tangents Posted July 16, 2020 Posted July 16, 2020 hello mtv and welcome to my crib writer's journal hello, it's me, rikki! I've only been writing fic for a couple years, and haven't finished anything all that recently — so here I am, writing more novel length projects, since that makes total sense. I've been reading harry potter fic for years, though and finally came to hpft when bex mentioned it on pw! I read all sorts of eras and ships (my favorite being jily) but when it comes to writing, I mainly stick to next-gen and minor hogwarts-era characters. I'm a massive fan of dialogue and back-and-forths in writing, which will probably end up showing up in all my works. I'm mostly a humor & drama writer — but someday I will be able to write angst & romance. we will all wait for that day anxiously. current works my author's page can be found +here much ado about everything a super dramatic albus/oc Quote Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more. Albus Potter is here! Arden Vesely is quaking in her boots. A Hogwarts drama of Shakespearean proportions. I wrote the summary and first chapter of this story over two years ago and just recently revisited it! it's changed a lot since it's original conception... so we'll see how the first chapter works with the rest of the fic. even as i've been writing it, it's been changing so much — it began as a light, much ado about nothing inspired story that was supposed to be short and sweet and fun and have lots of dialogue. then it turned into non-stop banter and a giant treatise on the main character, Arden, and her place in the world. her mum is an Indonesian pop star / actress and is really famous in the muggle world, and even as Arden juggles a lot of other drama, I've realized that more than anything, Arden is trying to figure out her identity. where does she belong in the magical world? where does she belong in the Muggle world? how does she connect to Indonesia? how does she connect to her Czech heritage? Albus is in a similar boat, both of them feeling like they're in their parents' shadows. i've made it sound really deep now but it's pretty much completely banter whoops. future works [name coming later] my entry for bex's (beyond the rain) underrated character challenge I haven't written many one shots lately, so I'm so excited to write this! don't know if the character I have is official yet since it hasn't been posted on the forums so I won't say it, but I've always been really fascinated with the idea of Slytherins (and ex-Slytherins) and what they do during the war. on one hand it's sort of boring — what does a person of privilege do when something happens that they can ignore? usually, nothing. but if they're forced to confront their beliefs and prejudice: well, that's when things start getting interesting. also I like writing villains and mean people so fun times can be found here. revolution for dummies the hogwarts version of radio rebel Quote As much as people like to think that killing evil dictators solves all the world's problems, purism didn't go poof along with Voldemort. That's where Lucy Weasley and Nina Lal — former quidditch commentators, current vigilantes against the establishment — slide in. And when you insert a sweet-talking Scorpius Malfoy, a too-suspicious James Potter, and a giant band of Muggleborns? Well, Hogwarts doesn't know what it's in for. this idea came to me in a fever dream just this morning, but it's already got its own folder and planning page, so I guess I'm doing it! it's going to alternate POVs between Lucy and Nina, and its entire goal is to keep the spirit of teenage rebellion alive. Nina hears a girl call her a 'mudblood' one day, and when she reports it, bureaucracy has the professors' hands tied, as it so often does. fed up with it, she and Lucy decide to start their own revolution, wireless style — but they can't do it on their own. with the help of a massive ensemble (and since this story involves Muggleborns....quite a bit of OCs......) Lucy and Nina begin to plan their own Hogwarts Protest. power to the teenage girl!! working title: the seven lives of parvati patil a parvati patil story I don't really write super emotional stories, but this is a way for me to flesh out a character that never got much depth to her and means a lot to me personally. it'll probably just be a one-shot about her life, but I want to write in a way that reflects Hinduism and the second generation Indian experience (since I'm a Hindu Indian-American). the working title is the "seven lives" because of the Hindu belief of reincarnation; it's something that I think Parvati would think a lot about during the war. this'll probably be the most out of my comfort zone, since most of my writing is light + dialogue heavy while this probably will be more description based. we'll see once I get here! that's it for me at the moment! for the rest of July I'll probably be updating my much ado thoughts over on my novel nest, but I'll still be using this to brain dump about my other fics & answer any questions you guys might have!
