Desiderius Price

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I’m on too good of a roll on my potter fanfic to take a break… maybe on my next burnout/switch, whenever that comes.

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And a reading of later bits of that older draft, name is now needed to connect dots, so that doctor got his name restored. Introduced, but then kept to “the doctor” for most of the rest to signal it’s less...necessary, more about the role being played.

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Lets not totally derail this topic Names… yep, size of the role dependent. Whether it’s sexual or not. When reworking the potter fanfic, noticed I had removed a doctor’s name between two (earlier) drafts today, kept the name out simply as it’d be more distracting than helpful. Guess that’s a better measure for your gang of boys & girls the MC is going through – name helpful or distracting to the narrative?

Yep, both agree here. A sidecar/backstory also does way better justice to the character than “flashback short”. Take Jeff, briefly mentioned in a flashback, is now a fully fleshed character, and the reader will be rooting for him when he competes in the Olympics (swimming), in what’s likely going to be a multi-installment type of back story. One thing I fight in my potter story rewrite… I did a lot of retcon before, so it’d be like Hermione going “Yesterday Snape talked to me...” On this rewrite, I’m changing it to showing that conversation when it happens. Thus, what had been revealed later to be SeamusFinnigan/LadyAuror relation, is now being shown (added a new character on this rewrite, and his POV is able to witness SeamusFinnigan/LadyAuror banging on the sofa in the Gryffindor Common Room).

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My disastrous mistake with flashbacks… In my first original fic I posted here, because it was a huge group of people, I started inserting chapters of flashbacks, one after another, covering how the different characters got there. Reviewers were getting confused “isn’t he dead?” Once I realized I had basically had multiple stories in it, I started to peel them off as SEPARATE stories, and it’s way, way better. Of course, haven’t finished those backstories, still working on them, and plan to get back to the main story… eventually. For instance, Jefferey is backstory that delves into the subversive underground group trying to counter the strong religious push/indoctrination of the main society. Alaska Trekkers shows how two join up to the main story. Dale’s Game is intended for one of those too (though it derailed, so it’s eventual rewrite will fix that). Once I start clearing out the backstory & rewrites, I do intend to get back to the main story In the meanwhile, this potter fanfic isn’t going to write itself. Overall, I minimize flashbacks, as it’s usually a symptom of planning issues. However, they can have a place.

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One thing I appreciate here on AFF is that we don’t have to consider sexuality a gift of the 18th birthday, that it’s part of the human condition from the day we’re born. Stuff I write is usually underdogs, their development, which tends to include youth, teenagers, and college-aged characters because its these early years that tend to set them up – sure, can happen later too, but way more likely with early indoctrination. Jeff? He’s eight, in the middle of taking a bath, when the father comes to execute a custody order in the middle of a divorce, thus Jeff’s leaving his family home in his birthday suit, and gets relocated to a nudist environment as that’s a good hiding spot from the ex … that’s got underage all over it. Nah, I’d totally understand it if you had minors doing those acts… happens today with teenagers, how many “wait” until they’re 18 to get frisky if given the chance? Some do, but not most, and I try to write with a fair bit of realism to it. And even if the teens aren’t actually getting frisky, they’re dreaming/joking about it. Even in star trek, most red shirts had a name, maybe added to the captain’s log “Death of Lt Smith”. So, if the character’s around for most of an episode, a name’s likely the right thing to give them. If you’re having difficulty with names, try a random name generator, that’ll suggest names fast. (I tend to use http://random-name-generator.info/random/)