Sak
asked
G. Norman Lippert:
For the James Potter books, do you keep track of information J.K. Rowling puts up on Pottermore.com regarding the Potter canon (you may have heard that she recently put up quite a bit), or do you prefer to stick to the info outlined in the books, and continue from there? (Sorry about the extreme length of this question)
G. Norman Lippert
Typically, I have made a concerted effort to keep up with the information that Ms. Rowling has released in the years since the last book (names of new family members, occupations of classic characters, etc) and incorporate it all into the JP stories. But as time goes by I don't feel especially beholden to new canon information. Here's why:
1) As the JP stories have developed, I have introduced a lot of new characters and elements into the Potterverse-- things like technomancy, the Progressive Element (which I "borrowed" heavily from C. S. Lewis), the lore of magical portraiture, Alma Aleron, etc. By necessity, none of these things will appear in Ms. Rowling's continuing canon, which means that it's inevitable that our storylines will diverge more and more with time.
And 2) I increasingly think of the JP stories not so much as canonical continuations of the original Harry Potter series, but as (I'm just going to say it) an alternate universe where details might be expected to diverge, leading to greater and greater differences over time. This is because, if I insist on complete canon (including all of Ms. Rowling's continued updates and new information) I will be enforcing some pretty rigid constraints on the James Potter storylines and megaplot.
To be succinct, the JP stories continue to be interesting to me (and tell me what you think, readers) because of where the diverge from the original tales, taking us into new possibilities and uncharted territories. This would become impossible if I remained firmly rooted only in Ms. Rowling's canon (wonderful and fertile as it is).
1) As the JP stories have developed, I have introduced a lot of new characters and elements into the Potterverse-- things like technomancy, the Progressive Element (which I "borrowed" heavily from C. S. Lewis), the lore of magical portraiture, Alma Aleron, etc. By necessity, none of these things will appear in Ms. Rowling's continuing canon, which means that it's inevitable that our storylines will diverge more and more with time.
And 2) I increasingly think of the JP stories not so much as canonical continuations of the original Harry Potter series, but as (I'm just going to say it) an alternate universe where details might be expected to diverge, leading to greater and greater differences over time. This is because, if I insist on complete canon (including all of Ms. Rowling's continued updates and new information) I will be enforcing some pretty rigid constraints on the James Potter storylines and megaplot.
To be succinct, the JP stories continue to be interesting to me (and tell me what you think, readers) because of where the diverge from the original tales, taking us into new possibilities and uncharted territories. This would become impossible if I remained firmly rooted only in Ms. Rowling's canon (wonderful and fertile as it is).
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