(Let's get this party started!)

200 REVIEWS Q&A FOR "HIS CORRUPTED MIND, HEART, AND SOUL"

ObsidianPhantom/StarDust1987

How did you come by the name Inconnu? It's really pretty and different/Where did you come up with the idea of Inconnu?

Confession time: The name 'Inconnu' actually comes from another character of mine who is the main character of a dark-fantasy trilogy I have in the works. I wanted to play around with that character in some capacity here in the fic, but Inconnu Naeril developed much differently than the original Inconnu. That character is named 'Inconnu von Grimm' and is very, very different from our Inconnu Naeril here on FF.N.

Similar backstory with the whole 'was never openly loved by her mother' but Inconnu von Grimm's mother died under suspicious circumstances and actually tried to kill Inconnu once, being pressured by her family. Also technically a bastard, but Inconnu was never formally disinherited by the head of the family (her grandfather). There's a lot more backstory than this for how this Inconnu came to be as she is at the start of the trilogy, but that's the gist. So yeah, OG Inconnu is a lot darker, less kind, and thus its meaning (French for 'stranger') has heavier implications.

StarDust1987

Was it hard figuring out [Inconnu's] relationships with the people around her?

Not really. I do a lot of thinking, so by the time I started writing this fic I pretty much had most of those relationships and interactions worked out. I also try to have specific reactions and conversation topics figured out too before writing a chapter - outlines help with that immensely. Of course, there will always be surprises that come up during the writing of a chapter. A recent example of that is Er-Murazor helping Aragorn use the palantír to bait Sauron. That was not in the original outline, but invented while I was writing.

(+maybird23) Do you write other things outside of fanfic and if so what?/Assuming that you're an adult, what drives you to write fanfiction over original projects that could be published?

I have been writing original work far longer than I've been writing fanfiction. I didn't start really writing fanfiction until my sophomore year of high school, and that was with other friends.

But outside of fanfiction, I have been working on several original projects - among them three series (one with five books, one with four books, and the trilogy that OG Inconnu is from), a couple novels (recently finished the draft of one this summer), and I actually have a self-published novella available on Amazon that I recently released the Kindle version of. I've mentioned Promised to an Ankou on here before when it first released last year. I'm still happy with it and I learned a lot from the journey of self-publishing it. I did everything for it: the editing, the cover, interior format, and even made a little book trailer for it! Feel free to check it out on Amazon!

Favorite LOTR character?

Considering this is a Witch-King of Angmar/OC fanfiction I've been writing since 2016… I believe it's safe to say the Witch-King is my favorite LOTR character. XD

Tobiramamara

Age, job, kids or no kids?

(Off-topic, but I'll answer it ;) )

I turned twenty-one on June 9th of this year, and it's the reason I remember the birthday of one of my readers (it's easy to remember our six-month difference, Leera ;) ).

My full-time job most of the year is attending my university ;) but I also have a part-time job on campus in the cafeteria. When classes are in session, my job exists, but during the summer it does not and I look for other work over the summer. On the other hand, I do freelance editing and writing mostly for videogames (Visual Novels and RPG's). Only been at it for over a year and only two projects under my belt so far. I am certainly interested in opportunities within the industry full-time, however, as working with the team that brought me on is amazing to work with.

No kids, though I want them when I am financially able to support kids XD. Not married either, but I do have a boyfriend.

How do you view your love for fanfiction?

It's no secret among my friends and family that I write fanfiction, but it's understandable that they're more interested in my original projects XD I'm not "ashamed" to admit I'm a fanfiction writer as I see no problem writing fanfiction as long as you're not making money from them as, quite obviously, we don't own those properties. Writing fanfiction has helped me grow as a writer and find my planning style for stories.

And besides, proper and paid professional critics have nothing on fandom-readers reading your fanfiction, especially those who are nitpickers. You learn to develop a thick-skin quick or suffer. Thankfully my only complaints have been the timeline for the story (sometimes I'm right, sometimes the reviewer is right and I fix it), and that one time someone claimed I plagiarized this story. That was interesting.

How/when did you start writing fanfiction?

Sophomore year of high school. New friend group, and very nerdy friend group, and was properly introduced to comics. Three of us started our own Marvel fanfiction universe that crossed over with each other's individual fics. You can find that fanfiction on here (Shadowwalker: Newcomer Arc). It was my first time working on a single project with other writers too. It was interesting making sure everything crossed over accurately. Those other two fics are on Quotev and they're linked to through my fic there.