Darling_take_off_the_mask Posted July 16, 2020 Posted July 16, 2020 omgggg these all sound amazing. I've already been very excited about your Much Ado project over in your NaNo Nest, but the rest of these are awesome ideas, particularly Revolution for Dummies and Seven Lives of Parvati Patil. How long are you thinking each of these four fics (I'm including your NaNo one) will be?
magnifique Posted July 16, 2020 Posted July 16, 2020 THAT FUCKING BEE MOVIE RIKKI I SWEAR TO GOD,,,,,,,,, anyway, you know I love your writing, and I'm very excited to read your future/WIPs and I love this thought: Quote on one hand it's sort of boring — what does a person of privilege do when something happens that they can ignore? usually, nothing. but if they're forced to confront their beliefs and prejudice: well, that's when things start getting interesting. also I like writing villains and mean people so fun times can be found here. because it's so true!! like that is just... how privilege works and it only really gets interesting when people are forced to confront it or are confronted about it and put in an uncomfortable space so I'm really excited to read your take on that!! I'm also literally so here for revolution for dummies it gives me very etc, etc and life goes on vibes but like, not in the same exact way but in the same kind of universe as that style of fic and I think that style is so very you, and it'll be so good as well and cool to read the impact of 'mudblood' on the next gen because I don't think it's something explored as much as it should be (dragging myself here tbh) like purism doesn't go away just because harry snapped his fingers and was like "hey this shit is bad guys don't do that" and, as you know, I am VERY excited for your Parvati one shot!!! I think it's going to be so interesting to read that from you especially because it'll be out of your comfort zone and a style you don't really write, but one I think you can be very, very good at so I'm looking forward to it anyway for some questions: 1. so your entry for bex's challenge - you mention during the war, will your character(s) be in school or out of school? are you planning on involving the trio or like, Main Supporting Cast at all or will this really stand alone?? 2. talk to me more about hogwarts bureaucracy - what are we talking here, like, conservative, liberal conservative, liberal but won't do anything, TELL ME ABOUT HOGWARTS POLITICS 3. I assume?? you're planning on writing part of the parvati one shot while she's in school, do you have any ideas yet (I mean i assume u do but also, best not to assume) on how to better flesh out her experience at Hogwarts in comparison to someone else we know cough jk rowling cough and do you think Padma will feature heavily or just kind of off to the side still as this is primarily about Parvati's experiences and they're twins but certainly not the same person? anyway, love you, love your ideas, CAN'T WAIT TO READ THEM
Raspberry_cordelia Posted July 16, 2020 Posted July 16, 2020 Hi Rikki! Your writer's journal already looks awesome! Hope you're doing well. Here to gift you with some juicy questions! What do you like about writing next gen characters? What are some of your headcanons of your next gen characters? Doesn't have to be anything big, could literally be favorite foods, or music preferences. I love your description of "revolution for dummies." I am a sucker for a good resistance movement. Is there going to be some cool contraband spell-work?
