Dementor Delta
| Fan | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Dementor Delta |
| Alias(es): | DementorDelta, Dementordelta, DDelta |
| Type: | fan writer |
| Fandoms: | Harry Potter, The King's Speech, Les Misérables, Star Wars |
| Communities: | kings_speeches |
| Other: | Serpensortia (personal website) |
| URL: | fiction at AO3; Inkstained Fingers; Skyehawke; Walking the Plank; LJ; IJ; DW |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Dementor Delta is best known as a prolific slash Harry Potter fan writer, active in the HP fandom since around 2003. HP was her first online fandom and first slash fandom, but she had previously been active in the Star Wars fandom for many years.[1]
She writes almost exclusively Harry/Snape, and is one of the classic authors of the pairing. The Snarry Reader calls her one of the most popular Snape/Harry authors in the fandom.[1] Much of her work is long, with several novels and many novellas, and it often tends to the lighter and pornier end of the Snarry spectrum – happy endings abound.
Dementor Delta sometimes co-writes with Cruisedirector; other co-authors include DragonLight. Some of her work is also available in print fanzines. Her recent writing has diversified into The King's Speech and Les Misérables, although she continues to write Snarry.
In Her Own Words
In 2005 Dementor Delta was interviewed by the snarry reader Insanejournal community. The full interview can be read here.
[On her entrance into fandom & length of time in fandom] An embarrassingly long time--30ish years?. I was a Star Trek geek in middle school and wrote a truly horrible Mary Sue 'script' starring Spock and mysel--er, I mean an original female character. Since we didn't have fanfiction.net back then, I inflicted it on all my friends. I knew there was Trek slash out there, from fairly early on, but it held only slight interest for me.Then Star Wars came out, yes, the original movie--I'm that old. Darth Vader strode onto the screen, and I was lost forever. I didn't start writing about him right away. Not until he uttered the immortal line, "No, Luke, I am your father." But with that one line, I suddenly saw Vader as a man--a sexual creature. I was hooked. I wrote about Vader, mostly for myself, for years. I did a few stories for Star Wars print fanzines, even published a few issues of a Vader-centered zine. The relationship I loved in the films and in most of my SW writing was the one between Vader and Luke--not as a slash relationship, but just one of amazing complexity. The theme that always intrigues me is of evil redeemed, Vader by his sacrifice for Luke. I see a lot of that in Snape, a man who has done evil things, trying to walk the light path. Redeemed, in my mind, by Harry's love, not just his own sacrifice.
I didn't start writing slash, though I was fully aware of its existence in nearly every fandom, until discovering the Harry Potter fan fic universe, and then not until I'd tried my hand with some Mary Sue-ish type stuff. I was just so *desperate* to write about Snape! Even in my Mary Sue-ish type stuff I had scenes between Harry and Snape that just *sparkled* for me--the step to slash was fairly inevitable.
[On her writing process] Privately I think of each story as a kind of movie I see in my head. I can see the whole movie--meaning their whole lives--but I only want to tell a small part of it in whatever story I'm working on. It's fun trying to figure out where to start the 'movie' for the readers, how much to tell them, how much to let them figure out on their own. I don't know if this makes any sense or not, but it's how I see the backstory, and helps keep their characterization true to each story. ...
...I'm very envious of writers who *can* outline and can see stories all laid out before they start writing. The closest I come is mapping out dialog for a lot of the scenes.
Once I have the general idea for a story, have found the *spot* in the movie inside my head where it starts, I just start writing. My biggest guilty writing confession is that I keep a small tape recorder in the car and speak out dialog and ideas while I'm driving.
I don't do much editing until the story is finished. Then I go through it and fix up as much as I can before sending it to be beta'd.
If I'm lucky, I can have someone 'muse' it for me--just read it over, not as a beta, but just to see if the story makes the sense in story form that it made inside my head. ...
[On her motivation] I write because I'd go crazy if I couldn't tell *someone* about all the stories in my head! I've asked myself would I keep writing if no one was reading, and I think I would. Again, I was writing stuff long before I started posting any of it...[1]
She was also interviewed on slashcast in 2006; the full transcript is here.
[On her attraction to Snarry] I love the whole age difference. I love the whole fact that both of them are very damaged by their experiences. I love the idea of them finding some kind of middle ground where they complete each other. I know that sounds really schmoopy, but I'm kind of a schmoopy writer. Um, I like the fact that they, um, they find things in each other that are alike and they're also- they have things in each other's backgrounds that are so completely different. But I think that they complement each other in that way. But I really love the age difference and I really love the fact that they're both just not complete people. They're very much damaged, both of them. ...
