Gains 636
Jul. 25th, 2025 08:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
enchanted_jae posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
dracoharry100Title: Gains 636
Author:enchanted_jae
Team: Aurors
Character(s): Harry, Draco, ocs
Rating: PG
Warning(s): None
Word count: 100
Written for:dracoharry100 Prompt No. 856 - loyal
Disclaimer: Characters are the property of JK Rowling, et al. This drabble was written for fun, not for profit.
Summary: AJ and Livvie will make their own choices.
( Gains 636 )
Author:
enchanted_jaeTeam: Aurors
Character(s): Harry, Draco, ocs
Rating: PG
Warning(s): None
Word count: 100
Written for:
dracoharry100 Prompt No. 856 - loyalDisclaimer: Characters are the property of JK Rowling, et al. This drabble was written for fun, not for profit.
Summary: AJ and Livvie will make their own choices.
( Gains 636 )
Challenge: #856 loyal
Jul. 25th, 2025 10:06 pmvickyducky posting in dracoharry100Title: History
Author:Vickyducky
Team:Death Eaters
Word count: 100x2
Characters/pairings:H/D pre-slash
Warnings: none
dracoharry100 Challenge: #856 loyal
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
( You are asking me to betray my father… )
Author:Vickyducky
Team:Death Eaters
Word count: 100x2
Characters/pairings:H/D pre-slash
Warnings: none
dracoharry100 Challenge: #856 loyalDisclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
( You are asking me to betray my father… )
Sunshine Revival Challenge #7
Jul. 25th, 2025 03:25 pmpauraquesunshine_revival's final challenge is:The Ferris Wheel
Journaling: Life in fandom goes through ups and downs. Reminisce about the "wild ride" of your time in fandom or in other online communities.
Creative: Create an image or a photo with the theme "let's go for a ride".
Hoo boy, that is a spicy journaling prompt! I'm sure I've talked about my fandom experiences many times, but newer friends may not have heard it, so we can go again.
My first fandom experience, for a loose definition of fandom, was when I used to gather with friends every week to watch and discuss the new episode of X-Files. We were 12, so our insights probably weren't that deep, but it was a start. It was through one of those friends that I found out about online fandom, which at the time was mostly conducted on mailing lists and Usenet (which, if you're not familiar, functioned much like Reddit, in that it was divided into user-created forums each centered on a topic, with atmospheres ranging from "pleasant discussion group" to "dumpster inferno").
Through most of my teen years I lurked in fandom spaces, primarily X-Files and Star Trek. I was about 18 when I actually started participating in discussions and posting fic. I made some great friends in X-Files fandom, but within a couple of years the show ended and many people started to move on, and the place a lot of them moved to was Harry Potter fandom, primarily on LiveJournal.
The early to mid 2000s on LJ were definitely the "wild ride" segment of my fandom life. The fandom community was extremely active and emotionally intense, and in trying to match that energy I ended up doing way too much, taking on more projects and moderation duties than I should have, and getting more invested in them than was rational or healthy. I know a lot of people have nostalgia for that era, but for me it was a time when my mental health was bad and fandom wasn't helping. I did make friends, but I was having a hard time telling the difference between real friends and people who were exploiting me or treating me like a fanworks vending machine. (People complain now about those who see fellow fans as "content creators," but I can assure you some fans developed that attitude well in advance of us having that label for it.) Unsurprisingly, I burned out and ended up dropping all my obligations and quitting fandom cold turkey for about three years.
Eventually I came back and learned to take a more thoughtful approach. Since then I've been able to come and go from different fandoms, participating only if I have the desire and the energy, and taking a break if it's not fun. That's summarizing in a sentence what was (and is) a years-long learning process that's not limited to fandom. Fandom is just one of the areas where I was doing and investing too much, but it's been a good place for me to practice not overcommitting because the temptation is always there.
I really appreciate DW as a place where fannish and non-fannish discussions can mingle, and people can talk about their interests and projects without pressure for everybody to focus on one thing or meet expectations of productivity. I see people having fun in fandom here, and that's great, and I see people just talking about their lives, and that's also great. I don't want a wild ride; a nice stroll in the park with friends is just fine with me.
an ending
Jul. 25th, 2025 12:42 pmfirethesoundSo, hello! It sure has been a while! I've been meaning to try to start posting again for a while, but as always, when there's been a big gap it's hard to start again. But I've been doing some writing lately for the first time in a while, and just did a WIP Wednesday post, and that's broken the ice enough that here I am.