tangents Posted July 17, 2020 Author Posted July 17, 2020 i am back with both updates and answers to your lovely questions! first, the update: untitled fic has a name! it is called "migration patterns" and will be about peregrine derrick, one of the slytherin beaters in harry's third year. I've already started it and I'm really excited about it; it's so different to the light things I usually write and I'm taking a very different POV with it. sort of omniscient... sort of not? in the books, he's sort of an older crabbe/goyle. so what would have happened if, let's say goyle, had no draco? what if it was just the two of them? what if they were out of school when the war happened? and that's what i'll be seeing happens with peregrine derrick. i am now writing a new fic. i don't have that much to update on it except the fact that called "waves come crashing on in" (taken of course from hayley kiyoko) and it's an annie cresta/finnick odair pirate AU for paula's challenge!! finnick is a robin hood pirate and annie is an inej ghafa type pirate and they meet when annie tries to steal some of finnick's crew. it's also written in a sort of ominscent way in that it's a story inside a story (kind of) so that is a fun and new type of writing style! now for the questions! @RonsGirlFriday 21 hours ago, RonsGirlFriday said: omgggg these all sound amazing. I've already been very excited about your Much Ado project over in your NaNo Nest, but the rest of these are awesome ideas, particularly Revolution for Dummies and Seven Lives of Parvati Patil. How long are you thinking each of these four fics (I'm including your NaNo one) will be? thank you so much!!! migration patterns + seven lives + waves will be one-shots, but i really cannot tell you how long they'll be. like... my one shots tend to be sort of long hahahah. I don't have any on here but on my AO3, I have one fic that's a normal length for me (8k words) and the other was supposed to be the same length— and then it became 17K words long. i've got migration patterns planned out and i'm pretty sure that's reaching over 10K whoops!!! much ado + revolution for dummies are definitely novel length. I can't say more because I've figured out I don't stick to detailed plans very well... much ado was supposed to be short and then arden and albus wouldn't shut up . and however long that is, revolution is definitely going to be longer since it's going to be dual POV! @magnifique 21 hours ago, magnifique said: THAT FUCKING BEE MOVIE RIKKI I SWEAR TO GOD,,,,,,,,, i can't believe you have a problem with this barry b. benson is my brother okay!!! he's just a lonely bee trying to make his way in life and be(e) happy!!!! anyways onto your amazing questions: 21 hours ago, magnifique said: anyway, you know I love your writing, and I'm very excited to read your future/WIPs and I love this thought: because it's so true!! like that is just... how privilege works and it only really gets interesting when people are forced to confront it or are confronted about it and put in an uncomfortable space so I'm really excited to read your take on that!! EXACTLY. the majority of people never really bother to do anything unless they take the step and think "hey. maybe i benefit from x part of my identity" and that's a hard step to take! and i feel like a lot of times in writing it's some sort of dramatic event, which it can be. but sometimes it's also just a steady buildup, and it's a small thing that makes you finally realize. or if it's just like one person, consistently telling you... in this fic i do have a dramatic event sort of, but the realization is more of something steadier? i also don't think every character needs a redemption arc (unpopular opinion: draco didn't need one) but i also think that every person has the opportunity to be good. we just have to dig it out of them somehow. 21 hours ago, magnifique said: I'm also literally so here for revolution for dummies it gives me very etc, etc and life goes on vibes but like, not in the same exact way but in the same kind of universe as that style of fic and I think that style is so very you, and it'll be so good as well and cool to read the impact of 'mudblood' on the next gen because I don't think it's something explored as much as it should be (dragging myself here tbh) like purism doesn't go away just because harry snapped his fingers and was like "hey this shit is bad guys don't do that" and, as you know, I am VERY excited for your Parvati one shot!!! I think it's going to be so interesting to read that from you especially because it'll be out of your comfort zone and a style you don't really write, but one I think you can be very, very good at so I'm looking forward to it WOW I HAVE SO MUCH TO LIVE UP TO. honestly I don't think it'll be the same kind of universe, because I want this fic to be more grounded & realistic than my current WIP. like I feel like in my much ado piece, everything the characters do is sort of dramatized, and in this one, more than anything, my descriptions are going to be dramatized, if that makes sense? in a way it's sort of out of my comfort zone too then whoops but like in this fic the world is going to be more similar to what we have now. harry never really felt the underlying prejudice toward muggleborns because he himself isn't a muggleborn — but what about everyday acts of purism? i was thinking and it's like — how many muggleborns make it onto the quidditch teams? half-bloods and purebloods have an advantage on them already. what about people who think muggleborns are only fit for certain departments of the ministry because they "don't have certain qualifications"? and what about slytherins who are so typecast as evil? what about slytherin muggleborns? and thank you!! on one hand i'm really excited and on the other i'm actually... dreading it? just because it's so personal? so i think i'm going to latch it onto the people around parvati more than herself if that makes sense, focus on her relationships with the other people around her and how that defines her beliefs. 