10/07/07
http://uk.youtube.com/user/OliveOilMed
I have to admit, when the Harry Potter books first came out, I didn't want to read them. But thanks to my book obsessed mother who could nag the paint off the walls, I was invited into Harry's wonderful world and hope I can add a little of my own weirdness too.
I am a weirdo and proud of it (I have a tee shirt proclaiming so), but this was not something my teachers loved about me. When I was a kid, I was tested for everything from A.D.D. to Autism to Asphergers to Bipolar Disorder to half a dozen other things I can't bother myself to remember. But the creative spirit cannot be crushed with pills and now they just call me ecsentric.
Harry Potter Related Info
Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw
Favorite Kind of Fics: I'm really into Post-Hogwarts right now, but I'll read anything that strikes me.
Favorite Character: Luna Lovegood. All my friends say I'm exactly like her. I'm not sure if it's a complement, though.
My writing style: I tend to write drama stories, but I also like to add my own zany humor to them. It is any wonder I cure my writers block by watching Psych.
My OTP: Harry/Luna. C'mon! They would have been so CUTE together!
Current Word Count: 352,787
Other Info for Stalkers
Favorite Singers/Bands: Verical Horizon, the Goo Goo Dolls, Michelle Branch, Counting Crows, Keri Noble, John Meyer, Green Day, Jars of Clay, Vanessa Carlton, Santana, the Mamas and the Papas, the Byrds
Favorite Books: Lord of the Flies, To Kill a Mocking Bird (my first born will be named after Harper Lee), The Rapture of Caanan, Memoirs of a Geisha, White Oleander, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, My Sister's Keeper, Rumi, anything by Laurie Halse Anderson
Favorite TV Shows: Psych, all the Law & Orders, Monk, Scrubs, South Park, Comedy Central Presents, Still Standing, The Simpsons, Gilmore Girls
* I HATE High School Musical with a passion! Typical Disney dollar guaging. I'm just happy I have no children so I don't have to tolerate the constrant noise drilling into my skull.
* I just started a LiveJournal community, OliveOilMusings, where I post my stories, drawings, and videos. I also include helpful links, types to writing great stories, and where some of my own favorite stories and artists can be found.
* I also have a DeviantArt account where I post most of my drawings you can see on the Beta Boards (and a fair number than you can't).
* I'm a clinically documented sleepwalker, and I'm oddly focused when I do. I write (some assage I even use in stories), post on the boards (really), print pages off the internet, and cook food. So far, I haven't driven a car in my sleep, though.
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Marissa and the Wizards by JCCollier
Rated: 1st-2nd Years •
Summary: Two years after Voldemort's downfall, Headmistress McGonagall finds a puzzling decrease in new Muggle-born students. Consulting the magic Quill, she and Flitwick find even wizarding children being born without magical ability. Each year fewer students are listed. If the decline continues, within decades the classrooms of Hogwarts will be half empty. Concerned how far the problem spreads, McGonagall sends a message to the Quill schools of the other continents.
In Brazil, the world of magic is revealed to a young homeless girl. When Marissa cautiously accepts an education in the wizarding world, the choice will lead her to an object somehow tied to the unknown cause of the wizarding decline. But as she struggles to show any ability at all, she is unsure if she even belongs in their world. What role can a neglected street beggar have in events that wizarding schools of all the world may soon be part of?
Date: 12/16/09 Title: Chapter 1: Chapter 1 - The Tale of the Quill
Well, I want more Marissa, and I am getting desperate, so I am going to be making a video completely dedicated to her. You better start writing soon, because the next step is going to be buying Photoshop and doing a series of truly EPIC Marissa drawings, and then live on dented-can ravioli for the next three months.
PLEASE! I really don't even like ravioli!
But at least I have a song to use now. I will have to do some experimenting with sound mixing too. I hope you're happy!
Date: 09/01/09 Title: Chapter 12: Chapter 12 - A Bird's Eye View
You see, JC? I am not the only one who is jumping up and down waiting to see the end of the story. You have even been nominated for a Quicksilver Quill award! Granted, I'm the one who nominated you, but that's not the point! You have to, have to, HAVE TO finish writing this story! It's the only one you're writing, so you don't have my excuse of a thousand little character babies running around inside your head!
