Horcruxes & The Deathly Hallows October 8, 2011
Posted by nrhatch in Blogging, Spirit & Ego, Writing & Writers.trackback
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I wonder how J.K. Rowling felt when she first started dreaming up Harry, Hagrid, Hermione, Voldemort, Dumbledore and Snape.
Did the story and characters arise in her consciousness fully formed?
Or did she have to tease them out, bit by bit . . . like a Seeker looking for the Golden Snitch in Quidditch?
I’m re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at the moment.
Harry and friends are hot on the trail of Voldemort’s Horcruxes.
In each hidden Horcrux, Voldemort stored a portion of his soul . . . in a futile and misguided attempt to gain immortality.
In delving into the mystery of Andalib Marks, it struck me that fiction writers do something in the same vein as Voldemort to ensure their immortality.
They create stories and characters out of thin cloth and create a tapestry to share with their readers ~ hoping to draw us into the story and cause “real emotions” to surface based on a fictional and fabricated life of their creation.
Must make them feel powerful when they succeed, eh?
When we are drawn into a plotline, we are puppets being manipulated by a master storyteller. What a heady sensation that must be for the puppeteer!
Here’s the plotline as I see it:
* The writer who created Andalib caused her to go missing last February.
* After she disappeared, he waited patiently in the cyber corridor to see what response and emotion her disappearance would create in readers.
* Eventually his patience was rewarded. Readers began wondering about Andi. They started worrying, conjecturing about what had happened to her.
* Rather than wasting time in idle worry, I chose to “wait in the cyber garden, listening for the whisper of a Nightingale’s wings to signal Andi’s return.” If the writer read my post, he may have been frustrated with my rather unemotional response to a beloved character’s disappearance.
* Six months later, Andi returned. This time, the writer did not want his plotline foiled by calm reason. He wanted to create certainty that Andi would not be returning. So he caused her to die in a car accident.
Wikipedia ~ Quidditch (Fair Use)
* Again, he waited in the wings for the wails of loss to emerge from readers’ lips.
* Instead, one after another of Andi’s readers came forward to say . . . “I’m not sure that she ever really existed.”
Must have been disheartening.
Seeking immortality through our words is as elusive as the Golden Snitch, eh?
Aah . . . that’s better!
Quote to Ponder: “Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.” ~ E.L. Doctorow (borrowed from Rik at Uphill Writing)
What say you?
Related post: Question (Sinister Echoes) * Statement Analysis (Books Photographs & Artwork)
Comments
Sorry comments are closed for this entry
Spirit Lights The Way 
If you mean me, you’re incorrect. I’ll have more to say about this and be posting it on Monday.
Wow! That WOULD BE an intriguing and BIZARRE plot twist . . . if you co-wrote a book (The Gatored Community) with a FICTIONAL CHARACTER of your own creation. 😆
Twists and turns and loops and…
Indeed! The plot thickens. Stay tuned. 😀
Ooooh, love this, Nancy! The idea of storing part of ourselves in something precious and valuable: it’s a potent one. But I don’t think Rowling chose Voldemort as their creator by chance.
The need to ensure our immortality by making something beautiful: it is just that: a need. In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, creativity is at the top of the pile: a place past the search for family, belonging and self esteem. It is what happens when one is whole, and ready to give unconditionally.
Someone who uses a thing of beauty to manipulate: they simply don’t ‘feel’ quite right.
I expect Andalib’s creator enjoyed pulling on our heart strings as he played the violin behind the scenes.
In his address to Stanford in 2005, Steve Jobs said that we cannot connect the dots moving forward . . . it is only in looking backward that we see the “trail of breadcrumbs.” So true.
It took Andi’s untimely demise for me to start to connect all the dots. If I’m right, Andi’s creator must be feeling rather frustrated . . . given how many of Andi’s readers never viewed his creation as “real.”
I feel a little guilty. I created a blog character to try out a story and people seemed to believe it was real. But not as dramatic as your persona seems to have been. and i left them alive, well and living in the suburbs
That’s interesting, Sidey.
Maybe Andi’s on-line persona started the same way ~ just to test out a character on some readers?
Perhaps when Andi’s colorful caricaturization was so well received by other writers on Daily WTF, her creator decided to see how far he could take her? Something to think about.
Thanks, Sidey. Doesn’t sound like you had any mal-intent. Did you ever “come clean” and “spill the beans”?
If so, what kind of reaction did you get with the disclosure?
……. to be continued……
Indeed! Stay tuned. 😀
Nancy, I really like reading your several-per-day posts, but Harry Potter, along with sparkly Twilight vampires make me throw up all over my feet. Sorry.
