4 replies to this topic

[pixileanin]

Hi.

I have stories on my Author's Page.

If you have questions, I will answer them.

[academica]

BAM. No tag-backs. Hah.

1.) How did Snorcas come into being?
2.) Which side is more interesting to write -- the Death Eaters or the Order of the Phoenix?
3.) What kind of stories do you actively seek out to read?
4.) Which kind of stories would you probably never read?
5.) Why do you think you belong in Gryffindor House?

(I'm sure I've got others up my sleeve, but my husband is dragging me off to celebrate Yule. Another time!)

[pixileanin]

What??? It took you all of three seconds to find this. Amazing! Fair is fair, though. Here we go.


1) Snorcas! That still makes me laugh, every time I see it. Actually, it was a challenge posted by LindaSnape, maybe two years ago now. It was called the Severely Obsessed Challenge and takers were randomly assigned a romantic interest that had to be paired with Severus Snape. (counts on fingers) Many, many months after the deadline, I finally had something decent to show for it.


2) The Death Eaters were much more interesting for me, because we didn’t see a lot of their secret meetings in canon and therefore it left me lots of room to play. I tried really hard not to write the Order.

3) What stories do I actively seek out to read? Hmm… it depends on my mood. Sometimes I need my fluff fix. Other times, I need something completely different. I enjoy stories that surprise me.

4) Stories that I would probably never read: I don’t know. If a story is well-written, I’d give just about anything a shot. I get distracted by too many spelling and grammar errors and I have a low tolerance for characters yelling at each other for no good reason.


5) Why am I in Gryffindor? I dunno. The quiz put me there. Didn’t really question it. Though, I thought that it was quite brave of me to follow through with that crazy challenge, even after the deadline was over.

[CambAngst]

Hey, there! As you're probably realized, I'm hopelessly sucked into Snorcas now. So there are some things I thought I'd ask.

1 - Do you set aside specific time to write each day or does it just "happen" when free time meets inspiration? Do you set goals for yourself as far as writing a certain amount each day / week?

2 - What led you to pick Dorcas? She's a fairly obscure character who gets mentioned once or twice in the books. Was the appeal just having a blank slate or was there something specific about her?

3 - Your take on Severus is pretty unique. If I've interpreted your story and your review responses correctly, he's gotten over Lily, at least to the extent that he no longer has romantic feelings for her and his longing for her friendship is diminished. You seem to have recast his feelings as a strong sense of obligation, born out of a guilty conscience. Did I get that right? What inspired you to take it in that direction?

4 - I thought your Fred and George birthday story was brilliant. Where did you get the idea for that one?

5 - Assuming you had never picked up a HP book, do you still think that you'd be writing original fiction?

6 - I'm intrigued. Is there a story that goes with Mr. Pix's porsche?

7 - You can go back in time and talk JKR out of killing off one character. Who is it and why? And if she insisted that another character take their place, who would it be?

8 - The HP films: love 'em or hate 'em? Most favorite and least favorite parts?

Thank you for your time and attention and for Snorcas. I love saying that. Snorcas, Snorcas,Snorcas,Snorcas,Snorcas...

[pixileanin]

OMG! There's someone here with questions!!!! *jumps up and down* Let's see if I can do something about that...

1 - Do you set aside specific time to write each day or does it just "happen" when free time meets inspiration? Do you set goals for yourself as far as writing a certain amount each day / week?

Yes and yes. And then no. When I first started writing Snorcas (still makes me giggle!) it was "write any chance I got", which was difficult. I had three kids at the time and a day job, and some afternoon things, and then family time, and... well, you know the drill. Little person #4 appeared last year and now that he's toddling, I have set aside the "time before everyone wakes up" and the "time after everyone goes to bed and Mr. Pix is blowing up tanks" as my writing/computer time. It's consistently about four days a week, sometimes five, depending on the schedule. And I have twins too, so we're in the same club. (mine are eight, but still twins. That never goes away. ) I don't currently have a set "goal" for my writing. Though my current WIP had a general goal of being finished by the end of May. *looks at calendar* Oh dear. Blew that one.

2 - What led you to pick Dorcas? She's a fairly obscure character who gets mentioned once or twice in the books. Was the appeal just having a blank slate or was there something specific about her?

This one's easy. The long-expired "Severely Obsessed" challenge I entered was one of those Pick-a-number for your ship things. I got Dorcas. But I'm really glad I did. She's practically a clean slate, except for her death. It was nice to have the freedom to create her from scratch. Though the challenge expired long before the story was ready.

3 - Your take on Severus is pretty unique. If I've interpreted your story and your review responses correctly, he's gotten over Lily, at least to the extent that he no longer has romantic feelings for her and his longing for her friendship is diminished. You seem to have recast his feelings as a strong sense of obligation, born out of a guilty conscience. Did I get that right? What inspired you to take it in that direction?

