Wow, you guys have been fabulous about reviewing! Thank-you so much for all the lovely feedback. I had a request for an excerpt from chapter 28, as well as a handful of questions through reviews and PMs and the rest that deserve answering. For instance:
How old is Lathe?
Early twenties. He was supposed to be a year ahead of Kingsley at Hogwarts, making him twenty-three-ish at the start.
Eponymy91, about Marlene's Hair Cut: GET OUT OF MY HEAD! Yep, Marlene will be rocking a pixie cut =). Not Emma inspired, but coincidentally reminiscent. I imagine Marlene's as a LITTLE longer than that, but pretty damn short. I've got it drawn--I really ought to post.
WHY CARLOTTA?!
Beeecaaaaauuuuuseeeeeee. Lily and James are made for each other... like Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in any movie that they were ever in together. Or Cory and Topanga. DESTINY. So the ooooonnnlllllyyyy way that there could ever be anything remotely like competition for James's affections is a girl who fulfills the three major food groups for a teenage guy: hot, neurotic, and kind of slutty. But, as we all know, James is James, so he's going to be hoping for something a little more substantial, too. Whether or not Carlotta will be able to come through on that account remains to be seen. Awesome reviewer lmurph summed up James-and-Carlotta in the last chapter PERFECTLY: "He does not worship her like all of her admirers, he does not hate her or think she is a slag, he just sees her as a person who makes mistakes..."
BUT WHY CARLOTTA?!?!
Also, it helps the plot. Like, a lot. Not just with regards to Lily going green-eyed, but with her other development, James's kind of last step of evolution, and some great Sirius material. AND I have a really, really fun storyline planned involving a weird Love Rectangle... even a Love Pentagon at one point... Seventh year will be fucking crazy. Furthermore, Off Dreaming brilliantly predicted a Platform Nine and Three Quarters scene of great importance. Like.... serious, epic, Chapter 13-teaser-fulfilling importance.
But not until Chapter 30.
What's the deal with Sam?
He's just a chill dude. He finally gets met in Chapter 28. And he's a shipper.
Will this be like ITISNS, **spoilers** with Lily and James not getting together until, like, the last second of the last chapter?
Nope.
When will you be updating?!
This is such a hard question to answer, but I know I owe it to you. I have some stuff written for Chapters 28 and 29, and I have all of it planned. I want to have a large portion of 29 written before I post 28, though, because they're really one thing chopped down the middle. There was no way I could fit that much stuff in a reasonable chapter length... or even a reasonably unreasonable length chapter. Also, it'll give you a great cliffhanger for Chapter 28. So, the real answer to this question is-- I have no idea at this point. It's gonna be kind of a crazy week for me, but I'm HOPING to have 28 substantially done by the end of it, and so HOPEFULLY next-week-ish? Remember when I was a good person who updated every other week? Yeah, that was nice. SIGH. It's these damn 22,000 word chapters, Jules! Cut 'em short!
So, I don't have any good excerpts that don't give too much away, but I can spoil!
*I've already said no Carlotta in 28 or 29. She's in Italy at the moment, if you recall. Lucky B.
*James will watch old school Dr. Who. Lily will profess her love for Tom Baker.
*Sirius and Remus are going to be unhappy shippers.
*A few people are kind of getting arrested, and one of them is Lily.
*Banter abounds
*Gideon and Fabian Prewett, Dorcas Meadowes, Emmeline Vance = there.
*James will debate sharing two vital bits of information
*Alice goes ninja!
And, goodness, have I given you a title yet?
"Phoenix"
P.S. Thank you for all the birthday well wishes =)
You quoted me. I feel special. Thank you for not making it so we get to see them as an actual couple. That makes me super happy. I love all the info. Just one question. I have no idea what you mean by shippers. (Remus and Sirius are unhappy shippers, and Sam is a shipper) Does that mean they are on board for L/J and just about as pissed about Carlotta as your fandom?
ReplyDeleteOther than that I need to write a paper. And you need to celebrate your birthday. So go out and enjoy while I suffer and (not so) patiently await chapter 28
Okay, I forgot like 15 things in my review. But it's okay, I can just put them here!
ReplyDelete1. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Hope it was everything you dreamed it would be and more...;)
2. Loved James's reaction to his HB badge...perfect.
3. Apparently, I really like using ....'s
4. Lily's vision of the future? At least, I'm suspecting that's what her second dream was. Consider me intrigued.
5. Now I'm really excited for the next chapters! Well, all right, I already was, but seriously--banter, arrests, and ninja Alice? Awesome. Plus, excited for the future love pentagon...sounds pretty epic.
This is a comment to express how SLOW a certain girl named Bree is.
ReplyDeleteI just went back and read the chapter 13 teasers and don't I feel stupid. It was all there, like you said.
Based on the information you gave here, I can guess that the Platform 9 and 3/4 scene will involve Shelly seeing Carlotta and James together? And thus shit hitting the fan as far as the Carlotta-Shelley friendship goes, correct? It's funny because for some reason, I thought it would be LILY finding out that way. I had a fully developed theory actually that I am now too embarrassed to tell LOL.
