Sneak preview of that Draco time travel fic I've been working on...
Classes have begun! Already, my workload is crazy. My thesis should be getting written. I've kept up with my readings - so far - but then again, it's only been three days. My classes seem super-interesting, at the very least, so hopefully it won't be too difficult or onerous to keep up. :)
In the meantime, I've been finding solace in actually writing fanfic again. I'm sure that many people who know me through various fandoms may have picked up on the fact that I love alternate universes (no, not "high school" or "all human" AUs, but awesome ones), especially crossovers and time travel fics. There may be some of you who may recall my most prominent fandom works, Alchemy's Child (a Fullmetal Alchemist crossover with Harry Potter) and Rise of the Jinchuuriki (A Naruto!verse fic in which both Naruto and Gaara go back in time and race to become the leaders of their respective villages once more). Well, this fic that I've been working on has elements from both.
It can be roughly summarized thusly:
"Draco may be an arrogant, selfish little git, but even he has principles. When Voldemort kills his parents, well, he’s going to do something about it. Timetravel fic."
Essentially, Draco goes back in time to make sure that the Dark Lord doesn't win again. Or come back in the first place. He's only twenty-three or so when he does this, but he's already pretty world-weary. Mostly he's just tired of killing muggles, although he has a healthy dose of PTSD from his time as a Death Eater as well. One thing to note: he's not doing this because he had suddenly developed a great love for muggles and mudbloods. No, this Draco is still pretty racist. He still believes in the pureblood cause; he just dislikes Voldemort's methods. Of course, this outlook on life will change over the course of the fic, slowly, with many fits and starts.
I also want to combat certain fandom trends that I'm not too fond of, the least of which is the fandom!Draco who comes to love soap operas and microwaves and other such things immediately upon being introduced to them. This Draco still isn't entirely sure that being a mudblood isn't contagious, and so many of his reactions to muggle things are still going to involve some uneasiness. (And no, it won't be the other extreme of "WHAT THERE ARE PEOPLE TRAPPED IN THAT TALKING BOX??" reaction to televisions or something.)
I also want to play off of the idea that people who return to the past have a completely perfect memory of what happened before. Um, no. Can you remember what you did when you were ten, over a decade later? Down to the exact dialogue and what you had for breakfast? Neither can Draco. My Draco is very much an unreliable narrator, too: keep that in mind, because it will come up, again and again.
Also, things will change. Plot-type things. One of my pet peeves is when people write crossovers or time travel fics and just have the same things happen in the same order, perhaps for slightly different reasons or with another person speaking. Not so! Draco will change things, sometimes in ways that surprise even him. Make a few changes, and events will cascade differently, in interesting and sometimes unexpected ways. :3
So far, I have over thirty pages of it written; three completed chapters and lots of other scenes. My planning page, including a lot of back and forth ideas I've thrown around with a few beta-readers, is about the same length. I want to do a LOT more planning before I think of posting the first chapter. I've already rewrote quite a bit since I first wrote it. Thank you to feral_shrew and kuiskata for letting me bounce ideas off of you two! :) I think that once I finish up to the summer after first year, then I'll start posting: then I should be safe from the urge to go back and make too many changes. ;) I suspect that I'll be writing a lot to avoid working on homework. Besides, with even more snow falling outside, and the mercury in the thermometer dropping right along with it, I don't think that I'll be up for going for long jogs or anything. It's weather that tells you to stay inside, make some tea, wrap yourself in a blanket and get some reading or writing done.
Anyway, I'm quite proud of what I have written so far, so I thought that I would post a little preview so that interested parties may be able to get a feel for the flavour of this Draco.
In this scene, Draco has just finished speaking to Hermione Granger for the first time at Flourish & Blotts in Diagon Alley. He's planning on using an acquaintanceship with her to get closer to Potter (so he can teach Potter how not to suck when fighting against a Dark Lord). Unfortunately for Draco, he of course totally forgot that Granger wasn't close to Potter immediately, and so he kind of regrets wasting his time cultivating an acquaintanceship with her for a little bit later on. (It takes Draco a little while to stop acting like a dick inside and become truly friends with Gryffindors.)
"He thought that that had gone extraordinarily well, in his opinion! Much better than he had expected. Or so he thought, until he turned around and saw his father at the opposite end of the aisle, staring at him and the retreating Granger with a dark look on his face, eyes cold and piercing.
Draco’s steps faltered.
----
His father was not one to make a scene: one rule of Slytherin was to always show a united front in public. It was in private, behind closed doors, where all of the in-fighting and quiet back-stabbing went on.
Draco thought that his mother had picked up on father’s mood, because all three had gone about the rest of the day speaking only when necessary.
Getting Draco’s first wand (for the second time) should have been a comforting, if not exhilarating affair. Instead, when Draco’s fingers closed around the familiar shape of his wand (hawthorn, ten inches, springy, unicorn hair core) after twenty minutes of trying out this wand and that, his only thought was a weary ‘finally.’ Even though a shower of green sparks fell from the end of his wand, leading his father to smile grimly and his mother to clap as though they had just finished watching a performance, all Draco could think, dully, was that the magic of his childhood was gone.
