On the back of a motor bike with your arms outstretched trying to take flight

On the back of a motor bike with your arms outstretched trying to take flight

I've been reading this Dramione fan fiction, which I know sounds completely ridiculous.  I've avoided fan fiction since I first learned it existed, but now here I am, reading it, and I can see that there's something to be said for it.  I love the Harry Potter novels, for all that they've given me and what I've taken from them, but they are about Harry Potter.  Harry Potter is the main character, and all the rest propel the story along, getting it to where it needs to be.  And I can't help but think that maybe that sucks a little bit, because there are characters in the Potterverse that are, in my opinion, much more interesting than Potter himself.

And so as I've been reading this, I've been thinking a lot about character development, and how really effing hard it is.  People are so, so complex, and how can you mimic that with just text on a page?  How can you create someone who seems so real that they blur the line between fiction and reality?  Is this the same thing that I wrote about last night?  I really have no idea.  My mind is circling and circling over all the same thoughts and concepts and questions, and I always come to that same conclusion - I really have no idea.

And the other intriguing thing:  in fan fiction, you're not limited to the world of the Potter books, kids' novels - despite the characters growing up themselves.  You're not forced to ignore that they're human, that they're 17, 18 years old and are living in hell and are constantly cussing.  There's an added layer of reality that I haven't felt before.  Does that make any sense?  And there's also an added layer of not-reality, of alternative-reality, of these-two-characters-aren't-canon-but-it-doesn't-matter.  But it's not really reality at all, because none of it's real.  Sometimes it's really easy to forget that, and I think that's maybe a sign of good writing.  Or at least of good storytelling.

I kind of hate that there's a difference.