Interview with femmequixotic and noeon
We have our next writer interview and it's a special treat for you! We will be hearing from not one- but two fabulous authors!
Let's welcome noeon author of Conquering the Dark and The Magic of the Holidays, or, How I Survived the Gringotts Holiday Helpdesk, and Femmequixotic, author of Kiss A Boy in London Town, Says the Magpie to the Morning, and Black Coffee on a Lonely Night. Together Femme and Noe have collaborated on several stories including The Mirror Crack'd and The Silent World Within You."
They did this fabulous joint interview several weeks ago and due to some crazy rl happenings I'm just now able to post it! I know you'll enjoy their very unique way of sharing! <3 I know I did! <3
1) Approximately how many stories would you say you've written for fandom? Original work?
Noe: Femme has written billions. I’ve written a few :)
Femme: LOL. My account at AO3 says that I’ve written 82 stories so far, most of them in HP, but I think a couple are missing. And I was playing around with the stats function there the other day and was somewhat horrified-slash-amused to find out I've written almost 1.5 million words over the past decade. I mean, what is this even?! I have got to start writing shorter stories.
Noe: And that’s probably like half of your actual total.
Femme: LOL. Given what’s in my WIP folder, I wouldn’t disagree. /0\ Plus I’ve got almost 10 years worth of writing on hp_dungeons.
Noe: Seriously. That’s like a whole ‘nother world. I’ve written more than I think I have. I’m just notoriously poor at archiving them.
Femme: God, you are. Put your damn fics on AO3, woman.
Noe: Shhh. I’m hiding.
Femme: *rolls eyes wildly*
2) How long on average are your stories? Do you prefer to write shorter fics or longer? Why?
Noe: I’m remembering a conversation between Femme and pir8fancier at Azkatraz about not being able to write under 20K.
Femme: Oh, God, it’s true. I always want to try the LDWS challenges, and then Noe points out that for me, a drabble is at least 5K.
Noe: More like 14K, actually. Me, I favor the porn haiku approach.
Femme: *snort* Says the woman who wrote a 96K mpreg fic with me.
Noe: Seriously, I don’t know what happened with The Silent World Within You. It had a mind of its own.
Femme: Fucker Would. Not. End.
Noe: In fact, it’s Not. Over. Yet.
Femme: This is sadly true. We’ve got what, three sequels/outtakes bubbling around in the planning stages?
Noe: Yes. At least.
Femme: So, anyway, back to the question...yeah, I tend to be the oh-my-god-can’t-shut-up writer, while Noe prefers writing shorter fics. Except when she’s writing with me. Because I am a Bad Influence.
Noe: So true. Then again, the WIP I reentered HP fandom with is, like, 40K. *looks sheepish*
Femme: *brightens* See, it’s not my fault after all.
Noe: Still your fault :D
Femme: Bitch.
3) Where do you find your inspiration?
Femme: Um...everywhere? TV shows and music and books and movies always seem to provide moments of inspiration; times where I see/hear something that makes me wonder how it could be interpreted in the HP world. Also conversations I overhear on the bus/subway or people I see walking down the street who catch my interest. Ideas come from the weirdest places.
Noe: I have no idea. It’s like I can’t stop thinking of things to write. And I love conversations about HP and writing and adapting or tweaking plots and characters.
Femme: We have LOTS of those. That’s the best thing about living with a fellow fan. The moment something pops in your head you can come home and say, "so I had this really interesting idea about Draco today..."
Noe: And then there’s that Whole Foods where supermarket!Snape and supermarket!Draco live.
Femme: I really love that market. REALLY. God, they are so hot.
Noe: We need to go back there. I’m still waiting for supermarket!Harry to join them.
4) What's the first thing you do when an idea comes to you?
Femme: Usually tell Noe.
Noe: Tell Femme.
5) Do you have to be in the zone to write or is it more about consistency and discipline?
Noe: Oh god. Bad question at the moment. We’re SO slacking.
Femme: You know, I think it depends. If I’ve got a deadline looming, it becomes more about having to be disciplined. It’s not a question of whether I’m in the zone then; it’s a question of OMG, MUST FINISH.
Noe: Glue. As in, glue ass to chair. Also shame. Deadlines do help. As does panic.
Femme: Panic is a great motivator for this household.
Noe: There is no zone, there is only wordcount.
Femme: It becomes very zen. In a breathing-into-a-paper-bag way. Really, though, I hear people talking about needing to be in the zone to write, and I honestly wonder how that’s possible. If I waited to find the zone to write, I would...well...never write. Because I am intrinsically lazy and avoid the zone whenever possible.
Noe: We were in the zone for some of them. I have seen it happen. But it’s like anything, some are easier to write and some are harder.
Femme: Okay, yes, getting in the zone once you’re writing can be great, and happens naturally on some fics. But waiting to get in the zone, at least for me, is impossible at the beginning, because the only way I can get into the zone is to just get off my butt and write.
6) How many fics do you typically work on at a time?
Noe: We pretend we can work on several. And we do talk about a lot of plots before we write them. But honestly? One at a time.
Femme: Yeah. I like to tell myself I can work on two or three at one time, and I do have a couple of unfinished fics that I occasionally poke at while I'm writing something else. But to really write, I have to focus on just one. Like Noe mentioned, though, we might be writing a fic (either separately or together) but we’ll also be plotting and talking about several others at the same time. Our list of potential fics we’d like to tackle at some point is ridiculously long. And always growing.
7) How do you like to work? Quiet? Music? Where?
Femme: This is where we are COMPLETELY different. I can’t really listen to music when I’m writing unless it’s Bach or ambient music like rain or the ocean. (Bach is awesomecakes for getting me in a focused mindset.)
Noe: And I love music. I like listening to Gregorian chant for non-HP writing. But for stories, I often have one theme song that I listen to over and over while writing. For Voices From the Fog, it was Placebo’s cover of Running Up That Hill, for example.
Femme: And I have soundtracks I’ll make for fics that I listen to during my commute or in non-writing moments, ones that will help me focus on the story and the emotional response I want to create in the story. But I can’t listen to them when I write. I find music with lyrics too distracting--I end up singing along.
Noe: The soundtrack from We Are Young is so awesome. That was so much fun.
Femme: I love that soundtrack. Loads. \0/ Oh, and also, I prefer to write alone and in private, whereas Noe can write in public without an issue. She’s honestly the only person I’ve been able to write in the same room with, which probably is what makes us good as collaborators.
Noe: I have written sex scenes in cafes. It’s a little embarrassing. But I like being in public sometimes. It helps me focus.
Femme: Whereas for me it’s a horrible distraction. Even when I write in the library at school, I have to hide in a corner where I can’t see/hear anyone.
8) Do you have a writing schedule or routine? Everyday? Certain time of day? Certain number of words? Number of minutes?
Noe: In my dreams, I write every day. It waxes and wanes with the fest season right now. I’m trying to change that.
