What a week...
Jun. 17th, 2006 06:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolorous_ettThe last week has been a truly spectacular parade of crazy. I've had just about everything, from venal landlords to unfair blacklisting by checking agencies through loopy stuff at work and unwanted guests to my computer breaking down this afternoon (now mercifully fixed, or I wouldn't be writing this...)
Anyway, just when you think life couldn't get any crazier, it does. I have known for a long time that certain sectors of the HP fandom are batshit insane non-conventionally logical, but then I clicked a link to an expose of one Msscribe and the lengths to which she apparently went to acheive Big Name Fan status. And that was half my morning gone. Read it and weep - I've never seen such detail, or such misdirected energy. And plainly the plot is about to thicken: there are still 5 chapters left to go.
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On a (hopefully) more pleasant and edifying note, here is a nice meme I picked up from melusina_hp
1. Ask me one fandom-related question in the comments. This can be fandom specific, general, or about fandom/lj stuff etc. in general.
2. Just one question, please, but it can (and perhaps should) have sub-parts.
3. That's it. It can be as normal or odd as you like.
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no subject
Date: 2006-06-17 06:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-17 10:20 pm (UTC)Well, there's nowt queer as fowk.
Date: 2006-06-17 07:00 pm (UTC)Question for Our Own Ett:
Wherefore artichokes? Discuss. Digress. Ramble.
Re: Well, there's nowt queer as fowk.
Date: 2006-06-17 10:29 pm (UTC)Or at least part of it is your fault.
To keep things short, I assume you know that the Artichoke gag comes from my story "House of Flying Artichokes", about a pureblood dinner from Hell. A very long time ago, I posted a request on Fiction Alley for help with social blunders in Pureblood circles, and someone (who I'm pretty sure was you but I can't now find the thread) suggested several inspired ideas, including the problems of how to eat an artichoke correctly.
At this point I'd never knowingly eaten a natural artichoke (I had to start another thread about the correct way to eat one). I had, however, eaten a lot of the preserved version - which tended to be like hedgehogs, with little snouts. That was what gave me the idea of having them alive - and aggressive.
Originally the plan was for Hermione to feel she had to kill the thing, and feel terrible about it. But I couldn't bring myself to do it, so the Artichoke (and I) had a reprieve - Hermione rescued it and it was last seen splashing about happily in a little bowl of olive oil.
The title of my journal is because of the story - people kept making funny comments about "rescue artichokes". The layout I have now really needs a title, and artichokes were the first thing I could think of.
I like artichokes (the preserved variety, anyway). But not that much. I just thought they would make a good story.
On the subject of Pendle, I've been there. It's a very odd-looking hill indeed. You can well believe in strange things happening there.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-17 07:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-17 10:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-17 07:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-17 10:42 pm (UTC)Honestly, I haven't a clue. This just made up on the fly (apart from the first one).
Snape, much as I like him, was toast from the minute he took out Dumbledore. I suspect we'll see other adult deaths as well - the Dursleys, for example, could find themselves in a very uncomfortable situation once Harry's magical protection is withdrawn from their household. I think it likely that another Hogwarts staff member will go - possibly Flitwick or McGonagall, though I would prefer it to be some minor character we aren't too emotionally involved in. I also have a bad feeling about Firenze, and (much as I love him) Grawp. There might be a Weasley death. And most - if not all - of the Death Eaters are going to cop it.
Harry, Hermione and Ron will survive I think - based purely on the fact that it's originally a children's series where (among other things) courage is praised and rewarded. The message otherwise would be too... unchildish.
I don't think Harry is a horcrux. But I think his scar might be. We may see the end of Voldemort being bought at the cost of some or all of Harry's magical skill.
I think Draco will live, a humbler and more quiet person if not necessarily a much nicer one. Lupin is a creaking gate - permanent ill health but unlikely to die. And somehow I feel that Tonks will make it through as well. Mrs Figg will miraculously survive the holocaust, with all her cats - she will complain interminably about the disruption of her pets' lives in the years to come. Dolores Umbridge will survive too, but chastened, and she will never lose her fear of centaurs.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-17 07:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-17 10:53 pm (UTC)I have yet to really tackle Ron - he's potentially a very interesting character, and I have a real soft spot for him, warts and all, but he's not crying out to me to write him at the moment.
