#it's not like i did not already know i'm absolutely infatuated with you noooo

[thiscitychickk]

If you don't mind sharing, I would love to hear about how you came up with the idea for CLUAH (like giving them age gap, Hermione's backstory, anything about the characters, and your thought process for the plot so far) I am obsessed with this story and I'm always rereading when I wait for the next update!

Thank you so so much! I am glad you’re enjoying it :)

So I’ve always been annoyed by fics about American politics as they’re clearly written by people who’ve never worked in the federal government (which is fine!), and I wanted to write something accurate. It’s like the way the House and Senate look different on the sets of West Wing, Veep, Scandal, etc.. Nothing is accurate. So I’ve had little snippets written, but nothing with a plot fully fleshed out. Just the idea of Hermione and Draco meeting and falling in love in Washington.

I read a book a few months ago called The Idea of You by Robinne Lee that’s focused on a couple with an age gap (a la boyband member becoming infatuated with a fan’s mother at a meet and greet. book is incredible, buy it/read it/love it) and it spurred my inspiration to have Draco as a Member of Congress and Hermione as a staffer. There are a lot of dangerous power dynamics in Washington that I’ve been warned by women who are gracious enough to have helped me (and continue to help me!) get my feet under myself living across the country from my family and as a young female on the Hill. Whether it’s a chief of staff trying to be your friend or another office’s legislative director asking you to dinner at a business meeting or a lobbyist trying to hit you up... a lot of dynamics are dangerous and potentially illegal with the super strict ethics laws and guidelines we have to follow as staffers. So it seemed fun and challenging to try out!

Plotwise, all of my stories are dialogue heavy. My biggest pet peeve in any story I read is when couples fall in love but it feels like moving from A to B because it’s expected rather than giving them a decent background and love story with highs and lows and ‘moments’ that make a real relationship. What do the characters like? What do they hate? What is their day-to-day routine? Clearly you can’t fit everything in, but it’s important to get enough for me that people aren’t just like omg they’re in love and finally having sex BUT like... wow, I see why they’re in love and I’m so glad that they found each other! Smut is great, sure, but fully fleshed out relationships are much better in long fics.

A huge part of DC that is difficult, especially on the Hill, is being a Christian and a Democrat. On dating apps all of the first messages I get are ‘you’re a Democrat and Christian?’ or ‘are you fine if I’m conservative?’ That’s just part of DC and being a person of faith, and take faith out of it and dating across party lines is STILL weird. It’s something that I continue to navigate and I think it’s so fun to explore through this medium.

There’s absolutely NO way that Malfoys would be liberal or Hermione would be conservative in America, so this is a necessary plot point in CLUAH. Some people are saying ‘oh they’ve not fought at all so far, not realistic.’

And, I say, noooo offense, but have you been in a relationship where you’ve been super attracted to someone and have the best time with them and laugh all the time and push off serious stuff? Sure, you know their mom’s name and the funny story about their childhood cat and the drama about their dad’s step-dad, but like... you aren’t talking about tax policy and guns and the Supreme Court’s 1993 ruling on *insert issue here.* 

That will ALWAYS come up, and it did already in Hermione and Draco’s relationship. I did it in a theoretical way. Hermione is theoretical, and would certainly think that having that conversation checked off the box of ‘we had the political conversation and he doesn’t spit at gay people on the streets or try and convert people of a different religion if he sees them at a restaurant, so things are fine.’

There is a huge difference between living out your political beliefs and discussing them. There will be votes soon that Draco takes that piss Hermione off. If they want to be together, they’re going to have to live through that. Think of all of the campaign promises that Lucius will have to make to rally the base. So much is coming on that front, and that’s been a huge driver in my plot so far and will obviously continue to be as we move ahead.

In terms of the characters, I’ve been focused on filling some of the stereotypes on the Hill and DC in general.

There are a lot of people like Harry who rely on their parents’ wealth and either go to grad school or law school in DC or just have a really ridiculous job and spend most of their time at the bar and nice restaurants.

Pansy is the typical ‘my parents got me this internship’ girl, but I love her and wanted to help her grow past that.

A lot of chiefs are like Blaise, Remus and Severus, and honestly, that’s how good chiefs should be... incredibly loyal, to the death, for their member, but also knowing they’re the only person who can talk their member off a ledge and tell them their ideas are dumb or unethical or not well thought out.

Percy is the quintessential hardworker who annoys everyone, but somehow made their way up the chain and knows too much to ever get rid of. He doesn’t have many friends, but it’s totally fine because he is serving the public!!!! We love Percy, even if I don’t love Percy-types in real Hill life :)

This is super long and rambly, but hopefully I answered some of your questions!