125 replies to this topic

[acrules]

Hey! Yeah, it’s Helen or Ac or whatever. Frankly, there’s so much lovely in the above post that you could call me Parsnip and I wouldn’t particularly care. You’re very lovely

Don’t worry about not reviewing, I’m terrible at reviewing (although I’m definitely getting better) and anyway, you guys to spoil me. You don’t want me to get arrogant or anything thought, right? And don’t worry. I have every intention to write until my fingers are crippled with arthritis, and hopefully by then I can just employ someone to write down what I’m thinking and stuff. No one’s gonna stop me

Oh, first-person angst romance... Sounds good! What’s life without a bit of angst, right? But okay, first thing.

Stop worrying so much. I know that’s probably hard, and heaven knows the number of times I’ve come to someone going EVERYTHINGS GOING WRONG WITH THIS STORY PLEASE HELP ME isn’t something we’re going to count, but getting stressed about something that you’re supposed to really enjoy really does suck. Doing challenges and stuff to try and refresh yourself is a good idea. But you don’t want your head hurting

And writers block –shudders-

So, to the actual question, ahha.

Organising stories?

Well, I guess I’m a bit like you in the sense that when I’m starting a new story I tend to identify all the events that I think are going to happen, especially if it’s a ploty story. I have a few short stories which I know what’s going to be in every chapter when I start, but other than that the only plan I have at the beginning is a rough idea of plots and a vague idea of what the stories about. Like, TAOB was going to be about a girl who’s dying and Saving Grace would be about an older OC who truly had no idea what she was doing with her life and sort of gets by without really feeling anything. So, actually, it’s more the characters that get established first. A general ending, or a list of potential endings.

Then I knuckle down and write things. It’s only after I’ve got a feel for the characters and where the stories going that I make a more formal plan. I used to then decide what was going in each chapter, but, honestly – I’ve never stuck to one of those plans. Well, actually, Azkaban was the only story that was remotely close to how it was originally intended it to be. But, there’s nothing wrong with that – sometimes certain things take longer than you’d expected, minor characters become more important than you’d expected them to be, plot bits hit you that you didn’t expect and sometimes your characters just aren’t ready for things to happen when you expected them too.

So then every ten chapters or so I make a new plan. At the moment, my plan for TAOS is so far off it’s funny. So, instead I wrote a timeline of events. Cause that was one where I knew everything that had to happen but I had to work out an actual order of things. Each story is unique and no story is the same as when you first planned it, you’re going to grow in change in that time, so of course your story is.

I guess I’m pretty easy with the whole planning thing. Stories that are more plot-centric obviously need more planning, though.

So, what you should do. After taking a deep breath and reminding yourself that everything is going to be just fine (as mentioned above). If editing it is making your head hurt, leave that for a little while. If writing it is making your head hurt, edit for a little while. Maybe just stray from your plan and write a scene between two of your characters. You don’t have to include it, but it might help you get back into writing it. Maybe write down the main events somewhere – on a bit of scrap paper or whatever, as that might help you get back into writing too. Try and stop stressing about it and just enjoy yourself – write a scene you’ve been dying to write, to hell with where that scene actually takes place. Read over what you’ve written, not to edit it, just to enjoy it and get back to grips with the characters and the style. Keep faith and don’t worry about it being a disaster – even if it is a disaster, there’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve written a lot of things that have been deleted and, hopefully, forgotten for good.

In summary: thank you very much for being lovely and honestly, don’t worry. You’ll be fine, I promise you

(the mirror idea is gradually bumping itself up my list... *whistles*)

Whoops, this was long.

[acrules]

This is so exciting I saw your status earlier and I was like OOH PICK ME PLEASE PICK ME and then I come home after being rejected from the hairdressers to such a lovely bunch of questions



1. So, after crying over chapters upon chapters in Azkaban and TAOB I ask, have you ever cried while writing your own stories? Because you write such powerful chapters that are just so heartbreaking to read, I can't imagine how you write them!

