(no subject)
Why Do You Write?
A Challenge post I got from Ryan Oakley of the Grumpy Owl, who in turn got it from a friend of his.
I don't have the time for a new entry at the moment, but I did just write an essay for AP Lit as my final exam that sort of answers the question.
More Than A Story: Rowling’s Potter Series
Graduating high school is both a time for bittersweet remembrances and hopeful ponderings as many a senior looks back over their educational career. I am not alone, and yet, my experience is very unique. As a child, raised under the loving eye of my mother, I was surrounded by play friends as she ran a home day care business from our four bedroom home in Norvella Heights. Afternoons that weren’t spent playing Lava Monster and tag outside were spent watching countless movies while the rain poured around us, each fairy tale and story opening my mind into a world of imagination, full of color, adventure, and romance. When not playing with my Barbies or friends, I read: I inherited my father’s love of science fiction and fantasy books, hungrily devouring the novels he stored in our own den. By first grade, I was so advanced in my studies that I would literally finish every assignment with twenty minutes to spare - the teacher had to find things for me to do; I gobbled things up so greedily with my eyes. By third grade, I dug my teeth into the Harry Potter series. I remember well a friend reprimanding me: “Jessika, are you reading that thing again?! Why do you always have your nose in that darn book? It must be real good!” To which I would reply in the bashful positive, stashing the now bent over and over again paperback in my desk as the teacher looked our way, hoping not to be seen. When she turned away, I would return to my story, entranced by the magical school that far outshone my own - a habit I still practice, and my teachers still get annoyed. By fourth grade, I found myself reading my father’s Acorna series, and by the fifth I was introduced to the magical world of Narnia when my teacher read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for reading time. Mind, not two months later, my life would be uprooted, and my family moved to another home, another school, and another life.
My mother was always ill - born albino, she had a severe illness called Chron’s disease, that left her body very weak and prone to disease. I honestly can’t remember life without her being in the hospital every so often, and in a way, I seemed to use my stories to distract my family - or at least myself - from what was going on around us. A clerical error assigned my family to move to Georgia, but when they realized my mother’s sickness level, they realized that we had to stay - leaving us stranded and homeless. We eventually managed to find home in housing, and I became even further in love with the books that now brought me an adventure away from the daily grind - a twenty minute bus ride from a home much like a broom closet compared to my old house, to a school where I didn’t belong, to be with kids whose personalities clashed with my own. Ironically, of a thirty student class of gifted children, I only became friends with one of them - Carmen, a fellow Scarhead (Harry Potter fan) and eccentric bubble. I still fondly remember her impersonations of Moaning Myrtle and fanciful talks of black holes and the more obscure dreams of the limits of humankind. We were both ahead of our time, to be sure, but it was in seventh grade when the most severe change in my entire life occurred.
I don’t remember much else, but I remember the conversation. I was talking with my father; at the time, we were going to try getting myself and my younger brother into scouting. He said, “A friend of mine at work has a daughter about your age in scouting. And she’s into Harry Potter, too.”
My eyes lit up. I was always delighted to find another fan of the series. “Really?”
“Yeah. She writes the stuff, too.”
My first thoughts were, ‘A girl who writes Harry Potter?’ The truth is, it was a misconception: Bronwyn, now a beloved friend of mine, wrote fanfiction - a fan’s retelling or reimagining of an already existing story. Be it books, movies, or even video games, it was a fan’s way of explaining things, filling in the holes in the story, and in general answering the bothersome questions of “why?”, “how?” and “what if?”. After reading these stories, I shared with my friends, and then eventually began writing my own - I was hooked. I had finally found a way to not only escape my dreary world, but to create my own. Through J.K.Rowling’s fascinating characters and settings, I could play in her world and use its eccentricities to let my imagination run wild. It started with exploring the elusive lives of Harry’s parents from the third book, and then into exploring the subtle workings of a double agent, one Severus Snape - a character that, from the beginning, is shrouded in unfounded hatred and yet, every time Potter suspects the sneering Potions Master of ill doings, he is in fact the only one that can seem to be trusted to do what is right.
It was only through this world that I was able to find my own feet, and the craft of writing was mine to hone and advance in. Since, I’ve written dozens of fanfiction stories for several fandoms, and even written several of my own original stories, spanning every genre. Even as I graduate my final year of high school, half of a novel tucked under my arm, I give a salute to the nursery in which my writing style was born and the teachers and fellow fans that helped stimulate my growth; I also still glow with obsessive excitement for the next Harry Potter movie to come out. To me, the Harry Potter series became more than a story - it’s a completely different world full of fascinating characters and places and things that one can only dream to play in.
