My Letter to J.K. Rowling
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| Title: | My Letter to J.K. Rowling |
| Creator: | Aja |
| Date(s): | March 21, 2003 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | My Letter to J.K. Rowling |
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My Letter to J.K. Rowling is a 2003 essay by Aja.
It is part of a 2002-04 series of essays. See About Writing.
Some Topics Discussed
- fan service
- fan entitlement
- the characterization of Draco Malfoy and the upcoming fifth Harry Potter book
The Essay
I finished my letter to J.K. Rowling today and will send it to the incomparable ali_wildgoose tomorrow. It is 7 pages long and about 6 of them are about Draco. I figure she's probably going to get bombarded with requests to make Draco a major player and flesh him out and give him a real role instead of writing him off as a stereotypical bully. But I couldn't help myself.
I know that Order of the Phoenix is done, probably completely, and I know that you've most likely made your choices about Malfoy. Still, when I was approached about the idea of writing to you, my first thought was 'I have to tell her about Malfoy. I have to let her know how much he means to us.' Obviously I can't speak for everyone, but speaking for myself, the thing that keeps me in anticipation and trepidation regarding Book 5 is that after this book we'll know--we'll know whether he's going to gain any added depth, we'll know whether the fleeting moments of redemption we see in him throughout all the previous books are moments only, or part of a larger pattern of growth and possibly change. We'll know whether he chooses good or evil.
The little girl in me, the raving fan, the hopeless idealist in me, is screaming 'Waaah pleaseletdracogrowupandgrowandpleasedonotlethimdieorjointhedeatheaterseventhoughyousaidhewouldnotteamupwithharrytofighteveilwaaah!'
Most of me is screaming that, actually. :) But more than anything, I just want to see Draco get a chance to prove himself as a character. As a human being. As a real boy. You give me so much hope--you portray him as keeping his dignity, his pride, no matter what befalls him. Even at his absolute worst he is always a sympathetic character. And, as much as I love and adore Harry, I believe you've done an intentionally thorough job of showing us that his first impressions of people aren't always the right ones. Not to say that he and Draco are really destined to become best friends and/or lovers after Ron betrays him and goes over to the dark side--but I definitely think Harry and Draco have more in common than either of them realize or care to acknowledge.
I also think that, ultimately, whatever happens to Draco affects Harry. And I kind of can't wait to see it, really. Regardless of whether Draco undergoes significant growth, I really really can't wait to see the moment when Harry has to acknowledge and deal with that fact.
Hell, I just can't wait for Book 5.