Femme: I always want to write every day, but I find it difficult. Especially now that I’m back in grad school--there’s so much other reading and writing I have to do that it’s hard to find the time to smoosh fandom writing into my schedule. Right now I’m trying to find a happy medium so that I can slide into a writing routine. I think it would make me happier and cut down on my panic when deadlines start coming up.
Noe: I think writing every day is the easiest way. It’s like what Jon Kabatt-Zinn says about yoga, that the hardest way to practice is once a week. I feel much better when I’m writing regularly.
Femme: Yeah, me too. I think this is the one thing I struggle with the most with writing, is making time for myself to do it.
Noe: So why the fuck aren’t we writing? *grins* Seriously, though, it is about making space for it and taking yourself seriously.
Femme: Word. And I think it’s really easy when it comes to fannish writing to not take it seriously. I know for a long time I didn’t--it was just a hobby, I’d say. And now I’m starting to see it differently. It’s not just a hobby. It’s me. I’m a writer. And I do need to take that part of myself seriously.
Noe: Yes. It’s really important to claim it. For all of us. We are writers. It’s what we do and who we are. Any attempt to circumvent that or subjugate it or belittle it is going to be counterproductive.
9) What are your writing habits?
Noe: Poor. But improving!
Femme: LOL. My writing habits generally revolve around throwing one or another of our three kittens off me while cursing maniacally at them. In fact, this picture is usually what happens when I sit down to write.
Noe: Temptation, thy name is kitten. And they are so bad at getting us to take naps instead of work.
Femme: Little bastards. *yawns*
10) Do you force yourself to write even when you don't want to?
Femme: All. The. Time. I almost never want to write.
Noe: Writing is like torture. Necessary torture. The words in your head never match up with the words on the page. It’s constant pain in some ways.
Femme: And then you hit a certain point in the writing process when it all just kind of clicks. And you look back at the beginning when you had to shove yourself towards Word and force yourself to sit down and eke out 400 words and you realize that it’s worth it, being able to tell this story that’s unwinding in your head.
Noe: And when you read your story after a couple months, or years, of distance, it’s often a surprise how good it really is. Like, who wrote that?
11) Do you keep a handwritten journal?
Noe: Yes, sometimes. I love handwriting.
Femme: Every couple of years I go through a phase where I think "I Must Journal! I MUST JOURNAL ALL THE THINGS." And I manage to do it for two weeks and then get bored. My attention span, she is short.
Noe: We’ve been talking about doing Julia Cameron’s morning pages again.
Femme: I’d like to do morning pages. It’s just once again a matter of getting up and putting my butt in the chair and writing. Instead of, you know, going to hulu.com instead to catch up on Grimm. *looks shifty*
Noe: It does amazing things to your brain, to drain some of the excess thought out into words.
Femme: So my therapist tells me.
12) Do you plan or outline your stories in any way? Can you describe your process?
Femme: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAH.
Noe: Yes. Yes. Yes. And yes again. I am ANAL about plotting and structure.
Femme: And I...am not so much.
Noe: And my, that has been fruitful for collaboration :D
Femme: It’s great, really. Noe’s taught me SO much about plotting and structure, both in collaboration and when doing my own fics, since she’s my alpha and beta. She’s got this amazing way of seeing exactly what needs to be shored up in a plot and what you can whittle away.
Noe: Whereas you’ve taught me SO much about narrative and what a scene needs to be set and to be finished. Re: plot, I love thinking about the bones of a story and what it needs. Writing through a story idea without a plan often leads to doubling and trebling of ideas or features and makes it MUCH harder to cut out material that doesn’t work.
Femme: Which I’m notorious for having done before I met you. LOL. Honestly, I think the best way to describe our process is to look at what we did for We Are Young, which Noe seriously helped me structure and plan out. What I started with was coming up with the characters. I had an entire notebook with pages for each character, and with photographs of what I thought they looked like and descriptions of their jobs and their relationships and bits of backstory for each character, whether major or minor, that I knew I wanted to weave into the plot. So at the beginning of the plotting phase, I had the characters, and this idea for a fic that revolved around Harry and Draco as co-workers and friends with benefits.
Noe: And you’d thought it was going to be Auror fic, but you weren’t certain you wanted that. And then we asked, what else could you do to set a story with an ensemble. And politics lay close at hand because Femme is a political junkie. Trufax.
Femme: This is true. Aurors seemed to be the first choice for their jobs, and then everything shifted when, during a drive down Route 2 in Boston, Noe mentioned to me the idea of putting them in a political setting.
Noe: And Blaise as Malcom Tucker was born.
Femme: I believe I shouted that out as we went around a curve...
Noe: There should be a fucking shrine at that spot right before the interchange with 95.
Femme: Blaise-as-Malcolm-fucking-Tucker is now my headcanon.
Noe: He is. :)
Femme: So, yeah, that little idea made me go back to my character pages and reassess them. I made some major shifts in jobs and in backstories for the main characters, while leaving a good chunk of the minor characters relatively untouched.
Noe: And then we worked our ASSES off to cobble the scenes together, to weave in the song parts that taradiane had mentioned, to set up the kiss at the engagement party which was even older than the political setting as a motivation.
Femme: That kiss was the first scene I ever envisioned, the moment after I got the assignment. taradiane’s suggestion of Adele’s Someone Like You brought out the whole idea of Harry kissing Draco at his own engagement party. Except I’m pretty sure the first concept of that scene had a lot more rain and a lot more dirty alley and was highly influenced by the kiss at the end of Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Noe: I think we went through five increasingly more detailed outlines, and I mean some full day outlining at points, to get to the working outline from which the fic was written. We ended up with a good twenty pages of outline sketched out. It’s like storyboarding for a film.
Femme: That’s the best description I can think of it. You just build on each outline, letting it sit for a little bit and percolate, and then going back and adding to it or deleting things that aren’t going to work, that aren’t visual enough. Massaging it into shape so to speak until you get something that’s a good skeleton.
Noe: And you always add and subtract and edit down, but at least you have a full skeleton to hang the meat of the story off of. Wait, you just said skeleton too.
Femme: LOL. Brain.
Noe: Srsly.
Femme: Anyway, once the outline’s ready, you sit down and you fucking write it. In my case, with this fic, Noe spent a lot of time in the googledocs with me, sitting at the kitchen table, watching me write and talking about where each scene was going. Having her there to help me work through rough spots was invaluable. Honestly, the best advice I could give someone is to have a person who you can trust to tell you the honest truth read along with you. I think having a fantastic alpha is even better than having an amazing beta.
Noe: Having someone there keeps writing from being too lonely. Even online chatting while writing to check in occasionally. It’s really important to have another voice sometimes.
Femme: It really is. It keeps you going, and it helps you when you hit one of those moments where you’ve written yourself into a corner and you have NO idea how you’re going to get from this point to the next point in your outline.
Noe: It also keeps you from trashing good material because you can’t see the damn fic any longer.
Femme: So. Damn. True.
13) What motivates you to keep writing?
Noe: See above, the companionship and conversation parts. But also fandom and my own fannishness. And I don’t know what else I should do with the ideas in my head :)
Femme: Pretty much the same for me. I have to get the ideas out somehow, and writing seems the best way to do it.
