Remix et al.

[lls_mutant]

YES! I can talk about it! (Actually, I can't. I'm writing this as I procrastinate on my presentation and saving it in Word, before Remixes are even due. But I'm done mine and I want to navel-gaze, so :P~~~~~~~~~).

Let's start with the assignment. I got nessa_owen, which was a little freaky to me. For the shackinup_sesa, I got someone I didn't really know. Which is fine. But, well, two things. One, I wasn't totally thrilled with the way my story came out for the shackinup_sesa, but I sent it in anyway because it sucks to have someone not come through on a challenge. (Note to self: are you ever going to finish aome's Lost Years story? If you're not going to finish this one, change the freaking plot.) And I'll cut myself a little slack on the Secret Santa, because it was right around when Toby was born. But more than that, when I know the person (or at least know their writing), it adds a little extra… motivation. And when I both like the person and respect their writing, as is the case with Nessa, I REALLY want to do a good job.

When I first got Nessa as an assignment, I laughed, because we have such similar takes on Remus and Sirius. I was also pleased, because in a sense, this was an easy assignment, partly because we have such similar takes. But more than that, it's the way Nessa writes.

Most of her stories are fairly short, yes. And the one I picked originally (Losses and Recoveries) may appear to be a PWP. But it's not. It's a sex story with a plot: the idea of Sirius and Remus finding a sexual balance after Azkaban. There are a lot of reasons I love this story, and one of the biggies is because it IS a story. There's a great dynamic between the two of them, and so much is said without words. (However, Nessa and I both have a tendency to perform psychology on our characters. This is another reason we were a great match, although it would have been interesting to me to remix for someone like ignipes, who's far more the opposite of me in that regard.) But the sex that is in the story is also grounded in the relationship- instead of this being an isolated incident, Nessa writes it as a point in time. There's a sense of both past and future, and a direct implication of so much more going on.

When I was rereading Nessa's works looking for my remix, I knew what I was going to do before I even finished. There was one paragraph that told me I was remixing Losses and Recoveries:

Sirius could fight with Molly, exchange insults with Snape, grudgingly follow Dumbledore’s orders, and hold himself together for Harry; he could do all those things and give everyone the impression that, while ever so slightly mad, he was still strong. But with Remus, he didn’t need to be strong. He didn’t need to be in control. He felt safe enough to allow his vulnerabilities to rise to the surface. Remus in control – that was what eased the tension from his mind and body. What on earth had Remus been thinking, wanting to deny him this one freedom?

To me, that began begging for expansion.

I sort of wanted to do something more "unique" with a remix- tell it backwards, change it up in a really creative way, something- but this choice really dictated one thing: tell it from Sirius's point of view. That was fine, because I prefer to write from Sirius's point of view, and besides, then I got to expand. (Thus the reason Nessa's 2-3 page fic ended up 22 pages under my treatment.) And from Sirius's point of view, you could do that. Why was Sirius so screwed up? What was he hiding? Nessa told us from Remus's point of view, and I made sure I included a lot of that in the story, but there was a lot of other stuff you could work with as well.

And that lot of other stuff gave me a headache.

I rarely write the OotP timeframe because I'm so entrenched in AiL. That's part of why, whenever I do a challenge, I tend to go for the OotP timeframe. I like it, I just rarely get a chance to write it. The problem?

I'm a fricking novel writer.

Seriously. It can and can't be a weakness, depending on how you look at it. It's not that I feel I have a lot of extra padding that should be cut in my stories, although I'm not saying that I'm a tight writer. There's stuff that could be cut out of almost all of them- except a few. My best stories are either very tight (Ten Galleons, Come Talk to Me) or novel-length, where I can play. When I hit a 20 page story… that tends to be a problem for me, because I like my subplots.

