My Fan Fiction Presentation

So I realize I blogged already on my fan fiction but it was more of a reflection, here is what I said (or tried to say) in class:

Harry Potter Background:
Harry Potter is a boy who discovers he is a wizard. Not only that but he is a famous wizard, The Boy Who Lived the only person to ever have survived a killing curse. Unfortunately for Harry the Dark wizard who cast the curse (Lord Voldemort) and who also killed his parents, comes back to life and Harry goes through some adventures as he tries to defeat Voldemort. The Harry Potter universe is very detailed; it has its own language and wizarding community. My fan fiction takes place before Harry Potter, in the life of his father James Potter who also attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In my story James is going to his third year at Hogwarts.

My Fan Fiction Development
I personally really enjoyed this writing assignment; it was refreshing to write a narrative rather than the formal essays and reports that I have been writing recently. Once I started writing it, it was hard to put it down and do my other homework. My plan for the story became so involved that I think I could write a ‘book’ if I wanted/had time to. I want the story to develop farther, my plan was that James and his friends would be at Hogwarts when the Chamber of Secrets was first opened. It would be opened by Tom Riddle/Voldemort who uses Lucius as his pawn. In the end Hagrid is blamed and then expelled. It is different than in the book because it hints that James was not there when it opened, though it is opened by Tom Riddle it is when he is a student. It is also true that Hagrid was blamed and expelled.
I used constant reference to the book because I wanted to keep it as close as possible. There are some words/sentences/scenes that are taken somewhat or full form the novels.

There are so many different Fan Fictions on Harry Potter, it was hard to not look through them all.
Here are the titles of some good and poor fan fictions on Harry Potter:
Good:
The Way It Was Meant to Be
By 17ginny17
19 years after Harry Potter's defeat of Lord Voldemort, the next generation of children are entering Hogwarts. There are still things to be repaired there, things that must change. House rivalry,quiddich,and a mysterious object found deep in the forest...
Chp1 Rosie’s PoV
Hogwarts! I'm finally going to Hogwarts! Albus and I, old enough at last to go to Hogwarts with James and Teddy and Victiore! I am so excited I can barely contain myself. I have already put on my new school robes and gotten all my trunks ready. Over the summer, I even learned a few spells with my new wand, just to be prepared. When I told this to Daddy last night, he told me I was just like Mother when she was my age. That made me really proud because Mother is the smartest witch I know. All there is left for me to do now is wait for the train to come, hear Hugo whining about how he has to wait another two years to go to Hogwarts, and listen to Mother and Daddy's advice and reminders. "...Oh, and Rosie, you have tea with Hagrid on Wednesday at 3:00, make sure you're there, and don't forget to study and to do your homework on time, and give Neville our love, won't you?...", Mother is saying. Love, to a professor? Who is she kidding? People don't do that. I roll my eyes at Mother, and then give her half a smile to tell her that I really do appreciate her advice. At least, I did the first 500 times around. Meanwhile, Daddy is also talking to me, most of his comments half-joking and half-not. It is sort of hard to tell which is which, so I just listen quietly. "See over there, Scorpius Malfoy? Make sure you beat him in all your exams. And get into Gryffindor, or we'll disown you..."Honestly, you'd think that Mother and Daddy are the ones going to their first day of school, not me. Mother rushes over and shushes Daddy, telling him not to make jokes like that, he'll just make me nervous. I don't mind, really. I know I'll be in Gryffindor anyway. Everyone in my family has been, even James, who, despite what he pretends, is deathly afraid of spiders and thestrals.

Reviews of The Way It Was Meant to Be
Nice... I do think that the most surprising place you can sort any of the descendants of the main characters is hufflepuff, which i imagine is why you did it... it'll be interesting to see how that develops... I loved Rose's reaction to being sorted there, though "Holy penguins and applesauce!"... Rose just gained, like, 5 points in my book So... good chapter (I hope the fact that i'm reviewing multiple times in a day isn't tiresome, but I think this story deserves more reviews than it has... so... I'm doing what I can to remedy that.) :)
Good story so far... I like how you have the different characters' point of view... I really appreciate your style when writing Scorpius... suitably cynical and sarcastic and rather amusing. Albus' point of view was good too (Rose's was all right... my favorite part of hers was when she said about how James was afraid of spiders and thestrals...). Oh, and I really liked how you've got a daughter of Luna in the story, and also how you've carried on in Rowling's tradition of giving characters names that reflect their personalities. Good stuff so far, I'll read on now, just wanted to get those comments out before I forget.

