Well this was a treat. 😃 He may be my only male reader... lol (I imported most of mine from AO3 which is a notoriously female platform) Be gentle with him, given the Previouslies, this story is constructed so you can bale on individual scenes that don't resonate as long as the whole is still doing it for you. (What can I say, I've been permanently ruined by on demand television.)
I have a pretty solid background in comics myself (Marvel, DC and plenty of independents). Spent many (many, many) highly enjoyable hours that way. That sounds like a lovely way to share hobbies. 😊
Essay questions! Oh, I love essay questions!
Background: So I spent a couple months not able to use my arms two years ago thanks to a series of medical screw ups (And no computers! Seriously. Crimminy.), doing a lot of staring at walls and ceilings and got motivated to improve the year of suck for Severus and Hermione (if I couldn't improve my own). ('Thank the Fae' had them at a time I prefer and in a dynamic I prefer (*not* teacher & student) but it means the characters have gone through the wars to get there, and I didn't have the heart or stomach to give them such rotten pasts when there was enough suck as was in RL, if that makes sense?)
I find stories set seventh year often problematic for a variety of reasons, so I had a list of things that would run me off that I needed to avoid if I was going to be spending this kind of time with them, and then there were things I had read in the past where I felt that wouldn't work, or things that might, but if and only if... And it was sort of a mental exercise, because obviously I couldn't write or type either. (It was a really rotten summer.) So picture doing that for a couple of months, making up stories and telling them to yourself again and again, and eventually there are some things that emerge as your favourites and it crystallises into a story, but it isn't filled in. Like the Battle of Hogwarts was: 'BOH happens'. There are scenes before, during and after that matter, some of the casualties, some of the survivors, the important things that change are locked in (and now written), a gratuitous Shakespearean reference no one will notice... But it honestly doesn't matter who fires which spell when. Well, a few do, obviously, but most don't. (I'm the sort of person who goes to get something to drink during the car chase in movies. Everything I need to know I'll know when it's over.) I go back and forth on a couple of the deaths, and decided long ago to make the decision closer to the finish so those things will be more organic to the story. (I'm also perfectly likely to roll the dice on a couple of those things to bring in the element of chance, or leave it up to a reader. That reflects the chaos of war nicely.) But some characters are safe and some are definitely toast.
Process: Once I got the use of my arms back, it became a sketch of a story. I was hurrying to write down as much of an outline as I could. Then it became a series of scenes, the pivotal ones, because I wanted to know if I could write them convincingly (for me, at least). If I wasn't satisfied with them, then I didn't need to bother trying with the rest. But many of the scenes between them were written over two years ago, because that's the meat of the story for me, how two people grow closer, becoming friends and more. Then I went about filling in a six month calendar for them (and the other characters). The next set of scenes written was with other people as well, anchoring those dynamics. (These days, when the mood grabs me, I often work on one of the later scenes instead of the present. (I did a bunch of work on 'January' this summer, for example. Probably because we don't have air conditioning and it was very hot and thinking of cooler times was a plus... That may or may not be facetious.))
no subject
I have a pretty solid background in comics myself (Marvel, DC and plenty of independents). Spent many (many, many) highly enjoyable hours that way. That sounds like a lovely way to share hobbies. 😊
Essay questions! Oh, I love essay questions!
Background: So I spent a couple months not able to use my arms two years ago thanks to a series of medical screw ups (And no computers! Seriously. Crimminy.), doing a lot of staring at walls and ceilings and got motivated to improve the year of suck for Severus and Hermione (if I couldn't improve my own). ('Thank the Fae' had them at a time I prefer and in a dynamic I prefer (*not* teacher & student) but it means the characters have gone through the wars to get there, and I didn't have the heart or stomach to give them such rotten pasts when there was enough suck as was in RL, if that makes sense?)
I find stories set seventh year often problematic for a variety of reasons, so I had a list of things that would run me off that I needed to avoid if I was going to be spending this kind of time with them, and then there were things I had read in the past where I felt that wouldn't work, or things that might, but if and only if... And it was sort of a mental exercise, because obviously I couldn't write or type either. (It was a really rotten summer.) So picture doing that for a couple of months, making up stories and telling them to yourself again and again, and eventually there are some things that emerge as your favourites and it crystallises into a story, but it isn't filled in. Like the Battle of Hogwarts was: 'BOH happens'. There are scenes before, during and after that matter, some of the casualties, some of the survivors, the important things that change are locked in (and now written), a gratuitous Shakespearean reference no one will notice... But it honestly doesn't matter who fires which spell when. Well, a few do, obviously, but most don't. (I'm the sort of person who goes to get something to drink during the car chase in movies. Everything I need to know I'll know when it's over.) I go back and forth on a couple of the deaths, and decided long ago to make the decision closer to the finish so those things will be more organic to the story. (I'm also perfectly likely to roll the dice on a couple of those things to bring in the element of chance, or leave it up to a reader. That reflects the chaos of war nicely.) But some characters are safe and some are definitely toast.
Process: Once I got the use of my arms back, it became a sketch of a story. I was hurrying to write down as much of an outline as I could. Then it became a series of scenes, the pivotal ones, because I wanted to know if I could write them convincingly (for me, at least). If I wasn't satisfied with them, then I didn't need to bother trying with the rest. But many of the scenes between them were written over two years ago, because that's the meat of the story for me, how two people grow closer, becoming friends and more. Then I went about filling in a six month calendar for them (and the other characters). The next set of scenes written was with other people as well, anchoring those dynamics. (These days, when the mood grabs me, I often work on one of the later scenes instead of the present. (I did a bunch of work on 'January' this summer, for example. Probably because we don't have air conditioning and it was very hot and thinking of cooler times was a plus... That may or may not be facetious.))