There were subplots in Wake Me Up Inside. There was something with the Siriuses, where Sirius was actually possibly imagining them. Or where they got far crueler. During that first scene at the beginning, when Remus comes in, that loud clanging sound was originally made by Tonks, and Tonks and Emmaline Vance were supposed to interact with Sirius, so you could see how Sirius was only truly comfortable around Remus. I wanted to have Molly around as well, but the focus was so intently on Sirius and Remus I was having a hard time bringing in other characters. Especially without making Molly look like a villain, because she would have been fighting with Sirius. (I probably would have had Sirius needle Molly into the fight, though.)

A lot of the subplots had to get cut though. Broke my heart a little, but I think it was for the best. The stupid thing was blooming so large anyway. I think I cut out as much as I kept in.

I am a little annoyed at my title. I mean, c'mon Liss. EVANESCENCE? That screams teeny-bopper. But it FIT. Pfftth.

I'm actually very happy with the result, and I'm going to post it on the_kennel in a few minutes. And I had fun. So much fun, in fact, that I volunteered to do a pinch hit.

I was almost disappointed when I got my pinch hit assignment, because I was in a weird mood where I wanted to write something I never write, and I got kanella, who writes R/S. On the other hand, she also writes shorter stuff, so that was good because I only had a few days. And I did end up turning around and going with Kingsley's perspective, which was fun. I've never written Kingsley before. I actually found it hard to know if I was keeping him in character, because he really isn't much of a character yet.

I am assuming most people guessed that those two stories were mine. Not only do I have a distinct style, but the Accidentally In Love universe was sort of stamped over both. In Wake Me Up Inside, Sirius talked about the apple tree and the Quidditch Game the Death Eaters attacked. I think they also mentioned when Sirius treed McGonagall, just because I think that's really, really funny. In The End of the Night, Sirius's cubicle description is lifted straight from AIL (complete with posters of The Lobalugs), and Kingsley has a wife and son still. (I should have mentioned the 'fro.)



Anyway, both remixes were a blast to write, and thanks again to musesfool for organizing the entire thing!

Other news:

AIL 11 is coming along slowly. I'll be reiterating this, but after Chapter 11, future chapters will be cut down to half the length. I'm not compromising the story- it's just taking too long to get the chapters out, so I'm posting it in smaller blocks. I doubt too many people will complain.

Sorry I've been so bad about comments- things have been nuts here.

a_t_rain's "Correspondence Course" was updated again over the weekend. I think I see how the impersonation of a nun might tie in. It's really funny stuff.

Okay, I might actually start reading some Firefly stuff. However, I want gen. Specifically, I want gen focusing on Kaylee and Jayne- preferably together. Anyone know of anything like that? Can you rec me if you do?

There was something else, but I forget it entirely. Ah well. Ciao!

ETA: I remember! My re-review of Serenity is posted at MRFH. Need to finish my current review (Cool Hand Luke).

Comments

[medicinal-mirth.livejournal.com]

the Quidditch Game the Death Eaters attacked

See, I am an idiot, because when I read that part of your story I immediately remembered that part from AIL and yet I STILL did not clue in. I must have assumed it was canon. *facepalm* Never doubt me when I say I'm a scatterbrain.

I loved reading your thoughts on the whole process, and of course it pleases me that you were happy to get me as your assignment. What you made out of my stuff pleases me the most, though. You write Remus and Sirius just the way I like them -- as you mentioned, we seem to view them the same way -- and so it was just a treat to read them in all their emotionally-baggaged glory.

I can understand you being upset about cutting out the subplots, but I don't think the story lacked for that one little bit.

Yeah, I know I'm fawning all over you but I don't care. *g* I loved it.

[kanella.livejournal.com]

Oh, I should have guessed that was you! The Sirius-as-Auror popped out at me, but it didn't click. I still can't believe that something as good as that was from a pinch hit, and I loved the kiss-the-storyline method of remixing that you used (Kingsley is so underappreciated by fandom). Thank you :)

[verdenia.livejournal.com]

I find it very interesting to read about writing in general and the remix in specific, so thank you for sharing! ;D