Until recently I would have said the same about Harry. That's why I determined to have him in my next fanfic. As it is, when I do finish "Rubeus Hagrid and the Eagle of the Ninth" it will have a very unbalanced picture of poor Harry - not the way I think he is most of the time but I'm sure he makes a terrible invalid.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-17 08:43 pm (UTC)Okay, question. What is it that makes you enjoy the character of Hagrid so much? Is it his staunch friendship to Harry? His funny social blunders? His big...heart? Curious minds want to know.
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Date: 2006-06-17 11:12 pm (UTC)Hagrid. Well, like Grawp, I started thinking about him because the fandom's reaction is generally along the lines of ewwwwwwwwwwww, because he isn't young and sexy. This strikes me as very unfair: he was a fantastic friend to Harry, and he probably has the purest motives of anyone - as far as I can remember he has never done a spiteful or unkind thing in all six books. He is unfailingly kind to everyone and everything - look at the way he treats his creatures, and tell me that's not the mark of a nice person. He gives little damp hyperactive kids his coat to wear on cold, wet nights.
I might not want him as a roommate, a boyfriend or as a strategic planner. But that's not what he's for.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-18 12:16 am (UTC)Unfair blacklisting!? You certainly have had a loopy week. I hope you can relax this weekend.
You can be a Big Name Writer versus a Big Name Fan; I'd support that!
I have a sort-of meme question: What do you think of ff.net so far?
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Date: 2006-06-18 08:48 am (UTC)Without wishing to seem self-indulgent, it has been unbelievable. I'm exhausted.
And the blacklisting? It was all because my landlord's representative didn't want to chase up the checking company with the actual facts of the case (complicated, but really not THAT complicated). I knew I hadn't done anything wrong, but it's hard not to take such things as a personal slight on one's honour.
Heh. Thank you very much for the kind thought, but I'm never going to be a Big Name Anything in HP. I have committed 2 unforgivable sins - I don't write romance and I like Grawp. Oh, and I don't have the time to invest in roping in fanpoodles and keeping them in line...
My expecations weren't high - with hindsight, I think they might have been unfairly low. You can blame
So - I've had a handful of nice reviews, a handful of fairly kind one-line reviews and one suggesting that I "write more humour" into "House of Flying Artichokes" (I think she meant slapstick).
I do have one thing to thank ffnet for, though - a nice lady calling herself Whitehound from there has put "The Hall of Heroes" up for a Multifaceted Award. So I might be getting a bit more exposure as a result... which would be cool... but we'll see.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-18 01:16 pm (UTC)Hurrah! I have committed only one unforgivable sins. And that's an interesting fandom story.
I have two questions:
1) May I borrow the Alumni magazine, and do you agree that the September issue would could contain a photograph of the new Head Girl and Head Boy?
2) My Eyes Are Dim, I Cannot See. I like it a lot, and am curious, what was the germ of the idea? Did you set out to annoy the Wolfstar Militant Wing, or to explore Petunia?
no subject
Date: 2006-06-18 02:08 pm (UTC)Please do! I would be delighted - and honoured! Just make sure I know when you've finished!
Oh, to piss off Wolfstar, no question. I visited the SCUSA thread for Wolfstar and was horrified. As part of my recovery from the trauma, I set out quite deliberately to show that RL/SB not only is not canon but potentially ruins lives! (bear in mind that this was pre-HBP, when they were convinced that they were canon in a very annoying way).
And then I had to explore Petunia in order to be able to hook up Remus with her convincingly. Though it was a good exercise - Petunia is an interesting character...
And just for the record, there's nothing wrong with shipping Wolfstar, whatever I personally think about it. But there is with assuming that harmless manifestations of friendship must mean shipping - quite appart from anything else it devalues real friendship, which to me is a very bad thing.
Pissing off Wolfstar
Date: 2006-06-19 10:24 am (UTC)“but potentially ruins lives!”
