ONC is definitely going well for me this year. I've already gotten three of the stories started and they have all met the milestone for the first round. They are the ones for prompt 15 - Three Witches, prompt 18 - Whispers of the Veil and prompt 43 - After a Thousand Years. As for my progress towards the milestone for the second round...
- Three Witches -- 53.4%
- Whispers of the Veil -- 40.13%
- After a Thousand Words -- 29.5%
Three Witches
I've got a whole lot of ideas tumbling around in my head for this one that I hope to implement within the story. One decision I've already made is to have their POV chapters alternate in a pattern. I've done that in previous years with just two POVs, where the even were one POV and the odds were another, and I think this did affect me once I couldn't keep the pattern up.
Each of the three witches' secrets is either hinted at or revealed in the POV I've written for each, but there is going to be a lot of drama going on that will need to be resolved to some degree by the end of the story.
Ron and Hermione are also broken up, but I like using the method in which I broke them up over how I've done it in the past.
Effectively, my earlier stories play on the fact Ron is a womanizer, but before someone screams, "That's Curse Child canon," I think one of the reasons people take issue with that particular piece isn't because it contradicts canon but because they don't like their personal headcanon for a character being ruined. In Ron's case, canon did hint at him being a womanizer, but what I played up was the premarital stuff that Ron is for and Hermione is not - simple as that.
Which do I agree with the idea Cursed Child presents the idea that Hermione would only be happy with Ron? No, actually, particularly after Rowling admitted it was forced. To me, it is yet more proof their relationship is built on sexual tension rather than mutual respect for each other, but that particular universe is a universe where a lot of people have died, all of whom could have been alternative options for Hermione, not to mention other war-related reasons for her not to end up with the person she would truly have been happy with.
And yes, I know that's a bit off track, but getting back to how I prefer breaking them up - it's over her parents and Ron not understanding the importance of her parents because, in his mind, they're just Muggles, or he's simply not paying attention to the fact they're important. By the latter, I'm referring back to the breakup in Three Witches, where she asks him to go with her to Australia, and he gets upset because he thinks she's forgetting about Fred's funeral when she's not but makes a big deal at his own brother's funeral about her wanting to travel outside of the country for fun, not once stopping to ask if there is a reason for her going.
Pansy was also fun to write. True, she's not a likable character, but that is what made her a joy to write for the simple matter she is going to be causing major trouble later on down the line.
Whispers of the Veil
This one is an ONC first, as in this is the first time every single chapter is planned out because things just fell into place for this one. This isn't to say I won't be breaking the chapters up, particularly one chapter I envision possibly being two or three chapters, given the details for that one is vague in comparison.
Of course, I'm also going to be reworking the third chapter to make sure that Regulus' autistic meltdown isn't triggering. Particularly since the second chapter ended with his wrist getting broken when Sirius tried calming him down, but this is important in that there has become a distance between the two and Sirius stopped knowing his brother before he even left Grimmauld, but the reason comes down to the fact Sirius was too busy constantly arguing with his mother to notice what else was going on in his family, including what his father was doing.
After a Thousand Years
I went through nine drafts for the first two chapters, but the second chapter was originally going to be the first and then I realized I really needed a prologue on this one. Which, don't use a prologue if your story doesn't need it.
This is, I think, going to be a harder write as already the story isn't doing what I want it to do. The prompt is definitely there, within the first chapters, but I feel like it's not being implimented the way I wanted it to be, that the flow is off.
It is what it is, though, and I think for this one I need to focus on making a story I enjoy rather than worrying too much about how well the prompt is implemented, particularly since I know it's there given Bernard's lived over a thousand years and not found true love. But, I think one of the things about tis prompt is it is so super basic to the point of not having that additional element which is a wow factor built in. It's up to me to come up with it, and - well, I shouldn't try to push the wow factor either.
Yet, on the same side I do want more descriptions of Christmas related stuff going forward compared to the last crossover I did for ONC for these two fandom.
And That's It So Far.