What do you want? More drawings? A video trailer? What is that I have to do so you will stop holding this story hostage?!?!
Author's Response: Thank you very much for the nominations, Molly. Marissa could not have a more supportive fan than you! I apologize that my sluggish writing speed has created such anxiety, but the next hostage chapter shall be freed soon. And yes I will need another drawing when it's posted. As for a video... hmmmm. I'll tell you what song I would like for that when the full story is complete :) .
Date: 07/14/09 Title: Chapter 2: Chapter 2 - The Streets of Sao Paulo
While we are still on the subject of research, just how much research did you do into the lives of street children? Did you only use reference pieces, or were you also able to find fictional works on the subject? What about videos? I have seen a few videos on the subject of Brazilian street children on YouTube. I also imagine the lives of Marissa and her friends would get darker as they get older, just as they did with Harry Potter. I think about all sorts horrible fates that wait for children who become adults while living on the streets.
Will there even be more Marissa stories? I know, it seems a strange question when the first book isn't even finished, but you know how much I love the story! And many other people love it too, and want to see Marissa's story continue. And as you know, if you don't take care of Marissa, she's going to have to fend for herself in my own imagination, which is a very crowded, very noisy and scary place.
However it was you came up with the scenery of the Brazilian street children, it is amazing. Small details, like the glass shards in their bare feet, and what they had to do for food helped to really bring all this to life.
But, oh, how terrifying that the kids were all shot at! Street patrolls who just are there to exterminate the children. It seems so awful that you just know it has to exist. But hilarious how Marissa was able to get away from them. "You're Samba dancers!. I laughed so hard, I almost forgot about the guns.
And Marissa, only weighing fifty pounds? She must be malnurished and underdeveloped! No wonder people think she's nine! She probably even looks younger than that, as small as she is. And probably why she still gets mistaken for a little boy at eleven!
Another pondering: Just how close are you to finishing the next chapter. You know that I will continue my 'harassment' of your review page until I get what I want!
Author's Response: I did quite a bit of reading on the homeless children of Brazil. You can find many articles by searching 'Brazil street kids'. Unfortunately the horrors in Marissa's story do exist in real life. The scene of police violence against the children I took from an event, the Candelária Massacre, which you can read about in Wikipedia or other sources. There is also a movie 'Pixote' about the lives of Sao Paulo street kids. I tried to be very descriptive to capture the desperate reality of the homeless child's life, and am happy that you feel I succeeded. Yes, there are years of Marissa stories in my head. The question is really if they will ever be written down. Let's see how 'Marissa and the Wizards' ends first.
Date: 01/23/10 Title: Chapter 1: Chapter 1 - The Tale of the Quill
This is my review to get Marissa and the Wizards on the Reccomend Stories thread.
This story is one of the ways I stop myself from being sad that the Harry Potter series is over. JC has reintroduced the world we all love from a new perspective, but in the style that we all come to love. I'm sure JK herself would find this to be an enjoyable read. She might even steal it to use for her own reference...but we will all know JC was the one who came up with it.
And seriously JC, what kind of Ravenclaw are you that your muse does not respond to flattery and the groveling of desperate fans? What is it going to take to see this story to the end. If it's plot issues, we do have threads for that. And we also have a lot of bored winter shutins (or just me) that are willing to do just about anything to keep the cabin fever at bay!
Date: 07/27/09 Title: Chapter 4: Chapter 4 - The Fork in the Road
Alright, you gave me such a complicated task for drawing the Witness Stone seal, you are no going to be punish with the return of my protest by means of reviews! So here is review number five and review number fifty for you total.
I love Sister Angelica! Probably because it reminds me of my Catholic school roots, and because none of my school nuns were ever as lovely as Sister Angelica is. I just loved the part about the church standing there for hundred of years, which is probably why I chose to draw it for the chapter art. In the next chapters, and possibily next story, we can see what the inside of the church looks like.
It was also so sweet, seeing the scene where Mr. Palito threw a 'dinner party' for the children to celebrate Marissa leaving for school. It almost reminds me of the old cartoons where the loveble tramps gather up feasts on the lids of trash cans and throw a great party. Maybe I should draw a scene of that as well.
And as I've said before, it really shows how much the boys love her when they do so much to encourage her to go to Witness Stone.
