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down-in-flames

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hi, welcome to my writer's journal! grab yourself a cup of coffee (or caffeine source of choice) and get cozy ^_^ most of my writing can be boiled down into two major categories: the convolution-verse, which is my next-gen series of novels and short stories that features an ensemble cast but largely focuses on james sirius potter and an original character named abigail winchester, and my jily fics, which are largely AUs and mostly just monster one-shots. i'm going to do my best to keep this first post updated with a masterlist of my fics and some brief summaries, but feel free to scroll through the questions and ramblings throughout this journal for some more detailed dives into some of the stories here!

 

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complicated [novel]

this is the fic that started it all - i started writing this bad boy back in 2013, took a looooong break from writing (and from the hp fandom as a whole) and came back to it at the start of 2018. it's a teen romance/drama starring abigail winchester, the self-declared queen bee of hogwarts, as she enters her seventh year and finds out that everything isn't quite what it seems, and that there's perhaps more to life than spending daddy's money and being on the top of the social ladder. there's a bit of a enemies-to-lovers slow burn thing with one james sirius potter in here too, but it's just as much an adventure in character growth and development as it is a romance.

simplification [one-shot]

a one-shot companion piece to complicated from james' perspective. timeline-wise, it slots in right in between chapters 38 and 40.

complex [novel]

written as a sequel to complicated, with an emphasis on the exact same characters as the first novel. but while the people may be the same, the story itself is a good bit darker (there's a nice-sized murder sub-plot here that definitely wasn't around in complicated), and there's a lot more angst as this same cast of characters grapples with the fact that adulthood is nowhere near as easy as they expect it to be. this story kicks off approximately three years after the last one ended - james and abby are newly engaged, and are about to find out that balancing their relationship, their careers, and their impending wedding is a whole lot more difficult than either of them anticipated. i do my best to update this one every other saturday, barring any explicitly announced hiatuses.

hit like a girl [short story collection]

this started off as a brief one-shot about everyone's favorite minor character in complicated/complex, but has now spiralled into a collection of three one-shots detailing the development of dom weasley's relationship with her co-beater for the wimbourne wasps.

 

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and it was like slow motion [one-shot]

the first prequel for and all the pieces fall, which is the novel that's at the center of this universe (and is coming eventually, lol). it's pretty angsty, because the novel itself is enemies to lovers, and this fic kind of gives some background for why lily sees him as an enemy at the start of the novel despite being friends at hogwarts.

and yours is in red underlined [one-shot]

the second prequel for and all the pieces fall. unlike the first one-shot that centers on lily's relationship (or, uh, the destruction of relationship) with james, this one's pretty exclusively focused on lily, and the work that she does for this universe's version of the order of the phoenix. be warned, this lily evans is far from the ray of sunshine she's often described as in canon.

 

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new romantics [short story, chatfic]

university AU chatfic chaos. none of the characters know what's going on, and honestly, the author doesn't really know either.

9.9 out of 10, highly recommend [novel]

my first go at a jily novel! brooklyn 99 meets how to lose a guy in 10 days. james seems to think he can make lily fall in love with him in 10 days, while lily makes a bet that she can make james lose interest in her within that same time span. because, you know, that's bound to go well for both of them.

keep on all the lights [one-shot]

you ever break your own heart, just to keep things interesting? yeah, that's what happened here. i wrote a jily break-up fic. it's pure angst.

nothing to lose and each other to gain [one-shot]

... yes, this is another one based on a true story. please don't ask me to explain myself on this one. surf instructors are hot and that's really the only defense i have for myself here.

you're high enough for me [one-shot]

in march of 2020 i tweeted about a questionable life decision i made on a ski lift. in june of 2020 i turned said questionable life decision into a jily fic. and behold, here it is.

let's keep it casual [one-shot, chatfic]

lily enlists james' help in a rather harebrained revenge scheme. chaos ensues. there's a fake wedding website, a mini wafflemaker, a lot of taylor swift references, and, of course, sneep.

fucking quarantine [one-shot]

how to put this story into words? thanks to some peer pressure and the general insanity brought on by being stuck inside, i wrote this very smutty jily fic in which james potter loves being pegged. it definitely claims the title for weirdest thing i've ever written.

