6 replies to this topic

[Aderyn]

Hello all!

I figured that I'd finally set up a MTA page, though I don't know if anyone will have any questions for little old me.

Anyways, a bit of background on me:
I'm currently a student write now, which makes finding time to write a bit difficult. I live in the USA. I write for fun, I dance for fun, I make graphics for fun (like to my TDA gallery in my sig).

My Stories:

Vital:
The Dark Lord fell in October. Now it's December and Healer Elena Wood thinks the world has put itself back together.

However when she witnesses the murder of the Minister of Magic, she realizes that a brutal war is still waging, only this time, behind closed doors. Discretion is vital, the public cannot know.

This is the story I'm concentrating on right now, though I will update my other one soon enough. It's OC/OC but with lots of canon characters.

Je Souhaite:
I wish that I wasn't Victoire Weasley. Sure, I'm not ugly, I'm reasonably smart & have a few boys at Hogwarts after me, but that doesn't make life happy.

Mum doesn't even want me at Hogwarts in the first place & ignores me over my gorgeous little sister. Don't even start on all the cousins. (I'm looking at you Teddy Lupin).

Thank Merlin for friends.

I'm not focusing on this story so much right now, but I will update it occasionally. A Victoire/Teddy Story, but not typical. Victoire isn't such a golden girl, her sister is.

So ask away! I'll try to answer quickly.

[maskedmuggle]

HELLO ADERYN!!

QUESTIONS FOR YOU!!

I enjoyed Vital. A lot! Keep writing that!

1. How did you come up with the idea for Vital?

2. Do you write in long sessions, or lots of short little blocks?

3. Do you plan your stories or go with the flow?

4. Favourite ship to read/write?

5. Favourite era to read/write?

6. Reading, writing or graphics? (You make nice graphics by the way! I stalked your TDA! )


I think that's enough for now…

[Aderyn]

Hi! I'm glad you liked Vital. I have a new chapter in the queue so it should be updated soon. Alright, here goes!


1. How did you come up with the idea for Vital?
Well, I had the idea for the character of Elena, the healer, first. Originally, she wasn't even linked to the Wood family, she had a different last name. The story always had the same sort of plot set up--the Minister of Magic dies, but I didn't know what time period to set it in. Finally, after thinking about it for a few days, I get the idea while I'm at the gym. Before I drove home, I scribbled down some things, like the names some important character, and some plot points. I got home and then wrote out the first half of the first chapter, and then the next day I restarted and wrote what's posted today. I guess that didn't really answer you question, but basically, I got the idea from the character, that's how most of my writing is really--I think up a character, then they have a story that I write.

2. Do you write in long sessions, or lots of short little blocks?
Both. Sometimes, I get really inspired and write a huge chapter all in one sitting, but that only happens with the beginning of the story and the exciting parts. Mostly, I write in little blocks. I don't have unlimited free time, so I'll write a bit, then go back and change some, then write more. Some chapters are basically the first thing that comes out of my head and some (take the unposted 3rd chapter of Vital for instance) are the product of a billion restarts and major edits.

3. Do you plan your stories or go with the flow?
For the most part, I plan my stories. I don't have a huge complicated outline, more like a bulleted list of important characters, plot points, etc. I also tend to make a quick list of chapters and what I plan to have happen in each chapter, but that's very fluid, so I may have 5-10 versions of the chapter list for a story with 20 chapters. I'm bad at guessing how long a scenes will be so I often have to rearrange what happens in a chapter, either to add more, or to postpone an event to the next chapter. So I do plan, but I'm always open to changes.

4. Favourite ship to read/write?
Hmm. Right now, I'm a fan of Remus/Tonks as a ship to read( not to write). I think that's because theirs one of the few relationships in the Harry Potter series that progresses, but that the trio are rather oblivious to. Like their romance happens off screen. I like having it be filled in, even if the ending is sad. I also love reading Oliver Wood/OC stories.

5. Favourite era to read/write?
Hmm, I think I like Next Generation the best. While some of the stories can be repetitive, I like the era because there is so much room for creative possibility. I'm not a big fan of stories that are non-canon, but in next gen stories, it's easy to be canon. A lot of my favorite stories are next gen; I love the different directions people take the HP universe and the characters.

6. Reading, writing or graphics? (You make nice graphics by the way! I stalked your TDA! )
Aww thanks
That is the million dollar question. ^_^ For me, they're all interlinked. Reading inspires me to write my own stories. Writing makes me want to make graphics to go along with my story. Making graphics makes me want to write the story behind the graphic... I suppose it depends on my mood. Reading often happens when I'm in a down mood and when I'm lacking creative impulses. Writing is whenever I get an idea, or I have a dream (which is strangely what a lot of my writing is based on). Graphics inspiration often strikes in the form of new images, so whenever I spend a lot of time on TDA, I tend to get inspired to make graphics.

Thanks for asking me these questions, I know some of my answers are pretty ambiguous, but I have a hard time making up my mind sometimes!

Edited by Aderyn, 09 January 2011 - 04:09 AM.

[Melliex]

Hey (: I'm having a real problem with writers block at the moment and I was wondering what do you do to conqure any blocks you may have had in the past?

