Story notes for "Transfigurations" by Resonant
Posted April 25, 2003
Julad is the mighty priestess of narrative and the oracle of What Happens Next. She's been nursemaiding this story since its awkward, red-faced, screeching infancy two years ago. Most of the best stuff in the story was her idea, including Draco talking to the Snape statue, the "A Gryffindor will jump off a cliff" proverb, Lucius' involvement in the mines, the memorial to James and Lily, the Sorting Hat's poem, Hagrid's new job, and giving Sunday Coneskey a sex change.
Calico, Cesca, Fox, Julad, and Mia did beta duty and saved me from all sorts of embarrassing errors.
I had tons of other help along the way, too.
In chat, Fox and Rivier helped me pin down Ron's characterization, and Julad, Laura Jacquez Valentine, Luthien, MB, MamaDeb, and Sinopeq talked me through the Slytherin character (with some ideas originally proposed by Minerva McTabby).
Sineala suggested the structure of goblin names, then provided a nifty list of mix-and-match name possibilities.
The multi-lingual Fox gave me a ton of language help: working out the likely shape of a goblin language, correcting syntax in Hermione's archaic reference book, providing one of Malfoy's names (Douce-Douleur means "sweet pain," if you're curious), and coming up with an undressing spell when I was defeated by the lack of a Latin verb for "unbutton." She's also the one who suggested the final shape of the windows.
Livia helped me with a lot of thinking-out-loud in the early stages of the story, and she offered useful suggestions on the Muggles Memorial. (What do you think, Livia -- would it be a good idea to send Scott Luniak down to Florida to meet Sunday Coneskey?)
Dale gave me valuable critique and encouragement on an earlier draft; due to her input, Hermione became a little less of a Super Witch, which created the opportunity for a larger role for Neville.
Calico, Llew, and Rivier explained all about card shopping in the UK so I wouldn't make the newsagents look more like an American Hallmark store.
And I wouldn't be writing Harry Potter slash at all, or even reading it, if it weren't for Shalott's Harry/Draco stories.
The songs Ginny's band sings at Christmas are "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" (one of those pretty little folk songs about Napoleon) and a Christmas folk song called "There Was a Pig Went Out To Dig."
Or read a chapter at a time:
1. Homing
2. Ruins
3. Sacrifice
4. Synergy
5. Lessons
6. The Ripple Effect
7. All Souls
8. Greetings
9. Modern History
10. Finding
11. The League of Protection
12. Magic Fatigue
13. Duels
14. Dungeons
15. Memorials
16. Sorting
Epilogue