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the_gneechI woke up in the wee hours last night, unexpectedly pondering the next Harry Potter book. The conclusion I came to is: I am very worried for Neville.
You see, the Harry Potter books are set up as a mirror, something like this:
Thus, events in book 6 mirror the events in book 2 (Tom Riddle memories, the appearance/departure of Aragog, for instance), the events in book 5 mirror the events in book 3, and book 4 is the turning point (Voldemort threatens to appear | Voldemort appears | getting rid of Voldemort).
So, the events in book 7, assuming this pattern holds, will mirror the events in book 1. Instead of chasing one talismanic object (the Philosopher's Stone), they'll be chasing five talismanic objects (the remaining horcruxes). And let's face it, Neville takes a beating in book 1.
The episode with his remembral -- that he can't remember what is supposed to remind him of -- immediately makes me think of his mother, who was driven insane and can't remember him. (Remember also that his parents were tortured to insanity while being interrogated and wouldn't give up their secrets to Voldemort. This makes them heroes, but essentially posthumous ones.) The flying lesson -- in which he was dumped off his broom and ended up with a broken arm -- suggests he may be headed for a fall. And of course, Hermione put the petrificus totalus curse on him, a kind of living death. All of these things combined make it easy for me to imagine a situation where Neville is put in a situation where he's being tortured to betray Harry & crew, refuses to do so, and ends up having the same horrible fate as his parents, driven insane by the cruciatis curse.
Of course, I could have it backwards -- since it is a mirror. It may be that Neville really "takes off" in book 7, and becomes a competent avenging hero. We'll see!
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anthropologist: Museums Strike Back!
Well, not really "strike," seeing as how they're simply trying to respond in friendly, factual, and informative way. But given the way science is under siege at the moment, it's heartening to see they're doing something to answer back!
Other Stuff...
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lythandra and I spent the early part of the evening at the Borders over at Tysons Corner, where I plunked down in the café and did the Suburban Jungle scripting for the rest of the month. (This is the same Borders where we saw "They Might Be Giants," not the one where I used to work over in Fairfax.) It was a lot more pleasant than trying to elbow in a spot at the Barnes & Noble near where I live, and since it's close to where I work, it was fairly convenient as scripting spots go.
The only problem is that Borders' café is a lot more expensive than Starbucks, and not as good. It also seemed like it took a lot longer, but that was because we tooled around the mall a bit and ate dinner at a restaurant first. If there were a Borders over here in my neighborhood somewhere, it would be a decent alternative ... except that I'm worried that if there were a Borders over here, it would be just as elbow-to-elbow as Barnes & Noble is.
Le sigh!
It occurred to me sometime during dinner that the Brigid and Greg Fictionlets, besides the various other purposes they fill, have been providing me with something important that has worried me about taking up writing -- to wit, they give me a Daily Fan Feedback Fix.
You see, one of the major reasons I've enjoyed doing comic strips is for the continual dialog back and forth between the audience and myself, on the messageboards, mailing lists, LiveJournal, and so on. And as I started trying to work on writing as a more primary activity, I was very worried about the fact that novel writing in particular tends to be a long, drawn-out, solitary experience, in which most of the payoff (aside from the pleasure gained from the act itself) comes at the end.
But in a lot of ways, the Fictionlets are very much like a comic strip -- they're short, mostly self-contained, and have that back-and-forth audience participation thing going on. And unlike comic strips, I can do them quickly and easily -- even at work! ;) (The average strip takes me 2-4 hours to draw, and a bear of a strip can easily take six. The longest Fictionlet, by comparison, took me maybe 45 minutes.)
I think that's one reason why I've been banging them out so often -- they provide a lot of the same things I get from the comics, but with a third of the work! And they give me a great outlet for the verbally-oriented part of my mind that doesn't get to play as much in the restricted format of a strip.
Not that there's any big secret of the universe in all that ... it was just something that occurred to me.
-The Gneech
You see, the Harry Potter books are set up as a mirror, something like this:
1 | 7 2 | 6 3 | 5 4
Thus, events in book 6 mirror the events in book 2 (Tom Riddle memories, the appearance/departure of Aragog, for instance), the events in book 5 mirror the events in book 3, and book 4 is the turning point (Voldemort threatens to appear | Voldemort appears | getting rid of Voldemort).
So, the events in book 7, assuming this pattern holds, will mirror the events in book 1. Instead of chasing one talismanic object (the Philosopher's Stone), they'll be chasing five talismanic objects (the remaining horcruxes). And let's face it, Neville takes a beating in book 1.
The episode with his remembral -- that he can't remember what is supposed to remind him of -- immediately makes me think of his mother, who was driven insane and can't remember him. (Remember also that his parents were tortured to insanity while being interrogated and wouldn't give up their secrets to Voldemort. This makes them heroes, but essentially posthumous ones.) The flying lesson -- in which he was dumped off his broom and ended up with a broken arm -- suggests he may be headed for a fall. And of course, Hermione put the petrificus totalus curse on him, a kind of living death. All of these things combined make it easy for me to imagine a situation where Neville is put in a situation where he's being tortured to betray Harry & crew, refuses to do so, and ends up having the same horrible fate as his parents, driven insane by the cruciatis curse.
Of course, I could have it backwards -- since it is a mirror. It may be that Neville really "takes off" in book 7, and becomes a competent avenging hero. We'll see!
From
anthropologist: Museums Strike Back!Well, not really "strike," seeing as how they're simply trying to respond in friendly, factual, and informative way. But given the way science is under siege at the moment, it's heartening to see they're doing something to answer back!
Other Stuff...
lythandra and I spent the early part of the evening at the Borders over at Tysons Corner, where I plunked down in the café and did the Suburban Jungle scripting for the rest of the month. (This is the same Borders where we saw "They Might Be Giants," not the one where I used to work over in Fairfax.) It was a lot more pleasant than trying to elbow in a spot at the Barnes & Noble near where I live, and since it's close to where I work, it was fairly convenient as scripting spots go.The only problem is that Borders' café is a lot more expensive than Starbucks, and not as good. It also seemed like it took a lot longer, but that was because we tooled around the mall a bit and ate dinner at a restaurant first. If there were a Borders over here in my neighborhood somewhere, it would be a decent alternative ... except that I'm worried that if there were a Borders over here, it would be just as elbow-to-elbow as Barnes & Noble is.
Le sigh!
It occurred to me sometime during dinner that the Brigid and Greg Fictionlets, besides the various other purposes they fill, have been providing me with something important that has worried me about taking up writing -- to wit, they give me a Daily Fan Feedback Fix.
You see, one of the major reasons I've enjoyed doing comic strips is for the continual dialog back and forth between the audience and myself, on the messageboards, mailing lists, LiveJournal, and so on. And as I started trying to work on writing as a more primary activity, I was very worried about the fact that novel writing in particular tends to be a long, drawn-out, solitary experience, in which most of the payoff (aside from the pleasure gained from the act itself) comes at the end.
But in a lot of ways, the Fictionlets are very much like a comic strip -- they're short, mostly self-contained, and have that back-and-forth audience participation thing going on. And unlike comic strips, I can do them quickly and easily -- even at work! ;) (The average strip takes me 2-4 hours to draw, and a bear of a strip can easily take six. The longest Fictionlet, by comparison, took me maybe 45 minutes.)
I think that's one reason why I've been banging them out so often -- they provide a lot of the same things I get from the comics, but with a third of the work! And they give me a great outlet for the verbally-oriented part of my mind that doesn't get to play as much in the restricted format of a strip.
Not that there's any big secret of the universe in all that ... it was just something that occurred to me.
-The Gneech