The thing I guess I really wanted to talk about first is that I've disengaged entirely with HP fandom at this point. I still have a lot of complicated feelings about it, so hoping that dumping it all out here will help me continue to process.
So as I guess we all know by this point, JKR has fallen down the terf rabbithole. For a while it felt like enough to make sure I didn't do anything that would add to her wealth. I didn't buy anything or engage with any new media. I've been in fandom since the old Anne Rice days of cease and desist letters, so to me fandom has always felt like something separate, so for a while that was still all right. And then JKR not only continued to be awful, but she became more and more vocal about it, and at some point even reading and writing HP fic started to feel like too much.
And at that point, I just felt stuck. I really didn't want to leave HP fandom. I still loved the world and the characters and the whole community of people around me who loved those things too. I have about half a million words of partially-written fic that I really do want to finish and share, including a novel-length thing I'm 110k into and is honestly some of the most awesome writing I've ever done, and another fic I'm only about 20k into and is what I think is the best fic idea I've ever come up with, and have been saving until I felt I had the time and space and energy to do it properly.
It sucks to let go of all of that. Maybe it's silly and selfish, especially in the face of how much real-world harm she's doing to real people out there, but I've actually been grieving. I know that this is the right choice for me, but cutting something I love so much out of my life, something that's brought me such joy, through which I've made such wonderful friendships with so many fantastic people, something that became such a lifeline through the darkest part of my life, has been miserable, and difficult, and painful. But it also feels necessary, so here we are.
It was easier than I'd thought to get rid of all the HP stuff I owned (aside from the books, which I have packed away). But what to do with my fics was a really tough decision, since I do believe in the archive part of AO3, so I didn't feel great about deleting everything. I hated the loss of control that would come with orphaning them. But I also needed to do something that would draw a line under that part of my fanom-life, something that would give me enough separation from it that would allow me to fully move on. So I've ended up creating a new AO3 account (firethesound_HP_archive) and transferring everything over to that one. And I think I feel good about this compromise. I have the separation I want, but it's still preserved, and still available for anyone to whom it's meant something and wants to revisit.
And in the meantime, I'm still working my way through the stages of grief. I've already done denial (surely she doesn't actually mean that!?) to anger (fuck her!) to bargaining (well maybe I'll just finish writing the things I started before she revealed herself as a terf?) and am now pretty firmly in the depression stage about it. Here's hoping acceptance isn't too far away.
The thing I guess I really wanted to talk about first is that I've disengaged entirely with HP fandom at this point. I still have a lot of complicated feelings about it, so hoping that dumping it all out here will help me continue to process.
So as I guess we all know by this point, JKR has fallen down the terf rabbithole. For a while it felt like enough to make sure I didn't do anything that would add to her wealth. I didn't buy anything or engage with any new media. I've been in fandom since the old Anne Rice days of cease and desist letters, so to me fandom has always felt like something separate, so for a while that was still all right. And then JKR not only continued to be awful, but she became more and more vocal about it, and at some point even reading and writing HP fic started to feel like too much.
And at that point, I just felt stuck. I really didn't want to leave HP fandom. I still loved the world and the characters and the whole community of people around me who loved those things too. I have about half a million words of partially-written fic that I really do want to finish and share, including a novel-length thing I'm 110k into and is honestly some of the most awesome writing I've ever done, and another fic I'm only about 20k into and is what I think is the best fic idea I've ever come up with, and have been saving until I felt I had the time and space and energy to do it properly.
It sucks to let go of all of that. Maybe it's silly and selfish, especially in the face of how much real-world harm she's doing to real people out there, but I've actually been grieving. I know that this is the right choice for me, but cutting something I love so much out of my life, something that's brought me such joy, through which I've made such wonderful friendships with so many fantastic people, something that became such a lifeline through the darkest part of my life, has been miserable, and difficult, and painful. But it also feels necessary, so here we are.
It was easier than I'd thought to get rid of all the HP stuff I owned (aside from the books, which I have packed away). But what to do with my fics was a really tough decision, since I do believe in the archive part of AO3, so I didn't feel great about deleting everything. I hated the loss of control that would come with orphaning them. But I also needed to do something that would draw a line under that part of my fanom-life, something that would give me enough separation from it that would allow me to fully move on. So I've ended up creating a new AO3 account (firethesound_HP_archive) and transferring everything over to that one. And I think I feel good about this compromise. I have the separation I want, but it's still preserved, and still available for anyone to whom it's meant something and wants to revisit.