21 hours ago, magnifique said: anyway for some questions: 1. so your entry for bex's challenge - you mention during the war, will your character(s) be in school or out of school? are you planning on involving the trio or like, Main Supporting Cast at all or will this really stand alone?? 2. talk to me more about hogwarts bureaucracy - what are we talking here, like, conservative, liberal conservative, liberal but won't do anything, TELL ME ABOUT HOGWARTS POLITICS 3. I assume?? you're planning on writing part of the parvati one shot while she's in school, do you have any ideas yet (I mean i assume u do but also, best not to assume) on how to better flesh out her experience at Hogwarts in comparison to someone else we know cough jk rowling cough and do you think Padma will feature heavily or just kind of off to the side still as this is primarily about Parvati's experiences and they're twins but certainly not the same person? anyway, love you, love your ideas, CAN'T WAIT TO READ THEM 1. both! so i'm going to be tracking peregrine from when he was a little child, because i'm... like that and when i write a character study i have to go full out. i need to explore some other styles (such as snippets / slices of life) but we'll get to that later. during the actual battle of hogwarts, peregrine is out of school. i don't think the trio will really be in it — i'll try to include them in passing, but i am planning on including some supporting cast members! these include, in no particular order of relevance: penelope clearwater, charlie weasley, colin creevey, dennis creevey, fred and george weasley, angelina johnson. 2. I LOVE TALKING ABOUT RED TAPE. soooo i'm thinking more along the lines of liberal but won't do anything — because we know that mcgonagall is headmistress, and she doesn't really stand for purism and we love her for that. BUT what I think is that the sort of purism that happens isn't the type that you can prove. directly after the war, people are going to be aggressively pro-muggleborn just to show that they're not voldemort supporters, they love muggles. and that might happen for a few years, but you know that soon enough purebloods are going to get angry. the war's over, they'd say. why do we have to pay for it now? purebloods who didn't participate in the war will talk about how they didn't fight the muggleborns themselves, so why should they have to pay for that? why do muggleborns get advantages? without getting too much into actual real life problems like affirmative action and reparations and all those things conservatives love to get angry about, i'd think that purebloods would get really resentful. and think about it — voldemort repopulated the ministry with his supporters. do you really think that they can just be fired like that? if you can't prove anything, there's too many people objecting, too many laws in the way to just get rid of them. hermione made her way to minister as an elected official, but what about the people who aren't elected? it's like the way of rich people and having connections. purebloods have the connections. muggleborns are making their own path. then, to actual hogwarts. there's a board of governors. who are they filled by? i'd be surprised if all the muggleborns who may have been on the board during voldemort's era weren't kicked out. then after the war, sure, maybe the board of governors expands because you can't just fire the purebloods either, they deserved it, didn't they? so you have this massive, swollen board where purebloods still outweigh muggleborns. at first, they might do things to help muggleborns and change — but they might not, and either way, by the time this fic takes place, i'm willing to bet that they're stodgy and traditional. i know it felt like dumbledore had Ultimate Power during his time as headmaster, but i'm willing to bet that the headmaster/headmistress at least has to consult with this purist-leaning board. then, of course, there are the professors. during job interviews, they're not going to outwardly show that they're purist — that's not a way to get a job under a veteran of the battle of hogwarts. but it's the little things, isn't it? so pretend nina tries to report the use of the slur. it's her word against the other girl's. take veritaserum, then — well, if you consent, then you can't take it. and you have to consent. then check their memories, there's a pensieve in the headmistress's office! but what if nina's memories were tampered, the board might say. you have to check the other girl's too. and she doesn't consent, and you can't force her to (because invading her brain would be illegal). and on and on and on it goes. 3. this one shot is probably just going to be a collection of scenes! i don't have that many ideas yet, since i'm mainly focusing on my other fics for now, but padma's going to of course play a huge role, so will lavender and the other gryffindors, so will other people in her