Metaphorically, of course: he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he had come back as a squib."
In the meantime, I've been finding solace in actually writing fanfic again. I'm sure that many people who know me through various fandoms may have picked up on the fact that I love alternate universes (no, not "high school" or "all human" AUs, but awesome ones), especially crossovers and time travel fics. There may be some of you who may recall my most prominent fandom works, Alchemy's Child (a Fullmetal Alchemist crossover with Harry Potter) and Rise of the Jinchuuriki (A Naruto!verse fic in which both Naruto and Gaara go back in time and race to become the leaders of their respective villages once more). Well, this fic that I've been working on has elements from both.
It can be roughly summarized thusly:
"Draco may be an arrogant, selfish little git, but even he has principles. When Voldemort kills his parents, well, he’s going to do something about it. Timetravel fic."
Essentially, Draco goes back in time to make sure that the Dark Lord doesn't win again. Or come back in the first place. He's only twenty-three or so when he does this, but he's already pretty world-weary. Mostly he's just tired of killing muggles, although he has a healthy dose of PTSD from his time as a Death Eater as well. One thing to note: he's not doing this because he had suddenly developed a great love for muggles and mudbloods. No, this Draco is still pretty racist. He still believes in the pureblood cause; he just dislikes Voldemort's methods. Of course, this outlook on life will change over the course of the fic, slowly, with many fits and starts.
I also want to combat certain fandom trends that I'm not too fond of, the least of which is the fandom!Draco who comes to love soap operas and microwaves and other such things immediately upon being introduced to them. This Draco still isn't entirely sure that being a mudblood isn't contagious, and so many of his reactions to muggle things are still going to involve some uneasiness. (And no, it won't be the other extreme of "WHAT THERE ARE PEOPLE TRAPPED IN THAT TALKING BOX??" reaction to televisions or something.)
I also want to play off of the idea that people who return to the past have a completely perfect memory of what happened before. Um, no. Can you remember what you did when you were ten, over a decade later? Down to the exact dialogue and what you had for breakfast? Neither can Draco. My Draco is very much an unreliable narrator, too: keep that in mind, because it will come up, again and again.
Also, things will change. Plot-type things. One of my pet peeves is when people write crossovers or time travel fics and just have the same things happen in the same order, perhaps for slightly different reasons or with another person speaking. Not so! Draco will change things, sometimes in ways that surprise even him. Make a few changes, and events will cascade differently, in interesting and sometimes unexpected ways. :3
So far, I have over thirty pages of it written; three completed chapters and lots of other scenes. My planning page, including a lot of back and forth ideas I've thrown around with a few beta-readers, is about the same length. I want to do a LOT more planning before I think of posting the first chapter. I've already rewrote quite a bit since I first wrote it. Thank you to feral_shrew and kuiskata for letting me bounce ideas off of you two! :) I think that once I finish up to the summer after first year, then I'll start posting: then I should be safe from the urge to go back and make too many changes. ;) I suspect that I'll be writing a lot to avoid working on homework. Besides, with even more snow falling outside, and the mercury in the thermometer dropping right along with it, I don't think that I'll be up for going for long jogs or anything. It's weather that tells you to stay inside, make some tea, wrap yourself in a blanket and get some reading or writing done.
Anyway, I'm quite proud of what I have written so far, so I thought that I would post a little preview so that interested parties may be able to get a feel for the flavour of this Draco.
In this scene, Draco has just finished speaking to Hermione Granger for the first time at Flourish & Blotts in Diagon Alley. He's planning on using an acquaintanceship with her to get closer to Potter (so he can teach Potter how not to suck when fighting against a Dark Lord). Unfortunately for Draco, he of course totally forgot that Granger wasn't close to Potter immediately, and so he kind of regrets wasting his time cultivating an acquaintanceship with her for a little bit later on. (It takes Draco a little while to stop acting like a dick inside and become truly friends with Gryffindors.)
"He thought that that had gone extraordinarily well, in his opinion! Much better than he had expected. Or so he thought, until he turned around and saw his father at the opposite end of the aisle, staring at him and the retreating Granger with a dark look on his face, eyes cold and piercing.
Draco’s steps faltered.
----
His father was not one to make a scene: one rule of Slytherin was to always show a united front in public. It was in private, behind closed doors, where all of the in-fighting and quiet back-stabbing went on.
Draco thought that his mother had picked up on father’s mood, because all three had gone about the rest of the day speaking only when necessary.
Getting Draco’s first wand (for the second time) should have been a comforting, if not exhilarating affair. Instead, when Draco’s fingers closed around the familiar shape of his wand (hawthorn, ten inches, springy, unicorn hair core) after twenty minutes of trying out this wand and that, his only thought was a weary ‘finally.’ Even though a shower of green sparks fell from the end of his wand, leading his father to smile grimly and his mother to clap as though they had just finished watching a performance, all Draco could think, dully, was that the magic of his childhood was gone.
Metaphorically, of course: he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he had come back as a squib."