a matchmaking mission [two-shot]

a four pov monstrosity in which both lily/james and sirius/remus get together via the classic trope of 'oh no, there's only one bed.' it takes a lot of words and poorly executed scheming to get to the one bed point. and then there's a shamelessly smutty outtake because it didn't really fit with the fluff of the one-shot but i didn't want to delete it.

an elf and a reindeer walk into a bar [one-shot, chatfic]

christmas chatfic AU! james is in a reindeer onesie and everyone's getting v drunk at a christmas party. this one is, oddly enough, like 98% based on a true story.

bake my wish come true [one-shot]

an enemies-to-lovers bakery AU in which james can't stop singing off-key christmas carols, lily just wants him to shut up, and there's a self-insert in the form of a girl who goes to great lengths to get the perfect insta pic of the cute festive bakery.

'tis the season (every season) [one-shot]

a fluffy, nonsensical follow-up to bake my wish come true starring james and lily opening their very own bakery. this is the only jily fic that is actually connected to another one i've written.

like a deer in headlights [one-shot]

the quintessential roadtrip AU. james and liy are carpooling from london to edinburgh to drive up to sirius and remus' destination wedding, james has fancied lily since their university days, and spending eight hours together in a small space goes about as well as you could expect.

a miscommunication of massive proportions [one-shot]

a rare canon jily fic. a short, silly little piece i wrote in one sitting.

swipe right, swing left [one-shot]

a political AU where lily is the comms director for mcgonagall's presidential campaign and james is a reporter assigned to cover the campaign. as someone who works in politics myself, this story has a pretty special place in my heart (also because i got to rant about the dc metro system for a good bit in it).

orange cardamom [one-shot]

the classic coffee shop AU in which sirius opens up a coffee shop and asks his best friend to help hire new baristas. james, for his part, was never expecting one of their potential hires to be quite so pretty. 

love, lily evans [one-shot]

i turned to all the boys i've loved before into a jily fic. there's a little bit of a twist on the original storyline of the book/movie, but there's still plenty of fake dating (which is, obviously, the most important part).

reckless [novellette]

the jily that started it all. a soulmate AU featuring lily-the-doctor and james-the-rugby-player. when this one-shot spiralled out of control into four chapters, i really should've known that'd become a trend for every jily fic i'd write thereafter.

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owl never do that again [one-shot]

fred weasley ii opens some owl mail that he really shouldn't have. chaos ensues.

satisfied [one-shot]

inspired by the hamilton song of the same name (with some of the lyrics worked into the prose), this one centers around victoire as she watches the love of her life get married to her sister. breaking characters' hearts at weddings is a thing i tend to do a lot.

made up of magic [one-shot]

a lily and marlene friendship fic - a clear departure from most everything else i write, which tends to have a prominent romantic storyline.

there will be history [one-shot]

the beginnings of teddy and victoire's relationship, as told through letters written by themselves (and a few written by dom). technically not part of the convolution-verse, but not necessarily conflicting with it either.

sisyphus [one-shot]

aggressively angsty. remus loses everything, three times.

somewhere in between [one-shot]

fluffy scorbus stuff.

magnolias in the country [one-shot]

more angst-at-a-wedding, because scorpius is getting married and it's not to the boy who's in love with him.

 

hit me up with questions, or just enjoy my ramblings xD

{all graphics by me, down-in-flames@tda}

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Hi! Just found this while scrolling through and thought I'd stop by!

First of all, a sequel to Complicated that involves those characters with all kinds of murder sounds SUPER exciting! Also, that Rose Scorpius and Albus one sounds wonderful and also like it's prime for some hilarious mishaps, which I'm also all over.

Anyway, questions:

1.  How did you balance Abby's character growth throughout the story?

2. How did you get inspired to start writing Complicated again?

3. Who is your favorite Complicated character to write and why?

4. Who's your favorite character to write in general and why?

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Yay, questions!! :yay:

 

1. How did you balance Abby's character growth throughout the story?

Abby's character growth is, ultimately, one of the main themes of the story. A lot of it was just shaping her reactions to the things that happen to her - she kind of gets her entire life thrown for a loop at the start of the story, so writing her character growth was a bit like putting together pieces of a puzzle to finally get to a full character again. Now that I'm getting close to the end, it's now just a bunch of parallelism - I keep adding in random moments that act as sharp contrasts to the way she behaved in the start of the story, just to show how far she's come since then.