Source: http://thegrumpyowl.wordpress.com/2009/05/26/why-write-why-not/
~Lady K
A Challenge post I got from Ryan Oakley of the Grumpy Owl, who in turn got it from a friend of his.
I don't have the time for a new entry at the moment, but I did just write an essay for AP Lit as my final exam that sort of answers the question.
More Than A Story: Rowling’s Potter Series
Graduating high school is both a time for bittersweet remembrances and hopeful ponderings as many a senior looks back over their educational career. I am not alone, and yet, my experience is very unique. As a child, raised under the loving eye of my mother, I was surrounded by play friends as she ran a home day care business from our four bedroom home in Norvella Heights. Afternoons that weren’t spent playing Lava Monster and tag outside were spent watching countless movies while the rain poured around us, each fairy tale and story opening my mind into a world of imagination, full of color, adventure, and romance. When not playing with my Barbies or friends, I read: I inherited my father’s love of science fiction and fantasy books, hungrily devouring the novels he stored in our own den. By first grade, I was so advanced in my studies that I would literally finish every assignment with twenty minutes to spare - the teacher had to find things for me to do; I gobbled things up so greedily with my eyes. By third grade, I dug my teeth into the Harry Potter series. I remember well a friend reprimanding me: “Jessika, are you reading that thing again?! Why do you always have your nose in that darn book? It must be real good!” To which I would reply in the bashful positive, stashing the now bent over and over again paperback in my desk as the teacher looked our way, hoping not to be seen. When she turned away, I would return to my story, entranced by the magical school that far outshone my own - a habit I still practice, and my teachers still get annoyed. By fourth grade, I found myself reading my father’s Acorna series, and by the fifth I was introduced to the magical world of Narnia when my teacher read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for reading time. Mind, not two months later, my life would be uprooted, and my family moved to another home, another school, and another life.
My mother was always ill - born albino, she had a severe illness called Chron’s disease, that left her body very weak and prone to disease. I honestly can’t remember life without her being in the hospital every so often, and in a way, I seemed to use my stories to distract my family - or at least myself - from what was going on around us. A clerical error assigned my family to move to Georgia, but when they realized my mother’s sickness level, they realized that we had to stay - leaving us stranded and homeless. We eventually managed to find home in housing, and I became even further in love with the books that now brought me an adventure away from the daily grind - a twenty minute bus ride from a home much like a broom closet compared to my old house, to a school where I didn’t belong, to be with kids whose personalities clashed with my own. Ironically, of a thirty student class of gifted children, I only became friends with one of them - Carmen, a fellow Scarhead (Harry Potter fan) and eccentric bubble. I still fondly remember her impersonations of Moaning Myrtle and fanciful talks of black holes and the more obscure dreams of the limits of humankind. We were both ahead of our time, to be sure, but it was in seventh grade when the most severe change in my entire life occurred.
I don’t remember much else, but I remember the conversation. I was talking with my father; at the time, we were going to try getting myself and my younger brother into scouting. He said, “A friend of mine at work has a daughter about your age in scouting. And she’s into Harry Potter, too.”
My eyes lit up. I was always delighted to find another fan of the series. “Really?”
“Yeah. She writes the stuff, too.”
My first thoughts were, ‘A girl who writes Harry Potter?’ The truth is, it was a misconception: Bronwyn, now a beloved friend of mine, wrote fanfiction - a fan’s retelling or reimagining of an already existing story. Be it books, movies, or even video games, it was a fan’s way of explaining things, filling in the holes in the story, and in general answering the bothersome questions of “why?”, “how?” and “what if?”. After reading these stories, I shared with my friends, and then eventually began writing my own - I was hooked. I had finally found a way to not only escape my dreary world, but to create my own. Through J.K.Rowling’s fascinating characters and settings, I could play in her world and use its eccentricities to let my imagination run wild. It started with exploring the elusive lives of Harry’s parents from the third book, and then into exploring the subtle workings of a double agent, one Severus Snape - a character that, from the beginning, is shrouded in unfounded hatred and yet, every time Potter suspects the sneering Potions Master of ill doings, he is in fact the only one that can seem to be trusted to do what is right.
It was only through this world that I was able to find my own feet, and the craft of writing was mine to hone and advance in. Since, I’ve written dozens of fanfiction stories for several fandoms, and even written several of my own original stories, spanning every genre. Even as I graduate my final year of high school, half of a novel tucked under my arm, I give a salute to the nursery in which my writing style was born and the teachers and fellow fans that helped stimulate my growth; I also still glow with obsessive excitement for the next Harry Potter movie to come out. To me, the Harry Potter series became more than a story - it’s a completely different world full of fascinating characters and places and things that one can only dream to play in.
Source: http://thegrumpyowl.wordpress.com/2009/05/26/why-write-why-not/
~Lady K