I hope you are gaining the inspiration you need to write and that we will be seeing the next chapter very soon. And, of course, as an obsessive fan, if there is anything you need from me to help you write, your wish is my command.
Author's Response: Oh, the Witness Stone crest is easy for someone with such varied creative talents! I'm glad you like the characters of the Sister and Palito. Maybe there will be more to learn about them in future chapters. As for the inside of the church, Nossa Senhora da Luz is an actual old church in Sao Paulo. Maybe, as an obsessive fan :) , you could find pictures somewhere online. Chapter thirteen is coming nearer its completion. Your obsessiveness is greatly appreciated.
Date: 11/12/08 Title: Chapter 10: Chapter 10 - Proper Girls and Smelly Girls
Wow, I get the first review of the chapter! Another great touch to the story, and I hope you have another one coming up soon.
Now we get to see a real theme of family in this part of the story. Will we ever learn about where Marissa came from? Or will she come to see the world as her family, the way Harry Potter has? She seems to have created her own family as a child, much like he did.
And I just realized this: birds like Marissa, ad she is in MACAW house! How did I not see this before.
And what will Marissa do when her letter gets returned because there was no one to send it to.
Author's Response: Questions, questions. I suppose the story should start answering some of them soon. But don't be too sure about Marissa's letter. As some others have remarked before, Mr. Palito may be more than he appears. Then again, maybe he's not...
Date: 02/04/09 Title: Chapter 12: Chapter 12 - A Bird's Eye View
I admit that Marissa's adventures are planned out further than just this story, so not every plotline will be tied up neatly at the end (some will just be tangled up unneatly).
So there WILL be more Marissa stories! You said there would be; I read it! Oh, today is a happy, happy day, as an artist and a fan both! I just want more, and I want it now!
Date: 07/15/09 Title: Chapter 3: Chapter 3 - An Invitation From a Witch
And yes, there is yet another protest review haunting your thread: Review #4. As you have probably guessed, you will be receiving one very long, very well thought-out review a day until She Has an Air About Her is finally published. If the story is in the queue, I may see fit to show some consideration, but until then, the reviews will continue to be written!
You can completely tell that Marissa and her boys really do think of themselves as a family, and that Marissa does consider herself to be something of a mother, even to the older boys. At the very least, she has all the instincts of a mother and I am certain she would be willing to do anything to protect her boys. It must have been such a painful decision to leave her boys for Witness Stone, but so sweet that her boys seem to be doing everything they can to convince her to go. It shows that the love dynamic is not just one sided, and they really want Marissa to have the best that life can offer her. Even though every adult in Marissa's life tells her that she should go to this school, I think it was that her boys wanted her to go that proved to be the real reason she finally agreed.
Upon rereading this, I am SHOCKED by how heartless Professor Merrythought seems. "Don't worry about the boys. You aren't even family." no family is perfect, but what you get is what you've got. Marissa believes this very strongly, and I think this is part of what makes her such a wonderful character. Also, given the exchange in this chapter, it is no wonder that Marissa doesn't trust adults. As though a life on the streets wasn't enough to do that, now this stanger wants to take her away from everything she has ever know. I think this also helps to illistrate that not all children are Harry Potter. Even though Marissa's life on the streets can easily be described as terrible, she still would rather die than leave her boys. Not every mistreated child is so willing to give up everything they have to go far away and never come back. In retrospect, it kinda makes young Harry seem a bit cold for leaving the Dursleys, no matter how awful they treated him
I also couldn't help but feel quite sad when Marissa talked about everyone who had left her in her life. You just want to take her and giver her a BIG HUG. And when say said if she fell, they would just sweep her up with the rest of the trash...
Now I really need to give her a hug!
And you never did answer my question: Just how close are you to finishing your next chapter? You sent me an excerpt of it, so I know you have a good portion of it done!
And as to your question about joining in my protest, I'm not quite sure how that would work. Besides, how can you think about writing reviews for your own story when you should be focusing on finishing Marissa and the Wizards?!?!
Date: 12/13/09 Title: Chapter 1: Chapter 1 - The Tale of the Quill
I have had a very recent pondering that I have been wanting to ask you. Do you have any actresses you could see as playing Marissa in a movie? Winning an RQSQ and the true QSQ hasn't helped get me my fix, so I am moving on to more radical plans of action! I am kidding, of course, but still, MOLLY NEED MARISSA!!!
