AQATSA: Unfortunately, I'm a little old to be hanging out with 14-year-old girls

[inverarity]

AQATSA status: 243K words. I am on Chapter 40, and to try to discipline myself (and push myself to the end, at least of the first draft), my outline says: 44 chapters. I've even named the next four chapters.

PhoebeCaulfield wrote a very nice review of the Alexandra Quick series, and pointed out what some other people have said, which is that I do not have the same dynamic going between Alexandra and her friends that Rowling established with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. There are various reasons for this -- my crew is bigger, Alexandra is more independent, I'm probably not as good a writer as Rowling, and also I tend to carve stories out of a big chunk of clay with a rough idea of what I want it to look like in the end, and while I also have certain subplots and character arcs in mind as I go, a lot of it is improvised in the editing and so, for example, I tend to fit Anna and David and the Pritchards into the story where they will fit, rather than saying, "What can I do to make the story more about them?"

In AQATSA I have deliberately highlighted all of Alex's friends a bit more. There are some major subplots involving all of them, and even David, probably my most neglected primary secondary character, gets some more development than he did in the first three books. I am not sure if this will make up for the many chapters in which Alexandra is once again running off on her own, but both the author and Alexandra herself are making a deliberate effort to include her friends more in her adventures.

So, below I have two rambles/questions in which I actually am soliciting feedback and would like to know your thoughts.

Is Alexandra Quick AU? Is it going AU?

Right now, the story really is kind of all over the place, because I have refrained from doing as much editing as I have in the past before finishing a first draft. There are characters who have virtually disappeared who I might decide need to be in the story after all. There are new characters I may have to erase. There are some major happenings in which AQ threatens to really push the canon envelope. I have always considered Alexandra Quick "canon-compliant," which means while it is obviously not canon, and people may have issues with a few liberties I have taken with Rowling's setting and magical rules, I have always imagined that it could take place in Rowling's universe, since she pretty much left the world outside of Britain a big blank area.

There are certain things you can do and still remain canon-compliant, and certain things you can't. For example, the Lands Below, the Lands Beyond, and the Most Deathly Power are, at most, hinted at in Rowling's universe, but she hasn't written anything that would absolutely exclude them, or make them incompatible with her setting. On the other hand, if I were to have wizards openly taking over America -- well, I guess you could theoretically say that that's just not something Harry and Ginny thought worth mentioning while they were seeing their kids off to Hogwarts in the Epilogue, but still... Likewise having Greek gods show up, or revealing that wizards get their magical powers from midichlorians. Did Rowling specifically say "No Greek gods, no midichlorians"? No, but clearly elements like that don't really fit in the Potterverse.

All this is to say, in AQATSA I may be pushing that envelope a bit more, and I'm still deciding how far canon might get chucked out the window by the end of the series. Originally my plan was definitely to stay canon-compliant all the way to the end. There are pros and cons of constraining myself this way. The pros are that canon purists can still enjoy the story without feeling like I totally abandoned the spirit of Rowling's work, and it's also good discipline and keeps me from completely going off the rails into crack!fic land. The cons are that it constrains me, and maybe I want to do something Rowling just wouldn't.

(Don't worry, I am not entertaining thoughts of midichlorians.)

Actually, I find fourteen-year-olds pretty annoying even if they aren't like Alexandra.

Alexandra is not a typical fourteen-year-old girl. She's got a combination of traits both positive and negative that set her apart, even aside from being a witch. That's what makes a main character and a heroine, is being different from her peers. And Alexandra has been through experiences that would toughen up and change any teenager.

At the same time, I wonder if she is not a little too unlike a normal fourteen-year-old.

