Open Novella Journal 2024

Round 2 (Weeks 6-9) Part Two

In the last part, I briefly went over
- how I ended up losing a good chunk of my writing time last round because things happened
- how all the entries passed round one, with one being picked as a round winner
- talked a good deal about how important building a fanbase for the fandom a writer is creating is, that there is too much focus on views and reads

I'm not sure how, honestly, I am going to do this round. Things outside of my control are outside my control, and while I'd like to say they wouldn't crop up, I can't.

What I did know is this. I wanted to finish all nine of my stories, get them to the milestone, and turn them in, but I'm also going to admit this may have an impact on some not going forward, although I am alright with that as by making sure all nine go through if one of my doesn't move forward, I've increased the chances of another person's story moving forward as I've increased the number of entries that were submitted which in turn has an impact on the number of entries that can move forward.

As for how I feel about my entries, here I go.

The Hobgoblins

Another first for ONC, I'm actually going to be rewriting the last few chapters for the next round. It's not so much I think what I've done is bad, but more of those two chapters don't do what I want, something I tend to have a better chance of catching before posting on stories I'm not dealing with a deadline on.

First and foremost, I'd forgotten a vital story element and didn't incorporate it into those two chapters, one that will be important going forward. However, I might say it's two elements. One involves Bellatrix Lestrange, getting her involved in trying to influence Regulus at this point in time, while the other involves Regulus setting out his point of view.

Second and less critical, I'm changing how one of the chapters starts and improving upon it.

The fact I feel those last chapters need a rewrite is the weak point of this one.

Oh, as for prompt, there is one other issue in that while I am incorporating the prompt, doing so isn't easy.

The Four Interchanging Lives of Regulus Black

Oh boy. I definitely like how the story is going, but I also feel that the story can be a difficult one for readers to follow if they don't pay attention with the way the timeline goes down, but this also has to do with the prompt and how I decided to utilize the prompt.

Gemini' Summer Getaway

This one isn't one of my stronger pieces, to be honest, something that I don't feel stands out in any way special. It leans kind of towards things between humor and crack-fic, the latter I'm not super strong with. It's a crossover, so blending the two fandom well is important, nor are they easy fandom to blend together. And in the end, it's simply a story that doesn't stand out, though it does fulfill the prompts.

Oh, speaking of the prompts, I do have to admit here that this is also the first story I've used as many prompts as I've had, so I am a bit concerned the judges may think a different prompt is a main prompt than what I choose, but the one I chose is the one holding everything together.

Cinders and Magic

This is my story that ended up being a round one winner, yet here's where I note that it doesn't guarantee anything going forward.

I'm also going to admit that this particular story is written for a popular fandom (Harry Potter) utilizing a rather popular character along with a rather popular fanfic trope, doing a fairy tale retelling, which, given my talk about "needs" versus "wants" for readers may seem a bit odd, as I've obviously hit quite a few popular points. I've got to admit that while stories where Regulus Black lives weren't always popular, this headcanon has gained popularity since I started tackling it myself.

Not so popular, though, are stories where Regulus Black is Mr. Granger, or in this case, Hermione Granger's biological parent. The stories also crossed over with another series that isn't super popular, Worst Witch, which I find kind of a shame because you'd think this fandom would be far more popular among the Harry Potter fandom. However, in saying this, this was also a fandom that's been accused of plagiarizing Harry Potter despite actually being the older series. I mean, Worst Witch is a fandom old enough to have not one, but three different adaptions.

And in this, one could say that all of the above combined adds up to one very awesome concept, but it's also something that should be noted to be a major risk. Crossovers -- the world's need to be blended together just right for them to work. Fairy tale elements, while they're popular retelling wise, they're not actually a common thing to fine as pulling them off well can be hit or miss, as it's to easy to just go with a story that just hits all the notes.

Which, I could have simply gone with just Cinderella, but somehow other elements from Beauty and the Beast and Little Red Riding Hood are incorporated into the story.

Scars and Ashes

I am really loving writing this one, and the prompt is straight forward, although I didn't get into it right away.  I don't have any down sides of the thought process.

Free Falling II - Seconds Away

This is a story I've marked as mature, something I'm always worried about. It's marked as mature for a few reasons. One of my OCs, for example, was taught by their mother to become a trophy wife, although her attitude towards this is meant to be called out in the story. There's also accusations of intentions of the Black family towards another OC that can be taken as something mature rated, but nothing's happening. There's also PTSD issues the characters are dealing with. Prompt - the second chance part is kind of not arrived at yet?

Rouge-Gorge

This one is ending up being a little more difficult to write and the prompt is spot on, but it might not have the same pizazz by the others using the same prompt.

Buried Within II - Buried Without

I'd actually weirdly enough not expected to not have the canon characters entered so soon, and the secondary prompt is minor, but the library is a major setting, although the school might be bigger than that.

Throne of Ashes

For this one, I kind of wished in the first 8k I could have dived into the prompt a bit more already.

And there's my thoughts on the stories I've written so far - I've been enjoying writing them. I wasn't super sold on the ones that weren't for Harry Potter of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but now I'm actually pretty sold.