Please tell me! Just how close are you to posting a new chapter? I have seen your lovely addition for chapter 13, and have even done the chapter art for it, so when are you going to share it with the rest of the site?
Of course, now Molly want chapter 14, and Molly want it now!
Author's Response: Hmmm... I really think Marissa would be an unknown child actor, just as Daniel, Rupert and Emma were when the first Harry Potter movie came out. Such a silly thing to imagine a fanfiction as a movie! Strangely though, I've always had in mind a song for the ending credits. It would be 'I'm Like A Bird' by Nelly Furtado (maybe remixed with a Brazilian beat).
Chapter 13 continues to slowly struggle onto the page when I find time and motivation to write. Thanks for your prodding :) .
Date: 06/24/08 Title: Chapter 1: Chapter 1 - The Tale of the Quill
I like this story a lot. Personally, with all these pureblood attitudes, I knew it was only a matter of time before they all became so inbred, they just wiped themselves out.
*ebil cackle* Maybe now they will all see the error of their ways! *can't wait to rub it in their faces*
Keep writing! I can't wait to see more!
Date: 09/06/12 Title: Chapter 13: Chapter 13 - Smellier Still
OMG! New Marissa story was what it finally took to force me out of my fanfiction retirement. Did you ever have one of those things that you always used to hope would happen, then it just went away for so long, you forgot about it, and when it finally does come, you hit the ceiling?
THIS! A thousand times this!
I was just heading out to class when I checked my old email account and saw that Marissa had been updated. I had no time to read it then, but believe you me, I was thinking about it all day and it was what gave me the energy to get through my day with florish.
Marissa is just as charming as I remember her, and it's wonderful to see all my favorite characters again. It makes me want to start at least drawing again in the hopes that this new insperation will continue.
And, of course, if you still need a beta, you have someone more than willing.
Good to see you back!
Author's Response: Thank you so much for the review and the welcome back, Molly. It's great to see my favorite dedicated readers were still awaiting Marissa's return. I did promise someone I would someday finish this, I'm just very untimely at fulfilling that commitment.
P.S. If you check you will find the book formatted story has been updated with Chapter 13, including an illustration which has been waiting a looong time to get added to its page :) I slightly edited it for story consistency, but thank you again! And I will need six more... eventually.
Date: 10/22/08 Title: Chapter 9: Chapter 9 - Feathers and Broomsticks
I love this story so much, and yet I have left only one review. Well, I intend to fix that right now!
It's so exciting to finally see Marissa starting her classes. I can't wait to see what kind of student she is. And I also have a feeling she will be just find with her 'charity wand'.
But what will she do when her first break comes? I can't imagine her teachers would even think of letting her roam the streets by herself for several days. Although, with the people we hae been introduced to in this chapter, who can say? What what will her boys think when she tells them she can't use her wonderful new powers to get them food and keep them warm?
This is just a suspicion of mine, but I almost feel like Marissa isn't really a Muggleborn. Ever since we first saw her in the first chapter, I have felt this way. And I don't suppose you're going to tell me either.
Oh well, I feel pretty comfortable in the prediction that Marissa has something to do with the fall in wizarding births. But you won't tell us that either, right?
Author's Response: Well of course I'm going to tell you! By about chapter eighteen, I think :). I will say that Marissa really IS a Muggle-born. But how that affects the rest of the story, who knows? Thanks for the review and I hope to have the next chapter up soon (after all, I'm only writing one story).
Date: 01/07/09 Title: Chapter 6: Chapter 6 - The Journey to the Rainforest
Sorry to say, this going to be a review of nearly all questions once again. I'm sorry, but my Ravenclaw curiosity MUST be satisfied!
I know that you take great care in chosing names for your characters, you have said so many times. But what about Marissa? What's the story behind choosing her name? And don't try sidestepping it with the 'she's a street kid' argument. At the end of the day, YOU named her, so there had to be a reason.
And her little friends? Sakura is a flower name, so I can see you following in another one of J.K.'s traditions, but what about Anna and Rosaria? And where on earth did you find a resourse and native Amazon names?
Maybe I'm just fishing for more things to add to the Wiki, but so far, you have the best page on there, and I intend to keep it that way.
And does the female Head of Jaguar House have a name, or is she just some random girl?