I went lurking a few blogs and boards where tweens and teens post (I really wish there was a way that that doesn't sound creepy :\) to get a feel for what actual kids Alexandra's age sound like. And... boy, do Alexandra and her friends not sound like any fourteen and fifteen-year-olds I found. Now granted, an online presentation is different from a face-to-face personality, and also Alexandra and her friends are part of a distinct subculture -- even in the few years Alexandra has been going to Charmbridge, she's been largely cut off from Muggle teen culture, which has only made her even more of an odd duck when she goes home to Larkin Mills.

But, my impression, and it could be an erroneous one, is that the average fourteen-year-old is pretty immature and unserious compared to Alexandra, Anna, the Pritchards, and even David (who remains the most Muggle-acculturated of their group).

This is complicated by the fact that the topic of S-E-X is going to rear its head in book four. So the teenage girl being written by a very-much-older-than-a-teenage male author just makes it even more complicated

I can handle Alexandra being a bit atypical, but I hope actual teenagers won't read AQ and think: "Those kids sound like the way my Dad talks." :P

Comments

[ebilgatoloco.livejournal.com]

I haven't read your series, but you probably writer Alexandra as non-typical fourteen year old. I should read your series and then tell you. But I'm probably right ;) Lol.

Canon? Those are guidelines.

[inverarity.livejournal.com]

READ IT! Even though there's no Dramione. :P

[swissmarg]

Ugh, PLEASE don't make Alexandra and her friends sound like typical modern American teens on Twitter.

You didn't say no Greek gods would be showing up. Is this going to turn into a Percy Jackson crossover? (kidding...right?)

[inverarity.livejournal.com]

How about Egyptian? Oh, darn, Riordan's doing them now too, isn't he?

[(Anonymous)]

IMO, Alex has always, ALWAYS been an independent person. I don't mean independent as in has-a-lot-of-friends-and-doesn't-follow-any-of-them (sort of like an alpha male/female, where they make others dependent on them), but more like there-are-more-important-things-going-on-than-petty-kid-relationship-nonsense. Really, if you think about it, she reacts to the world and other people like a child who's been traumatized to some degree, and never really learned to trust other people. If you look at the fact that she's always been somewhat ostracized by her peers, has a naturally combative personality, coupled with the fact that she's closely linked with someone who most of the world sees as evil, and she's not going to react to the world like a normal teenager.

On a similar note, Anna's got a similar background, where her peers and their parents look down on her because of her background and treat her very differently from everyone else in the community, almost like an interloper. She's naturally become very standoffish, and her interactions with people seem consistent with this mindset. I can see her either growing into this persona as a poorly-adjusted adult, or breaking free of it in a contrary and rebellious way (which is where I think you're going).

The pritchards come from a different culture entirely, and are dropped in with almost no positive support. Given their personalities, I think that their reactions and growth are more or less along the lines one would expect from a child.

David seems like the most 'normal' of the group, with other deeper relationships with people outside of this group and an interest in things his peers are interested in, like sports and house-elf activism. He doesn't spend a lot of time with Alex and co. because he's one of the popular kids. He grew up fairly well off, not wanting for anything he's needed (monetarily or socially, I mean), and like most kids in that environment, doesn't really know how to deal with people who have had to struggle with various things in life. It's not a criticism of him or his character, it's just a sad truth in modern American life--that was me back in school, tbh, and I know how that goes :P

It's been MY experience when I've tried to get others to read your work that most people who are hardcore HP fans have some sort of objection to any America-based story, whether it include HP and the gang or be entirely OOC like yours. It's pretty much an irrational reluctance, so there's nothing I can say about that. In regards to your adherence to canon, I think that the way you've been doing it is the best. I like how you use the background of HP as your basis for a magical world, but as has been expounded upon repeatedly (and with far greater perception than I possess, I might add), Rowling was hardly perfect. There are gaps in her story like any beginning author (and let's not forget that HP is her first literary adventure).

