Bagelz
Thursday 16th February 2006 08:44 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript |
| ’ You threw me in the desert for fifteen years and when I came out all parched and blistered you congratulated yourself on keeping me from drowning.” - One of the best lines I've read from any FanFic - excellent! This approach you've taken is impossible to put down, or turn off I should say. |
Wooster
Monday 13th February 2006 16:00 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript |
| Still way cool and super insightful into Harry's POV. And I'd really like all 16 verses of the Moldy Voldy song. Please? I was laughing SO HARD!!! |
| Tuesday 14th February 2006 07:20 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript (Author Response) |
| Thanks! The "song" was (as you may have guessed) basically a bluff on my part, but if anything approaching inspiration strikes I'll do my best to polish it and share it. |
Delani
Tuesday 31st May 2005 19:30 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript |
"OK, you may know that one of the girls’ bathrooms at Hogwarts is haunted by a ghost known as “Moaning Myrtle,” and one of the chapters offers to explain how moaning—"
HAHAHA! Oh my, that is too much. This story is so amazing! I feel like i am really hearing from Anthony and this really has the air of a wireless interview. I have one request: can I please, please, pretty please finish up the Moldy Voldy Club song?! lol. If you are interested, I'd love to complete those 16 lines, if you haven't done so yourself...
Delani |
Pirate Ginny
Wednesday 25th May 2005 18:45 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript |
This certainly reads fine as its own work--the extra-canonical references were not confusing at all.
I especially liked "It has to be done."
In all, a very fun piece. Nicely done. :)
|
amulder
Wednesday 25th May 2005 04:49 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript |
Very well done piece. The style is reminiscent of Daily Prophet Reporting's "The Season".
I like how several times he's sort of danced around references to the
Chamber of Secrets and what Ginny's role in that year really was.
eg: before now I'd never really thought about how the CoS year would
have been so different if Dumbledore had told Harry (or really,
*everyone*) what Voldemort's real name actually was. That's a
failing of the history books, though, not just Dumbledore.
best
...art
|
| Wednesday 25th May 2005 08:16 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript (Author Response) |
| I also like "The Season" very much, and it may have inspired the format here to some extent. Re: CoS, the picture I'm trying to give is that Anthony occasionally has to catch himself, since there's stuff he knows which isn't public knowledge, and which in fact he helped keep from becoming public knowledge. (That is, I didn't want it to appear that he's being deliberately coy and half-hoping that the interviewer presses him so he can give away his big secret.)
Thanks! |
Waywren Truesong
Tuesday 24th May 2005 17:27 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript |
Actually, I rather like finding out about the histories this way... but
then, I read mysteries for the between-characters plot. ^^ I
really, really love some of
your turns of phrase here; particularly the stuff revolving around
'pampered prince'... gods, what a tempest.
I also love your Anthony. ^^
|
| Tuesday 24th May 2005 19:34 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript (Author Response) |
| Thank you very kindly! I very much doubt that JKR is going to to do anything significant with Anthony -- she might be worried about readers being bored or even offended by the cliche of the brainy Jew -- so I'm filling the gap. (Since I'm a Jewish academic myself, coming from me it can't be bigotry :-) |
Elsha
Tuesday 24th May 2005 00:36 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript |
| I'm really enjoying this story. You've chosen a very innovative format, and it pays off. It has the feel of a media interview, and Anthony's words sound like those of a Ravenclaw. The glimpses of Harry's last two years are both intruiging, because it's easy to tell there's a fleshed-out story behind them, and satisfying, because it's a different viewpoint. There are plenty of re-tellings through the eyes of the Trio or Ginny, but very few from someone a bit further out from Harry's inner circle.
Really, this works because it's good writing - the sort that's easy to read and immediately hooks you in. I can't wait for more.
And you don't have to worry about it being obscure or puzzling - in this context it makes sense that there are things both the interviewers and we don't know. It's how Harry's world looks to an outsider. |
| Tuesday 24th May 2005 19:24 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript (Author Response) |
| Thank you very much! The next chapter is going to play more with the theme you point to: somebody outside the magic circle, not privy to all its secrets. Hope you like it as well. |
XiaoXiao
Sunday 22nd May 2005 20:36 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript |
| What an interesting format! I really like the way that Anthony
appears to have really done his homework, and he is fair to Harry and
Dumbledore both.
|
| Tuesday 24th May 2005 19:28 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript (Author Response) |
| Anthony and I both thank you. (He's basically a quite decent fellow, I think; something like a more tolerable Percy? :) |
Antonia East
Sunday 22nd May 2005 07:28 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript |
What a fantastic story! Such an original idea - I've not seen
anything like this before, but it's brilliant. I really like the
way Harry is portrayed - flawed and human, but admirable. The
concept works very well with the background of your fic - it's good
that you have a clear idea of what happened in the missing years, the
allusions to it which Anthony makes are tantalising.
