Pilgrims gave me flu!

[blamebrampton]

No, seriously! Months after their orange backpacks left the Emerald City, Sydney is still feeling the impact of the WYD pilgrims' sharing natures. THEY LEFT US THIS FLU! Bastards! And look, even the Catholic News says it's true! Well, likely at any rate.  Apparently the three-week-plus flu that turns to bronchitis is knocking people out across the city, and has been since July, so I am not alone in my feebleness.

Honestly, it was bad enough when it was just nuns trying to plough me to the ground.
 
Bryoney opined that I have been talking too much sport and not enough fandom lately, so three links to make her feel loved. The first is to a very interesting question posed by bewarethesmirk  in her post here. She asks what it is about some styles of writing that immediately succeeds in drawing the reader in. I've blathered on at length in a comment, as have several others, and I think that we're edging towards the total picture, but I am sure that more brains, particularly brains as big as you lot have, will get to the actual answer. Alas, it's flocked, but if you're not on her flist, feel free to chat here.

My dear jadzialove  wrote a story recently in which Weasley brothers engaged in activities of an adult nature only suitable for readers over 18. With each other. We both squealed in a frightened fashion, she even while writing. However, that was nothing compared to this story from The Times. To quote their head and standfirst:

I had sex with my brother but I don't feel guilty

A woman slept with her sibling for years and has good memories. Not many people understand their relationship, she says

I can't say I'm surprised to hear that.

For maximum bemusement, you have to read the comments.

Thirdly, Maya has posted the last chapter of Quality of Mercy, and 

there have been many posts along the lines of OMG, it's not H/D! To which I have to say, der! There was never any pairing specified, Harry and Ginny's relationship has been written as genuine and developing the whole way through, Harry has been protective and fraternal in his relationship with Draco and Draco has been someone desperately trying to forge actual relationships in his world, rather than just getting what he wants. Why would a writer ditch all of that worldbuilding for a ship in which she has only written some of her fics? 

I sometimes wonder if people actually read fics as actual creative works or just go through them ticking off their internal preference list. "Yay, there's a cool one-liner, there's an insight into canon, there's a good spot of fanon, excellent UST, and ... and ... THAT'S IT? NO SMEX? YOU SUCK!" On bad days, I suspect the latter.

Oh well. A happy fandom aside: 2500 words of Darkfest written, 1700 of them even consecutive!

And, my final Paralympics moment, Australia lost to the US in the rugby, but Kurt Fearnley won the marathon! YAY!
 

Comments

[beatnikspinster.livejournal.com]

Ah, where there is religion, there is plague. I'm bookmarking that story in case they ever try to come here. Thanks for the warning!

warning: unpopular opinion...
About QoM reactions. She used the H/D UST to carry the tension in the story. So of course when it's unfulfilled, people will complain. If it was intended as a gen-with-slash-sidestory, then the UST should've been demoted in focus. It felt like a bait and switch. I read gen stories with/without H/D accents. I love "Not in the Hands of Boys". If Harry and Draco don't end up together in that, I wouldn't be disappointed, because the rest of the story is engaging, and it doesn't rest on UST to carry the dramatic tension.

Obviously, I should reveal my general dislike of UST. It's not my thing. So, if someone misuses or abuses it, I'm quick to call it out and quit the story. I didn't quit QoM, but it was a close thing.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

As it was in the Middle Ages, so it is in the Current Times!

Look, I think that's a valid reading and I can see how you come to it. For me I read the story where Draco is a rat immediately before I started QoM, so I was always reading it as a more Gen story, and saw Draco's UST for Harry as another aspect of his experimentation with his relationships and sexuality, like Charlie and Pansy and even Smith and Nott.

I think if I had begun to read it now, having been immersed in H/D for a whole year, I might have had a slightly different mindset, but I would still have suspected it was going to end up H/G given the previous chapters.

DDG, of course, needs to end up H/D or with Draco neatly wiping you-know-who's blood from his lily white hands.

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

and saw Draco's UST for Harry as another aspect of his experimentation with his relationships and sexuality,

I'm curious, since the story was in Harry's POV, did you see Harry obsession with Draco as UST? Or did you read it as one sided?

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I think I answer this a bit in reply to your comment below, but I saw it as a part of his need to save everyone, and to make sure that he was Draco's family, albeit in a screwed-up fashion.

