[GypsieRose]

I was recently pondering the fact that I want to move into writing bookverse stories, but I keep writing movieverse. Usually it's for practical reasons. For instance, I've sometimes considered trying to rewrite "The Fifteenth of January" as bookverse, but Boromir does different things during the fight in Moria in the book. That story also grew out of a message board observation about how excited he looked on seeing the black arrows hit the door, and that incident wasn't in the book.

Does your favorite character influence whether you choose to write bookverse or movieverse? My writing partner Gypsie has a major thing for Viggo Mortensen, so our Aragorn pretty much always has to be him. She also prefers the movie version of Aragorn's character to the book version (more angst potential). On the other hand, I'm a Steward's family fan and I prefer them in the books, which is a big reason why I want to try my hand at book-based fanfiction.

I also think movieverse canon is easier to keep consistent. There are so many little details in the book that I feel somewhat intimidated trying to write it, because I do place a high priority on sticking to canon. On a similar note, I think I also feel freer to mess around with the movies because I'm less in awe of them than I am of the books.

--Rose

[SpaceWeavil]

I've said bookverse. I aim, one day, to know as much about Arda as Andreth (should only take about 100 more years ) and one thing I enjoy about writing a fic is sitting trawling through HoME or something, checking my facts before I commit it. Some of my earlier fics probably have mistakes in, as I am learning as I go along, but I do try to stay canon wherever possible.

I haven't found many 'conflicts', however, with Movieverse, except in 'Alliance', where I had to describe the last battle with Sauron, Gil-galad, Elendil and Isildur before Barad-dur. That's the first scene I think I've tackled that was in the movie, but I have described it differently as I worked off the book.

Most of my fics though aren't set during the war of the ring, but are sort of in between the Silm and LOTR, like Alliance and my War of the Elves and Sauron extravaganza if I ever get around to rewriting it. So that is all bookverse.

Saying that, I do often base my visual idea of a character on the actor in the films, but quite often there isn't anyone, as with Thranduil.

And on a purely girlie note, I don't like movieverse because Haldir dies.

[SilverMoonLady]

I write exclusively bookverse (with only Strange Revels as an exception, and even then, I'm only using a small sequence of events to excuse the smut that is the only purpose of this little PWP?).
Why?
Well, the biggest reason would be that my favorite character, Merry, had unacceptable cuts and twists to his personality and story arc that bugged the hell out of me. All of the things I like best about him are in the book and not the movie.
That isn't to say that I don't use anything of the movie, ever. In fact a lot of imagery, especially of places, comes from the movie; it is nearly impossible to remain entirely unaffected when imagining something that you have *seen*.
As to the canon issue, I find it nice to have the book to delve into, and the details add to the pleasure (I'm a bit of a research/library rat by nature).
What intimidates me is the fanfic authors (and I mean the good ones) who write in the same time/space that I do and have seniority over little old me. It took me months to post Coming Home because it went against fanon and followed fanon in so many places that I was convinced I would be burned at the stake as a plagiarizing heretic!
I think that if you have a good feel for your characters and their actions, you shouldn't fear to delve into bookverse fanfic. Tell a good story, and do your best with the facts, how could we ask for more?

[NancyBrooke]

For pompous authority's sake I try to stay bookverse, except for when a movie detail helps some wiggle in my story along. e.g. I had Boromir stay in Rivendell longer than in the book for "Gaming," and used Sean Bean's appearance as my inspiration for that portrayal . I came to the books first, but the movie (of course) is more fresh in my mind's eye.

Most of my stories can exist in either universe, I think. I try not to recreate book or movie moments and so don't have to worry about specific details, preferring to fill in story gaps or look at events that may have taken place before the action of the books.

[GypsieRose]