Other reviewers have brought this up, but I thought the discussion of
the 'pampered prince' line was incredibly insightful. It's a line
I hadn't really thought about much, but I recognised it when it was
mentioned, and knew exactly where it occured, so it was obviously a
phrase in the book which stuck in my head - and you picked up on it and
its possible effects on Harry perfectly. This line: "You threw me in
the desert for fifteen years and when I came out all
parched and blistered you congratulated yourself on keeping me from
drowning.” blew me away. Although I'm not completely sure whether
Harry would be able to articulate his feelings like this, especially in
a rage, it was exactly what I could imagine him to be feeling.
Also, the part where Anthony retold Harry going over the summer after
the prophecy ... that was such a powerful image, and it makes sense
that Harry might get back into the rut and go through all the questions
without being able to stop. Awsome.
|
| Sunday 22nd May 2005 18:58 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript (Author Response) |
| I really appreciate that, thank you so much! I agree, the line is probably too rhetorical in style to be what Harry would 'really' say, but I thought that's what he would have wanted to say, and I figured that allowing characters extra slack that way from time to time fell within the bounds set by poetic license law. :-) |
tmh
Saturday 21st May 2005 20:07 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript |
| I just found this and enjoyed it very much. I look forward to your next installment. |
Antosha
Saturday 21st May 2005 07:52 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript |
Don't apologize! You've created an insightful, unique view into a very believable post-Hogwarts scenario! I love your Anthony--the way he slips from silly humor to mild pomposity to real insight.
I don't think you've had any huge gaps... I'm following along quite happily.
Are we going to find out who the interviewer is? |
snowbear96
Saturday 21st May 2005 03:19 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript |
This is good. I don't remember Dumbledore's pampered prince thing so I'm going to go back to OoTP and have a look.
This has been a great chapter, I love the format and the style, looking forward to part three!! |
Antosha
Friday 20th May 2005 23:02 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript |
Don't apologize! You've created an insightful, unique view into a very believable post-Hogwarts scenario! I love your Anthony--the way he slips from silly humor to mild pomposity to real insight.
I don't think you've had any huge gaps... I'm following along quite happily.
Are we going to find out who the interviewer is? |
| Saturday 21st May 2005 00:43 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript (Author Response) |
| Thank you very kindly! I don't know if you've ever heard the novelist Anthony Burgess speaking (he's most famous as the author of /A Clockwork Orange/) but he's the voice I hear in my head when I'm writing for the other Anthony. No mystery identity for the interviewer, i.e. he isn't anybody from canon, just the Charley Rose of the wizard world. When I've tried to think of a name for him "Quintin Allred" somehow got stuck in my head, maybe because the initials spell "Q&A", maybe because it's one of those amalgams of Latin and Old English that JKR seems to like so well. Any suggestions are welcome. :-) |
Aggiebell
Friday 20th May 2005 22:10 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript |
I am so impressed with this fic, you just have no idea. Not only is it a unique concept, it's exceedingly well-written.
I have to comment on this line, because it really got to me:
Dumbledore says the only part he ever finds himself remembering is Harry throwing those words back at him. “‘Pampered prince’, you said. How lucky I was to have you give me to the Dursleys so I wouldn’t be a ‘pampered prince.’ You threw me in the desert for fifteen years and when I came out all parched and blistered you congratulated yourself on keeping me from drowning.”
What a telling line from Harry. The imagery here is very powerful and conveys his bitterness towards Dumbledore (at least your Dumbledore)perfectly.
I'm looking forward to reading more of this. As a matter of fact, I'd be willing to buy Anthony's book if I could.
~Julie |
| Saturday 21st May 2005 00:28 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript (Author Response) |
| Thank you! I was afraid the line you quoted might be a little too 'literary' for Harry, so I'm glad it struck you as right. Anthony's book is only available on special advance order, but for an extra five galleons you get the extra Pensieve Pellet with out-takes, additional interviews....
Hope you like the upcoming chapters as well! |
sonicdale
Friday 20th May 2005 21:17 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript |
pampered prince.
