Yet another HP fandom meme

[snorkackcatcher]

This one, in fact:

"1. Ask me one fandom-related question in the comments. This can be fandom specific, general, or about fandom/lj stuff/fic writing/etc. in general.
2. Just one question, please, but it can (and perhaps should) have sub-parts.
3. That's it. It can be as normal or odd as you like."

Comments

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Have you ever truly believed anything that was completely ripped to shreds by subsequent canon? Did you take it on the chin, or did you try to find a way out of it? Or are you always right?

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

How did you initially get into writing fanfic? What was it about that story that made you say "I HAVE to write this?" And what are your thoughts (if you even think about it) on being one of the few males in a female-dominated fandom?

[snorkackcatcher]

Of course I'm always right! because those who can say otherwise are propping up flyovers

I made a number of confident predictions before HBP, on the basis that I couldn't see the books going any other way, that turned out to be completely wrong. I was sure that the HBP would be Godric Gryffindor (and that we were due for lots of Founder backstory), that the new Minister would be Amelia Bones, and that Regulus Black would turn out to have been the mysterious overhearer of the prophecy who switched sides. I thought the idea that Snape might be either the first of third of those was just plain silly.

Of course, since these predictions started to unravel from practically the first page of the book, I didn't have much choice but to take it on the chin!

Fortunately, I mostly stayed out of the shipping wars, because Ron/Hermione (and Bill/Fleur, for what that was worth) seemed blindingly obvious, and on reflection it looked as if Harry and Ginny probably would end up together. Although I did say that both Remus/Sirius and Remus/Tonks were pure fanon (okay, I didn't mind being wrong about the latter).

[snorkackcatcher]

I sort of drifted into the writing, really -- I'd read a few fanfics, some good, some not, and since I'd previously fancied myself as an amateur writer (of articles) I thought "hmm, I could do that, it would be fun to have a go". First try was a contest at CoS Forums ('write a story using elements X, Y, and Z'). Then a line in cassieverte's Dumbledore's Feint sparked off the Angsty!Stu partial-self-insert 'Remus mourns' story that was Whatever Gets You Through The Night. Then, in a burst of overconfidence, I launched into the (incompletely planned) NTLJ, because I wanted to write something exploring the wizarding world outside Hogwarts and thought a mystery story would be a good way to do it, and it snowballed from there ...

I didn't actually notice the gender imbalance for a long while, because at CoS where I started out the general forums seemed to have roughly equal numbers of male and female posters, which I assumed was pretty much as expected. The first time I became aware of it was when I suddenly realised that all the people posting feedback for NTLJ at CoS were female -- but just thought that could be due to the female lead character. It took a while, and posting elsewhere, before the actual distribution (in the fanfic branch of fandom, at any rate) dawned on me, which was admittedly slightly disconcerting.

That being said, it isn't something I think about all that much. Maybe it's easier to forget about gender online and focus on what's being said when (generally) all you have is the written word? Or maybe I'm just used to being in mixed-sex environments so it doesn't seem that noteworthy? At any rate, it feels perfectly comfortable taking part, and I've 'met' a bunch of interesting people I wouldn't have otherwise, so I'm quite happy to carry on like that.

[dolabellae.livejournal.com]

Do the minor characters in NTLJ gather tempting backstory and keep trying to get more of a part in the main action, or are you admirably disciplined and adept at keeping them in line?

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

When you started writing NTLJ, how long did you think it was going to take you?

[snorkackcatcher]

Aaagh. Probably about 4-6 months, if that. Then when the first few reviews came in and suggested that it was all going to be far too obvious what was going on, I decided that I actually had to, you know, develop the things set up as red herrings and subplots rather than just mention them in passing. Same thing for the 'Tonks investigates the Sirius Black case' plot line which was very sketchy. And of course I got bogged down, to my considerable embarrassment. (I don't know if you've seen jesspallas' roundup of the planning for Imperius yet, but her account of the last few chapters sounded very familiar! Except she was better organised at getting chapters out regardless.)

(Damn, I hate the lack of an edit feature on LJ comments.)

[snorkackcatcher]

Hmm. Most of them were originally planned to do something specific and then bow out; but several (e.g. Beatrice Easton, Will Poppleford, Charlotte Perks) have come back for an encore because I realised that it looked bad from a plotting point of view if they didn't (which caused the chapters to grow in length, of course). I don't character-chart them or anything, there are too many of them! -- a lot of the actual detail has been worked out on the fly as needed.

