Fic Talk > Featured Story of the Month

Featured Story of the Month for October 2007 - Hawk and a Handsaw by Julilly

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julilly:
Oh dear... it's me. This is kind of a shock to be honest, now I'm going to feel pressured to like update or something.. :)

Thank you though Mare, it's a pleasure to be thought of!

Well, I better get to those questions!

honey:
congrats Julilly! I have to say you've been on my authors to read list for a while. I'm excited to get started!

julilly:
I find surveys so difficult, so this took some time and dedication, this is for all of you! lol

1) Tell us one thing about your story that no one else knows? For any literature buffs out there I'm sure you noticed that the title is a quote from Hamlet. Brian's character seems to be somewhat crazy to those on the outside, but in reality is actually seeing a lot more of life than the rest of us, much like I believe Hamlet did. "I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw."

2) How long did it take you to write this entire story? It's not quite finished yet! Well, let me rephrase, it's not quite typed out yet. This idea actually developed fairly quickly for me, and it was only a few days before I had the entire thing mapped.

3) Give us a summary different from the one you have posted on AC, with a few more spoilers to make people tune in. What makes a real friend? Is it someone who would lie, cheat, and steal for you? Someone who would die for you? Or is it someone who would put their life on the line for you even after you had passed? Brian thought he was crazy, no, he knew he was crazy. It had been a year since Nick was murdered yet he could hear him, see him, sense him everywhere. He had to be crazy because no one could see the dead, there was no such thing as ghosts. He had to continue his quest to find Nick's murderer, trying to open himself up to the possibility that he may need a little spiritual assistance. 

4) If you could cast this story as a movie who would play the main roles and why? These are hard! I suppose that if I was casting a movie based on H&H I would have Jonathan Rhys Meyers play the character of Nick. The reason for this being that because Nick does not have a corporal body he has to express himself through what is written on his face, and what comes out of his mouth rather than being physical. Brian would be played by John Cusack, because it would have to be an actor who has both an aggressive, and emotional side. Valerie would be played by Jessica Alba. She is a character who is strong, and independant and also has a side to her that no one might expect, or see coming, a secret that she carries with her only slightly hidden behind the exterior.

5) Have you ever thought of giving up on the story and if you did what made you continue to work on it? I've never thought about giving up on the story. I haven't been as dedicated as I would like to be, and I have found it increasingly more difficult to find the words to say to make a good chapter but I've always wanted to finish it, it's a goal to see the last chapter finished.

6) What was your writing process? (Outline, make it up as you go along, the characters wrote it, I am Tonja and plagerized lol) My writing process is fairly straight forward. I have a notebook. As I think of ideas I write them down to look back at later, to brainstorm off of. Once I pick one that is decent I develop it because sometimes you can get a great idea that maybe won't last long enough to really be entertaining, so I find the beginning/middle/end and make sure I would know how I would work out any plot holes. Then I break it down by chapter, and know what is going to happen roughly in each chapter, just so I don't stray and get myself confused. Then comes sitting at the computer and typing it up (the most difficult stage, I have to say), and finally there's editing/spell check, and posting to the site. From time to time I will write a couple of chapters before I post anything just so I don't get people's hopes up then take forever to write again. lol.

7) Who was your favorite character in this story and why? I love Brian in this story. Even though I find that Nick is complex, and is more of the centre of attention throughout the whole thing there's just something about Brian that I just love. He goes through so many stages of emotions, from hating Nick, to hating himself, to loving Nick again and his passion for his friend draws me to him. He puts Nick whose life is already over before his own just because he loves him.

8 ) You had to know this was coming, who was your least favorite? Toni... honestly I didn't really know what to do with her. I had written her in as a character but hadn't really done much to develop her so once I had to write as her (which no one has seen yet :)) I found her to be very lacklustre.

9) Are all the boys in this one? If not why did you choose to exclude them? They are IN it, but they don't all play a very big role. I didn't want this to be a "team" type story because well, it would have been very messy. Since the majority of the fic is spent with people sneaking around, trying to find out information, and being very much a private eye it would have been awfully difficult to have to find things for all 5 boys and extras to do. Plus I found that it might be kind of unbelievable that out of everyone in the world it was those 4 people who could see Nick. It seemed more likely in my little universe that there would only be a select few.

10) If we like this story...then we'd love what story? (Could be by you or someone else) and obviously tell us why lol Hmm, well to be honest I don't read a whole lot of suspense fanfic... but I read a LOT of suspense fiction. So if I had to tell you what book you might like if you liked this I would tell you to go to the library and take out "The Righteous Men" by Sam Bourne, it's a terrific suspense novel... BUT if I were telling you what fic you would enjoy I would say Shadow Woods by Mare (http://absolutechaos.net/viewstory.php?sid=5902) and that's not just because I'm sucking up :) It's a thousand times more funny than anything I could ever conjure up, but at the same time you're on the edge of your seat needing to click that next button and find out what's coming around the next bend.

julilly:

--- Quote from: honey on October 01, 2007, 09:03:49 PM ---congrats Julilly! I have to say you've been on my authors to read list for a while. I'm excited to get started!

--- End quote ---

Thank you! It's crazy to find out that people either read, or are planning to read my stuff lol

julilly:

--- Quote from: starbeamz2 on October 01, 2007, 03:35:54 PM ---Yay Julilly! Congrats on having your oh-so-wonderful story be the featured story for October!

--- End quote ---

I think everyone is trying to give me a big ego lol it's easily inflated, I'll warn you :P

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