no spoilers!

Some thoughts on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince -- WITHOUT SPOILERS!!!! (Except for one tiny one at the very very end.)

I liked this book much better than Order of the Phoenix. I felt it was a bit heavy on the explication, but for good reason I guess. There were more parts that I really liked than parts I really DIDN'T like, so that's all good.

I cried. This is the first time in all six books that I've cried -- and it wasn't necessarily at the point you might think. Only a very few books have ever made me cry. I've cried while writing things of my own, but again, it's rare. So that's a good point. =)

Reading this book was a very different experience for me because of my involvement in fandom. I eschewed reading my flist for the last three days because I was worried about being spoiled -- and a good thing, too -- Gun! I'm looking at you!! But I made it through without being spoiled.

The thing that was different, was that I kept thinking random thoughts as I read -- like, "Oh! This group will be happy about that!" or "I read a fic like that once!" Or "NO WAY! That's what I wrote!" (Ok, not too much, but certain small things I guessed correctly.)

Honestly, I've NEVER analyzed a book or series of books as much as these -- not even in school! And when I did finally hop on the internet when I had finished, I was bombarded by the craziness -- people are going NUTS! Either happy or disappointed, EVERYONE has an opinion. Within five minutes of signing on, I was chatting with FIVE different people at once while trying to scan my friends list on LiveJournal.

Craziness.

I have one friend whose first reaction was to decide to eschew fandom entirely -- "retire" as it were from writing and drawing Harry Potter fanfiction. I have a couple of other friends who are entirely re-energized and ready to go again.

As for me? I'm still digesting. I loved the book, and there is SO much fodder for fan fiction, so many stories left untold in this book alone.

However.

I don't think I will write another long fan fiction story. "Sect" has been fun, but so very draining. And it's a little silly now that it's all been made obsolete as it were. I don't think I'll be able to stay away from fan fiction all together. I'll have too many stories to tell, too many new friends to make, too many old friends to keep, and, frankly, WAY too much fun to be had. But I don't think I'll be writing the sequel to "Sect of the Serpent" that I had vaguely planned.

To tell the truth, I'm feeling that whole "kid scribbling with crayons" feeling again -- and I think that's a good thing. As I read, I realized that I'm REALLY (really really really) not as good at writing those wonderfully complicated multi-layered plots that JKR is so famous for. Then again, I also realized that the JKR that wrote "Sorcerer's Stone" wasn't as good as the JKR that wrote "Half-Blood Prince" either. What I mean is, I intend to improve, and when I've got five more novels under my belt, then we can compare apples to... well. Whatever. =)

The impulse that I really feel in these first few hours post HBP is actually to begin writing my OWN stories. I plan to finish my current projects, but I'm really ready to stop living in JKR's shadow and strike out on my own. She's been an excellent teacher, and I've learned a lot in my apprenticeship -- I've learned a lot of my strengths, and even strengthened some of my weaknesses. In fact, some of the nicest compliments I've received have been from the people who have told me how much I've improved since the beginning. Those are the compliments I cherish.

In any case, I think I'm ready to move on. "Sect" has improved my self-confidence in my writing and teased my muse back into helping me out.

My only problem is that now I have to wait TWO MORE YEARS to find out what happens next! *squirms and twitches* Oh well. I'll just have to read HBP a bunch more times and then -- back to fanfiction!

And? Zombies are now canon.

Does it get any better than that??