14) How do you stay excited about your writing?
Femme: What is this thing you call excited?
Noe: I trick myself into thinking I’m just sitting down for a little bit. I get excited about ideas, the writing part is crafting words and bitching a lot.
Femme: I don’t think it’s possible to stay excited about writing. The ideas, yes. Those are exciting and beloved. But writing is hard work, yo. And I don’t know anyone who likes hard work that much. Especially during the moments--and we ALL have them--when we think that what we’re writing is absolute dreck and why the hell are we even trying? I think at those times it’s less focusing on the excitement of it all and just doing it because at some point you liked this story idea. And eventually you’ll get to the place where you like it again. You just have to shoulder through.
15) How do you stay focused while working on longer fics?
Noe: Outline. If you know what you have to finish, even if it’s daunting, you just do it scene by scene.
Femme: I have never had this problem.
Noe: You are an alien. A very expressive alien :)
Femme: AHAHA. I just...I don’t know. Long fics are my lifeblood.
Noe: But you’ve worked really hard at your narrative skills. I think that’s important to note. And your mother is a published author, so you know what hard work writing can be.
Femme: This is true. I grew up a writer’s kid, so there really wasn’t much glamorized about writing for me; when you’ve watched your mother sweat over a novel, you kind of know that the only way to get through it is just to write the damn thing.
16) Do you find deadlines stressful or helpful?
Noe: Both.
Femme: Yeah. Deadlines are good for me to get my butt in gear for writing--although I don’t think there’s a single one I’ve ever actually managed to meet in fandom in the past ten years--but they’re also really anxiety-making for me.
Noe: *makes whooshing noises*
Femme: Thank you, Douglas Adams. Also, you do know where the word deadline comes from, right? There’s a line in prison that if you cross you’ll get shot. It’s called the deadline. Trufax.
Noe: And then there’s this line called "the last day of posting." :D
Femme: I’m REALLY good at meeting that one.
17) What is your biggest challenge in writing and how do you overcome it?
Femme: Turning things in on time, evidently.
Noe: Motivating myself to believe in my voice and what I have to say. Sometimes to believe I’m actually a writer. Also, giving myself enough space to write things out well. I’m too terse. I may be great with outlining and structure, but I’m stingy with detail and narrative. I’ve had to learn a lot about being generous within the scene.
Femme: You’ve gotten a lot better at unpacking things.
Noe: Thanks to you :)
Femme: And my constant beta comments for you to fucking open up the damn scene and put some fucking dialogue in, for God’s sake.
Noe: Yes, that was truly inspirational. And educational. I didn’t know some of those words.
Femme: You’re fucking welcome. And seriously, as far as my biggest challenge, it’s been to take myself seriously as a writer and to learn to see what I do as meaningful. I have so many things I still want to learn in regard to this craft, and I think the only way to truly move forward as a creative artist is to give yourself permission to grow, to just write without judging yourself or your work against anyone else. And that last bit is ridiculously hard to do, but I think we really have to get to the point where we can shut out that inner critic as much as possible. I hear her whispering in my ear every time I sit down at the keyboard, pointing out all my flaws as a writer, and I have to make a conscious choice to tune that voice out or I'll get trapped in that moment of self-doubt.
18) Do you have a system for organizing your story ideas and notes?
Noe: Googledocs. And colored folders. Although I’m always finding story notes in the weirdest places. But do write everything down.
Femme: I have a folder nesting system in googledocs that contains story notes and WIPs. I also like to use Scrivener for planning sometimes, although really, sharing in googledocs is easier since I move between two computers a lot.
Noe: I wish there were really good, non-trademarked sharing software. Microsoft Sharepoint is ugly and only available in business applications, but it is useful for collaborative versions.
Femme: Yeah, we’re constantly in search of innovative ways to collaborate since even when we’re not actually writing together, we’re still so intertwined in each other’s planning and creative processes that we need those types of tools.
19) Do you write in a linear form, from beginning to end, or do you jump around as the muse strikes?
Noe: Usually linear, although sometimes I’ll skip a section and go back.
Femme: I almost always write linearly. If I’m close to a deadline and I’m stuck on a scene, I might leave notes in it and go back, but I prefer linear writing.
20) Do you have your story planned from start to finish or do you just start writing and let the rest work itself out?
Noe: You can over-outline. I think.
Femme: Seriously. I like having a plan, a good structural outline, but a lot of times I’ll go off-script and find that my outline and story are actually better for it
Noe: Innovation and spontaneity are very important. Sometimes you do have to go with it. And some stories want to come out a certain way no matter what you want.
Femme: Outlines are great for getting you started. But don’t be afraid to use them as a guide and let your story go the way it needs to go.
Noe: They’re a tool for keeping your ideas straight, not a hard-and-fast commitment to a certain progression.
Femme: And I also find that outlines work better for me with longer stories. If I’m writing something that’s under 10K, I almost never outline more than maybe a quick sketch--for me, those shorter stories tend to be more organic.
21) What are your tips to overcoming writer's block/slump?
Noe: I’m taking suggestions here! *grins* Lessee. A good picture of Tom Felton pumping gas. Having Femme find something amazing on television, like Warehouse 13. Pictures are great for setting a mood if you don’t have ideas. I love google image search and Femme has a real genius for finding pictures to cast characters in a fic. There’s a Burberry ad that we’re probably going to write an RPG or long serialized fic off of.
Femme: Don’t fight writer’s block. The more you fight it, the worse it gets. Take some time off for yourself. Watch a movie or two, indulge in some TV, read a book, play in another fandom. Let your story sit in the back of your head. Think about it, but don’t fret about it. Do something you enjoy and that makes you happy and relaxed/rested. The thing about writer’s block is that it’s usually coming from a place inside of you that needs to be taken care of. Something’s off, you know? You have to honor that part of your psyche and not berate it. Give yourself some space and some self-care; the words will start to find their way back.
22) What do you do if you lose interest in a fic? Especially if you are writing for a deadline?
Noe: Suck it up and finish.
Femme: Pretty damn much.
23) What sources or websites do you find helpful for writing tips and information?
Noe: Femme is the master researcher. Seriously. The interwebs are her playground.
Femme: You can find anything on the Internet. ANYTHING. Blogs are a great source of writing tips, particularly ones from agents. Although, I have to say about writing tips, it’s better for you to just write than to take other people’s advice about writing. There are NO hard-and-fast rules on writing. Some writing courses want to tell you that there are, but writing is such a stylistic endeavor. You need to find your own style and learn to break the rules in your own way. Keep that in mind when you’re reading writing advice online.
Noe: I like Longman English Dictionary for usage, although it only goes so far. And Google streetview is amazing. Also the HP Lexicon and the HP Wiki can be very helpful, although I feel like I live with an HP lexicon :)
Femme: Pffft. HP Wiki is my go-to place for all things Potter. The Perseus Latin Lexicon is great for HP spells. And Latin homework. Also, I have a list of potion and herbology links on my journal I put up yonks ago. Some are out of date, but most are still a great resource. And I cannot live without Thesaurus.com. I agree about streetview--you can really get a sense of place with that, especially if you’re writing in London. Flickr’s a GREAT resource for pics of people and places--you can sort through everyone’s vacation photos, which if you’re like me and have a slight voyeuristic streak is awesome.