And in the meantime, I'm still working my way through the stages of grief. I've already done denial (surely she doesn't actually mean that!?) to anger (fuck her!) to bargaining (well maybe I'll just finish writing the things I started before she revealed herself as a terf?) and am now pretty firmly in the depression stage about it. Here's hoping acceptance isn't too far away.
One Quick(ish) Thing
Jul. 25th, 2025 09:24 amsdk(This post was originally called 3 quick things. And then I started rambling about Dexter, and now I have no idea what the other two quick things were going to be.)
I've been on a Dexter binge. Not the original series (possibly starting that up again soon!) but I watched the first three episodes of Dexter: Resurrection and then found out there was a whole prequel series (Dexter: Original Sin) that I'd missed. I did watch the initial Dexter sequel (New Blood) when it first came out and remembered not being very impressed and kind of dissatisfied so my hopes weren't high for Resurrection, but honestly? I'm here for it. They seem to have gone back to the original formula with giddy fun serial killer vibes and not taking themselves too seriously. YAY. Plus Harrison (Dexter's son) is not just a whiny teenaged brat and is actually interesting. (Please don't screw up his plot, show.) YAY. Also Uma Thurman is in it? Which is an unexpected surprise. And she is as awesome as ever. (And apparently doesn't age like the rest of us mere mortals.) Fingers crossed they keep this going and don't fuck up by the end of the season (which I am sadly used to!).
But as there were only three episodes of that available (I think a new one comes out today?), I flipped over to Original Sin to give that a shot. I, again, wasn't expecting much. Actually, I expected that I'd hate it given that they'd had to cast all new actors to play younger versions of the characters I knew and loved from the OG series, and 9 times out of 10 that never goes well (for me, at least). But omfg, they nailed it, somehow? Young Dexter is AMAZING. Patrick Gibson (the actor playing him) is incredible at capturing Michael C. Hall's physicality, his awkwardness, his weird-ass charm, and I am so impressed. I can't leave out Molly Brown who plays Deb, Dexter's sister--she also does an incredible job in capturing Jennifer Carpenter's mannerisms and speech patterns while making the younger character her own. Also Christian Slater is Dexter's still-alive dad, and while he doesn't echo the ghost of Dexter's father we see in the OG series and beyond like the others, he is excellent at the emo-single-father-trying-to-raise-a-budding-serial-killer-but-full-of-man-pain thing. Bonus Points for seeing Sarah Michelle-Geller on my tv again. ♥
The show itself also is just very fun and leans into the ridiculousness of the whole concept of a serial killer with a "code" and I love that.
One kinda eye-roll-y caveat:
Obviously both of these shows deal with a lot of violence (and a lot of gore) and maybe I'm a weirdo for being like "oh yay they've gone back to giddy fun vibes for this!" but iirc, the original show aired kind of right before prestige television became such a big deal, and for New Blood, I felt like the show runners got caught up in trying to make the Dexter franchise more "prestige" and less pulp. But it is pulp. Dexter is the kind of show that has to be able to wink at itself. (See opening credits of the OG show and Original Sin for examples!) And I'm just really happy they've returned to that original vision and hope they stay the course and not try to force Dexter into becoming something it's not.
[h/t to bothlee_bella and pauraque for helping me with the spoiler coding for this entry!]
Unrelated Aside: I am slowly working on reorganizing my journal (updating my sticky and profile, reorganizing my tags--which are a mess), and I'm realizing it's going to be a bit of a project! Slow and steady, self, slow and steady.
I've been on a Dexter binge. Not the original series (possibly starting that up again soon!) but I watched the first three episodes of Dexter: Resurrection and then found out there was a whole prequel series (Dexter: Original Sin) that I'd missed. I did watch the initial Dexter sequel (New Blood) when it first came out and remembered not being very impressed and kind of dissatisfied so my hopes weren't high for Resurrection, but honestly? I'm here for it. They seem to have gone back to the original formula with giddy fun serial killer vibes and not taking themselves too seriously. YAY. Plus Harrison (Dexter's son) is not just a whiny teenaged brat and is actually interesting. (Please don't screw up his plot, show.) YAY. Also Uma Thurman is in it? Which is an unexpected surprise. And she is as awesome as ever. (And apparently doesn't age like the rest of us mere mortals.) Fingers crossed they keep this going and don't fuck up by the end of the season (which I am sadly used to!).