I am of the opinion that you should keep the magical world as is and as consistent as you can with HP, but of course, Magical America could be entirely different from GB. The socio-economic-political development of this country over a near-300 year period has led to incredible differences between us and our english counterparts, and I see no reason for that not to be the case in the magical world as well. The laws, customs, social standards and practices would have evolved in a different way as well. I would also note that things in the mundane world would probably have an effect as well, and there was not an event in GB quite like the Civil War, and nothing in the US (I would assume) like Grindwald or Lord Voldemort to affect how Americans feel about the laws and practices of magic and society.

~DarkSov

[(Anonymous)]

(Sorry, it cut me off at 4300 words...) PART 2:



I have no problem with addressing the topic of sex (and I honestly think that it's one of those things that Rowling SHOULD have addressed, because really it's ridiculous, some corners of this fandom...). Just don't go into real details. I don't mean that only because it would be creepy for a grown man to be talking about the adventures of a young girl (which it would), but because it's almost impossible to go into that sort of thing in a story without it becoming the story. This is another thing that Rowling left to our (depraved) imaginations. How often do magical people usually have sex? Wizards and Witches generally live for a lot longer than muggles, can witches get pregnant at older ages too? Are there spells for contraceptives? Are there spells like the morning-after pill? Are there spells for abortions? Are there spells for enhancing or prolonging sex? How adventurous or promiscuous are young witches and wizards? How does society feel about that? You know what, maybe it IS best that Rowling left these questions unanswered.

~DarkSov

[inverarity.livejournal.com]

On the one hand, I hate stories that are all "And then Hermione cast a Prophylactic Charm so that she and HarrySnape could have endless freaky sex and not worry about consequences." On the other hand, let's be real, of course wizards would use magic for sex purposes, and contraception is one of the earliest known uses of "magic" and "witchcraft" in the real world. So, yes, it will be mentioned.

(I'm not saying whether anyone actually has sex in AQATSA, but as for details, let's just say I don't intend for any AQ book to exceed a PG-13 rating.)

[(Anonymous)]

14 really is a bit young for the vast majority of kids to actually have sex, especially since most of your characters seem to either be very serious minded or were raised 'properly'. I wouldn't be suprised if they were thinking about it or talking about it or doing things that aren't actual sex, but at 14 it doesn't seem realistic for them to suddenly start jumping into bed with each other. The school should probably have a sex-ed talk with them at this age though if they haven't already and you just didn't write it (although why you would skip over this comic potential pot of gold is beyond me...).

So this is real life...

[(Anonymous)]

I definitely agree with the sex-ed talk, I think that would a great idea. The sex ed in school thing is a fiery topic in education in this country, it would be a shame not to include it here.

~DarkSov

[conuly]

There are serious 14 year olds. They're not the ones hanging out on teen sites, though. Instead, they're spending their time building their portfolios to get into a good college - taking AP classes, ACING AP classes, doing volunteer work, cultivating interesting interests, that sort of thing. Another version of this is children who intend to become serious performers when they're grown. It's not uncommon, for example, for dancers that age to practice three or four hours a day, every day, outside of their dance classes (and with homework and school and all!) The same thing goes for anybody who intends to head to the Olympics or anything like that.

Or, alternatively, they're serious because they have genuine issues that interfere with college-preparedness - they're earning money for their families, or at home taking care of siblings/cousins/nieces and nephews so that OTHER people can work to earn money for their families, or helping keep house and take care of sick parents.

Teenagers without consuming goals (which may or may not pan out in the long run) or extra concerns do tend to be frivolous and shallow... but that's because they can be. They aren't expected to act like grown-ups, and so they don't bother.

Alexandra and her friends, happily for your story (if not for them) have a number of serious concerns and considerations going on. Plus, many of them (say, the muggle-borns) may be reasonably expected to feel the need to work harder than their peers to ensure they can get a good job when leaving school.

[inverarity.livejournal.com]

That's a good point. And in a very real sense, Alexandra is preparing for Olympic-level contests. (This also will become more evident in book four.) One of the differences between Alexandra and Harry, which is intentional, is that Alexandra, upon realizing that she has these trials ahead of her, actually starts preparing for them. It always bugged me that Harry knew starting in book one that someday he'd have to face Voldemort, but he spends most of seven books going "Lalala QuidditchChoFML..."

