Featured Story of January: Lessons and Obsessions
Hello H&V!
Wow, this is so unexpected! I hadn't prepared a speech.
Well, needless to say I'm quite honored. I've finally reached the point where the time since I finished Lessons and Obsessions has almost met the time that it took me to write it. Having been away for it this long, it's such a treat for it to be brought back to my attention in such a complimentary way :)
I don't like discussing my "real world" alter-ego in much detail, but I go by Lenna Nightrunner in the fic community and I'm 24 years old and moved to Chicago in August, where I currently live with my husband (who goes by Mr. Nightrunner here) and my cat, Henry Jones, Jr. (not an alias ;)). I earned by BA in English Literature in 2008, and my love of books and stories inevitably drew me into fanfiction once finishing college gave me enough time to actually read and write it.
I don't really write original fiction. In fact, we're in Chicago right now because my husband is a writer, and is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing. He's the artist, I'm the literary critic. He gets a lot of free editing out of it ;) My primary interest in literature is character development, and I'm far more interested in others' characters than in creating my own. Fanfiction is a great venue for me, then, because I get to play with characters I already love.
And now, without further ado, I'm going to try to answer some of the Q&A questions that were suggested:
How did you get into D/Hr? + How long have you been writing D/Hr?
You know, I don't really remember! I got into Harry Potter fanfic after college because I hadn't been anywhere near fanfic since high school and thought I should look into it, and just sort of got sucked in. Because I'm most interested in the character dynamic between/among characters who dislike or even hate each other, D/Hr caught my attention right away. I didn't particularly like Draco in canon until I started reading D/Hr, and when I finally started writing I knew that they were the pairing I wanted to tackle. Lessons and Obsessions was essentially the first significant HP fanfic project I wrote in general, not just D/Hr.
How long have you been writing it?
The fic was completed at the end of last October, almost exactly fifteen months after I started it. With twenty-nine chapters and an epilogue, I averaged almost exactly a chapter every two weeks.
What is your writing process like? + Do you write as the mood strikes or on a schedule? + Did you outline down to every moment, or does the story lead you instead? + How did you come up with the plot for this story? + How did it develop?
My writing process is done in a completely, sometimes frustratingly non-linear fashion. I only use outlines if I absolutely can't wrap my brain around what I need to write in the next couple of chapters; usually I have a few ideas jotted down for later. Mainly what happens is I have to "Frankenstein" (used as a verb ;) ) together little scenes that I've sketched out in advance when inspiration hits me. Usually these "scenes" are little bits of dialog and are sometimes written months before they actually show up in the story. Depending on how the story takes shape, they're modified or abandoned.
I find deadlines very motivational, and I try to self-impose them when possible. My self-imposed deadlines for Lessons and Obsessions weren't as rigid as with some of my other writing, but I tried to give myself a day by which I needed to get my most recent chapter to my beta (twist_shimmy , my best friend from college, who has beta'd and continues to beta the entirety of my work) so she can turn it around and I can edit it again before posting. She also helped me (and continues to help me) with brainstorming and plot. Honestly, and I'm not saying this to be modest, plot is my huge weak point. I get so focused on characterization that I end up letting that shape my stories. This is why Harry Potter is so great--It provides a great framework to build a story into without me being paralyzed by trying to come up with a rich plot of my own. A lot of L&O's plot events weren't really in my head until a chapter or two ahead of time. That's kind of a dangerous way to construct a story, but thankfully it worked out in the end (or at least I think it did). I had to trust the story's momentum to help me in that area.
What is your favorite thing about this story? + What is one thing you want people to take away from this story?
My characterization, especially of Draco. I think I started off pretty shakily with both of them, but I made it my main mission while writing to try to make both Hermione and Draco as in character and believable based on their canonical representations and how I thought that might shape their reactions to the events I put them through. A lot of the feedback I got in this area was really positive, and that made me extremely happy :) If you come away from Lessons and Obsessions pleased with my characterization, then I'm completely gratified.
Here's a link to Lessons and Obsessions on Hawthorn and Vine. If you do end up reading it, I'd love to know what you think. Even after a piece is complete, I always find it helpful to get feedback.
