Recs and general Saturday nonsense

[birdsofshore]

REC FOR HARRY/DRACO:
Title: Magic Tricks
Author: anonymous
Summary: When Draco agreed to accompany his flatmate to a Muggle magic show, he did not expect Harry Potter to be the magician onstage. Since then, nothing has gone according to plan.
Rating: PG-13
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco
Word Count: 5665

This was a delicious little thing. I defy you not to want to find out what happens next, when it begins like this:

*

When Draco left his flat this evening, he did not have any idea that he would end up in Harry Potter’s flat, on Harry Potter’s bed, snogging Harry Potter rather desperately. He did not anticipate being in a position to fuck the saviour of the Wizarding world. Even now, he isn’t entirely sure how he got here. He meant to blackmail Potter, not dry hump him.

“Please fuck me, Andrew,” Harry Potter begs.

No, Draco thinks, swallowing hard; this was not the plan at all.

*

It's a clever fic that also has a lot of heart, and there are a number of lovely little moments and phrases that still have me grinning. Draco's voice is a delight, cluelessness always hits my sweet spot, and the last two paragraphs are a joy all by themselves.

NEW FEST:
I am completely intrigued by hp_silencio.



Entries will be between 1,000 and 5,000 words, and contain no dialogue.

That's right, NO DIALOGUE WHATSOEVER. Excuse me while my head falls off. I am probably being completely stupid, but I cannot begin to fathom how I would write a story without dialogue. I am sure there must be hundreds of classic stories without dialogue, but can I think of one? I can not. Can anyone help me out here, please? Link me to wonderful fics without dialogue. Are there novels without dialogue?

I am just so fascinated and alarmed by this. And, of course, I want to sign up and accept the challenge. NO MORE FESTS FOR YOU, BIRDS. Not until I have at least ticked something off my list, at least.


GENERAL NONSENSE:
I had a very entertaining half hour, well, maybe more like an hour, reading about the Swimming Anime fandom on tumblr. Did you know about this? Here's the background (via the daily dot). Basically, an anime studio released a 30 second clip showcasing their skills, featuring an imaginary new anime about 4 cute male swimmers. Tumblr went insane at the sight of pretty, wet boys and within 48 hours had created backstories, fanfic, gifs and RPG and cosplay for the non-existent anime. Here is a great example of the type of thing that's been teased out from the 30 sec clip.

The best bit is, an actual series is now being made, or, as themarysue.com put it, "Tumblr has successfully willed their fan-created Swimming Anime into existence as a real show". You could see this as an extremely cynical move by the studio, or an equal opportunity triumph for yaoi fans (the anime studio previously made shows geared towards male viewers, featuring cute teen girls), but either way, I like the whole story a lot, as a fascinating example of the rather ouroboros-like nature of fandom.


I have more things to post about, but it will have to wait. Please expect more general nonsense later, or tomorrow.

Comments

[kitty_fic]

I love your 'nonsense' posts :D

What an interesting story about the anime! GUH I have such a weak spot for anime! <3

[birdsofshore]

Aw, thank you.

I feel quite into Swimming Anime after all that reading about it. Think I might have to start shipping some of the characters. XD

[evilgiraff.livejournal.com]

OMG no dialogue?! Is this fest made for me, or what? *runs off to sign up* I despise writing dialogue, so an excuse to avoid it is fantastic :D

[birdsofshore]

LOL I just can't imagine telling any kind of story, well a romance at least, without dialogue. I think perhaps one of my alternate drabbles for LDWS had no dialogue in, but Omi told me (quite rightly) not to use it. I am going to have to try it!

[evilgiraff.livejournal.com]

It can be all longing looks and unrequited pining :D

[vaysh]

*that* :D

[birdsofshore]

But what do they all DO while they are pining and longing? Sit around in silence just LOOKING at each other??

[khalulu]

"Alarmed" is a good description of how a "no-dialogue" rule makes me feel too. So maybe it would be a good challenge.... But the prompt would need to spark a lot of ideas! It's cool that it feels liberating to other people.

[birdsofshore]

I love the idea! Can't wait to see what prompts come up. But you know, I would love to read some no-dialogue fic now. Someone must know some.

[vix-spes.livejournal.com]

The idea of writing a fic without dialogue both intrigues and unnerves me so I am incredibly relieved that I have far too many fics on my to-do list so that I don't sign up!!

And I shall look forward to more general nonsense :D

[birdsofshore]

LOL most of my thoughts are nonsense. I just try to add in some recs to make it look more like something people might want to read.

I think I remember your to-do list! I agree you should stay away from further fests!

[vix-spes.livejournal.com]

Haha!! My to-do list is diminishing though. I've finished 3 fics in the last two days which is progress at least!!

[nathalieweasley.livejournal.com]

I might have just spent a half hour browsing swimming anime gifs on tumblr...

