[Hermione_Crookshanks]

Hi! I'm Hermione_Crookshanks, author of I'm Not Neurotic! The Diary of Hermione Granger, One Last Adventure, The List, as well as 12 other short stories/one-shots (although two have been abandoned). You can find my stories here. So if you have any questions for me, feel free to ask! I love doing these types of things. :-)

[LovelyMioneWeasley]

Hiya! Well, I was never a Harr/Hermione supporter at all. But I began to read The List and you have convinced me that they could actually work out. So, my question is, how do you convincingly write a romance between any pairing (perhaps no matter how outrageous)?

<3333
Lindsey

[Hermione_Crookshanks]

Hiya! Well, I was never a Harr/Hermione supporter at all. But I began to read The List and you have convinced me that they could actually work out. So, my question is, how do you convincingly write a romance between any pairing (perhaps no matter how outrageous)?

<3333
Lindsey

That's a really interesting question (and I'm not just saying that because it's a great way to start an answer), and a rather difficult one as well. Before I really get into this, let me start by saying that this is all my opinion. I completely understand that people don't believe as I do, and the idea of H/Hr is probably as ridiculous as the idea of R/Hr is to me. In no way am I trying to convince others to ship H/Hr. This is simply why I can write for this ship.

I guess the truth is that, at least for me, I can't write a romance between any pairing (which is one of my many flaws as a writer). I could never write an R/Hr piece, or an H/G one or D/Hr. For me, it all comes down to how much I believe a ship could happen in real life. In the case of R/Hr, I can never see a man or woman put up with as much abuse from the person they "like" as Ron and Hermione do (even though, in all likelihood, R/Hr will be the final pairing). Nor can I image, for H/G, a guy suddenly falling for a girl who's liked him for six years, other than for a quick fling, in the way that Harry does in HBP (a physical attraction lacking in actual conversation when the two aren't snogging). I do, however, believe strongly that the relationship Harry and Hermione have could develop into a long lasting relationship. It's something I've always wanted, and it's something you see on television constantly (not that that makes it right/plausible, but we cannot deny the media's effect on us). So I draw from what I've seen others go through when they make the switch from best friends to boyfriend/girlfriend, apply it to Harry and Hermione, and pray that I can keep them in character (which I most certainly didn't achieve in "I'm Not Neurotic!", which was more of a fun piece for me to write than a serious one, and which I'm hopefully achieving so far in "The List").

In the end, it all comes down to whether or not you can envision two people falling for one another. From there, you simply develop a story from Point A to Point B. The most important thing is to keep the characters in...well...character. In D/Hr fics you often find Hermione suddenly dressing/wearing her hair/wearing makeup like Parvati (and we all know that while Hermione does have the right to care about how she looks, she simply would never start dressing like that), and suddenly Malfoy's this really caring and sensitive person who is such a great student that Dumbledore has chosen for him to be Head Boy. In some extreme cases, Harry or even Ron attack Hermione or emotionally harm her to a point that she runs into Malfoy's arms. Somehow, that just doesn't come off as realistic for me, and I can never imagine it happening in the books in any scenario whatsoever.

Wow. That was a long and probably unnecessary answer, but there you go! Hopefully I answered your question properly. If not, please let me know, and I'll be glad to address any points that weren't answered, or clear up any confusion!

[bdrman]

I know what you are thinking. "Doesn't he talk enough in the reviews?" Well, yes I do but I could not resist asking some questions since this is out of the regular review arena and we are allowed to do so.
Ever since I have started reading your stories I have wondered several things.
1. What, if any, literary inspirations have you had through the years? How have those books influenced your writing?
2. What do you get out of reading other fanfiction or does that have a big impact on your writing?

There are others but I don't want you to get tired of me yet.

bdrman

[Hermione_Crookshanks]

I know what you are thinking. "Doesn't he talk enough in the reviews?" Well, yes I do but I could not resist asking some questions since this is out of the regular review arena and we are allowed to do so.
Ever since I have started reading your stories I have wondered several things.
1. What, if any, literary inspirations have you had through the years? How have those books influenced your writing?
2. What do you get out of reading other fanfiction or does that have a big impact on your writing?