My second time through OtP made me almost choke at this.
I have fervently defended Dumbledore and still do - except for that little phrase.
I'll never forgive him for that.
And I'm glad you pointed out that Brooding!Harry was alive and well in book 5.
Good work. This is getting even better.
Can't wait to see the 'prequel' this is based on. Post it here!
|
| Saturday 21st May 2005 00:39 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript (Author Response) |
| I'm a little surprised more fanfic authors haven't picked up that line. Obviously I also thought it was striking, though it may just have been a careless expression on JKR's part, rather than ABPWD's. :) The prequel should come after we've all had time to feed ravenously on HPB; hope it won't be too AU or too much yesterday's newspaper by then.
Thank you, and hope you like the next chapters too!
|
JenMusic
Friday 20th May 2005 19:39 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript |
This is really whetting my appetite for your 7th year fic. I'm intrigued by the siege idea.
Your tone is very clear and direct here, and I really admire the way you have given the cadence of the writing the feel of speech. I do feel as though I am reading a transcript - not that it's boring, by any means!
Hmm . . . I'm still contemplating the "pampered prince" comment. I wonder if that's really what would stick out in Harry's mind. If it did, though, I wonder if he would give it this kind of spin. He certainly has reason to be angry with Dumbledore, who did abandon him to a life of misery. That's one of the things that I am most interested to read about in Book 6 - where do Harry and Dumbledore go from here?
Looking foward to Chapter 3! |
| Friday 20th May 2005 20:37 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript (Author Response) |
| Thank you for the kind words! Glad you liked it.
I wonder myself about what JKR had in mind in putting in that "pampered little prince" line. But it does seem plausible to me that Harry would take it as implying that Dumbedore thought Harry NEEDED ten years in a cupboard as a kind of pre-emptive therapy, to counteract the inborn arrogance which would otherwise have made him an intolerable ponce. Or at least he might take it that way if he were in an angry-brooding state.
I actually think HPB will have less angry/brooding Harry than I've offered here, but I laid it on a little thick because the implication is "that's in the past, he's gotten over it now." Which makes the brooding (I hope) somewhat easier to digest. |
Jner
Friday 20th May 2005 16:03 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript |
"Severus Snape has been called many things – and for a complete list of all the things he has been called, you have to consult Ron Weasley, who has set them to music..."
Ha! I've loved reading this; you did a wonderful job. And yes, I agree, Musings has to be the best, most hard-working beta on the planet. She rocks.
Well done! Can't wait for more.
J |
| Friday 20th May 2005 20:22 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript (Author Response) |
| Thank you! And Musings is terrific to work with, and a tremendous help for a novice author, even if she has a *little* too much of a soft spot for Dumbledore. :) Next chapter, by the way, will have a somewhat higher angst-to-comedy ratio, and will rely more heavily on hints about events which didn't happen in canon (and I don't expect to happen in the next books), only in my own imagination and in the still-unfinished fanfic. |
saugart
Friday 20th May 2005 12:17 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript |
| I am enjoying this unusual story. It can be read on a number of levels of interpretation.
|
| Friday 20th May 2005 20:12 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript (Author Response) |
| Thank you! If by "levels of interpretation" you mean that we can have different responses to Harry, and not be entirely certain that his actions and reactions
(e.g. to Dumbledore) are really appropriate, then I did want to leave that open. (Though I hope
readers are basically sympathetic to this version of Harry.) |
hjdevnull
Friday 20th May 2005 12:12 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript |
Oh, I laughed so hard at Harry's "humble schoolmaster" comment. That was so cutting and so perfectly Harry.
This is such a great interview series. And you have a seventh-year fic that goes along with it, you say? I can't wait to read that one, too. |
| Friday 20th May 2005 20:09 | The Flourish and Blotts Hour -- Transcript (Author Response) |
| Thanks very much! I'm curious myself about reactions to 'Harry vs. Dumbledore' here: will most readers think 'Harry wouldn't/shouldn't say/feel that' or 'Glad to see Harry take a shot at Dumbledore'? I'm glad there's at least one vote for option #2. :)
The seventh-year fic is mostly finished, but now I'm wondering whether to re-cast it in this format: i.e., as a radio program, something resembling "The World at War," looking back on the events of 1997-1998 through interviews with the participants. It would be a way of establishing brand-differentiation, at least, given all the 'competition' from other authors. :)
Thanks again! |
