Interview with Tara Tory
*Please note that some of the links in this interview take you directly to NC-17 rated stories. Please do not click on them if you are a minor in your jurisdiction.*


Below please find the sixth installment in our Author Interview series: an interview with Tara Tory. I am also excited to announce that Tara has finally joined us on Livejournal. You can find her at My Tara Tory. She is still getting used to the way LJ works, so please be gentle with her. : )

Tara is the author of a number of Snape/Harry classics, including No Place Like and Hall of the Mountain Kings. She is one of our great romance writers. Be sure and check out all of her stories: here.

Aubrem: Hello Tara, welcome to Livejournal! Why did you decide to get a journal after all this time and how are you finding it so far?

Tara: I needed a kick in the butt.to get some of these half-finished stories off the hard drive and thought that if I put some bits up I might get the sort of feedback that would jumpstart my brain. Of course, I might also end up with the biggest graveyard of story bones ever. Totally selfish reason to sign up, I know. But, say for example, this Eroica/Potter crossover which has been bothering me for a year or so. It's going to need to be Brit-picked, Eroica-picked and Potter-picked, but I don't want to go dig up a beta. Insert mental image of the graveyard again, with crazed me plying a spade near a crooked tombstone marked Beta. I've had some miserable experiences with editors/betas through the years (some good ones too, of course, but...), and don't want anything that intense, I just want to be prevented from making major gaffes.

Also, of course, for the usual reasons of participating in the community. As for how am I finding it so far? First thing, I got a nasty conflict wth browser update and LJ,which left me unable to see the LJ or post, and took weeks to sort out. So I haven't done anything yet except cuss a lot. Still haven't figured out if it looks funny on my end because I didn't pick the right settings, or if what is really needed is a paid account.


Aubrem: Can you tell us a bit about your fannish background? Do you write for other fandoms? How did you come to HP?

Tara: Well, I think I have been writing slash for 26 years and playing in various fannish pools for 31 years. Back when, there was only Trek, and regular science fiction fandom. Eventually I followed friends into Professionals, and then tried a bit of Muncle, Starsky and Hutch, a few others, and ended up in Sentinel for a few years before finding Harry Potter. Some fandoms I mostly read, like Sentinel, and some I write and read. I'm serially monogamous. I usually have only one fandom I write at a time. I'm very linear. It's too confusing to switch about much and when I'm writing in a fandom I sort of have this drive to get the stories out. When the stories have all come out, then another fandom might catch my eye, but as long as the stories nag at me, that's what gets written. There are some things which will rather abruptly terminate my interest in a fandom, which has happened twice. When they kill off one half of your one true pairing, it sort of squashes things. I do hope She doesn't kill off Snape! I worry about him.

I came to HP the way a lot of us did, with the first Tea story. I got imprinted on Snarry there, instantly, and have a hard time trying to write other pairings. Except that Neville story. That just sort of came out of left field one day.

In general, I don't like to come into a fandom that has the source material still being produced. I was happy to find Sentinel just after the show was canceled because you don't have that, "this episode has absolutely wiped out my story idea," moment where you have to decide if you continue it as an AU, or spend time seeing if you can adapt it, or leave it unfinished to die on the hard drive. I can't keep up. In the Potterverse, I find I am stuck in the universe created by the first two books, sometimes the first three. I have these two dozen unfinished stories which started at that point and I keep finishing them as if the following books did not exist, instead of going on and doing stories that incorporate the last three books. Insert heavy sigh here. I'm caught in a time warp which makes my stories increasingly AU.

Aubrem: You raise an interesting topic there that hasn't come up in any of the prior interviews. I know a lot of authors have wrestled with going AU so it would be interesting if you talked about that a bit. I'm wondering where canon has diverged from the point you write from at books 2/3 specifically and whether going AU bothers you.

Tara: I don't think there is one specific point, just a general area where I start from. Where the ideas start from, I guess I should say. And it doesn't bother me that it goes AU because it's not AU to *me*, if that makes sense. There's much more variety in fandom now days, which makes it easier for the reader to switch gears. If the story is interesting enough, the readers seem to forgive some of the idiosyncrasies.