[conuly]

Well, ignoring and avoiding problems is also common... and it could be that Harry never learned any normal, helpful coping techniques due to growing up in an abusive, neglectful household.

[malinbe.livejournal.com]

When I was fourteen years old, I used to be ashamed of the kind of online presence most of my peers had. I thought I had nothing in common with those people. Alex simply hasn't had either the time or the opportunity to be like those kids. She was thrown in the middle of a political tug war between her government and her father- at eleven. She was never going to be tweeting about Justin Bieber. And thank Merlin for that, because I wouldn't want to read about that :). Anna has her own issues and the Pritchards grew up quite isolated. The only one who seems a bit more like a normal teen is David, and he's been hanging out with a more politically oriented crowd.

What worries me about Alex's distance from her friends is that she'll isolate herself more, with her friends paying attention to their day-to-day stuff and not realizing how deeply in trouble Alex is, failing to be by her side; and that in the future they might not be ready to be by her side when things get really serious. Ron and Hermione decided to quite possibly face Voldemort by Harry's side at eleven, so there was no question that they would fight battles, risk their lives and their families at seventeen. Will Alex's friends understand how serious things are when the time comes? Or will they just not understand why Alex has to go get in the middle of things and patiently wait for adults to sort things out? I know they won't go for this last one, but if they don't already get the confidence to start standing by Alex's side, will they ever be confident enough to stand in the first line of battle, like Ron, Hermione, Neville, etc?

You obviously know the answers to these questions and you can't tell us, but you can't blame us for being nervous. You are deviating from the norm. That's unsettling.

[inverarity.livejournal.com]

I write a lot of deliberate parallels between Alexandra's story and Harry's, but Alexandra really isn't a female Harry, and Anna isn't Hermione, and David isn't Ron, etc. So yeah, things will be different than in Rowling's story. However, I hope people will be happy to see more involvement from her friends in book four.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree; I think there has to be a lot more bonding between them before her friends would be willing to follow her to hell and back. C&F are now in her debt because of Innocence, but at this point I still think it would be more likely for even Anna to go tell an adult instead of truly joining Alex on one of her more extreme adventures. Sneaking into the registrars office is one thing, going to the lands beyond is quite a different level of adventure.

So this is real life...

[prelator.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

I wouldn't worry about Alexandra being different than most other girls her age. Kind of goes with the Harry Potter territory. It's not exactly like the kids at Hogwarts were anything like typical vapid giggling teenagers at the mall either. I think it's kind of expected that kids in the magical world grow up faster and are more serious than muggle kids. After all, they have the added responsibility of knowing magic, which in itself would force them to mature faster since it's pretty serious stuff. Add in all the other pressures in Alexandra's life and it makes perfect sense that she'd be a lot more serious and focused than your typical shallow teen.

Also, you probably aren't looking at the right types of teenagers for comparison. I was home schooled as a kid and in high school I was active in the fairly large home school speech and debate community. Home schooler's in general are more seriously minded and focused than typical kids by virtue of being brought up in a sort of educational enclave with much closer adult supervision (not unlike magic schools). The kids in the debate world in particular were highly focused, serious, ambitious, and well-informed about politics and current events. They were of course still kids and acted their age at times, but their conversations were much more like adults. At any given time they'd be just as likely to be discussing the intricacies of US foreign policy as they would sports or videogames. I'd say that's much more like what you should be comparing Alexandra and her friends to. There's actually a forum for home school debaters that I still post on occasionally even though I'm now in my mid 20s - http://homeschooldebate.com. If you browse some of the discussions there you might get a better idea of how more focused and mature teens talk.

[inverarity.livejournal.com]

Yes, sometimes people forget that kids in the wizarding world are given a magic wand that can kill people at age eleven!