Erm, yeah, I think I have at some point. Although it’s more, I want to cry and therefore I’m going to write about it rather than... I’m going to write, oh darn it made me cry. Basically, I got a lot of feels. So, it’s more the reverse than the forward reaction, reaching an equilibrium where I’m sort of making myself feel better by writing in a cathartic capacity (it’s like revising chemistry and English at the same time).

2. It's Saving Grace month and I have fallen for Grace and I have also fallen for Muggle Studies Professor Archibald (or Archie...or The Arrrrr Man, as I refer to him in my head) so I suppose there's two questions in one here: What is it about Grace that you like/relate to? And...how did you come up for the idea for my favorite Professor Archie? Is he based on a Professor you have had in real life?

Oh, Grace. She’s like me with no feelings, ahha. Well, Grace... things just sort of happen to her and she doesn’t really react to them. So it’s like she just exists through life and never really forms any real connections to anything or anyone (I won’t spoil anything for the later chapters) and I think everyone has those days when you exist rather than feeling like you’re actually alive. Plus a fear of winding up exactly like her, ahha

Archibald, ah, who knows here he sprung up from. I actually have no idea. I’ve never had a teacher or anything quite like Archie... but I suppose the world-weary-amusement is present in some of them. Awh, I just love Archie

3. Do you ever base your characters on people in your life?

Erm, to an extent. I like looking at people and being all pretentious about analysing people and stuff, then I suppose I take things that I’ve seen in other people or in myself as aspects of characters. Like, Grace is a bit like me and a bit like my sister. But then when I’ve written enough about them they all feel like real people to me who are only like other people in the way that other real people are like people. I’ve never actively based a character on someone from RL – apart from Becky in TAOB, but she quickly deviated from the plan.

4. I can't wait for it to be the month for your McGonagall story...I really want to read that. I suppose that wasn't a question.


What month is that again? Oo, October! I guess you’ve got awhile to wait

5. Ooop! Number 4 gave me a new question. So, Founders era, do you think you would ever write a story about the founders? Do you even like that era?

Ooh! I’m actually planning one at the moment. Well, not properly planning due to the 10-WIP-limit rule, but... yeah, it’s on my list of things I want to write and is probably coming in at number two at the moment... so, I’ll probably start it at some point before the end of the year. It’s a Rowena Ravenclaw story (naturally, ) – mystery!plot and such. Maybe. But, I haven’t really read that many founders fics – most of the ones I really liked have been abandoned.

6. Do you like Shakespeare?

Yeah
I’m all for the overblown metaphor and such, and really – what a guy. He made up words and he made that acceptable. The number of every day phrases that spawned from Shakespeare is immense, and I love watching Shakespeare (when it’s done well, of course).

7. Is there a pairing that you would like to write but would never just because...well, you think you wouldn't be able to do a good job or give the characters justice?

Oh, so many. Ron/Hermione. I’d love to be one of those writers, but I’m just not so that’s that.

8. Were you ever disappointed with HP (the books and the movies)?

The movies disappointed me continually. I’m not even going to think about the sixth movie, because that was like dying. Then again, I always knew they would so it wasn’t exactly surprising.

9. Do you remember the first story you read on HPFF that made you go 'I could write too!' Actually, what made you start posting your lovely stories on the site?

Oh gosh! I have no idea! It was quite awhile ago, but I guess... I’d have just been... oh, who knows. I guess, well, see I guess I have a complex about people telling me I’m not good at stuff. So, English wise I was always pretty good with literature and Novels, but spelling and grammar just went straight over my head. My parents were convinced that I had dyslexia (my sister has it) and I got sent to a spelling tutor for like three years, so I’d have tended towards writing anyway because, well, it proves them wrong, right? I mean, it probably hasn’t – since those still aren’t my strongest areas in life, but, well, it’s a damn site better than it used to be.