[Aderyn]

HI!

I feel bad since I totally missed this post, but I guess I'll answer now.

When I get writer's block, I do one of two things. If it's not too severe, I'll just keep writing, preferably late at night, so that I don't really care how good it sounds. In the morning I'll go back and fix the typos and the rambling, because editing's much easier than writing. If I can't think of anything to write, I'll go and read a book. It doesn't have to be Harry Potter, just something that I enjoy. I find that this lets me become a reader, and step back and get a better look at the writing I'm doing.

Hopefully that helps, even if it is belated.

[Raine]

Hi! I come bearing lots of (potentially strange and random) questions! (I'm Linn, by the way)

What inspires you for each of your fics? And I do mean all seven of them!

Do you ever base your characters on real live people you know?

Your favourite pairing to write and/or read about? (Wow, I am so original!)

When are you going to update your stories? *cough* Ignore that question, please. Here's another one - your favourite minor character from the HP books?

How did you discover the archive and the forums?

Your favourite HPFF author?

Aww, I lost my touch! Must think of a random question that will make you think!

What makes a good character? (Blee - not strange enough, though it might make you think!)

Now this is really the last question - your favourite books to read when you were 11/12ish?

Ta ta for now, and keep writing your lovely fics!

[Aderyn]

Hi Linn! And wow, thanks for all the lovely questions. I’ll try to answer them all as best I can.

What inspires you for each of your fics? And I do mean all seven of them!
Hmm, well it really varies from story to story. Often, my oneshots are written for story challenges, so that gives me a bit of something to go on. But then, I try to find moments in time in the lives of certain canon characters that I want to explore. My one-shots tend towards minimalism, with lots of description on a single scene. For Je Souhaite, my oldest story, I was inspired by wanting to write a Victoire/Teddy story. But I didn't really have any real inspiration for the story, which is why it lost momentum. As for Failure, one of my current WIPs, I wanted to write about a Ravenclaw girl who wasn't perfect. It always seems weird to me when I read about stories where people are so perfect in school. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t struggle from time to time, even if they work hard. So, I wanted to explore that idea in a Hogwarts setting. In Vital, I really wanted to write a mystery. I can’t say what my inspiration was when I started- I just don’t remember.

As I’m writing, I listen to a lot of music. So for Vital, when I’m writing action scenes, I tend to listen to movie soundtracks, or the like. For “Adagio in D” I got the title from the music I listened to while writing it.


Do you ever base your characters on real live people you know?
Not directly, no. I mean that there’s no one character who I can say corresponds directly to someone I know. I have taken elements of people I know, maybe a catch phrase, and given it to characters before, but not in every story. In Failure, I did the most of this, because it’s the story that could potentially correspond most to my life. But I try to make characters their own people—if one has a personality trait similar to a real life person, their physical appearance is totally different, and vice-versa.


Your favourite pairing to write and/or read about? (Wow, I am so original!)
Hmm, I have a lot of favorites. I like to read Oliver/OC, or Percy/Audrey, or Teddy/Victoire. Also, Remus/Tonks and Tom/Minerva. While I may like some ships more than others, it matters more to me that the story/ship is well written. I don’t really have a favorite ship to write.


When are you going to update your stories? *cough* Ignore that question, please. Here's another one - your favourite minor character from the HP books?
I’m working on the updates My favorite minor character might be Percy, or Tonks, or Oliver Wood. But these are mostly because I’ve read fanfiction that I loved with them as main characters.


How did you discover the archive and the forums?
Through TDA. I found TDA through other graphics sites, and once I’d been on TDA for a few months, I headed over to the archives.


Your favourite HPFF author?
I have too many! I love Gina (justonemorefic). Her stories are the perfect combination of comedy and epicness. And Celestie’s one-shots are to die for. To list a few more: Violet Gryffindor, RonsGirlFriday, Ilyralen, MajiKat.


What makes a good character? (Blee - not strange enough, though it might make you think!)
A good character, I would say, has flaws and intentions. A good character is a realistic character. While there are obvious improvements from a Mary Sue to a non-cliché character, being non-cliché doesn’t make a character good. A good character is well developed, and acts as a real person might. There is a certain believability in their actions, where readers begin to be able to predict how they will act—most of the time. Characters that are truly wonderful need to have humanity. They can be comic, or romantic, or tragic, but there needs to be something there that is below the superficial. They need to have some force that drives their actions. I’m having a hard time saying this concisely, but hopefully you get my point.


Now this is really the last question - your favourite books to read when you were 11/12ish?
Hmm, I don’t know if I can remember back that far xD. Well, I think at that point I liked reading Garth Nix’s books (Sabriel, Lirael, etc.). And some of Tamora Pierce’s Tortall books as well. At that point in my life, I was all quantity over quality when it came to reading. I just read so many books.


Hopefully I answered all your questions in a semi-coherent way. This was fun actually. I haven't had a post in this MTA thread in ages, so seeing that you'd posted tons of questions here was a nice surprise!

Edited by Aderyn, 04 March 2012 - 08:05 PM.