[On her writing style] Very spare. Very lean. I don't like a lot of exposition. I don't like a lot of, like, really lush purple prose. I can't write it, so I keep my things very spare. When I first got into fandom, a lot of my favorite writers like predatrix and minks were writing leans fics that said a lot, but with very well chosen words and I've always striven towards that style.[2]
Reviews
DementorDelta became one of my most favourite writers almost as soon as I entered HP fandom. Even though hers wasn't the first HP fic I read (Cybele's Something to Write on was), I believe I have Delta, among a few others, to thank for my Snape/Harry love still being the truest. You simply can't help loving the pairing if your fandom reading begins with writers like her.
I do admit that I love her earlier fics better. Not that I think Delta suddenly became less a good writer. As if! I believe it has more to do with the ways we absorb new canon. My Snape and Harry are heavily influenced with book 6 while Delta's, aren't that much. But her new stories are still a pleasure to read, for me.
What is more, this is not the kind of love that wobbles because of a new wrinkle or a change of perspective. This is the kind of love that happened once and then keeps living on. Delta could write nothing but cracky fluffy rape trauma MPreg fics with superpowerful!Harry, veela!Draco, vampire!Snape, and evil!Dumbledore from now on -- which is to say, a very unlikely combination for me to be interested in, let alone like -- and still remain one of my most favourite authors.
Because The Devil Will Drag You Under is in my top-3 HP fics ever, still, after all this time. (painless_j)[3]
DementorDelta is a good writer, but don’t expect anything too deep from her. Her specialty is mid-length light-heart romance comedy, with a side of drama. Her Snape is not as angsty as my preferred OTP!Snape. Her Harry tends to be a bit too quick to forgive Snape, despite their history. In fact, They tend to fall in love (and bed) together a mite too easily for my taste.
However, don’t let this discourage you. While the characters are a bit OC at times, they are both well written and adorable. You’ll end up loving them anyway. Dem really knows how to write a hot story, filled with sexual tension…and some other stuff. (Call me K.)[4]
I think that's what I like about your style, actually, 'cause that's my preference as well. For very lean, you know, direct, no extra words, you know, kind of story, so. And also, the other thing I really like about your fic... is just some of the humor that you inject into your writing. I find myself laughing a lot when I'm reading because the dialogue is good. (Emma Grant)[2]
Example Fanfiction
- The Devil Will Drag You Under – underage Snarry novella. painless_j writes: in my top-3 HP fics ever, still, after all this time.[3]
- The Dreaming Spires – post-War Snarry novella. Jane Elliot writes: long, plotty amnesia fic with a great ending.[5]
- Dumbledore's Folly – Snape courtship novel. Jane Elliot writes: one of the sweetest, most romantic marriage of convenience fics ever written.[6]
- The Living Years – de-aged Snape novella. Call me K. writes: This is quite possibly one of my favorite de-aged Snape fics (besides A Nick in Time). ... impossibly cute.[7]
- Over Tea – Snarry from Minerva's perspective; one shot. DragonLight writes: A very nice piece ... Very sweet.[8]
- Parseltongue-tied – Snarry novelette, with warning for "snake-assisted wanking". centaury_squill writes: an absolute classic from the early days of Snarry ... it demonstrates the humour, romance and sure touch with a story which has made her such a favourite with the fandom.[9]
Printzines
- Collected by Dementor Delta (2004)
- Tales from The Pensieve (2 issues; 2004)
References
- ^ a b c snarry-reader: Interview With DementorDelta (accessed 12 July 2013)
- ^ a b sc_transcripts: Episode 8 - Insider Interview transcript (accessed 15 July 2013)
- ^ a b painless_j: Snarry Games and Favourite Author: DementorDelta (accessed 15 July 2013)
- ^ Picky Reader's Snarry: Author Rec: DementorDelta (accessed 12 July 2013)
- ^ epic-recs: The Dreaming Spires by Dementor Delta (NC-17) (accessed 15 July 2013)
- ^ epic-recs: Dumbledore's Folly by Dementor Delta (NC-17) (accessed 15 July 2013)
- ^ Picky Reader's Snarry: Fic Rec: The Living Years (accessed 15 July 2013)
- ^ Dragonlight: Links and Recs (accessed 15 July 2013)
- ^ crack_broom: Snape/Harry - "Parseltongue-tied" by Dementor Delta (accessed 15 July 2013)