inverarity | Alexandra Quick and the Thorn Circle

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Alexandra Quick and the Thorn Circle

Alexandra Quick and the Thorn Circle was my first fan fiction novel. It is set in the Harry Potter universe, but takes place in America and stars an original character. It is the first of a planned seven novels.

A wiki documenting Alexandra's world is available at the Quickipedia. This project wasn't started by me, and I don't do much maintenance there, though I will occasionally correct errors.

You can read AQATTC at:

Alexandra Quick and the Thorn Circle cover

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i love the anna quick series when will yo be updating the 3rd book

Hi,

You can find book three of the Alexandra Quick series here (http://inverarity.livejournal.com/31507.html). Updates are posted Mondays and Fridays.

Love all 3 books in Alexandra quick series. Waiting for the 4th book now.

Loved all three AQ books, each one was better than the last! Can't wait for the 4th book. Hope you don't get too distracted by Lupin's character. :)

Hi Inverarity,
My name is Jeremiah Handlon. I' am working on a version of Harry Potter in America. I' am writing this to ask your permission to use your location of The Colonial New World Bank from your Alexandra Quick series. If you would please reply as soon as possible. My contact info: jmanagment@ymail.com Twitter:@handlon

I read all of your (currently published) Alexandra Quick stories a few years ago but, as I finish AQATTC for the second time, shall follow the instructions in the PDF and post a review! Well, if "review" means a glowing acclamation. It's rare to find a fanfiction that pays true homage to the source material without being afraid to expand the story--Alexandra Quick is more of, in my humble opinion, a spiritual sequel series than what is commonly called fanfiction. Don't get me wrong, I love and write fanfiction and I'm not trying to demean the genre in any way. But it is pretty rare to find an author so bold as to write a whole set of books with all Original Characters--and succeed! Alexandra Quick reinvigorated that sense of wonder I felt reading Harry Potter for the first time, the great feeling of discovering a new and fascinating world with marvellous creatures, histories, and magic. Like rereading a good novel, rereading AQATTC let me appreciate the story's subtleties, foreshadowing, and watching the characters grow up as I consider what they are in later years...
Specifically to this book in the series, let me congratulate you on a stellar introduction to an American wizarding world that neither overly condemns out of hand the injustices of the Old or British world--as seems common in much fan fiction--nor is it merely a carbon copy of the Old World magic. Moreover, your characterization and pacing are excellent, and your ideas and turns of phrase are a genuine pleasure to read (what comes to my mind first are Trollbooths, your Rowlingesque appreciation for acronyms, and the American identities of governmental institutions).
While I know you have kept up the good work, given that I'm set on rereading the other books soon, I can only finish by saying...I can't wait for AQATWA.

Thank you. :) I'm glad they are still equally enjoyable on rereading.

Hi Inverarity.

I've really enjoyed reading your books. I felt I've identified with a lot of the characters in the stories, and have felt a lot of happiness, sadness and all the other spectrum of feelings between and beyond.
The plots are great, and I've held my breath through many moments that shocked me deeply. I don't know.. your writing style at first seemed predictable, but then just as I was getting used to predicting stuff, everything started becoming wildly unpredictable!

Really glad Brian and Alex made up in the end (for now at least), I didn't feel like it should be easy for Brian to hold grudges with such a compromising character that had been established since the beginning.

I realise you write for enjoyment and perhaps some other things, but I found myself hoping that you could get credit where it's due - which covers at least 97% of the books. I'm really looking forward to book 5, and don't know what I'm going to do with myself until it's finished..
Anyway, I hoped to offer what I could in way of thanks, so.. THANKS! =D =] =)

givecake

P.S. After reading book 4, I have the impression that you feel all the handsome guys have to be gay. Why do I have that impression? I also felt a bit bad for Torvald, though his words were over-harsh. I suppose females can never understand the dread of being thought of as gay, for a guy. If we take a fairly public example of this (like a school setting) It could be as bad as like being forcefully neutered, then dumped into a dark land with monsters, and then you notice there's a door that leads to safety, but when tried, it becomes apparent that it's impassable. The guard there listens to your case every time but at the end simply says "I'm afraid I don't believe you want to leave".
That's a pretty tight analogy.

Well I have so much to say, but I realise you may not even get this far. So thanks again! :)

givecake, thanks for the comments.

Hmm, all the handsome guys are gay? That's one I haven't heard before, but I suppose it's true that three of the guys Alexandra has considered handsome (keep in mind, most of what is described in the series is filtered through Alexandra's perceptions) were gay. There are a few counterexamples, but obviously what attracts Alexandra isn't necessarily good looks.

I wouldn't disagree that a lot of boys might feel as you describe in your analogy - on the other hand, Alexandra's reaction probably wouldn't have changed even if she did understand Torvald's dread.

Ah I see. It's a fairly common thought (at least in some parts of the world), though of course it's not true. Robbie Williams even sang a song with words reflecting the sentiment called Supreme.
I understand and wasn't surprised about Alex's taste at all! And yeah, I understand that Alex is that way, shoot first & ask q's later. Just part of what makes her so interesting..
But anyway it's your text, and I don't mean to complain or sound unappreciative! =) Seriously.. it really is so very good. I uhh.. I read all four books in a very short space of time, giving up a few hours of sleep here and there to finish them.

I've thought about the nature of the different story telling engines, and have some ideas about how I'd go about making a story. I'd start by perhaps listing a bunch of cool things that pop into my mind, followed by a list of wants/needs, and then imagine what kinds of characters would suit a particular drive. Then I'd upscale and downscale these wants and needs to fit the characters into a world. There's more to it.. I suppose, but I was wondering, what kind of basic model do you use?

I don't really have a "basic model." Some writers use things like the Three-Act structure, or the Campbellian Journey, or some other structured format, but I just start with a rough outline and a general idea of the major scenes and plot twists, and then try to fill it in as I go along.

Sounds like a secret recipe! I sometimes find myself getting carried away with brainstorming, which seems to hurt my progress sometimes, because I trick my brain into thinking I've already done everything, and then easily put down the work before getting anything serious done. So I wonder, how much brainstorming do you do typically? As an example of what I mean, would you typically brainstorm an outline, and then brainstorm a chapter, before writing that chapter? That would leave brainstorming for the next chapter till after you've written the first one.

I know that understanding someone else's successful approach may not give me the same edge, but I do like to trust people and their best advice. =D

I sometimes brainstorm chapters (not much more than coming up with a list of things that should happen in that chapter). But I am not a strict outliner, so the actual written draft always ends up diverging significantly from the outline.

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Alexandra Quick and the Thorn Circle

yo

Re: yo

Great story

Great Stories

Alexandra Quick Series

Upon the second reading, all remains great.

Re: Upon the second reading, all remains great.

AQ Series

Re: AQ Series

Re: AQ Series

Outlining

Re: Outlining

Re: Outlining