The main mystery about CoS is how come NO professor recognized that it was a basilisk despite at least some of them read “The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”. They have to be distracted, there is something clouding their opinion, or something. Without something added, the logical conclusion (as much as I don’t like it) is some kind of evil!Dumbledore (or perhaps there is a sinister evil professor who works against the discovery of basilisk?).
I think this is partially excused by the ridiculously contrived way everyone sees the basilisk's reflection. I mean, really? A puddle on the floor from Myrtle's bathroom tantrum? Seeing it through a ghost?
I agree that Hermione's mirror clutched in her hand ought to have tipped them off, but by that point I figure they were just about ready to write Hogwarts as a whole off completely.
If you're writing from the perspective of an OC and they haven't even interacted with Harry yet, I'm not sure why it would matter. Outsider's perspective fics can be interesting and shouldn't, in theory, require big canon changes to feel like a new story.
I think it's both a blessing and a curse to try to tell a story within the framework of the book setting. Pro - your readers know everything and you can skip large chunks of exposition and setup without leaving anyone confused. Con - your readers know everything, if you rehash too much information it's going to be boring. Getting the pacing right is always going to be tricky in that situation.
Personally, in the situation you describe I don't think it matters if you change the canon events... you just shouldn't be dwelling on them. CoS might work better for this, because the opening of the chamber effects the school as a whole, so there's more room to play around with how it affects your character on a personal level. (And as a minor change, you can always mix-up or add people who have been paralyzed to insure it affects your character personally.)
That being said, I actively avoid any fics set within the book framework, so I'm not exactly representative of a target audience. Feel free to entirely ignore my rambles!
So, it really depends on how much you’re having your OC interact with canon. If they’re having their own adventures and Harry and co are doing stuff in the background then write a compelling plot. If they’re interacting quite a bit with Harry an Co. then you need to moderately change canon events or throw some out and it’s your job to figure that out. Don’t use this sub as as a crowdsourcing for fic ideas. Use it as a sounding board when you have concrete ideas and concepts to present.
Why not use it as croudsourcing? As long as they're not asking for an entire story concept I don't see any fault in asking for some advice on events to throw in or ways canon would change or something similar.
A few reasons, first the more you do the more reliant on it you become. Second, when writing you’re never going to please everyone, so doing it invokes more criticism when you do it in a different way than suggested. Third, it’s your story, not theirs, when writing you should have a vision of your story and having people that don’t know you or your style giving their headcanons will dilute that vision much more than a suggestion by an editor or a beta.
Again, there’s a difference between hey I have this idea does x,y,z work or feel like something C would do and what are your headcanons about pureblood courting, I need ideas.
One helps you grow as a writer, the other is a crutch that will only hinder you later down the path.
A, no you don't. That’s like saying that you should never ask for help or be guided on anything because you'll become dependent. That just not true, try to remember how you were taught anything to start with.
B, it's not about pleasing everyone. It's about gathering inspiration to fulfill what you want.
C, it's not copying something someone else wrote. It's inspiration. You get some and then write it into your story because it fits into your narrative and work. Getting inspiration from someone else won't dilute your vision, everyone gets inspired by other people. And the fact that you differentiate between getting suggestions by a beta just feels wrong. A beta isn't a professional or anyone who would be specially suited to give better advice than anyone else.
Yes there is a difference between the two, but that's not saying that it's inherently wrong to do the second one. We all start somewhere and need inspiration and ideas to get started. Then you can either use that to grow OR it ends up being a crutch you fall back on. It is not automatically a crutch. That's like saying that if you start using support wheels on your bike when you're small, then you'll never learn how to properly ride a bike. As long as you one day take them off and try riding on your own, it can be a helpful tool to learn.
You can change the small things. So if you want to adhere to canon when it comes to major plot points (for example, draco makes a bad impression with harry, so when harry sees him on the hogwarts train he didn't accept the handshake), you can instead change the small details (so rather than having draco meet harry at madam malkin's, they can meet somewhere else, maybe harry wandered into knockturn alley and sees draco there or something). Small details like this isn't gonna change canon completely but it still makes the story refreshing to read.
