New DVD posted: Transfigurations

[resonant]

I've just posted the DVD commentary track for Transfigurations, with special bonus commentary from beta goddess julad.

Enormous file warning: it's 506K.

Comments

[moshi.livejournal.com]

Wow, I know what I'll be doing this evening. :)

[marksykins.livejournal.com]

Oooh! I wish I had the time to read it now, but I am very, very excited about this. Thank you for taking the time for such an undertaking.

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

Woo! Yay!

[celandineb.livejournal.com]

Oh, oh, oh! Argh! I haven't the time to read it all now - just wish I could! *puts in memories so I won't lose it*

[oneminutemovies.livejournal.com]

Thanks for doing this! This is the story that single-handedly sucked me into reading all the different versions of Draco I could find, because I was so fascinated by what you'd done with him. I can't wait to read what you have to say about this story.

[nestra.livejournal.com]

Well, there went my afternoon. I was just going to read the commentary parts, but then the blasted story sucked me in again, and poof.

Very cool. Thanks to you and julad.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.

[celandineb.livejournal.com]

I have no willpower and am now about 2/3 of the way through (though I admit I'm not really reading "Transfigurations" itself, just commentary and some of the surrounding bits).

Have to comment on a comment:

"Draco Falco Leonis Malfoy de Douce-Douleur."

As for the last name, I figured that wealthy pureblood wizards might very well do their surnames in the fashion of the old Spanish nobility -- Dadsname de Mothersname. This was before OotP, so I didn't know Narcissa was a Black; I figured Douce-Douleur was a plausible maiden name for her. (Fox provided it; it means Sweet Pain.)

It still works - just take the perspective that instead of the Spanish nobility approach, the "de" in the name means "of" as in "of a place" - then "Douce-Douleur" could be the name of the old Malfoy estate, possibly so far back that you're talking France before the Malfoys came over with William the Bastard in 1066... Just a thought!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

"Draco Falco Leonis Malfoy de Douce-Douleur."

Resonant, I do need you to know that at least once every couple of weeks I think that line, followed by the word "Christ." And then I giggle like a schoolgirl.

(and you've got every right to refuse interview "canon" as canon. Though OotP does, now, give Harry's middle name as James. So it's canon now, though not when you wrote Transfigurations!)

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

*squees incoherently*

*fangirls*

*whimpers* I won't have time to read it for a few weeks...

But still, just knowing it's there! Yay!

[madmadharri.livejournal.com]

Dumbledore beamed. "My life," he said, and disappeared.

That was the first dream scene I wrote, and still my favorite of the bunch.

right on. still gives me goosebumps.

um, squee! this commentary track is the best thing EVER. i have been completely useless all day as i can't do anything but read it. ::swoons::

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Wow. Glad you liked it!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I have to go to bed. I didn't mean to read it all, just a little glance but I couldn't stop myself. It is absolutely fascinating, and tomorrow I will try to comment more on your DVD commentary.

For now, suffice it to say:

I love you! *heart heart heart* &c.

Aaaaggh

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

:( I don't have time to read this until next week at the earliest. Whine. I'll try to be patient about it. Thanks for doing this and letting us know though! Now I know what I'll be reading next week and it will give me something to look forward to.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

This fic was one of my first, and I think is still one of the all-time best HP fics around. It works on so many levels. I think the D/H. scene after Draco loses his magic just has a perfect balance of tenderness and plain hotness. It's one of the most balanced D/H scenes ever.

And then to get a bonus scene or two at the end - I'm glad you included these if only for the wonderful play between H/D. And I'm infinitely sad that this is not your OTP, because you do it so very well.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Aww. Thanks!

[cjk1701.livejournal.com]

Res, you SO rock. This story is one of the best I've read in HP , and I've always adored your TS stuff to bits. I mean, wow.

Personally, though, I'm somewhat ashamed - I'm Russian, and I didn't spot the Russian Goblin references at all. Not even her name, which in retrospect is painfully obvious. I'm firmly scuffling my toe in the dirt now.

