Fan Input #1: Should I change the Hogwarts Houses in my upcoming story, Elysium?

Aloha, fans and visitors!

To start off my "fan-input" bit, something I hope to have once a week, I'd like a little help on something. I have a pressing matter that greatly affects the direction of my upcoming Harry Potter story, Elysium. This being whether or not I should change or alter the renown (or infamous) houses at Hogwarts. I've plain gotten bored of all the different combinations of traits Harry can maintain in each house and I'm thirsting for something new and less close-minded. That and I never found the houses competently made to begin with.

Really? Putting a bulls-eye on all 'ambitious and cunning' students that enter Slytherin? I call bull on that. How about letting Harry slip into the house he wanted simply based off of his extreme desire to be away from Malfoy and not seen as evil? Talk about a pushover hat. That single act compromises the integrity of the entire sorting system, making such a fundamental part of Rowling's universe seem pointless. To further frustrate me are things like the hat putting Neville in Gryffindor. Is the Sorting Hat a seer? Neville has been proven to be timid and withdrawn from the start, and while he gets progressively bolder in canon to the point of being a popular badass, he's shown more loyalty than anything else in the stories (a Hufflepuff trait). Even if the hat saw his heart as one that was courageous and had potential for bravery, wouldn't the Sorting Hat sort the individuals based off of their current and previous actions more? To paraphrase Batman from Begins, "It's not who a person is underneath, but what they do that defines them". There was no guarantee Neville would become as brave and reckless as he did (though, I guess surrounding him by equally brave people influenced him), so why would it make him a Lion?

I'm sensing a similar case to Harry being allowed into Gryffindor as well as most of Malfoy and his cronies being sorted into Slytherin - tradition. With the exception of Sirius, who is and will forever be awesome, I'm not aware of another character that was sorted into a house that neither of their parents were sorted into. Is that Sorting Hat focusing on hereditary traits? Allowing children to be sorted wherever their parents went regardless of who they are as an individual person? This theory right lead to an even bigger problem - identity is hardly ever something that an eleven year old authentically has regardless of their childhood environment. Harry is obviously an exception as the main character, as is Sirius, but most people fictional or otherwise are merely products of their environment and upbringing at the tender and ignorant age of eleven. They do not yet have the mental capabilities and the psychological developments required to craft their own identity apart from their childhood surroundings. So why sort them so young if you have to sort them at all?

I'm obviously looking to closely at the house system, I admit that, but when one reads as much fanfic as I do, it's hard not to be a bit of a nit-picker on something like this. It is so frustrating when you look at it closely and see how hollow this overly influential cornerstone of her story is. I think J.K. acknowledged this. She gradually tried to counter this problem when more and more adults began reading her stories, by allowing boundaries to fall and friends to be formed outside of one another's houses, yet we still see adults - ADULTS, ya' know, mature people - putting such an emphasis on someones house affiliation. This is seen between the professors, within the Order, and in the reflections of the main characters even when they're my current age.

Rowling put such a great emphasis on the four houses in her books, which makes sense as they are children's books to begin with. Children dwell in a world of power levels and constantly try to generalize and place people in set boxes. The house system at Hogwarts is pretty much Rowling's attempts at making sure her target audience knows who the bad guys and good guys are. This is not something I want to continue in my story, but I can understand that it would alienate fans to change something so drastically.



So I want you opinion. Should I risk changing the house system? Altering it to be a little more practical while still giving us the cool separation of Hogwarts that creates so much drama and offers so many plot possibilities?


For an example of what I'd do, please look at chapters five and six of Kyuubi666's fanfic, "Shadow of the Snake". I'll link it below. It basically utilizes the same Hogwarts Houses based on the four founders, while introducing a more important factor of the wizarding school - guilds. It's a new introduction in the school and a really interesting (and far more logical) one. I'd try and simplify this approach if I were to utilize the same parameters, but that's really up to you folks.

Please let me know what you think. I always appreciate your feedback!

Link to the possibleuse of guildes example: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8381866/5/Shadow-Of-The-Snake

A Taste of Things to Come...

It's been quite a while since I first crafted this currently empty blog; too long, actually. I apologize for both the lack of updates and content. As penance, here's a quick update for anyone interested.

At the moment, it's still the same old shite as usual for me. Summer school, working five days a week, and trying to get some time in with family and friends in-between. To sum it up bluntly, things are pretty desperate at the moment: rent's doubled while my paycheck hasn't, school work has become my would-be priority if I weren't constantly distracted by wanting to write. You know things are bad when a person risks their high school diploma in lieu of daydreaming about updating his stories. Christ help me, because I'm going insane over here. And yes, I use that in the proper context - I'm doing the same things repeatedly expecting different results. Insanity!

