enough compassion to offer Voldemort, a far more culpable person, a chance to repent and save himself? Did he gain moral strength during his trip to the afterlife?
It implies that the other DA were stronger people than Harry. Neville's words imply that he didn't use the Cruciatus curse, nor I think did many in the DA, yet they endured far more at Carrow's hands than a spit in the face. If they had behaved like Harry they'd have been Cruciating Crabbe and Goyle in the halls, and riots and lynchings would have broken out in the Hogwarts corridors. Did she want to imply that the only reason a person couldn't torture another was because they weren't powerful enough? If so that's appalling.
I hated the way the house-elves were written. I thought JKR recapitulated every racist defense of slavery from the first part of this century.
My last change is one that I thought of recently. I think she made a mistake having Neville almost disappear from book six. I think that is why some readers have a hard time accepting the person we see in the end of book seven. (I could see the development in the character, but I like him and was looking for it.) Even one additional sentence or paragraph would have sufficed. How did the other students react to knowing that while they slept Luna and Neville fought Death Eaters for the second time in a battle in which two people died and one was severely wounded? If she had showed us this, we would have been better prepared for the revelations about both Luna and Neville in book seven.
I had a different reaction to the curse on Marrietta than you. I thought it was in character for Hermione, who has a ruthless streak not often recognized in fandom. She was willing to erase her parent's memory without their permission or knowledge and give them a new life. She had no idea what friends or responsibilities she'd had them abandon. Ironically she could have been a Slytherin as well as a Ravenclaw. (That characters have the traits of houses other than their own is a strength of the book. People are complex.) Also she was a teenager and lacked the judgment of an adult. We see the results of a fifteen year old having so much power, which I think worked in the story.
I'd like to see fanfiction that deals with the aftermath of these actions. Was Harry's attack on Carrow hushed up? What was the impact on society of a Hero's use of the banned curse? Does Hermione ever regret her actions? Even assuming they forgive her, do her parents ever trust her again?
2.Thursdays with Granddad was my first fan-fiction. I revised it many, many times before publishing. The original form was very different and had multiple povs, including Augusta's and showed Neville's granddad's death. The first story I ever posted was a drabble on Sugar Quill called Field Research, about Neville being recognized while working as a herbologist.
3. I only write fanfiction, but I would like that to change.
4. I would speak to my grandmother who lived with us when I was a child. I had been very close to her. When I was fifteen she had a fight with my mother and tried to make me chose between them. I realized that this had been her pattern all through my childhood and how this had hurt my mother. I was angry and bitter. Before we could reconcile, she became senile and died. I would like to both ask her forgiveness and ask her to apologize to my mother, who still feels pain from her behavior. I don't know if confronting her about her wrongs fits with asking her forgiveness, but I'd like to do both.