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lls_mutantAhhhh... silence. God, I love naptime! I have my chocolate covered caramels, my iPod, and a few hours (I hope) to myself. Yay!
So, yeah.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
rs_games did their reveal. Yay! We won, which is cool, but to be honest the scores were so close and the other team turned out such awesome stuff too that I have to admit I have a hard time getting too worked up over that. The Games turned out lots of good fic (much of which I've admittedly yet to read), so really, no one loses.
Anyway. I've been dying to rabbit on about He That Believeth In Me, and will do so under the cut. I'm not going to do a DVD style commentary because, y'know, 91 pages- it gets old. But I have a lot to say, and since it might be more than you want to read...
So, back in 2006 I wrote "Though I Speak With the Tongues of Men and Angels" (shortened for the rest of this discussion to Men and Angels, or if I'm really lazy, M&A), based on a conversation with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shaggydogstail about the idea of Sirius being an altar boy. In the comments, someone- I forget who- mentioned that it would be really interesting to know what happened if, after the Revelations section, Sirius hadn't been soured on religion and had followed God. Which got me thinking how interesting it would be to try to pull off Sirius as a wannabe priest. Sure, we know it's not canon... but nowhere does JKR say he DIDN'T want to be a priest, right? I mean, you could do it....
I always intended for this piece to be a.) shorter and b.) gen. The truth was that originally what I started with was the idea that the Order took up too much of Sirius's time, and he never went back to seminary. I also wasn't sure I wanted to deal with religion's take on homosexuality, which was why I wrote Men and Angels as gen. But then I saw the Taurus prompt for this round of the games and it just hit me that this was the chance... and it spiraled from there.
On the title: The title "He That Believeth In Me" hit me pretty early on. That tends to happen with my better stories- if a title hits me early, I know the plot pretty well. Granted, HTBIM was probably lurking in my subconscious because of the BSG episode of the same name, although I don't think I'd seen it yet. They certainly have very little, if anything, in common. But obviously I'm referencing the Biblical statement "He that believeth in me shall never die". I did consider changing it a couple of times- the other two candidates were "Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound" and "All That Wander Are Not Lost", but I'm glad I stuck with He That Believeth In Me, because Sirius's belief isn't the only part of the story- Remus's relationship with God became a subplot.
Compared to Men and Angels: One of the reasons I think it was so obvious this fic was mine was because of Men and Angels. Aside from the same approach to faith being present in both fics, some of the plot elements were suspiciously the same. The biggest one was the trip to Morocco. I have no idea why I keep coming up with Morocco, but I do. But there were a few other echoes: some of the things Sirius said in Azkaban were the same, the altar boy thing was mentioned, Sirius sharing his faith predominantly with Lily, a few lines about seeing Remus again... (plus there were other ideas I've played with, like the apple tree outside Sirius's window).
The two fics are so different though. At first, I thought Men and Angels was the stronger work, but when I re-read it, I'm not so sure. As I said, despite the similarities in theme and the similar conclusion, they're very different. Men and Angels is very much a character study of Sirius. He That Believeth is much more a story, with plot and everything. I actually think that He That Believeth is my current favorite of my fics- if I could pick one to make JKR read, this would probably be it, just because it IS so different from what she's got in her head (I assume).
On making Sirius Catholic: One of the other big differences is that in Men and Angels, Sirius is Anglican. In HTBIM, he's Catholic. I realize that Anglican is far, far more realistic given where Sirius lives. The main reason I wanted him Catholic was because of the celibacy issues, to be honest. That was really it. And because of the word "priest" in the summary. Like deep and meaningful reasons?
On Gabe: Ah, the OC. I really wish fandom in general didn't have such an antipathy against OCs, even though I completely understand it. Unless you're familiar with the author, it's often hard to tell if an OC is going to be worth reading, especially if they're cast in any sort of romantic role. But sometimes you need the suckers.
