Subject: Okay.
Author:
Posted on: 2012-04-27 20:12:00 UTC
Let me see if I can explain why it came off that way. Part of it is that both you and EF touched on some of the same things, which made it seem like sort of a joint assault on what looked like pretty small details to me. Also, you both jumped straight to questioning the existence and/or quality of character details, rather than asking questions about them, if that makes sense. Not, "If she has a Muggle-use wand, did she go to HFA?" but rather, "How is it possible that someone like her could have this thing?" It's the "someone like her" qualifier that's problematic. To quote your actual words, troublesome qualifiers highlighted:
EF: She can, for somerising some reason, use a Muggle use wand.
Apparently this agent's ability to use a Muggle-use wand is in question. How come she needs a special reason? Do other agents need a reason, or just this one?
SS: Why would a spazzy fan girl learn how to use a knife or a muggle use wand?
Again, it seems the real issue is that this character is a spazzy fangirl, and spazzy fangirls need to justify having an interest in using this type of equipment. Does anyone else need to?
If Muggle-use wands were overpowered, or rare, or otherwise inappropriate in and of themselves, that should be problematic for any agent, not just one with Lola's traits. Same with the letter-opener, the languages, etc. These details are not actually the problem in and of themselves, but by questioning them in this way, you're casting doubt on the entire character. Poking at small things in order to get at a larger problem is nitpicking; the trouble here is that neither the details nor the bigger thing (the whole character concept) are actually problematic once explained. Which comes off badly.
I'm not at all sure I've explained this very well. Let me know if I'm not making sense.
~Neshomeh