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Posted: 04/11/2005
Photography: Illustration by Bhanesidhe
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"The Very Secret Diaries of Middle Earth" surfaced on Cassandra Claire's LiveJournal in December of 2001, starting with the inner thoughts of a wannabe king named Aragorn. "Day Six: Orcs killed: none. Disappointing. Stubble update: I look rugged and manly." This brilliantly irreverent parody of the much beloved Lord of the Rings trilogy quickly gained a certain online notoriety. In total, eighteen diaries were written for the VSDs, including sequels. Fans started referring to themselves as Pervy Hobbit Fanciers. T-shirts and bumper stickers were printed with Legolas's egotistical mantra: "Still the prettiest!"
If spawning an Internet phenomenon wasn't enough, Cassie Claire is an incredibly popular author of Harry Potter fan fiction. Her Draco Trilogy -- three novel-length fanfics starring Draco Malfoy -- has been translated into eight languages, including Russian, Finnish and Korean. All are available online, as well as an assortment of shorter tales. In November, an original short story entitled "Girl's Guide to Defeating the Dark Lord" appeared in the pages of a Baen Books compilation called Turn The Other Chick. Another of her tales will appear in Steve Berman’s faery-themed So Fey collection. And then there's that young adult fantasy trilogy she's writing for McElderry Books, a division of Simon & Schuster.
Cassie Claire is a very busy woman.
Last month, JIVE had the opportunity to chat online -- naturally -- with Cassie about Harry Potter Six, pseudonyms, the legitimacy of PWPs and being a BNF.
JIVE: How did you get into fandom in the first place? What was your first fandom?
Cassie: Harry Potter. Actually, I wrote quite a bit of Draco Dormiens before I ever posted it -- it was a gift for a friend of mine, who asked me to write her a short story about Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter. I did. She told me it was fanfiction and I ought to post it to ff.net - so I did.
JIVE: What made you decide to continue with the storyline? Was it a desire to see what would happen with the characters, or did fan feedback have something to do with it?
Cassie: Well, I was very inspired by the fan feedback once I started posting Draco Dormiens, so I think that probably had something to do with my excitement about finishing the story. It felt like a really fun communal experience, with people weighing in about plot points and romantic outcomes. Then once I started taking the story in a longer direction, I think [my decision to continue] had a lot to do with the workshop aspects of fandom and the writing practice it offered.
JIVE: I know your "real job" involves writing - do you think that writing fanfic has helped your professional writing significantly, or inspired ideas for it?
Cassie: Well, my real "paying" job is as a freelance writer and journalist - it is purely nonfiction. So I tend to keep them very separate. I am also a fiction writer, and in that sense, I'm sure that my fanfiction and my original fiction have some similarities stylistically, as I can change my style only so much. I think I have learned a lot from writing fanfiction and I try to apply what I've learned to my original fiction.
JIVE: I'm excited to see your original young adult novel is in the works - have you considered posting parts of it on your LiveJournal to take advantage of that workshop aspect?
Cassie: My agent has forbidden me from doing so on pain of death, so no. Once it's sold, I can post snippets as teasers and so forth.
JIVE: Was it a difficult decision to use Cassandra Claire as your professional pseudonym? Did you consider using your real name for the book?
Cassie: I have never considered using my real name. I have considered using a third pseudonym - I haven't come up with one yet, though my friends have many helpful suggestions like Smedley O'Toole and Freckles McChesty, because they are helpful that way - and in fact the eventual pseudonym hasn't been decided, though I better get on that.
JIVE: The fact that you have to use a pseudonym, both now for the book and in fandom - does that bother you? What are your feelings on being a BNF (Big Name Fan)?
Cassie: It's a double-edged sword, like most labels, I suppose. It is interesting in that it is so important to many people online -- the whole fandom hierarchy, I mean -- and so totally meaningless offline. Being a BNF means you're a lightning rod for both criticism and praise - it can be irritating, especially when I see my friends being flayed in some flame war for ridiculous things they've never even done. But at the same time, being a "BNF" really just means being someone who has a lot of readers, and I wouldn't give that up - I love the interaction with other writers and readers of fanfic. That said, I never would have used my real name for my books even if I'd never been in fandom.
JIVE: Really? Why is that? Did you want to keep it separate from your other professional writing?
Cassie: No, I'm just not all that fond of it and it's hard to pronounce. The debate about what name to use is ongoing. I don't have a firm answer!
JIVE: Getting back to your fic writing - I've always found your writing to be very canonically correct, your characters generally behave how Rowling has written them and your writing sounds much like hers. Do you do this consciously? Is it something you strive for?