Watching homeschool debaters and other serious, academically-focused teen competitors probably would be closer to Alexandra's peers than the mall crowd.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_silverfox/]

I wouldn't expect Anna and even less the Pritchards to be a lot like the average American teenager either. Their were brought up in more or less isolated subcultures of the wizarding world and probably raised to be more responsible than David ... or Darla and Anquelique. The only one I'd expect to act like a Muggle teen is David. (Of course I don't know any fourteen year old Americans either, so it's easy for me not to see a problem.)

[(Anonymous)]

Hmm...

I think I've already said my piece regarding Alex's friends.

(Though you saying you tend to just put them in where they'd fit during editing explains some things)

Is Alexandra Quick AU? Is it going AU?

Interesting questions.

I would say that Alexandra Quick is not AU yet. It's obviously not "canon," but no fanfic is. You take a few liberties with certain things, such as the Fidelius Charm, but if taking a few liberties with the text made you AU all fanfics would be AU

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Hmm...

I think I've already said my piece regarding Alex's friends.

(Though you saying you tend to just put them in where they'd fit during editing explains some things)

<i>Is Alexandra Quick AU? Is it going AU?</i>

Interesting questions.

I would say that Alexandra Quick is not AU <b>yet</b>. It's obviously not "canon," but no fanfic is. You take a few liberties with certain things, such as the Fidelius Charm, but if taking a few liberties with the text made you AU all fanfics would be AU <_<.

As for whether it's OK for you to head in a more AU direction... Ideally, I'd say you should keep it canon-compliant, because I think that would help support suspension of disbelief. And I think that's a lot easier than you seem to believe; as far as I'm concerned, if it's not specifically contradicted by canon, it's fair game. I would say you almost definitely shouldn't directly go against canon, by like actually changing the spells and such, but I have no issues with you pushing the boundaries. Particularly if that's what the story requires.

<i>Actually, I find fourteen-year-olds pretty annoying even if they aren't like Alexandra.</i>

Don't we all.

Seriously though, not all 14-year-olds are the same, and as many people have talked about, Alex and her group are fairly significantly different from the average teenager. I've known plenty of mature and serious (relatively) teenagers, and they didn't even have to risk their lives every year ^_~.

I'm actually not that far removed from 14, and I still have some friends around that age, so I'll tell you if I notice something completely unrealistic.

-TealTerror

[inverarity.livejournal.com]

FYI: As you can see above, some of those emoticon thingies you use tend to bork LJ's HTML.

(Though you saying you tend to just put them in where they'd fit during editing explains some things)

Actually, that's not quite what I said (or at least, not what I meant to say). I fit Alexandra's friends into the story where they fit as I write it. Then I sometimes change things during the editing. In other words, while I am writing, I don't always think "Let's make sure David gets enough page space" or "I need to build on Alexandra and Anna's friendship," but when I reread, I realize that that's what it needs.

Basically, I focus very much on Alexandra's arc, and while I have definite arcs in mind for all the secondary characters, I may be a bit neglectful of them during the first draft.

[(Anonymous)]

Oops. I'll hold off on the emoticons from now on.

Sorry for misinterpreting your statement. Your explanation is fair enough.

-TealTerror

[(Anonymous)]

Well, to give you feedback and make the entire thing nice and contradictory:

"I am not sure if this will make up for the many chapters in which Alexandra is once again running off on her own, but both the author and Alexandra herself are making a deliberate effort to include her friends more in her adventures."

I actually quite like Alex on her own. So don't go out of your way to include others, the journey through the Lands Below, for example, was one of my personal highlights. And to be honest, what dynamic in Canon? If 'dynamic' implies something that is, well, dynamic, I'm not seeing much of that. Is there ever any true change between the three of them after the first year? I'd rather say it's quite static, actually.

