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

[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!

[fourth_rose]

I've sometimes given a new pairing a try if it was by an author I like, and there definitely are writers who can make me enjoy pairings I wouldn't touch otherwise, but after multiple tries, I'm now convinced that I will never like Snarry, no matter who writes it ;)

Generally, though, I don't think too much about my choices in fic reading. Fandom is where I go to take a break from reality, so if something makes me go, "Ohh, shiny!" then I'm in, otherwise I'm not...

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Unless it's vampires. Because we'd all have to go in after you and drag you back out!

[fourth_rose]

*giggles*

Hey, I read all of the "Twilight" books plus leaked extras and lived to tell the tale! (And to write crackish parody because I had to cleanse my brain somehow... ;)

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

The minute I see an entry from you that takes the SMeyer opus seriously is the minute I start organising a HP Unites Rescue Effort ;-)

[fourth_rose]

*points to icon*

That's good to know, but I don't think it will ever become necessary ;))

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I used to think there were certainties in this world, but Stephenie has a publishing contract, Bush won a second term and Adam Sandler is considered a comedian. Aliens could replace you, too!

[fourth_rose]

True, but it would take some alien interference for me to turn into a fan of SMeyer's ;))

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

You're right, I'll concentrate my worry on the upcoming US elections and the inexplicable continued success of the Olsen twins.