[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Fanfic Ideas and the Creative Process... (was Quidditch!Ron)

[Ebony Elizabeth Thomas]

Hi, everyone!

Thanks for the responses on this topic... it's one that is *really* close to 
my heart, even more so than shipping and the HP fanfic world (j/k).

Ever see Mr. Holland's Opus?  That just may end up being my boggart... you 
find so *many* Mr. Hollands here... people who once upon a time had dreams 
of their own, and either by choice or by circumstance left them to collect 
dust on life's shelf in order to  teach generations how to dream for 
themselves.  You see something of this on the faces of veteran 
teachers--imagine spending your entire adult life building houses for 
others, and in the end, not having one of your own.

Ender wrote:
"As far as original work goes, I've been working on two screenplays.  One is 
nearly finished and the other is in the beginning stages.  Outside of that, 
most of my original writing is usually done only for the benefit of my 
students."

Teachers like you, Ender, deserve shiny platinum medals and a six-figure 
salary... I know that I am not called to work with children who have special 
needs in an educational setting.  Informally I can (all of my aunt's four 
children are autistic--I babysit for her and her husband), but I don't think 
I'd be able to do it in the classroom.

Good luck on your screenplays, BTW!  I took a screenwriting class in college 
for my theatre minor, but dramatic writing makes me itch--the conventions 
are a bit different than for regular fiction.

Sam wrote:

"This can be both a blessing and a curse, though! I find
story ideas almost everywhere I look. Not just ideas for plots,
either - but ideas about the way characters interact with each other, the 
way things should look, etc. An interesting game (well,
interesting for me, anyway <g>) I play with myself during dull
lectures consists of me absent mindedly describing the lecture hall,
the lecturer, etc. Most of the time I don't even do it consciously -
it's halfway through the game I realise I'm doing it."

Exactly... in my experience, writer-types are daydreamers.  This is why 
people who get bored easily fascinate me... I can get impatient, but never 
bored... there's always an idea to think out... a plot that will not leave 
you alone... and then people and places and situations are just so darn 
*interesting*... some people just DEMAND their own stories, y'know?  Just 
change names to protect the innocent... ;-)

Sam, have you ever had what I call a "paper jones"?  This has happened to me 
several times... all of a sudden, you get what LMM fans know from the Emily 
novels as "the flash", and you *have* to write.  It's a craving equal to 
hunger, or thirst, or an actual biological need... and my problem is that 
while I *always* have a pen on me, I never... have... any... blank... paper. 
  I've written on envelopes, on credit cards, on theatre programs... once at 
the doctor's office it happened, there was no paper *anywhere* to be had, so 
I actually BOUGHT A DOUGHNUT just so I could get the paper bag... I gave the 
pastry to my little sister and carefully ripped the bag to maximize the 
writing surface.  I keep that bag on my computer desk just to remind myself 
that I am actually certifiable and it's only by the grace of God that I'm 
not in the nuthouse for Obsessive Wannabe Writers.  ;-)

Sam:
"I love the idea about the illustrated book about Hagrid
and Madam Maxime. Is there any illustrated HP fanfiction anyone knows 
about?"

Starling's illustrated Draco Dormiens and Draco Sinister for Cassie, along 
with other fanfics... but what I'm talking about is actual, picture-book 
like stuff... like Maurice Sendak or Ezra Jack Keats.  HP fanfic for our 
littlest readers... the story I had in mind would feature Hagrid, the 
Hogwarts gamekeeper and his journey to the Land of the Giants.  "He came 
from a land where he was very big, and everyone else was very small.  Now he 
was in a land where everyone was very big, and *he* was very small."  (Since 
he's half-giant.)

Parker wrote:
"I carry notebooks around with me everywhere.  If I see something that 
intrigues me, or get an idea, I write it down.  Right then and there. (those 
memo thingys would work the same way--please don't write and drive!) That 
way, I don't forget ideas. "

LOL about the writing and driving!  Your notebooks are a great idea!  Carole 
suggested this to me when I first thought about writing fanfiction but 
complained about a lack of time during the school year... so now I have a 
five-subject notebook and two stenos devoted to my HP AU alone (and also 
random other stuff I jot down--grocery lists, kids whose parents I need to 
call when I get home, etc.)

The problem with notebooks is people finding them.  Until last fall, I lived 
with other people my entire life, and never, ever (did I say *ever*?) even 
had my own bedroom.  And for some reason, the snooper in question, whether 
sister or cousin or freshman college roommate, ALWAYS found the scenes I 
wanted no one to read!

But I must say that the near-total lack of privacy I had growing up helped 
me as a writer--it was due to my mother's and my aunt's EXTENSIVE snooping 
that I learned I wasn't as horrible of a writer as I thought.