Cassie: Well, that's nice of you to say! Hmm. I would say that I strove very much in the beginning to make my writing sound like hers, to echo the cadences of her style. Later, I started to evolve my own style more, especially as Draco Veritas became darker and more complicated, so I think it may have less similarity purely in terms of writing style with Rowling's work. As for the characters, I have tried to keep them rooted in canon while still allowing them to change and grow in believable ways as they are affected by their experiences.
JIVE: I do like how your writing has evolved, especially your development of Ginny Weasley as a character. Were you happy in Book Five when Ginny finally got some character and are you excited to see where it goes in Book Six?
Cassie: I admit I had a slight "Too little, too late!" reaction to Ginny's sudden character development in Book Five. But I am very excited to see where she goes in Book Six - in the end I am just a hopeless fangirl for canon.
JIVE: Speaking of canon, with Book Five, Rowling killed off Sirius Black, who featured prominently into Draco Veritas which is in progress. Obviously, you decided to leave him in. And you added the thestrals after Book Five introduced them. Are you nervous about Book Six, who is going to be killed or are you excited about new characters and creatures she may create?
Cassie: I am hoping (though this seems a dim hope at the moment) to be done with the Draco Trilogy by the time Book Six comes out, so I can fold it up and put it away in its little "pre-Book Six" niche, where it will fade into the wallpaper of fandom history. And Sirius - I just loved him so much, I couldn't have let him go, and besides, I would have had to rewrite the whole thing!
JIVE: For you, is there a line between acceptable fanfic and unacceptable? I have seen you write drabbles, but never PWPs ("Plot? What Plot?") - all of your stories have plot, even if it’s small. What are your feelings on PWPs?
Cassie: I think that it's dangerous to say what's acceptable and what isn't acceptable in creative work - I, at least, wouldn't want to be the arbiter of something like that. I can say that writing PWPs doesn't appeal to me, because without plot, I feel nervous and unrooted, like "And now what on earth's supposed to happen?"
JIVE: Example - your NC17 fics “After the Flood” and “A Season in Hell” have very strong plot and psychological twists. Are complex stories more interesting, or easier for you to write?
Cassie: "Season in Hell" may be a bad example as it was one of those fics I think of as written "on a burn" - I wrote it in about a day and a half because I had this idea and I just wanted to get it down on paper. But yes, I love things that are very complicated and psychologically dark. In that sense I feel Harry Potter is a great canon from which to write fanfiction because there are already all these dark psychological complexities there waiting to be explored.
JIVE: Harry Potter fandom has a large amount of risqué fics - fics that deal with BDSM, incest, bestiality. What are your feelings on risqué subjects?
Cassie: That's a tough question. I don't think I approach it differently in terms of plot and characterization, but I do think perhaps I apply more gravity to the writing of those fics -- my fics that deal with sex tend to also deal with war and death and mortality and other topics, and the sex is often used allegorically, as it is in "Written", to stand in for Ginny's betrayal by the diary, and in "Mortal Instruments" to stand in for Ron's feelings of abandonment and betrayal.
JIVE: Do you like how Rowling is making the stories darker, more mature as they go on? Has the increasing maturity in her work influenced the increasing tension and darkness in your own?
Cassie: I am definitely enjoying the way she is making the stories more dark, and the way she is maturing Harry and the other characters - though sometimes I miss the coziness of the earlier books and wish the characters could get a few moments of happiness! Though I'd say that does indeed affect me, as even though the Draco Trilogy is a pre-OOTP (Order of the Phoenix) fic, it's hard not to be affected by new portrayals of the characters. I liked Hermione's ruthlessness in OOTP and tried to incorporate it.
JIVE: Do you have any predictions for Book Six? Anything you would especially like to see?
Cassie: Predictions and what I want to see are alas different things. Predictions: I think we'll see Hogwarts under siege, and a confrontation between Dumbledore and Voldemort. I would like to see more character development for a Slytherin student but don't hold out a lot of hope.
JIVE: After you end the Draco Trilogy, do you have any plans for different fanfic? Would you consider doing another novel-length fic, or are you saving that for your professional writing?
Cassie: I don't have plans for a specific fanfic now. I'm hoping that Book Six will inspire me to a new idea, in which case anything is possible! I'd love to write another chaptered fic, but if that isn't in the cards, I am hoping I have a few one-shots in me before I close up for good.
JIVE: What about your professional work? I know you have a piece in So Fey and you are working on a young adult novel. Anything else coming out soon?
Cassie: Well, the YA novel is actually a YA trilogy, and it's being sold as a trilogy - a three-book deal. So that will take up all of my spare writing time for the foreseeable future. I wouldn't rule out more short stories, but I won't say there will be many of them.
(Illustration by Bhanesidhe. Introduction by Thomas L. Strickland.) |
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