Canon, and What It Means To Me
Jun. 30th, 2004 02:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynneSo, I believe I am sufficiently recovered to post about things other than pain (and the flist cheers!), and there's been something I've been meaning to talk about for quite awhile. Mainly, canon, and what it means to me.
So, I read PS/SS back in 1998, and continued reading the books as they came out. I remember how PoA came out a few days before my twelfth(? I think so) birthday, and I got it as a present for my twin, and then secretly read it myself before our birthday actually arrived, just because I wanted to know what happened. We got GoF the day it came out, and I was frustrated that my twin said I could read it only after she was done, while I thought I should read it first because I'm a faster reader than she is. And for OotP, I remember hanging around in Barnes and Nobles for hours as we waited for midnight and June 21st to arrive, and reading the first chapter by streetlamp as I waited for my ride to arrive (I was about a week away from my license), and then coming home and reading the whole thing from 1:00 am to 6:30 am, and going to sleep vaguely dissatisfied (more on that later, though I'm not going into an OotP rant).
I've liked the books for nearly as long as it has been possible to like the books. But the thing is, I never was completely impressed with them. Years ago, I was part of an anime/video games discussion board, and I remember in the General forum, there was a thread on Harry Potter, and some people were saying they loved it and it's the best series ever, while others were saying it sucked completely, and I remember my answer as being something along the lines of "They're good books. Not anything great, but good books." This was early 2002, I think.
And I come directly from thinking the books "not anything great" to being a List Elf at HPfGU (one of the largest and most well-known HP discussion groups on the internet) and an eMentor and coder/dinger at FictionAlley (which is even bigger than HPfGU!). HP has gone from being something I thought "not that great" to something that takes up so many hours of my time it's not even funny, and something I feel guilty about not participating in/fulfilling my responsibilities in for a few days after I have surgery.
And fanfiction, as always, is what I know to have changed me. I've been part of ff.net since 2001, but I mostly stayed away from the HP section, until early 2003, when I decided to look and see what's so great about Harry Potter, that it had its 60,000+ (or whatever the number was then) fics.
And I discovered exactly What Was So Great About Harry Potter--fanfiction. I started with MWPP-era stuff, and eventually read several fifth-year fics, and joined the SBRL list and read a bunch of R/S stuff. I hadn't yet given in and joined HPfGU and FA yet (much less LJ!), but I'd say I was pretty immersed in the fandom.
So then I read OotP, as a member of the fandom. And I was Unsatisfied. As![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
copperbadge wrote in stealingharry: "Tom Clancy once said that the difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense. I'm beginning to believe that the difference between fiction and fanfic is that the plot holes have to be a lot smaller." And the thing about OotP is, while I liked parts of it, I was not too impressed with it as a whole. Very reminiscent of my impression of the series as a whole, prior to reading fanfic about it.
And I've come to realize that I'm not in the fandom for the books, the canon. I'm in the fandom for the fanfiction. I'm here for the world JKR has created, and not for how JKR herself writes that world, because frankly, I think that while JKR's a brilliant storyteller (as evidenced by so many of us having been sucked into her world), she's not a brilliant writer, and there are people I consider brilliant writers writing fanfiction for free, people likethistlerose and copperbadge and ladyjaida and so many more, simply because there are things they want to explore and things they want to say.
What canon is for me is more like guidelines, really (:p). JKR's given us the background of the wizarding world with things like Quidditch and Quodpot and Floo powder and portkeys and all that wondrous magic. She's given us all these characters, the Remus and Sirius I love so much, the James and Harry and Regulus and Tom Riddle, Ron Weasley, Ginny and Hermione and Neville and Snape, Peter Pettigrew and Luna Lovegood, and so many more...they are what I love about the HP books. I've found I don't care about what happens in the coming books save for the new characters and concepts introduced! I don't care who the Half-Blood Prince is (maybe it really is Sam! :p) beyond how it'll make me see the characters and possibly subsequently write them. I don't care whether Hermione ends up with Ron, Harry, Neville, or no one/other, or who dies/lives/turns traitor, beyond how it will make the characters react and thereby give me more insight into the characters' minds. Yes, the story developing is interesting, but I've read stories as interesting, if not moreso, in fanfiction.
