Category Archives: HP & The Giant Prehistoric Chicken

Podcast and Writing Talk

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I’m still on my podcast kick, and just when I started to get the number of podcasts down to a manageable level, I found some more to listen to!  While I still have a bunch of episodes I need to catch up, I’ve decided to take my time with it.  I’m not going to go back and listen to the episodes of the new podcasts just yet, so I’m going to download each episode as I listen to it.

Joy the Baker has a podcast!  I don’t read her blog too often, but her podcast is hilarious!  It’s still pretty new, but it’s really fun!  I’ve also been listening to Abandon All Hope, About Face Mouth, For Whatever Reason, Meat-Free Radio and Game Night Guys…to name a few.  Actually, I’m listening to 28 different podcasts!  No matter how many times I tell myself that I will NOT go looking for new podcasts, I find myself…looking for more podcasts.

In other news, I think I’m getting close to the end for Harry Potter and the Giant Prehistoric Chicken!  I’m excited, because it’ll be the first time I finished a novel.  And not only that, but it’ll be the first nano I finish!  I have no idea if I’ll go back and edit it.  I might, but I’m still not sure.  If I had to decide today, then I’d definitely edit it.  If I do, I might put it up somewhere, like over at ff.net or something.

I did a lot of writing on Wednesday, which was really nice!  It’s been a while since I’ve spent the whole morning writing, and I miss it!  Remember when I said I’d write whatever the average word count was for each novel?  It’s AWESOME!  I think it a lot closer to what I actually write for each thing, because for the first time in weeks, I’m not constantly checking how close I am to my word goal.  I’m definitely going to be doing this again!

I definitely need to get my butt into gear for camp nano!  I think I might do my ncis fanfiction next month for it, and as for august, I have no idea if i’m doing it yet.  I think it depends on how my plot bunnies work out.

I Am So Proud of Myself

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I actually planned a couple of my plot bunnies.  Not really planning, but more coming up with notes.  And I even worked on Harry Potter and the Giant Prehistoric Chicken!

Not much, mind you, but a little.  Like 20 or 30 words.  But it’s the most I’ve worked on it since November, which is a big improvement over the fact that I’ve done absolutely nothing with it.

I don’t have many many notes on my plot bunnies, but I have a few.  And I have characters!  With names!  That’s all I have, but it’s a start, and I can stop referring to them as those nameless people that I need to name and think about. 

We have Kaylee Jane Daniels, who stumbles across a mysterious group of people.  She 1st heard about this group of people through someone she met, and soon sees them everywhere.  I’m still trying to decide how she meets this person, but I have a couple of ideas.  She definitely doesn’t think anything of it, and even laughs it off, until she starts seeing them herself. 

I have a very vague idea of her job, but she tells her boss, thinking she’s crazy.  Her boss, however, becomes worried that Kaylee’s seeing mysterious people everywhere.  I’m not sure why it’s important, and in the end, it might not be important.  But right now, it is.  It seems very ominous. 

One of my goals is to have a character profile done for Kaylee and her boss done by Saturday.  I’d also like to get one done for the person that tells Kaylee about the mysterious group of people.

I will also write at least 1oo words each for the Giant Prehistoric Chicken, Turning Point and one of my other Harry Potter fanfics. And I’ll post if I actually get any of this done.

Dobby

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In Honor Of Dobby

I love Dobby, and I’m so sad he died.  Is it possible to have a moment of silence for him?

Okay, I love Dobby.  I cried when I read he had died, and I cried when he died when I went to see Deathly Hallows Part 1. 

I love Dobby because he’s so loyal to Harry.  He died rescuing Harry, Ron, and Hermione from Malfoy Manor, as Bellatrix Lestrange threw her knife at him as he disapparated to Shell Cottage, dying there.

Dobby did his best to help Harry, especially during Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, but wasn’t very successful as he was a house-elf for the Malfoys.  It was his admiration for Harry that made him want to keep Harry from going to Hogwarts his 2nd year. 

And the picture of the mismatched socks?  I wore those in honor of Dobby, since March 1st was Dobby Remembrance Day.  I thought posting about Dobby on Dobby Remembrance Day would be a great way to honor a house-elf as amazing as Dobby, but my stupid finger made that slightly difficult, as I wasn’t up to typing one-handed.  So instead I wore mismatched socks, which I had planned on doing anyway. 

You may be asking yourself what mismatched socks have to do with Dobby.  House-elves are servants, and if you give them clothes, it means they’re free and no longer work for that family.  It’s generally not a good thing to be a free elf, but Dobby is different.  He was happy when Harry set him free by hiding a sock in Tom Riddle’s diary.  To Dobby, they symbolized freedom.  Unlike the other house-elves in the Harry Potter series, Dobby liked being a free house-elf, and even had trouble finding work because he wanted to be paid. 