10. If you could look in the Mirror of Erised, what would you see?

I’ve never had an answer this before, but I actually do this time. So it’s me, holding a stack of books that I’ve written myself – the sort of books that carry a bit of my soul in them, a bit of me, and that people have read and enjoyed and thought about. And then, you know, they’d be all my friends and stuff just chilling in the background tell me to hurry up writing so we could all go do something fun

11. What place would you like to visit in Diagon Alley?

Call me a Ravenclaw, but Flourish and Blotts. Imagine all the shiny books!

12. Who's your least favorite character in the books?

Oh, nose. Like, least favourite as in I’d least like to be stuck in a lift with would be Voldemort because, you know, that guy kill me before he bothered to ask why he was stuck in a lift with me. But all the characters are so well developed and rounded and, well, interesting that I don’t think I can really dislike any of them. I might have been a fanfiction writer for too long, but they’ve all got so much potential! Most boring character would probably be, ah, ermm... nope, I could write about every single character in the Potterverse for at least a novel length fic and not feel like my time had been wasted.

Oh dear, I need a life.

Thanks for the lovely questions!

[bester_jester]

You're a really beautiful writer. I love how many stories you've posted! I'm never in want of more, because there always is more! ^.^ Just wanted to say thanks for sharing with us all

[acrules]

You're a really beautiful writer. I love how many stories you've posted! I'm never in want of more, because there always is more! ^.^ Just wanted to say thanks for sharing with us all

Thank you so much!

(and I promise there'll always be more!)

[ohmymerlin]

I was just stalking looking through your author's page and decided to come here and ask you a few questions.
1. Where did you get the idea for Curiosity?
2. How did you start getting into fanfiction?
3. What is your favourite pairing? To write or read?
4. What is your least favourite pairing? To write or read?
5. Is there a character or pairing you wish you could write but just can't?
6. Why is your pen-name AC_rules if your name is Helen? Are you an avid fan of air conditioning?
You don't have to answer that one, I was just being weird.
Your stories are amazing and keep writing please!

[acrules]

Hey there! Sorry this took me awhile to respond I didn't notice I had questions

1. Where did you get the idea for Curiosity?

Curiosity... um, well, it feels like such a long time ago now it's hard to pinpoint if I'm honest. Basically, I'd read quite a few stories about characters having ~special powers~ and I thought that I wanted to try it, but try it a bit differently. I liked reading things with seers in, but it seemed to be a bit of a growing cliche, so then Cassie's Mum became a seer (and a bit absent) then the main plot stemmed from that, with the mystery. James came in later. Its has vague origins from other things as well, but saying that would give away quite a section of the plot

2. How did you start getting into fanfiction?

My sister, actually. She started reading them and then I started reading them too. Then she tried writing one (it's the rusty story at the bottom of my authors page), but now she reads stories on a different site from lots of different fandoms (only found about that recently actually) and I took over her original account and wrote. A lot.

3. What is your favourite pairing? To write or read?

At the moment my favourite pairing to write is Molly/Dexter from All the Abstract Nouns/Issues of Epistemic Modality just because they're so much fun (definitely my OTP out of the ones I've written), but I have a lot of feels with a lot of pairings. I like unconventional romance mostly... so the slightly dysfunctional pairings

4. What is your least favourite pairing? To write or read?

ERm. Well, right now TAOS is being irritating, but usually I'm all on that Lily/James lark. I think I'd probably have to say canon pairings like Harry/Ginny to write - I'm a bit of a canon-phobe so those sorts of pairings really scare me. To read? Well, there are very few Dramione's I've enjoyed but there are always exceptions.


5. Is there a character or pairing you wish you could write but just can't?

I'd love to be able to write Ron/Hermione but I just can't. I mean, I've never actually tried, but the whole idea is just terrifying and complicated and scary. Any time the trios feature in any story you can be sure that, behind the scenes, you've got a very flustered AC flailing around her keyboard crying for mercy and forgiveness.