This is why I love AUs so much, and why many of my favorite fics take place in that alternate universe. It's giving the characters chances that JKR won't let them have. It's why I love the Stealing Harry-verse so much--Remus and Sirius have the chance to find love and really live, and Harry had some happiness in his childhood, and yet Sam still manages to tell a story, with all those traditional elements of a story, and does things with the characters that make me happy. They're still the characters that I first met in the series, but that I only fell in love with through fanfiction, and that I stay in love with through fanfiction. I love AUs because that way I can keep the characters that I love without the nasty things JKR has done to them--if I had things my way, Sirius would never have gone to Azkaban, would not have had an encounter with a mysterious veil, and would be having lots of sex with Remus. I want that happily ever after, and I can get it however I want it, and in so many different ways, with AU.
...I've rambled a lot, and I probably have more to say, but it's nearing three am now (whoo, back to my usual hours!) and I should probably shut up. Anyway.
What do all of you think of canon, and what does it mean to you?
ETA: Figured I should put what I mean when I say "canon". Copied and pasted from comment withhi1arity.
Which is to say, the characters, plot, and background information we get from the books. The canon-as-guidelines for me is the characterization and the background information, and those are things most AUs I read will stick to, and what any future AUs I write will likely stick to, even if they toss canon plot out the window :p.
ETAx2: (because I should probably say it) No, I would not want canon changed so that Sirius never went to Azkaban and whatnot. Canon is still canon, and I want fanfic to stay fanfic and JKR to write canon the way she writes it. That doesn't mean, however, that I can't like fanfic better than canon :p.
So, I read PS/SS back in 1998, and continued reading the books as they came out. I remember how PoA came out a few days before my twelfth(? I think so) birthday, and I got it as a present for my twin, and then secretly read it myself before our birthday actually arrived, just because I wanted to know what happened. We got GoF the day it came out, and I was frustrated that my twin said I could read it only after she was done, while I thought I should read it first because I'm a faster reader than she is. And for OotP, I remember hanging around in Barnes and Nobles for hours as we waited for midnight and June 21st to arrive, and reading the first chapter by streetlamp as I waited for my ride to arrive (I was about a week away from my license), and then coming home and reading the whole thing from 1:00 am to 6:30 am, and going to sleep vaguely dissatisfied (more on that later, though I'm not going into an OotP rant).
I've liked the books for nearly as long as it has been possible to like the books. But the thing is, I never was completely impressed with them. Years ago, I was part of an anime/video games discussion board, and I remember in the General forum, there was a thread on Harry Potter, and some people were saying they loved it and it's the best series ever, while others were saying it sucked completely, and I remember my answer as being something along the lines of "They're good books. Not anything great, but good books." This was early 2002, I think.
And I come directly from thinking the books "not anything great" to being a List Elf at HPfGU (one of the largest and most well-known HP discussion groups on the internet) and an eMentor and coder/dinger at FictionAlley (which is even bigger than HPfGU!). HP has gone from being something I thought "not that great" to something that takes up so many hours of my time it's not even funny, and something I feel guilty about not participating in/fulfilling my responsibilities in for a few days after I have surgery.
And fanfiction, as always, is what I know to have changed me. I've been part of ff.net since 2001, but I mostly stayed away from the HP section, until early 2003, when I decided to look and see what's so great about Harry Potter, that it had its 60,000+ (or whatever the number was then) fics.
And I discovered exactly What Was So Great About Harry Potter--fanfiction. I started with MWPP-era stuff, and eventually read several fifth-year fics, and joined the SBRL list and read a bunch of R/S stuff. I hadn't yet given in and joined HPfGU and FA yet (much less LJ!), but I'd say I was pretty immersed in the fandom.
