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

[bryoneybrynn.livejournal.com]

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.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

You have recommended against WYD all along, and you were right!

I actually agree with your reading of the ending. I thought the H/G was inevitable, but the whole battle felt rushed and strangely paced. Her inter-relationships were lovely, but her pacing and plot were a bit off. And yeah, the epilogue was a little like that American Soap that famously had someone waking up and declaring the last X months plot lines to be 'just a dream!' Not that I saw it because I am clearly far too high-brow for that ;-)

I really want to read what you have to say to BTS, I got about halfway to where I wanted to be then ran out of brains!

[suttonwriter.livejournal.com]

My reaction to QoM was the same; I wish the last chapter could have been two or three. There was so much going on there, and it would have been nice to be able to savor it. Longer scenes could have also allowed more time to explore the idea of how people deal with war, which is what pulled me through the story.

I don't mean this as a criticism of Maya. I know she's on a deadline, and I'd much rather her finish the story than leave it hanging. It was an excellent read.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

For me I lost track of where they physically all were at at least one crucial point. But I still enjoyed it immensely!