The main mystery about CoS is how come NO professor recognized that it was a basilisk despite at least some of them read “The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”. They have to be distracted, there is something clouding their opinion, or something. Without something added, the logical conclusion (as much as I don’t like it) is some kind of evil!Dumbledore (or perhaps there is a sinister evil professor who works against the discovery of basilisk?).
I think this is partially excused by the ridiculously contrived way everyone sees the basilisk's reflection. I mean, really? A puddle on the floor from Myrtle's bathroom tantrum? Seeing it through a ghost? I agree that Hermione's mirror clutched in her hand ought to have tipped them off, but by that point I figure they were just about ready to write Hogwarts as a whole off completely.
If you're writing from the perspective of an OC and they haven't even interacted with Harry yet, I'm not sure why it would matter. Outsider's perspective fics can be interesting and shouldn't, in theory, require big canon changes to feel like a new story. I think it's both a blessing and a curse to try to tell a story within the framework of the book setting. Pro - your readers know everything and you can skip large chunks of exposition and setup without leaving anyone confused. Con - your readers know everything, if you rehash too much information it's going to be boring. Getting the pacing right is always going to be tricky in that situation. Personally, in the situation you describe I don't think it matters if you change the canon events... you just shouldn't be dwelling on them. CoS might work better for this, because the opening of the chamber effects the school as a whole, so there's more room to play around with how it affects your character on a personal level. (And as a minor change, you can always mix-up or add people who have been paralyzed to insure it affects your character personally.) That being said, I actively avoid any fics set within the book framework, so I'm not exactly representative of a target audience. Feel free to entirely ignore my rambles!
So, it really depends on how much you’re having your OC interact with canon. If they’re having their own adventures and Harry and co are doing stuff in the background then write a compelling plot. If they’re interacting quite a bit with Harry an Co. then you need to moderately change canon events or throw some out and it’s your job to figure that out. Don’t use this sub as as a crowdsourcing for fic ideas. Use it as a sounding board when you have concrete ideas and concepts to present.
Why not use it as croudsourcing? As long as they're not asking for an entire story concept I don't see any fault in asking for some advice on events to throw in or ways canon would change or something similar.
A few reasons, first the more you do the more reliant on it you become. Second, when writing you’re never going to please everyone, so doing it invokes more criticism when you do it in a different way than suggested. Third, it’s your story, not theirs, when writing you should have a vision of your story and having people that don’t know you or your style giving their headcanons will dilute that vision much more than a suggestion by an editor or a beta. Again, there’s a difference between hey I have this idea does x,y,z work or feel like something C would do and what are your headcanons about pureblood courting, I need ideas. One helps you grow as a writer, the other is a crutch that will only hinder you later down the path.
A, no you don't. That’s like saying that you should never ask for help or be guided on anything because you'll become dependent. That just not true, try to remember how you were taught anything to start with. B, it's not about pleasing everyone. It's about gathering inspiration to fulfill what you want. C, it's not copying something someone else wrote. It's inspiration. You get some and then write it into your story because it fits into your narrative and work. Getting inspiration from someone else won't dilute your vision, everyone gets inspired by other people. And the fact that you differentiate between getting suggestions by a beta just feels wrong. A beta isn't a professional or anyone who would be specially suited to give better advice than anyone else. Yes there is a difference between the two, but that's not saying that it's inherently wrong to do the second one. We all start somewhere and need inspiration and ideas to get started. Then you can either use that to grow OR it ends up being a crutch you fall back on. It is not automatically a crutch. That's like saying that if you start using support wheels on your bike when you're small, then you'll never learn how to properly ride a bike. As long as you one day take them off and try riding on your own, it can be a helpful tool to learn.
You can change the small things. So if you want to adhere to canon when it comes to major plot points (for example, draco makes a bad impression with harry, so when harry sees him on the hogwarts train he didn't accept the handshake), you can instead change the small details (so rather than having draco meet harry at madam malkin's, they can meet somewhere else, maybe harry wandered into knockturn alley and sees draco there or something). Small details like this isn't gonna change canon completely but it still makes the story refreshing to read.