So then I read OotP, as a member of the fandom. And I was Unsatisfied. As
copperbadge wrote in stealingharry: "Tom Clancy once said that the difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense. I'm beginning to believe that the difference between fiction and fanfic is that the plot holes have to be a lot smaller." And the thing about OotP is, while I liked parts of it, I was not too impressed with it as a whole. Very reminiscent of my impression of the series as a whole, prior to reading fanfic about it.And I've come to realize that I'm not in the fandom for the books, the canon. I'm in the fandom for the fanfiction. I'm here for the world JKR has created, and not for how JKR herself writes that world, because frankly, I think that while JKR's a brilliant storyteller (as evidenced by so many of us having been sucked into her world), she's not a brilliant writer, and there are people I consider brilliant writers writing fanfiction for free, people like
thistlerose and copperbadge and ladyjaida and so many more, simply because there are things they want to explore and things they want to say.What canon is for me is more like guidelines, really (:p). JKR's given us the background of the wizarding world with things like Quidditch and Quodpot and Floo powder and portkeys and all that wondrous magic. She's given us all these characters, the Remus and Sirius I love so much, the James and Harry and Regulus and Tom Riddle, Ron Weasley, Ginny and Hermione and Neville and Snape, Peter Pettigrew and Luna Lovegood, and so many more...they are what I love about the HP books. I've found I don't care about what happens in the coming books save for the new characters and concepts introduced! I don't care who the Half-Blood Prince is (maybe it really is Sam! :p) beyond how it'll make me see the characters and possibly subsequently write them. I don't care whether Hermione ends up with Ron, Harry, Neville, or no one/other, or who dies/lives/turns traitor, beyond how it will make the characters react and thereby give me more insight into the characters' minds. Yes, the story developing is interesting, but I've read stories as interesting, if not moreso, in fanfiction.
This is why I love AUs so much, and why many of my favorite fics take place in that alternate universe. It's giving the characters chances that JKR won't let them have. It's why I love the Stealing Harry-verse so much--Remus and Sirius have the chance to find love and really live, and Harry had some happiness in his childhood, and yet Sam still manages to tell a story, with all those traditional elements of a story, and does things with the characters that make me happy. They're still the characters that I first met in the series, but that I only fell in love with through fanfiction, and that I stay in love with through fanfiction. I love AUs because that way I can keep the characters that I love without the nasty things JKR has done to them--if I had things my way, Sirius would never have gone to Azkaban, would not have had an encounter with a mysterious veil, and would be having lots of sex with Remus. I want that happily ever after, and I can get it however I want it, and in so many different ways, with AU.
...I've rambled a lot, and I probably have more to say, but it's nearing three am now (whoo, back to my usual hours!) and I should probably shut up. Anyway.
What do all of you think of canon, and what does it mean to you?
ETA: Figured I should put what I mean when I say "canon". Copied and pasted from comment with
hi1arity.Which is to say, the characters, plot, and background information we get from the books. The canon-as-guidelines for me is the characterization and the background information, and those are things most AUs I read will stick to, and what any future AUs I write will likely stick to, even if they toss canon plot out the window :p.
ETAx2: (because I should probably say it) No, I would not want canon changed so that Sirius never went to Azkaban and whatnot. Canon is still canon, and I want fanfic to stay fanfic and JKR to write canon the way she writes it. That doesn't mean, however, that I can't like fanfic better than canon :p.
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no subject
Date: 2004-06-30 03:07 am (UTC)I think it's a bit hypocritical to say that I am a canon whore, and then write AUs, live off of Sirius/Remus, and put Harry in eyeliner. To deem myself a 'canon whore' builds unintentional walls that block out fanfiction and fanart that doesn't follow exactly what the books state and exactly how they state it.
That being said, I am a canon whore. I store away every bit of supplementary information in my mind like the Lexicon; I theorize and psychoanalyze every character who crosses into my path; I read, read again, and read once more just to absorb every last bit of information so that I don't accidentally slip up.
To me, yes, the books are guidelines and we write from what we know, but moreover, the books stand where they are, how they are, untouched and unchanged, and anything that JKR doesn't explicitly state or deny in the text can be worked out in fiction.
I'm not in the fandom for the fiction or the art, which may seem rather odd. I'm in it so that I can obsess about the book canon and learn more utterly useless and ultimately nerdy information--because, really, Harry Potter is a children's book series, and yet a majority of the die hard fans are well into their teen years and beyond.
When I do write AUs, I take all of the canon information I have been given, and make sure that all events taking place within the story work out in the new universe that has been set up for them. Hypothetical questions run amok in Potterverse--what if Peter had been found out? What if the Potters had never died? What if Harry hadn't jumped to conclusions and run off to the Department of Mysteries? Those questions are what spawn my favorite sorts of AUs--the kind that could have happened, yet didn't.
What didn't happen makes for a compelling story, but if the canon isn't correct, then it makes for Mary Sue.