You are correct, sir! I decided that if I was going to ship Severus with anyone, it was going to be a genuine ship and not some half-hearted attempt at a Lily replacement. I thought it would be quite reasonable and believable for him to harbor at least a little resentment towards having to save someone over and over and not get anything for it (recognition, thanks, etc.). Something like that would eventually eat away at you, don't you think? And really, if you take Severus' back story the way it is written in the books (and not count what JKR said afterwards, of course), as a memory of his past, couldn't he have simply been honoring the memory and living out of obligation because of self-inflicted guilt? I know it's a stretch, but it makes my story more credible that way.

4 - I thought your Fred and George birthday story was brilliant. Where did you get the idea for that one?

Aww, thanks! That was a birthday present for the brilliant 1917farmgirl. She loves the twins to death... err, I mean, she never wants either of them to die. And I needed a palate cleanser after the Snape-centric piece I had just finished. Part of her request was not to have a love scene, so I made it nearly impossible by de-aging them. Also, since it was her birthday, I had to have a birthday in it. And there was a dare to include whipped cream... and let's see... oh yes. There was this poem I read to my kids by A.A. Milne titled, "Now We Are Six" that I found was the perfect inspiration. You might want to look it up. It's really cute. So put all that in an empty coffee can and shake it up. That's how it happened.

5 - Assuming you had never picked up a HP book, do you still think that you'd be writing original fiction?

That is a very interesting question. Before I started writing fanfic just a few years ago, I had never written any fictional prose longer than maybe 2000 words. I was more the "teen angst bad poetry" type. Minimalist with words and such. No plot to fuss over. I suppose that if I had been reading another engaging series and it had ended and I had happened to stumble over fanfic of it on the internet, then I might have begun writing in that fandom. But who's to say?

6 - I'm intrigued. Is there a story that goes with Mr. Pix's porsche?

Haha! Why did I know you were going to ask about that? Ahem. When we were first married, Mr. Pix asked me if he could get a Porche. Not wanting to stomp on his dreams, I said sure, but only if I could have a Steinway Baby Grand piano later. (I'm a music teacher. It's like a Porsche for pianists.) We agreed and he got the Porsche. A few years later, I got the Steinway. We were very happy. Fast forward to the present... When we were expecting twins, Mr. Pix traded in the Porsche for a minivan. (Don't look at me like that. I didn't MAKE him do it!) The Steinway is sitting pretty in the living room. I'm sorry, but every once in a while, I look at it and chuckle. Don't hate me. It's a great story.

7 - You can go back in time and talk JKR out of killing off one character. Who is it and why? And if she insisted that another character take their place, who would it be?

(I know you're asking me this so you can cover up that Porsche question...) I guess the two deaths that surprised me the most were Dumbledore and Fred. I really didn't think that JKR had it in her to kill off a Weasley. Also, I was shocked that in her incredible saga of "keep believing in the old man who seems to know everything", she'd actually kill off the old man. I guess between the two of them, I'd want to save Fred because the Weasleys are such good people and they don't deserve to be marked with tragedy. If I had to replace Fred's death with someone else's, I'd offer up Pansy. Do unto others, and all that.

8 - The HP films: love 'em or hate 'em? Most favorite and least favorite parts?

Oh, the films. Let's see. I saw the first one before I read the books. It was fantastic. I don't think anything can touch it. Even after reading the books, I was in love with the first film. I loved all the little things, like the platters of food. I wrote a blog once about all the food in the HP films... actually scanned through looking for food depictions. And nothing beats that chess game.

Some of the changes to the plot were necessary. Because it's a film. Different medium, different rules. I guess the film I liked the least was the Half-Blood Prince, just because it didn't sit well as a movie. It was a cliffhanger book. Likewise, it was a cliffhanger movie. But I thought that it didn't translate so well to the big screen. That, and the "great camping movie" were both difficult translations from print to the screen, I think just because of the way the books were.

I'm more forgiving than most when it comes to major changes in the movies. I thought they did a fantastic job with the final movie. I think if they would have attempted to give all those other characters the screen time they deserved (Tonks and Remus, etc.) they would have either created a massive Ring Cycle-esque piece, or added another film to the series. Both would have been a bad idea because the plot would have been fragmented and such.

I don't know if I answered your question or not. But those are my thoughts.

Thank you for your time and attention and for Snorcas. I love saying that. Snorcas, Snorcas,Snorcas,Snorcas,Snorcas...

Thank you for reading my crazy story! You can thank academica for coining "Snorcas" for me. It's great, ain't it? We should have t-shirts! (I ship Snorcas!) Ahh hahaha! Funny.