Also, have you given any more thought to the Marissa one-shot where she stays at the village for Carnival? I don't think you would hear a single complaint.
Can't wait for the next chapter! More drawings to be made!
Author's Response: Strangely enough, the main character of the story I simply gave a common name, just as JK gave a common, no symbolic meaning, name to her main character. I did not want to make EVERY name be some play on words or metaphor, so others like Anna and Rosaria and all the street kids are also just standard names I picked.
The female head of Jaguar House, Araci Uirapuru, is mentioned in chapter eight as performing the spell to color the first-years robes. Tupi, an Indian language, was once a lingua franca in Brazil when the first white explorers came, and I assumed it would be the language of the wizard tribes. There are a few websites with a small list of words which I drew from (though I'm quite sure some of my names may have inaccurate syntax). And as slow as I am finishing chapter twelve, you want me to distract myself with a one-shot? A few references to her time there will be scattered through the next chapters.
Date: 01/25/10 Title: Chapter 8: Chapter 8 - Choosing More Teams Than Two
That's right! More reviews for JC. You poor, poor thing! Now that you have told me you plan on devoting the year to finishing Marissa's story, I am going to be posting constant reviews just so it is something that will always be in the back of your mind.
ALWAYS!
Such a cool spell with turning the cuffs on the first-year's robes. I suppose in their second year, when they get new obes after outgrowing these ones, they'll learn to do the spell for themselves. I wonder if any student has ever bought an extra robe, but turned the cuffs to match those of a different House so they could use it as a disguise. Notice how I am peppering in certain story ideas in the hopes you will write a Marissa sequel. My goal is to plant so many, that there will be so many ideas just bouncing around in your head, you will have no choice but to put them to paper just so it will stop!
Welcome to my world.
About drawings. I still have two drawings left to finish on my GIMP program, so I will take care of those before I start up any new ones, but I cannot, cannot wait to start work with my brand new Photoshop. SQUUUEEEE! Almost as big a squee as seeing a new Marissa chapter posted *hint hint*
And I am in the planning phases of some Marissa videos, meaning I am on the search for actors. And true to your requestions, I have never heard of any of the girls that will be playing possible Marissas.
Date: 01/25/10 Title: Chapter 6: Chapter 6 - The Journey to the Rainforest
I also going to take this review to tell you about some Marissa drawings I am working on.
I had a idea for a drawing of Anna and Sakura after seeing another drawing. I wanted to draw Sakura and Anna floating up in the air, holding onto ballons. Maybe with the floating train flying the background. Now that I think of it, there is a story behind it. Anna and Sakura miss the train, so now they are using magic balloons to try and catch up so they can climb through the window. Maybe Marissa and Rosaria are there too, though that might come off a bit too much like CoS. That is, if you do it for the beginning of the school year. If you do it for Carnival you might get away with it.
I also want to do a drawing of Tiquinho and Potira. I also want to do a drawing of Rosaria as well, but so far I don't have any insperation for it.
I'm probably thinking of this because of the flying train in this chapter. Brazilian wizards certainly are environmentally minded, aren't they? But the bubbles are certainly cool. I need to draw a freaky good drawing of that as well.
Hope you see more soon, and I hope your brain is itching from the desire to write.
Author's Response: Gee, I hope in all this flurry of artistic activity for my story that you give some others a chance for drawings too :) . I will keep your balloon scene in mind, though I envision them all as giant soap bubbles rather than latex 'balloons'. Of course you are working on the assumption of a 'second year' for Marissa at Witness Stone without knowing if her present year will lead to her return. Hmmm...
Date: 11/01/09 Title: Chapter 1: Chapter 1 - The Tale of the Quill
Oh, looooook who just won a QSQ award! I hope this is what it is finally going to take for you to post another chapter (and I KNOW you have it!), because you can't win another one after this.
So tell me, is this what it is finally going to take for you to finish this story? Now that you have won this award, a lot more people are going to fall in love with this story now, and you are going to have just that many more people begging you.
Author's Response: Marissa is struggling to move from my mind to the last few pages of chapter thirteen. Real life, writer's block, lack of time... you know how it is. When it is complete, you will be the first to know. P.S. I don't think runner-up counts as 'won a QSQ award' as you put it, but I was very flattered by the recognition. And thank you for your campaigning on Marissa's behalf :) .