Noe: I think all good writers are voyeurs.
Femme: It helps to observe human nature. :)
24) Do you share your writing process along the way with a support group of friends, betas or cheerleaders?
Femme: Sure. I think support of all sorts helps immensely--writing’s such a solitary process in so many ways--even if you’re writing with someone else--and having people you can talk to about your writing really keeps you grounded in community instead of getting too isolated.
Noe: Yes. Although it’s good to have a bit of a private think, too, and then come back to your support team with the product. But I like working collaboratively best, even if I’m writing my own material. And it’s not just Femme and me - we’ve gotten loads of beta help from supergrover24, sassy_cissa, goseaward, bethbethbeth, absynthedrinker, nursedarry, delphipsmith, wemyss, cursive and encouragement and suggestions from countless friends. Community is really important.
25) Have you ever co-written a story with someone?
Femme: *looks at Noe*
Noe: *looks at Femme*
Together, in chorus: Yes. Although sometimes I wanted to kill her.
26) What's it like to co-write?
Femme: Amazing. Wonderful. Inspiring. Frustrating as hell.
Noe: Maddening. And utterly brilliant. Twice the bitching about writer’s block and twice the gloating over good scenes.
27) How does your process differ when co-writing?
Noe: We do specialize. We’ll each take a character to voice, often, even when the other is writing dialogue, or we’ll split up different types of scenes depending on strengths and inspiration. Also we each edit the other so it sounds more like one voice.
Femme: We work together so much when we’re writing separately that co-writing doesn’t feel too terribly different, even though it is in many ways. I think when we’re co-writing, we do a lot more talking through of the scenes together as we write--you have to communicate constantly when you’re co-writing so that you’re both on the same page. And you have to be okay with arguing with each other over various points, because, trust me, you will. Learning how to compromise and not hold on to those arguments is absolutely key to collaborating.
Noe: You have to get comfortable with things that sound like you plural but perhaps not you singular.
Femme: Right; that's where the compromising comes into play. Collaboration requires both of you to be involved with the decision-making process; while there may be moments or scenes in which one or the other of you take the lead in writing, you have to be willing to listen to what your co-writer has in his or her head as well, and come to an understanding of what the scene will look like or what the characters will sound like that rings true for both of you.
28) How do you split the workload? Who does what?
Noe:Femme starts and finishes scenes. She’s amazing at getting things moving across the page.
Femme: Noe does most of the outlining based on our talking through story ideas. She’s fantastic at sequencing scenes and deciding what should happen when or why, although there are times during the writing process that I insist we add another scene because what we’ve written requires us to unpack the outline a little more.
Noe: We both love coming up with details for characters or scenes and building them out together with pictures, snippets of information, etc. So one googles while the other writes and chips in something.
Femme: I tend to keep an eye on the emotional levels of the scenes.
Noe: You are the angst maven.
Femme: LOL. I am. I like the human sides of the story; the parts that are most important to me are the bits that highlight the human condition.
Noe: I like gardens, botanical names, healing, languages, architecture, and imaginary wizarding history. I also like weird magical details.
Femme: You are awesome at coming up with potion ingredients and spell names. Which I completely suck at. If there’s a cool potion or spell in one of my fics, I can guarantee Noe came up with it.
Noe: And if there’s an amazing gesture that encapsulates a character’s emotion or motivation in a scene, it’s Femme’s.
Femme: Hah! We work well together, really, which is a boon for collaboration.
29) Is one person's style more prevalent, or does it depend on the character, plot etc?
Femme: Our styles mesh really well. There are some places where you can probably read each of our styles more easily if you know us, but for the most part so much of what we do even individually involves the other, that I think when we write together it weaves together near seamlessly.
Noe: And we’ve evolved together.
30) How have you evolved as a writer over time?
Femme: I think I’ve become more focused on examining the intricacies of human interactions, rather than just playing with HP characters. I want to make them more three-dimensional and look at how they change as they age, what they could be like ten to twenty to thirty years after the end of canon. And I think I’ve developed a better sense of narrative--of what’s important to say in the story and of what can be left out or implied. What’s important for me is telling these stories about people, not just about plot.
Noe: I’ve become more serious about the writing process but also more willing to take risks and write beyond my comfort zone or write unexpected things. It’s more serious play now and it’s increasingly important for me to see it as a sustained, imaginative game with real outcomes. emmagrant01 and I are going to do a panel on writing sex in fanfic at Ascendio in a couple of weeks. I can't even imagine having done that a few years ago, but I've grown comfortable in my (cyber?)skin as an erotic writer, and claiming that space for myself.
31) What is your favorite fic you've written and why is it your favorite?
Noe: I think for collaboration outright, it has to be The Silent World Within You.
Femme: Definitely that one for collaboration. I think it’s an interesting look at the possibility of mpreg, and I really like the Harry and Draco dynamic in it. Also the epilogue makes me ridiculously happy. And my second favorite collaboration would be our entry for this year's harrydracompreg fest, Pocket Full Of Starlight. I've always wanted to write an H/D version of the Parent Trap, and we had so much fun writing the kids.
Noe: Since this is H/D Writers, I can’t say that Exegesis is my favorite fic of Femme’s. But I do love that one. I really, really love Black Coffee and Magpies of hers. And the Camden music fic I’ve been PROMISED.
Femme: I’m writing it! I’m writing it! I really love your fic from hd_hols two years ago, Conquering the Dark. I love Healer!Harry in it.
Noe: Weirdly, my favorite H/D fic of mine is probably my first long one, Voices from the Fog. I think it’s very raw but also lyrical. And I love that Harry and that Draco in Amsterdam.
Femme: I adore that fic too. I’m torn between two of my fics. I love We Are Young because it combines so much of my favourite parts of London and my fascination with British politics. And writing it was both excruciating and exhilarating and left me so drained and wrung out that it’s taken me a while to get back into writing. But I was really happy with how it turned out.
Noe: I’m most proud of remixing Femme’s story, The Year’s That Walk Between in The Lost Heart for hd_remix without Femme twigging. Or killing me for my version :)
Femme: Are you kidding? I love that version. Harry’s POV needed to be told. *nodsnods*
Noe: I sweated buckets. BUCKETS, I tell you.
Femme: Right now we’re working on a new collaboration, a fantasy AU Harry/Draco drawn from Welsh legend and Anglo-Saxon history for gossymer. We’re absolutely loving living in this world, and I have a suspicion it’ll end up being our New Favorite when it’s (finally) posted.
Noe: I think our favorite fic is always the one we haven’t finished writing yet :)
Femme: Well, it’s always the most interesting...
I hope you were inspired by femmequixotic and noeon! If you have additional questions, feel free to ask them in the comments!