Also, I prefer your larger scope of the characters; one of the main annoyances was for me that we never got to know anything really about the rest of the characters, even in Gryffindor, because the way it was laid-out, Rowling focused solely on Hermione and Ron.

So keep Alex as independent as she is and switch to the rest of the characters only where it's needed; I had nothing to complain about regarding that e.g. in Deathly Regiment.

The same is true for Alex's maturity; and should you attempt (not that I think you'd actually do that) to make her more like those brainless Twilight-addicted 15 year old simpletons, I will ... well, I'll be annoyed. There, that didn't sound too threatening :P

In all seriousness, though, what has been said about serious teenagers is true, and maybe it's also gotten worse, today, (you know you're getting old when you think back and don't remember yourself and your friends ever being that silly :| ), so you might get away with simply AQ takes place in the good old days ;)

But in any case, Alex *not* being the sum of all the users on teeny-sites simply makes for a better read.


Regarding your actual question: I always looked at AQ as Original Fiction that had similarities with HP. In fact, I thought those similarities were the only reason you couldn't actually try and sell it; the rest is that far removed from HP that I think your question isn't "Is it AU? Is it going AU?" but "Does it matter?"

I doubt Canon purists are actually reading this, there's not enough Harry Potter in it to be interesting. So do whatever you want, and I trust you enough to recognise a shitty idea for what is is, Canon-constraint or no. There are plenty of them around even while staying strictly within Canon, at any rate.

-- Sesc

canon compliance

[(Anonymous)]

I'm another one who's not particularly fussed about canon compliance - as long as you're not writing about Harry suddenly discovering that he's a submissive half vampire/half veela (with wings!) and accepting an invitation to some new school that he only just got after discovering that evil!Dumbles was blocking his mail all these years and had placed blocks on his powers at birth...

So this is real life...

canon compliance

[(Anonymous)]

I'm another one who's not particularly fussed about canon compliance - as long as you're not writing about Harry suddenly discovering that he's a submissive half vampire/half veela (with wings!) and accepting an invitation to some new school that he only just got after discovering that evil!Dumbles was blocking his mail all these years and had placed blocks on his powers at birth...

So this is real life...

[kerneyhead.livejournal.com]

The heart of your AU question is an underlying fear seems that Alexandra's story will get too big to hide from Muggles.

Suggestion: I once wrote a story suggesting that Godzilla movies were mass targeted memory charms to cover the migration of South Sea Flightless Dragons and that Dr. Who contained helpful suggestions about what muggles could do if they met Luna's newly discovered magical creatures(don't blink, count the shadows).

Can't you find a similar magguffin of your own?

As for what you've written so far, you've given us good reason to not see Alex as a simpleton. Just keep it that way, maybe melt a little over a cute guy. As for writing a female character, I went several years before I realized you were male, so I think you can pull it off.

Rhemus

[(Anonymous)]

"So don't go out of your way to include others,"

I disagree. I want more Pritchard page time. I assume Anna-fans and David-fans want more page-time too. Our wishes used to be irrelevant. But in your Interview of Doom, you PROMISED more page-time for the Frienda.

AU? Minor AU: British time-turners are sand-timers with bells and whistles (wbw); Foreign turners are watches wbw. Fair enough! CoS shows that wizards take Human tech and add wbw.

Major AU: Jo leaves the Curse of Elf slavery and Fidelius unexplained. So you are free to invent your own rules.

I am a CanonNazi and your only AU that I ever hated was in HhD when you married Luna to that Nazi Rolf.

DH explicitly states that the rest of the Wizarding World ignored Riddle War 2 in 1998 and pursued a non-interventionist strategy. I assumed AQ was the same era as HhD. What are the dates?

Are you asking our PERMISSION to write AU? I refuse to give you permission. And if you disobey, I command you to write "AU" in large friendly letters. So far, each of your stories does what it says on the can. Don't disappoint us now.

Filling in details that JkR left blank is NOT AU. British spells work like this and foreign spells work like that is ONLY AU if the reason for the difference is stupid.

