Fic: Butterfly, Dreaming

[minnow_53]

Butterfly, Dreaming
by minnow_53

Disclaimer: These characters belong to JK Rowling and various corporations.
Pairings: Remus/Sirius, James/Lily, Ron/Hermione implied.
Rating: PG
Genre: AU
Era: April 1998
Summary: Sirius POV: Harry is in a coma and not expected to survive.
Thanks: To astra_argentea for the beta.
Warnings: Not happy R/S fluff. Check out the

Comments

[paulamcg]

I wanted something that would make Harry associate him with Defence Against the Dark Arts. I thought the artist painting light would do the trick...

It’s funny I didn’t catch that trick at all - perhaps because my Remus (without contradicting the canon of books one to five) has been an artist and painted light since 2003. I suppose you didn’t think of him at all. But you’ve actually made me realise how fitting it is that he ended up working as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, too, even though this is not his only or primary expertise in my extrapolation.

the first few paragraphs of this one haven't changed since the first draft, but I did have to take out exposition later on

It seems you had a conscious intention to go right into the middle of the story. And I suppose writing AU can be good practice for writing non-fanfiction (what most people call original writing). Especially in writing short stories it must be essential to select what the readers need to know, so that the story can serve its purpose in dealing with its theme and conveying its message - and what is enough for building up the illusion that there is a definite complete reality behind the moments and details you narrate. At the same time I believe that this reality is actually not definite. The writer has left it up to each reader’s extrapolation.

writers see the entire scene going through their head as they write, even if it doesn't all reach the page

Yes, I, too, see and perceive through other senses, and experience emotionally and analytically, the whole scene (or actually those parts of it which I don’t skip in time) - but only as I write and afterwards, not in any plans beforehand. And I hardly ever see or plan consciously anything beyond the scene and those details of the background and of context which I actually include in the text. If I’ve imagined something beyond that, I become aware of it only when a reader suggests something different, and then I’m immediately ready to accept the suggestion as another alternative truth about the world of my fiction.

[minnow_53]

I did think of your artist Remus, but I saw mine as completely different: he was settled, happy, had a good job... He always thought he could become a 'real' painter at some point in the future, but obviously he didn't have the hunger for art (in parallel with the physical hunger) that your Remus has. My Remus didn't actually manage to capture light, I don't think, because at the time he was trying to do so his own light was fading steadily.

It seems you had a conscious intention to go right into the middle of the story.

Not initially. The whole story came to me all of a piece, and I wrote it down at once. When I was editing, I had to start cutting somewhere round a quarter of the way in. But as well as cutting, I added more scenes, so the story now falls into three parts. S_Star actually did an exposition beta for me when I was too close to it to tell what needed to be changed or cut. So that was really helpful.

I don't plan beforehand either, or very, very rarely, because I think it can kill a story before you've started. Some writers plan out whole novels, but I couldn't do that, because I like surprises when I'm writing, and I bet you do too. I can say now that something means this or that, but when I was writing it I wasn't even really there. You'll know the feeling.

^_^xx