Hello my faithful readers! I apologize profoundly for my how long it's taken me to get back to all of you. I've just recently taken a Christmas break from another story of mine, and decided that it was the best time to try and attempt to get this story back together. I have a considerable amount of things to go over, so I suggest that you read it all if you want to have your say in any of it.
I noticed in this story, Unforgivable Mistakes, there was a major decline in quality some time after the seventh chapter. The reason for this is that around that time I stopped writing the chapters out before I typed them and that took a major toll on the story. I have this whole issue with typing something after it's already been written, it just grates on my nerves, and so I eventually just stopped altogether. I typed the chapters as I went along, so I didn't catch as many errors and the descriptions weren't as well thought out.
This time around, I plan on having the entire story completely thought out before I even post the first chapter, and I'll have a goal of at least 4,000 plus words each chapter. That way I'm not just posting what I have already typed when I'm craving some reviews J.
I will also make sure I have a beta, although I'm not looking for one quiet yet, to ensure maximum quality and less spelling and grammar errors. I will be keeping you all posted on that. When I need one, I'll let any of you interested know. I'm still not sure exactly how the whole 'beta' thing works, but I figure I'll learn as I go.
I, as of now, don't have any plans of quitting this story or putting it up for adoption, but if worst comes to worst, I'll make sure you all get a good and talented writing to take over things, someone who won't be as lazy as I am and give it up :P. But like I said, I have no plans of doing that as of now.
At the moment, I'm considering to different plots for the story, and I'm stuck on which to choose. Their both pretty different and I'm not sure which one you will all like better, so I'm presenting both ideas to you so you can tell me which one you like best. They are as follow:
Possibility number 1: Instead of focusing on the four children's lives when they're fifteen and the drama they encounter with the Order, I focus on their life with Roland at the Manor, the friendships they form there, and what they learn from their mentors. Pretty much it would be similar to a Hogwarts experience, but considerably different, with original teachers, characters, and classes even. This would all take place at Jennings manor, with several glimpses at what happens in the lives of Lily and James, Sirius, and Remus within the chapters. At some point there may be a huge time skip and I'll resume where I was at, but the main point would be with the Jennings.
Possibility number 2: Really this would be me rewriting what's already there and changing a few things. Obviously you haven't seen all that I had planned for this quite yet, there were many twists and turns to be read, but then I realized how horrible I was writing it and things got messy. I would make sure Jackie (If I keep that as her name) would be less Mary Sue-ish (Sorry for that, once again, see explanation in prior chapter) and the chapters would be longer, Harry would be in them a lot more, I would have the chapters beta'd and all that stuff. If you liked what I had before a whole lot, then you'd probably prefer this option.
Well, there you go. I realize some of you won't be able to review this, because I've deleted the chapter that once took place here, so if you can't and really want me to know you're opinion, then just give me a simple PM with the bare minimum details (unless you want to write a whole lot, it doesn't particularly matter).
I'm also deciding to give you all a golden opportunity, one I would have never considered before. It may seem strange, but I hope you can all have fun with it. Since I'm starting this pretty much all over, I don't need to keep Jackie and Jake the same, their names and pasts (Of course Harry, Neville, and Draco have to stay the same, they're real characters), so, if you want to, you can submit to me your own version of Remus Lupin's daughter and Sirius Black's son. Of course Remus's daughter has to have a complicated and horrible past and Sirius's son has to have gotten along ok with him. All the info I would need for that are as follows:
A name, just the first, for obvious reasons
Their relationship with their father
How their relationship got to be that way
Their talents, for example can they speak a certain language? Can they play and instrument? Are they good at cooking, cleaning, ect? (Just make sure it's not over the top! I already made that stupid mistake :P)
What their hobbies are
Their strongest magical subject
And anything else you can think of
I know this may be incredibly stupid, but I wanted to give it a try. I can't exactly hurt anything and it may make the story more interesting. If I get a lot of people complaining against it, then I'll just veto any submissions and keep them the way they are. I just want to see if anybody will go for this.
The new and improved story won't be up until sometime next year (2012, the end of the world! LOL) and it will be under a different story or file, whatever you want to call it. It may or may not be under a different name. I'll make sure to let you know. If sort of depends on where I go with it and what plot I decide on using. Anyway, I hope you all have an amazing and Merry Christmas! Remember, Jesus is the reason for the season! Keep Christ in Christmas :) It is his birthday, after all.