KeepingThemAtBay

Don't worry, your question (or rather questions) make sense ;)

How do you go about discovering how a chapter unfolds? Such as, you have an idea of the type of action or character moments and development you want to achieve in a chapter.

First of all, I love questions about my worldbuilding/writing process. I can talk for days about how I do it, but since this is just a simple Q&A and I'm prone to rambling, I'll have to keep it just to what you're asking ;).

When it comes to discovering how a chapter unfolds (and consequently the story itself,) I use what is called 'fragmented storytelling'. I get entire scenes in my head and often I write them down so I don't forget them (this can range from scrap paper to my note app on my phone,) and save them for when I start the outlining stage of my writing process. I call it 'event listing' though, with the frame of mind thinking, "Okay, I want these scenes to happen in this story." and then I work from there until I have a nice, ready-to-be-destroyed-by-red-sharpie-and-yellow-highlighter outline of many pages.

[For stories] it's a big picture but the little details aren't all there because you don't quite know how that will happen just yet. What's your process like to discover how those events will unfold?

I do outline, I swear, but the way I think vs how I plan stories is a mix of planning/pantsing. My outlines are much like the Pirates Code: it's more of a guideline. Basically, going from the event list I organize them into the series of events that will make up the story. Those I typically call 'major events', made up of the scenes I want to see happen and important plot-progressing/major points in character arc types of scenes. They often go hand in hand, as I don't particularly like "filler chapters", and I like something important to happen in every chapter I write and a good reason for it to happen attached to it.

Most recently, however, I've been using the Seven Plot Point Structure (adding in Climax and then Prologue if needed) to really determine the major plot points (so more or less a Nine Point Plot Structure XD). This then helps me with event listing and the overall story outline. I do get surprise scenes though that crop up when I'm writing after I've deemed the outline finished. Those are fun, especially when they fit well with the overall story.

Guest

Who do you work for [in the gaming industry]?

I have freelance work, so I work for who is willing to pay for my services and I decide if I want to join the project or not. Most recently, I did work for the indie game developer/publisher Xand arts and their debut game "Love ritual", a visual novel game, came out earlier this year on and Steam. I've been working with this team for over a year and it's been a fantastic experience working with such great people.

Concerning Jedi: Fallen Order...

(If you are involved with star wars Jedi: Fallen Order development, can you make Second Sister become good, fell in love with Cal and survive please)

Taking from my above answer, I clearly don't work for Respawn Entertainment (the developer behind the game) or Electronic Arts (the game's publisher) and as such have no say in the narrative design of the game. Regardless, we do not know the full storyline of the game, we only have an officially released synopsis. Jedi: Fallen Order comes out November 15th and I'll be eagerly awaiting the release and seeing what my favorite reviewers have to say about the storyline.

Guest

Will the story finish with them having their son?

I haven't been building that up only for it to not end up coming true ;) Many of you have very accurately predicted the ending of this story and I'm honored that you guys are still sticking around to see how exactly it goes down word-for-word!

maybird23

I'd love to know your opinion is on fanfiction as a genre and community, and what it's like to be a writer.

As stated in a previous answer, I didn't really delve into fanfiction until Sophomore year of high school. I had posted a couple here and there, though didn't attain much of a readership until this very fic. The attention this fic got exploded after about 3-4 months and it's still growing over three years later. There are ups and downs to the fanfiction community, and I honestly do this for fun and the writing practice, but overall the majority of people are amazing and I love connecting with my readers!

I've been a 'serious' writer since I was thirteen, as that was when I looked at my (at the time) present skill-set and what I was particularly good at - reading and writing. Since then I've been practicing the craft and consider myself a rather good writer and I'm always eager to learn more about writing and improve my skills. That's really the trick to writing: learning more and actually writing in order to improve your skills. Studying your favorite authors and writers also helps; analyzing their writing style, execution of character development, story pacing - you can learn a lot from doing that.