Scott wrote:
"My English teacher and I would debate this, and usually I
would win, characterisation *is* harder than supporting a thesis IMO."

Oh, heck yeah.  I used to debate with my college professors--I thought then, 
and still think that the large majority of lit crit is crap--and I'm a grad 
student in English *learning* crit!

The reason why Creative Writing isn't taught extensively IMO is because 1) 
the creative process as art is not understood, 2) most of us in English 
education don't bother to read research, and 3) quite frankly, most English 
teachers are *not* creative writers themselves and have no interest... which 
is why I was able to pick up the course as a rookie teacher... as a 
colleague said, "It's one thing to read good poetry, but it's quite another 
to read *bad* poetry by a student who's just doing it for a grade."  I quite 
disagree, but to each his/her own, I guess.

As for the rest of your post, Scott, I can truly relate.  Here's a quote 
from Madame Bovary to keep close to your heart always--"No one can ever 
express the exact measure of his needs, his conceptions, or his sorrows, and 
human speech is like a cracked pot on which we beat out rhythms for bears to 
dance to when we are striving to make music that will wring tears from the 
stars."  We writers' task is to go beyond the veil, then describe what we 
see.  Imagine Shakespeare speaking through Macbeth, trying to express the 
utter brevity of life in the Great Scheme of Things.  Imagine the apostle 
John, trying to describe exactly *what* he saw in his Revelation.  (A few 
years ago I muttered to my best friend in Sunday School, "If this book 
doesn't have ENOUGH 'like untos'... WHAT did the man SEE?"  My best friend, 
also an English major and crazier than I am:  "Yeah, it's not like John had 
a thesaurus..."  :::severe, you-are-being-sacrilegious! look from the 
teacher:::  :::Eb and Shani shut up:::)

Back to the topic.  Scott, your post was just great... and if you wish to 
ramble more, e-mail me.  ;-)

Amber wrote:
"My journey has been a very lonely, bumpy road. Right now I'm writing more 
than I have ever in my life because I'm out of school. It's great, but I 
would trade one of my toes at the very least for a Real Life Writing Group 
to be a part of. Feedback is the most precious and helpful thing to any 
writer and live useful feedback is doubly precious."

Well, yes... and they serve two important functions:  1) they encourage you 
to keep writing--you're not in this alone and 2) you get some sort of 
feedback on your work.  The encouragement is a good thing, but all feedback 
is not created equal.... in my experience, most writer's collectives and the 
like tend towards one extreme or the other... either too much praise or too 
much harsh criticism.  Neither is good.

In college, with my best friend's help I started a writer's collective.  It 
was quite successful--we had popular readings, coffeehouse events, and even 
published an anthology.  Since then, I've not found a group I'm comfortable 
in... I was working with another aspiring novelist about a year ago, but our 
styles didn't mesh.

Fanfic writing online is valuable practice.  But at the same time, I think 
writers would do well to remember that it is *not* their own writing--it's 
more like extended writing practice and feedback.  The danger is to pour so 
much creative time and energy into your fanfic that your original material 
gets neglected (yes, I'm preaching to myself right now--I finished a final 
edit of a MS late last fall and haven't touched it since I began writing 
TiP).

On the flip side, I've met some really great people online... and have 
gotten feedback on my original fiction from reader-editors whose opinion I 
respect.

Amber, you may want to combine the best of both worlds--there are a TON of 
writer's groups online.  It's just a matter of finding the right one for 
you.

Rosmerta wrote:
"I'm familiar with this program (mostly through reading Poets & Writers) and 
it's supposed to be fantastic."

Oh, good!  I was so afraid there was a catch somewhere--in education there 
usually is.  Glad to hear this.

"I've known since I was about 12 that I wanted to write
fiction, but now I'm not so sure. I *did* write an essay about not-
writing, and I got that published on Salon awhile ago. Is that what
they mean by "meta-fiction"--writing about not writing? <g>"

LOL!  We all have our dry season, Rosmerta--sometimes the fountain of ideas 
slows to a mere trickle.  And we all know that breaking writer's block is 
like resisting Imperius (that's the FIRST thing I thought of in the back of 
my mind while reading GoF!)...

Every single pro writer I've ever talked to says that despite being blocked 
or it being a great day to do anything else but stay cooped up in your 
house, you *must* make time to write on a daily basis.  I'm not a pro yet, 
but I'm not so sure I agree.  I'd be more inclined to suggest to students 
that engaging in some stage of the writing process everyday is 
valuable--drafting is only one step of several.

So even if this is your dry season, don't worry about it!  The tide of ideas 
will turn in your favor once again... if you really want it.

A final thought--if I could give one gift to writers, it would be the gift 
of perseverance.

--Ebony AKA AngieJ
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