2. How did you get inspired to start writing Complicated again?

Honestly... I have no idea. I was just bored one day, and thought to myself, 'hey, I have that HP fanfic somewhere in the depths of my computer files that I never finished.' So I found it, and somehow became obsessed with the idea of finishing it. I think I started seeing similarities to things that had happened to me recently in real life (which is super strange given that I wrote the plot five years ago), and writing Complicated became cathartic, in a way.

3. Who is your favorite Complicated character to write and why?

Oh gosh, this is such a hard question - I love them all for so many reasons. If I had to pick, my favorite is probably Dom - I just really love writing the female friendships in this story, and Dom is one of those characters that really took on a life of her own the more that I wrote about her. She's also just a really fun foil to Abby at times too.

4. Who's your favorite character to write in general and why?

Oh, this one is also tricky - mostly because I don't tend to write about the same character twice. I'm also so single-mindedly focused on finishing Complicated right now that I haven't been exploring other characters all that much. Overall, I think Rose is one of my favorite characters to write - I love writing the short flashes of her in Complicated, and I'm kinda pumped to write a story from her POV in the future.

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Taylor!  :hug: Some things: I have missed you, and I'm so excited you're here, and I'm in love with Complicated.

 

So, some questions now, I suppose? :P

 

1. You started plotting and writing Complicated five years ago, and you said a lot has changed since then.  What have been the biggest changes in the story (characters/clichés you've wanted to avoid/your writing)?

2. Which of the characters in Complicated do you think you're most like?

3. Do you have a perfect writing environment?  Music?  Snacks?

4. You're planning a murder/action/adventure sequel to Complicated - what are you most looking forward to about that genre/style of story?

5. How much planning do you usually do before beginning a story?

6. Simplficiation faklfnsdkjbfes .  Ahem.  Did you find it easier to write from James's POV than you expected?  Did he surprise you at all?

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Sian!! I've missed you too and am so happy you're loving Complicated :hug:

 

1. You started plotting and writing Complicated five years ago, and you said a lot has changed since then.  What have been the biggest changes in the story (characters/clichés you've wanted to avoid/your writing)?

Character-wise, I think I've put a lot more effort into developing the personalities of my secondary characters than I would've if I'd written the story back then. Looking back at other things I've written, I tended to laser focus on the main characters, instead of putting effort into developing the minor characters as well. For clichés, I think it's more specific scenes I had in mind when I wrote the plot that I ended up doing differently - for example, I included a scene involving Patronuses, but the purpose behind that scene ended up being a bit more obscure than the matching-Patronus trope that I think I'd originally planned on doing. I also just have more real life experiences to draw on, which is always helpful.

2. Which of the characters in Complicated do you think you're most like?

Oh gosh, this is kind of tricky. In certain moments, I see myself in Abby - I also had a bit of a "mean girl" streak in middle school/early high school, so I like to think I've undergone similar character development since then as well. I also think I've got a sense of humor similar to Caroline's - aka, just a lot of snark.

3. Do you have a perfect writing environment?  Music?  Snacks?

My ideal writing environment is alone, sitting in my bed. For some reason, I don't write fic well at an actual desk... I always feel like I should be doing RL work when I'm sitting at a desk. Music is always involved - I can't stand complete silence, so I've usually got some sort of Spotify playlist going in the background, and usually a cup of coffee as well. Or a pint of Halo Top ice cream, depending on my mood.

4. You're planning a murder/action/adventure sequel to Complicated - what are you most looking forward to about that genre/style of story?

It's so different from anything I've written before. It's still going to have some romance and typical-20-somethings drama to it, but I'm really excited to stick all of that in the same environment as a bunch of action and murder scenes. 

5. How much planning do you usually do before beginning a story?

Not a lot. I tend to be a bit of a "start now, figure out the details when we get there" type of writer. Literally, my chapter outlines for Complicated are a sentence long for an entire chapter. I want to be better at getting full plots and characterizations down before I start stories - that's something I'm excited to work through with the writing projects that come after Complicated.