But as there were only three episodes of that available (I think a new one comes out today?), I flipped over to Original Sin to give that a shot. I, again, wasn't expecting much. Actually, I expected that I'd hate it given that they'd had to cast all new actors to play younger versions of the characters I knew and loved from the OG series, and 9 times out of 10 that never goes well (for me, at least). But omfg, they nailed it, somehow? Young Dexter is AMAZING. Patrick Gibson (the actor playing him) is incredible at capturing Michael C. Hall's physicality, his awkwardness, his weird-ass charm, and I am so impressed. I can't leave out Molly Brown who plays Deb, Dexter's sister--she also does an incredible job in capturing Jennifer Carpenter's mannerisms and speech patterns while making the younger character her own. Also Christian Slater is Dexter's still-alive dad, and while he doesn't echo the ghost of Dexter's father we see in the OG series and beyond like the others, he is excellent at the emo-single-father-trying-to-raise-a-budding-serial-killer-but-full-of-man-pain thing. Bonus Points for seeing Sarah Michelle-Geller on my tv again. ♥
SPOILER FOR THE ENDING OF SEASON 1
ALSO it was super fun watching McDreamy be revealed as the big bad and end up on Dexter's table, ngl.The show itself also is just very fun and leans into the ridiculousness of the whole concept of a serial killer with a "code" and I love that.
One kinda eye-roll-y caveat:
SPOILERS FOR NEW BLOOD
The whole premise that Dexter's life is flashing before his eyes while he's dying from his gunshot wound at the end of New Blood is okay, I guess. It's a framing that allows Michael C. Hall to narrate the whole thing, which helps it feel like Dexter, but then they proceed with his dad also having flashbacks in the middle of Dexter's flashbacks, and the whole concept breaks. Dad's flashbacks are really interesting and add a whole new layer to Dexter's origin story so I lean on the side of handwaving the "this-doesn't-make-sense" aspect, but IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.Obviously both of these shows deal with a lot of violence (and a lot of gore) and maybe I'm a weirdo for being like "oh yay they've gone back to giddy fun vibes for this!" but iirc, the original show aired kind of right before prestige television became such a big deal, and for New Blood, I felt like the show runners got caught up in trying to make the Dexter franchise more "prestige" and less pulp. But it is pulp. Dexter is the kind of show that has to be able to wink at itself. (See opening credits of the OG show and Original Sin for examples!) And I'm just really happy they've returned to that original vision and hope they stay the course and not try to force Dexter into becoming something it's not.
[h/t to both
lee_bella and pauraque for helping me with the spoiler coding for this entry!]Unrelated Aside: I am slowly working on reorganizing my journal (updating my sticky and profile, reorganizing my tags--which are a mess), and I'm realizing it's going to be a bit of a project! Slow and steady, self, slow and steady.
Help?
Jul. 24th, 2025 08:21 pmsdkI might be misremembering, but is there a way to use spoiler tags in DW entries? I can't find anything in the FAQ and searching leads me to a lot of years-old possibly out-of-date info. But I thought for sure there was a tag for them here.
If not a natural built-in tag, what do people usually do when they want to spoiler cut something? Just make a regular cut for it? Or use code to have a highlight-to-read effect?
I swear to god, I used to know this. I stop posting for one whole year and I forget how everything works here, geesh!
If not a natural built-in tag, what do people usually do when they want to spoiler cut something? Just make a regular cut for it? Or use code to have a highlight-to-read effect?
I swear to god, I used to know this. I stop posting for one whole year and I forget how everything works here, geesh!
The Bone People by Keri Hulme (1983)
Jul. 24th, 2025 06:08 pmpauraque[This is a revision of a review I first posted to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
50books_poc on December 1st, 2010. It has been edited for clarity.]
I thought I'd read this book over ten years ago, when it was given to me by a teacher, and I'm sure I started to read it, but I have a feeling I didn't finish. That or I blocked it out. Don't let me get ahead of myself—this is a well-written and absorbing novel. But it hurts. It's long, or it feels long, and I found myself always trying to get through it faster, eager both to know what would happen and to escape the brutality of it.