I think somewhere along the line I lost my entire point, but I suppose I should summarize myself thusly:
I wouldn't be here if the books didn't move me, and it's always nice to have a bit of AU and a lot of theories while waiting for the next book to come out.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-30 04:00 am (UTC)Don't agree with this: What didn't happen makes for a compelling story, but if the canon isn't correct, then it makes for Mary Sue.
Badly planned OCs/badly characterized canon characters make for Mary Sue, incorrect canon makes for...incorrect canon :p.
...I think I will go back and add what I mean when I say "canon". Which is to say, the characters, plot, and background information we get from the books. The canon-as-guidelines for me is the characterization and the background information, and those are things most AUs I read will stick to, and what any future AUs I write will likely stick to, even if they toss canon plot out the window :p.
*shrugs* I wouldn't be here without the fanfiction. I'd still be reading the books, yes, because I read the books before the fandom for it existed, but I wouldn't be in the fandom without the fanfiction. My canon information whorishness also goes back to fanfic, as I wouldn't care about all that if I hadn't needed to know it for realistic fic.
I like the books. I probably always will. But there are some fics that I like more than the books, and some fic authors I think better at writing than JKR, and that's why I'm here.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-30 04:48 am (UTC)There are certainly stories out there that I like better than the books, I suppose, though that might be too strong of a thing to say. Always, I will love the books more than any fanfic that I read or write, because even if an author knows a character inside and out, they will inevitably get certain things wrong, as only JKR knows what she's talking about.
As for her writing, you can't truly judge her by the children's novels that she writes because they are for the ickle ones. :p A ten year old won't appreciate a Jaida!fic like the rest of us do.
I think I'm being jumpy and defensive because one of my friends (and a huge HP fan--the person who tugged me into it all--and a reader/writer of fiction) informed me that she hates JKR due to the fact that JKR thought we were ridiculous for believing the hoax. I didn't believe it for numerous reasons, but apparently my friend really loved that particular title, and is now offended...and told me that she won't be reading the next books.
I think that JKR gets a lot of crap--too much crap, at that--from everyone. We ridicule her writing, we bark at her when she makes 'Flints' (which may not be--we may just want to point out every fault she has!), and we constantly seem to dish out problem after problem with how she formulates things. To me, HP is about the books. The fanfiction is an added bonus that keeps me happy while I wait, but it's not everything there is. Fanart is much the same.
There are many people writing stories who have only read one or two of the books, and have seen the three movies. They are also in the fandom for the fanfiction, and they are also blemishing the fandom with their fanfiction. (Not that the blemishes are visible behind the wank, but I digress.)
I guess what I'm trying to say is that to me HP is it. I write because it makes me happy and I read fics because it makes me extremely happy, and I draw because inspiration hits. I stayed in the fandom because it was so active and filled with brilliant people--not just authors or artists, but theorists and researchers and people who wanted to get beneath the stories and not just make more up.
Fiction is the magnet keeping me in as much as I am, but I would certainly be here even without it.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-30 05:09 am (UTC)Thing is, that doesn't matter to me as long as I like the characterization and think it makes sense within the bounds of what she's given us. If we don't know about those certain things that are wrong because JKR hasn't told us, what does it matter than they're wrong at all?
I'm not trying to judge her on her writing, or be mad at her because she's made Flints, or anything like that. Didn't mean to come off that way if I have. It's just that I've discovered that reading fanfic about her books makes me happier than reading her actual books does (if only because she's never going to focus on Remus and Sirius the way I--and most of the fanfiction--I read do). I don't understand why your friend isn't going to read the next books, because well you know, I still like them and want to know what happens, but I don't enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy certain fics.
I also stay in the fandom for the reasons you do--the authors and artists and the theorists and researchers and so on. But I never would have gotten into the fandom in the first place if I hadn't decided to read fanfic, because I wouldn't have been that interested. My initial (and continuing) reaction to the books was different from yours, is all. But when things are over and done, and book seven's been written and published and read and discussed to death, if RL hasn't taken over my life and if fanfiction's still here (which I can't imagine that it wouldn't be), I'll probably still be reading it and writing it myself.