6. Simplficiation faklfnsdkjbfes .  Ahem.  Did you find it easier to write from James's POV than you expected?  Did he surprise you at all?

James was actually insanely easy to write. I feel like I had to get inside his head a lot while writing Complicated, so writing his thoughts came pretty naturally. The only thing I struggled with was trying to fit explanations for James' actions throughout the entire story into a one-shot, because I'd thought through so much of his motivations that I could probably write a full novel from his POV, lol. Honestly, the main surprise was how much he swore inside his own head - which I didn't realize until I tried to plug a preview into this thread. xD

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Taylor! As you know, I'm like in love with Complicated. So I thought I'd pop by with some questions for you! 

1. The idea for a sequel sounds brilliant and very different! Is it still going to focus largely on Abby post-Hogwarts? 

2. A James POV!! AAAGGHHH! Okay, so thoughout Complicated we get very little idea about what he's thinking (Infuriatingly). Did you always have an idea about what his inner monologue would be? 

3. Abby goes through some major development over the course of the story. We find out her patronus near to the end but do you think that that and/or her bogart, ect would have been different at the start? 

4. Appart from NextGen, what would be your favorite era to write about? 

5. What was the first fanfic you ever wrote and how do you feel your writing had changed since then? 

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Deni!! How lovely of you to stop by :hug:

 

1. The idea for a sequel sounds brilliant and very different! Is it still going to focus largely on Abby post-Hogwarts? 

Yes! I really love Abby as a narrator, so it's going to be another story from her POV, and it's somewhere in the realm of 3-ish years after Hogwarts.

 

2. A James POV!! AAAGGHHH! Okay, so throughout Complicated we get very little idea about what he's thinking (Infuriatingly). Did you always have an idea about what his inner monologue would be? 

I've been inside James' head since the beginning, really. Since the story itself shows little of what he's actually thinking, I felt like I needed to have a full idea of what he was thinking, so that his actions at least had some basis in a thought process, even if the reader can't ever see those thoughts. Which is probably why that one-shot came so naturally - it finally gave me a chance to put all of that behind-the-scenes plotting to some good, tangible use.

 

3. Abby goes through some major development over the course of the story. We find out her patronus near to the end but do you think that that and/or her bogart, ect would have been different at the start? 

As far as her Patronus, I'm not sure that would've changed all that much. Maybe it would've been some tamer version of her current Patronus - so perhaps a house cat instead of a wildcat. But a lot of her personality elements that shaped that Patronus choice are things about her that have remained relatively consistent throughout the story, rather than the more salient elements. Her boggart, however, definitely changed. At the beginning, I imagine her boggart involved losing her control/friends/popularity, and of course, that actually happened. Towards the end, I'm not really sure what her boggart would be; perhaps something along the lines of having to face her former self.

 

4. Appart from NextGen, what would be your favorite era to write about? 

I really love the Rebuilding era. Perhaps not for novel-writing, but I like writing one-shots in that time period.

 

5. What was the first fanfic you ever wrote and how do you feel your writing had changed since then? 

Okay, so fun fact, there are two stories that I wrote around the same time, and I don't have the original timestamps anymore, so I genuinely couldn't tell you which one got written first. And it's funny, because they're SO DIFFERENT. One of them is this cute little Harry/Ginny one-shot that I actually still think is pretty decent, all things considered. I mean, I even uploaded it to the archives when I transferred all my worthwhile stuff over from HPFF, so that's saying something. And the other... yikes on trikes. It was the beginnings of a James II/OC that was just dreadful - painfully clichéd, little to no character depth, the whole nine yards. 

Back to the actual question, I think that I've definitely gotten much better with characterization since then. Especially when it comes to secondary characters. I wrote a lot of flat secondary characters when I first started writing, largely because I didn't really know any better and I viewed a lot of those characters as means to advance the plot for the main characters rather than, you know, actual people. But, at its core, my writing style really isn't all that different than it was all those years ago. I still tend to prefer dialogue to description, and I tend to favor being too brief over being too wordy although tbh Complicated is over 100k words so who on earth am I to talk about being brief EL OH EL.