"Fucking crazy" 7th year? YES! I can't wait!
Once again, Happy birthday! I hope you're having a good one :D
Hope to hear from you soon!
-Bree
PS. I know Tumblr is really confusing to use but you should enable their Q&A feature to answer FAQs. Just and idea :)
Now you've got me all excited :). not that i wasn't before but the spoilers have me even more siked.
ReplyDelete- Carlotta's in Italy? wait so does that mean that Shelly won't find out till later, and will James keep the whole relationship a secret? Because i can't really see him as boasting it around.
* Haha, Lily's going to profess her love for Tom Baker? how will James watch Dr. Who?
* (Erm) i'm intrigued what is the whole Sirius and Remus are going to be unhappy shippers thing?
*Arrested! What the Hell are they going to do?
* I at least know what one of the bits of information is (Carlotta) but what about the other...hmm?
*Is alice going to like spy on someone or something? :)
First of all, HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! :D Have a great one! More Potter-filled birthdays to come. <3
ReplyDeleteSecond, though I really (really, really, really) want Carlotta to go die in a fire on the next chapter, I trust you with this whole James/Carlotta thing. It made me think (after listening to sappy songs and eating lots of chocolate) that it would also make Lily realize she can't afford to lose James to someone else. Plus James' feelings for Lily goes way more than his *hopefully non-existent/platonic/whatnot* feelings for Carlotta and in the end, he'll realize he belongs with Lily and no one else.
Third, I'm just as curious about this whole shipper thing as everyone else. :P
Last, SEVENTH YEAR IS GOING TO BE CRAZY. OMG. I love you.
So, I just went back and re-read all the predictions. A lot of those have come true, haven't they? YAY
ReplyDeleteDonna fell in love... kind of. Lathe? Please? ;)
I have to say I also trust you on the whole James/Carlotta thing. As much as I'd like to think that James would never do such a thing while he still wants Lily, I do need to remember that he is a real person and a teenage boy (I realized after typing this that I made it sound like James Potter is a real person. What I actually meant is that you portray him as a real life, realistic teenage boy. THANK YOU.:D).
I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see some Adam/Marlene action soon. I'll LOVE LOVE LOVE pretty much everything you write, but I think they're my favorite couple and I'm sososo excited for them to figure things out. I've waited on the Mary/Reg front, so when (not if!!!!!) that happens I may have to rethink the whole favorite couple thing.
Then again, there's also Lily/James. But obviously I like them because I'm reading your LJ story.
I'm rambling. Yay for rambling. This is all stuff I couldn't really put in a review because it's not terribly pertinent to the chapter... I'm awfully glad you have a blog. :P Lots of love and cookies right back at ya, can't wait for the next one!
--Sarah (Buglet)
I am confused about the whole Remus/Sirius unhappy shippers things. Explain? I can't wait for the next chapters. AND NO CARLOTTA. I don't like her. Bit to be honest I feel sorry for her because she didn't get Frank because he loves Alice and in the end she won't have James because he lives Lily and I guess that I am kind of hoping she doesn't get too hurt in the process. I am very intrigued about the arrests. And the love pentagon. Pentagon? That is twisted business I am thinking James, Carlotta, Shelley, Lily and another guy. I could be completely wrong though and most likely are but it's very fun to speculate. You're telling me next week-ish and that would be so fantastic I would cry of joy. I do remember the days of updates every other week. I miss them. I love you no less though because I know if this was me I would be ten times worse. And I love the fan fiction you provide me with too much to ever have any I'll feelings toward you of importance. I don't think I have anything else to say. I have to wake up for school in a few hours so I should go to sleep.
ReplyDeleteI hope you had a great birthday :)
I think these spoilers have made me even more anxious for the next chapter, and the rest of the story, of course. I'm truly excited for an insane 7th year! Woot, woot!
ReplyDeleteA love pentagon, eh? Lily, James and Carlotta are a given... Perhaps Reg and Mary, seeing as the former has expressed his fancy for the new Head Girl to both James and Mary? Or Shelley and some other person? Now you've got me wondering who it's going to be!
I'm excited for Gideon, Fabian, Dorcas, and Emmeline! Are they going to get arrested with Lily? I think that would be pretty epic.
I can't wait for Ninja!Alice too! I have no doubt her parts will be a great read.
I fully support Sirius and Remus in their unhappy-shipper-ness. I'm right there with them hahaha.
I love that your chapters are 22,000+ words. You don't need to shorten them - they are awesome as they are! Totally worth the wait between updates.
- Star.Shinee
DOCTOR WHO. I love you. So much. Haha, I can just imagine James watching the Doctor while he's bored. Lily/The Doctor? If I wasn't so committed to Lily/James, I might actually ship that.
ReplyDeleteI kid. It's just, you know, a fan girl actually getting her Doctor? Fun, fun, fun.
Write as much as you want. I love your unreasonably lengthy chapters.