Meme: On enjoying writing...
A meme for a quiet Friday afternoon.
A while ago lyras posted a meme asking writers to identify their favorite fics from among the stories they'd written. I'm not sure I've gained nearly enough distance from my own fics to do that kind of thing; I still tend to be very judgmental about the finished product. But the meme got me thinking about the ( Read more... )
A while ago lyras posted a meme asking writers to identify their favorite fics from among the stories they'd written. I'm not sure I've gained nearly enough distance from my own fics to do that kind of thing; I still tend to be very judgmental about the finished product. But the meme got me thinking about the ( Read more... )
1. A strong sense of empathy for the main character must be the basis of most of my fiction. I’ve almost completely limited myself to Remus’s and Sirius’s perspectives, so I’ve hardly experienced anything else. You make me realise why I did not enjoy writing my latest, Peter-centric story, or the Albus-pov piece I wrote in 2004 so much at all, even though I actually felt confident about the voices I was giving to them. I’m always surprised that readers can enjoy these stories, and I think their enjoyment must be based on their empathy for Remus - and these stories are still essentially about Remus!
2. Ever since I started writing in the fandom I’ve felt I have something to say and that’s been the reason I write (unlike when I was young and wanted to be a novelist, later a poet, and tried to write but had to stop because I had nothing to say).
3.I haven’t meant to write AU. I’ve never been interested in undoing any hardships (in “what if Sirius never went to Azkaban, or never fell through the veil” etc). However, having continued my extrapolation from the first five books, I now realise I’m not exactly ignoring HBP and JKR’s statements outside the books - I’m defying them in order to set at least some things right. First of all, I’ve given Remus a supportive childhood environment as well as some healing experiences during the so-called lost years, so he can be a stronger person than the one we are likely to interpret in HBP Lupin. And this stronger person has set out to do his best and set right some things in his world (instead of following gratefully Dumbledore’s orders).
Writing this fiction has been at its most enjoyable when the complex reality in which my character lives is revealed while I am inside his mind. I’ve seen it revealed to me through the text I’m typing and I haven’t been aware of any struggle to compose the scenes or to plan the plot. That’s why I’ve felt confident enough that the text can either convey to or evoke in the reader all that is needed to make up a complete illusion of reality. For me it is still less enjoyable that I need to interfere in this world more consciously in order to pull it all together when my main story is approaching its conclusions.
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2. Ever since I started writing in the fandom I’ve felt I have something to say and that’s been the reason I write (unlike when I was young and wanted to be a novelist, later a poet, and tried to write but had to stop because I had nothing to say).
Ah, that's what good fic is, I suppose--authors writing in order to say something to the world. I hadn't though about it that way, so generally, when I first posted this comment. You're quite right.
I now realise I’m not exactly ignoring HBP and JKR’s statements outside the books - I’m defying them in order to set at least some things right. First of all, I’ve given Remus a supportive childhood environment as well as some healing experiences during the so-called lost years, so he can be a stronger person than the one we are likely to interpret in HBP Lupin.
I really think both of these things you mention are essential. Remus strikes me as a perceptive, empathetic character, and while obviously everyone has a history of trials and emotional distresses, Lupin included, introducing some supportive relationships seem like a very plausible method for accounting for this part of his personality.
instead of following gratefully Dumbledore’s orders
*sigh* I do worry for him in this next book. I think that HBP was an anomaly in the sense that many characters--including Harry himself--were shown to be out-of-sorts.
Ah, I'm so anxious about this next book! M.
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I’m even less anxious about this next book than I was about the previous one. Now I know for sure that Remus for me is not only the Lupin for whom I have to worry in canon. We can always read and write other stories about Remus, Peter or anyone we are interested in.
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I'm also realizing that Remus/Tonks would be more of a disappointment for me than I'd previously been willing to admit. *sigh*
I do wish it were Friday already! Maggie
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