The Sleeper's Den

Today is _vocalion_'s birthday! She is a grand lady and a dear friend as well as the creator of several Snape-related fandom wonders like Highly Improbable and the Society of Nonsensical ArtPad Enthusiasts - Snape has had to watch his step (and his trousers) ever since _vocalion_ decided to tickle/harrass him with her brilliant sense of humour!

For myself, I am a great fan of her OFC, the Highly Loveable Clancy Norgard, and the only Snape ship I really sail is Potions & Pineapple. So I thought I'd celebrate _vocalion_'s birthday with a gift portrait of Clancy.
(I am entirely to blame for the hat...)



( Clancy in a Cloche Hat )

a_t_rain wrote, in a comment to my previous entry (this one), that “it's funny how so many first-time OC writers DO make a beeline for all the things Thou Shalt Not Do without even knowing what those things are.”
She raises what I think is a very interesting point. I gave some thought to it, and this is how I think it went with me and Bromelia/Brynhild – but by all means post your own experiences, I’m very curious to hear about them!

I think (but this is a very personal supposition) that many fanfic authors wander into the world of fan fiction because they have a soft spot for a specific (set of) character(s). They fantasise about said character(s), and somehow it seems appealing to create one all of your own to interact with them – it is your own, not-so-very-secret infiltration in a universe you like. It is very appealing to use all kinds of special powers/devices/backgrounds (preferably all at once) specific to the universe you have made your playground. These are the things that drew the author there in the first place. But the dangerous part is the one where they become so wrapped up in the game that they lose perspective and don’t notice that their new character is an irritating, quaint distortion that thrusts itself unbidden upon the poor, unsuspecting canon characters. If canon doesn’t mention your OC (and it never does), that means they can’t be very important to the main plot or, for that matter, to those characters you have been so eager to align them with. Consequently, it is unlikely they will beat Harry at Quidditch, outsmart Dumbledore, improve on Snape’s potions, unite the Hogwarts houses and/or defeat Voldemort.
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Here is the story I won in _vocalion_'s ArtPad contest. Grainne wrote a Sue of my making into Chapter Two of HBP, and the result is as delicious as chocolate with hazelnuts. Enjoy!

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An Uncommon Flower:
“Spinner’s End” Revised

by
Grainne

Dedicated to Sigune, who kindly lends her to well-established talents to the ephemeral world of ArtPad.

***
Disclaimers:

The Bromleys officially belong to Sigune (although I’m not sure if she’ll want Bromelia back); all other major characters in the story belong to JKR. The beginning of the second section, up until Bromelia’s arrival, is transcribed almost directly from the canon (I have changed the verb tenses and inserted some of Snape’s thoughts). Everything else is my own damn fault, including my poor imitation of Sigune’s sly humour and gorgeous writing style. I have inserted a few references to the words and works of a certain notorious wit, so in the event that the story fails to amuse, one can at least have fun finding where the Wilde things are.

Sue/Story Summary:

Bromelia Bromley has a spirit as irrepressible as her frizzy hair, a wardrobe any streetwalker would die for, amazing wandless powers, a head for Legilimency, and a penchant for fine Italian boots. What is this perennially perky and dreadfully determined anti-heroine doing in a grotty place like Spinner’s End? And, more importantly, will she be at all welcome on an evening when that street’s most enigmatic resident is already entertaining some unexpected female company? This is the tale of what happens when one Sue rushes in where most fan authors (rightly) fear to tread—Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Chapter Two.


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This week has so far been rather marvellous: _grainne_ (with The Pleasure of Your Company), _vocalion_ (with The Futility of Reason), larilee (with Overnight Sensation), seaislewitch (with Wand Stories), perselus (with Confessions of a Death Eater) and yours sincerely have all done well at Sycophant Hex’s Spring Faire Festival. I don’t know about you ladies, but I am still enjoying the fact… :-P

The Spring Faire has gently reminded me that I am a writer, too, so I thought that for the occasion I’d post a snippet of fiction. I have plenty of unfinished or discarded fragments of stories floating around on my computer, and what follows is one of them. It is only fair to warn you that it has not been beta-read – I never intended it for any fanfic archive.

Then why post it here at all? Consider it a glimpse into my fanfic kitchen. Before I start writing a character ‘for real’, I need to know all about them: their favourite food, the shoes they wear, the books they read (or if they read any); but also how they were as small children, as teens, as young adults, and who their family are and what their relation to them is. My reflections about characters tend to lead to drawings, but also to snippets of text; more often than not, these remain unused – they are just a kind of exercise in getting the voices or the tone right, and they become an invisible part of the background to other stories.

As She Likes It, my Spring Faire story, is more or less the official introduction of my OFC Brynhild Bromley. (Strictly speaking she had already made an appearance in The Good-Morrow, but there she remained anonymous.) She was a long time in the making – she was the first original character I invented, but I struggled with her for a very, very long time. She would probably never have made it into (virtual) print without the encouragement of my friend Potioncat, who managed to convince me that OFCs are nothing to be ashamed of if properly written. (Yes, I did need convincing; at that time I had not yet discovered Occlumency and its enticing Original Females…)

One day I found I had Brynhild pinned. She had a large family with a history; a broomstick obsession; hobbies; a record; an evolving dress style; a career; a distinct personality; and several pets (with names, temperaments and all). She was Severus Snape’s friend from childhood. Instead of pouring the details into a list, I shaped them into a sketch – an exploration of several characters at a given moment that also features Severus as a seven-year-old, his mother Septimia, Gunhilda von Bork, and winks to my other great passions, the Wilde family and Arthurian legend. Here it is, imperfect and sketchy.

( How they met... )