2002 Interview with Arabella and Zsenya

Interviews by Fans
Title:	2002 Interview with Arabella and Zsenya
Interviewer:	Rb
Interviewee:	Arabella and Zsenya
Date(s):	May 17, 2002
Medium:	online
Fandom(s):	Harry Potter
External Links:	2002 Interview with Arabella and Zsenya (scroll down)
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

2002 Interview with Arabella and Zsenya was included in one of Rb's regular column at Fanfiction.net called "As the Pan Thwaps."

Some Topics Discussed

• After the End, a Harry Potter fic
• Sugar Quill, the fic site
• literary influences
• sharing characters with other fans

Excerpts

Rb: Hiyas, everyone! This is Rb, and I'm heard with Zsenya and Arabella, the writers of the wonderful HP fic 'After the End'! So, how did you guys decide to write this fic in the first place?

Zsenya: It was originally A's idea. She presented me and several other Sugar Quill professors with a 20 page description of what happened to all of the characters after the seventh HP book. I was the only one who really "bit" and was so engrossed that I ended up spending several hours hashing out more stuff in response to her original document. Other SQ professors added bits as well, and made plot suggestions, etc.

Rb: Sugar Quill is a site you run, right?

Arabella: Yep.

Zsenya: Yes, www.sugarquill.net

Rb: How many other SQ professors are there?

Zsenya: Well, quite a few now... depends on how you count. Between four and twelve!

Arabella: In the beginning there were six of us, but we ended up taking on so many authors that we asked for new beta-readers, too. We're lucky that a lot of people are willing to put in time and effort.

Zsenya: Yes, we are.

Rb: That's great. ^_^ Do you two know each other in real life as well?

Arabella: Very well.

Zsenya: Yes we do - we live down the street from each other now! But we met online... at a Jane Austen fan site - www.pemberley.com

Rb: That's so cool! How old are you, btw?

Arabella: Around Charlie Weasley's age, I'd say. :)

Zsenya: I'm Bill's age.

Arabella: We knew it would be a long story. As we plotted it, it became more and more complicated, and by the time we started writing, we had about three or four hundred pages of notes and possible scenes. So yeah. :)

Rb: Four hundred pages of notes? Wow...

Arabella: Mostly scenes. Most of which have been rewritten or scrapped.

Rb: Still, that's amazing. ^_^ How long have you been writing it?

Zsenya: About a year. Since last February?

Arabella: Yep.

Rb: Amazing.

Zsenya: We have to have something to do while waiting for Order of the Phoenix. ;)

Rb: Yeah, don't we all...Does one of you do more of the writing and one more editing, or is it all split pretty evenly? When I read it, I couldn't tell that it was written by two people...It goes very smoothly. ^_^

Arabella: Thanks. We work really hard to make it smooth.

Rb: It shows!

Arabella: Sometimes Zsenya does most of the writing for a chapter, and I'll fill in holes, sometimes it's vice versa. Sometimes it's split evenly. But what makes it smooth, I think, is that we have some wonderful beta readers, who help us to catch glitches.

Zsenya: That is very, very true. Often we can't remember who wrote what.

Rb: ::laughs:: My next question was going to be 'does one of you write more for one character?' Do you? Or do you find it easier to write for one character?

Arabella: Well... actually, yes.

Zsenya: Er... yes. I find it much easier to write Ron, Hermione, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin

Arabella: I find it very easy to write Ginny. Zsenya knows how much I love to write Ginny, and she lets me go my merry way with H/G stuff (though we plot it together). I love writing Harry, too.

Zsenya: I love writing Harry, but you know what? I can't remember if I've written him for After the End? Have I?

Arabella: Hm. Part of the wedding.

Zsenya: Oh yeah.

Arabella: At least, if not more than that.

Zsenya: And we both are getting a bit into some of the side characters

Arabella: LOL. We are very lucky. The people on our Yahoo list have gotten attached to some of our OC's, and it really gives us a chance to flesh out our own characters for a willing audience.

Zsenya: A. wrote an outtake involving two of the side characters - Mick and Rose (Lavender Brown's older sister), and now I'm obsessed with them a bit and working on one of my own

Rb: ::laughs:: Are you talking about side-characters in canon, characters you've made up, or both?

Zsenya: Both...

Arabella: Can I say something? I'd like to make something really clear.

Rb: Sure...

Arabella: It's so much fun to do this - and it's flattering, too. :) But I just want to say that we are really just having fun in JKR's world, and that the real credit for all the fun of AtE is hers. That's all.

Zsenya: Here, here

Rb: ::nods:: I was about to mention that -- you guys stick very close to the canon characters and to JKR's canon world, giving a very realistic look at what her world could be like in three years.

Arabella: We are as true as we can be to the information we have. But we've had to make up a lot. It's fun to guess.

Rb: Is that hard for you to do?

Arabella: No.

Zsenya: It's fun to make it up

Rb: Is it hard to stick to JKR's world, though?

Arabella: No - her world is so complete.

Zsenya: No, it's really easy, because we know and love the books so well

Arabella: There's a lot we don't know yet, but there's so much that we *do*.

Zsenya: There have been so many times when we'll think "OH! We forgot to think about X" and then we find out that JKR has already figured it out. So we always check the books first.

Rb: Speaking as a science-fiction/fantasy fan, her world really -is- amazingly complete...one of the first thing I loved about the books was how so much attention was paid to small details. ^_^

Arabella: Well, we really like the way JKR writes, so we try to emulate it... that part is difficult. She's so detailed and forward-thinking in her plotting.

Rb: I swear, the books are written backwards. ^_^

Zsenya: LoL

Arabella: Yeah. She knew where she was going when she started, definitely.

Zsenya: That means that books five, six and seven should be coming out NOW.

Arabella: Ugh. The waiting.

Zsenya: I don't know what we would have done without Quidditch Through the Ages and Fabulous Beasts...

Arabella: Siriusly.

Zsenya: At least we had those.

Rb: Besides JKR, who else has influenced you in the writing of AtE?

Arabella: I guess every author I've ever read is part of how I write...

Zsenya: Good answer!

Rb: Yes, really good. ^_^

Arabella: LOL. Glad you approve.

Zsenya: I will say that is true as well. I know that I, personally, am still trying to find my own "voice"

Arabella: So am I.

Zsenya: And I do think I draw upon everything I've ever read

Rb: All right...brb

Zsenya: If you go to www.sugarquill.net/staffroom.html you can see who some of our favorite authors are.

Arabella: True that.

Rb: Argh, taking the words out of my mouth...! What about favorite fanfiction authors?

Arabella: That's a really tough question.

Zsenya: Everyone on the Sugar Quill's Professors' Bookshelf!

Arabella: We put a lot of work into beta reading fics, and everyone who posts at SQ puts a lot of effort into their writing. They're all worth notice, to us. :)

Rb: ^_^ All right. Any future plans with AtE that you would want to share?

Arabella: Well, if you want to know the end, sure!

Zsenya: !

Arabella: Ron dies, Harry gets Hermione, and Ginny goes to a wizarding monastery. But I'm sure you could tell that's where we were going.

Zsenya: Molly and Arthur get divorced. And Arthur runs off with Narcissa Malfoy.

Arabella: And Draco takes over the world.

Rb: You guys really -are- like the twins. ^^

Arabella: I can only see the compliment in that, I assure you.

Zsenya: Aww... Thank you for interviewing us, Rb!

Rb: I will! ^_- Any last words?

Arabella: Nope.

Zsenya: WE WANT BOOK FIVE! NOWWWWWWWWWW! Oh! And if JKR needs a beta-reader or an archivist, I am volunteering...Peace!