I am intrigued by the effects of child abuse on the future of a person. I think Harry and Severus are both the results of it. Tom Riddle, too. Come to think of it, the three of them represent three ways abuse can affect the future of a child. Harry seems to rise above it, to become a decent person in spite of it. (He really shouldn't, you know. He should, at the very least, have bathroom issues, including constipation, and also food hoarding problems, and more suspicion and lying than he shows in book one.) Severus is the middle. His reaction of going to the dark lord, then finding that it was not acceptable to him, and fighting his way back to what he can live with--a lot of kids do that in the teen years. Act out or press the limits of what society finds acceptable, then find a more mainstream position when they are more mature.

Tom is the extreme other side, where his abuse caused him to turn on others and hurt them. Sometimes it seems to me that Dumbledore took extreme risks by leaving Harry with the Dursleys. Maybe he thought that he would either get a hero, or another dark lord, which he could aim at Riddle and hope they destroyed each other, and he would win either way.

Aubrem: That's interesting. Other than Sirius' fate, what changes from the later books have you not incorporated?

Tara: Speaking generally, because I am perfectly capable of breaking my own rules, I often leave Lupin and Sirius completely out, and I don't use Harry's emotional state in OotP, or the DA, or Luna Lovegood and Tonks and other characters introduced in the last few books. Umbridge creeps me out. More than Snape. I don't know why, because Snape is as bad in his own way. I am afraid I also leave out Cho. I think Harry's character, heck, everybody's characters, get more complex as the books go on, and this cuts off, or at least discourages, some possibilities for stories. For my purposes, I need a Snape and Harry that we know less about.

On the other hand, because I focus on having stories rise from the earlier books, I have once or twice added a year to Harry's age, so that he goes into 7th year already 18. Every so often somebody kindly points out to me I got it wrong. I also have Snape a little bit more noble than I suspect he is, and have him forcing Harry to wait until he leaves school to have a sexual component to to their relationship. Noble and a bit sadistic at the same time? Snape just needing to be in control?

Aubrem: Yes, I can see where the waiting is both noble and controlling. : ) Why do you slash Harry and Snape? What is it about the two of them?

Tara: I bet I don't know the answer to this, except that they just happen to fit the types which push my buttons. It could be that I like misfits winning for once. I like it when characters finally see beyond the surface to the real person underneath. I like cheering for the underdogs (the gay thing works in with that, too).

One of the Things I Have Learned as I have gotten older is that Life is Not Fair. However, I fell prey to the optimism party line as a child and still unfortunately believe that things *should* be fair. Sometimes I think that I write just to whack things into place so that if it is not fair in real life, I can at least have things come out happy ever after in my stories. I tend to have happy ever after endings, if you've noticed. So life is not always fair, but maybe you can give things to the characters that at least compensate. Love and a happy life being one of them.

I also have this negative reaction to the stereotypes that JKR has in her stories. On the whole, she makes her nasty people ugly. Then she defines ugly in a way that I don't agree with. I wonder if she knows how much harm she does? I'm not saying she should make everybody beautiful, but does she worry about what overweight kids feel when part of Dudley's bad character is described in terms of weight? Goyle and Crabbe, too. (Not sure where Hagrid fits in here). The short squat Umbridge and the occasional round references to Fudge sort of make a pattern that leaves me uncomfortable.

Snape, too, is described as ugly. Her description of a man with a large nose, black eyes, yellow teeth, and terrible hair as unattractive is her judgment call, of course. Hey, I thought Spock was sexy, I'm sort of imprinted on the nose, here. Except for the teeth, which a wizard ought to be able to fix with a flick of a wand, ditto the greasy hair, what makes him ugly? Did she make him ugly to represent the bad things in his past? I dunno. Why is Harry's wild hair cute and Snape's lank greasy hair a sign of something bad? If Snape looks as he does, what is the reason for it?