6. Why is your pen-name AC_rules if your name is Helen? Are you an avid fan of air conditioning?

AH, well, this actually relates to one of your previous questions ^. My sister is the original 'AC' as it were, and I just took over her account and claimed at as my own (scavenger, me). I did once make a new account and start posting things there, but at that point being AC was quite helpful to the read counts, so I just succumbed to my new alias. Now I really like it. Well, no, I don't like the rules bit... but I like having a writer nickname type thing. Going by AC is fun

Thanks for the questions! And I won't be giving up writing at any point soon ever

[grangerdanger76]

Hey Helen!

I just stopped by to say how much I love Not Just a Bystander. The emotions are so real and so well conveyed... and just ahg. I can't help but obsess over the beautifulness. Seriously. It's a prob.

Anyways, just a few questions really?

1. What's your favourite part of the forums?
2. Where did you get the idea for NJABS?
3. How many more chapters are left, will there be a sequel?
4. What is your favourite and least favourite thing about Autumn?
5. Are you proud of this story?

Gah. I just love it. You are so beyond talented, so please, don't ever stop writing.

GD76

[acrules]

I just stopped by to say how much I love Not Just a Bystander. The emotions are so real and so well conveyed... and just ahg. I can't help but obsess over the beautifulness. Seriously. It's a prob

You're lovely!

1. What's your favourite part of the forums?

Oh, I love most things about the forums. Including, but not exclusive too, this lovely thread, being able to blog, the Sirius/Mary shop discussion thread, lovely people saying lovely things, meeting lovely people, the Ravenclaw common room and the loony lounge

2. Where did you get the idea for NJAB?

RIGHT. NJAB. Well, this was actually a cool story. I wrote the first chapter with no idea of a plot or concept for what was going to happen. I just liked the idea of some nutter stealing an invisibility cloak because why not. And then I entered a challenge in which I was given the title 'Not Just a Bystander' and I went searching round on my computer and found that chapter one (which was, at that point, named jenesaispas on my computer)... and THEN I realised how much I'd rather right about a girl breaking out of her own sense of self and gaining confidence, rather than the bog standed teen romance. As a realist, I definitely don't think there's a relationship in NJAB that would genuinely work out in the long run (sorry to any hardcore shippers) but it's about more than that because I wanted to write about more than that


3. How many more chapters are left, will there be a sequel?

There are going to be three more chapters (twenty one in total!) and that will be it for Autumn's story. If I wrote a sequel for all of my WIPS I'd never get anything finished... plus, to me the story is finished (or, at least, it will be).

4. What is your favourite and least favourite thing about Autumn?

Oooh! In terms of writing, my favourite thing is probably her lack of faith in herself. But if I was friends with her in real life that would probably do my head in. SO as a person my favourite thing about her would be... this is actually a lot harder than I thought it would be. ERM. Oh dear, I do actually really like her... okay, it would be a mix of her rebellious streak (with the consequences included) and her tendency to panic unnecessarily. Least favourite thing would probably the doormate issue, I'd want to shake her.


5. Are you proud of this story?

Yes, actually, I think I am. I've had bit of a tremulous relationship with is as people will vouch for the fact that, at times, I've really struggled with updating and then suddenly I get bouts of inspiration and it just writes itself... but we're at a really good bit now and there's lots of scenes and ideas that I'm really proud of. Plus, at the end, I get to say I'm proud of Autumn for growing (I already am, actually) and that's always a nice feeling. And it's always a bonus to write a story with a happy ending (which is a rarity out of the stories I've posted here, I think).

Thanks for being lovely! You've really cheered me up after a sucky day and definitely inspired me to take another look at NJAB 19

[ohmymerlin]

So I thought I'd come back because I just read the latest chapter of Saving Grace.

wdfjsvsjfvskzfvdj IT WAS AMAZING!

Where did you come up with the idea of that story? It's REALLY original!

I've also noticed that a few of your characters have a disease/major flaw/etc. Do you do a lot of research for that type of stuff or do you just know of it already? (If that's too personal, feel free to skip it - I'd understand. )

When will the next chapter of The Art of Surviving be up? (wink, wink, nudge, nudge )

How do you pronounce 'Ephaiyadaphia'?

