There’s no need to apologize. I didn’t see you around and I understood you had your reasons, after I’d told you I had chosen my prompts and I was scared, trying to do this for the first time ever, and you’d said you’d be curious to read in the community even though you wouldn’t take part as a writer this time. I admit I felt a bit sad that when I actually managed to do this it seemed to be too late for sharing anything about this experience with you.
I’m so glad if this leads you to enjoy at least reading some more R/S again. You’d still have a lot to offer as a sensitive reader, even in case you don’t want to write in (this) fandom any longer.
What an insightful comment! It’s startling to realise that I am using Remus – when I’ve pretended to take the reader to his genuine perspective – to be him. How can I convincingly tell a story he doesn’t want to tell? I succeed in what I want to do, because I don’t even want to reach any conventional narrative of how Remus’s parents died. (I’m not interested in that now, as I’ve already done that in the post-OotP story – several years ago!)
I originally wanted to just show some interaction between Remus and Sirius around Christmas 1979 (yes, 1979 because in my version there were no Order missions in the previous year yet – and because I first intended to respond to the owl prompt by making Sirius discuss something important with a family member, so I needed all readers to accept that Regulus would still be alive), but I was also looking for a story to tell. And then I remembered that I had already established that my Remus’s parents died in that month, so the change in his life caused by this event became the story which had to be told – regardless of whether my (default) viewpoint character and I really wanted to tell that story. I hesitated, as I thought such a loss could be seen as unnecessary added tragedy and as not entertaining enough a topic for a seasonal gift. But I ended up enjoying the challenge of urging the story out from the depths of Remus’s transitional mind – and contrasting it with the thoughts of and interaction in a romantic relationship which could possibly solve at least something.
I take achingly realistic as great praise. I’m particularly happy that here the dreamlike is combined with this kind of realism, which is not only about the concrete details in the living conditions or something but in Remus’s approach to the relationship. I’d guess that my characters, too, would like to believe in love’s ability to solve everything. But perhaps in this situation Remus is disillusioned enough.
You make me only happier by pointing out that unconventional trait in my style of R/S stories. I have enough experience or at least suspicions that unique approaches can scare readers off. But this story turned out more popular than I ever dared hope, and I can still hope that someday I’ll reach the second page of comments here. Of course, increasing the number of comments by one wasn’t the only thing I had in mind when I kept hoping you’d still come to read this story. And you exceeded my expectations once again – and I ended up making another terribly long thank-you note. Well, thank you so much.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-04-20 10:35 pm (UTC)I’m so glad if this leads you to enjoy at least reading some more R/S again. You’d still have a lot to offer as a sensitive reader, even in case you don’t want to write in (this) fandom any longer.
What an insightful comment! It’s startling to realise that I am using Remus – when I’ve pretended to take the reader to his genuine perspective – to be him. How can I convincingly tell a story he doesn’t want to tell? I succeed in what I want to do, because I don’t even want to reach any conventional narrative of how Remus’s parents died. (I’m not interested in that now, as I’ve already done that in the post-OotP story – several years ago!)
I originally wanted to just show some interaction between Remus and Sirius around Christmas 1979 (yes, 1979 because in my version there were no Order missions in the previous year yet – and because I first intended to respond to the owl prompt by making Sirius discuss something important with a family member, so I needed all readers to accept that Regulus would still be alive), but I was also looking for a story to tell. And then I remembered that I had already established that my Remus’s parents died in that month, so the change in his life caused by this event became the story which had to be told – regardless of whether my (default) viewpoint character and I really wanted to tell that story. I hesitated, as I thought such a loss could be seen as unnecessary added tragedy and as not entertaining enough a topic for a seasonal gift. But I ended up enjoying the challenge of urging the story out from the depths of Remus’s transitional mind – and contrasting it with the thoughts of and interaction in a romantic relationship which could possibly solve at least something.
I take achingly realistic as great praise. I’m particularly happy that here the dreamlike is combined with this kind of realism, which is not only about the concrete details in the living conditions or something but in Remus’s approach to the relationship. I’d guess that my characters, too, would like to believe in love’s ability to solve everything. But perhaps in this situation Remus is disillusioned enough.
You make me only happier by pointing out that unconventional trait in my style of R/S stories. I have enough experience or at least suspicions that unique approaches can scare readers off. But this story turned out more popular than I ever dared hope, and I can still hope that someday I’ll reach the second page of comments here. Of course, increasing the number of comments by one wasn’t the only thing I had in mind when I kept hoping you’d still come to read this story. And you exceeded my expectations once again – and I ended up making another terribly long thank-you note. Well, thank you so much.