There are others but I don't want you to get tired of me yet. smile.gif

bdrman

Oh hush. I love your reviews -- they always make me laugh and you must spend a hideous amount of time writing them, so it's the least I can do to answer some questions.

1. This is going to sound so horrible, considering even I don't consider her that great an author, but Meg Cabot. When I was younger, around ten (so six years ago), until I was about 12, I was a huge fan of The Princess Diaries series, as well as Teen Idol and All American Girl. I didn't realize it until someone asked me if I was a Meg Cabot reader, but looking back at my stories, she's had a definite impact on my writing style. It's especially obvious with The List. The list at the beginning of each chapter? Definitely All American Girl influenced. I'm Not Neurotic! zany diary entries? Most certainly influenced by Mia's off-the-wall diary entries in The Princess Diaries. My tendency to stay away from pure romance and to instead mix it with humor is definitely a huge, neon, blinking arrow pointing at Meg Cabot. To this day I'm shocked that it took me so long to realize it.

When I was even younger, around seven, I was a huge Dear America/Royal Diaries fanatic, so I suppose that's why many of my stories (well, all right, two) are either diary or have a diary-esque feel to them (I am, of course, talking about The List and Neurotic!).

There are a lot of other books (books that would probably make me appear a bit more intelligent) that I've read and loved, but as of yet I can't see how they've affected me (maybe, as with Meg Cabot, I'm just incredibly blind). The Great Gatsby, The Secret Life of Bees, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Pride and Prejudice are just a few of my favorite books, and I look up to the authors more than one can imagine, so if you see anything that appears at all connected, let me know! *Laughs*

2. Reading other fanfiction... You know, that's always a great worry of mine, because I always fear I'm going to read a fanfic, have it stick in my mind, and then later, when I've forgotten all about it, it will come back as an idea. Indeed, that happened with Neurotic! I read a fanfic called Hermione's Soul, which was a diary fic, and a few months later I ended up writing a diary fic myself (although the two are very different in style, thank God). I didn't realize I had done it until I was going through a list of H/Hr fics on HPFF, and there the fic was, staring back at me. My jaw sort of dropped and for a few minutes I felt absolutely horrid, like I had plagiarized. I reread the Soul fic and, to my great relief, realized that, although both were H/Hr Diary Romance fics, they were very different.

Other than that, I'm fairly certain that fanfics haven't influenced me too greatly. A lot of it comes from real life experiences (The List), a random line that pops into my head (History of England) or just from my own emotions (Superman Complex and Hallelujah).

A lot of times, I read other fanfics and I end up feeling absolutely horrible about my own writing, but that's okay (the Paradigm of Uncertainty Series, probably ones of the most famous fanfics, is definitely one of those fics; Lori is simply amazing and PoU is, hands down, the best HP fanfic out there). It just means that I have a lot on which to improve, and it motivates me as well.

Well, I hoped that answered your questions (and coherently...)! If you have any others, please feel free to ask.

(*Stares up at reply* And you thought you wrote a lot!)

[LadySophieKitty]

Hope you don't get confused by our avvies. Anyway, I'll try to ask a few questions at a time, seeing as I tend to get carried away with these things (once i asked 20 questions at once).

If you could ask JKR one question, what would it be?

If you could change one thing about the Harry Potter books/universe, what would it be?

Do you think Snape is good? Bad? Neither?

What is one thing that annoys you really bad on the internet? (i.e. chatspeak is one of my peeves. And close-minded people)

[Hermione_Crookshanks]

Hope you don't get confused by our avvies. Anyway, I'll try to ask a few questions at a time, seeing as I tend to get carried away with these things (once i asked 20 questions at once).

LOL. At first I was! Great minds think alike I suppose, huh? And no worries. Answering questions is actually fun for me. Though, mind you, I just saw OotP, so I'm slightly hyper, so let me know if my answers don't make any sense.

If you could ask JKR one question, what would it be?

Hmm. If I could ask JKR one question I guess it would be how could she make everyone so self absorbed in HBP. The trio's friendship was almost destroyed because of it, and it was completely unnecessary and uncalled for. Hermione acted so catty, Ron was so spiteful, and Harry just couldn't give a damn, and that bothered me a lot. Did she not see what she did, or was it part of some sort of master plan?