Now as it's past five am...will respond to any further comments this afternoon when I wake up :p.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-30 03:36 am (UTC)But I won't ramble longer because truth is, everything you've said is how I feel about the whole thing, so it'd be pretty pointless! <3
no subject
Date: 2004-06-30 03:59 am (UTC)I can only love Remus/Sirius because I think they may be consciously written as a couple - there are other pairings in the fandom that strike my fancy, but I don't LOVE them, write them, or even read them, because I find them canonically impossible. If Rowling said "no, Remus and Sirius aren't lovers," I could never feel the same way about them again - I could like them as a theoretical pairing (hell, Harry/Draco? Tickles me aesthetically, and I do like the idea of rival!passion) but if the canon doesn't work I could never LOVE them the way I do now.
And I can't seem to bring myself to write AUs, or even read them because they make my canon!whore cry. I can live with, and accept, subtext provided it is adequately backed up by actual text, but cannot accept outright divergences. I am one of like two people in the fandom who has never read Stealing Harry.
The other place in which I think I hit polar opposite of you is... well. I like all the pain. I hit a realization the other day that the reason I love them is because it's all so tragic. If Sirius hadn't gone to Azkaban then had a crappy life and died, I'd probably feel about R/S the way I feel about, say... Ron/Hermione. I like the idea, I like them together, but I don't feel like bouncing about them, and I don't seek out communities, other fans, fanfic, fanart... blah blah.
So what does canon mean to me, as a fan? ...everything. Just, absolutely everything.
Yeah. I'm so boring.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-30 04:47 am (UTC)Thing is, at this point, if JKR said that Remus and Sirius weren't lovers, I don't think it would really affect me all that much (doesn't seem to have affected the Draco/Hermione shippers...). I'd be disappointed, sure, because I think that their dynamic speaks more for them as being lovers than being friends. But the pairing wouldn't be reduced in my mind to just something that tickles my fancy, because I've rather invested too much emotion into it now for that feeling to dull away like that.
Also, about the tragic thing. I don't think I would be as attracted to this pairing as I am if it hadn't happened--however I feel about canon, I would not want to change it--and if Sirius hadn't gone to Azkaban (not sure about the death thing) and Remus spent twelve years alone, then their whole personalities and dynamic would be changed, and I probably wouldn't like them as much, and maybe I'd feel the same way about them as you and I both feel about Ron/Hermione, which is to say, not as passionate :p. And I don't mind angst (hell, my absolute favoritest fic EVER is the angstiest thing I've ever read, and so far from its respective (FFVII) canon that it's not funny, as Cloud/Sephiroth is like Harry/Voldemort), but I like happily ever after. And for Remus/Sirius, it's not something I'm gonna get in canon, so why not look for it--and find it--in fanfiction? *shrug*
Erm. Nearly five am, so I should probably shut up and go to bed :p.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-30 03:07 pm (UTC)It's pretty hard for me to figure out where I stand on this issue. For one, I am indeed a canon whore. In my own fic, at the least, I'll nitpick my details to death and check and double-check everything I can to be sure I'm correct.
But.
I do totally agree that the characters come first. I love AU's when the characters are written correctly, and no matter the setting, what matters to me most in a fic--any fic--are getting the characters right.
As to canon vs. fic, though...I see them as going hand in hand. I agree with
And as a side note to
no subject
Date: 2004-07-01 02:40 am (UTC)Well I don't think that, if she did just say no, it would be reduced to H/D "tickling" level. Because really, H/D might tickle my "black and white, love/hate" blah blah thing, but I've never cared enough to seek it out, or read... any of it, or anything, it's just a gut reaction and not backed up by action. But I do think it would be reduced to some degree, because I would know I'm supporting, essentially, an AU pairing, which would be a bit odd honestly. Because I've actually never done that, and I don't know how long I could. It's a Thing. :)
So yeah, for me, Sirius dying is probably why I love them. (Yet, if he came back at the end of the 7th book, I wouldn't lose my pairing love. But if he hadn't died to begin with, I never would have had said love to begin with, I think. It's weird.) I suppose I am a tragedy junkie in that way, which may perhaps come from reading too many classics. >_< So I suppose I like happily ever afters, but only sometimes.
In Sirius' case we've got a classical tragedy, which I love. Born privileged, had absolutely everything; gorgeous, top of the year, rich, good friends, brilliant future, lost it all because of one stupid mistake and then he fell and kept falling and lost everything til all there was left to do was die. And I think that's why I love him, and also why if he hadn't died, I wouldn't love him the way do: because it would have felt, to me, like an unnatural happy ending on a classical tragedy, much like the reworking of King Lear.
...I cannot believe I just compared Harry potter to Shakespeare. Clearly I must sleep.
