Harry Potter Fans Hate Harry Potter
Nov. 17th, 2009 07:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
inverarityIt's not Harry Potter specific – I think this sentiment is somewhat universal across all fandoms. But I lurk in a lot of places where I never post, and I've come to the conclusion that every fandom devours itself eventually.
Now, a lot of angst over Harry Potter is the fact that the series is over, the fandom is shrinking (or moving on to Twilight and Supernatural -- sigh), and the volume of new HP fan fiction is dramatically decreasing, as is the number of readers and reviewers. The fandom will contract even further once the last movie is out. One by one, the major Harry Potter fan sites are starting to resemble Detroit -- once thriving communities, now being abandoned in droves, with many of those left behind turning the remains into a ruins. (I don't even post on the Fiction Alley forums anymore.)
Contrary to the more dismal predictions, however, I don't think the Harry Potter fandom will ever go away. Even the most obscure series, after all, have their own LJ communities and sections on fanfiction.net. And I like to remember the example of Star Trek, the fandom against which all other fandoms must inevitably be compared, the fandom that spawned fan fiction communities in the days before the Internet, during the long years in which there was no new canonical material being produced. (Also the fandom that gave us terms like "slash" and "Mary Sue," for you kids who don't know that.)
Time will tell whether Harry Potter takes its place as a true classic. Will our grandchildren still be reading Harry Potter? Will it be our generation's Narnia, or will it be our generation's Elsie Dinsmore?
That's probably a pretty bad comparison. I liked the Chronicles of Narnia well enough when I read it in elementary school (and was more inclined to take the fantasy elements at face value, even though I was quite aware that it was a Christian allegory even then), but even as a child I knew that the last book ended the series in a train wreck, figuratively as well as literally. (Well, for some of you vitriolic Deathly Hallows-haters, maybe that is a good comparison.)
Being in another one of my rambly moods, I'll share a few other series and authors that have influenced me. (I'm going to limit myself mostly to fantasy here, though I also read lots and lots of science fiction, too.)
The Dark Is Rising, by Susan Cooper. Frankly, this is a better series than Harry Potter. Will Stanton is a much grimmer boy magician than Harry Potter, and this is the first series I remember reading as a child that made me sad when I finished the last book because there wasn't any more to read. Susan Cooper really deserved to have Rowling's level of success; sadly, the 2007 film "The Seeker" bore almost no resemblance to the source material, and it sucked mightily.
Suzette Haden Elgin's Ozarker trilogy. Yes, Elgin wrote about magical Ozarkers long before I did. My Ozarkers are quite different from hers, of course, but I was undeniably influenced by her, and there are quite a few overt nods to Elgin's Ozarker trilogy in Alexandra Quick.
(I've also read some of Elgin's other works; the Native Tongue trilogy is, well, interesting in the first book, kind of absurd in the second, and incoherent in the third.)
His Dark Materials, by Philip Pullman. Some people have compared Alexandra to Lyra, but I didn't actually read these books until after I'd written Alexandra Quick and the Thorn Circle. I loved the first book, and liked the second; unfortunately, the story kind of fell apart in book three. Why do so many authors screw up their series in the last book? (The movie The Golden Compass, by the way, was really not that bad; it's unfortunate that it bombed so badly that we're not likely to ever see the rest of the series on film.)
The Lord of the Rings. I'm mentioning this one only because it would be a glaring omission. But you know what? I'll probably be pilloried by some folks, but I never actually finished the trilogy. I thought it was boring! Yes, Tolkien was an epic worldbuilder, but as a storyteller, he just did not captivate me. I'm one of those people who knows most of my Tolkien second-hand, from the movies, etc. (Also from way too much Dungeons & Dragons when I was a kid.)
Elric of Melniboné, by Michael Moorcock. Not my favorite fantasy series of all time, but I thought it was much more creative and imaginative than Tolkien. Where Tolkien mostly synthesized a lot of Germanic fairy tales and Nordic myths, Moorcock created something entirely different, including a hero who was not very nice and not very heroic, and who dies in the end. (I know Moorcock didn't invent the anti-hero, but this was one of my earliest exposures to the concept.)
I could go on, but I've run out of steam for this particular entry, and really, I just felt like posting something besides "Hey! Word count update!" (103307, btw.) Feel free to discuss your literary influences. (Has anyone besides me ever read Elgin or Susan Cooper?)
Now, a lot of angst over Harry Potter is the fact that the series is over, the fandom is shrinking (or moving on to Twilight and Supernatural -- sigh), and the volume of new HP fan fiction is dramatically decreasing, as is the number of readers and reviewers. The fandom will contract even further once the last movie is out. One by one, the major Harry Potter fan sites are starting to resemble Detroit -- once thriving communities, now being abandoned in droves, with many of those left behind turning the remains into a ruins. (I don't even post on the Fiction Alley forums anymore.)
Contrary to the more dismal predictions, however, I don't think the Harry Potter fandom will ever go away. Even the most obscure series, after all, have their own LJ communities and sections on fanfiction.net. And I like to remember the example of Star Trek, the fandom against which all other fandoms must inevitably be compared, the fandom that spawned fan fiction communities in the days before the Internet, during the long years in which there was no new canonical material being produced. (Also the fandom that gave us terms like "slash" and "Mary Sue," for you kids who don't know that.)
Time will tell whether Harry Potter takes its place as a true classic. Will our grandchildren still be reading Harry Potter? Will it be our generation's Narnia, or will it be our generation's Elsie Dinsmore?