Of the Aurors, Cassius had a reasonable amount of backstory worked out, and O'Gregan and Davies a little, but mostly a general summary -- again, details were added as needed. (Rhiannon Davies wasn't originally intended to be Roger Davies' cousin, for example -- I just called her that because it was a common Welsh name. But the coincidence came in handy when I wanted someone to have heard some gossip about what had happened at Hogwarts over the previous few years.)

[quivo.livejournal.com]

About how long does it take you to get from concept to finished fic, on average? And do you tend to add tons of ideas as you go along, or just stick mainly to your original thoughts?

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

What potential occurence in Book 7 would really piss you off?

[snorkackcatcher]

Actual writing time -- erm, a night or two. maybe. If you add in time for procrastinating, it could be months. :)

Generally, the original thoughts for a fic are rather vague, so a lot of the time I'm literally making it up as I go along. I tend to get so far and then start thinking 'hmm, needs an extra twist' or 'there should be a bridging scene here to set things up' or just 'actually, it would be cool if ...' or whatever, and so the end product often turns out to be very different from what I originally expected.

[snorkackcatcher]

Hmm ... structurally, probably the introduction of another plot-hole-creating spell/gadget/potion along the lines of Time-Turners or Felix Felicis. The ones we've got are quite enough to be going on with ...

(Of course, I'd be very pissed off if my favourite characters got killed too. But that's fairly standard.)

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

Don't even get me started about Polyjuice Potion. Why didn't Voldemort just take Polyjuice Potion of some Ministry worker and stroll into the Department of Mysteries to get the prophecy?

Who is your favourite character?

[snorkackcatcher]

Hmm, hadn't thought about that one. I suppose the counterargument would be that he couldn't take the prophecy himself anyway because that would be a giveaway that he was back -- hence get Harry to do it, then arrange a 'tragic accident' for him so it looked as if it was Harry's curiosity all along that brought him to the DoM, during which he accidentally got strangled by brains or whatever?

Favourite characters: Hermione, Remus, Snape, Luna, Dumbledore, Tonks. I'd be prepared to see Severus go out heroically, but really hope the Trio, Ginny, Remus and Tonks make it through. Unfortunately, if the 'birthdays theory' is right, Luna and Tonks could well be toast.

[snorkackcatcher]

On balance, to be honest I'd say they have no role at all -- well, any magical child born to one of them would be offered a place at Hogwarts, but that's it. If you wanted to I suppose you could set up something whereby there was a separate Roma wizarding tradition and they taught the kids themselves, so they didn't get a full magical education but knew certain specific types of magic better than anyone else, or where Roma with Seer powers were common but they didn't have other magical talents?

[super-pan.livejournal.com]

Hi, I came here via a link on jesspallas' lj.

Who do you think may be redeemed, if anyone, in Book 7? Several candidates are Snape, Draco, and Percy. How do you feel about these three characters and their potential turnarounds?

(I personally think Snape was acting under Dumbledore's orders, and I'm really hoping Percy will stop being an ass. I'm neutral on Malfoy.)

Fun meme!

[snorkackcatcher]

Hmm. It seesm likely some characters will get onto a redemptive arc, and those you mentioned (plus Peter) seem the most likely candidates.

I'm not sure Snape needs to be redeemed as such though, if it turns out he was acting under Dumbledore's orders to kill him (because of the Vow etc etc, which is where my money is) -- and if he wasn't, it would seem unlikely and rather unsatisfying that he would suddenly switch back again.

Draco has, I think, already started a redemptive arc at the end of HBP, because otherwise I'm not sure what the point of that Astronomy Tower scene and the lowered wand would be in terms of plot structure. I imagine him coming over to the good guys in Book 7 for the sake of self-preservation and to help his family, bearing some crucial piece of information.

Percy I'm not sure of -- it would be equally effective if they didn't make up with him as if they did, but the latter seems more likely because we've had the setup. My guess would be that he does something really stupid that inadvertently gets his family into trouble, and that shocks him into helping the Order out.

Peter -- well, so far he's shown very little that's likeable, but again I imagine he's going to do something that helps Harry because of the foreshadowing (he doesn't seem to like Voldemort and the Daeth Eaters much, after all). It's difficult to see anything except a sacrificial semi-redemptive exit from him, though.

I'd imagine a few random Slytherins helping out Harry as well, but purely in a background final battle sort of way.