August 10, 2017

I just noticed that it’s been years since I updated my profile so since I just uploaded a new story I thought I maybe I should do so now. It’s been a while since I posted anything new but I do have a few more things I’ve been working on sporadically. Hopefully I’ll be able to post something really new in the not too distant future but I don’t want to do so until the story is completed, or so close that I’m sure it will be finished in a reasonable time.

In the meantime, I thought I’d share some of my thoughts about the Harry Potter books and fan fiction because, well, I don’t have anywhere else to do it!

Relationships

I’m generally quite happy with the canon relationships from the books and after the books from JKR’s postings to Pottermore and various social media. In particular I’m a fan of Harry Ginny (you might have guessed this from my FF.Net avatar!). Indeed, it was my desire to read more about the two of them and their relationship that got me into reading (and later writing) fanfiction to begin with. I generally don’t read much that pairs Harry with anyone else and in particular I just don’t see Harry and Hermione. I know it’s a popular fan fiction pairing but throughout the books I saw no hint of anything romantic between them (the Hermione Ron relationship on the other hand was foreshadowed at least as early as GOF, if not sooner). While Hermione is a great friend to Harry (arguably, a better one that Ron was at times) I feel she never really demonstrated any ability to handle Harry, emotionally. I think the only Harry Hermione story I’ve really liked was “What We're Fighting For” by James Spookie (which can be found here on this site and I heartily recommend you give it a try). His story changes the characters and their experiences in the magic world so much that they bare little resemblance to the canon characters, however, and thus the relationship works for me in that story.

Draco Malfoy

One fan fiction staple that I generally can’t abide is misunderstood or redeemed Draco. In the books he is portrayed as an arrogant bigot, a bully and a coward with no real redeeming qualities at all. JKR herself once wrote online about how she was disturbed by the number of young women who romanticized Draco and she came right out and said he was not a nice person. She has also written that he maintained an unhealthy interest in dark magic even after the end of the war. Because I can’t see him as anything but a loathsome prat, I particularly can’t relate to stories that pair him with Hermione or Ginny (the former being a puzzlingly popular pairing in fan fiction).

The Deathly Hallows

The final book of the series seemed to generate quite a bit of controversy when it was published. Some people loved it and others hated it. I have to say I’m closer to the latter and it’s by far my least favorite book of the series. The book seemed over long to me and I felt the story dragged at times. I thought the whole “deathly hallows” subplot was ill-conceived and unnecessary. Harry deciding to have a snack and a nap before he even talked to Ginny, after mooning over her for hundreds of pages of the book, was unsatisfying to me and the list of the dead at the end of the book was so crushingly depressing as to prevent any sort of positive emotional release I might otherwise have had when Harry finally won. I just thought it was a terribly disappointing ending to a series of books that up to then I enjoyed so much.

The Cursed Play

I hate to continue sounding so negative after my discussion of The Deathly Hallows, but while I never saw the stage play, I found the story from “The Cursed Child” so bad as to be embarrassing. I’ve read some fans characterize it as “bad fan fiction” and I cannot disagree. I thought the whole plot was ridiculous and the many of characters I loved from the books so ill used by the writers that I can’t believe that JKR really gave it her seal of approval. If I ever write any post-Deathly Hallows fiction, I’m going to just ignore this story and pretend it never happened.

Fantastic Beasts

Just to be able to end on a positive note, I loved the Fantastic Beasts movie! It returned the sense of wonder for the world that the last book in the Potter series lost for me. The new characters and JKR’s development of the wizarding world in America did kind destroy the idea for a short story I was writing set in my own version of wizarding America, but it was a small price to pay in order to revisit the wizarding world I enjoy so much and I’ll be looking forward eagerly to the next movie.

Conclusion

In the end, everything I’ve said is just my opinion and I don’t mean to tell anyone else they can’t or shouldn’t like “good” Draco or Harmony or the Cursed Sequel. There’s room in fandom and fanfiction for all that and more and none of us are likely to enjoy everything!