How do you write Sirius so perfectly? D: He fits so perfectly with the canon version of him, not the sappy one that we often see in fanfictions.

Will the whole thing about Autumn's parents in NJAB be explained? (Unless you already have and I've completely forgotten? )

How many chapters will Curiosity be?

Anyway, I think that's it!

Your writing is just amazing iyegfdakfkfk

[acrules]

HEY THERE. I'm so glad your back! It's my flat's fake Christmas and I'm feeling so festive and cheery and then I logged on to find more reviews and then this and I'm soooo happy

I've also noticed that a few of your characters have a disease/major flaw/etc. Do you do a lot of research for that type of stuff or do you just know of it already?

Well, I've never had a terminal illness of any sort and Mary's illness is probably one of the least researched things in fictional history. As it's completely made up I gave myself complete free licence to do just whatever the hell I wanted (and boi, did I). In terms of Grace and her trich... well, I guess I had a very mild form and a particularly bad point in my life and that got me interested about it. I researched it from a personal level, rather than for the story, before deciding to write about a character who had that. So, in some respects little research was done because I understood enough about the logistics/motivations etc surrounding it, just in a much more severe case. My issue barely existed and was most firmly locked away after I realised it was a real <i> thing </i>. Those are the ones that I really think of when you say flaws/disease/problem so, hopefully that's covered that one

When will the next chapter of The Art of Surviving be up?

Before Christmas! I plan on having a chapter of Curiosity, NJAB and TAOS up before the queue closes. But, that's pretty optimistic. I'm very hopeful though

How do you pronounce 'Ephaiyadaphia'?

Oh, dear. Okay. So, the original version of the name was much simpler. Then I googled it and it was too similar to something that already existed, so my younger self just added some more characters (smart, I know), but it's like.... Eee-pia-ya-da-phil-i-a. Yeah. Right. Mouthful. Next time, I'll go for something a little bit less insane :')

How do you write Sirius so perfectly?

Erm. I don't know what to say about this one except thank you for being so lovely

Will the whole thing about Autumn's parents in NJAB be explained?

There is an explanation... in chapter 14, ...And then we talked (M), although there's more to come in the next three chapters ( I changed my mind again, definitely three)

How many chapters will Curiosity be?

This one I honestly have no idea. It's going to be long though. Not as long as TAOB, but it's going to easily earned the 2nd position in terms of length. Still a long way to go

Thanks for the questions! Feel free to come back any time and have a MERRY CHRISTMAS

[ohmymerlin]

Okay I just looked at chapter fourteen and I can't believe I forgot about that! Sorry about that, my mind had a TOTAL blank!

And to just because I forgot to ask this last time, where did the idea for Muggle Studies come from? And Archie's character? It's so hilarious!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU TOO!

[acrules]

Okay I just looked at chapter fourteen and I can't believe I forgot about that! Sorry about that, my mind had a TOTAL blank!

Don't worry about that! There's over a 900 read discrepancy between chapter 13 and 14, so I think that must have missed by quite a lot of people... shame, really

And to just because I forgot to ask this last time, where did the idea for Muggle Studies come from? And Archie's character?

The short answer to this is writers block. The first chapter was just me trying some slightly cracky because I needed a break from more serious more romantic centric WIPS. And then I thought that I could definitely write a lot more about Archie - who wasn't planned in the slightest and just happened - before I ran out of ideas. Then I decided that I could write about him forever, so pinned it down to 12 chapters with one for each month of the year so it didn't just become a continual and never ending WIP. Course, I decided the 12 month thing after posting some of the chapter in the wrong order... so now there's always that confusion when I don't update in order and everyone's searching for the update and can't find it... but we won't talk about that

[patronus_charm]

Hey, first of all I'm going to go all fan girl! I love The Art of Breathing and The Art of Surviving, they're just so original and amazing! And Mary she was such a funny character, you wrote her death scene so well, I actually had tears in my eyes reading it (that was hard to explain to my mum). I just think you're awesome and I really love everything you've written! Ok enough of that, question time!

