Tag Archives: JKR

What is Harry Potter “canon”?

Posted on Tuesday, 16 August 2011, 16:14 | 6 comments

The Pottermore conundrum for fanfic writers.

PottermoreNow that details are being revealed from the new Pottermore site and the new info that JKR is making available there, all kinds of previously held canon facts are being thrown into question. For example, Minerva McGonagall was always estimated as having been born in 1924 or 1925, and that she began teaching at Hogwarts in her early thirties. (This was based on a statement Rowling made in an early Scholastic.com interview, in which she said that McGonagall was a “sprightly 70,” presumably in the then-current book, Goblet of Fire, which took place in 1994-95. Subtract 70 from 1994 and you get 1924, and since her birthday is in October, Minerva would have been 70 for most of the 1994-95 school year if she were born in October 1924.)

Continue reading →

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Posted in Books, Harry Potter Fanfiction

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On this day, four years ago . . .

Posted on Monday, 1 August 2011, 21:12 | 16 comments

Thoughts on Deathly Hallows, Writing, and the Muse

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows adult edition cover artOn 1 August 2007, I was still reeling from having read Deathly Hallows in a marathon reading session a little over a week before, and was recovering from my shock and disappointment. As I was reading, I kept waiting for the book to get better, kept waiting for it to feel like the Harry Potter series I had come to know and love. Continue reading →

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Posted in An Act Of Love, Books, Death's Dominion, Harry Potter Fanfiction, RaMverse Series, Resolving a Misunderstanding

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PlaidPooka is Back

Posted on Monday, 25 July 2011, 18:15 | 2 comments

PlaidPooka & The Price of Madness

I was excited to see that PlaidPooka is back after a bit of a hiatus (four years, actually), and she is updating her fabulous fic, The Price of Madness again. If you’ve not read The Price of Madness and you enjoy HP fanfiction, please give it a read. She has wonderful dialogue and an inventive mind that produced an intriguing “Book 7” alternative path. The publication of that “other Book 7” played havoc with Pooka’s Muse, apparently, but she’s back. The Price of Madness is very nearly finished, so you’ll have a really good read ahead of you! Enjoy! Continue reading →

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Posted in Other Harry Potter Fanfics

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Aside

Yeah, I’d been drooling over Kindles. Now I have even more reason to want one: Google Books and Kindle to get ‘Harry Potter’ series | Signal Strength – CNET News. How cool would it be to have all the books … Continue reading →

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Posted on Friday, 22 July 2011, 19:03

Harry Potter and the Linguistic Innovator | OxfordWords blog

Posted on Tuesday, 19 July 2011, 13:39 | 10 comments

Quidditch Horcrux Splinch Muggle Portkey Bowtruckle MudbloodOf Rowling’s Potterverse Vocabulary

and character naming in canon and in fanfiction

I want to share this interesting article from the OxfordWords blog about JKR’s use of language in Harry Potter. The author, Adam Pulford, discusses everything from Rowling’s use of “real” mythological beasts and creating her own, to her use of Latin for spells, to the creation of new terms using familiar English words (e.g., “Mudblood”), to the way she evokes a medieval and obscure world through use of words that are — or sound as if they should be — from an older variety of English.

One thing that I found particularly amusing and very true was a remark the author made regarding the different kinds of names Rowling chose for her characters. Pulford says: Continue reading →

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Posted in Books, Harry Potter Fanfiction

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