A question

[mary_j_59]

I've noticed that some of my posts get no response at all, while others get lots of comments. To give two examples, NOBODY responded to my post about Green Knowe. And those books are, in my opinion, really beautiful - possibly among the best fantasies ever written, and I'd be happy to talk about them. No one responded to the clip of Michelle Paver and the wolves. And that, too, is a very well-written series, in which the teen protagonists grow in believable ways. I had one response to the news that Megan Whalen Turner's fourth Attolia book is actually coming out. Then I put up a post about how unhappy I am with Harry Potter these days, and suddenly there's an intense discussion about Snape and his character going on. Okay, it's true, I love Snape. But at this point, two years after the last book, no one's mind is going to be changed about him. At least, I don't think so.

Is it the case that people visit here only for my posts on Snape? Just wondering.

Comments

[anne-arthur.livejournal.com]

Well, I suppose I've basically just not been around - as you know, I've been busy with my book. (The submission date has just been put off yet again, but I'm now a bit more organised than my co-authors, so I'm trying to crawl out of the bunker a little!) I suppose I'd echo what other people are saying here - I don't actually know any of the books you have mentioned, except the Green Knowe ones. I love those, and it is great to see the actual house they are based on, but there is nothing very controversial there - although I've met people who could take them or leave them, I've never met anyone who felt that they were bad books, or that they should have been written differently or were sending an irresponsible message. Whereas the whole Harry Potter fandom has grown up around, firstly, speculating about what might happen in the remaining books, and secondly, arguing about what did happen. And of course, as Snape fans, we are a minority in a Harry Potter fandom which now seems to have the author's blessing in disapproving of our hero! So I suppose that there is always more to discuss there!

But I don't think that you need worry about people not reading your LJ. I loved your Star Trek essays, and they seemed to get a lot of interesting comments - so I don't think that people only come here for Snape!

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Anne! I guess I was being a little self-pitying, in that I am truly tired of arguing about Snape (much as I love him) and was wondering if anyone would still be around if I left the Potter fandom. You're right - people did respond to my blogs on Trek, too.

What brought this on, actually, was partly the lack of response to the Green Knowe post, and partly a response by a livejournaller called neonorne to my latest on the Potterverse. Her response convinced me that the Snape-haters (and I would call her one, though she demurs) can simply never be convinced that he is a hero. So why keep trying? I've pretty much decided not to.

[anne-arthur.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean, I think. I find that I'm increasingly tending to feel that everything that needs to be said about what JKR did wrong in Deathly Hallows (and the rest of the books) has been said - we all wish that she'd written them differently, or that she'd suddenly realize that Snape is a hero, but she didn't, and she won't, and all the arguing and dissecting in the world won't change that. I'd still love to read some good Snape fiction, but sadly it all seems to be very slashy these days. And increasingly I'd like to get into some non-Snape fiction - but I don't know if anyone would read it!

By the way, I loved the excerpt from the 'Green Knowe' TV series that you posted! It was very atmospheric - the train journey in particular reminded me of travelling over the flooded Fens in winter, and I think the last 'corridor' train I was ever in was between Peterborough and Cambridge. I found another small sequence, of St Christopher walking - I do wish I'd seen the series! The BBC used to do that sort of thing very well.