Date: 01/02/09 Title: Chapter 1: Chapter 1 - The Tale of the Quill
Not wanting to see people be hurt and believeing stealing is wrong and American middleclass values? That's not what the terrorists and the Soviets said!
Marissa is a street child; she eats out of the garbages, begs for coins, and owns one outfits, but that does not automatically make her an amoral criminal. The whole point of this story is a good kid who's heart is pure trying to rise above her circumstance. If she did not have this good side to her, who would see her as a hero? There would be no hope for her, so why read about her?
Besides, as far as the 'values', remember she does go to church about once a week and she speaks to the nuns. As a former Catholic schoolgirl, I can personally attest to how convincing they can be.
And I know a lot of people want to know happened when Marissa was in the village for Carnival. Perhapes you could make it a side story; a one-shot.
Date: 07/12/09 Title: Chapter 1: Chapter 1 - The Tale of the Quill
Alright, since you refuse to update your story, I have decide to begin a new form of social protest. I am going to leave long, well thought out reviews of your story until you finally do finish that next chapter of yours!
I'm going to start with chapter one. I love the fact that the British Wizarding world and the Brazillian one are intertwined. I almost wonder if Marissa will become famous and someday she'll get to meet Harry Potter. Sure, they wouldn't be able to understand one another, but they could still have tea and biscuits (Does Marissa even like tea?). Maybe Professor Merrythought could serve as an interpreter. But now I'm just rambling, I believe. I think I read an article where it said Merrythought was really a canon name in the series. Did you take it from that? Or did you make it up first, and then learn about that later?
I always wondered if all that inbreeding in the Wizarding world would come back to bite them in the arse! But then again, why is it affecting Muggle-borns as well? Is it some sort of curse? Great, now I'm obsessing! This is what happens when you don't update your stories!
And I'm not even done yet!
Just how many schools are there out there that use the quill system. I have been busy pondering that for some time now. In one of my stories, what I have come up with is a system where they cast a charm over the acceptance letters so that it could find a certain sender with specific specifications (find a nine-year-old American Muggle-born), and then they just keep sending out these letters until there is eventually no one else they can possibly be sent to and just start coming back. What are some of the other ways you imagine magical births can be tracked?
Also, where is this Delphi school? I'm going to guess Greece or Italy, but I suppose since this story is also about Brazil, it could also be Portugal. Well, which is it?
So how old is Professor Merrythought anyway? I don't believe that you ever really let us in on that fact. Also, who is this Angelica friend? Will we be seeing her in the story, or have we seen her already and just don't know it? Does this Angelica have a last name that we might recognize?
It's wonderful to reread the whole story again, but that doesn't mean I don't want to see some new chapters up soon. It also doesn't mean I won't continue with my form of social protest until I get what I want, because I'm an American and that's what makes this country great! Of course, you know I am teasing you, right? The America bit, not about wanting new chapters. I want those very much still.
I also invite anyone else who wants to see new chapters of Marissa to join me in my form of social protest by leaving very long, very well thought out reviews, one after the others.
Author's Response: Well, I guess I can answer some questions since I refuse to update my story :).
'Does Marissa even like tea?' She would probably prefer glitter juice.
'Did you take the Merrythought name from the series?' Yes, purposely. Galatea Merrythought was the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor in Tom Riddle's time at Hogwarts. Our Professor Merrythought is her granddaughter.
'Why is the decrease in Wizarding population affecting Muggle-borns as well?' Um... that's the mystery of the story. I certainly can't answer that yet.
'Just how many schools are there out there that use the quill system?' Hogwarts of course has a magic Quill. Dumbledore's portrait lists the other five schools that have a Quill when Professor Flitwick asks where the letters about the population decrease are to be sent. Way up in Chapter 12, Katupya explains to Principal Absencia that there is one Quill school on each continent. Since J.K. Rowling never really specified, for the purpose of my story these Quills record magical births for all the continent, not only that school. Birth records for other countries are forwarded to their wizarding schools, so essentially I view all schools using the quill system, but only a special six that possess Quills.
'What are some of the other ways you imagine magical births can be tracked?' The way I imagine magical births to be tracked is a core aspect of Marissa and the Wizards that many other things will intertwine with. As such, I can't say anything about that yet :).