 

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I'm in the mood to post a writing update so here we go:

  • I forgot how... completely unorganized my novel-planning process is? (To be fair, it's been 5 years since I've plotted out a full novel-length story.) But anyways, for someone as meticulously detail-oriented as I am in all other aspects of my like, that somehow just... doesn't make its way into my planning documents. Instead, it's just me making dumb jokes that are literally only funny to me, and somehow expecting the me of the future to somehow turn that into a fully fleshed-out and cohesive story. For example:
    • There's an entire sub-heading in my Complicated sequel doc that's labelled "murder-y stuff" 
    • A (pretty significant plot) point is described as "speech is gr8 but also someone tries to kill [name redacted] so like that’s good"
    • A sub-plot that contains only the words "holy heck this creates a massive freaking plot hole MUST FILL PLOT HOLE"
    • I have the phrases "king of dad jokes" and "his high fashion sense clashes fantastically with the fact that he's making stupid puns at all times" as characterization notes
  • I apparently can't wrap up a story nicely because I just like making people argue and starting up new drama too much. Like... you thought Complicated was in the clear drama-wise because the two main characters got their act together? Lol buckle up because the secondary characters are all still making things a hot mess and the main characters too who am I kidding. (Which I guess is probably because I know from experience that there's almost never a situation in which everyone's relationships are all going well at the same time... so I mean, it makes sense?)
  • Discovery of the week: I come up with my best dialogue while either taking off or landing in an airplane. 
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18 hours ago, ShadowRose said:

But anyways, for someone as meticulously detail-oriented as I am in all other aspects of my like, that somehow just... doesn't make its way into my planning documents. Instead, it's just me making dumb jokes that are literally only funny to me, and somehow expecting the me of the future to somehow turn that into a fully fleshed-out and cohesive story.

I've never seen anything so relatable ? i have a timeline for my fics, and it's so lame, full of unfunny jokes...it is such a mess. 

Anyway, I'm here with questions:

 

1. I may have just crawled out of a rock, but I've noticed a lot of fics about James II recently. What is it about him that makes him so fun to write? 

2. Are there any underrated characters in the HP series that you feel deserve better? Would you ever write about them? 

3. Do you have a book/fanfic you've read multiple times that's your absolute go-to?

4. Which is easier to write? Canon or OC characters? 

5. What part of planning is the most fun, if any? 

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Hi Bex!! :D

 

1. I may have just crawled out of a rock, but I've noticed a lot of fics about James II recently. What is it about him that makes him so fun to write? 

I don't know if it's the same for everyone, but personally, I love writing him because I envision him as relatively similar to the first James Potter, but with a lot more flexibility to his plotline (aka, he doesn't have to die eventually).

 

2. Are there any underrated characters in the HP series that you feel deserve better? Would you ever write about them? 

I still firmly believe that Draco Malfoy deserved a more thorough redemption arc than the minuscule one he got in the epilogue. As for writing about him, I'm actually pretty sure he's going to end up being a pretty central figure in my Prefect's Challenge entry, so the answer to the second part of your question is an emphatic yes, lol.

 

3. Do you have a book/fanfic you've read multiple times that's your absolute go-to?

Generally, I don't like reading things more than once because, I mean, there's no way I'll ever be able to read every book ever but I'm going to damn well try, so rereading books doesn't usually happen all that often (with the exception of the HP series, which I've read an embarrassing number of times). As far as fanfic, I've definitely read How to Tame a Marauder at least 4 times - that was literally the first piece of fanfiction I ever encountered and it's what got me hooked so it holds a special place in my heart.

 

4. Which is easier to write? Canon or OC characters? 

OCs are easier, in my opinion. I feel like, with canon characters, it can be kinda stressful to make sure you get the characterization just right, and that pressure just doesn't exist with OCs. Although, I mean, with OCs you're responsible for creating an entire character out of thin air, so that's also its own challenge.

 

5. What part of planning is the most fun, if any? 

When I plan, I occasionally come up with these really specific sections of dialogue - so my planning docs always have random quotes written throughout the master plot. So I'd say having those crystal-clear moments just pop into my head in the middle of planning is my favorite.

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Writing updates!!

First of all, I finally got around to posting Simplification [M because James swears like a sailor]  :yay:

I've also been working on two separate Albus/Scorpius pieces, so here's a sneak peek from each of those. ?