future. i want to include colin creevey again because he's my absolute favorite minor character but he probably won't fit, sadly. thank you for all the questions julie !!!! @Raspberry_cordelia 7 hours ago, Raspberry_cordelia said: Hi Rikki! Your writer's journal already looks awesome! Hope you're doing well. Here to gift you with some juicy questions! What do you like about writing next gen characters? What are some of your headcanons of your next gen characters? Doesn't have to be anything big, could literally be favorite foods, or music preferences. I love your description of "revolution for dummies." I am a sucker for a good resistance movement. Is there going to be some cool contraband spell-work? thank you!!!! i hope you're doing well too 1. i love next gen because they're such blank slates! i'm biased because i'm pretty sure the first fanfic i ever read was next gen but i've always loved the universe of Hogwarts, and writing next gen is sort of how i... make it mine? like i do also like writing other eras as well but next-gen just has such a special place in my heart because it has to do with rebuilding and kids and the restructuring of society. also i like reading al/oc and jsp/oc because i'm cheesy like that hahahah. 2. i have SO many. james looks more like ginny than he does harry. he has brownish-red hair and brown eyes and freckles!!! lucy weasley (my favorite next-genner) is quiet, but she's not a nerd. she likes art a lot and she's sort of just talked over since everybody else in the family is so loud, but once she starts talking you can't get her to stop. freddie ii and lucy are closer than freddie ii and james. think about it — in the books, percy was always the closest to fred and george. so in their childhood, their kids will be meeting more than anything, and i can imagine freddie and lucy getting up to hijinks together, with freddie being the loud one but lucy being the secret mastermind behind the plans. this one is very widespread, but lily luna ii is nefarious around hogwarts. i think that all 3 children will try to be different than their parents in their own way, and while al skips out on Quidditch and James tries to bear the burden of responsibility (being the oldest), Lily goes the wildest. in my current WIP, i've mentioned that she's making her own potions club (to rival the one that the Hogwarts establishment already has) because she's a rebel without a cause. rose is like her parents in that she likes to study a lot, like hermione, but only for classes that she deems worth her attention (like ron). she's also extremely emotionally insensitive; after all, she's the daughter of hermione "you weren't dreading it" granger and ronald "emotional range of a teaspoon" weasley. DOMINIQUE HAS STRAWBERRY BLONDE HAIR. that's the entire headcanon i have for her. those are just a few that i have but i could go on and on about almost any next gen character 3. thank you!! i'm not sure about contraband spell work, since none of them are ravenclaws, but there's definitely going to be an attempt to organize a massive protest at the quidditch final. i'm imagining sort of an underground resistance like the D.A. — potterwatch 2.0, secret pamphlets finding their way on bulletin boards, meetings in unused classrooms, marches out of class, thievery of various objects of importance and the like. it's going to show how the students can reclaim their school and really, how teenagers fight prejudice on an everyday level. thanks to all three of you for asking me such thought provoking questions!!!! i loved them!!
shadowycorner Posted July 17, 2020 Posted July 17, 2020 Quote working title: the seven lives of parvati patil a parvati patil story I don't really write super emotional stories, but this is a way for me to flesh out a character that never got much depth to her and means a lot to me personally. it'll probably just be a one-shot about her life, but I want to write in a way that reflects Hinduism and the second generation Indian experience (since I'm a Hindu Indian-American). the working title is the "seven lives" because of the Hindu belief of reincarnation; it's something that I think Parvati would think a lot about during the war. this'll probably be the most out of my comfort zone, since most of my writing is light + dialogue heavy while this probably will be more description based. we'll see once I get here! Hi dear, I'm here for some gifting questions! The working title is a great title and unless you come up with something you like more, I actually love this one and it has me wondering what these seven lives are and what they represent and how you'll weve that into the story of the war. That is to say, I am really excited for this story. I love that it's important to you, writing things like this can be so good for you, and I personally would love to find out more about what you do with this character as well. I have some questions too 1. what do you think is the hardest thing about writing a story based on personal experience? 2. what is your biggest headcanon about Parvati that you may or may not be using in this story? AND OMG REVOLUTION FOR DUMMIES!!! 1. when will this story see the light? (i feel like i need it now) 2. what are your plans for it length-wise? 3. will you be drawing on parallels of the protests that are happening now since they are happening in almost the same era/year? 4. what do you like most about each of your ensemble cast for this story? Thank you and I'm very excited for all of this!