I'm not sure if Gabe is my favorite Harry Potter OC- he's awfully close, if he's not. I really liked Alex, and he got a fun twist that Gabe just couldn't get. And I adore Damien, but I wouldn't really like him in person. But Gabe- he was fun. One thing I really wish I saw more of in fiction in general is romantic relationships that end simply because the two parties weren't right for each other. (One of the things I really liked about Lee/Dee in BSG was that she finally broke and left him over Baltar's trial.) Gabe and Sirius might have had a good relationship if circumstances had been different, but it never would have lasted. Amusingly, Gabe was too much like James. But it wouldn't have broken off angry, either. It just wouldn't have worked long term.
On Remus: Remus the atheist. I don't think I need to go into a long discourse about how although I'm rather religious, I think there's a huge difference between faith and morality and one is not a prerequisite for the other. And it's funny, because normally I write Remus as vaguely believing in God, although he's generally not on good terms with Him. But I liked the idea of their faiths being very, very different.
There's more about Remus, and the ending, but I've decided I don't want to say it. I want to leave what I think ambiguous, because I want the reader to decide for themselves.
Anyway, naptime's over for the day, so I'll stop blabbing. I'll try to get to answering comments tomorrow, but to everyone who read and commented- thank you. I really appreciate it.
So, yeah.
rs_games did their reveal. Yay! We won, which is cool, but to be honest the scores were so close and the other team turned out such awesome stuff too that I have to admit I have a hard time getting too worked up over that. The Games turned out lots of good fic (much of which I've admittedly yet to read), so really, no one loses.Anyway. I've been dying to rabbit on about He That Believeth In Me, and will do so under the cut. I'm not going to do a DVD style commentary because, y'know, 91 pages- it gets old. But I have a lot to say, and since it might be more than you want to read...
So, back in 2006 I wrote "Though I Speak With the Tongues of Men and Angels" (shortened for the rest of this discussion to Men and Angels, or if I'm really lazy, M&A), based on a conversation with
shaggydogstail about the idea of Sirius being an altar boy. In the comments, someone- I forget who- mentioned that it would be really interesting to know what happened if, after the Revelations section, Sirius hadn't been soured on religion and had followed God. Which got me thinking how interesting it would be to try to pull off Sirius as a wannabe priest. Sure, we know it's not canon... but nowhere does JKR say he DIDN'T want to be a priest, right? I mean, you could do it....I always intended for this piece to be a.) shorter and b.) gen. The truth was that originally what I started with was the idea that the Order took up too much of Sirius's time, and he never went back to seminary. I also wasn't sure I wanted to deal with religion's take on homosexuality, which was why I wrote Men and Angels as gen. But then I saw the Taurus prompt for this round of the games and it just hit me that this was the chance... and it spiraled from there.
On the title: The title "He That Believeth In Me" hit me pretty early on. That tends to happen with my better stories- if a title hits me early, I know the plot pretty well. Granted, HTBIM was probably lurking in my subconscious because of the BSG episode of the same name, although I don't think I'd seen it yet. They certainly have very little, if anything, in common. But obviously I'm referencing the Biblical statement "He that believeth in me shall never die". I did consider changing it a couple of times- the other two candidates were "Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound" and "All That Wander Are Not Lost", but I'm glad I stuck with He That Believeth In Me, because Sirius's belief isn't the only part of the story- Remus's relationship with God became a subplot.
Compared to Men and Angels: One of the reasons I think it was so obvious this fic was mine was because of Men and Angels. Aside from the same approach to faith being present in both fics, some of the plot elements were suspiciously the same. The biggest one was the trip to Morocco. I have no idea why I keep coming up with Morocco, but I do. But there were a few other echoes: some of the things Sirius said in Azkaban were the same, the altar boy thing was mentioned, Sirius sharing his faith predominantly with Lily, a few lines about seeing Remus again... (plus there were other ideas I've played with, like the apple tree outside Sirius's window).
