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canon-rereading
The whole thing with p_p over on lj getting suspended made we want to get back into HP fic-writing - I have some stories that I've been meaning to post to that comm since 2004, no lie, still unfinished. I still like those stories, though, the characters and situations I came up with. And when I do a periodic re-reading of all my old unfinished stories, those are some of the ones that make me think "Wow, this is suprisingly good! Who's the author, and how can I bug her to update? ... oh wait."
The problem, though (beyond my ongoing difficulties with finishing *anything*) is that I haven't re-read the whole series since before book six came out, and I've only read five and six one time each. I tried to sit down and re-read yesterday (okay, sit down and re-listen, since we have the unabridged book on tape and I needed to finish some embroidery) and ... it just wasn't fun.
The HP fandom has ruined the books for me.
It isn't even the fandom's fault, either. I'm glad of the time I was really active in HP, and I still love the corners that I lurk in, and I like the people there and the stories they write. It's just ... the books don't really fit the canon all that well. I mean, they do, but. It's not that the books that have come out since I joined the fandom are *bad*. I quite loved Six at the time I read it, but I read it while on an Indian reservation in the middle of Tennessee after several weeks without regular Internet or being at home. Five was, I believe, in Iowa somewhere. . . hey, wait, that's what a journal's for! I can go back and check.
Book five: Yes, probably somewhere around Iowa. We spent the night in that tiny little family-owned motel in the middle of a cornfield, which must have had a name like "The American Eagle" or something and had the cutest little swimming pool. I was on that road trip with two people who are now dead ...
Book six: Cherokee Reservation, South Carolina: well, just over the river from Tennessee. Also that post from almost two years ago says a lot of the same things I'm trying to say now - I just didn't expect that feeling to last as long, because usually the magic recharges after awhile. But here it is almost time for the new book and I can't even get through the ones in front of me. :/
I think I should arrange to be elsewhere when book seven is out, and keep up the tradition! Hmm. That sounds like a good time to finally do an overnight backpacking trip.
I really to think it's not so much burnout, or being more invested in the fic, as that I've come to associate the books with stress, and arguing, and thinking too hard, and taking things way too seriously. Not that HP fandom in general is particularly bad about that, but when I'm just hovering on the fringes it's most of what catches in my memory, alas.
Strangely, this doesn't apply in the same way to non-book fandoms, though. It did burn me out a bit on the books of both of my last two yuletide stories. But even the tv fandoms where I pretty much *only* go back to the canon for fandom purposes - like XF and HL - manage to suck me into the story right quick.
Although it is happening a bit right now with SGA. Especially after I heard everyone groaning about the last few episodes for six months before they appeared in my area. Maybe it's just that I'm not built to follow ongoing series. Hmm. What d'you think?
The problem, though (beyond my ongoing difficulties with finishing *anything*) is that I haven't re-read the whole series since before book six came out, and I've only read five and six one time each. I tried to sit down and re-read yesterday (okay, sit down and re-listen, since we have the unabridged book on tape and I needed to finish some embroidery) and ... it just wasn't fun.
The HP fandom has ruined the books for me.
It isn't even the fandom's fault, either. I'm glad of the time I was really active in HP, and I still love the corners that I lurk in, and I like the people there and the stories they write. It's just ... the books don't really fit the canon all that well. I mean, they do, but. It's not that the books that have come out since I joined the fandom are *bad*. I quite loved Six at the time I read it, but I read it while on an Indian reservation in the middle of Tennessee after several weeks without regular Internet or being at home. Five was, I believe, in Iowa somewhere. . . hey, wait, that's what a journal's for! I can go back and check.
Book five: Yes, probably somewhere around Iowa. We spent the night in that tiny little family-owned motel in the middle of a cornfield, which must have had a name like "The American Eagle" or something and had the cutest little swimming pool. I was on that road trip with two people who are now dead ...
Book six: Cherokee Reservation, South Carolina: well, just over the river from Tennessee. Also that post from almost two years ago says a lot of the same things I'm trying to say now - I just didn't expect that feeling to last as long, because usually the magic recharges after awhile. But here it is almost time for the new book and I can't even get through the ones in front of me. :/
I think I should arrange to be elsewhere when book seven is out, and keep up the tradition! Hmm. That sounds like a good time to finally do an overnight backpacking trip.
I really to think it's not so much burnout, or being more invested in the fic, as that I've come to associate the books with stress, and arguing, and thinking too hard, and taking things way too seriously. Not that HP fandom in general is particularly bad about that, but when I'm just hovering on the fringes it's most of what catches in my memory, alas.
Strangely, this doesn't apply in the same way to non-book fandoms, though. It did burn me out a bit on the books of both of my last two yuletide stories. But even the tv fandoms where I pretty much *only* go back to the canon for fandom purposes - like XF and HL - manage to suck me into the story right quick.
Although it is happening a bit right now with SGA. Especially after I heard everyone groaning about the last few episodes for six months before they appeared in my area. Maybe it's just that I'm not built to follow ongoing series. Hmm. What d'you think?
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It's hard to say with other fandoms - there are very few that I came to while they were still ongoing, actually: except the seven (!!) shows I'm watching now, natch. And Pirates - I think there's definitely a disconnect between people who came in after PotC 1 and PotC 2, but maybe that's partly because they were such very different movies.
I know in XF that nearly everyone who was watching back in the day hated the new characters in the last two seasons, while there's a small but constant contigent of people who came in during those seasons and like the new characters better, and people who came in after the end tend to be much more divided in opinion.
SW is interesting - I think a lot of the hate people had for the first prequal was that it was so completely contradicted the universe that had been imagined - by pretty much everyone - after the first movie, and specifically condradicted the EU books that were really well-loved. I come back to episode one now, and as long as I can forget that it's supposed to be Stars Wars, I can admit that it doesn't suck.
I definitely see this in Star Trek fandom, BTW - on my flist I have DS9 people and Voyager people and Enterprise people, and they all think their particular series is excellent and don't understand why it's so hated by people who, y'know, have actually seen actual Star Trek episodes. :D
...which maybe does link back to my problems with HP. Hmmm. Except the later books aren't really different or bad enough that I can justify ignoring them, unlike the later SW and ST.
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