Dobby loved mismatched socks, so wearing mismatched socks is the most fitting tribute for him.  Dobby is such a likeable character.

Hagrid

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I love Hagrid. He’s tied for the glorious title of being one of my favorite characters from Harry Potter, along with Hermione and Luna.

One of the biggest reasons why I love Hagrid so much is because Hagrid is the one who told Harry he was a wizard.  He told Harry about his parents, and took Harry to Diagon Alley.  So overall, he was the one who introduced the wizarding world to Harry, even buying him Hedwig as a birthday present.

I love how Hagrid accidentally lets things slip, like when he told Harry that the first task in the Triwizard Tournament was dragons, or all of the things he said about Fluffy, and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and Nicholas Flamel.

I love that Hagrid is so friendly and kind, showing loyalty to both Harry and Dumbledore.  Hagrid’s also really protective of Harry, which isn’t a surprise to me, mainly because I think Hagrid sees Harry as a fellow orphan.

I am so glad that Hagrid made it through the series.  Losing Dobby, Hedwig, Fred, Tonks, Dumbledore, Lupin, and Sirius was sad.  I don’t think I could’ve handled it if Hagrid died.

Hagrid’s affection for magical creatures is (especially the really dangerous ones), at times, really amusing.  He tends to think they’re harmless, even when they’re not harmless.

Hagrid’s kindess and loyalty is something to be admired, and we do have that in common.  While I’m not the biggest animal person, I have a soft spot for cats and horses.  I do like the zoo, even though I don’t go as often as I should.

What I find rather ironic about me liking Hagrid is that he’s a half-giant and I’m not even 5 feet tall.  So while Hagrid tends to tower over most people (especially Hogwarts students), he would really tower over me.  Not that size matters, because Hagrid really is a softie, but it’s still pretty amusing to me.

Luna Lovegood

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She is hands down one of my favorite Harry Potter characters ever!  In fact, she’s tied with Hermione, along with Hagrid, as my three favorite characters in the series.  What’s interesting about Luna and Hermione is that they are opposites, and complement each other quite nicely.    

She’s really random and quirky, which is completely awesome, and she doesn’t care about what others think of her.  And even though she knows people steal her things and make fun of her, she still cares about them.  Plus, her house looks totally cool- like a giant rook, and it would be pretty awesome to live in a house shaped like a giant rook.

Luna’s pretty open-minded, and has some pretty unusual beliefs, as well as some unusual habits and an unusual way of dressing.  All of this makes her a fairly easy target, and she’s ridiculed a lot, but she also overlooks it, and is, in my estimation, an optimistic person.  

I do see some similarities between Luna and myself- the open-mindedness, and patience and acceptance of others.  I wish I could be as serene and calm as she is- while I can be calm and serene, I’m not anywhere near as calm and serene as Luna.

Why I Love Hermione Granger

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Hermione is definitely one of my favorite characters in the Harry Potter series, which is why I think the focus on the Giant Prehistoric Chicken shifted over to Hermione. 

There are a lot of similarities I see between myself and Hermione.  She’s book-smart and loves learning, there’s a fear of failure, and there’s a sense of compassion for others.  We’re both only children, and while my hair isn’t bushy like hermione’s, it can get pretty frizzy.  Plus we both have brown hair.  And I do love the smell of books, especially new books, while Hermione loves the smell of new parchment.

Hermione’s also a very strong female character in the series, and shows that she is just as deserving of an education of Hogwarts as anyone else.  She’s not ashamed to be a muggle-born witch- and she’s actually very proud of being a muggle-born witch.  She definitely proves that with hard work, and some serious studying, you can be a very powerful witch (or wizard) no matter what your background is. 

One of my other favorite things about Hermione is wanting to free the house-elves, and fighting for those who are oppressed.  She also helps those in need (like all the times she helped Neville in potions), which makes her pretty awesome in my book.

So last month, I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One, and one of the scenes that was memorable (besides both Hedwig and Dobby dying), was the opening scene, where Hermione modifies her parents’ memories.  I can’t even imagine having to modify someone’s memory, but it takes someone’s who pretty strong to do something like that.  And as a random side note, I downloaded the Deathly Hallows soundtrack today, and I’ve listened to the song that’s played when Hermione modifies her parents’ memories a good 5 or 10 times already.

Harry Potter and The Giant Prehistoric Chicken

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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.