The thing that amazes me the most about this one is the fact that I got off to such a rough start, and still managed to finish this one first!  November 1, I had 414 words, and didn’t write anything for a couple days.  I managed to get up to a few thousand words on the 4th, and got completely caught up about a week in.  But even then I struggled with it, and it was because I was trying to mimic the 5th book too much.  The characters were too in character, and I was trying way too hard.   Once I realized that it didn’t have to be exactly like Order of the Phoenix, it got a lot easier to write.  After all, if I wanted something like the 5th book, I’d be reading it, instead of writing my own version.  And with the struggles that I had the first week or so, I’m amazed that I managed to write 50,707 words without wordpadding!

The focus gradually shifted from Harry over to Hermione (who is undoubtedly one of my favorite characters), which may have been one of the reasons why it became easier to write.  I definitely see a lot of similarities between myself and Hermione, so writing from her point of view is a lot easier than Harry’s.  Also surprising me was that characters who didn’t have huge roles in the series had much bigger roles than I expected.

I won’t be doing any character spotlights on these characters or anything relating to the Harry Potter world, but definitely check out the Harry Potter Lexicon, which has been my saving grace over the last month.  On the rare occasion I needed to look something up, I apparated right on over to the Lexicon, where I could find everything I needed, as opposed to becoming wrapped up in reading Harry Potter whenever I needed to look something up. 

So instead of doing an in-depth character profile, I’ll be talking about each character and why I like or dislike them.  There’s definitely going to be a mythological aspect as well, since they’re going to the underworld, so I’ll probably highlight the places, creatures and gods/goddesses they encounter, plus any spells or potions I personally make up. 

I don’t really have a clear plan on how much I’ll be working on it, but anywhere from 500 to 1000 words, depending on my mood.  I haven’t actually written anything for it the last day or two, but I just need to sit down and write it!

The title should be well obvious by now (or so I hope anyway). 

Victory Song: I was listening to No Way from A Very Starkid Album when I reached 50k.  I knew that it definitely had to be something relating to Harry Potter, and No Way seemed to fit the best, because I was absolutely surprised that this was the novel that I “finished” first, and not only that, but a day early!  And as a side note, Potter Puppet Pals, A Very Potter Musical, and A Very Potter Sequel are absolutely genius.