You are the greatest, and I'm very much looking forward to read more ResFic.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed it.

And don't worry about the Russian. The beauty of Google, the encyclopedia, and a knowledgeable friends list is that I can put way more into a story than any sane reader is ever going to notice.

[ex-lonicera600.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've so waited for this to happen! You announced it a while ago, but then I never saw it anywhere and thought maybe it was posted f-locked and I was sad that I couldn't have it. But now! This evening! I'll enjoy it all. Transfigurations is still my best-loved HP-fic ever. Can't you be persuaded to continue this story-line? I'd send you chocolates, flowers, amazon-vouchers, blessings - what ever you desire...

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

No, no, resist! One of the important things is to know when to *stop* and leave readers wallowing helplessly, gagging for more. But that's the perfection of it: there *is* no more.

Well, that's what I think, anyway. I'm not fond of endless sequels, I guess.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

OT but just to continue brief spammage: I read Familiar today, and oh! I am all melty now.

More on your commentary anon! And proper fb to follow! Oh, frog.

nr. 1

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

OK, here's my proper fb on your DVD commentary, as promised. Warning: gush alarm and very long, hence multiple tigs.

Two things I loved particularly: Finding out how you wrote it (I just love the insight into how different people go about things, and yours had a number of really fascinating bits in that made me think about how I write), and your respect for your beta, esp. Julad (I am so touchy when it comes to beta and I feel humbled by this example of wonderful co-operation).

The thing you have to understand about Transfigurations is that it wasn't exactly written; it's more like it was concreted, like a stalagmite.
I love that! I love that image!

(In my typical fashion, I'd written some of the setup, lots of the conversation, and nearly all of the sex, but the plot remained rather murky.)
I tend to think 'oh, I have to write everything in chronological plot order', so start at the beginning and keep going. I found your comments on writing all over the place and doubling-back and revising and deleting and filling in gaps later wonderfully liberating. Writing does not have to be linear!

I know quite a bit about Kat Bonifay that didn't make it into the final story. She's tall and big and curvy -- one of those rare fat women who have made it to adulthood believing that she's beautiful, and therefore is beautiful.
Besides adoring your nutshell characterisation here, I loved the tip-of-the-iceberg quality of this fic, and your commentary simply made clear how huge the iceberg in fact is, and how tiny and precious the tip.

I feel a little defensive about the Malfoy characterization in this story, since it's earned the dreaded word "fanon" from more than one critic.
As this is the first real story I read in HP and as I am still not sure of *all* the permutations of fanon!Malfoy, I'm not sure why you need to be defensive. As far as I am concerned, I was imprinted with this Malfoy and have been waddling behind him, duckling-style, ever since last October when I first read this story (and died). I also have heard it said that this Draco is 'more fanon than fanon' (and I'm not even sure I know what that *means*) but I have to say I haven't read another Draco like yours anywhere, so he can't be that fanonish. (But then I haven't read vast amounts, either, so...) Anyway, who cares? He's a stunner of a Malfoy, and I am very, very fond of fanon, anyway (in my own fandom -- it actually requires quite a bit of competence to develop full fanon awareness). And in HP especially, where I dislike the canon which is why it took me so long even to read any HP fic, I love the fanon much more than the canon. So hooray for fanon, I say.

Otoh, I am now writing my own HP fic and my own Draco and god, is it a struggle to get out from under the wings of Transfig!Draco. I've sort of almost managed it now, I think, by dint of making Mackenzie Crook my Draco-actor of choice, *gg*. But it's almost like having to unfanon him; it's almost as if I now *have* to have a non-vain, non-drawling, non-self-assured, non-beautiful, non-Transfigurations! Draco. *bangs head on keyboard*

Julad: The main problem, I think, is that unlike Harry, who starts out much like his canon self, we are introduced to a much-altered Draco whose transformation from canon can only be backstory, but I don't know that anything more could have been done about that.
I myself didn't see this as a problem. I loved being presented with this Draco as a fait accompli and having to figure him out via Harry's distorted pov lens.