Thank you again, ladies for taking the time to share with us! <3
Let's welcome noeon author of Conquering the Dark and The Magic of the Holidays, or, How I Survived the Gringotts Holiday Helpdesk, and Femmequixotic, author of Kiss A Boy in London Town, Says the Magpie to the Morning, and Black Coffee on a Lonely Night. Together Femme and Noe have collaborated on several stories including The Mirror Crack'd and The Silent World Within You."
They did this fabulous joint interview several weeks ago and due to some crazy rl happenings I'm just now able to post it! I know you'll enjoy their very unique way of sharing! <3 I know I did! <3
1) Approximately how many stories would you say you've written for fandom? Original work?
Noe: Femme has written billions. I’ve written a few :)
Femme: LOL. My account at AO3 says that I’ve written 82 stories so far, most of them in HP, but I think a couple are missing. And I was playing around with the stats function there the other day and was somewhat horrified-slash-amused to find out I've written almost 1.5 million words over the past decade. I mean, what is this even?! I have got to start writing shorter stories.
Noe: And that’s probably like half of your actual total.
Femme: LOL. Given what’s in my WIP folder, I wouldn’t disagree. /0\ Plus I’ve got almost 10 years worth of writing on hp_dungeons.
Noe: Seriously. That’s like a whole ‘nother world. I’ve written more than I think I have. I’m just notoriously poor at archiving them.
Femme: God, you are. Put your damn fics on AO3, woman.
Noe: Shhh. I’m hiding.
Femme: *rolls eyes wildly*
2) How long on average are your stories? Do you prefer to write shorter fics or longer? Why?
Noe: I’m remembering a conversation between Femme and pir8fancier at Azkatraz about not being able to write under 20K.
Femme: Oh, God, it’s true. I always want to try the LDWS challenges, and then Noe points out that for me, a drabble is at least 5K.
Noe: More like 14K, actually. Me, I favor the porn haiku approach.
Femme: *snort* Says the woman who wrote a 96K mpreg fic with me.
Noe: Seriously, I don’t know what happened with The Silent World Within You. It had a mind of its own.
Femme: Fucker Would. Not. End.
Noe: In fact, it’s Not. Over. Yet.
Femme: This is sadly true. We’ve got what, three sequels/outtakes bubbling around in the planning stages?
Noe: Yes. At least.
Femme: So, anyway, back to the question...yeah, I tend to be the oh-my-god-can’t-shut-up writer, while Noe prefers writing shorter fics. Except when she’s writing with me. Because I am a Bad Influence.
Noe: So true. Then again, the WIP I reentered HP fandom with is, like, 40K. *looks sheepish*
Femme: *brightens* See, it’s not my fault after all.
Noe: Still your fault :D
Femme: Bitch.
3) Where do you find your inspiration?
Femme: Um...everywhere? TV shows and music and books and movies always seem to provide moments of inspiration; times where I see/hear something that makes me wonder how it could be interpreted in the HP world. Also conversations I overhear on the bus/subway or people I see walking down the street who catch my interest. Ideas come from the weirdest places.
Noe: I have no idea. It’s like I can’t stop thinking of things to write. And I love conversations about HP and writing and adapting or tweaking plots and characters.
Femme: We have LOTS of those. That’s the best thing about living with a fellow fan. The moment something pops in your head you can come home and say, "so I had this really interesting idea about Draco today..."
Noe: And then there’s that Whole Foods where supermarket!Snape and supermarket!Draco live.
Femme: I really love that market. REALLY. God, they are so hot.
Noe: We need to go back there. I’m still waiting for supermarket!Harry to join them.
4) What's the first thing you do when an idea comes to you?
Femme: Usually tell Noe.
Noe: Tell Femme.
5) Do you have to be in the zone to write or is it more about consistency and discipline?
Noe: Oh god. Bad question at the moment. We’re SO slacking.
Femme: You know, I think it depends. If I’ve got a deadline looming, it becomes more about having to be disciplined. It’s not a question of whether I’m in the zone then; it’s a question of OMG, MUST FINISH.
Noe: Glue. As in, glue ass to chair. Also shame. Deadlines do help. As does panic.
Femme: Panic is a great motivator for this household.
Noe: There is no zone, there is only wordcount.
Femme: It becomes very zen. In a breathing-into-a-paper-bag way. Really, though, I hear people talking about needing to be in the zone to write, and I honestly wonder how that’s possible. If I waited to find the zone to write, I would...well...never write. Because I am intrinsically lazy and avoid the zone whenever possible.
Noe: We were in the zone for some of them. I have seen it happen. But it’s like anything, some are easier to write and some are harder.
Femme: Okay, yes, getting in the zone once you’re writing can be great, and happens naturally on some fics. But waiting to get in the zone, at least for me, is impossible at the beginning, because the only way I can get into the zone is to just get off my butt and write.
6) How many fics do you typically work on at a time?
Noe: We pretend we can work on several. And we do talk about a lot of plots before we write them. But honestly? One at a time.
Femme: Yeah. I like to tell myself I can work on two or three at one time, and I do have a couple of unfinished fics that I occasionally poke at while I'm writing something else. But to really write, I have to focus on just one. Like Noe mentioned, though, we might be writing a fic (either separately or together) but we’ll also be plotting and talking about several others at the same time. Our list of potential fics we’d like to tackle at some point is ridiculously long. And always growing.
7) How do you like to work? Quiet? Music? Where?
Femme: This is where we are COMPLETELY different. I can’t really listen to music when I’m writing unless it’s Bach or ambient music like rain or the ocean. (Bach is awesomecakes for getting me in a focused mindset.)
Noe: And I love music. I like listening to Gregorian chant for non-HP writing. But for stories, I often have one theme song that I listen to over and over while writing. For Voices From the Fog, it was Placebo’s cover of Running Up That Hill, for example.
Femme: And I have soundtracks I’ll make for fics that I listen to during my commute or in non-writing moments, ones that will help me focus on the story and the emotional response I want to create in the story. But I can’t listen to them when I write. I find music with lyrics too distracting--I end up singing along.
Noe: The soundtrack from We Are Young is so awesome. That was so much fun.
Femme: I love that soundtrack. Loads. \0/ Oh, and also, I prefer to write alone and in private, whereas Noe can write in public without an issue. She’s honestly the only person I’ve been able to write in the same room with, which probably is what makes us good as collaborators.
Noe: I have written sex scenes in cafes. It’s a little embarrassing. But I like being in public sometimes. It helps me focus.
Femme: Whereas for me it’s a horrible distraction. Even when I write in the library at school, I have to hide in a corner where I can’t see/hear anyone.
8) Do you have a writing schedule or routine? Everyday? Certain time of day? Certain number of words? Number of minutes?
Noe: In my dreams, I write every day. It waxes and wanes with the fest season right now. I’m trying to change that.
Femme: I always want to write every day, but I find it difficult. Especially now that I’m back in grad school--there’s so much other reading and writing I have to do that it’s hard to find the time to smoosh fandom writing into my schedule. Right now I’m trying to find a happy medium so that I can slide into a writing routine. I think it would make me happier and cut down on my panic when deadlines start coming up.