Bad:

SECRET DIARIES OF HOGWARTS: BOOK TWO!
By Sarah Noble
THE VERY SECRET DIARY OF PROFESSOR SEVERUS SNAPE AND OTHER CHARACTERSExerpt from Chapter 1 PROFESSOR SEVERUS SNAPEDay 1Back at school again and hating it more than ever. Got idiot Potter boy in trouble (along with redheaded boyfriend) but that interfering git Dumbledore let them off the hook! Kicked the leg of my desk for a while til I felt better. WORSE LUCK, Dark Arts job gone to some featherbrained idiot named Lockhart. Horrible fashion sense and no talent at all. Not bad-looking, though.DAY 3Lockhart still not fired, God only knows why. Want to push him down a flight of stairs and get his job. Want to kick desk leg til feel better. Want to kick Lockhart til feel better. Mad about Potter boy not being expelled, mad about Malfoy brat not returning my owls, mad about Lockhart being generally stupid, especially his habit of hoarding all the lemon pepper crackers to himself during dinner.Day 8Lucius got his son on our House Team with bribery, as usual. Not that I care, even if I was never a Seeker myself. Not at all. Accidentally kicked desk leg off today.Still not on speaking terms with Malfoy boy. Little fuzzyheaded girlfriend of Potter's looking kind of cute these days.DAY 9Gave permission letter to Malfoy boy to use Quidditch field, just to spite Gryffindor Team. Back on speaking terms with Malfoy now, but unfortunately out of chocolate syrup. Will run to the store for more next week.Day 14Very upset with Lockhart nonsense. Wish Dumbledore would sort out his ass from his hat and just give me the job. Obviously overqualified for it. Lockhart incapable of running a daycare for squirrels by himself. Also ponces around in silly outfits. Doesn't even have the sense to realize that purple is a winter color and it's not even November.Maybe excessive nancing about in lavender and aquamarine will get me the Dark Arts job...Day 13Having hard time deciding what colors flatter me besides black. Considering getting palette done. Starting to regret getting hair layered.


What I have noticed:
-There is certain lingo to Fan Fiction – slash, PoV, abandoned
- Different styles of writing - I think it was Cayley who said to be mindful of the quality of writing that we will get from our students. I saw many piece that I didn’t like because of the quality compared to the original and also because I didn’t really like their changes or interpretations. When assessing students fan fiction it will be important to remember to be as objective as possible. As I past my own narrow, personal preferences I began to see the value in other’s interpretations. There were fan fictions written from other characters point of views or as diaries, while they didn’t coincide with Rowling’s writing style they could show knowledge about the story and characters.
- pretty positive comments, not very many that give constructive criticisms, most ask writers to keep on writing.

Ideas for Fan Fiction writing in Classes:
This made me think of projects that I have done and that are being done now that are fan fiction-ish. Writing different story endings, letters to characters in stories or a character’s dairy can all be done as fan fiction.

Grade 3
–start reading a piece of literature to class and stop after the main problem, ask the students to
write how they think/want the story to end. Post the story endings on the class/school web page.
-after listening to a chapter in a story book students write a diary entry from a character’s perspective, imagining what his/her life is like.
-students take sections from a familiar story (ie Mary had a little lamb) and in groups expand on that section, the class will discuss the story sections together and the expansions that students made, how the details add to it.
Before a writing assignment the class will discuss the details/elements of the story, the universe. We will talk about what changes are appropriate and which ones are inappropriate. We will also talk about the intended audience. The students will be given an opportunity to publish and display their writing.