We are introduced to Kerewin, an independently wealthy artist who lives a hermit-like existence in a self-built Tower in New Zealand. By chance she meets Simon, a young, troubled boy who can't speak, and his foster father Joe, who took him in when Simon was washed ashore in a shipwreck. A three-way friendship begins to blossom among these very different, very wounded people.
This section of the book is inviting, unfolding slowly, rich with setting and personality. Kerewin Holmes is overtly a self-insert for Keri Hulme, which I think confused me when I first tried to read the book, thinking only bad authors did this. But Hulme is a gifted writer who seems able to deconstruct herself wholeheartedly, honestly, with the same sympathy and ruthlessness she uses to create other characters. The only problem I had with Kerewin as a character is that she shares Hulme's lyrical poetic voice to such an extent that you wonder why Kerewin is not also a professional writer, and why visual art has been substituted instead.
Joe and Simon are also skillfully drawn characters, though I was uncomfortable with Simon at times, initially disliking him and not relating to why Kerewin was drawn to him. The sections that are written from his point of view helped a lot, and I wish there had been more of them earlier.
This could almost have been the whole story, just a story of three people reaching out to one another, and the novel would have been half the length. I think it could have been good that way. But even in the early pages, there are hints of violence and unrest; animals are killed often in this book, for food, for pest control. The violence is lingered over, not sadistically or in pleasure, but in grim fascination. We are told that Joe and Simon have a secret, not just the secret of Simon's origins (which is also explored, but as a bit of an afterthought) but something much worse, and more everyday.
The secret, which isn't a secret if you've read the back of the book, is that Joe beats his child.
I was skeptical that Kerewin would really change as much as she did by the end of the book, even after her dark night of the soul followed by a miraculous cure. The reunion with her family feels hasty and forced.
I was VERY skeptical that Joe would ever be safe around Simon, even after his spiritual reconnection with his country as a Māori man. I didn't doubt that the land would try to heal him, and I didn't doubt that he would believe it worked, but after all we'd seen of him, I just felt his illness was too strong. It's suggested tht he should stay in the sacred place he discovers and be its guardian, and I would have bought into that as an appropriate ending for him. But he doesn't do it, and I didn't understand that. It felt like a pulled punch, letting him off the hook for his choices.
I thought Hulme gave Simon the short end. He doesn't get a mystical realization, and the lopsidedness of that really felt off to me. It's like he only exists so the adults can find themselves, which is pretty awful and trite after everything he goes through. I know some people read this as Christian symbolism, with Simon as Christ being tortured for the sins of his parents (virginal, indeed asexual Kerewin, and Joseph the foster father). If so, all I can say is it didn't work for me.
I was also put off by the ambivalence towards queerness in the book. Kerewin's asexuality is depicted as acceptable, but Joe's discomfort with his bisexuality never gets a resolution, and minor queer characters are stereotypes.
I wish I could recommend this book because the language is really lovely, but I don't think I'm quite there. I think Hulme does well in portraying shades of gray, in allowing Joe to be both monstrous and human. I was with her right up to the end, but I couldn't accept the ending she provided for the characters, precisely because it went away from the grayness and was too black-and-white. This is such a long, languid novel—what was her hurry in the last few chapters? Everything is wrapped up far too quickly and neatly. I didn't buy it, even with her assurance that the end is also a beginning. I didn't believe that this new beginning would turn out any different from the beginning on page one.
I also wish I knew why my teacher wanted me to read this and what she hoped I would get out of it. Unfortunately I have zero memory of whatever she told me about it, so that's something we'll never know!
50books_poc on December 1st, 2010. It has been edited for clarity.]I thought I'd read this book over ten years ago, when it was given to me by a teacher, and I'm sure I started to read it, but I have a feeling I didn't finish. That or I blocked it out. Don't let me get ahead of myself—this is a well-written and absorbing novel. But it hurts. It's long, or it feels long, and I found myself always trying to get through it faster, eager both to know what would happen and to escape the brutality of it.
We are introduced to Kerewin, an independently wealthy artist who lives a hermit-like existence in a self-built Tower in New Zealand. By chance she meets Simon, a young, troubled boy who can't speak, and his foster father Joe, who took him in when Simon was washed ashore in a shipwreck. A three-way friendship begins to blossom among these very different, very wounded people.