  • Magnolias in the Country (aka the angsty wedding plunny that's been floating around in my head for forever):
Quote

Scorpius’ voice tears him from his concentration. “Do you – do you think I’m doing the right thing?”

The voice in the back of Albus’ head is screaming, ‘no, no, no.’ And if Albus were to indulge that little voice, he would tell Scorpius that marrying Rose is a mistake, that he should run off with him instead.

But Albus had his chance once before, and he blew it. He’s not allowed to say things like that now.

 
  • And this fluff piece (currently titled 'Scorbus Cuteness bc I Need That in my Life Dammit' on my computer until it gets a real title):
Quote

Al looks at him, and his emerald green eyes betray the most vulnerability Scorpius has ever seen in them. “Are you ashamed of me?”  he asks quietly.

Scorpius can’t get the words out fast enough – they rush out so quickly that he’s practically tripping over them. “No! Not at all! I could never be ashamed of you! Never, never, never!”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s just… it didn’t seem like a good conversation to have over letters, you know? ‘Hey Dad, classes are going great, oh and by the way, I’m gay and I’m dating Albus Potter.’ And then he asked if I wanted to bring someone with us on our France vacation, and of course I wanted to bring you, so I owled him back and said I was bringing my ‘significant other’ because that seemed like a nice gender-neutral term.”

His knee is bouncing again. “I wasn’t thinking about the fact that I’ll literally be giving him an hour warning that the person he’s probably expecting to be my girlfriend is actually my boyfriend and he’s the son of his childhood nemesis.”

 

 

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Hello hello! I wasn't planning on finishing this novel nest for a couple of days or so (I'm the worst at leaving unfinished posts open on my desktop for like a week) but I accidentally hit a button in the middle of typing this and published a version that literally only contained the first few words so now we're stuck posting it now. ?

NaNo Word Count Goal: 20k

 

When I did NaNo in April, I thought I was going to finish Complicated somewhere in that 25k word goal. EL OH FREAKING EL. Despite all that writing in April (and in May... and June), I still have (at least) five chapters to write, and they all keep turning out relatively long, so my goal for NaNo is to finish them - which will likely end up being somewhere around 15k words. Unless, of course, my secondary characters decide to start even more drama. It'd be nice to have all the chapters finished in July so that I can be posting them throughout the month and into August (which will hopefully give me time to properly plan out the sequel-that-was-never-supposed-to-happen-but-won't-let-me-leave-it-alone).

Other projects include my Prefect's Challenge Entry (a fluffy Scorbus piece that also includes a Draco redemption arc) and whatever odd story idea inevitably possesses me in the middle of the month.

Edited by ShadowRose
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Hey Taylor! I'm here with questions! 

1. I've only completed a novel once...and I was 12 so it doesn't count :P How does it feel knowing that your fic could be finished soon? 

2. What advice would you give to anyone writing a slow burn? 

3. What are Abby's favourite and least favourite things about James? And vice versa! 

I hope you enjoy answering them! 

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Hi Bex!! :waving:

 

1. I've only completed a novel once...and I was 12 so it doesn't count :P How does it feel knowing that your fic could be finished soon? 

Simultaneously exciting and terrifying. It's crazy to think that, when this story is all said and done, it's going to be around 125k words... like, what?? And then to just smack a 'complete' label on it after all of that. I think it's less scary now that I have some concrete writing ideas to work on after I finish this novel, because for a while there I was convinced I was going to finish Complicated and my muse would shrivel up and die, haha.

 

2. What advice would you give to anyone writing a slow burn? 

To be honest, I didn't even know this story was going to be a slow burn until I looked at it one day and was like, 'huh, it takes these characters like 40 chapters to get their ? together so I should probably tag this as a slow burn.' But looking back, I think the key is really focusing on the interactions between the two characters and making tiny little progressions with each one (or most of them, at least - some conversations just have to be included because they're funny). Sometimes it's tiny things, like a 'wow, you're slightly more rational than I gave you credit for,' and sometimes it's bigger things, like 'oh shoot I think you want to kiss me.' Those little tiny progressions don't seem like much on their own, but they end up making for a nice gradual build when taken as a whole.