Harry's hair bothers me. I don't think Rowling knows that unruly hair from certain types of cowlicks is an indication of one of several types of birth defect related mental problems.

Anyway, I like the contrasts between older and younger, innocent and jaded, Gryffindor and Slytherin. I also like two characters with a lot of unlucky Life is Not Fair finding a good place together. I think they combine into something more than the whole and I think they have enough in common (bad childhood, hatred of Voldemort, etc.) to give them common ground. Both are complex enough to keep each other interested.

Aubrem: Some people object to the power difference in a teacher/student relationship. Does that bother you? Or do you see Snape and Harry, even as teacher and student, as equally powerful?

Tara: I've never been too pleased with student/teacher relationships in real life, although if they get together after the student has left school at a legal age, it is less of a problem. Of the teacher/student relationships I have seen myself, all of them ended in divorce or dissolution after a few years. So the idea bothers me, which is why I am always forcing HP and SS to to wait. Well, that and the sexual tension. it causes.

I think what makes the power difference interesting in HP is the magic. The power Harry has is potentially quite great, from all the hints we get, even if he is younger, smaller, and in a less powerful position. So what a person in his situation might need is a mate who is just as powerful, but in a different way. That is what is unsatisfactory about the women characters Rowling has given us, is that none of the potential female mates match Harry that way. Ginny, Cho, Luna, and Tonks are less powerful than Harry--plus they don't need to be reformed. (Hermione seems to be perfect for Ron to me so I am not putting her up for Harry.) There's a lot of reforming of evil characters in this fandom. All the Harry/ Lucius (which sort squick me), as an example, although there is a lot of that where the evil is just ignored and not reformed.

Snape is a good choice because he has proven that he is reformable. He goes from DE to spy, and one can infer he could be enticed to make some more changes, from cruel teacher to lover. But I don't see Lucius and Voldemort having any interest in being reformed, much less being turned into an adequate mate. What they would do is pull Harry further from the light. That's not the sort of story I'm able to write, so it doesn't appeal to me.

Aubrem: Do you see Dumbledore as a bit manipulative in canon? Do you enjoy reading evil!Dumbledore in fanfic? Or do you prefer to keep good and evil separate and defined?

Tara: A bit manipulative? Probably more than that. You know, I was doing fine with Dumbledore as a useful supporting character of the generally good type, until somebody pointed out to me that Harry's letter to Hogwarts was addressed to the cupboard under the stairs, indicating that Dumbledore knew of the situation in which Harry was growing up. It put all sorts of nuances into his character, most of them unsettling. Eventually it occurred to me that Dumbledore was born in about 1840, at which point they were doing rather harsh things to children in the English speaking countries, what with child labor, beatings as a common punishment and children as legal property, so it could well be that to the old wizard, a home with a roof and food is all that is really necessary, and abusing children is the norm. Which also might explain what he did to Severus in the werewolf incident. That said, the further we get into the series, the less I like the character. So, I tend to diminish his presence in my stories.

Dumbledore is the sort of person who will become a legend when he dies, and what little truth there is now will rapidly get lost, partly due to his relentless manipulations. No one will know what the truth is. I'm wondering if Rowling is commenting about the effects on a person's ethics of living an longer lifespan?

At any rate, Dumbledore is either incredibly gifted as a manipulator of people and events, or the doddering old fool just thinks he is and is riding for a fall, because so much of what he has done so far could result in Harry turning away from the Light. Albus has Harry raised without love, has not psychologically supported Harry as his life takes one crash after another, and has not responded to Harry's need to be in the loop. It wouldn't be so hard to arrange it so that Harry at least had the illusion he was connected to the organization/information. He can manipulate everything else, why not that?

Dumbledore has been in education both teaching and administration, since before his hair turned white, more than 50 years and he still doesn't understand teenagers? He didn't seem to understand Snape when Snape was in school, either, and doesn't seem to have picked up any more insight 20 years later. By allowing that level of bullying, danger and heartbreak, is he playing a generational, massive, multi-level and insensitive game of chess with human pieces? Or does he just not really care about the students? He's not written as stupid. So that means.... This is sort of like sitting in a round room knowing the answer is in the corner.

