Pottermore, J.K. Rowling’s New “Collaborative” Website
First Impressions
JKR held a widely anticipated press conference and video release to announce the creation of a new official Harry Potter universe website. Described by the Guardian as a “give back” to her fans, the site is touted as being a collaborative venture with fans.
This collaborative website is likely to continue to breathe life into the HP series for long after Movie 8 is available on DVD. It apparently has a lot of new background information on it, and doubtless more will follow.
No, MMADfan hasn’t moseyed over to the site yet. I will, probably fairly soon, but I understand that the site has been overwhelmed (i.e., crashed) this morning, so I’ll keep my little cyber tootsies away until some of the initial hoopla has died down. Don’t want to add to the crush, after all! 😉
Will I start putting “Not Pottermore-compliant” on my fics now, too, in addition to “Not DH-compliant”? Maybe. I won’t go out of my way to make any of my future fics Pottermore compliant — since the RaMverse series of fics is by necessity not DH-compliant, and most of my stories are set in the RaMverse (and my others are set in my own little fantasy land where DH doesn’t intrude! LOL!), I don’t feel a huge pressure (or any at all, really) to start making my fics Pottermore-compliant and delving into the site for new details about the Potterverse.
On the other hand, if there are some great bits about the workings of magic that would fit in beautifully with my stories and the way I’ve incorporated JKR’s magical theory and blended in my own ideas about it, then that’s great — I’ll certainly be very happy to use any of those tidbits. Or if there’s some part of a character’s background that would fit in well and not contradict earlier stories in my RaMverse series, that could be fun to play with, as well. But with the richness of the Potterverse, and the added layers that Pottermore will no doubt provide us, it could be truly overwhelming to try to always be “compliant” with every aspect of the official JKR Potterverse, and a never-ending task, since the Website will continue to grow.
So for my stories, if you’re a reader of them and are interested to know, I’ll stick with trying to be as canon-compliant as possible through The Order of the Phoenix, and partially (at least), through The Half-Blood Prince (which, if you’ve read Death’s Dominion, you know is the point where the RaMverse and the canon Potterverse begin to split more obviously than in my previous stories), and if I can find some inspiration from Pottermore, I will, and be continuingly grateful to JKR for creating and sharing this fabulous magical universe with us.
I’m especially grateful since the drive to write some fanfiction set in the HP universe was one of the primary factors that brought me to fiction writing, which has become a very enjoyable pastime, to put it mildly.
What did you think about the unveiling of the new site? Were you excited? Let down? Relieved? Share here with a comment!
***ETA: I’ve tried to get over to the site & sign up for registration notification for the big unveil thing, but a) it times out, and b) I’m not entirely sure what I get out of signing up with my email as opposed to just stopping by on the 31st (that’s the big date, right?), and c) I have a feeling I’d be one of the cold, huddled masses who get locked out after all the tickets go to the lucky few (or many, depending on your guess of how many people will try to be among those lucky registrants). Given that I’m only slightly enthusiastic about the site — though I am more interested the longer I think about it — maybe it’s not worth it?
LATER ETA: I hopped over, ready to be patient this time, and signing up with my email addy went smoothly. Not that I think I’ll get lucky, but I’ll join in and play some! 😉 ***
While you’re here, if you’re a Harry Potter fanfiction reader, I’d love your opinion on some HP ’ships, both canon and noncanon. So click the poll’s button or banner and take the Rare Pairs Poll! 🙂
MMADfan's Blog & Fanfic Site 
I’ll admit that I am somewhat excited about the idea of learning more about the characters (especially Minerva) and their lives before we first see them in HP. I think that bit could be quite fun and might even spark some Muses back into writing mode. I know my Muse has deserted me. Maybe with more information on Minerva’s early life and career, I’ll have more plot bunnies and the inspiration to write.
I was fortunate in get a “window” this morning on the site which allowed me to register on the Pottermore site. Since then, however, I’ve tried to sign up Lisa (the other half of Hogwarts Duo) and haven’t been able to get it accomplished. Maybe once the hoopla has died down a little and the servers that serve the site have had a chance to cool down, everyone will be able to get registered.
Until then … guess we’ll have to wait and see what the site is really going to be about. Sounds like part game, part encyclopedia. Either way … I’m curious! But, that’s just me.
As for my fanfics: I don’t plan on putting any disclaimers on my stories. If I post that it’s an ADMM story, that pretty much says everything I need it to say. Based on the HP universe and what JKR has said in interviews, etc, I’m shipping an AU ship anyway. I live in my own little ADMM fanfic world, where I am quite happy!
Hi, Hogwarts Duo! 🙂
Like you, I am quite content to toodle along in an AU world, especially in my Resolving a Misunderstanding universe series, and just ignore those discrete elements of the Potterverse that don’t work in the RaMverse. (I did begin the series before DH came out, which is part of the reason for ignoring Book 7.)