tangents Posted July 22, 2020 Author Posted July 22, 2020 hi eli!!! thank you for your questions On 7/17/2020 at 3:39 AM, shadowycorner said: The working title is a great title and unless you come up with something you like more, I actually love this one and it has me wondering what these seven lives are and what they represent and how you'll weve that into the story of the war. That is to say, I am really excited for this story. I love that it's important to you, writing things like this can be so good for you, and I personally would love to find out more about what you do with this character as well. I have some questions too 1. what do you think is the hardest thing about writing a story based on personal experience? 2. what is your biggest headcanon about Parvati that you may or may not be using in this story? thank you!! I have seven lives for now just because i have always been planning on exploring the idea of reincarnation & death — more than anything I think this'll play a role after the war when Parvati is well, dealing with people's deaths. I definitely think that no matter how the fic morphs as I write it, the title will have something to do with death and life. (I'm not a fan of the usual phoenix metaphor, since I think that the myth originated from Greece and Egypt, and it feels like a very Westernized idea to me) but i will keep chugging along on that!!! personally, I feel like the hardest thing for me is that I've never really been that great at exploring my own emotions and culture (lol). I've written pieces about my life before but gotten blowback because "it doesn't accurately represent [someone's] culture" (said by someone ethnically from the same part of India as me about a piece I wrote describing my lack of connection to Indian culture) and those sorts of comments really made me want to stay out of writing anything really personal for a while. like a looooot of my writing style has devolved into irony and banter and I do love writing that, but I can't just stop writing because I don't want to explore my own cultural disconnect, so here I am... trying... to connect i definitely think the Patil twins are purebloods. don't think it's ever mentioned what their blood status is, but Indian culture is steeped so much in tradition and listening to your elders that writing them as pureblood gives me the biggest opportunity to reflect on heritage and how that affects opinion on blood status. i will be thinking on this for a while though!! On 7/17/2020 at 3:39 AM, shadowycorner said: AND OMG REVOLUTION FOR DUMMIES!!! 1. when will this story see the light? (i feel like i need it now) 2. what are your plans for it length-wise? 3. will you be drawing on parallels of the protests that are happening now since they are happening in almost the same era/year? 4. what do you like most about each of your ensemble cast for this story? Thank you and I'm very excited for all of this! hehehheh I don't want to be writing two novel-length fics at the same time so not until much ado about everything is done. i'm on chapter 6 of much ado out of like 15-20 chapters, so almost halfway through that! i will keep planning revolution for dummies all the while and writing snippets (but i need it now too) looooong. it's going to be from both lucy & nina's perspective so those are two characters that need to be fully fleshed out + have an arc. also it has to be long because I want to properly describe in-depth the dynamics and nuances of the entire protest process and be able to explain wizarding politics properly. both yes and no. obviously there will be things inspired by the protests in the fic, but i don't think i'll be including specific parallels, because this is a topic that cuts close to home for a lot of people, and I don't want to be offensive in any sort of way. like, this fic deals with dark themes but it still has humor and will be relatively light (*depends on how much better I get at writing dark things). however, a lot of protests throughout history have had the same fundamentals — a disruption of the system, usually both violent and peaceful. generally, I just want to talk about wizarding politics and society and how they perpetuate prejudice in different ways and how people fight the system. so lots of research will be happening on protests throughout history!!! LOVE THIS QUESTION. i will be providing you with random quotes from my planning doc: nina lal — "literally burns hogwarts down because james potter speaks to her" lucy weasley — "would co-write tina belcher's friend fiction" james potter — "thinks the A in LGBTQIA+ stands for ally" scorpius malfoy — "doesn't even know how to tie his shoes" rose weasley — "down with the Ministry