Why did I kill off Sirius? Because the books are following fairy-tale logic, and in a fairy tale, the young hero can't have an older brother or a surrogate father figure who helps him out. He can have the help of humble and/or magical creatures whom he befriends along the way, and sometimes he can have a foster family (like Sir Kai's family for King Arthur), but he has to succeed without a real family.

tbc

nr. 2

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Oh, you are a Proppian! *hearts* (As in Vladimir Propp, the Russian formalist and narratologist who set up a vast structure of functions and roles and types for Russian fairy tales in the 1920s, reducing all fairy-tales to something like 8 basic structural plots, and all characters to two handfuls of types, the 'helper', the 'messenger', and so forth).

There's no canonical evidence that magic has any taste, smell, or other sensory reality, but I want it to.
Yes, yes. *gushes meaninglessly*

This was the first appearance of Draco mooching fruit. My intention here was to signal that Draco was willing to extend to Harry the same sort of casual intimacy he had with the rest of the staff. Also, this is the sort of behavior that you find really annoying in someone you hate but rather endearing in someone you like.
I loved fruit!Draco, and I loved reading how carefully thought-out this was. Also, the thing about the trait being annoying and endearing, depending on who's doing the looking. *sighs* (I love this commentary.)

"Harry? Would you like to take exposition duties this time?"
*laughs* I found it very interesting to find out how much attention you paid to exposition. I wonder if that's because this fic is so close to origfic, and that exposition is something that is needed more in origfic than in fanfic which can be lazy in this point, if it wants to.

I'm sufficiently American to believe that purity is the opposite of strength.
It did feel like an American story to me for a number of reasons but, to be fair, I don't think that the belief of purity being the opposite of strength is necessarily only an American one.

Oh, lord. Ron. I had such trouble getting a grip on Ron. I write entirely by voices, and from the books, Harry's voice and Ron's voice are completely indistinguishable to me.
I adored your Ron, and it was really interesting to find out that he'd been a struggle for you. And the voice-thing, too, very interesting. And JKR's failure in that respect. I know the *voices* of canon well, having read the first four books to my children out loud, and it's so true: Ron does not even have a vocabulary of his own.

resonant8: The stuff that Ron and Harry take as insulting might be flirting.
*dies with the gorgeousness*

After reading Dahlia's thoughts about the story, I really wish I'd done more with Harry and Ron's relationship. I had them sort of settle wordlessly into their old casual closeness, but I think now that it would be more plausible for that relationship to require some work to re-establish, especially since Ron has grown up and Harry sort of hasn't.
Very interesting, and yes, I agree.

"Course he has. Toffs always have," Ron said. "I don't mind. He mostly keeps his hands to himself."
That may very well be my favorite paragraph in the entire story.
I love it that you love this paragraph. Because for whatever reason it's the one line that has stuck with me, and I sometimes replay it in my head for no particular reason at odd times during a week. I just love the idea of Draco as a generic 'toff'. And the whole sweet, tolerant atmosphere of that utterance.

"Wands, huh. Maybe just a tad bit phallic over there? Let me lend you a set of bowls. You'd be amazed what you can do when you don't model your magic on boys."
*screams with delight*
tbc

nr. 3

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

As I mentioned in my story notes, Sunday Coneskey was a girl in the original draft. The only reason I involved her at all was that I figured that Harry really had to have some romantic involvement in five years, or he was going to come across as way more messed up than I wanted him to.

But when I turned her into a him, suddenly I got a clearer image of him, and he got more important to the plot. Slasher through and through, me.
I think turning Sunday into a man was a stroke of narrative genius in this fic. It had me fooled, totally, and it was one of those delicious aha-moments finding out that he was a man. It also meant that you could separate the sexuality anxiety from the Draco anxiety, and that made the Harry/Draco dynamic much purer, by which I mean, untainted by secondary am-I-gay plot considerations which would have detracted. But maybe the late insertion of the man-Sunday made the revelation of his masculinity a tiny bit too hurried.