And in terms of lack of dialogue, my mind immediately went to a couple of French authors - Albert Camus and Abdellah Taïa. I looked through my copies of their books and there is some (in the two books I went through) but you actually have to search for the dialogue. Maybe they did write one without any. I will check.

[birdsofshore]

LOL, sorry about the Swimming Anime thing. It is strangely compelling.

Your ideas about dialogue-light novels are excellent. I haven't read Camus for years and I don't know the other writer. I'll be interested to hear if you find any with even less dialogue in.

[nathalieweasley.livejournal.com]

It really is, haha.

Taïa is a Moroccan writer who writes in French. His books are mostly autobiographical so he can get away with lack of dialogue since he is primarily speaking to the reader. Now that I think about it, a lot of autobiographies could accomplish the lack of dialogue without it being a specific goal. Camus, on the other hand, appears to really represent this "lack of dialogue" (in my opinion at least) in that he does not try to get around the lack through other means (which an autobiography can potentially be seen as).

There is an interesting discussion here: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=632654 on book without dialogue though I feel like a lot of the books listed are more epistolary novels or the like (which goes back to this whole "cheating" thing).

[birdsofshore]

I have got to dig out Camus. That discussion thread is very interesting, but not sure they discovered any 'true' dialogueless novels. I don't think epistolary or reported speech 'counts'.

[nathalieweasley.livejournal.com]

RL prevented prompt response...

But, yes, I completely agree. Epistolary/reported speech doesn't count as "lack" of dialogue.

[nerakrose]

Admitted, this is a self rec, but I was reminded today that it exists. Fic without dialogue: http://shaggydog-swap.livejournal.com/19174.html I'm signing up for the fest! Because dialogue is my favourite thing to do and it's really hard to not write it.

[nerakrose]

When I thought about novels without dialogue I though of this : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shelter-Catherine-Whiteway/dp/1478116005/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367093600&sr=8-1&keywords=Catherine+whiteway+shelter I see in the preview that there is actually dialogue, which I think is either my memory screwing with me or that it was added in in the second editing process... (My friend wrote this, I was one of the betas (is it still beta when it's an actualfax novel? XD) and when I read through it it was very, very dialogue sparse. I never got around to reading the finished version, but I do recommend the novel. Tough if it were fanfic, it would have a warning for major character death....)

[birdsofshore]

Oh that's an interesting one. Funny that you remember it as dialogueless; I wonder if it was added or whether it just stuck in your mind as having none?

It looks a very interesting read; thanks for the rec.

[nerakrose]

the more i think about it, the more inclined i am to believe it's just my memory screwing with me. because the bits i remember most are the long descriptive/narrative bits and the emotions they conveyed, not the dialogue bits. they're pretty irrelevant for the story, anyway.

[birdsofshore]

Yay, you wrote one! And you're doing the fest!

For some reason this whole idea has completely obsessed me. I've started a speechless fic now; I don't think it's going to be terribly long, but I'm trying it. I can't wait to see what people do with the idea, and whether I like reading fics with no speech, or whether it puts me off.

[nerakrose]

it appears i did! XD i think it's the only completely dialogue free fic i've got, though.

it'd be hard to do longer stuff without dialogue, i think... i don't think i could pull it off.

[omi-ohmy.livejournal.com]

I want to do the no-dialogue fest. A couple of my comment fics could easily have been dialogue-free, and I quite like the sort of lilting story-telling I get into when I try to write like that. And I'd love to read what everyone else produces, as well.

I am going to have to look at the swimming thing tomorrow, today I haven't had time for anything remotely fun or to do any of the writing, betaing or Britpicking I currently have lined up. Tomorrow will be a different story though, I hope.

[birdsofshore]

Oh I'm happy you will be writing for it! I stayed up last night and got an idea down for it already; no idea if it will be suitable, but it assuaged my curiosity that it can be done.

I hope your day is full of random fun and that you get all those tasks done, too.

[noeon.livejournal.com]

I laughed so hard about the Swimming Anime. Thanks for posting!

[birdsofshore]

I'm glad! It's such a fun story, isn't it?

[citrus-lime.livejournal.com]

:D swimming anime aw yis. <3 I haven't looked at the trailer yet, but I hope there will be no romance in the anime since I'm very averse to it. UvU

[birdsofshore]

I think there can be anything you want in the anime at the moment your imagination can run wild! The trailer does unfortunately look quite slashtastic :D

[lokifan]

The Swimming Anime thing is SO COOL. <3 Ugh, why aren't I a professor getting paid to write articles on fandom? WHY?

I cannot think of anything I've ever read without at least reported dialogue that was longer than 500 words. You couldn't pay me to sign up to that fest, though I'm kind of curious about what will come of it.

[birdsofshore]

LOL wouldn't that be marvellous, if we could be paid for pissing about on LJ researching fandom studies?

I've made a good start on a dialogue-free fic after my initial horror! Who knows if it will end up readable or not.