I started writing Ginny after GoF but before OotP, which meant I had to do a lot of extrapolation from vanishingly brief canon scenes and from general knowledge about her family and the wizarding world. I think I got a fair amount right -- the direction of her development in OotP and HBP did not surprise me -- but I never much liked the way Rowling did that development. It was terribly clunky and surface-only, and she never seemed to realize that what she saw as spunkiness and charm are really bravado, a potentially dangerous temper, and a degree of social insensitivity.
It goes back to the way that the 'good guys' can get away with murder (literally, in Harry's case; I'm convinced he killed Quirrell, which nobody ever mentions after PS/SS) because they're Rowling's favored side, whereas the 'bad guys' are mercilessly punished for equal infractions. Ginny's behavior in HBP is very nearly a mirror of Draco's non-Dumbledore-related behavior, but Rowling's narrative condemns Draco and praises Ginny.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-09 07:09 pm (UTC)It goes back to the way that the 'good guys' can get away with murder (literally, in Harry's case; I'm convinced he killed Quirrell, which nobody ever mentions after PS/SS) because they're Rowling's favored side, whereas the 'bad guys' are mercilessly punished for equal infractions. Ginny's behavior in HBP is very nearly a mirror of Draco's non-Dumbledore-related behavior, but Rowling's narrative condemns Draco and praises Ginny.
I strongly dislike that.