they're so corrupt!!! ...........wait her mom's literally the head of the entire government whatever this still stands" albus potter — "ties scorpius's shoes for him" dominique weasley — "protests via interpretative dance" gwendolyn flume (a muggleborn adopted into pureblood family) — "is just here to write friend fiction with lucy" freddy weasley — "would steal lucy and gwennie's friend fiction and spread it around the school. would also claim he wrote it." archie & florence bell — "why not include some random half-siblings that hate each other we love side-plots" georgia nguyen (muggleborn) — "is not interested in becoming a symbol" theodore chen (muggleborn) — "went by teddy but accidentally became friends with james. now goes by theo and hates everyone for it." gil bierzo (muggleborn) — "nobody meant to bring him here but it's too late to kick him out" (i did say there was a large cast but even this got away from me... wHOOPS) aaaaand..... a new story! +migration patterns I have some comments and reflections that I'll list out believe it or not, writing 13k words in 2 days is exhausting. after joining hpft, i have written so much more than i'm used to. i think overall, i've written like 35k words this month?? which is more than i've written in like two years?? but this fic literally just kept getting longer and longer and longer and i think i sat at my computer for eight hours just to finish this entire thing. somewhat related, i have a problem with being concise. i think it has to do with my whole internal monologue dilemma, but this fic probably could have ended up being shorter? i tend to waver between writing really short sentences in a row and then writing super long sentences all in a row, and it depends on the style of story. for example, in much ado, i have a lot of short, clippy sentences that sound awkward together, and in this story, i have a lot of lloooooooonnnnggg, dragging sentences. personally i felt like arden is less of an internalizer than peregrine, which is why i have my sentences like that, but still. you need both short and long sentences together and that's a balance i'm still trying to work on. what is romance? i had actually planned on having peregrine end up alone (after a fleeting thing with penelope) but then i wrote the 7th year triwizard tournament section and was like........... oh, so This is happening. and i'm not a romance writer in any shape or form (for those of you not in the know, my claim to fame is that the most kissing i've ever wrote in a fic was "and then they kissed". in the two fics i have on my ao3, one ends with a smile and the other with holding hands, which is probably sappier but i just.... don't write kisses). so figuring out how to write it here was tough for me, and i'm not sure if it was even satisfactory since i wasn't even explicit about it at all, but it was an interesting thing to figure out and play with. unrelated to this fic, but much ado is actually my way of trying to get comfortable with writing romance. it was originally supposed to just be Pure Romance but then my characters got away from me and decided that they'd all have identity crises. i'm still probably not going to write kisses any more than "and then they kissed" but we'll see how much ado goes and if i get better at writing romance things!! different writing styles are fun! the first thing that's obvious about my fic is that there are no dialogue tags. and there's not that much dialogue at all, actually. as i say below, i believe dialogue is one of my strengths, which made writing this pretty daunting (and is why it's almost just a spew of consciousness). i had started on the second section and there was a piece of dialogue and i wrote it without tags and i was like... this feels right, so i kept going with it and didn't know where to stop. so i just didn't stop and wrote the whole thing without dialogue tags. i personally don't know how it turned out because i only read it through like 2 or 3 times to edit before i couldn't look at it anymore, but i hope it's not that confusing. it was a fun experiment in writing, though, but writing this piece drained me so much more than writing any of my other fics has. i guess i need to experiment more with writing characters that spend a lot of time thinking!!! I need someone who'll teach me how to describe settings stat. i also used the word 'fuck' like 50 times in this piece so basically i've set a new world record for swearing density i like these characters a lot. like i struggle a lot with moral ambiguity (since i myself have been working very hard to get rid of my own black and white mentality hahah) and writing these kinds of characters, but i actually feel like i