It wasn’t just matchmaker!Lily that made it for me, but that she wrought her own destruction, in what I think is one of the most convincing explanations yet for the Fatal Mistrust. No wonder things were awkward in the flat.
Thanks re. mag. It’s for a Romilda Vane fic for
*I assume that in the different cultural context of the 1970s WW he can’t actually be gay.
Re: Pissing off Wolfstar
Date: 2006-06-19 04:08 pm (UTC)I'd be interested to hear more about why you think Sirius is gay - active or not - at some point. If you have the time.
And don't thank me for using the alumni mag idea. The honour is all mine!
no subject
Date: 2006-06-18 01:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-18 05:29 pm (UTC)reposted for spelling mistakes
Date: 2006-06-19 01:25 pm (UTC)In fact, I've done it - I don't know if you remember"Brief Encounter" - my short thing for omniocular which had to be about Vernon Dursley and Warrington (though in fact it was Mrs Warrington)?
But it's not always easy. Of the three uncompleted fics on my hard drive, one is about Sirius deciding that he needs to try his hand at the real world of work and getting a labourer's job with a Wizarding market gardener (he nearly gets eaten by the arboretum), the other is one in which Blaise Zabini's mother gets him out of the UK before he has to pick sides in the Wizarding world. She finds true lurve with an American Wizarding millionaire who lives on a remote ranch. Eventually Blaise swans back to a post-war Britain, expecting to be feted for his travels, only to find out that everyone's forgotten all about him. He gets snubbed terribly by Stan Shunpike.
(the third is my Hagrid-fic - and that one is going to be finished - I just don't know when I'll get the time).
What I'm winding up to say is that I don't really like either Sirius or Blaise very much. Though I suspect Sirius will grow on me if I ever complete that story.
The moral? I can start fics like that. I just don't know if I can always finish them
Re: reposted for spelling mistakes
Date: 2006-06-19 04:42 pm (UTC)The Sirius and Blaise fics sound really enjoyable - for the reader, anyway, if not for the writer! Were they ideas that floated into your head unprompted, or was there a challenge involved as well?
And I'm suddenly paranoid that the question might have come across as a criticism, which it wasn't at all - if anything the crit was self-directed, because I do rather worry about my willingness to write about the morally indefensible...
Re: reposted for spelling mistakes
Date: 2006-06-19 05:21 pm (UTC)It didn't come across as a criticism at all. It was a very good question - and you are right. I would never write Lucius Malfoy, for example, because his is a degree of crapness I just can't empathise with at all.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-18 02:01 pm (UTC)Misdirected energy on the part of the exposee or exposers? An interesting potted history of the HP fandom anyway.
Question: If you wanted to sell the fanfic concept to an uninitiated friend, what fic would you show them? Would it be one of yours? And have you ever done this?
no subject
Date: 2006-06-19 02:51 pm (UTC)I think it's fair to say that both of them have had a lot of time on their hands - and that the exposer is bound to have an agenda of his/her own somewhere along the line. But given the choice I'd rather be outing malefactors than inventing sock-puppets to make myself look good...
My first thought was, why would I want to do something like that? I keep my RL and HP lives very firmly segregated and I like it that way - the last thing I want to do is to get real acquaintances looking at that part of my life!
My mum wanted to know something about what I write (she knows. And so does Q, who I'm going to marry). I let her have "Furious Wielder of Storms" because it seemed to me to have most stand-alone plot, and it's my favourite - she liked it. My dad got hold of it, and so did he, rather to my surprise.
But I wouldn't necessarily use that story to lure a newbie in... don't know what I'd do really. Any thoughts yourself?
no subject
Date: 2006-06-18 04:00 pm (UTC)Okay, a question I've asked elsewhere on this meme: if you'd been JKR's editor, which elements of the books would you have suggested be dropped/rewritten?
no subject
Date: 2006-06-19 04:06 pm (UTC)I would ask her to drop some stuff from the first about 120 pages of OotP - it seemed to take far too long to get going. Which is deceptive, as there's a lot of stuff in other parts.
And I would have asked her to throttle back on the capslock as well.
There must be more... but that's not the way I read HP - I mine it for information.
I'm sorry. I'll write more if I can think of something!