blamebrampton: 15th century woodcut of a hound (Default)
blamebrampton ([personal profile] blamebrampton) wrote2008-09-17 08:33 pm

Pilgrims gave me flu!

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 [livejournal.com profile] 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 [livejournal.com profile] 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!
 


[identity profile] deensey.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 12:19 pm (UTC)(link)
You might credit a dear dear friend who brought the TRUTH behind this EPIDEMIC to your attention. All i'm sayin'.

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 12:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I could, but that would involve revealing my sources and I was taught never to do that. (I'm taking it as a trade for the book I put you onto that was your find ;-)

[identity profile] deensey.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 12:23 pm (UTC)(link)
LOLOLOLOL

FAIR CALL!

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 12:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Heh! I'm always happy to trade finds with you!
Edited 2008-09-17 12:33 (UTC)

[identity profile] tomatoe18.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 12:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Uhm. :O

... I've been rendered speechless.

On the other hand...

Bryoney opined that I have been talking too much sport and not enough fandom lately, so three links to make her feel loved.

You talking about sport is exciting, though! :D

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 12:33 pm (UTC)(link)
I think so, on both counts!
ext_33229: replace fear of the unknown with curiosity (wave)

[identity profile] tuawahine.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 12:37 pm (UTC)(link)
I haven't read 'Quality of Mercy' yet (I as waiting for it to be complete), but as a non-shipper let me just say YES to your reaction, especially the second part. *hides from H/D crowd*

(And as far as I can tell, bewarethesmirk's post IS locked, btw.)

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 12:40 pm (UTC)(link)
DAMMIT, it is, too. I blame Pilgrim Flu.

I'll edit that. Meanwhile, you can read QoM at last, hurrah! It's good, though the ending has its flaws, though they're not the ones that people are on about.

[identity profile] aunt-agatha.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 12:41 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm sorry you're not feeling well. :(

I honestly didn't know that Maya wrote other pairings. It wasn't until the second to last chapter that I even saw someone mention it. Hah! Though I certainly hope no one was wasting their time waiting around for an NC-17 because she simply doesn't write those. It was a gorgeous story, wasn't it? I can't wait for the end of Drop Dead Gorgeous, now. *waits*

That article was fantastic, thank you! :D

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 12:46 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm over the immediate dying phase, so not as bad as it could have been! Yeah, I think that DDG has driven all of the Smith/Draco, and Hermione/Draco etc. out of people's minds. And you're very right, I'm more likely to deliver a sex scene than Maya is!

But yes, gorgeous is the word. I found the ending a trifle rushed, but the depth of care and love she gave her characters made the whole thing such a pleasure to read. I still haven't commented because I am trying to process it to a point where I think I can really sum up what I think.

And fantastic certainly sums up that article! Truth is so much weirder than fiction!

[identity profile] empress-jae.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 12:56 pm (UTC)(link)
actually, i'm glad you talk sport. there aren't enough women in my life to talk sport with. especially in fandom. so i'm encouraging you to continue on with the sport talk. in fact, you should have a sport filter. it would probably be just you and me, but we'd be the coolest people ever!! :P

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 12:58 pm (UTC)(link)
We'd be? WE ARE!

Though I think there would be a few more women in the filter, even though some of them only love F1 or British tennis players.

[identity profile] beatnikspinster.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 01:02 pm (UTC)(link)
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.

[identity profile] empress-jae.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 01:03 pm (UTC)(link)
F1...as in formula one? i can dig that. and i love the british tennis players. but then of course, we'd have to throw in the american sports too. especially since it's football season again. well...american football. not the real football. oh and we can't forget the real football either!! :D

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 01:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Alas, American football just looks like synchronised swimming played by gorillas on a field to me, I think you need to grow up with it for it to make sense.

But real football I'm in! And I'll completely understand if you don;t care about F1. I think I can fake it for ice hockey, I have several Canadian friends.

