Bit of babbling about tLS
Aug. 21st, 2005 02:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
valis2Still working on chapter 70. I can't remember the three things that were supposed to happen; I can only remember one of them, which drives me crazy. I will re-read the last few chapters to see if I can figure out what I was supposed to be writing.
I have actually begun the Giant Revision Project. My goal is to have every chapter completely revised and uploaded before the final chapter of tLS is uploaded, so that I can then run around and do a little pimping and be confident that the readers who have been waiting for it to finish will have the best version in their hands. Many of the reviewers have acted as unwitting betas in this process; I'm going to address Hermione and Poppy characterization issues, as well as a canon detail or two that I was misinformed about at the time. I have about twenty chapters left to tLS, I think, so I have to get this done soon.
I have uploaded revised versions of chapters one through ten to ffnet and SH, which makes me totally happy. Fictionalley, of course, will take markedly longer, because I have to be so careful about cutting and pasting the 4296829 links, summaries, and author's notes that accompany each chapter. Plus you can only upload five per session. So I haven't even started there, but I will try to do that within the next day. The GRP is off to a good start.
Re-reading the first ten chapters has given me a good idea of why some people drop out after the first few chapters. It does have this feeling of Sueishness, this vague aura, something that, were I to rewrite it now, I would phrase differently. When I wrote it at the time I tried to get rid of anything that would point to Sueishness. I even waited to introduce her until chapter two, and didn't use all of chapter two to describe her. She is first seen through Severus's eyes, and then there is a short scene through her POV which was necessary for the plot. Now that I read the scene, I realize that I've made her look like a certain kind of angsty-Sue, though (in my eyes, could be wrong) that evaporates rather quickly. It's just the tone of the scene, which could make certain readers roll their eyes. Or maybe I'm being hypersensitive. And how the hell would I phrase that and not have people rolling their eyes more? "She seems kind of Suey in the first scene, but hang on, she's not a Sue?" Or maybe she is, according to some's definitions of Sues. Some are more sensitive to it than others.
All I know is, I worked pretty hard on her, and I'm sad that there are a few people who might enjoy it who might be put off by the beginning chapters.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aerynstales and I were having a conversation last night about our first efforts in writing long stories, and how you improve...I'm still happy with the first chapters, and still feel good about the writing itself, but knowing what I know now means that I'm a bit sad about the scene where she's introduced, and her first POV scene. I think I'd wait even longer to introduce her. Oh well. I'm not going to rewrite everything just for that; there is a point where the GRP could become the Pointless Waste of a Lot of Time. I'll just feel good that the rest of the story really works the way I want it to, and I feel like I'm writing a SS/OFC story that isn't a bodice-ripper or angst-fest or melodramatic pile of garbage. I would term it as a slow-burn romance for realists, a plotty, involving story that doesn't take shortcuts and presents the most realistic Snape I'm capable of presenting that could become part of a relationship. Actually, I wouldn't even term it as a "romance", more along the lines of a dramatic story with a romance, but that's quibbling, I suppose.
I have actually begun the Giant Revision Project. My goal is to have every chapter completely revised and uploaded before the final chapter of tLS is uploaded, so that I can then run around and do a little pimping and be confident that the readers who have been waiting for it to finish will have the best version in their hands. Many of the reviewers have acted as unwitting betas in this process; I'm going to address Hermione and Poppy characterization issues, as well as a canon detail or two that I was misinformed about at the time. I have about twenty chapters left to tLS, I think, so I have to get this done soon.
I have uploaded revised versions of chapters one through ten to ffnet and SH, which makes me totally happy. Fictionalley, of course, will take markedly longer, because I have to be so careful about cutting and pasting the 4296829 links, summaries, and author's notes that accompany each chapter. Plus you can only upload five per session. So I haven't even started there, but I will try to do that within the next day. The GRP is off to a good start.
Re-reading the first ten chapters has given me a good idea of why some people drop out after the first few chapters. It does have this feeling of Sueishness, this vague aura, something that, were I to rewrite it now, I would phrase differently. When I wrote it at the time I tried to get rid of anything that would point to Sueishness. I even waited to introduce her until chapter two, and didn't use all of chapter two to describe her. She is first seen through Severus's eyes, and then there is a short scene through her POV which was necessary for the plot. Now that I read the scene, I realize that I've made her look like a certain kind of angsty-Sue, though (in my eyes, could be wrong) that evaporates rather quickly. It's just the tone of the scene, which could make certain readers roll their eyes. Or maybe I'm being hypersensitive. And how the hell would I phrase that and not have people rolling their eyes more? "She seems kind of Suey in the first scene, but hang on, she's not a Sue?" Or maybe she is, according to some's definitions of Sues. Some are more sensitive to it than others.
All I know is, I worked pretty hard on her, and I'm sad that there are a few people who might enjoy it who might be put off by the beginning chapters.
aerynstales and I were having a conversation last night about our first efforts in writing long stories, and how you improve...I'm still happy with the first chapters, and still feel good about the writing itself, but knowing what I know now means that I'm a bit sad about the scene where she's introduced, and her first POV scene. I think I'd wait even longer to introduce her. Oh well. I'm not going to rewrite everything just for that; there is a point where the GRP could become the Pointless Waste of a Lot of Time. I'll just feel good that the rest of the story really works the way I want it to, and I feel like I'm writing a SS/OFC story that isn't a bodice-ripper or angst-fest or melodramatic pile of garbage. I would term it as a slow-burn romance for realists, a plotty, involving story that doesn't take shortcuts and presents the most realistic Snape I'm capable of presenting that could become part of a relationship. Actually, I wouldn't even term it as a "romance", more along the lines of a dramatic story with a romance, but that's quibbling, I suppose.![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2005-08-21 09:09 pm (UTC)I'm so glad you're reading the story, btw! Your reviews have been so lively and fun.