If you could change one thing about the Harry Potter books/universe, what would it be?

Ginny. I wouldn't get rid of her, but rather change her character. Perhaps even SHOW us how she became who she was. We're supposed to feel attached to her, yet she's almost nonexistent for most of the books. We're suppose to respect her, yet we never see her perform any magic - we just hear about it. We're suppose to think that she's the perfect match for Harry, that she can handle him in a way that no one else can. Yet Harry doesn't trust her enough to tell her anything, and she's pushed away when the action appears, and it's Hermione who's by his side (at least in OotP). We're suppose to sympathize with her and feel that she deserves Harry -- yet she goes around, dating boy after boy, and even has the audacity to go to the ball with Neville, just because she wanted a way to go, and then leaves with another guy. I'm sorry, but I could care less about Ginny, especially when she's suddenly taking over Hermione's role for no good reason and "defending" Harry in ways that only hurt him.

Do you think Snape is good? Bad? Neither?

Good. Dumbledore would never beg for his life. He would, however, beg for another's -- Draco's. I firmly believe that Dumbledore was begging Snape to kill him so that Draco would not be punished by Voldemort, and so that Snape could continue acting as a spy for the Order. Snape was so upset with Dumbledore for making him do something so horrid.

What is one thing that annoys you really bad on the internet? (i.e. chatspeak is one of my peeves. And close-minded people)

Amazingly enough, we hate the same things. I cannot STAND chatspeak. What's the point of not spelling out "you"? How difficult is it to press the shift key and capitalize a word? How is "waz" any quicker to spell than "was"?

Close-mindedness annoys me, too. I accept that other people see differently than me. The POINT of literature is that everyone interprets things differently. To tell me that I haven't read the books just because I don't agree with you is just...well...stupid, for lack of a better word (it's quarter of four in the morning, so bare with me). I don't mind R/Hr shippers, but the fact that many constantly call me stupid, or blind, or delusional just because I have the audacity to think differently than them is absolutely ridiculous, and when it comes down to it, it IS a form of prejudice (the fact that many believe that just because we don't ship R/Hr means that we hate Ron and because we ship H/Hr we don't appreciate friendships is a great sign of that as well. I appreciate friendships. Just because you're in love doesn't mean that you're not still FRIENDS. This is going to sound stupid, but look at the show Kim Possible. Kim and Ron end up together, but they're still best friends. Same with Monica and Chandler on Friends. For any fan out there, remember when Chandler tells Monica that he was happy, because when he's with someone else he can't wait to get back to his friends, but when he's with her, he's already with one?)

ANYWAY, there ends my long rant. I hope I didn't offend anyone! These are, as always, just my opinions, and I completely understand if you disagree with me.

I hope that answered your questions! Feel free to ask more. :-)

[LadySophieKitty]

Are there any good HHR fics that you would reccomend? The arrival of DH is getting closer and closer, making me sad, plus not many people seem to be writing HHR anymore.

[Hermione_Crookshanks]

Are there any good HHR fics that you would reccomend? The arrival of DH is getting closer and closer, making me sad, plus not many people seem to be writing HHR anymore.

Definitely! I have so many. I'll make a list with a short description and why I love it...

Title: Survivor
Author: atruwriter
Rating: Mature
Summary: Waiting. He was always waiting. He'd already buried one best friend and now the other will follow. There was nothing he could do or say. There was no Harry without Hermione. Ron witnessed the beginning and now he must accept the end. HHr
Comments: This is absolutely one of the most beautifully written fanfics out there. The only downside is that you're going to end up crying in at least one of the four chapters (I cried during all of them). It's a heartbreaking and depressing story, but every H/Hr shipper needs to read it. And what's unique about it is that it's from Ron's point of view (and Ron is actually represented in a really great manner, which makes me happy).

