792 Dumbledon’t.

Yeah, I’m on the same page as you when it comes to fanfic. I’m not gona knock it, ’cause in many ways it’s an early way to get people to start writing, but I dunno why anyone would completely focus on it. Like you said: if you’re good enough to write a cohesive story with someone else’s characters, then you’re good enough to make your own. Personally I’ve always wanted to make my own stuff; characters, stories, games, etc. Never had any skills in those areas beyond being able to write words, so I ended up doing that and melding many of my favorite themes together to make stories (though the early stories are so obviously based on the stuff I was watching and playing back then; not really copies, but using all sorts of ideas from wherever).

Anyway, I understand fanfiction about franchises that have many, many gaps….but I don’t get it when people just make thier own stories with stuff like Harry Potter. Like you said, the story is pretty clear in the ways of the world and how the people feel about each other. However, we still get massive amounts of fanfics (just like with anything else) displaying people’s desire to see the stories go in different directions. I gotta agree with you again: if you can write, why REwrite someone else’s stuff? Especially if your end result doesn’t even get the FEEL of the characters right. You can see a similar thing in some superhero movies, or movies based on some franchise or another. Ya know, when the movie takes everything that has been established and just doesn’t something else entirely. Why make a different story with someone else’s chracters? People are going to see that movie to see those characters, not your personal interpretation of them.

My only real complaint about the HP universe is that it can’t be reduced to numbers like most other universes, so it can’t be gamed in. It’s the “Cops and robbers” style bs all over the place, and it’s… annoying. If you’re going to build a universe, start with how it works, mechanics and physics (I love Cyberpunk, Steampunk, and General-Fantasy universes done right~).

But that’s because I don’t enjoy the storyline in books per se, but also what those storylines show us of the universe. Where and how are more important to me: I prefer to visit these places on my own as I can. RPGs drive my reading, and I’m ok with that. Much more a part of the action on my own than as following someone else’s story~

To that end, I suppose I’m quite the fan-fic writer, though I rarely deal with the main cast of any series (I have had a crew playing Stormbringer encounter a deranged, psychotic Elric, but only because they went searching for the bastard~). I have done a lot of works in the Dragonlance realm, as well as in the Phantasy Star (2-era) universe, and I’ve used lots of works to influence my characters when I’m on the other side of a screen (Played a Louis de Pointe du Lac-inspired cyborg in a CP2020 campaign, a tortured priest with a demon to be carried for his god’s intentions (ala Johnny Mnemonic) in my AD&D 1.0 campaign, etc.), which I suppose counts a bit too.

I’ve done a lot of my own writing, as well as writing within other universes, for novels/short stories. I suppose the biggest draw for me to work in someone else’s universe is that it’s a challenge to fit someone else’s rules, and seeing my characters push those rules is always something that’s fun (Similar to Parson Gotti in Erfworld, if you read it… playing with the rules, learning them, fighting them… it’s a great deal more interesting from another angle~).

But I’ve rambled enough. I love the art in this, as well as the dialog… especially the human interactions, doubly so since you say you haven’t really had them yourself to learn from~

when I read the HP books, I never got that Dumbledore, the same could be said of the stars wars books even watchign the movies i neever saw C3PO as gay a bit more a worry wart and feminine yes but thats what makes him funny

The closest thing I’ve come to fanfic is an article I wrote suggesting a buddy cop procedural starring River Tam and River Song. I ended up describing the opening scene of the pilot, but that was it. I actually find it difficult to get the tone and voice of the characters on the page. It’s almost easier to write your own characters.

I like the first few books of HP, 5 was okay, but in 7, when Harry started acting like a jerk, I just lost interest because it seemed eally out of character to me. Another problem I have with the series is that one of it’s main appeals (at least for me) was the parts of the books where the characters just hung out, kind of like KOTLC. But in the last few books, it just kind of became all action all the time, and kind of ruined the series for me, so now, when people talk about how good the series is, I just tell them to read The Inheritance Cycle. (which I enjoyed way more)