Noe: I think writing every day is the easiest way. It’s like what Jon Kabatt-Zinn says about yoga, that the hardest way to practice is once a week. I feel much better when I’m writing regularly.
Femme: Yeah, me too. I think this is the one thing I struggle with the most with writing, is making time for myself to do it.
Noe: So why the fuck aren’t we writing? *grins* Seriously, though, it is about making space for it and taking yourself seriously.
Femme: Word. And I think it’s really easy when it comes to fannish writing to not take it seriously. I know for a long time I didn’t--it was just a hobby, I’d say. And now I’m starting to see it differently. It’s not just a hobby. It’s me. I’m a writer. And I do need to take that part of myself seriously.
Noe: Yes. It’s really important to claim it. For all of us. We are writers. It’s what we do and who we are. Any attempt to circumvent that or subjugate it or belittle it is going to be counterproductive.
9) What are your writing habits?
Noe: Poor. But improving!
Femme: LOL. My writing habits generally revolve around throwing one or another of our three kittens off me while cursing maniacally at them. In fact, this picture is usually what happens when I sit down to write.
Noe: Temptation, thy name is kitten. And they are so bad at getting us to take naps instead of work.
Femme: Little bastards. *yawns*
10) Do you force yourself to write even when you don't want to?
Femme: All. The. Time. I almost never want to write.
Noe: Writing is like torture. Necessary torture. The words in your head never match up with the words on the page. It’s constant pain in some ways.
Femme: And then you hit a certain point in the writing process when it all just kind of clicks. And you look back at the beginning when you had to shove yourself towards Word and force yourself to sit down and eke out 400 words and you realize that it’s worth it, being able to tell this story that’s unwinding in your head.
Noe: And when you read your story after a couple months, or years, of distance, it’s often a surprise how good it really is. Like, who wrote that?
11) Do you keep a handwritten journal?
Noe: Yes, sometimes. I love handwriting.
Femme: Every couple of years I go through a phase where I think "I Must Journal! I MUST JOURNAL ALL THE THINGS." And I manage to do it for two weeks and then get bored. My attention span, she is short.
Noe: We’ve been talking about doing Julia Cameron’s morning pages again.
Femme: I’d like to do morning pages. It’s just once again a matter of getting up and putting my butt in the chair and writing. Instead of, you know, going to hulu.com instead to catch up on Grimm. *looks shifty*
Noe: It does amazing things to your brain, to drain some of the excess thought out into words.
Femme: So my therapist tells me.
12) Do you plan or outline your stories in any way? Can you describe your process?
Femme: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAH.
Noe: Yes. Yes. Yes. And yes again. I am ANAL about plotting and structure.
Femme: And I...am not so much.
Noe: And my, that has been fruitful for collaboration :D
Femme: It’s great, really. Noe’s taught me SO much about plotting and structure, both in collaboration and when doing my own fics, since she’s my alpha and beta. She’s got this amazing way of seeing exactly what needs to be shored up in a plot and what you can whittle away.
Noe: Whereas you’ve taught me SO much about narrative and what a scene needs to be set and to be finished. Re: plot, I love thinking about the bones of a story and what it needs. Writing through a story idea without a plan often leads to doubling and trebling of ideas or features and makes it MUCH harder to cut out material that doesn’t work.
Femme: Which I’m notorious for having done before I met you. LOL. Honestly, I think the best way to describe our process is to look at what we did for We Are Young, which Noe seriously helped me structure and plan out. What I started with was coming up with the characters. I had an entire notebook with pages for each character, and with photographs of what I thought they looked like and descriptions of their jobs and their relationships and bits of backstory for each character, whether major or minor, that I knew I wanted to weave into the plot. So at the beginning of the plotting phase, I had the characters, and this idea for a fic that revolved around Harry and Draco as co-workers and friends with benefits.
Noe: And you’d thought it was going to be Auror fic, but you weren’t certain you wanted that. And then we asked, what else could you do to set a story with an ensemble. And politics lay close at hand because Femme is a political junkie. Trufax.
Femme: This is true. Aurors seemed to be the first choice for their jobs, and then everything shifted when, during a drive down Route 2 in Boston, Noe mentioned to me the idea of putting them in a political setting.
Noe: And Blaise as Malcom Tucker was born.
Femme: I believe I shouted that out as we went around a curve...
Noe: There should be a fucking shrine at that spot right before the interchange with 95.
Femme: Blaise-as-Malcolm-fucking-Tucker is now my headcanon.
Noe: He is. :)
Femme: So, yeah, that little idea made me go back to my character pages and reassess them. I made some major shifts in jobs and in backstories for the main characters, while leaving a good chunk of the minor characters relatively untouched.
Noe: And then we worked our ASSES off to cobble the scenes together, to weave in the song parts that taradiane had mentioned, to set up the kiss at the engagement party which was even older than the political setting as a motivation.
Femme: That kiss was the first scene I ever envisioned, the moment after I got the assignment. taradiane’s suggestion of Adele’s Someone Like You brought out the whole idea of Harry kissing Draco at his own engagement party. Except I’m pretty sure the first concept of that scene had a lot more rain and a lot more dirty alley and was highly influenced by the kiss at the end of Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Noe: I think we went through five increasingly more detailed outlines, and I mean some full day outlining at points, to get to the working outline from which the fic was written. We ended up with a good twenty pages of outline sketched out. It’s like storyboarding for a film.
Femme: That’s the best description I can think of it. You just build on each outline, letting it sit for a little bit and percolate, and then going back and adding to it or deleting things that aren’t going to work, that aren’t visual enough. Massaging it into shape so to speak until you get something that’s a good skeleton.
Noe: And you always add and subtract and edit down, but at least you have a full skeleton to hang the meat of the story off of. Wait, you just said skeleton too.
Femme: LOL. Brain.
Noe: Srsly.
Femme: Anyway, once the outline’s ready, you sit down and you fucking write it. In my case, with this fic, Noe spent a lot of time in the googledocs with me, sitting at the kitchen table, watching me write and talking about where each scene was going. Having her there to help me work through rough spots was invaluable. Honestly, the best advice I could give someone is to have a person who you can trust to tell you the honest truth read along with you. I think having a fantastic alpha is even better than having an amazing beta.
Noe: Having someone there keeps writing from being too lonely. Even online chatting while writing to check in occasionally. It’s really important to have another voice sometimes.
Femme: It really is. It keeps you going, and it helps you when you hit one of those moments where you’ve written yourself into a corner and you have NO idea how you’re going to get from this point to the next point in your outline.
Noe: It also keeps you from trashing good material because you can’t see the damn fic any longer.
Femme: So. Damn. True.
13) What motivates you to keep writing?
Noe: See above, the companionship and conversation parts. But also fandom and my own fannishness. And I don’t know what else I should do with the ideas in my head :)
Femme: Pretty much the same for me. I have to get the ideas out somehow, and writing seems the best way to do it.