"So," Ron said, looking over her shoulder. "Who's he?"
Nothing for it. "Sunday Coneskey," he said.

"Harry!" Hermione glared. "You lied to us!"

"Not exactly," Harry said, and it was true. Being very careful with pronouns wasn't the same as lying.

Ron was giving him a look that said he saw right through that argument and found it rather amusing. And Malfoy --

"Evidently your candor leaves something to be desired, Potter," he said, "but I certainly admire your taste." He laid the photo on the table and Harry got to see it for the first time. "Though he's not a very friendly fellow, your Sunday."
It's good that we get all three main characters' different reactions here, I like that a lot, but I thought they were being a tiny bit too ready with acceptance. There's no shock. And I suppose I, as a reader, was feeling great shock and surprise, and was surprised that the characters weren't as surprised as I was. And Draco's reaction is so smooth... this is *the* moment where he finds out that he might even have a *chance* with Harry, that Harry's not straight (unless he's suspected this all along, but still, this is a moment of confirmation and of knowing that the groundwork, the am-i-gay-angsting at any rate, has already been done). I can't help thinking that a *lot*is going on in Draco at this moment; he's covering it up, of course, and deflecting it onto the photo of Sunday, but I would have loved to see a glimpse of it here.

Canon isn't clear on the role of wands, but it seems reasonable to me that they would function as a conduit for focusing power -- and that with practice, a wizard might learn to focus power by other methods.
This made such exquisite sense to me that I fully thought it was canon. (I still haven't read OOTP so when I read your fic I naturally assumed that anything unfamilar must have been in OOTP. Lazulus advised me otherwise and I was just *agog*. Well, actually, I sort of suspected that a lot was made up by you but I couldn't figure out exactly which bits. Which is the mark of the greatness of this fic.)

I, of course, know that the robe is raw silk. Harry just knows it feels nice.
I love this little insight into how a tight subjective pov gets constructed. Yum.

Canon be damned. There has to be some sort of postsecondary magical education -- if only because the secondary education is so full of enormous holes.
*cheeers wildly* Strangely, in my first draft of the HP I'm writing I introduced precisely this. I am now wondering whether your fanon hasn't infiltrated my brain subconsciously.

Most widely quoted paragraph in the entire piece. Did I write it? I did not. Julad did.
I adore that joke, and I worship Julad for having thought it up.

I mentioned above that I arrived at my adult characterization of Ron by subtracting one immature trait (his defensiveness). I did the same for Malfoy.
I loved this insight into how you arrived at your characterisations. It is also an interesting point in general about how fanfic-characters are created, as opposed to origfic-characters.

tbc

nr. 4

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

But I had a little more fun with Malfoy, who didn't get any less vain in his transition from Bad Guy to Good Guy.
So is he vain in canon? *wonders*

Malfoy lay panting on the bed of leaves, eyes open, looking rather frightened. The leather thong, charred and blackened, had fallen from his ankle.
The Mark was still there.

If I were writing the story today, I might take that section out. It doesn't really serve much of a purpose, and the magic's kind of a mess. I think that I really included it because of the knife -- having visualized the knife, I found I didn't want to let go of it. Possibly not the best method of making editorial judgments.
I liked your point about being a severe editor. I cling to words and it's good to keep having the encouraging example of others: delete, delete, delete. Slash the slash. (Heh, I also like your strategy of not really deleting but leaving little tidbits in story notes and for delectation at the end of DVD-commentaries.) As for this section, I actually liked it. I particularly liked the line about Malfoy looking 'rather frightened'; I liked that a lot.

To which I reply: Interview canon! Bah! I spit on your interview canon.
*laughs and laughs* Oh, HP fandom...

"Draco Falco Leonis" is something I read in a book about monsters when I was a child
I adore the names. And I adored reading that they'd been with you for years and years. Perhaps that's the mark of a really good story: it *is* accretion, and then showing the tip of the iceberg. It's having thought about every corner of the world, and then only showing 2 rooms. But the richness resonates, anyway.