I do want to poke around some in Pottermore and see what it’s like. I’m particularly curious about what the “collaborative” aspect of the site might be. And, like you, I’m intrigued to learn more about certain characters, such as Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, or Alastor Moody. Although I have much of their backstories well set in the RaMverse, it could be neat to write some new fics that aren’t in the RaMverse and that explore some newly revealed facets of their pasts.
I have to admit that I was quite relieved that it was not a post-DH novel á la the DH Epilogue. But this new site sounds potentially quite fun.
Thanks for your comments! I do hope that your Muse is reinvigorated after a dip into Pottermore! 🙂
~ MMADfan
It’s rather a “meh” for me. At this point, I’m not anxious for lots more extra-canon details. I’ll be interested to see what Rowling thought about for the characters, but at this point, after having read so much good fanfic, I have to think it will be disappointing.
I’ve only written one truly AU item (Severus survives), but I find it an amusing challenge to stick with (book) canon for most of my work. I’ve done straight!Albus, and I’m working on one with gay!Albus, and I’ve done Minerva both ways (no pun intended), and I don’t see that changing regardless of what Pottermore may have to say on the subject.
Now, the new movie–that I’m really excited about!
Movie: Meh -10. LOL! You know me & DH don’t get along, so that’s likely no surprise there! I’ve also not been a big fan of the movies since . . . well, maybe GoF. And that wasn’t my favorite movie, either. My favorite book in the series was OotP, so maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise when I was let down by it. (Well, ranted all the way home from the theatre, actually! LOL!) So I hope that you really enjoy Movie 8 — less than a month now! — but I have no plans to see it.
It truly is a challenge to write canon-compliant fics — and until DH came out, I really worked at keeping my stories canon compliant. Once that was out & I obviously couldn’t keep the RaMverse canon compliant with DH, I felt free to play around with year six, so although it’s HBP-compliant in what would have happened if the events of An Act of Love hadn’t occurred, it’s not compliant with what actually did occur in HBP. This has worked really well for my Muse, and I’ve been happy with the stories that have resulted.
I’ve also written fics where DH simply didn’t matter — though, of course, for some of them, AD’s sexual orientation did, since I write ADMM. I think that if a writer keeps the HP universe flavor, makes the characters believable extrapolations from those whom we came to know in canon, and successfully builds a new story around them, that’s what matters, and that’s what I look for in a story.
I also like a lot of good “magical background,” as you know, and so if there’s new uses of magic in a fanfic (as long as it has a Harry Potteresque “feel” to it), and it’s built into the fic seamlessly, that always makes me a happy reader, as well.
I do fear that a lot of the new detail will have me reacting the way I did to the Epilogue — I won’t even find it interesting, just incredible (literally) and disappointing. Still, I’m hopeful there might still be a nugget or two that will spawn a new fanfic for me. It could be fun, especially, if there were more info about some of the minor characters that could be fun to play with.
Thanks for commenting! It’s always interesting to hear all the different reactions people have! 🙂
I can see why the movie would hold less than no allure for you if you’re not a fan of DH. I actually liked the book, although I wept at Severus’ death (and will likely do the same at the movie), and the epilogue was a total non-event for me, since I had no interest in which teen ended up with which other teen. LOL!
I will be interested in the magic, but in all honesty, I think you do it better in your fics than Rowling did. I’m pants at the magic part, so I have wand-envy or something.
As you say, if a writer keeps the flavor of the thing, it’s all good.
Cheers!
Wand-envy! haha! 😛
This site seems interesting – I’d be interested to see information on characters like Minerva, Lupin, and Moody, in particular further notes on their personalities or backgrounds which I could work into future fics. The interactive aspect sounds intriguing, too. I’m really interested in what that might turn out to be like.
Also, Pottermore could help rejuvenate the fandom after the last movie comes out this month. At the very least, it will most likely give fans more things to discuss and write about. I’ll probably register myself pretty soon.
Thank you for sharing this news- I’m interested to see how Pottermore develops. 🙂
Yes, I agree, it could be fun to get more of a glimpse of what JKR had in mind when she created her characters. Of course, I’ve written so many fics in the same fanfic universe, and created back stories for so many of the canon characters in them, I don’t think I’ll be incorporating much of the Pottermore info about the characters into most of my fics, but I think it could be fun to write some one-off stories with some ties to new Pottermore “facts.”
I’m most interested in the prospect of reading HP Book One from the perspective of a member of a different House from Harry & Co. The new added bits of chapters could be really fun.
Thanks for your comment! I do hope that Pottermore keeps fans interested for a long time to come!