Through all of this, it's often hard to even think about updating 'Through Emerald Eyes', let alone dream of finalizing either of the prologues to my upcoming stories (see fanfiction.net page for more details). I really want to get my other stories out, as they're the ones my muse is currently interested in (sorry 'Emerald Eyes fans). Ideas galore plague me, but the follow through - actually writing a scene from beginning to end and not just picturing it and moving on - is like cupping water from the ocean, running up the beach, and trying to put a fire out with whats left in your hand. It's agonizingly impossible. It's all incredibly frustrating to say the least.

You may wonder, "Well what was the point of this update, then, James? To bore us with your excuses?"

It's simple: I'll be updating soon. 

*crickets*

I know, I'm just that awesome. You are all speechless right now. I don't blame you, I hardly update and I suppose a little silence is to be expected. I'll give you all a moment.

*crickets*

Alright, enough of the silence. Some cheers and whoop-doo's can now be uttered with passion. Go ahead.

*crickets even stop*

...

..

"That's it? All of this, and all you tell us is that you'll update soon? No offense, James, but you're not particularly a man of your word judging by all your empty pleas to your "Hogwarts Read" readers (say that five times fast!) for patience and that you''l update - promises that have gone unfulfilled thus far. Not only that, but talk about a generic and pointless post. What will you update? When? Details, James!"

Ouch, you have a point. Oh, well... I mean it this time! Siriusly! (see what I did there? Of course, it's a worn out pun). I'm really going to post an update, and in the next two weeks at that! As for what, stay tuned. It may be the latter half of "The Letters from No One" in my TEE:HRHP fic that most of you have been waiting patiently for, or it may finally be one of my new stories coming to light. All I can say is that I'm trying here. My goal (nay, my promise) is a two week deadline (that's fourteen days in Champion/James time), and that I hope you are all as excited for it as I am... or at least fractionally so.

So please hang in there, pray for me or wish me luck, and mark your calenders.

Also, I'll try to update you guys once every two days on here regarding my progress and questions as to what you'd like to see in my new stories, etc. Cheers and rock on through the highs and lo's, folks!

Welcome!

Well, folks, it appears I have succumbed to the self-imposed pressures of making a blog exclusively for my fanfiction stories and all things related; a blog that will cover just about everything relevant to my stories, both those presently produced and those currently in development. Truly, I feel dirty knowing that I'm not the first individual to do this. Then again, hardly anyone ever is "the first".

It goes without saying that part of this new development is due to the widely successful blog created by fellow 'fic writer pokemaster12 (now known as "The Engulfing Silence"). The concept of connecting with ones readers outside of tedious authors notes may not have been an original one, but the way in which he addressed that issue in a convenient and personalized way was inspired, simplistic, and more than mildly entertaining. They say mimicry is one of the sincerest forms of flattery. Well, "Brandon", you can eat your heart out as I passionately tip my hat to you, sir. If you haven't read this gentleman's stories yet, be sure to give them a look-see. If you enjoy my stories, you're likely to love his.

Anyways, if you follow my stories on ff.net or are interested in doing so, this is a page you'll want to bookmark. I feel as though authors notes are so often monotonous and distracting that a chapter is best left without any bold text in its confines whatsoever, which has the negative effect of not connecting with ones audience. At the best of times, AN's offer a modicum amount of humor and information, and at the worst they are a downright nuisance. In lieu of continuing my habit of posting lengthy and drawn-out author's notes that still fall short of what I'd really like to say regarding my stories, I'll simply post my thoughts, announcements, and annotations here. It's a win-win...-win situation. The third win is for me, because I always win twice as much as the next person, which would be you.

I encourage you all to be patient as I get this blog fully organized with my own slew of cast descriptions, story summaries, etc. Up front, I have previously relied on GoogleDocs for just about everything this past year, including notes and character casting, etc. It's served me well, but it's never offered me the opportunity to communicate with my readership, something I desperately long for. However many avid fans I have can attest to this along with the cast-link that's been featured on my profile since forever. So what I'mtrying to say is it'll take some getting used to this new format as well as editing and transferring that information over as effectively and concisely as possible.

That's all for now. Hope you guys stay tuned and strap in for the long run as I won't be Speedy Gonzales anytime soon. Summer's here, work is picking up (I clock 42 hours over 6 different days. *le sigh* troublesome schedule), and I'm taking summer courses within the next two weeks. Despite that, I know for a fact my writing will pick up and you'll be seeing/hearing a lot more from me. I'm looking forward to your feedback and support. Cheers!

The Engulfing Silence: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1794030/The-Engulfing-Silence
James Field (a.k.a. me): http://www.fanfiction.net/u/3104773/James-Field