Excerpt from my Fanfiction
Fan Fiction – Harry Potter: The First Chamber of Secrets

It was a cool and quiet morning in Godric Hollow. The sun was rising and the birds were showing life as they flitted from branch to branch. BANG. The birds startled and took flight as a noisy disturbance erupted from the upper window in the ivy covered house at the edge of the hollow.
“Ow,” said James Potter, grimacing as he rubbed his stinging toes. He had tripped over a trunk in his excitement of greeting the morning. The trunk was open and overflowing; books, robes, papers, and an assortment of other objects were strewn about the room. James hurriedly threw all he could into the trunk and heaved it shut. As he rushed about, the aroma of bacon and eggs came wafting up the stairs.
James quickly grabbed his jumper and stomped down the steps, pulling it on as he went. As James rounded the corner William Potter, his father, looked over the top of the newspaper with a bemused expression on his face. “Could you be any louder James? I think half of the hollow is still sleeping.” Standing over at the stove James’ mother turned. “William,” said Rose smirking at her husband, eyebrow raised, “I seem to recall you were just as loud the other day when you boys got up early to go fishing.” She swatted lightly at his hand as reached for another piece of bacon.
James grinned as he sat down to his favourite breakfast. Today was going to be great; it was the first day of his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and in a couple of hours he would be able to meet up with his friends again. As he inhaled his bacon and eggs, James noticed the newspaper The Daily Prophet. The front cover had a picture of the Minister of Magic Walter Burrows waving his arms in a defensive and angry manner. The picture moved of course, not like the Muggle newspapers that Lily Evans had told him about where the non-magical pictures were stationary; no, the reader could see clearly the Minister’s waving arms, pointing fingers, and red, disgruntled face. The Headline was what drew James’ attention, it read: The Minister of Magic Unsuccessful Intervention at Hogwarts. “Whuf’s Wfrongf?” murmured James before he washed his mouthful down with a gulp of orange juice. “Nothing much,” said William hurriedly.” The minister was just expressing how there is no possible reason for Dumbledore to ignore his recommendations and requests since he claims it concerns the safety and education of the students.” William quickly snatched the paper away and stuffed it into his work bag, “and the lack of one member of the staff …but that’s nothing for you to bother about.” He ruffled James’ hair and gave Rose a peck on as he headed out the door on his way to work.
James looked at his mom, and could tell by the glint in her eye that she would not reveal any more information. He chewed thoughtfully on his food and decided he would bring the matter up with Remus on the train.

Outside a storm raged and brewed, inside He moved silently through the passageways of the castle, which was dark and foreboding as the storm beat against the outside walls. Yet he strode on purposefully, he had things to accomplish tonight; before the noisy and ignorant children would swamp the castle the next evening.
He paused contemplating and revelling in the fact of the power and mystery surrounding the castle, of which he was confident that only he fully understood. But that could wait, and abruptly he glided on, shivering in delight of what was to come.
“Who’s there?” a soft, gravely voice called out in the darkness. The speaker, Dumbledore stepped forward, his bright blue eyes twinkling with suspicion. “Tom Riddle… what a pleasant surprise?”
Tom sighed, time to get the plan into action; he controlled himself to remain impassive as Dumbledore searched his face. Dumbledore sighed, “Perhaps we should talk in my office.” while motioning to Tom to follow.

The whistle blast was shrill over top of the dense murmur of the crowd gathered at the platform nine and three-quarters at Kings Cross Station. James stood on his tiptoes and craned his neck to look for his friends. His eyes roved over the platform, over the cats mewing in their owners’ arms, over the owls fluttering and hooting at each other in cages, over the students, some already in their long black robes, loading their trunks on to the scarlet, steam engine or else greeting one another with glad cries after a summer apart.
“James, oh, oh James.” Hearing a squeaky voice behind him James turned. Looking down he saw Peter Pettigrew, a plump watery-eyed boy who was flushed with pleasure upon finding a companion. “Oh. Hi Peter,” said James peering over his head into the thick, white steam of Hogwarts Express.
“Oy Potter! Time to get a move on!” hearing a shout behind him James turned again. This time he saw a carelessly handsome boy smoothly jumping from the carriage one over. “Remus and I’ve already got a compartment, mate, what took you so long?” said his best friend Sirius grinning as he strolled up. “Someone forgot to pack until this morning,” Rose came forwards after finishing her conversation with the Prewetts, “Hi Peter, Sirius. Have a good year James… and try to not get into too much trouble.” She lovingly tried to flatten his untidy hair and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Bye Mom!” James said quickly picking up his trunk and followed Sirius, Pettigrew trailing behind them.