What you say about forced rules is interesting and this view of the issue is partly new to me. I was fortunate to start learning English when I was nine, and to never find its grammar or spelling appallingly difficult. I didn’t learn like children now from videos, but from teachers who were not very good at pronunciation, I learnt to read and write English years before I had opportunities to use it in real conversations. I was taught rules like those you describe but also introduced to different texts, also some that were closer to spoken language.
At the beginning of my fanfic writing I got some feedback about the formality in my style, and it was a challenge to make my dialogue more natural. Someone said that native speakers use such “shortcuts” that I didn’t. Having been a lawyer, I’m somehow fond a rules. But I also love twisting or transcending them and just following the spirit of them. And I like how you word it: considered grammatical if it is understood by native speakers and is acceptable, even if perhaps uncommon or unconventional. I guess I’ve gradually developed my fiction voice, and I’m glad if there’s something unconventional about my word order and sentence fragments, but I also avoid poetic tricks and hope that my language sounds natural, my characters real.
I always forget DH was published as early as three years before I completed my post-OotP novel! I’ve read CC (in English and in Finnish, because as a HP – albeit only my HP fanfic – enthusiast I felt I needed to complete my collection and bought the books) and FB (funnily only in Finnish, because I happened to attend an event where the translator signed the books with dedications – and I asked it to be to PaulaMcG), but obviously I don’t count them. As I don’t count anything after OotP – or anything outside the novels! I’ve always ignored everything Rowling’s said outside the story, and just found it sad that not everyone does. What do we need these statements for? “Remus’s middle name was John – boring but true.” On the basis of the letter J on his briefcase I’d written about how his parents tried their best to negotiate about the beast name that was required by the Werewolf Registry. Yes, in my universe there are no Mr and Mrs Lupin. In a way I’m happy that Rowling’s come out more openly about her unacceptable views, so that more HP fanfic fans are now in the Death of the Author camp.
I must understand that people who are not hopelessly obsessed with HP and want entertainment find new canons to enjoy, TV shows which they can consume weekly or daily. I’ve really been startled to see in fandom phrases like “the media I’ve consumed this week”. I just don’t do that. Maybe I sound like a snob, but in the depths of this thread I can say that my attitude has always been different. Even when I only read literature, I never thought that I was a consumer. (I also got most of the books I read from the library). I’ve thought that I’m a recipient of art – and since 2003 an active recipient who writes and shares, making a small contribution to literature in its open, free-of-charge form. Now we talk about how the evolving technology and the internet have made it possible for everyone to “create content” (and that’s part of the media education I should offer to my special needs kids, too, at work), but I should understand that not everyone can or wants to be an artist.
I still want to be optimistic about the HP fandom. When it’s shrunk enough, perhaps the rest of us can share our art in a supportive, creative community.
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ninetydegrees
(no subject)
At the beginning of my fanfic writing I got some feedback about the formality in my style, and it was a challenge to make my dialogue more natural. Someone said that native speakers use such “shortcuts” that I didn’t. Having been a lawyer, I’m somehow fond a rules. But I also love twisting or transcending them and just following the spirit of them. And I like how you word it: considered grammatical if it is understood by native speakers and is acceptable, even if perhaps uncommon or unconventional. I guess I’ve gradually developed my fiction voice, and I’m glad if there’s something unconventional about my word order and sentence fragments, but I also avoid poetic tricks and hope that my language sounds natural, my characters real.
I always forget DH was published as early as three years before I completed my post-OotP novel! I’ve read CC (in English and in Finnish, because as a HP – albeit only my HP fanfic – enthusiast I felt I needed to complete my collection and bought the books) and FB (funnily only in Finnish, because I happened to attend an event where the translator signed the books with dedications – and I asked it to be to PaulaMcG), but obviously I don’t count them. As I don’t count anything after OotP – or anything outside the novels! I’ve always ignored everything Rowling’s said outside the story, and just found it sad that not everyone does. What do we need these statements for? “Remus’s middle name was John – boring but true.” On the basis of the letter J on his briefcase I’d written about how his parents tried their best to negotiate about the beast name that was required by the Werewolf Registry. Yes, in my universe there are no Mr and Mrs Lupin. In a way I’m happy that Rowling’s come out more openly about her unacceptable views, so that more HP fanfic fans are now in the Death of the Author camp.
I must understand that people who are not hopelessly obsessed with HP and want entertainment find new canons to enjoy, TV shows which they can consume weekly or daily. I’ve really been startled to see in fandom phrases like “the media I’ve consumed this week”. I just don’t do that. Maybe I sound like a snob, but in the depths of this thread I can say that my attitude has always been different. Even when I only read literature, I never thought that I was a consumer. (I also got most of the books I read from the library). I’ve thought that I’m a recipient of art – and since 2003 an active recipient who writes and shares, making a small contribution to literature in its open, free-of-charge form. Now we talk about how the evolving technology and the internet have made it possible for everyone to “create content” (and that’s part of the media education I should offer to my special needs kids, too, at work), but I should understand that not everyone can or wants to be an artist.
I still want to be optimistic about the HP fandom. When it’s shrunk enough, perhaps the rest of us can share our art in a supportive, creative community.