Title: Platonic Affection
Author: Holy Pancake
Rating: R
Summary: Because of Harry and Hermione's constant and somewhat "un-platonic" affection, they are rumored to be a couple. In an act of desperation, they bet the whole school that they can go for a week without each other's affection. But with Harry, who finds affection necessary, can he manage?
Comments: I found this story a bit after I had started The List (thank God I had already planned out my story line, or this would've really affected it...). If you enjoy TL, you'll definitely enjoy this story. They have very similar plots and are both romantic comedies. The only main difference is that Holy Pancake's is better. Seriously though, it's a fun read.

Title: Powers of Persuasion
Author: mysterium26
Rating: PG13
Summary: Last chapter COMPLETED! When a series of mysterious deaths threatens the fragile calm of the wizarding world, the trio's detective skills may be up for a dusting. Is it mere coincidence that all of the victims point to Hermione, or something more sinister? And will Hermione ever suck it up and confess her love to Harry? Reviews welcome and encouraged!
Comments: I absolutely love this fic. It's one of my favorites (well, obviously). It has a clever plot, which can be difficult to find in romance fics. Definitely very captivating.

Title: The Half-Blood Prince in Review
Author: Caina
Rating: R
Summary: This is a spoof of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It will be from a H/Hr shippers POV. Harsh language. Not suitable for those under 17.
Comments: Even though it says not suitable for those under 17, so long as you're mature enough to handle such language you'll be fine. Anyway, this fic, although incomplete (and most likely to stay that way) is absolutely hilarious. I mean insanely hilarious. It pokes holes at HBP and just makes you feel completely better about what happened.

Title: The Adventures of Suave!Harry! and his Cliche Crew!
Author: sunshinebelle
Rating: PG13
Summary: Comedic tales about the new Harry Potter characters we have encountered since the sixth book... Suave!Harry!, Super!Ginny!, CrazyJealous!Hermione!, and LadiesMan!Ron! This is meant to cheer everyone up since the newest book arrived, and to poke fun at everything in a parody type way, not meant to bash my beloved characters. Please check it out! Chapter 2: Congratulations: You're in Lust is up!!!
Comments: The summary says it all. Instead of mocking just HBP, this fic mocks how the characters are portrayed in the story. An absolute blast to read.

Title: Another Witch in the Family
Author: mysterium26
Rating: PG
Summary: Epilogue up...Hermione's mother calls one morning bursting with the news: there's another witch in the family! And who better than Hermione to explain the existence of magic to a cousin with a slightly Medieval view of witchcraft? But when Hermione's called in to work and Harry's left to the task of showing the girl just what the wizarding world has to offer, he realizes that maybe his education didn't end at Hogwarts, and maybe it will take the perceptiveness of a child to make him see what was there from the beginning....Wow, that summary was atrocious, but maybe you'll want to read anyway! And of course, review!!!
Comments: There are a LOT of "other witch" stories out there, but this one is actually well written. There's no woman suddenly coming in and trying to steal Harry. It's a very endearing story and I guarantee that you will love it.

Title: Diamonds or Pearls
Author: Rinawen
Rating: PG13
Summary: How would you respond?
Comments: Hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. I suggest reading this story after "Survivor," as I promise you this will lift your spirits.

Title: The First Time
Author: 3keysmod
Rating: PG-13
Summary: It wasn’t the first time he’d held her as her world receded into darkness. Harry is a steadfast presence in Hermione’s darkest hour and during her journey to healing.
Comments: It starts out D/Hr, but it's most definitely H/Hr by the end. A beautifully written fic that will melt your heart.

Title: Paradigm of Uncertainty
Author: Lori
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Nine years after graduating from Hogwarts, Charms fellow Hermione Granger again finds herself caught up in Harry Potter's mysterious life.
Comments: The ultimate and most famous H/Hr (perhaps Harry Potter?) fic ever written. You can't call yourself a true member of the H/Hr fandom until you have read the PoU series. Lori mixes romance and action into an incredible story, and she throws in plot twists that make Rowling's look like child's work.

Title: The Show That Never Ends
Author: Lori
Rating: R
Summary: The Sequel to The Paradigm of Uncertainty``January 25, 2008...five months later...
Comments: It's rated R for sex scenes, but it's really nothing graphic. She's not one of those writers who writes such scenes just for the hell of it -- there's always a reason. Anyway, this is possibly the slowest of the trilogy, but it really gets into the characters and concentrates on Harry and Hermione's relationship. Many people claim that Lori should've just skipped this fic and gone on to the next sequel, but I think this one is necessary -- it helps the readers understand Harry and Hermione completely, and I think that's important for this series.