Re: Rhemus

[inverarity.livejournal.com]

Dude, you crack me up. :D

I don't think I promised anything, and I'm definitely not asking permission for anything.

The Epilogue seems to imply that wizarding secrecy remains in place in canon, but it's not explicitly stated.

Alexandra was born in 1996, so you do the math. (Note that I have not yet established whether or not AQ and HHD take place in the same universe. ;))

Re: Rhemus

[(Anonymous)]

"I want more Pritchard page time. I assume Anna-fans and David-fans want more page-time too."

Well, luckily the story's called "The Pritchards, Anna Chu and the -" oh. Wait. I mean, just saying. Though, if we're already talking about wishes, Inverarity: I still ship Alex/Anna.

- Sesc

Re: Rhemus

[(Anonymous)]

Ooh, ooh! So do I! We should totally start a forum and then have flamewars with other shippers.

-TealTerror

OT

[(Anonymous)]

Oh my, I never read your user info, so I'm quite surprised now that you're male. I always thought of you as woman 8-0
-Ereb

14 year-olds in fiction don't act like real 14 year olds

[(Anonymous)]

Don't sweat too much that AQ and her friends come off as older than 14. That is a common distortion in all young adult fiction. Young adults in fiction don't act like they do in real life. They act like their idealized version of themselves, more adult, more rational and more serious.

I think AQ has severe issues, but so did Harry and with her history she should have issues.

Miles 2 Go

[indigo-mouse.livejournal.com]

Good lord, do they really wait until fourteen for the "sex ed"??? We had it in Grade Six, at the ripe old age of 11. They explained how fertilization took place, and pregnancy and left out all the details on how the sperm and egg happened to wind up in the same neighborhood. Of course, no discussion of birth control.

I like that you are cannon compliant - at least that everything you have written "could happen" in the Potterverse.

I wouldn't worry about making Alexandra a "typical" fourteen year old - how dull would that be? We read stories about exceptional people, anomalies and heros... And most of us don't really want to remember how excruciating it was to be fourteen...

[(Anonymous)]

- Don't stress about teen speak or slang. One of the worst things that adults writing about teenagers do is attempt to use "edgy" dialect. It rarely comes off and ends up looking dated. I haven't had any problems seeing Alex as a teenager so far, so I don't think the slang is important. Plus, there's that rule of not trying to write any sort of dialect unless you're absolutely sure you've got it right.
- Teenagers that hang out on Gossip Girl fansites and the like aren't really a representation of all teenagers. Don't worry about Alex & co not sharing similarities to them. Most teenagers are slightly more intelligent than that (... says the girl hanging out on FF.net ...)
- What has so far made Alex an identifiable teenager to me is her insecurities. Like a lot of teenagers, she goes through identity crises, attempts to figure out who she is and tries to cling onto the past - albeit in a different way to most teenagers. I would be able to see Alex going through sexual problems as long as she was having realistic emotional insecurities about the experience of sex.
- In regards to the question of how far you can push the boundaries of canon, it genuinely does depend on the context, so I guess that's something that the betas would be able to comment on better than anyone else. However, I reckon there are some boundaries of Rowling's world you couldn't cross; 1. Death is final 2. Wizards and Muggle divide 3. The ingrained anti-Muggle prejudice amongst wizards 4. Gamp's Five Elementary Laws or whatever they were called - food, love, money, immortality and resurrection.
- In regards to the Greek Gods, well, maybe not Greek precisely, but using some Roman Mythology - which is of course heavily derived from Greek Mythology - you could get away with? I mean, JKR used mostly Latin roots for her spells, so there could be some Roman background for wizarding society - which could conceivably include some Roman incarnations of the Greek Gods were it written right. I wonder if anyone's done that?
- Thanks for mentioning me in your post, and sorry for the long comment. ;)
~ PhoebeCaulfield