14) How do you stay excited about your writing?
Femme: What is this thing you call excited?
Noe: I trick myself into thinking I’m just sitting down for a little bit. I get excited about ideas, the writing part is crafting words and bitching a lot.
Femme: I don’t think it’s possible to stay excited about writing. The ideas, yes. Those are exciting and beloved. But writing is hard work, yo. And I don’t know anyone who likes hard work that much. Especially during the moments--and we ALL have them--when we think that what we’re writing is absolute dreck and why the hell are we even trying? I think at those times it’s less focusing on the excitement of it all and just doing it because at some point you liked this story idea. And eventually you’ll get to the place where you like it again. You just have to shoulder through.
15) How do you stay focused while working on longer fics?
Noe: Outline. If you know what you have to finish, even if it’s daunting, you just do it scene by scene.
Femme: I have never had this problem.
Noe: You are an alien. A very expressive alien :)
Femme: AHAHA. I just...I don’t know. Long fics are my lifeblood.
Noe: But you’ve worked really hard at your narrative skills. I think that’s important to note. And your mother is a published author, so you know what hard work writing can be.
Femme: This is true. I grew up a writer’s kid, so there really wasn’t much glamorized about writing for me; when you’ve watched your mother sweat over a novel, you kind of know that the only way to get through it is just to write the damn thing.
16) Do you find deadlines stressful or helpful?
Noe: Both.
Femme: Yeah. Deadlines are good for me to get my butt in gear for writing--although I don’t think there’s a single one I’ve ever actually managed to meet in fandom in the past ten years--but they’re also really anxiety-making for me.
Noe: *makes whooshing noises*
Femme: Thank you, Douglas Adams. Also, you do know where the word deadline comes from, right? There’s a line in prison that if you cross you’ll get shot. It’s called the deadline. Trufax.
Noe: And then there’s this line called "the last day of posting." :D
Femme: I’m REALLY good at meeting that one.
17) What is your biggest challenge in writing and how do you overcome it?
Femme: Turning things in on time, evidently.
Noe: Motivating myself to believe in my voice and what I have to say. Sometimes to believe I’m actually a writer. Also, giving myself enough space to write things out well. I’m too terse. I may be great with outlining and structure, but I’m stingy with detail and narrative. I’ve had to learn a lot about being generous within the scene.
Femme: You’ve gotten a lot better at unpacking things.
Noe: Thanks to you :)
Femme: And my constant beta comments for you to fucking open up the damn scene and put some fucking dialogue in, for God’s sake.
Noe: Yes, that was truly inspirational. And educational. I didn’t know some of those words.
Femme: You’re fucking welcome. And seriously, as far as my biggest challenge, it’s been to take myself seriously as a writer and to learn to see what I do as meaningful. I have so many things I still want to learn in regard to this craft, and I think the only way to truly move forward as a creative artist is to give yourself permission to grow, to just write without judging yourself or your work against anyone else. And that last bit is ridiculously hard to do, but I think we really have to get to the point where we can shut out that inner critic as much as possible. I hear her whispering in my ear every time I sit down at the keyboard, pointing out all my flaws as a writer, and I have to make a conscious choice to tune that voice out or I'll get trapped in that moment of self-doubt.
18) Do you have a system for organizing your story ideas and notes?
Noe: Googledocs. And colored folders. Although I’m always finding story notes in the weirdest places. But do write everything down.
Femme: I have a folder nesting system in googledocs that contains story notes and WIPs. I also like to use Scrivener for planning sometimes, although really, sharing in googledocs is easier since I move between two computers a lot.
Noe: I wish there were really good, non-trademarked sharing software. Microsoft Sharepoint is ugly and only available in business applications, but it is useful for collaborative versions.
Femme: Yeah, we’re constantly in search of innovative ways to collaborate since even when we’re not actually writing together, we’re still so intertwined in each other’s planning and creative processes that we need those types of tools.
19) Do you write in a linear form, from beginning to end, or do you jump around as the muse strikes?
Noe: Usually linear, although sometimes I’ll skip a section and go back.
Femme: I almost always write linearly. If I’m close to a deadline and I’m stuck on a scene, I might leave notes in it and go back, but I prefer linear writing.
20) Do you have your story planned from start to finish or do you just start writing and let the rest work itself out?
Noe: You can over-outline. I think.
Femme: Seriously. I like having a plan, a good structural outline, but a lot of times I’ll go off-script and find that my outline and story are actually better for it
Noe: Innovation and spontaneity are very important. Sometimes you do have to go with it. And some stories want to come out a certain way no matter what you want.
Femme: Outlines are great for getting you started. But don’t be afraid to use them as a guide and let your story go the way it needs to go.
Noe: They’re a tool for keeping your ideas straight, not a hard-and-fast commitment to a certain progression.
Femme: And I also find that outlines work better for me with longer stories. If I’m writing something that’s under 10K, I almost never outline more than maybe a quick sketch--for me, those shorter stories tend to be more organic.
21) What are your tips to overcoming writer's block/slump?
Noe: I’m taking suggestions here! *grins* Lessee. A good picture of Tom Felton pumping gas. Having Femme find something amazing on television, like Warehouse 13. Pictures are great for setting a mood if you don’t have ideas. I love google image search and Femme has a real genius for finding pictures to cast characters in a fic. There’s a Burberry ad that we’re probably going to write an RPG or long serialized fic off of.
Femme: Don’t fight writer’s block. The more you fight it, the worse it gets. Take some time off for yourself. Watch a movie or two, indulge in some TV, read a book, play in another fandom. Let your story sit in the back of your head. Think about it, but don’t fret about it. Do something you enjoy and that makes you happy and relaxed/rested. The thing about writer’s block is that it’s usually coming from a place inside of you that needs to be taken care of. Something’s off, you know? You have to honor that part of your psyche and not berate it. Give yourself some space and some self-care; the words will start to find their way back.
22) What do you do if you lose interest in a fic? Especially if you are writing for a deadline?
Noe: Suck it up and finish.
Femme: Pretty damn much.
23) What sources or websites do you find helpful for writing tips and information?
Noe: Femme is the master researcher. Seriously. The interwebs are her playground.
Femme: You can find anything on the Internet. ANYTHING. Blogs are a great source of writing tips, particularly ones from agents. Although, I have to say about writing tips, it’s better for you to just write than to take other people’s advice about writing. There are NO hard-and-fast rules on writing. Some writing courses want to tell you that there are, but writing is such a stylistic endeavor. You need to find your own style and learn to break the rules in your own way. Keep that in mind when you’re reading writing advice online.
Noe: I like Longman English Dictionary for usage, although it only goes so far. And Google streetview is amazing. Also the HP Lexicon and the HP Wiki can be very helpful, although I feel like I live with an HP lexicon :)
Femme: Pffft. HP Wiki is my go-to place for all things Potter. The Perseus Latin Lexicon is great for HP spells. And Latin homework. Also, I have a list of potion and herbology links on my journal I put up yonks ago. Some are out of date, but most are still a great resource. And I cannot live without Thesaurus.com. I agree about streetview--you can really get a sense of place with that, especially if you’re writing in London. Flickr’s a GREAT resource for pics of people and places--you can sort through everyone’s vacation photos, which if you’re like me and have a slight voyeuristic streak is awesome.