Title: Hero With a Thousand Faces
Author: Lori
Rating: R
Summary: As Harry and Hermione's wedding day approaches, they have to get to the bottom of the mysterious reappearance in their lives of... Ron? For any newcomers who are happening upon this story by accident, don't read it unless you've read the two that came before it, "The Paradigm of Uncertainty" followed by "The Show that Never Ends."
Comments: The best story of the trilogy. This is where all of the plot twists come in -- it's rare that you'll predict any of them, but don't worry. The second it's revealed you'll want to hit yourself in the head, because all of the clues are right there. Anyway, this one isn't finished, and hasn't been updated for two years, but Lori's still working on the next chapter...she's going through some major writer's block, but I have faith (I don't know why, but I do) that she'll update eventually. Either way, you have to read it. Seriously.

Well, those are my recommendations. I hope you like them! The PoU series takes a while to read, but it's worth it.

[al3x]

Hmm..at the risk of being totally and utterly annoying; when will you be updating "The List"? =]

I love yur story btw...makes me enjoy Harry/Hermione!!

[Hermione_Crookshanks]

Hmm..at the risk of being totally and utterly annoying; when will you be updating "The List"? =]

I love yur story btw...makes me enjoy Harry/Hermione!!

LOL. The truth is I don't know. I'm extremely upset with The List (and myself) at the moment. I know exactly what I want to write and how each chapter goes, but I can't get my ideas onto paper. Every time I try to write, it's absolutely horrible, and it'd be an embarrassment to post it. I think it's safe to say that I'm going through one of my worst writers blocks of all time. I'm praying that it will disappear. In the meantime, I'm trying to write other chapters for TL that I am more excited about (the next chapter is more of a linking chapter, and so it's not much fun to write), and just trying to get anything down onto paper for the next chapter so that I at least have something with which to work.

Anyway, I'm glad you're enjoying the story! It means a lot, especially as it seems that you're not an H/Hr shipper. LOL. Hopefully I won't be keeping people waiting for too much longer!!!

[Ripley]

Sorry, I just got done drooling over the H/Hr story recommendations. I must agree with you on Survivor; it absolutely reduced me to tears.

So here's my questions:
Have you ever written yourself/elements of yourself into any of your stories?
Which character is easiest for you to write?
Do you have any writing habits that help you? I.e. writing late at night next to your fishtank...

Just FYI, I think your stories were one of the firsts that I really enjoyed on HPFF. Glad to see that you're still keeping it up!

[Hermione_Crookshanks]

Sorry, I just got done drooling over the H/Hr story recommendations. I must agree with you on Survivor; it absolutely reduced me to tears.

It's a beautiful story, isn't it? I cry every time I read it.

So here's my questions:
Have you ever written yourself/elements of yourself into any of your stories?

Definitely, mostly through Hermione (but I'm already a lot like her anyway...). The zany side of Hermione in Neurotic! is based off of me when I'm off the wall. Thankfully, since then, I have determined that side just doesn't fit her. It still made for a fun time to write (though, when I look back on the story and read it, I can't help but cringe).

And then What's Expected of Me was basically how I dealt with HBP -- it was my therapy, almost what HBP looked like in the eyes of an H/Hr shipper.

But other than that, no. I bet a lot of people somehow think that my Neurotic and TL Ginny's based off of me, but we couldn't be further apart. Seriously. Ginny is everything I'm not and vice versa (which is both good and bad).

Which character is easiest for you to write?

In terms of canon, Hermione. Now that I've calmed down a bit and learned to put myself in the character's shoes, I've found that she's definitely the easiest. Most likely because, as I've said earlier, I'm very much like her, right down to the gradually changing from the goody-goody into someone who values her friends more than rules, starting in sixth grade (equivalent to her first year). I suppose a lot of the time, when I write Hermione, I can relate to how she would react.