Anyway that's my take, and why I love the pain and even the death, even though I also detest the death. A lot. In a bizarre twist, if I could change anything, I'd keep him alive, even though I know I wouldn't love him, or them, the same way anymore.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-30 09:53 am (UTC)Amen, my sister. ^__~
Much of what you had to say about canon is right on for me as well.
I came into the HP fandom much the way you did. After my first read -- I finished PS/SS and CoS in the same day -- I thought they were sweet, clever and enjoyable. Nothing really fan-worthy (I think I was actually involved with the Animorphs fandom at the time..>__<). After PoA, I was more intrigued by the characters -- even at 13 or so, I loved both Sirius and Remus. However, what really got me involved was the fic. I spent a long time looking for quality Remus-fic. Unfortunately, even the decent Remus/O(F)C stories didn't quite work for me...something was missing.
Then I decided to give all of these Remus/Sirius stories a try. Now, I certainly didn't have a problem with homosexuality at the time. However, I just didn't buy what slash I had read...it seemed too OOC to work with most pairings. Remus/Sirius obviously changed that for me, and I've never looked back since! ^__~
If JKR came out and denounced Remus/Sirius, I would feel some sense of sadness, I think. I know that I shouldn't, and it definitely wouldn't stop me from enjoying the pairing, but to have it firmly denied would be disappointing for me. I guess that means I tend to take canon fairly seriously, but not as an end-all. AU fic is not my favorite thing to read in general, although there have been some major exceptions, particularily by some of my favorite writers (you included!)...I tend to prefer MWPP-era fic, because there's so much possibility there.
Hmm...this is getting pretty long. That's all!
no subject
Date: 2004-06-30 11:29 am (UTC)__________
Oh, okay fine. You listed me with
no subject
Date: 2004-06-30 02:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-30 04:55 pm (UTC)Well, if you consider most of my R/S stories are linked to one another, it's really one big, long novel. :)
I tend not to write novel-length fics because I have this fear I'll never finish them. But the Bring Back Black fic has a complicated plotline, so it might prove...long.
*blushes some more* I <3333 you, too!
no subject
Date: 2004-07-05 03:02 am (UTC)Well, novel-length to me just subconsciously includes novel-format: chapters, major plotline, and so on. Rising action, climax, conclusion, and all those other elements of literature or whatever they're called, I don't quite remember. There's just so many R/S one-shots in comparison with R/S novel-length fics, and it's just, almost as much as I love happy romance fluffy stuff, or maybe even as much or more, I love big long intricate plots, and chapters and how one chapter leads into the next in the way that chapters have, where they wouldn't make sense as one-shots. Not just novel-length (which is still one of my favorite parts, because my favoritest story ever also happens to be the second-longest thing I ever read--unabridged Les Miserables is the first, and this story's like forty pages shorter), but novel-like.
I'm babbling, obviously, but I shall use the three am excuse. I completely understand the whole fear of never finishing long fics (sorta living it...*glances nervously at ignored Only Time*), but with your power of language and amazing characterization and utter depth of detail combined with the long intricate plots that I love would leave me a puddle of deliriously happy goo on the floor for a good long time. (Er. Not meant to be pressure or anything ^^;)
....
Date: 2004-06-30 11:58 am (UTC)I read OotP again, and I realized how much I disliked it. I think, over the years, I've become more in love with fanfiction than the books themselves. Hmm... not sure if that's a good thing... But there are a lot of things JK wrote that I didn't like, and I guess the fanfics sort of let you forget about things that happened in the books... er... sorry, I'm rambling. But I agree with you, canon is sort of like guidelines, and there are fics out there that are better than the books themselves.
I finished chapie 4 of Oblivious Misery a few days ago and sent it off to you, but I'm just wondering if you'd gotten it (I sent it off to rynne_lupin@yahoo.com).
Re: ....
Date: 2004-06-30 12:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-30 12:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-30 08:03 pm (UTC)That's one reason why I really like well-done AUs. Because I am a canon-whore, and so I love poking at the ramifications of just changing one thing and seeing how, within the solid structure of canon, it affects everything else. (And why I hate badly done AUs, because they're skipping that vital step and expecting me to not care.) And it's a reason why good fanfic can change my mind about a book/movie/series I thought was just okay, by showing me that there is, in fact, a lot to talk about and probe at.