I'm flattered that you took the time to respond at such length and in detail to my comments, esp. considering how busy you are right now.
And I'm both bemused and impressed by the fact that it occurred to you to interview your characters. Perhaps this is a tribute to the sort of strengths that a Waldorf education builds in students? You come at problems from angles that never, in what passes for the wildest flights of fancy in me, would ever enter my head.
OK. I'll try anything once. So I did an interview with Snape in my head. It turns out that my Snape is very canon, and a much harsher, unhappier person than yours is (or most Snapes I've read in fanon). Your Snape is capable of affection and attachment, particularly if it sneaks up on him unawares. Mine couldn't be taken by surprise like that: he's terribly self-aware, in the way that very reserved people often are, and I doubt he could feel warmth or strong affection for anyone else. I'm not really sure I'd want to spend the amount of time inside his head that would be required to work up fiction about him.
But I'll think about doing it, when I have the time and impulse to try something that would be very new, and a real stretch for me. That would be in late July, 2005 (given my current publishing commitments). But for now, my time is fully taken up by my children, my profession (teaching), my craft (writing history), and my art (singing). I like singing precisely because it isn't verbal; as an exercise in perversity, I posted an essay last week on my lj that attempted to capture in words an art that by its very nature resists words. I was halfway satisfied by what I wrote. But it made me aware that I need an art that's not wordy.
Actually, I'm considering tapering off with the hp essays, after the New Year. For you, it was an entree into writing fiction. But for me, it's like academic analysis lite. I'm using the same gifts and approach I use for historical sources: breaking down fanon/canon into small pieces, rearranging it into new patterns (or pointing out common fanon patterns to the reader), and sucking all the juice out of it.
That's fine for my historical subjects. Most of my research/writing is about people who chose to affiliate themselves with rather evil social processes (I generally write about people who were Nazis, or close to the Nazis). I rather enjoy demystifying them, breaking down their rhetoric and actions, and sucking the juice out of their mythologies and rationales. But I'm beginning to wonder whether I really want to do that with hp fanon.
Hmm. If that's what I really think, then perhaps I should switch to trying fiction, even though I know I couldn't do that as well as I do essays. You know, even my Snape could develop some sort of odd relationship with another person, if he were put in a position where he was compelled to do so.
*pauses. Thinks about the fact that she just yesterday agreed to write yet another historical piece, due in May, on top of the other publication commitments she foolishly agreed to for next semester. Reminds herself that she is very fortunate to have publishers (and readers) who want her to write history for them*
Maybe not. Not until I've sent in my big ms., due July 1st.
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branchandroot
Re: The non-mystery of the creative process - part II
Date: 2004-12-15 09:31 am (UTC)And I'm both bemused and impressed by the fact that it occurred to you to interview your characters. Perhaps this is a tribute to the sort of strengths that a Waldorf education builds in students? You come at problems from angles that never, in what passes for the wildest flights of fancy in me, would ever enter my head.
OK. I'll try anything once. So I did an interview with Snape in my head. It turns out that my Snape is very canon, and a much harsher, unhappier person than yours is (or most Snapes I've read in fanon). Your Snape is capable of affection and attachment, particularly if it sneaks up on him unawares. Mine couldn't be taken by surprise like that: he's terribly self-aware, in the way that very reserved people often are, and I doubt he could feel warmth or strong affection for anyone else. I'm not really sure I'd want to spend the amount of time inside his head that would be required to work up fiction about him.
But I'll think about doing it, when I have the time and impulse to try something that would be very new, and a real stretch for me. That would be in late July, 2005 (given my current publishing commitments). But for now, my time is fully taken up by my children, my profession (teaching), my craft (writing history), and my art (singing). I like singing precisely because it isn't verbal; as an exercise in perversity, I posted an essay last week on my lj that attempted to capture in words an art that by its very nature resists words. I was halfway satisfied by what I wrote. But it made me aware that I need an art that's not wordy.
Actually, I'm considering tapering off with the hp essays, after the New Year. For you, it was an entree into writing fiction. But for me, it's like academic analysis lite. I'm using the same gifts and approach I use for historical sources: breaking down fanon/canon into small pieces, rearranging it into new patterns (or pointing out common fanon patterns to the reader), and sucking all the juice out of it.
That's fine for my historical subjects. Most of my research/writing is about people who chose to affiliate themselves with rather evil social processes (I generally write about people who were Nazis, or close to the Nazis). I rather enjoy demystifying them, breaking down their rhetoric and actions, and sucking the juice out of their mythologies and rationales. But I'm beginning to wonder whether I really want to do that with hp fanon.
Hmm. If that's what I really think, then perhaps I should switch to trying fiction, even though I know I couldn't do that as well as I do essays. You know, even my Snape could develop some sort of odd relationship with another person, if he were put in a position where he was compelled to do so.
*pauses. Thinks about the fact that she just yesterday agreed to write yet another historical piece, due in May, on top of the other publication commitments she foolishly agreed to for next semester. Reminds herself that she is very fortunate to have publishers (and readers) who want her to write history for them*
Maybe not. Not until I've sent in my big ms., due July 1st.
Cordelia V