'Also, where is this Delphi school?' The Delphi school is in Delphi, Greece. Being in Europe, the Hogwarts Quill would record magical births for that school also (by this story's interpretation of Quills).
'So how old is Professor Merrythought anyway?' 26. 'Also, who is this Angelica friend?' I'm going to let you figure that out. It may be in the other chapters somewhere.
Thanks for the questions, Molly! I'm also a bit disappointed that I haven't finished the next chapter yet. Can I join the social protest?
Date: 07/12/09 Title: Chapter 2: Chapter 2 - The Streets of Sao Paulo
Here is my second review in my series of social protest! Well, I am running out of ideas for drawing, so this is going to have to do for now.
Marissa has to be about one of my favorite characters on this site, so it is really killing me that you are depriving the world of such a wonderful story! And as I've said before, it is driving me so mad that I have even begun making up my own stories about Marissa in my own head, which should be enough reason for you to continue writing this story. Marissa doesn't like it in my head; there are Deer Women, fourteen-year-old felons, and Snape isn't dead. Please, for Marissa's sake, don't make her live in a world where Snape isn't six feet under! I thought she was your baby!
This story really does bring up an important point: just how many children in the wizarding world have been abandoned? And there aren't just street children in Brazil. There are many of them in Russia, Africa, Easter Europe, and even in the United States. And from a statistical standpoint, at least a few of them have to be witches or wizards.
Something else I have been curious about for some time: how much research have you done about Brazil in order to write this story? Have you ever been to Brazil? You describe it so well! How much of your story would you say is factual research and how much would you say is just out of your own imagination?
Another pondering, have you considered posting your story on other sites too? I've only found it on MNFF so far. Or do you have this story posted on other sites already, and I just don't know about it?
Alright, two reviews and my protest still continues. I am going to be keeping track of how many reviews it takes to make you write a new chapter. It could prove as future reference when I begin going through the Marissa DTs. And it will be useful to all your numerous other fans as well!
Author's Response: Yes, Marissa does belong in my head and not yours. Yours appears far too overcrowded.
I did extensive reading on Brazil before beginning Marissa, using that wonderful tool the internet. So sadly I have only visited the Amazon virtually. I saved many articles and images of places, people, animals, and myths. All of the Sao Paulo locales are factual, except Miss Julieta's and Mercado Trocado. I tried to make these chapters as realistic as possible to capture Marissa's desperate life on the streets. Of course all that wizard school stuff in the later chapters I made up. I don't really know the exact location of the place.
MNFF is the only site the story is on. Since it began here (and I like the people here) I felt I should keep it only at Mugglenet until it is finished. Maybe after that I will consider sending it out to a wider audience. I would also like to do some revisions to smooth it out a bit once all the the chapters are complete.
Maybe a doctor could prescribe something to help the Marissa DTs, though I am unsure if you can convince one that it is a legitimate illness :). Thanks for your continued harassment.
Date: 12/19/08 Title: Chapter 1: Chapter 1 - The Tale of the Quill
Another beautiful chapter! This story is becoming so captivating that I can't sit still until the next chapter comes out. It's actually a little sad to think that it's eventually going to end. But we can always pester you into writing more stories about Marissa. You know we will.
I wonder why you didn't go into detail about the Indian village. You have a surprise coming as far as that goes, don't you? Okay, I'll play along.
It's nice to know that Mr. Palito is still alive. He's a wizard, isn't he? Is that why he taught Marissa how to read; because he knew she was a witch all along and he was trying to get her ready for Witness Stone. Maybe, if you write more stories, he will be the one to teach Marissa the Patronus Charm to keep the Dementors away from the street children. And it will be a macaw, won't it?
But I really need to stop asking questions in my reviews.
But her poor little birdy friend died! Oh, I always hate stories where the dog (or other meaningful animal companion) dies! That doesn't mean I'm going to stop reading of course!
I'm also working on your chapter art for chapter 11 and it should be up soon. I can't wait for chapter 12!
Author's Response: Maybe in losing one birdy friend she has found another. And what would Marissa's Patronus be? Of course no student knows that as a first-year, but we'll see what her future holds at the end of this story.
You can't wait for chapter 12 and I can't wait for my chapter 11 artwork! Now who would I bet finishes first?