 

3. What are Abby's favourite and least favourite things about James? And vice versa! 

Abby's favorite thing about James is probably the fact that he makes her laugh and just... his overall goodness. She likes that when he does or says these really sweet things, he's not usually thinking about it all that deeply - it's more of a part of who he is than something he's actively trying to do. Her least favorite thing is definitely that he tends to dive into things headfirst without thinking of the consequences - he runs on intuition (which is nice sometimes but causes him to do stupid things on a lot of other occasions). James' favorite thing about Abby is probably how much she cares about the people she loves - she's totally willing to drop everything if he or Dom or anyone else they know is in need. I think that's also probably something that surprised him about her, because she's always been like that, even in her stuck-up popular girl phase, but he couldn't really see it until he got close to her. His least favorite thing is definitely that she tends to overthink things and as a result can be annoyingly stubborn. Ok wow this was a long answer but this question was so much fun. ❤️

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I am so here for Draco redemption arcs, haha!

You say you only have about five chapters to go of Complicated. Are all of these planned out, just waiting to be written? Or are you more a "let's wing it" sort of writer?

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They’re somewhat planned out? My version of planning a story is writing down brief phrases for all the plot points and eventually assigning chapter numbers to them. So the rest of the novel is planned out by one phrase per chapter - which gives it a general guideline but a lot of room for random scenes to emerge (which happens quite a lot).

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest Rumpelstiltskin

Alright-y PenPal. I'm doing terribly this JulNo, but I thought I'd further my procrastination by at least sending you some encouraging thoughts and some questions!

 

1. Tell me something fun and enticing about Complicated, because I haven't read it yet.

2. What's your favorite part about writing a Next-Gen piece?

3. What do you find the most difficult about writing a Next-Gen piece?

4. List those Complicated face claims for me! Lay 'em on me. *has zero ulterior motive for asking* :shifty:

5. Have a cookie! ? (Rumpel needs to go to bed.)

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Hi Penpal!! I'm also procrastinating by answering these questions, so it's a win all around.

 

1. Tell me something fun and enticing about Complicated, because I haven't read it yet.

You're not meant to like any of the main characters at the start of the story. And the narrator is the worst of all of them.

And my personal favorite line of dialogue in the entire story is, "It takes him about three to five business days to process emotion."

 

2. What's your favorite part about writing a Next-Gen piece?

I like that there's a lot of flexibility! Like yes, it's still fanfic and bound to some aspects of the world J.K. Rowling created, but there's more room for creativity in things like characterization and plot, since we don't know much about that era unless you count Cursed Child and I usually don't.

 

3. What do you find the most difficult about writing a Next-Gen piece?

This is the most random thing, but I hate that I can't make any pop culture references because it's like... the 2020s at that point. Although that's more of a nuisance than an actual difficulty. ?‍♀️

 

4. List those Complicated face claims for me! Lay 'em on me. *has zero ulterior motive for asking* :shifty:

Abby Winchester: Nina Dobrev

James Potter II: Chase Crawford

It's kind of a bit of an ensemble cast and I have face claims for most of them but that's like 20+ people so I'm just gonna cut myself off at the two main characters.

 

5. Have a cookie! (Rumpel needs to go to bed.)

Dang it, now I'm hungry. ? (I also need to go to bed but will inevitably be up for much longer.)

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I'm rooting, hoping for you to finish Complicated during this NaNo. I can't wait to see the ending.

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Hi Taylor!!! :waving:  Just dropping by to deliver a little bit of inspiration for you for Complicated!!! (I ended up having a TON of pictures left over after I made your FF PicSpam, and I was feeling inspired, lol!!) ?  You can totally finish thing, girl. You've so got this!!! ?

 

lI6ozgy.jpg

 

Feel free to use this as you wish. ?  I hope your JulNo is all going well, hun!!! ❤️?

 

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On 7/11/2018 at 8:21 AM, potionspartner said:

I'm rooting, hoping for you to finish Complicated during this NaNo. I can't wait to see the ending.

Thank you!! I think this time I actually will be able to finish it within the month, seeing as I'm about halfway through the remaining chapters now. ?

