Changing Courses in the Alternity-verse....

[gwendolyngrace]

Aliethen asked:
Can you give us a sense of (a few of the) plots which were surprises but worked really well in the end? For example I always had the impression that Terry/Hermione was supposed to be endgame at first but Draco/Hermione ended up evolving organically...was I right? (Was it even known at first that Draco would be in the Order in the end?) Did you always know Harry and Neville would die?


I felt like that sort of thing deserves its own thread, so here. Discuss!

Comments

[naomikritzer]

Of the ships my characters were in:

1. Bill/Rachel was in fact planned from the first introduction of Rachel. We had intended there to be a longer buildup before sparks flew, but Rachel was definitely a character who took on a personality of her own extremely quickly as I thought through her personality. I knew at the outset, though Peg didn't, that she was the daughter of the Auror described by Sirius in his Grim Truth when Dolohov arrived. We both knew that she was in Dogstar, but had to roleplay the conversation when they met at the muggle camp. (On pondering it, I decided that she would try to recruit him.)

2. Ron/Sally-Anne was entirely organic. But worked for both me and Deb. Ron, clearly, likes very smart girls who are somewhat snotty to him.

3. Seamus/Jason was organic but swift!

4. Remus/Sirius was planned, I think, before I took Remus over, there were some odd twists and turns, and we had to struggle a bit to make it happen. They're kind of an OTP for both Gwen and me, though, so we really wanted it to happen.

Of other plots, some were intensively planned a long way in advance, others were organic or spontaneous. It took us a very long time to work out how Harry would defeat Voldemort -- so no, his death was not always planned, nor Neville's. Sometimes we planned stuff out and then had to rethink it. I'll try to think of some good examples.

None of my characters were marked for death from the start (though Harry was at the point I started playing him) although I remember saying that Corax was such a raging asshole that if someone wanted to kill him, they should consider him fair game.

[gwendolyngrace]

I mentioned that Justin's death was planned; it wasn't part of our concept from the moment Sirius found him, or even from his introduction as a PC, but when Rene and I decided on a Romeo and Juliet forbidden love arc, we also decided then and there to kill him. I am not ashamed to say that we justified a lot of their treacle on his eventual death.

What we couldn't decide, for the longest time, was HOW and WHY he would die. It took many, many, many, many long and circuitous conversations for us all to devise a satisfactory ending for Lord Frenchy.

[gwendolyngrace]

I think our patience paid off.

[synecdochic]

But oi, what it took for us to get there!

[gwendolyngrace]

Many, many, many, many... many attempts to make it fit. :)

[synecdochic]

So many. SO, SO MANY