Harry had to smile. "You say that as though you think it would be possible for me to say no."
I really liked Harry's diction here and that he did not say "You say that *like* you think it would..."

Because of course there'd be a ton of sex-related spells, and of course Malfoy would know them all.
Another thing which has infiltrated my brain subliminally, I think. Guh, I hadn't even realised!

"Like a mascot," Harry said bitterly.

"Like a wand," Malfoy said.
I just loved, loved this exchange. 'Like a wand', is just so beautiful. You put the ethical spine into a canon that hasn't any. (You Austenify JKR!)

God, I must have rewritten that scene a dozen times. It was a mere afterthought in the first full draft -- I had no idea how central it was to the story until Julad pointed that out to me, and it still took me forever to get to the point where the scene had enough impact to justify the pivotal place it occupies in the story.

Julad kept saying, "More, more, more emotion, more impact, more catharsis," and I resisted every step of the way because I was too afraid of sending it over the top into self-parody.
I found this very interesting. a) because it explained the garden scene to me and b) because it was an insight into the beta-writer dynamics you had going here. Julad seems like the world's most thoughtful beta but, for me, the garden scene was a bit out of character vis-a-vis the fic as a whole. I don't know; I can see why Harry cries in the garden but still, but... it's a bit too urscreamish and seminal-momentish and showing a breakthrough happening all at once movie-fashion. I did find the garden lovely but reading how it came about, I'm wondering whether there aren't any lingering traces of the pushme-pullyou between you and Julad in this scene, and that it is these traces I picked up as not quite 'gelling'.
tbc

nr. 5

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Here we have the bits of sex that I had written for the first draft, before everything went off in a different direction. Please don't think less of me for these; normally my sex scenes get heavy anti-schmoop and anti-cliche editing (from me and from betas) before they're published, but these are pretty much as-is.
I *love*hearing this about your sex scenes. Because your sex scenes are perfect, and I loved reading how you revise and brutally edit them. (I found it very interesting reading your several versions in The Familiar as well, and agree that you ended up with the best one.)

As though reading Harry's mind, Malfoy brought a hand around to cup his face and make him look up, though his hips hardly slowed. "Harry," he said roughly, "you haven't -- haven't done this before, have you?"
I am *so* glad that all this first-timering was got out of the way with Sunday.

I often go into tagless when I'm writing a scene that I haven't yet written the underpinnings of.
What's tagless? I am now totally influenced by your concentric circles style of writing. Simply to know that it is an option.

251
What do these numbers mean at the bottom of your webpages?

Oh, Resonant, I just adore this.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Let me start by saying: Wow. I've spent less time on entire stories than you must have spent on these comments.

I am so touchy when it comes to beta and I feel humbled by this example of wonderful co-operation

The secret is for the beta to get involved well before the story begins to harden -- or, often, before it's written at all.

I feel very comfortable with my ability to write (word for word and sentence for sentence), but my ability to plot sucks dead wombats. So I tend to fling myself on the mercy of my writing partners and say, "Help! What happens next?" That way they don't have to say, "You did it wrong"; they can just say, "You're getting ready to do it wrong, so don't." Saves a lot of work.

Plus the secret is to have lots of brilliant people who for some reason are perfectly willing to lend me their brains for free.

I tend to think 'oh, I have to write everything in chronological plot order', so start at the beginning and keep going.

When I write a normal story, I usually write in a circle: start in the middle, write to the end, go back to the beginning and write until I catch up with myself. With this monster, all bets were off.

I am now writing my own HP fic and my own Draco

[pause for capering and cheering] If you ever want brainstorming help, I'm on AIM and IRC as resonant8.

It actually might be kind of amusing to write a Draco who grew up homely.

I found it very interesting to find out how much attention you paid to exposition.

I think it was a result of setting the story so far in the future. There were five years' worth of events that the readers didn't know about, and I had to cram 'em in there somehow.