Of all my characters, however, Ginny is definitely the easiest. She can just be so many things, the possibilities are endless - she can be off the wall, she can be serious, she can be pushy to the point that you want to strangle her, she can be kind and a great shoulder to lean on, she can be absolutely off target, and she can have some amazing insight. Honestly, in my opinion, she's every writer's dream. The Ginny that I created is just so...well... flexible in each situation. Does that make sense? Sheesh. I need sleep.

Do you have any writing habits that help you? I.e. writing late at night next to your fishtank...

When I get stuck, and I'm just staring at my computer screen, I usually go somewhere far away from my computer, take out a journal, and just write. I find it's easier to write stories, reviews, and even essays by hand. I'm a pretty fast typer (I average about 105 words per minute), so sometimes I get to a point where I'm typing faster than my brain is processing. So writing by hand really helps (now if only I could read my own handwriting...).

I also tend to do most of my writing at insane hours -- two am is usually my prime fanfic time. What I write is usually nonsense, but when I'm actually awake I go through and edit it all together into something readable.

I hope that answered your questions! And I hope that what I wrote made sense. I had a very exhausting day and I'm about ready to drop on the floor, so my thoughts aren't exactly clear. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

This post has been edited by Hermione_Crookshanks: 17 July 2007 - 02:28 AM

[LadySophieKitty]

How did you find HP? How did you find this site? Why do you support HHR?

Thanks for the reccomendations by the way! They are all fab, and Survivor made me sob. It didn't help that I was about to put my cat to sleep, but that's what originally got me into my emotional wreck.

This post has been edited by LadySophieKitty: 19 July 2007 - 12:10 AM

[Hermione_Crookshanks]

How did you find HP?

Well, I was certainly a reluctant HP reader. Not because I hated reading. I wasn't one of those kids who suddenly discovered the joys of reading thanks to HP (I was already an incredibly avid reader). By the time the HP fad really hit, I was in the third grade, and I was in my incredibly girly stage. When I learned about Harry Potter, I thought, and I quote, that it was a "stupid book for boys about a stupid boy who goes to a stupid school and does magic." Nevertheless my Uncle, who was a fifth grade teacher at the time, gave me the book at Thanksgiving, and my mother plopped me down on the couch and read it to me. I hated the first chapter, and to this day I despise it and will skip over it whenever I reread Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone, but as my mother continued reading it I fell in love. I got Book 2 and Book 3 for Christmas and absolutely drunk it all up, and the rest is history.

How did you find this site? Why do you support HHR?

This is going to be very disappointing, but I have no IDEA how I found this site. I know I was about 13, and I'm guessing I was just looking around the fandom and I found it.

Why do I support H/Hr? I don't remember. I know up until the fifth book I thought, "Well, Ron likes Hermione, so I guess they'll end up together," but I wasn't really interested in romance. By the time the fifth book came out, however, I was twelve, and beginning to develop my own ideas about what exactly constituted a strong relationship. Needless to say, I somehow ended up finding myself attracted to the idea of H/Hr together. I just thought it fit. It might've been, originally, more the fact that I really didn't want Ron and Hermione together, because I loved Hermione, and I just didn't like how Ron often treated her. Plus, the fifth book was heavily H/Hr at times, and seeing as my shipping preferences at the time were easily influenced, this probably had a huge effect on it.

Anyway, when I got to HPFF, I wanted to read a romance fic. I wanted it to be about Hermione, as she was my favorite character, but, obviously, I didn't want it to be with Ron. I think I just clicked H/Hr and from that moment on I was sucked into the fandom. I'm pretty sure that the first fic I read was a featured story, which was H/Hr, called "Her Eyes" or something like that. I honestly don't remember, although I can still see the story's banner in my head.

Thanks for the reccomendations by the way! They are all fab, and Survivor made me sob. It didn't help that I was about to put my cat to sleep, but that's what originally got me into my emotional wreck.

Not a problem! I'm always happy to share some great stories with people. And yes, Survivor is quite a story, isn't it? I absolutely sobbed during every chapter. And I'm so sorry about your cat! We've had to put two of our cats to sleep, so I can relate. I hope you feel better and find some uplifting stories to cheer you up!