did a good job here? i'll keep it vague just in case anybody decides to go check out my fic now but basically i feel like the three main characters are fundamentally slytherins and they do have good inside of them; it's just all directed toward the people they care about. like peregrine, the main character, goes through some moral crisis but there are some things he doesn't regret, even though on the surface, they are bad choices. lucian bole makes a bad choice and he doesn't regret it — but he also covers for his friends and takes care of them. terrence higgs doesn't care about most people — but he cares about his friends. none of them are good, but none are completely evil either. lots of people can write these sorts of characters all the time but in the past, when i've written characters like these, it's always felt more surface level. but in this fic, i feel like i actually managed to get deeper, so at least one accomplishment here!!! (some revolution for dummies updates) I have come to the realization that when planning stories out, I don't really stick to the outline? I tried to plan out much ado about everything but once the characters were fully fleshed out in my mind, they just decided to do their own thing and go off on whatever they wanted to do. i've still got the basic outline, but it's veering farther and farther from the original play as i continue to write... which is not bad because i'm firmly of the belief that if you have good characters, the plot comes along with them. so anyways, i decided to try something else to plan this, and while I really only have basic ideas prepped for nina and lucy's arcs, i at least figured out how to plan my chapters — write them like a play. not exactly script style (because I don't know how to do that) but not just dialogue either. this way i put the basics down of dialogue and setting, and i can work on creating dynamic characters based on what they say. then, i build the POVs around them. i think that'll be the most difficult part for me, actually — I sort of wanted to write this in third person because I felt like it might be easier to comprehend, but I also wanted to challenge myself to build different enough internal monologues that the reader can tell the difference just by a certain section. so here we are. anyways, here's an example of what I mean!! this is what I outlined (the scene takes place in the library): Spoiler NINA: Uh, I’ll study history another time. JAMES: Wait! Lal! Don’t — you won’t tell anyone, right? NINA: Well, I wasn’t going to. (pauses) I might now. and this is what it turned into: Spoiler “Uh,” I said, clutching my books to my chest. “I’ll study history another time.” “Wait! Lal!” James Potter, Head Boy and Gryffindor’s keeper, reached out toward me, forgetting that he was still clutching the waist of Eliza Montague, Slytherin captain. Some books tumbled down around them, and maybe in another world it would have been something romantic, forgetting that the world existed around you, if not for the fact that I had just caught them and he was trying to cover his tracks. “Don’t— you won’t tell anyone, right?” The sheer presumptuousness of his statement sent me reeling. “Well,” I started, jutting my chin up, “I wasn’t going to.” The words lifted in the air, and it was like both of them expected me to say more and slap a plaster over their mistakes. Fuck that. “I might now.” it's not anything like.... unique but I think it's really been helping me with making my narratives distinct from each other. like already, I can tell that Nina is different than Arden or Lucy (who are the other two people I've written first person for) both in the way she speaks and thinks, and it really helped me to have that bare-bones dialogue structure to work with first. I'd love to know if anyone else outlines their chapters like this or in a different way because I feel like things can also just be [x event has to happen] for an entire chapter and you just word vomit onto the page and it's a beautiful chapter. thus ends this looooooooong wj post. will be surprised if anybody even gets through because wow, I wrote a lot.
victoria_anne Posted September 9, 2020 Posted September 9, 2020 Hi Rikki! Wow, all your projects sound amazing! How are they going? On 7/22/2020 at 11:55 AM, tangents said: i'm firmly of the belief that if you have good characters, the plot comes along with them. This is such a cool thing! I'm so happy that works for you though! You seem like a really character-driven writer. What's your process like for creating characters? Are you reading anything on the archives at the moment? What's your writing ritual? Music? Snacks?
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