Colleen Cowley's Blog - Posts Tagged "harry-potter"
Point of view
If you're reading a book with a single point-of-view character, would you rather be in the head of the most interesting person or the everyman/woman?
It's probably not either-or for most of us. Sometimes I want to see the world through Harry Potter's eyes. Sometimes I'd rather take the trip with Severus Snape.
I think that explains at least a quarter of the fanfiction -- for Harry Potter and every other fandom: We want to jump POVs. (OK, and 'ship characters, but POV is driving some of it, I swear.)
The thing is, sometimes an intriguing character is so very interesting precisely because we're not in their head. An element of mystery adds a lot.
So even though poor Harry isn't the most interesting character of his series, or even in the top five, I think we have his POV to thank for Snape's runaway popularity. Snape's more interesting than Harry, true, but he's more interesting still seen through Harry.
It's probably not either-or for most of us. Sometimes I want to see the world through Harry Potter's eyes. Sometimes I'd rather take the trip with Severus Snape.
I think that explains at least a quarter of the fanfiction -- for Harry Potter and every other fandom: We want to jump POVs. (OK, and 'ship characters, but POV is driving some of it, I swear.)
The thing is, sometimes an intriguing character is so very interesting precisely because we're not in their head. An element of mystery adds a lot.
So even though poor Harry isn't the most interesting character of his series, or even in the top five, I think we have his POV to thank for Snape's runaway popularity. Snape's more interesting than Harry, true, but he's more interesting still seen through Harry.
