October Activities 2010

[CoolCatElly]

My review for "Fight over a Toothbrush" is here

Some questions for the author:

*Each of your stories is very different - you have a favourite era or genre to write?

*You seem to really like non-canon or other pairings. Why and which "other pairing" characters are your favourite.

*Have you ever wanted/ started to write a chaptered fic? Why or why not.

*What's the hardest part of writing? What comes most naturally?

*Do you have any current WIPS or bunnies? Please share :-D

xxx
Elene

[Kerichi]

Why do you write it?

I’m a writer—something I didn’t know until I wrote my first story and immediately wanted to write another, and another . . . .

How did you get into it?

By reading. Snape fascinated me, but the popular SS/HG pairing didn’t appeal, so I decided to write the kind of story I wanted to read. When my SS/OC fic More than a Feeling won a Quicksilver Quill award, I almost cried.

Is it just a hobby or something more?

It started out as a hobby, but writing and learning about writing became so consuming the light bulb flashed in my brain: this is what you’re meant to do.

Do you think you’ll write it forever or move onto something else?

I’d like to do both. Most authors have to write “training books” before they write THE book that finds a publisher. To me, fan fiction is training with the reward of feedback and encouragement to keep writing and learning the craft.

Do you write anything other than HP fanfic?

On a site where HP is just another category of fanfiction (although HP has the most stories ), I’ve written fics for genres ranging from Tokyo Mew Mew and The Nightmare Before Christmas to Being Human and Star Trek 2009. Most of my stories are HP.

For original fiction, I have two novel rough drafts and the beginning of a screenplay. The fact that they’re incomplete while I’ve completed every fic I’ve started in six years of writing shows how addictive fan fiction (and reviews) can be.

[lucca4]

Here is my review for Never Once Imagined, by the Featured Author.

Krum was a character we knew little about in the books. Did you find it hard to write from his POV?

Which story of yours are you most proud of? Why?

I noticed in your story you used a lot of wonderful imagery. Do you visualize the scenes in your stories as you write?

What inspires you to begin writing a story?

xx Ariana

[Kerichi]

I reviewed Fight over a Toothbrush and I'd like to know, when you get reviews, do you ever go back and edit? Or do you mainly absorb the comments for use in current and future writing? Everyone is different (I've come across writers who view their stories as "rough drafts"!), and I'm curious.

[h_vic]

Why do you write it?

Because it shuts my muse up! Seriously though, for the very simple reason that I enjoy it. I like writing, and it's fun to work with this world and characters that we know so well. There's so many possibilities out there and so many grey edges around the edge of canon to play in.

How did you get into it?

The summer between HBP and DH, I re-read HBP and came to the conclusion that something struck me as 'off' about Severus' behaviour during the scenes where he killed Dumbledore and fled - everything to me pointed to him being a double agent and not actually on Voldemort's side.

In searching online for other people's views to back up that opinion, I stumbled across the main Mugglenet site and eventually strayed from there over to MNFF. Like Jess said, my first response was pretty much, "That exists? Weird." But I read a couple of stories, got hooked and read for a couple of months, never intending to write, until my first plot bunny just turned up and I figured I may as well give it a go.

Is it just a hobby or something more?

Yes, it's a hobby, but somehow, just a hobby doesn't seem to do it justice. Writing has become a part of me somewhere along the line.

Do you think you’ll write it forever or move onto something else?

Forever is a very long time. I know I left once and came back. Maybe I will again at some point, or maybe one day I won't come back. Maybe there'll be a time when I feel like I've explored every corner of canon that I want to and the plot bunnies or enthusiasm dry up, or maybe I'll never reach that point. I don't know. I think in one form or another though I'll always write.

Do you write anything other than HP fanfic?

Fanfic-wise, I've read stories in a few other fandoms, but they've never inspired me to write. I think I find films and stand-alone novels just don't have enough canon to make me feel like I have space to play, whereas TV series just have too much canon for me to feel I can keep track of it properly.

OF-wise, this year's NaNo will be my first venture out into that particular wilderness, and I'm just a little terrified, because I don't have a clue if I can handle OF or not.

[inspirations]

I've always wanted to be an author, so fanfiction is something that I do to further that dream. Since joining MNFF my writing has developed so much, because I learn something from every piece of feedback I receive or give, and all the activities on offer around the boards. SPEW isn't strictly a pursuit meant to improve my writing, but sometimes it feels like it does, just because I love giving reviews, and when I do review I get a lot more analytical about the fic that I would if I was just going for a read.

I only write HP fanfiction. I've considered other fanfiction, but to be honest, fanfiction lessens the excitement of rereading HP for me, and also I don't think there's another site of the quality of MNFF. I don't read and write that much fanfiction now, though, because I have a lot less time on my hands than I used to, and also I'm looking into developing more original projects now. I aim to have a crack at NaNoWriMo this year for that reason, to give me a kick start. I don't think I'll reach 50,000 -- but I'd like to match the 15,000 words I managed on the TTB Mini NaNoWriMo I did last year, at least. To be honest, the only writing I'm managing these days is poetry, so I really hope I get some basis of an original story done next month. I can't see myself writing serious fanfiction outside of poetry again, though. I would like to finish my TTB fic up and post it on the archives, however. I lack my motivation for fanfiction though. The only things that really keep me here is the enticement of learning from SPEW and Poetry anyone.