[identity profile] marguerite-26.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 01:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Re: Quality of Mercy.

I think the reaction of 'OMG! it's not H/D' is very valid. It's not that anyone truly expect a bunch of kinky porn in the last chapter (I hope) but the H/D was played up equally if not far more than H/G. Ginny had a lovely journey from canon!Ginny to be someone very likeable. But Harry was also on a journey from someone who only thought of Draco as someone to save to be someone to fall in love with. His focus was almost enterly on Draco throughout the fic.

I'm not saying that I was 100% sure it was H/D, clearly it could have gone either way but my guess (and my hope) was certianly with H/D.

I'm not going to rant about not getting my choice, But Maya played her cards close to her chest, so fans have a right to be surprise to be disappointed/surprised either way it turned out.

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 01:10 pm (UTC)(link)
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.

[identity profile] marguerite-26.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 01:14 pm (UTC)(link)
It's bit hard to call it quits when you don't know the UST will remain unresolved until the last chapter. :D

[identity profile] empress-jae.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 01:14 pm (UTC)(link)
well...the players are required at some point to take a ballet class, so i can see where you get the synchronized swimming imagery. they're so graceful. and i feel the same way about rugby. i don't really get it. people say it's like american football, but...no. it isn't. but if i had grown up with it, i'd probably be a bonafide hooligan. ice hockey i like because it's the only professional sport played with a real weapon. no not the sticks...the skate blades. i cringe everytime a see a body pile up on the ice. i start screaming, WATCH YOUR NECK! :D

and you still didn't answer my question...F1 is formula one? as in car racing? :P

[identity profile] libby-drew.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 01:14 pm (UTC)(link)
I didn't realize you were writing for darkfest. Now I'm torn between desperately wanting to read it, and being terrified it's going to turn me inside out -- as you manage to do that with frightening ease.

[identity profile] marguerite-26.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 01:18 pm (UTC)(link)
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?

[identity profile] bryoneybrynn.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 01:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Awwww, just for me? lol

I tell you, no good comes of World Youth Day. You got the flu, we got massive sewage flood. Berrr, nothing good. *grumbles under her breath about religion and teenagers and Popes*

In terms of QoM, I confess to being a little let down, not so much that it wasn't h/d (though I was disappointed about that - it would have been a really wonderful crafting of their coming together but whatever, I can deal) but more that the ending felt so rushed. This has been my favourite SRB fic and I know she has other obligations now and needs to wrap it up but it seemed like a lot happened very quickly and the epilogue didn't cut it for me in terms of bringing emotional closure. I liked the openness of it - maybe Harry and Ginny would work out, maybe they wouldn't, Harry and Draco are still close, who knows what will happen there - but I just felt unsettled. BUT, it was still a great story.

Now, off to check out bewarethesmirk and the smarty-pants conversation you've been having.

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 01:21 pm (UTC)(link)
but the H/D was played up equally if not far more than H/G.

I can see that reading, but it's not the one that my brain came up with.

I think both readings are probably right, there's certainly textual support for them, and it comes from your starting point. I started thinking she was a fairly het/gen writer because the story I'd read before was Draco Malfoy the Amazing Bouncing Rat, which is DM/HG.

For me there was such a strong emphasis on Harry finally having a family, and wanting to provide that for Draco, too. And the guilt he felt when he realised he was jealous of Charlie was the guilt of someone fancying someone wholly inappropriate. So I was all set up for Harry doing the 'honourable thing', especially after his lovely speech in the penultimate chapter. I wasn't in the least surprised when he did!

But now I am wondering, is the idea that a story needs to end H/D the major reason to read for some people? That hadn't occurred to me, because I am crap at fandom ;-)

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2008-09-17 01:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, you pimped it so well, I couldn't resist. And pot, kettle much?!
fourth_rose: (Default)

[personal profile] fourth_rose 2008-09-17 01:25 pm (UTC)(link)
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...

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