(no subject)
Yep, I know. Long time between posts. Mostly I don't post because I've been so negative with what I do have to say and who wants a downer in their group all the time? I'll endeavor to keep this light. I think that's the right word? Which is of course a good segue (which I hope is spelled right and also has to do with my thought process) to the question bothering me since the finish of the Potter series.
I want to finish the story I started so long ago. I'd link to it but God/Goddess forbid if I get it wrong and piss the LJgeeks off. Attempt at humor there, and my natural inclination to deflect peoples attention from the question at hand. Simply stated: Ancient Prophecy needs to be finished.
Most of you here would tell me to just finish it for myself, but I'm mental enough to realize that I rarely do anything for myself. I admit I never have confidence in my own abilities. Rather ironic when you consider my employment history. I taught for 7 years, a job that takes considerable confidence. Every other job I've landed has led to management placement. I start at the bottom, and before I know it, I've been placed in charge of one thing or another. I now manage THREE retail shops on a very busy resort island (again, no link thingy) which really is quite a task. But does a manager/teacher make a good writer?
I've never hid the issue of my Dyslexia. I try not to use it as an excuse, but typing sentence is very difficult for me. I can't spell and what I do manage to spell is often the wrong homonym/synonym. Grammatically I do OK, mostly common usage but that's what editors and betas are for. So basically these are all just excuses to not finish.
Now ideas are another argument. I'm full of them and at this point in my rant I'm going to brag which is totally uncharacteristic of me. But if I have to say so, I had very good ideas that eventually did show up in the actual Potter world. So here goes:
a-My story is called Ancient PROPHECY. As I've bitched before, I had a prophecy two whole books before JK Rowling. And a good one at that.
b-I have Snape loving Lily as early as 2002. Many argued with me, but I stuck to this plot.
c-I have Norbert as a girl. I got a big grin on my face reading this in book 7.
d-I have Lupin undercover with the werewolfs. Get your minds out of the gutters!
e-I have Snape ALWAYS on the side of Dumbledore, but hating the double life he was forced into because he was the one to give Voldemort the info on the Potters. I had him asking for Lilys life as well.
f-I have Hagrid carried off by the spiders. Of course I have the spiders eat him, but..o_O
g-I have a battle royal at the end with forest creatures fighting on either side.
h-I have my main character "die", have a long talk with someone and then choose to return.
i-I have Gryffindore's sword play a key role in the end of Voldemort because wands won't work.
I could go on, but the point I'm trying to make is not that I write like JKR, but that I want to think that I can be a good writer in my own right. I'd never claim to be AS good, but I want to know I'm good in my own style. By finishing Ancient Prophecy, I hope to prove to myself that I can finish what I've started and make it the best I possible can.
All this leads to wanting to write my own story. I know there is nothing original out there anymore. The originality is now in how you tell the story. Am I good enough to over come the obstacles that I am confronted with everyday? Time is the biggest issue. My time management sucks. Then there is the whole anal need to research every word I write. Ancient Prophecy is ACCURATE. All the potions/herbs/astrology/tarot everything that is pivotal to the plot was researched. If, in fact, I do write my story, a portion of it will be set in Salem in 1692, smack dab in the middle of the witch trials.
This is a period of history that has always fascinated me and this fascination was only intensified during HP's The Witching Hour in Salem in 05. I have never felt as at home in a location as I did in Salem. I'm not a children's author. I've often said by OoTP that neither was Rowling, she just worked with it. I don't want to be constrained to the sensibilities of children. The atrocities of the Witch Trials can't be made light of.
I've written on and off for five years. If I make myself finish then I must also make myself start. Actually I have the first paragraph typed out and little notes written here and there. Ironically, as I set here and type, the old show Roseanne is on where her family turns the basement into a office for her to write. They find out she always wanted to be and author and try to help. I hear the excuses and I'm just sitting her shaking my head that first off that episode is on just when I writing this and second she keeps talking about many of the doubts I have. Family, time, money, creativity.