The two fics are so different though. At first, I thought Men and Angels was the stronger work, but when I re-read it, I'm not so sure. As I said, despite the similarities in theme and the similar conclusion, they're very different. Men and Angels is very much a character study of Sirius. He That Believeth is much more a story, with plot and everything. I actually think that He That Believeth is my current favorite of my fics- if I could pick one to make JKR read, this would probably be it, just because it IS so different from what she's got in her head (I assume).
On making Sirius Catholic: One of the other big differences is that in Men and Angels, Sirius is Anglican. In HTBIM, he's Catholic. I realize that Anglican is far, far more realistic given where Sirius lives. The main reason I wanted him Catholic was because of the celibacy issues, to be honest. That was really it. And because of the word "priest" in the summary. Like deep and meaningful reasons?
On Gabe: Ah, the OC. I really wish fandom in general didn't have such an antipathy against OCs, even though I completely understand it. Unless you're familiar with the author, it's often hard to tell if an OC is going to be worth reading, especially if they're cast in any sort of romantic role. But sometimes you need the suckers.
I'm not sure if Gabe is my favorite Harry Potter OC- he's awfully close, if he's not. I really liked Alex, and he got a fun twist that Gabe just couldn't get. And I adore Damien, but I wouldn't really like him in person. But Gabe- he was fun. One thing I really wish I saw more of in fiction in general is romantic relationships that end simply because the two parties weren't right for each other. (One of the things I really liked about Lee/Dee in BSG was that she finally broke and left him over Baltar's trial.) Gabe and Sirius might have had a good relationship if circumstances had been different, but it never would have lasted. Amusingly, Gabe was too much like James. But it wouldn't have broken off angry, either. It just wouldn't have worked long term.
On Remus: Remus the atheist. I don't think I need to go into a long discourse about how although I'm rather religious, I think there's a huge difference between faith and morality and one is not a prerequisite for the other. And it's funny, because normally I write Remus as vaguely believing in God, although he's generally not on good terms with Him. But I liked the idea of their faiths being very, very different.
There's more about Remus, and the ending, but I've decided I don't want to say it. I want to leave what I think ambiguous, because I want the reader to decide for themselves.
Anyway, naptime's over for the day, so I'll stop blabbing. I'll try to get to answering comments tomorrow, but to everyone who read and commented- thank you. I really appreciate it.
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no subject
Date: 2008-09-03 09:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-04 07:26 am (UTC)Honestly? I think you are one of the few fanfic authors out there that JKR would be proud of/touched by if made to read your work. Really. :)
no subject
Date: 2008-09-06 04:14 pm (UTC)Which is funny because I hadnt read your work before the rs_games. But after The Line in the Sand it was soooo obvious.
Then I read half of your works and the AUs touched me very deeply. Your dialogs are just perfect.
Wish I could write as good as you:)
Sorry for my English. And yeah, its true, JKR would love you!
no subject
Date: 2008-09-12 03:19 pm (UTC)Saying that though, if I am to be utterly critical, I often find that when you write the characters JKR has stayed on longer, they feel slightly out of character to me, such as Peter Pettigrew in general and Greyback in AIL. But that is by no means a bad thing: it works very well within your stories (and in the case of Peter Pettigrew, better than I can imagine the canon backstory working!) and it just means that you are at your best when you are playing with your own original characters!
I do have to agree with everyone else here: you are one of the fanfiction writers whose writing I would most love to hear JKR's reaction of; you have moulded and fleshed out this part of the hp universe, not only in text, but also in my own mind and imaginings of canon, so thank you so very much for that.
As for He That Believeth In Me, I read your post about it obviously being yours, went to the rs_games masterlist to find it and I knew it immediately by the title, Lol! Good thing too or who knows, I might not have found it! I really enjoyed reading the story itself and also this dvd commentary. However, this comment seems to have just become a rant on your writing in general, so I do apologise!