I’m not a fan of Twilight vampires either . . . but I loved Harry Potter.
Uhm… ok. You get that all to yourself. *hurl*
I feel terrible for making you toss your bacon. 😛
I say let this Andi person be dead and stop writing about her. (Or maybe not, I am enjoying this mystery.) If she was real mourn her privately, if she was fiction it will be a slap in the face of the person whose ego is loving all this attention.
If a fictional character maybe the author will feel the need to feed his/her ego and fess up to the whole thing; but more likely, now that Andi is dead another character will be born in this authors imagination.
You’re right, Patricia. It’s time to turn my attention from Horcruxes and Deathly Hallows to something more substantive.
R.I.P. Andalib Marks a/k/a Andalib Marx a/k/a Ingrid Marks a/k/a Ingrid Marx a/k/a Andi a/k/a Nightingale.
But remember I did say I am enjoying the mystery…
Well, MrBillyD (a/k/a William D’Andrea) has promised a new installment for Monday.
We have that to look forward to! 😀
The plot thickens lol. Anyway, we writers are creative folks, but I personally could never be so manipulative as to create a fake blogger, and make people believe she’s real etc…because you’re playing with people’s real emotions, and the difference is that in a novel, people KNOW the characters aren’t ‘real’
(okay, my Julian is kind of real, in a weird way lol)
You’re right, Alannah. It’s one thing to create a KNOWN TO BE fictional character to pull on people’s heartstrings. It’s another entirely to manipulate people with tall tales about someone who professes to be real . . . and carry on the charade for more than 2 years.
But maybe the character of andalib became so real to him that she ceased to be fictional?
That’s why I liked Rik’s quote so much and had to borrow it for this post: “Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.” ~ E.L. Doctorow
I’ve known several writers who are diagnosed schizophrenics. I’m guessing there are many others who have not yet been diagnosed.
True, I think we all have split personalities at least 😉
A few writers on WEbook “hid behind masks” and created alter egos in order to shoot barbed comments at the work of other, more talented, writers. If it weren’t so sad, it would be comical.
Some people’s lives are nothing more than “a tragedy of errors.”
Oooooo . . . I never connected with Andalib so until just a few days ago I never knew about her . . . if there ever was a “her.” This is sooo much fun and intriguing! And Nancy, you’ve got it figured out. I’m interested now, and reading every post by you to see how this all pans out. I LOVE a good mystery . . . even if it’s not so good a mystery. Hahahaha. 😀
Thanks, Cecelia. This has been fun. I love mysteries and learned to read solving them along with Nancy Drew . . . Perry Mason . . . Miss Marple . . . Sherlock Holmes.
I am now certain I have solved the mystery of andalib marks. I’m not certain what to do with the information I gleaned.
I love a good mystery and it seems you do, too. I’m glad you may have solved the mystery. Are you going to confront the author, or just revel in the satisfaction that you have closure?
I’m not sure, janna. I’m trying to decide the best way to handle the situation. Maybe I should share what I’ve learned with others, maybe not.
A few people want to believe that Andi was a real live girl. They would prefer that I drop it, and let Andi rest in peace. Doing so means that the “guilty party” gets to slink away to tell them another tall tale.
Other than playing with the emotions of a a few dozen readers, he hasn’t really done anything wrong. So I don’t know if I’m going to “out him” or not. He is well loved in the group and maybe they enjoy being gullible.
One thing for sure, I will NEVER believe anything he says again. And I’m no longer going to read anything he writes. A pity, one of his characters was a real charmer.
More will be revealed…
Have a good sleep, Mrs. Nancy Pinkerton! Look forward to the next edition.
Thanks, Amy, (See my last note.)
I’m not sure what do with the information I gleaned from my digging. Maybe I’ll let Andi R.I.P.
Actually, JK Rowlings had a bit of both;fully formed and teased out characters… resulting the amazing series we’ve all come to love. Andi will forever remain a mystery who knows what the deal is. Although Kierkegaard might be on to something. TY! 🙂
Kierkegaard had his eggs in the right basket.
I have enjoyed watching this mystery from the sidelines.
I did go to her blog once, on your recommendation, but I didn’t like her and I never went back.
It’s funny. I liked “Andi” from WEbook . . . effervescent and bubbly and “alive” and funny . . . not caring what others thought of her as “she” shared her tall tales.
In contrast, her blog got “old” quickly ~ the writer couldn’t find the right mix of philosophy and humor. Instead it became a soap operish “Look At ME! Look At ME!” slice of narcissism.