 

20 hours ago, RoxiMalfoy said:

Hi Taylor!!! :waving:  Just dropping by to deliver a little bit of inspiration for you for Complicated!!! (I ended up having a TON of pictures left over after I made your FF PicSpam, and I was feeling inspired, lol!!) ?  You can totally finish thing, girl. You've so got this!!! ?

I've already told you on Twitter just how much I love these picspams but it doesn't hurt to say again that asdfghjkl they're stunning and make me super happy to look at. :wub:

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  • 2 weeks later...

kdsljgksfjg oh my god i can't believe there's going to be a sequel to complicated i'm making my way through it now and it's so wild honestly i've missed reading next gen stories so much and reading complicated has just reminded me why i love next gen stories so much. but going onto this sequel, sis my levels of stress literally increased as i saw those words because i just know that it's going to be a ride like complicated is and i'm just trying to prepare myself.

and in case you didn't pick up on it, i'm really enjoying reading it.

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Hello! I don't have a question and I know this is probably a last minute thing motivation and encouragement  that I'm sending you since there's only very few days left of JulNano left but I want to wish you good luck with Complicated and your Scorbus fluff for the Prefect's Challenge as well as your other story ideas! I also hope that you were able or have had reached the 20k word count goal as well! Oh, and also, you got this! You can do this! :) 

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  • 1 month later...

Hello! I'm here with a big congratulations for finishing Complicated!!

 

1) How does it feel to have finished a novel?

2) I know you're writing a sequel - is the Complicated universe your next gen head canon, or does not all of that fit in one story (like you Scorbus stories, for example)?

3) What do you think will be the biggest challenge about writing the sequel?

4) What are you most looking forward to about writing it?

5) I know you've been writing Marauders lately, and you've mentioned that you love the Rebuilding era - is there an era or genre that you've never written but would love to? Or one you just can't see yourself writing at all?

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hi sian!! :hug: thank you so much for all these lovely questions :wub:

1) How does it feel to have finished a novel?

very weird, in all honesty. but i think that the sequel is kind of throwing off that 'empty' feeling that i imagined i'd get when i finished it, because even though it's a brand new piece, complex very much feels like an extension of complicated in that i'm still writing the same characters and the same world.

2) I know you're writing a sequel - is the Complicated universe your next gen head canon, or does not all of that fit in one story (like you Scorbus stories, for example)?

this is such a good question that i've honestly never even really thought about. i... don't know,  in all honesty. i can't decide how to picture al in particular, because i keep writing him in scorbus one-shots and he's a slytherin in those and just a very different person in general than he is in complicated and complex. my next-gen headcanon is an absolute mess with zero consistency, tbh. the only solidified factor of anything is that i probably can never write james with literally anyone else but abby.

3) What do you think will be the biggest challenge about writing the sequel?

THERE'S JUST SO MUCH HAPPENING. as someone who loves spreadsheets as a form of organization, i'm very accustomed to looking at complicated-looking ones. this story is on a whole other level though. i also think it's gonna be a bit of a challenge getting into the groove of writing all these characters i've been working with for so long, but suddenly three years into the future - because they've changed, but also they're still sort of the same? so balancing that is gonna be interesting.

also, unlike some people  (cough cough, deni) seem to believe, i actually don't like hurting my characters. and yet, i have already written snippets of scenes in this story where i literally had to walk away from my computer for a little bit because holy heck i cannot believe that i just did that.

4) What are you most looking forward to about writing it?

the fact that i don't have to let go of these characters just yet? there's a number of loose ends from complicated that are still waiting to be addressed, so i'm excited for those.

(and as much as it hurts me to write it, i get an absolute kick out of people freaking out when i publish angsty things - so we're in for a fun ride with chapters 10-20 of complex)

5) I know you've been writing Marauders lately, and you've mentioned that you love the Rebuilding era - is there an era or genre that you've never written but would love to? Or one you just can't see yourself writing at all?

i think i've written most eras at this point, with the exception of like, pre-first war and post-next gen - but as far as genres, i've been wanting to write something with a bit of a mystery plot to it for a while (which is actually where the idea for complex came from - the character plotlines actually didn't come until later). i also don't want to say that there's anything i'd "never" write - mostly because there's literally video footage of me saying "i will never write canon marauders because that's too sad" and then i wrote and posted a one-shot a week later that's literally just Sad Marauders to its core.

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