[coolh5000]

I write fanfiction because the HP series were and still remain, the best series of books I have ever read. Like so many other fans I found the waits between books unbearable, and the idea that Harry's story just ended after seven books was horrible to think about. It wasn't until I accidentally stumbled across fanfiction that I realised there was a way to keep the world of Harry Potter alive without needing JKR to write any more books.

I was sceptical at first - I hung around the edges, reading stories but not writing or getting involved in the community. I suppose I was still trying to figure out whether it was acceptable or not. As I became more and more engrossed in reading the stories, however, I realised there was no going back - I was hooked.

I originally only read and had little desire to write. Though I once, many years ago, thought about becoming a write, OF has never been something I have done seriously and still don't plan to, so I was not burning with the itch to write straight away. Eventually, however, story ideas began to pop up in my head, and I wanted my own turn playing with JKR's world. I found MNFF and posted some of my first stories. The rest, as they say, is history.

There has never been another series that has appealed like HP and I have never made any attempts to find other fandoms. This is going to sound ridiculous, but HP fanfiction feels natural. The idea of fanfiction in any other fandom, is just weird to me. Particularly TV Shows.

Yes, it's a hobby, but somehow, just a hobby doesn't seem to do it justice

I share this feeling. Since I don't plan to write anything else, fanfiction will always be a hobby, but to say just perhaps devalues the role it has in my life and how much of time is dedicated to this community. I may never be able to make money of my fanfiction writing, but it will always have an enormous value to me in other ways.

I believe I will continue reading and writing fanfiction for as long as I continue to feel inspired. There will probably be a day when that feeling will go and I will have to recognise that but for now, I see it as a part of my foreseeable future

[Hermoine Jean Granger]

Sorry for the very late reply, but my wrist has been suffering from a rather severe bout of tenosynovitis and didn't allow me to answer earlier.

First off, thank you all for the reviews! I really appreciate all the feedback.

Next, questions.

*Each of your stories is very different - you have a favourite era or genre to write?
Not really, no. I don't specifically decide to write in A, B or C genre/era; it's more of the Idea striking my brain and me just putting it on paper. I don't think my muse is picky.

*You seem to really like non-canon or other pairings. Why and which "other pairing" characters are your favourite.
Ah, I like reading stories of lesser known characters because I get to see so many new dimensions of said characters and stories woven around their lives can be so fascinating. I think I read a Charity Burbage story by Gigi that really had me amazed. That fuelled a search for more, and I think I've seen quite a few gems on the archives.

As to specific characters, the Lovegoods, teachers at Hogwarts(excluding McGonagall and Snape), and the Lestranges would be favourites at the moment. I'm craving for some really good Luna!fic.


*Have you ever wanted/ started to write a chaptered fic? Why or why not.
I completed my 2008 NaNo which is chaptered, and what I realised from that experience was that I'm not really cut out for it. I'm better at writing small chunks than elaborate plots, and it's likely that I don't have the energy to pull through with the effort if I do start one. I can write, yes, but tying loose ends and editing and re-writing would probably make me miserable. I tried doing that to my 78,000-and-odd words of NaNo and ended up wanting to rip the entire story to bits.

*What's the hardest part of writing? What comes most naturally?
Hardest Part: DIALOGUE. Since I'm not a native English speaker, I haven't perfected the turns of phrase and common idioms to the extent that it sounds perfectly natural. I am constantly trying to improve, though.

Easiest part: Description and setting. I find it very easy to visualise where my story is set and then write, so yeah, that part comes most naturally.

*Do you have any current WIPS or bunnies? Please share :-D
*peeps into neglected WIP folder*

I think I just noticed five incomplete stories and three ideas that I have just jotted down as they came to me. Argh. I really need to write more.

Two of the five stories seem to be centered around Bertha Jorkins(I think that was because I claimed her for 007 a really long time ago and didn't end up finishing), and there's one on Post-war Draco, one on Rita Skeeter, and the last on Bartemius Crouch. The ideas center on Jocunda Sykes and her first flight, Ariana Dumbledore(oh boy, now that I look at it, that is definitely an interesting one), and Viktor Krum's grandfather(the one killed by Grindelwald).


Krum was a character we knew little about in the books. Did you find it hard to write from his POV?
Not really, no. I could kind of relate to being in his position while writing that, for some reason.

Which story of yours are you most proud of? Why?
Fight Over A Toothbrush, actually. It was for a prompt, and I didn't really think it'd go anywhere near where it ended up going(I was aiming at humour first, if you could believe that), so yeah, I think I stretched my boundaries just a little while writing that story.

I noticed in your story you used a lot of wonderful imagery. Do you visualize the scenes in your stories as you write?
As I mentioned earlier, visualising is the first step in story-writing for me.

What inspires you to begin writing a story?
Not anything specific, actually. It might be a chat conversation, a boring class which leads me to write(I suck at doodling. >.>), or a random free moment where an idea pops into my head and I have an urge to start writing then and there.

When you get reviews, do you ever go back and edit? Or do you mainly absorb the comments for use in current and future writing?
I usually absorb comments for my future writing, than go back and edit a multiple times. If it's an SPaG issue and looks awful, I might, but I generally take note of other comments such as repetition and awkward dialogue and work on them in the next story.

Thanks, guys!