[beatnikspinster.livejournal.com]

I can see how it can be read that way. I think I could accept that reading if it had been even partially in Draco's POV. There was too much Harry moping in Draco's bed for my brain to wire into a gen reading.

I read DDG first, and didn't read any of her other stories until a few months ago, so that may have effected my interpretation. I also didn't really understand her significance as a fandom figure until a few months ago, after I'd already read the bulk of DDG and QoM wips.

I certainly don't think stories need to have a stated purpose/intent that they fulfill. If things change as a part of the organic process of storytelling, then I have no issue with that. Not at all. It makes things interesting. My issue with QoM is that the body of the text and ending was a mismatch.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can see where you're coming from. For my part I spent my young adult years as a chronic sleeper in other people's beds but often just so that I wasn't sleeping alone, with no shagging involved, so that seemed perfectly natural to me. But I was raised partially hippie, so things that seem normal to me often aren't! (Though if I think someone is odd, they're probably writing for The Times about shagging their brother, and are therefore quite odd indeed!)

But I do think that Ginny's role in the second half of the story was very much trying to become worthy of Harry. It was easy to lose track of that, though, because it was so much off camera. I think we can agree that the characterisation and dialogue were both very fine all the way through!

[beatnikspinster.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, that we can agree on easily. :)

RE: touching, senual and non
Now see, I was raised hillbilly. That means no one touches, ever, unless they're fucking their sibling. ;D But seriously, it's not that far from the truth. I still have a hard time with anything outside a brief handshake.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

There were times when, surrounded by massaging hippies and patchouli oil, I'd have traded places with you in an instant!

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

It's bit hard to call it quits when you don't know the UST will remain unresolved until the last chapter. :D

[beatnikspinster.livejournal.com]

Haha! True. I actually have checked out of a number of UST-heavy, long WIPs. As in actual sex, if someone is trying to toy with my reactions like a video game, I either get up and leave, or disassociate from my body until they get on with it. "Wake me when someone comes."

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

"Wake me when someone comes."
ILU!!

I do that, too! if it's a terribly long WIP I do tend to let it get a few chapters ahead. Even with QoM and DDG, I will flip to the last paragraph and see it will break my heart/ give me blue balls then decide to read or wait for the next posting.

[beatnikspinster.livejournal.com]

That's a good system. ;)

[fourth_rose]

Aw! ♥ (No worries, though, I've said from the beginning where the story is going, even if it takes me a gazillion words to get there ;)

I was going to give my opinion on the QoM ending, but you've already summed up my feelings perfectly, so there's nothing left for me to say...

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

NiTHoB* could do all sorts of things, though, and the strength of the writing would carry the reader along with it. What I do find a little odd is that we ask you to tell us in advance. However, that's just because I am still pretty rubbish at actual fandom. I'm old, flu-ridden, it will probably all make more sense in the morning.

*The only flawed thing about it is the acronym ;-)

[fourth_rose]

♥

The only flawed thing about it is the acronym ;-)

Oh yes, definitely! I really need to come up with better titles in that regard ;)

To be fair, nobody asked me to tell the pairings in advance. I did that by my own choice - actually, the idea of not stating them from the very beginning wouldn't even have occurred to me. As a reader, pairings are important for me, and I'd never start reading an epic story if I knew that it was going to end with a pairing I hate. My reading time is extremely limited, so I might branch out a little with shorter fics, but with longer fics I stick with stuff that I will probably enjoy.

That said, I have liked a few fics that ended on a different note than what I'd expected (although not with H/G, because nobody has yet managed to make me not detest Ginny), but QoM didn't work for me in that regard. Like it was stated in the comment above, the H/D UST pretty much carried the story for me, so the turnaround in the penultimate chapter came out of nowhere. QoM was never Maya's favourite story of mine to begin with, so it doesn't bother me very much that I don't like the ending, but I can see why some readers might be upset about it.

I hope your flu gets better soon, dear!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Bloody Pilgrims!

And I have a story with the acronym FWCDWaSoS, so you're not doing that badly ...

I judge by authors, which I know is just as strange as pairings. A couple of writers I really like have managed to convince me with pairings I thought I would hate, even Snarry. Now I have to go off and think of what I read fic for. I'm not healthy enough for that much thinking!