But maybe the late insertion of the man-Sunday made the revelation of his masculinity a tiny bit too hurried.

Possibly. Julad mentioned, and she's right, that once we could see the end, we accepted some things that we probably should have examined more closely.

In retrospect, maybe I should have tried just having Harry totally assume that everyone knew Sunday was a guy, so that when Hermione said, "You lied to us," he'd just say, "Huh?"

So is he vain in canon? *wonders*

Huh! Good question. He's an attention-monger, and very fond of his (or his father's) power, but that doesn't necessarily translate to "me-so-pretty" vanity.

I'm wondering whether there aren't any lingering traces of the pushme-pullyou between you and Julad in this scene, and that it is these traces I picked up as not quite 'gelling'.

Could be. It's such a crucial scene, and it has to contain so much -- and Harry's been in denial for so long -- that my usual strategy of understating everything to a fault doesn't necessarily do the trick here.

Oh, and: Tagless = where you write the dialog but nothing else. (There are whole stories written that way; they're an acquired taste, but I adore them.) And the numbers are my counter, which tells me how many visitors the page has had, and where they clicked in from, and how long they stayed.

[ex-lonicera600.livejournal.com]

Having read and muchly enjoyed all the background info on how you wrote 'Transfigurations', here are a few comments now:

Based on the fairy-tale system, I have a whole set of predictions about who's going to survive the series and who's going to die next, but people who hate spoilers would probably be a lot happier if I didn't publish it.

I'd die to know your predictions! Care to post or mail them to me?


*Julad throws herself on Snape statue and cries* Nooo, he doesn't die! And actually I started a prequel to Transfig after this was posted, because I was in such withdrawal for this universe and I wanted the Snape/Neville backstory. So one day when/if I actually finish it, Snape will live again. :)

WHERE is that? Can I have a look or isn't anything of it published yet?


"Oh?" Malfoy inquired with exaggerated interest. "And when do we say bibbiti-bobbiti-boo?"

However often I read 'T' THIS always makes me crack up!


"Malfoy must've had Hufflepuffs for Muggle Studies," Ron said. "Wonder how he made out?"
The hall door opened and Malfoy walked in. There was a Styrofoam cup stuck firmly to the middle of his forehead.
"About as expected, then," Ron said.

I SO LOVE THIS SCENE!


After several months of mixed-house classes, Harry looked out over the Great Hall at dinner and noticed something odd.
"Isn't Beauchamp a Hufflepuff?" he said. "What's he doing sitting with Cabot at Ravenclaw table?"
"Cabot's not a Ravenclaw, she's a Slytherin," Hermione said.
"So's Mulhall," Ron said. "Strickland's the only one at that end of the table who's a Ravenclaw."
"Oh, those four," Malfoy said. "They've got Level 4 Defense together, and they spend all their time in the library. I don't think they've seen the sun in weeks. Sorting Hat might as well have put them in Bookworm House."

AND THIS ONE! One of the many things I adore in 'T' is that it finally ends the house rivalry and allows for inter-house friendships, because that is one major thing that really disturbs me in the books.


Oliver proposed so many toasts that eventually he was reduced to drinking in honor of inanimate objects --"Ropeladder! Ra -- wa -- wand!" In the midst of proposing a toast to fireplaces, he fell silent, and presently from that corner of the room, over Penelope's giggles, they heard a definite sound of snoring.

Another favourite scene of mine.


I love that it's not Draco right away, which would have been kind of improbable and overblown and unsubtle. And I'm also really happy that it's not Harry, because the story has been about getting Harry to the point where he doesn't have the weight of the world on his shoulders. Giving him responsibility at this point would have been ridiculous. Finally, I'm so happy it's a Ravenclaw, which the implication of a Slytherin after, because I really wanted to break the stranglehold Gryffindor had on the HP universe, and, again, show that the other Houses are actually the best for some things and at some times.

I SO agree! The solution of 'T' is a stroke of genius because everyone gets a position he/she can really fulfill, but it leaves possibilities for future development.


