I was fifteen when I read the first three, a couple months before GoF came out, and only after a couple of friends forcibly put SS/PS into my hands and glared until I started reading; I was a fan of fantasy, but I knew that anything that was as popular as HP had to suck. I'm twenty-two now.
Mostly, HP has been a consistent pass-time for me. I read and write a lot of fic, though my own stuff is rarely finished and even more rarely posted. I've made a really good friend through fandom, whom I've met IRL four times now, including staying at her home twice. Mostly, I just lurk in fandom, but the books have been fascinating to me from the start. I tend to think about them or about fic when I'm in a boring lecture. It's given me a lot to think about as a creative writing major and has definitely had its influences. I definitely understand a lot of details a lot better now than I did when I was 15, some of it in regards to the nuts and bolts of the writing itself, and some of it in regards to how/why characters do what they do. I also have a bad habit of putting classic lit. into HP terms; I see a theme or a plot twist and I think "Oh, JKR employs much the same thing when she..." which I guess is good 'cause I'm seeing the influences that would eventually lead to fiction like JKR's, but I probably shouldn't think of classic English lit. in those terms. Doesn't make it any less fun.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2007-03-30 11:35 pm (UTC)Mostly, HP has been a consistent pass-time for me. I read and write a lot of fic, though my own stuff is rarely finished and even more rarely posted. I've made a really good friend through fandom, whom I've met IRL four times now, including staying at her home twice. Mostly, I just lurk in fandom, but the books have been fascinating to me from the start. I tend to think about them or about fic when I'm in a boring lecture. It's given me a lot to think about as a creative writing major and has definitely had its influences. I definitely understand a lot of details a lot better now than I did when I was 15, some of it in regards to the nuts and bolts of the writing itself, and some of it in regards to how/why characters do what they do. I also have a bad habit of putting classic lit. into HP terms; I see a theme or a plot twist and I think "Oh, JKR employs much the same thing when she..." which I guess is good 'cause I'm seeing the influences that would eventually lead to fiction like JKR's, but I probably shouldn't think of classic English lit. in those terms. Doesn't make it any less fun.