Another important thing: writing takes time and practice. I cannot emphasize this enough. I've noticed quite a few new writers subscribing to the belief that the faster you get out a book the faster you'll attain success (particularly in the YA genre fiction market). 1) this is an oversaturated market and very hard to stand-out in but don't let anyone (not even me) stop you from writing what you want to write and 2) that simply isn't true. I've been working on a five-book Fantasy series since I was thirteen. A big Dark-Fantasy trilogy (my LOTR) that I have has been in the works since 2016. However, it was in 2018 that I published a tiny novella that took me seven months to write and debated self-publishing for about a year or so. I finished a novel this summer I'm about to go into the first round of revisions with that I came up with in December of 2017 and hardcore wrote and finished the draft in about three months when I started writing it in April and finished in June. Some projects take longer than others, but all great stories take blood, sweat and tears along with time and effort - but most importantly love.

Just keep writing. Learn what's constructive criticism versus non-constructive criticism. Find people you trust to give you an honest opinion, no matter how brutal (in fact the more brutal the better). Know that ultimately editing notes are suggestions. Self-editing is magical.

Also, do you spend much time reading other fanfic?

I started reading fanfiction about the same time I started writing some fanfiction. It's pretty on and off but I like finding new ones that are lengthy and well written. There are a lot of writers in our community that should honestly be getting published!

Jenny the ghost

What is the inspiration for turning the Witch-King of Angmar into a very compelling character?

This came to be after watching the Lord of the Rings movies for the first time (note: it was the Extended Editions. I can't watch theatrical without going, "where's this scene?!") I was simply fascinated by the character and wanted to learn more. I then read the books, then the Appendixes, and decided some time after that to try my hand at a long fanfiction story using OG Inconnu (changed to Inconnu Naeril and she ended up being very different from OG Inconnu - so much so they share very few things) and do a romance/redemption-arc story with the Witch-King of Angmar.

(Specifically, I read Appendix A where there is an excellent telling of the fall of the Realm of Arnor and the Witch-King's campaign [plus the rise and fall of Angmar] to destroy Rhudaur, Cardolan, and Arthedain. Fun fact for obsessive and non-obsessive LOTR fans alike: this was where he got the title of 'Witch-King of Angmar" and he was known as this until the discovery that he was a Nazgûl during the final battle that routed him from the north. However, the Realm of Arnor was still lost and this solidified the power he could wield and the fear of him. This was reaffirmed when he taunted King Earnur I away from Gondor in a challenge and the Gondorian King never returned - ending the line of Gondorian Kings. [note: Aragorn is a descendant of the line of Arnorian Kings, through the Dúnedain Chieftains; "Yet many in Gondor still believed that a king would indeed return in some time to come; and some remembered the ancient line of the North, which it was rumored to still live on in the shadows" - Appendix A, The Stewards] Definitely read Appendix A just for the rivalry between the Witch-King and Earnur, if anything, as it's a fantastic read!)

That was a long side note… oh well, I can rant about the Witch-King all day XD. Moving on, I believed that the Witch-King deserved more build-up and exposition that he got in the films. Don't get me wrong, Gandalf saying, "Sauron has yet to show his deadliest servant. The one who will lead Mordor's army in war. The one they say no living man can kill. The Witch-King of Angmar. You've met him before. He stabbed Frodo on Weathertop. He is the Lord of the Nazgûl. The greatest of the Nine." was fantastic, but in the time between watching the films for the first time and reading the trilogy to the posting of the first chapter of this fic I became a better writer and more knowledgeable of worldbuilding and exposition. He was a frightening opponent, plenty of excellent show-not-tell, but he ultimately felt shoe-horned in and an epic (and important!) character not given his due.

But how exactly did this conclusion turn into a romance/redemption-arc fanfiction?

*shrugs*

This is fanfiction. I wanted to practice writing romance and character development with a long word count. However, I didn't expect it to reach over (at this time) 120k words back in 2016 XD I cherish my readers and reviewers. You guys are the best motivation for continuing to write this story even when my original projects become more prevalent in recent years.

And there we have it, the questions I was sent so I could answer them to celebrate achieving (now) over 200 reviews of this story! I would've posted this sooner but midterms happened last week and I'm now researching to create a thesis for a 10-15 page annotated argumentative research paper. Fun times. However, thank you, everyone, for the lovely reviews and lovely questions! I had a great time answering them as I got them and I hope my answers are at the very least satisfactory XD Though to be honest, I'm sure some answers only generated more questions. Perhaps a closing Q&A may be in order ;)

And now, don't forget to leave a review in the donation box and that I am not affiliated with the LOTR franchise - nor the Tolkien Estate. My answers are my answers though XD

Until the next chapter!