But the entire education at Hogwarts thing makes me wonder. Teachers obviously need no teaching qualifications to take the positions. Teachers take the jobs for their own reasons and not because they have any interest in education or kids. Or even in the future of the wizarding world. It isn't the best way to run a school. The curriculum is odd, too. If they are teaching Latin based spells why aren't there Latin classes? Are they teaching the magic of other cultures, even as an overview?

Do I like reading evil Dumbledore stories? No, but then I haven't tried many--those I would like are probably out there. Not that I am likely to go looking for them. I don't like Dumbledore/Snape stories either. I don't think it is the age issue. As the old saying goes, just because there's snow on the roof doesn't mean there isn't a fire in the furnace. I think I don't like the AS/SS idea because of the power difference and the manipulation thing of Dumbledore's.

The other thing that leaves me sitting in the corner thinking is the bullying/tricks/pranks culture that the wizards have. Any society that can repair major damage (splinch?) would become more careless as a whole of danger. Who cares to be careful with the knife if the finger can just be stuck back on? Magic would make the wizards careless or unconcerned about themselves or others. Caring about others wouldn't be emphasized the same way in that society either. Hurt someone? Never mind. Quick trip to St. Mungo's and they're as good as ever.

Pranks are the deliberate introduction of a damage producing element (either emotional, physical or social) in order to change the social level of the participants in some way. The humor element does not have to be present, but it basically breaks down to hurting people for amusement or status. To the point that Dumbledore can shrug off the near murder of a student as a prank. For some reason, wizarding society must feel that students need to be tested continually for some sort of fitness or survival. Quidditch does this, as well as a faculty which is not trained to take the true welfare of the kids as one of the duties of a teacher. So does pranks. The questions are, what is the reason and what are the results? I wonder if it strengthens magic somehow? Takes the less-abled out of the gene pool? Sets up a social pecking order outside school? What compelling reason is there to allow what we would think to be extremes to be norms?

Aubrem: Have you read Half-Blood Prince yet?

Tara: Can I plead the 5th? Thought not. I read OTP finally just before HBP came out, and find I can't remember much of it. I've started HBP and of course I'm heard all the spoilers, so I know dearest Snape does not exactly shine here. I know I'm psychologically putting off the moment. But I've got some negative stuff coming up in RL, and I am thinking of saving the book for when I will be moderately depressed anyway.

Aubrem: You have some interesting reading and LJ discussion ahead of you. : ) And finally, a question I ask in all of my interviews, what are you favorite fanfic stories and authors?

Tara: Favorite authors? There are dozens I go back and read over. A Good Buy, by Minx, comes to mind first. Aucta Sinistra, DementorDelta, Diana Williams when it's H/P, JiM who doesn't write enough. Josan, who wrote that incredible Percy story (Usually I don't have an impulse to write a sequel to someone elses story, but that left me sitting on my hands!), Lexin, Tira Nog...I know there are lots I am not recalling and will kick myself later when I do! Probably I will be emailing you right up to the end, shouting, "Wait! Have you done it yet? Add so and so!"

There are a couple authors from FF.net that I follow--gen, surpringly enough. Aspen in the Sunlight and GreenGecko, a must. And they update on a regular schedule, which is nice. FF.net is like a bad addiction for me. I find the summaries fascinating, even if I don't read more than the first chapter on most of the ones I sample. When I do, I generally find myself leaning close to the screen and hissing, "Then! Than! Get it right!" or something similar involving a lot, definitely, and vile. Which is really ironic given that some of my own spelling and grammar skills aren't that solid. I picked up some bad habits in my youth that I am still trying to sort out

Aubrem: Oh, if you enjoy ff.net summaries you MUST friend mctabby. She has a series of posts called "Summary Executions" that will have you rolling on the floor with laughter.

Thank you very much Tara. This has been a fun and interesting interview. Welcome to Livejournal!

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