That's probably a pretty bad comparison. I liked the Chronicles of Narnia well enough when I read it in elementary school (and was more inclined to take the fantasy elements at face value, even though I was quite aware that it was a Christian allegory even then), but even as a child I knew that the last book ended the series in a train wreck, figuratively as well as literally. (Well, for some of you vitriolic Deathly Hallows-haters, maybe that is a good comparison.)
Being in another one of my rambly moods, I'll share a few other series and authors that have influenced me. (I'm going to limit myself mostly to fantasy here, though I also read lots and lots of science fiction, too.)
The Dark Is Rising, by Susan Cooper. Frankly, this is a better series than Harry Potter. Will Stanton is a much grimmer boy magician than Harry Potter, and this is the first series I remember reading as a child that made me sad when I finished the last book because there wasn't any more to read. Susan Cooper really deserved to have Rowling's level of success; sadly, the 2007 film "The Seeker" bore almost no resemblance to the source material, and it sucked mightily.
Suzette Haden Elgin's Ozarker trilogy. Yes, Elgin wrote about magical Ozarkers long before I did. My Ozarkers are quite different from hers, of course, but I was undeniably influenced by her, and there are quite a few overt nods to Elgin's Ozarker trilogy in Alexandra Quick.
(I've also read some of Elgin's other works; the Native Tongue trilogy is, well, interesting in the first book, kind of absurd in the second, and incoherent in the third.)
His Dark Materials, by Philip Pullman. Some people have compared Alexandra to Lyra, but I didn't actually read these books until after I'd written Alexandra Quick and the Thorn Circle. I loved the first book, and liked the second; unfortunately, the story kind of fell apart in book three. Why do so many authors screw up their series in the last book? (The movie The Golden Compass, by the way, was really not that bad; it's unfortunate that it bombed so badly that we're not likely to ever see the rest of the series on film.)
The Lord of the Rings. I'm mentioning this one only because it would be a glaring omission. But you know what? I'll probably be pilloried by some folks, but I never actually finished the trilogy. I thought it was boring! Yes, Tolkien was an epic worldbuilder, but as a storyteller, he just did not captivate me. I'm one of those people who knows most of my Tolkien second-hand, from the movies, etc. (Also from way too much Dungeons & Dragons when I was a kid.)
Elric of Melniboné, by Michael Moorcock. Not my favorite fantasy series of all time, but I thought it was much more creative and imaginative than Tolkien. Where Tolkien mostly synthesized a lot of Germanic fairy tales and Nordic myths, Moorcock created something entirely different, including a hero who was not very nice and not very heroic, and who dies in the end. (I know Moorcock didn't invent the anti-hero, but this was one of my earliest exposures to the concept.)
I could go on, but I've run out of steam for this particular entry, and really, I just felt like posting something besides "Hey! Word count update!" (103307, btw.) Feel free to discuss your literary influences. (Has anyone besides me ever read Elgin or Susan Cooper?)
My influences
Date: 2009-11-20 09:25 pm (UTC)So here is my list of authors that have influenced me:
Robert A. Heinlein - his juveniles. I read many of the other great old masters of sci-fi, but I don't really like their longer works. They were much better at the short story format. Heinlein could do both well, when he was writing juveniles. He had a gift for writing teenagers, but putting them into the center of unfolding events. Best example, "Citizen of the Galaxy". His books intended for adults are completely different and mostly suck. Even his juveniles are dated and often sexist by today's standards, but I still have a nostalgic affection for them.
Larry Niven - Larry Niven writes hard science fiction and he writes it well. His sciences is sometimes out there, but plausible and it hangs togother in a consistent framework. "Ringworld" is probably the best and most characteristic introduction to his work.
Roger Zelazny - Nobody writes mythic figures better than Zelazny. He has a gift for writing characters with almost god-like powers, but making you believe in them. My personal favorite is his first Amber series starting with "Nine Princes in Amber". I didn't like the Merlin series as much and I think the role-playing game misses the point. For aspiring writers, the Amber series is also a good study for how to close a book. Each book brings Corwin to a point where he is temporarily at rest and the reader can put the book down until the next one comes out. Yet each leaves enough unsettled to keep the reader coming back.
Alan Dean Foster - Alan Dean Foster is not a great writer, but he is a great storyteller. He writes enjoyable stories that keep you turning the page. I reccomend "Spellsinger" as his most characteristic work.
Frank Herbert - Dune. Must reading for any sci-fi fan. This is a novel is ponderous at points, but it has it all, plot, characterization and world-building, all swirled together in on memorable work. Sadly this one tale became his work as he kept cranking out Dune books. They just don't stand up to the original.
Robert Jordan - The Eye of the World. In my opinion simply the best fantasy novel ever written. Sadly success went to Jordan's head and he didn't maintain this standard. The first three books are well-worth reading, but with each successive book the numbers of characters and subplot multiply and multiply. Jordan really needed a strong editor to tell him to trim back the subplots and finish the story, but no, he kept writing and expanding this one mega-story until he died. Read the first one to see how a story should be written.
Harry Turtledove - Turtledove's speciality is deeply researched alternate histories. It should come as no surprise that he has a Ph.D in history. His specialty is in Byzantine history and I think his best work is the Misplaced Legion series where a Roman army gets transported to a magical world.
Dave Duncan - Take fantasy worlds with magic that is internally consistent and logical, mix in likeable characters and strong plots. I'd suggest "The Reluctant Swordsman" as a good starting place.
Steven Gould - This is a man who writes good, "what if" stories. The best examples is his first work, "Jumper", which is a well-crafted story based on a simple question - what if you could teleport? I'm aware there is a Hollywood movie loosely inspired by this book, but it is nothing like the book.
YMMV - Your Mileage May Vary, but these are some of my favorite influences.
Keep Writing,
Miles2go