I prefer blogs that offer something to readers to help them on their continued journey . . . e.g., reminding us to be mindful that others are not always what they seem OR encouraging us to laugh at the craziness of life. 😆
I love HP and I think JKR did a great job at plotting a series with some amazing characters. She spent a lot of time planning it all as I understand and I think that comes across. I haven’t heard of this mystery, I’ll have a read up on it all!
Oh, I wouldn’t bother back-tracking, Vix. I’ll sum it up for you:
Andi was fun while she lasted . . . but she’s gone. Killed off by her writer to improve flagging ratings.
R.I.P. Andi.
And, yes, you’re right about J.K. Rowling.
I’ve seen some of her notebooks. Amazing intricacy and detail as she sketched out the story with illustrations and maps and all manner of effort to keep the story from getting mangled up in tangled up knots.
She’s brilliant.
If you think that Andalib Marx was a fictitious character who I created, I repeat that you are incorrect.
Last Friday morning, I went to the First Presbyterian Church of Greenlawn, New York, where I am a member, and spoke to the Church’s Administrative Assistant, Teresa Hubert. I told her that my internet friend Andalib Marks had been killed in an auto accident. I asked her to include Andalib’s name in the Congregational prayer list, so that everyone in the Church, none of who have any idea that I’m a fiction writer, will prayer for her. I would not have asked her or any of them to do so for any fictitious person.
If you want to check it out, you can send an e-mail to
http://www.greenlawnpresbyterianchurch.org
Or you can phone (631) 261-0348, and ask Teresa about it. She is the only person at the Church, who knows about my writing.
Another thing. My writing is distinctly different from Andalib’s. Just compare the two. Read some of the fiction I’ve entered in my webook projects, along with my non-fiction articles and feedbacks in the WTF projects. Then compare them with Andalib’s writings. They are so distinctly different that it should be obvious to anyone that they were written by different people.
Then look at the amount of work that each of us has produced. I have 27 projects posted on webook, while she has posted 54. How could I possibly have had the time to produce all that?
Acutally, I have produced one work of fiction about Andalib. It was a reply to one of the articles she posted in her own blog,
She called the article “I Would Do Anything for Love”. Here is a copy of my reply, which is my tribute to Andalib.
————————————————-
1.You’d do anything for love? Well how about this?
The orchestra begins and he sings.
“You’d be so easy to love
So easy to idolize all others above
So worth the yearning for
So swell to keep all the home fires burning for.
“We’d be so grand at the game
So carefree together that it does seem a shame
That you can’t see your future with me
‘Cause you’d be oh so easy to love.”
(Written by Cole Porter, 1936)
Now the orchestra plays the rich elegant arrangement; while he and Andalib dance across the floor, with graceful elegance.
Applause! Applause! Applause!
—————————
Andalib’s reply:
That’s so sweet, MrB!!!
————————————————–
You’ve just read my tribute to her; our wonderful friend who we have lost.
Here’s looking at you Andalib Marx. We’ll always have Shellfish Shoals.
Your belief that Andi existed does not persuade me in the least.
From my perspective, Andi was the fictional creation of an over-active imagination who decided to kill her off when her ratings flagged.
Her “untimely demise” served its purpose ~ it caused me to “weed my garden.” I’ve decided to leave the WTF group to their daily dramas and turn my attention to matters of greater import.
R.I.P. Andi.
While we were writing the book, Andalib and I exchanged more than 100 e-mails and personal messages. I was dealing with an actual human being. If you doubt that, do you want me to send you copies?
I couldn’t hear the audio. I’m using a computer in my local library, where there is no amplification.
I’m just working through my time of grief, part of which consists of expressing my rage, which I think I’ve completed, and now I’m calming down.
If you don’t want to discuss this any longer, that’s okay. I’d still like us to say friends.
You cannot claim to be my friend
When you refuse to accept me as I am
I suggest that your time would be better spent on FB with the WTF group ~ there are those there who are far more inclined to believe that Andi actually existed.
Good-bye, William (a/k/a MrBillyD)
This is all so intriguing. And to combine the fictional realities of a perhaps fictional character with Harry Potter….
Thanks, Clar. It’s lost its intrigue for me:
Am I to assume you confirmed that Andi was a figment of someone’s imagination?
I confirmed it to my own satisfaction. To prove it to others would take far more effort than it’s worth . . . so I’m moving on and putting the matter to rest.
Great post!
I watched the movie “The deathly Hallows part one” yesterday 😉
Love Harry Potter.
When I started reading the series, I did it only to be able to discuss it with my nieces and nephews . . . but it hooked me with the great writing. And the movies are pretty fantastic too.
Twilight . . . not so much. 😉