Thanks again so much for this great honor! Please do feel free to ask me any questions you'd like :)
Wow, this is so unexpected! I hadn't prepared a speech.
Well, needless to say I'm quite honored. I've finally reached the point where the time since I finished Lessons and Obsessions has almost met the time that it took me to write it. Having been away for it this long, it's such a treat for it to be brought back to my attention in such a complimentary way :)
I don't like discussing my "real world" alter-ego in much detail, but I go by Lenna Nightrunner in the fic community and I'm 24 years old and moved to Chicago in August, where I currently live with my husband (who goes by Mr. Nightrunner here) and my cat, Henry Jones, Jr. (not an alias ;)). I earned by BA in English Literature in 2008, and my love of books and stories inevitably drew me into fanfiction once finishing college gave me enough time to actually read and write it.
I don't really write original fiction. In fact, we're in Chicago right now because my husband is a writer, and is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing. He's the artist, I'm the literary critic. He gets a lot of free editing out of it ;) My primary interest in literature is character development, and I'm far more interested in others' characters than in creating my own. Fanfiction is a great venue for me, then, because I get to play with characters I already love.
And now, without further ado, I'm going to try to answer some of the Q&A questions that were suggested:
How did you get into D/Hr? + How long have you been writing D/Hr?
You know, I don't really remember! I got into Harry Potter fanfic after college because I hadn't been anywhere near fanfic since high school and thought I should look into it, and just sort of got sucked in. Because I'm most interested in the character dynamic between/among characters who dislike or even hate each other, D/Hr caught my attention right away. I didn't particularly like Draco in canon until I started reading D/Hr, and when I finally started writing I knew that they were the pairing I wanted to tackle. Lessons and Obsessions was essentially the first significant HP fanfic project I wrote in general, not just D/Hr.
How long have you been writing it?
The fic was completed at the end of last October, almost exactly fifteen months after I started it. With twenty-nine chapters and an epilogue, I averaged almost exactly a chapter every two weeks.
What is your writing process like? + Do you write as the mood strikes or on a schedule? + Did you outline down to every moment, or does the story lead you instead? + How did you come up with the plot for this story? + How did it develop?
My writing process is done in a completely, sometimes frustratingly non-linear fashion. I only use outlines if I absolutely can't wrap my brain around what I need to write in the next couple of chapters; usually I have a few ideas jotted down for later. Mainly what happens is I have to "Frankenstein" (used as a verb ;) ) together little scenes that I've sketched out in advance when inspiration hits me. Usually these "scenes" are little bits of dialog and are sometimes written months before they actually show up in the story. Depending on how the story takes shape, they're modified or abandoned.
I find deadlines very motivational, and I try to self-impose them when possible. My self-imposed deadlines for Lessons and Obsessions weren't as rigid as with some of my other writing, but I tried to give myself a day by which I needed to get my most recent chapter to my beta (twist_shimmy , my best friend from college, who has beta'd and continues to beta the entirety of my work) so she can turn it around and I can edit it again before posting. She also helped me (and continues to help me) with brainstorming and plot. Honestly, and I'm not saying this to be modest, plot is my huge weak point. I get so focused on characterization that I end up letting that shape my stories. This is why Harry Potter is so great--It provides a great framework to build a story into without me being paralyzed by trying to come up with a rich plot of my own. A lot of L&O's plot events weren't really in my head until a chapter or two ahead of time. That's kind of a dangerous way to construct a story, but thankfully it worked out in the end (or at least I think it did). I had to trust the story's momentum to help me in that area.
What is your favorite thing about this story? + What is one thing you want people to take away from this story?
My characterization, especially of Draco. I think I started off pretty shakily with both of them, but I made it my main mission while writing to try to make both Hermione and Draco as in character and believable based on their canonical representations and how I thought that might shape their reactions to the events I put them through. A lot of the feedback I got in this area was really positive, and that made me extremely happy :) If you come away from Lessons and Obsessions pleased with my characterization, then I'm completely gratified.
Here's a link to Lessons and Obsessions on Hawthorn and Vine. If you do end up reading it, I'd love to know what you think. Even after a piece is complete, I always find it helpful to get feedback.
Thanks again so much for this great honor! Please do feel free to ask me any questions you'd like :)