He made a half-bow to the statue. Harry watched him walk off -- robe falling immaculately to the floor, hair clasped at the crown with a gently writhing emerald snake, a perfect model of Slytherin magnificence -- and smiled.

That is exactly what I wish for him: Slytherin magnificence.


I was really surprised to learn how long it took you to write this and how many changes it underwent. The deleted scenes were very interesting to read, but I'm glad you found and stuck with the now published storyline. Julad seems to be a fantastic beta who really challenged you and pushed you to your (then existing) limits.

As I said in an earlier post I would LOVE to read more in this universe. First times are good and well, but it could be interesting to see how their relationship develops with time or whether it stands the test of time at all. After all they're very different personalities and their being together must be challenging for both of them.

Anyway, thank you for a very fine fic and most interesting insights into your writing habits.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm really glad you liked it.

I'd die to know your predictions!

I don't think I'm brave enough to publish them, but if you'll send me your e-mail address (to resonant8(at)att(dot)net), I'll e-mail them to you.

WHERE is that? Can I have a look or isn't anything of it published yet?


julad's Snape/Neville story is in progress. (Right, Julad? You haven't gotten bored with it, have you? she says threateningly.) I'll probably announce it in my LJ when it's published, since I'll want it to reach Transfig readers who might not have her friended.

Julad seems to be a fantastic beta who really challenged you and pushed you to your (then existing) limits.

Yes, absolutely! She could make a living as a book editor. I keep telling her this. (Not that I've sent her any money or anything ...)

First times are good and well, but it could be interesting to see how their relationship develops with time or whether it stands the test of time at all.

It's true -- there are a lot of places to go with the characters. (Not to mention other characters and pairings to work with, backstory, how-they-got-there stories ...) I'm just not, at the moment, feeling the inspiration to actually write any of it. Which is why I'm so happy that Julad's writing the Neville/Snape angle.

wow

[(Anonymous)]

cannot get any better: tough day, check favourites for any new fiction. yay!!! transfiguration dvd commentary!!! oh joy! rush home, text 'no time tonight AT ALL' to boyfriend, cook large bowl of food to be eaten with a spoon, make tea, slide on sofa and then...
CAN'T GET ANY BETTER!!!
thank you. that was great.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

[beaming at you] Hope you enjoyed it!

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, I've a question. I've long enjoyed your journal (though I don't comment much in general). My friendslist has been a mess for a while, I'm getting pictures instead of a list and can't seem to change it back. But I just discovered that you'd unfriended me. Any reason why?

Icarus (icarusancalion)

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Hey! You didn't offend me or anything. I just unsubscribed to a bunch of journals a while back in a (semi-futile) effort to bring my list down to the point where I was doing more reading than skimming.

This is why I hate that they call it "friends." I think of them as "subscriptions," because when I sign off of one, I never, ever mean it as a personal slur.

[byob-kenobi.livejournal.com]

Wow, I'm really glad you did this! I don't read a lot of HP fic (barely any), but I read "Transfigurations" because I love your DS stories so much. I love it to pieces ...and I keep getting your canon and "real" canon confused! I just re-read OOTP and was looking for Calligromancy. *g*

Anyways, thanks for writing such a lovely story!

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Aww. Thanks! I'm glad you liked it.

One of the really fun things about HP is the opportunity to develop new kinds of magic.

[lilbakht.livejournal.com]

Ah! Loved the story when it first came out, love the commentary. I adore seeing the process.

A thought- Might you ever show us more of the Coven of the Americas? You seem to have some very concrete pictures of the folk involved, and some of the imagery cracks me up, besides the "mongrel" magic being fascinating. Either in the form of a prequel or a sequel? (Lil bats her eyes in what she hopes is effective puppy dog eyes)

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked it!

As for the Coven of the Americas ... maybe. I still love the characters, and I might get back into them one day. (Like maybe if someone requests it in fan_the_vote ...) (http://www.livejournal.com/community/fan_the_vote/52368.html)