Harry Potter & Beautiful Disaster Launch #fanstuffmonday, yay!
I love the idea that readers fall in love with books and characters and turn around and want to create their own stories, art, etc.
Fan art can be images representing the author’s creation or images the represent the artist’s ideas of what might have happened, or might happen.
Today, this fan art on tumblr grabbed my eye and absolutely wouldn’t let go. I haven’t read Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire but this made me wonder what I’ve been missing! Since it’s a compilation of quotes from the book, it’s presumably a representation of yasminewithane‘s rather than a re-imagining.
On the other hand, this is one of my favorite fan arts ever, a stunningly emotive painting of Severus and Lily [Harry Potter] when they were young, created long before there was more than a scene or two in the books about their friendship. But the first revelations of their friendship captured many imaginations in fanfiction and fan art, and the creations began. This image on deviantart was inspired by a fanfiction written about Severus and Lily. [Click the image to go to its source and learn more.] But since fanfiction is written and read by fans of the original books, this was obviously inspired first by frodobolson72‘s love of JK Rowling‘s Harry Potter series.
Fans, of course, is short for fanatics. We see football fans who not just love to watch and even attend their favorite NFL team’s games but show up bare-chested and painted even in sub-freezing weather. Some history fans who go go intense research and go to great expense to reenact famous battles throughout history. It should be no surprise that there are readers who are moved to pick up the pen or computer program or art supplies and imagine themselves into the universes their favorite authors created.
Beautiful Disaster: A New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller about a good girl dangerously drawn to the ultimate bad boy.
The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl*. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.
Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby wants—and needs—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.
* Okay, that in itself is a hook that makes me want to know more.
More about the old Abby Abernathy, amirite?(Photo by Amy Murtola)
Jamie McGuire is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Disaster, Walking Disaster, Red Hill, and the Providence series. She lives just outside Enid, Oklahoma with her husband, Jeff, their children, and 3 dogs, six horses, and a cat named Rooster.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone*: When mysterious letters start arriving on his doorstep, Harry Potter has never heard of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
They are swiftly confiscated by his aunt and uncle.
Then, on Harry’s eleventh birthday, a strange man bursts in with some important news: Harry Potter is a wizard and has been awarded a place to study at Hogwarts.
And so the first of the Harry Potter adventures is set to begin.
*Philosopher’s Stone is the original title and the one used around the world.
Except for the US. Anywhere else?
They evidently thought American kids would be so intimidated
by the word “philosopher” that they changed it to sorcerer.
In other words, from something real [that actually influenced the entire plot]
to something that means nothing at all. Which is why from the first
I bought all my Potter books from the UK.
(Photo by Dan Hallman/Invision/AP, File)
JK Rowling has long allowed and protected fanfiction based on her books. Rowling “has lived a “rags to riches” life story, in which she progressed from living on state benefits to being the world’s first billionaire author.[8] She lost her billionaire status after giving away much of her earnings to charity, but remains one of the wealthiest people in the world.[9]* She is the United Kingdom’s bestselling living author, with sales in excess of £238M.[10] The 2016 Sunday Times Rich List estimated Rowling’s fortune at £600 million, ranking her as the joint 197th richest person in the UK.[11] Time named her a runner-up for its 2007 Person of the Year, noting the social, moral, and political inspiration she has given her fans.[12] In October 2010, Rowling was named the “Most Influential Woman in Britain” by leading magazine editors.[13] She has supported charities, including Comic Relief, One Parent Families and Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain, and launched her own charity, Lumos.” from wikipedia
My stance on fanfiction and fanworks and links to other posts on that subject.
More about fanfiction and successful authors who started off writing it.
Do you read or write fanfic or create other fanwork?
I have read fanfic, it’s a huge industry for Janeites.
I love JK! I think she is such a role model for believing in ones dreams.
Some of the Austen fanfic eventually makes it way into print, or so I suspect. There’s nothing to stand in the way since it’s all public domain. On the other hand, I’m told that a number of X Files fanfic made their wan into print–but that isn’t so hard to rewrite and make work since having a man and woman working together to deal with something supernatural is not unique to X Files.
I adore JK. In fact, when I was reminded of why she’s not a billionaire I added another paragraph of ‘why can’t others blah blah’ but wisely decided to delete it. It may grow into a separate post later, though!