Sadly, I remember how the series ended. The final year basically sucked, Dan dies of a heart attack and everything you have seen on the last year of the show was Roseanne writing the story of her life. I remember thinking, damn I just got cheated...this ending sucks. I don't want my ending to suck.
I want to finish the story I started so long ago. I'd link to it but God/Goddess forbid if I get it wrong and piss the LJgeeks off. Attempt at humor there, and my natural inclination to deflect peoples attention from the question at hand. Simply stated: Ancient Prophecy needs to be finished.
Most of you here would tell me to just finish it for myself, but I'm mental enough to realize that I rarely do anything for myself. I admit I never have confidence in my own abilities. Rather ironic when you consider my employment history. I taught for 7 years, a job that takes considerable confidence. Every other job I've landed has led to management placement. I start at the bottom, and before I know it, I've been placed in charge of one thing or another. I now manage THREE retail shops on a very busy resort island (again, no link thingy) which really is quite a task. But does a manager/teacher make a good writer?
I've never hid the issue of my Dyslexia. I try not to use it as an excuse, but typing sentence is very difficult for me. I can't spell and what I do manage to spell is often the wrong homonym/synonym. Grammatically I do OK, mostly common usage but that's what editors and betas are for. So basically these are all just excuses to not finish.
Now ideas are another argument. I'm full of them and at this point in my rant I'm going to brag which is totally uncharacteristic of me. But if I have to say so, I had very good ideas that eventually did show up in the actual Potter world. So here goes:
a-My story is called Ancient PROPHECY. As I've bitched before, I had a prophecy two whole books before JK Rowling. And a good one at that.
b-I have Snape loving Lily as early as 2002. Many argued with me, but I stuck to this plot.
c-I have Norbert as a girl. I got a big grin on my face reading this in book 7.
d-I have Lupin undercover with the werewolfs. Get your minds out of the gutters!
e-I have Snape ALWAYS on the side of Dumbledore, but hating the double life he was forced into because he was the one to give Voldemort the info on the Potters. I had him asking for Lilys life as well.
f-I have Hagrid carried off by the spiders. Of course I have the spiders eat him, but..o_O
g-I have a battle royal at the end with forest creatures fighting on either side.
h-I have my main character "die", have a long talk with someone and then choose to return.
i-I have Gryffindore's sword play a key role in the end of Voldemort because wands won't work.
I could go on, but the point I'm trying to make is not that I write like JKR, but that I want to think that I can be a good writer in my own right. I'd never claim to be AS good, but I want to know I'm good in my own style. By finishing Ancient Prophecy, I hope to prove to myself that I can finish what I've started and make it the best I possible can.
All this leads to wanting to write my own story. I know there is nothing original out there anymore. The originality is now in how you tell the story. Am I good enough to over come the obstacles that I am confronted with everyday? Time is the biggest issue. My time management sucks. Then there is the whole anal need to research every word I write. Ancient Prophecy is ACCURATE. All the potions/herbs/astrology/tarot everything that is pivotal to the plot was researched. If, in fact, I do write my story, a portion of it will be set in Salem in 1692, smack dab in the middle of the witch trials.
This is a period of history that has always fascinated me and this fascination was only intensified during HP's The Witching Hour in Salem in 05. I have never felt as at home in a location as I did in Salem. I'm not a children's author. I've often said by OoTP that neither was Rowling, she just worked with it. I don't want to be constrained to the sensibilities of children. The atrocities of the Witch Trials can't be made light of.
I've written on and off for five years. If I make myself finish then I must also make myself start. Actually I have the first paragraph typed out and little notes written here and there. Ironically, as I set here and type, the old show Roseanne is on where her family turns the basement into a office for her to write. They find out she always wanted to be and author and try to help. I hear the excuses and I'm just sitting her shaking my head that first off that episode is on just when I writing this and second she keeps talking about many of the doubts I have. Family, time, money, creativity.
Sadly, I remember how the series ended. The final year basically sucked, Dan dies of a heart attack and everything you have seen on the last year of the show was Roseanne writing the story of her life. I remember thinking, damn I just got cheated...this ending sucks. I don't want my ending to suck.