Noe: I think all good writers are voyeurs.
Femme: It helps to observe human nature. :)
24) Do you share your writing process along the way with a support group of friends, betas or cheerleaders?
Femme: Sure. I think support of all sorts helps immensely--writing’s such a solitary process in so many ways--even if you’re writing with someone else--and having people you can talk to about your writing really keeps you grounded in community instead of getting too isolated.
Noe: Yes. Although it’s good to have a bit of a private think, too, and then come back to your support team with the product. But I like working collaboratively best, even if I’m writing my own material. And it’s not just Femme and me - we’ve gotten loads of beta help from supergrover24, sassy_cissa, goseaward, bethbethbeth, absynthedrinker, nursedarry, delphipsmith, wemyss, cursive and encouragement and suggestions from countless friends. Community is really important.
25) Have you ever co-written a story with someone?
Femme: *looks at Noe*
Noe: *looks at Femme*
Together, in chorus: Yes. Although sometimes I wanted to kill her.
26) What's it like to co-write?
Femme: Amazing. Wonderful. Inspiring. Frustrating as hell.
Noe: Maddening. And utterly brilliant. Twice the bitching about writer’s block and twice the gloating over good scenes.
27) How does your process differ when co-writing?
Noe: We do specialize. We’ll each take a character to voice, often, even when the other is writing dialogue, or we’ll split up different types of scenes depending on strengths and inspiration. Also we each edit the other so it sounds more like one voice.
Femme: We work together so much when we’re writing separately that co-writing doesn’t feel too terribly different, even though it is in many ways. I think when we’re co-writing, we do a lot more talking through of the scenes together as we write--you have to communicate constantly when you’re co-writing so that you’re both on the same page. And you have to be okay with arguing with each other over various points, because, trust me, you will. Learning how to compromise and not hold on to those arguments is absolutely key to collaborating.
Noe: You have to get comfortable with things that sound like you plural but perhaps not you singular.
Femme: Right; that's where the compromising comes into play. Collaboration requires both of you to be involved with the decision-making process; while there may be moments or scenes in which one or the other of you take the lead in writing, you have to be willing to listen to what your co-writer has in his or her head as well, and come to an understanding of what the scene will look like or what the characters will sound like that rings true for both of you.
28) How do you split the workload? Who does what?
Noe:Femme starts and finishes scenes. She’s amazing at getting things moving across the page.
Femme: Noe does most of the outlining based on our talking through story ideas. She’s fantastic at sequencing scenes and deciding what should happen when or why, although there are times during the writing process that I insist we add another scene because what we’ve written requires us to unpack the outline a little more.
Noe: We both love coming up with details for characters or scenes and building them out together with pictures, snippets of information, etc. So one googles while the other writes and chips in something.
Femme: I tend to keep an eye on the emotional levels of the scenes.
Noe: You are the angst maven.
Femme: LOL. I am. I like the human sides of the story; the parts that are most important to me are the bits that highlight the human condition.
Noe: I like gardens, botanical names, healing, languages, architecture, and imaginary wizarding history. I also like weird magical details.
Femme: You are awesome at coming up with potion ingredients and spell names. Which I completely suck at. If there’s a cool potion or spell in one of my fics, I can guarantee Noe came up with it.
Noe: And if there’s an amazing gesture that encapsulates a character’s emotion or motivation in a scene, it’s Femme’s.
Femme: Hah! We work well together, really, which is a boon for collaboration.
29) Is one person's style more prevalent, or does it depend on the character, plot etc?
Femme: Our styles mesh really well. There are some places where you can probably read each of our styles more easily if you know us, but for the most part so much of what we do even individually involves the other, that I think when we write together it weaves together near seamlessly.
Noe: And we’ve evolved together.
30) How have you evolved as a writer over time?
Femme: I think I’ve become more focused on examining the intricacies of human interactions, rather than just playing with HP characters. I want to make them more three-dimensional and look at how they change as they age, what they could be like ten to twenty to thirty years after the end of canon. And I think I’ve developed a better sense of narrative--of what’s important to say in the story and of what can be left out or implied. What’s important for me is telling these stories about people, not just about plot.
Noe: I’ve become more serious about the writing process but also more willing to take risks and write beyond my comfort zone or write unexpected things. It’s more serious play now and it’s increasingly important for me to see it as a sustained, imaginative game with real outcomes. emmagrant01 and I are going to do a panel on writing sex in fanfic at Ascendio in a couple of weeks. I can't even imagine having done that a few years ago, but I've grown comfortable in my (cyber?)skin as an erotic writer, and claiming that space for myself.
31) What is your favorite fic you've written and why is it your favorite?
Noe: I think for collaboration outright, it has to be The Silent World Within You.
Femme: Definitely that one for collaboration. I think it’s an interesting look at the possibility of mpreg, and I really like the Harry and Draco dynamic in it. Also the epilogue makes me ridiculously happy. And my second favorite collaboration would be our entry for this year's harrydracompreg fest, Pocket Full Of Starlight. I've always wanted to write an H/D version of the Parent Trap, and we had so much fun writing the kids.
Noe: Since this is H/D Writers, I can’t say that Exegesis is my favorite fic of Femme’s. But I do love that one. I really, really love Black Coffee and Magpies of hers. And the Camden music fic I’ve been PROMISED.
Femme: I’m writing it! I’m writing it! I really love your fic from hd_hols two years ago, Conquering the Dark. I love Healer!Harry in it.
Noe: Weirdly, my favorite H/D fic of mine is probably my first long one, Voices from the Fog. I think it’s very raw but also lyrical. And I love that Harry and that Draco in Amsterdam.
Femme: I adore that fic too. I’m torn between two of my fics. I love We Are Young because it combines so much of my favourite parts of London and my fascination with British politics. And writing it was both excruciating and exhilarating and left me so drained and wrung out that it’s taken me a while to get back into writing. But I was really happy with how it turned out.
Noe: I’m most proud of remixing Femme’s story, The Year’s That Walk Between in The Lost Heart for hd_remix without Femme twigging. Or killing me for my version :)
Femme: Are you kidding? I love that version. Harry’s POV needed to be told. *nodsnods*
Noe: I sweated buckets. BUCKETS, I tell you.
Femme: Right now we’re working on a new collaboration, a fantasy AU Harry/Draco drawn from Welsh legend and Anglo-Saxon history for gossymer. We’re absolutely loving living in this world, and I have a suspicion it’ll end up being our New Favorite when it’s (finally) posted.
Noe: I think our favorite fic is always the one we haven’t finished writing yet :)
Femme: Well, it’s always the most interesting...
I hope you were inspired by femmequixotic and noeon! If you have additional questions, feel free to ask them in the comments!
Thank you again, ladies for taking the time to share with us! <3