[beatnikspinster.livejournal.com]

:D I wasn't worried at all. I'm enjoying the ride with your story. :)

[fourth_rose]

Thank you, dear - at this point, I'm both grateful and relieved that readers still aren't yelling "GET THEM TOGETHER ALREADY OMG!!" at me yet ;)

[spacefragments.livejournal.com]

IA, IA.

i admit i wasn't that into the story myself, i just kept on reading out of curiosity to see how the h/d would happen (yes, that's pretty much the one reason why i was reading it, oooohhh shallow). and when she posted the final chapter i scrolled to the bottom to see who ended with harry and when i saw that it was ginny i didn't bother with the rest of the chapter.

i know that the pairings were unspecified and i kept on reading regardless despite usually avoiding such fics, but i agree that it felt a little "bait and switch" (except that i kept calling it cock-teasing. *g* now i know a better term for it) re: the h/d tension. so i'm not disappointed or anything, just a little annoyed at myself for falling for it? idk. i suppose it's my fault for assuming stuff.
the ending felt a little like the DH epilogue all over again, soo... yeah,there's that too.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

HA! Look, there are some very good bits of writing in that chapter, even if you want to cheat and ignore the very end bit. Charlie Weasley is fabulous!

I can see that if you read the story thinking it was H/D that you would feel this way. I'm feeling very relieved I didn't at this point. Though, as several other people have pointed out, I do think there's a level of ambiguity in her epilogue. Those people are young and in a state of flux with their lives. Where they are now is not necessarily where they will be in 20 years. Unlike *some* epilogues ;-)

[azurelunatic]

She ended it at a place where my happy little slasherbrain will cheerfully add "And they all went off and had threesomes and foursomes and the world was Just Great!" So I'm not going to argue. :D

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

HAH! You have the best happy little slasherbrain. That's a brilliant approach ;-)

I'm with you on this

[kestrelsparhawk.livejournal.com]

I've read all the comments on this and feel really guilty, but I was disappointed and emailed a friend who only reads completed works to warn her. Some of us actually want to know how it ends, whether or not it puts us off the story, so we can read it for the construction, not just the result.

Which is a fancy defensive way of saying, I can get all the arguments and it's in many ways a fine story, but not set up for anything BUT H/D in closure. I was admiring all the way through how Sarah, using no more words than JKR did, pinpointed her characters so much better. Ginny didn't have any more "on screen" time than in the books, but she was so much more real and well-rounded. same with the others. Especially Harry -- the guilt he has about Nagini, for example. And Ron and Zachariah's friendship -- amazing. Mostly offstage, and completely believable.

BUT I agree that UST was carrying almost all the tension -- the beating Voldemort really took second place.The ending really felt as though she'd gotten rather tired with the story and had to finish it quickly. I dreaded her doing that to DDG -- scrambling at an end can ruin the whole work retroactively, and I don't plan to read QOM again except as a study -- even more than I dread the lack of resolution. A general rule of thumb (I just made up) for stories is that what gets covered at the closure needs to be roughly equal to the attention it got paid in the rest of the story. so if 95% of the story is about H and D, I expect the climax to reflect that -- and NOT have to pick among the ashes looking for an ending.

Re: I'm with you on this

[beatnikspinster.livejournal.com]

Good rule.

I agree with you about the efficiency and nuance of her characterization. That's something I was taking for granted, and shouldn't have. Her humor and dialog are also amazing.

Re: I'm with you on this

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Don't feel guilty! If we all thought exactly alike on everything it would be very boring after a while! And I can see the argument that you make. I don't agree wholeheartedly with that reading, but I do think it's a valid reading.

I DO wholeheartedly agree that Sarah constructed better relationships between all the characters. My great disappointment in DH (and J's, too, when he read it) was that there was never any resolution with the Slytherins. That felt so unbalanced to me, and threw the last third of the book off on both my first and second reads. Sarah's interpretation was SO much more satisfying on that note!

And I agree that the ending felt a bit rushed and scrabbled. I think it was just the standard too many plates in the air problem that besets many writers. DDG has only a small tea service, not an entire dinner setting, so it should be fine ;-)

I think that is a BRILLIANT rule of thumb, BTW.