 

1. Where did you get your insipiration to write TAOB and TAOS?

2. As a fellow Ravenclaw, why did you decide to join this house?

3. If you could change one thing about the HP series what would it be?

4. How many more chapters will TAOS have?

5. If you could be one character out of HP for a day which one would it be and why?

[acrules]

Hey, first of all I'm going to go all fan girl! I love The Art of Breathing and The Art of Surviving, they're just so original and amazing! And Mary she was such a funny character, you wrote her death scene so well, I actually had tears in my eyes reading it (that was hard to explain to my mum). I just think you're awesome and I really love everything you've written

 

Heelloo! Nice to meet you

 

 

1. Where did you get your inspiration to write TAOB and TAOS?

 

Well. I started TAOB in the middle of sea of life related angst (nothing like growing up for that, right?) and I was just... well, very much not happy. And so on Christmas day I was hiding from my family alone in my room - I wish I was joking about this but I'm not - and then I just started writing. Before that I'd had a couple of stories up and I'd got the writing bug, but I'd never read anything which got more than the one review per chapter and that one review was if i was lucky, so then I was writing about Mary. I vividly remember the writing those first three chapters straight off on the christmas day and it just stemmed from there. She had to have it worse than me. She had to be very angry. AND THUS Mary was born. The great thing about TAOB for me was that by the time I got to the end I'd burnt myself out of that angst - just like Mary had - and we went on search a journey, Mary and I, to reach this nice happy place of calm and tranquility as seen in chapter 43/44

TAOS. Honestly, the only reason I thought about writing a sequel is because I was scared that I'd be a one hit wonder and no one would ever like anything I ever wrote ever again. I had a few more stories in early stages at that point, as far as I can remember, but none of them looked like they'd ever come close to TAOB levels of readership and such (which is definitely fair enough, because that's a bit crazy). I'm not very proud of my original reason for thinking about it because... well, as author integrity goes that's a bit rubbish so to make up for I'm at least honest abut it. BUT THEN I got my plot and I got a messed up Lily and a Lily/James plot and I was in love again and TAOS was born. I wrote those first few chapters over Christmas too in my grandparent's kitchen listening to mumford and sons

 

2. As a fellow Ravenclaw, why did you decide to join this house?

 

To me it always just seemed like the best fit. I sit around and think about things a lot and I just love the quirkiness I've always associated with Ravenclaw. I like the fact that it's okay to be a majour nerd. I study philosophy at university and, to me, that's always been such a claw subject. I just feel at home there

 

3. If you could change one thing about the HP series what would it be?

ERM. Okay. So this is hard. I think I'd probably not kill Fred? Actually, if I was in the right frame of mind I think there'd be a lot of things that I'd change but I just can't seem to think properly right now. I'm quite scared by a lot of things in the wizarding world like Azkaban (hence why my aptly titled Azkaban came into being) and the lack of wizaring jobs and the fact that the Daily Prophet is essentially controlled by the Ministry (free press people!) and there are a few plot holes... but, I mean, not really. I DON'T KNOW. I'll just go with saving Fred, I think.

 

4. How many more chapters will TAOS have?

 

Under 30. My original plan was for it to have exactly thirty, but I'm an idiot who apparently can't count up to 30 so my chapter numbering skips out like... a lot of numbers. We're about to come up to the Easter holidays in the next chapter/(s) and I was going to stop before the end of the year, just about. And then there's going to be the few extra obligatory chapters (think TAOB chapter 45) which might kill me. Man, I'm not sure how many more deaths I have in me? Damn canon.

 

I half feel like I've given things away there... but I mean... the whole thing was only ever going to end the one way, right? 

 

5. If you could be one character out of HP for a day which one would it be and why?

 

Um. Interesting. Probably someone with an interesting job either in the Ministry or to do with the history of magic just so I can absorb the magical culture and learn things that will be helpful for fanfiction when I emerge from the other side. Yup, I'm that sad.

Thank you for these lovely questions