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It has been nearly two years since my last update to my Harry Potter fanfic that I have titled 'Monster'. To those that haven't read the story or are waiting for the next update, I have decided to take a look at what I have and discuss what I plan for the story in future updates.
Firstly, I've got to make my intentions with this story very clear as the original idea is not my own. Monster is inspired by a fanfic written by ThatOneAnimagus titled 'The Marauders and Umbridge'. I was largely inspired to write the aftermath of the events in Chapter 20 of this fic, and I think I am doing so in a way that is very realistic to how the canon characters would have responded to such an event. Obviously, the Marauders during their school years is up for creative licence as the Harry Potter series only explores Harry's story which is set long after the Marauders attended and left Hogwarts. It is not my intent to rewrite this story as I believe the original author did an amazing job with setting up their plot and characterizations.
However, I did expand on characterization and the plot... and the overarching problem that Remus faces at the hands of Dolores Umbridge who is specifically targeting him because of his lycanthropy.
So far, I only have two chapters written and published and was set on publishing the third and final update until computer troubles caused me to lose the entire thing. This has caused a huge delay in posting the final chapter of a story that has been a huge part of my writing life for over two years. I am steadily rewriting that chapter, but believe that I might have enough for at least a fourth chapter as I want an end to the story that will fit what happened to Remus instead of leaving it open ended.
Of course, the original author does have an update of what happened to Umbridge in their story titled: 'The Third Year', so to anyone interested in reading that, I suggest reading this fanfic as well. I might come forward in future with a story that explores the consequences of Remus getting the word 'Monster' branded into his hand, but it might be a long time before I make that commitment as it will be a very demanding story that will take up a lot of my time and energy.
While re-reading my two published chapters for Monster, I realised that a lot of what I had written is messy. I am going to be resolving this issue by making some edits. This is to make the story flow easier as I feel that the writing can easily jolt a reader out of the story. Those edits have already started.
I am not sure when the third chapter will be published. At this point, I am not really writing as much as I did before and the inspiration to write these days has been very hard to come by. Especially when I lost a lot of my work with the aforementioned computer difficulties. I will be making a decision while writing this chapter on whether or not I want to continue on with a fourth, but as I feel I need a resolution to wrap the story up, I feel like I just might add an additional chapter.
If I do decide to do some kind of sequel fic exploring the aftermath of the whole Umbridge affair, I will be discussing that fic in full as well. My initial planning is going to make Remus suffer through additional trauma and consequences in the Fifth Year- but these are preliminary plans that I feel need to be thought out carefully- something that I might not have the mental capacity to do when considering the other fics I am writing that require careful planning as well.
That is where I currently stand with Monster. It's going to be updated in future, but I'm not sure when this update will be... nor am I sure if this update is going to be final or if there's going to be one more chapter afterwards. These days, I have been reintroducing myself to characters from the d'Artagnan romances fandom who hold a special place in my heart, and writing out more stories with these characters including a story that is taking a lot out of me due to the nature of the story idea.
However, that doesn't mean I have stopped writing Monster entirely, either. Even though circumstances made me pause long enough to make it feel like I have done just that.
Firstly, I've got to make my intentions with this story very clear as the original idea is not my own. Monster is inspired by a fanfic written by ThatOneAnimagus titled 'The Marauders and Umbridge'. I was largely inspired to write the aftermath of the events in Chapter 20 of this fic, and I think I am doing so in a way that is very realistic to how the canon characters would have responded to such an event. Obviously, the Marauders during their school years is up for creative licence as the Harry Potter series only explores Harry's story which is set long after the Marauders attended and left Hogwarts. It is not my intent to rewrite this story as I believe the original author did an amazing job with setting up their plot and characterizations.
However, I did expand on characterization and the plot... and the overarching problem that Remus faces at the hands of Dolores Umbridge who is specifically targeting him because of his lycanthropy.
So far, I only have two chapters written and published and was set on publishing the third and final update until computer troubles caused me to lose the entire thing. This has caused a huge delay in posting the final chapter of a story that has been a huge part of my writing life for over two years. I am steadily rewriting that chapter, but believe that I might have enough for at least a fourth chapter as I want an end to the story that will fit what happened to Remus instead of leaving it open ended.
Of course, the original author does have an update of what happened to Umbridge in their story titled: 'The Third Year', so to anyone interested in reading that, I suggest reading this fanfic as well. I might come forward in future with a story that explores the consequences of Remus getting the word 'Monster' branded into his hand, but it might be a long time before I make that commitment as it will be a very demanding story that will take up a lot of my time and energy.
While re-reading my two published chapters for Monster, I realised that a lot of what I had written is messy. I am going to be resolving this issue by making some edits. This is to make the story flow easier as I feel that the writing can easily jolt a reader out of the story. Those edits have already started.
I am not sure when the third chapter will be published. At this point, I am not really writing as much as I did before and the inspiration to write these days has been very hard to come by. Especially when I lost a lot of my work with the aforementioned computer difficulties. I will be making a decision while writing this chapter on whether or not I want to continue on with a fourth, but as I feel I need a resolution to wrap the story up, I feel like I just might add an additional chapter.
If I do decide to do some kind of sequel fic exploring the aftermath of the whole Umbridge affair, I will be discussing that fic in full as well. My initial planning is going to make Remus suffer through additional trauma and consequences in the Fifth Year- but these are preliminary plans that I feel need to be thought out carefully- something that I might not have the mental capacity to do when considering the other fics I am writing that require careful planning as well.
That is where I currently stand with Monster. It's going to be updated in future, but I'm not sure when this update will be... nor am I sure if this update is going to be final or if there's going to be one more chapter afterwards. These days, I have been reintroducing myself to characters from the d'Artagnan romances fandom who hold a special place in my heart, and writing out more stories with these characters including a story that is taking a lot out of me due to the nature of the story idea.
However, that doesn't mean I have stopped writing Monster entirely, either. Even though circumstances made me pause long enough to make it feel like I have done just that.