This section of the book is inviting, unfolding slowly, rich with setting and personality. Kerewin Holmes is overtly a self-insert for Keri Hulme, which I think confused me when I first tried to read the book, thinking only bad authors did this. But Hulme is a gifted writer who seems able to deconstruct herself wholeheartedly, honestly, with the same sympathy and ruthlessness she uses to create other characters. The only problem I had with Kerewin as a character is that she shares Hulme's lyrical poetic voice to such an extent that you wonder why Kerewin is not also a professional writer, and why visual art has been substituted instead.
Joe and Simon are also skillfully drawn characters, though I was uncomfortable with Simon at times, initially disliking him and not relating to why Kerewin was drawn to him. The sections that are written from his point of view helped a lot, and I wish there had been more of them earlier.
This could almost have been the whole story, just a story of three people reaching out to one another, and the novel would have been half the length. I think it could have been good that way. But even in the early pages, there are hints of violence and unrest; animals are killed often in this book, for food, for pest control. The violence is lingered over, not sadistically or in pleasure, but in grim fascination. We are told that Joe and Simon have a secret, not just the secret of Simon's origins (which is also explored, but as a bit of an afterthought) but something much worse, and more everyday.
The secret, which isn't a secret if you've read the back of the book, is that Joe beats his child.
detailed spoilers
So I knew that going in. But what surprised me (and this is why I'm pretty sure I didn't finish the book the first time) is that Kerewin's efforts to reform him go in vain, and that Joe beats Simon into a coma and is sent to prison, leaving the three of them to go their separate ways for most of the remainder of the book. On their separate journeys, Kerewin and Joe are cleansed of their respective ailments—Kerewin's cancer and Joe's violence—quite literally by magic. I have no objection to magical realism, but in this instance it didn't satisfy me, not in either case.I was skeptical that Kerewin would really change as much as she did by the end of the book, even after her dark night of the soul followed by a miraculous cure. The reunion with her family feels hasty and forced.
I was VERY skeptical that Joe would ever be safe around Simon, even after his spiritual reconnection with his country as a Māori man. I didn't doubt that the land would try to heal him, and I didn't doubt that he would believe it worked, but after all we'd seen of him, I just felt his illness was too strong. It's suggested tht he should stay in the sacred place he discovers and be its guardian, and I would have bought into that as an appropriate ending for him. But he doesn't do it, and I didn't understand that. It felt like a pulled punch, letting him off the hook for his choices.
I thought Hulme gave Simon the short end. He doesn't get a mystical realization, and the lopsidedness of that really felt off to me. It's like he only exists so the adults can find themselves, which is pretty awful and trite after everything he goes through. I know some people read this as Christian symbolism, with Simon as Christ being tortured for the sins of his parents (virginal, indeed asexual Kerewin, and Joseph the foster father). If so, all I can say is it didn't work for me.
I was also put off by the ambivalence towards queerness in the book. Kerewin's asexuality is depicted as acceptable, but Joe's discomfort with his bisexuality never gets a resolution, and minor queer characters are stereotypes.
I wish I could recommend this book because the language is really lovely, but I don't think I'm quite there. I think Hulme does well in portraying shades of gray, in allowing Joe to be both monstrous and human. I was with her right up to the end, but I couldn't accept the ending she provided for the characters, precisely because it went away from the grayness and was too black-and-white. This is such a long, languid novel—what was her hurry in the last few chapters? Everything is wrapped up far too quickly and neatly. I didn't buy it, even with her assurance that the end is also a beginning. I didn't believe that this new beginning would turn out any different from the beginning on page one.
I also wish I knew why my teacher wanted me to read this and what she hoped I would get out of it. Unfortunately I have zero memory of whatever she told me about it, so that's something we'll never know!
WIP Wednesday
Jul. 22nd, 2025 09:51 pmfirethesoundTrying to get back into writing, so also trying to get back into posting. Hi, Dreamwidth, it sure has been a while! Anyhow. WIPs.
New words this week : 5322 words which is more than I've written in a week in years. I'm feeling optimistic about keeping the momentum going.
WIPs worked on this week : 2, with no new WIPs (yay!)
The Old Guard
☆ Old Kingdom AU : 5017 words which brings the total to 11,403 words and wow has this one been tough so far. Usually it takes me about 3-5k to really feel like I've got traction on a new fic, and here I was at 11k and still really struggling to get into it. The good news is I've figured it out--I'm writing a fusion thing, and I was unintentionally matching the tone of the book I'm fusion-ing instead of using my own voice. Which means that while the solution is obvious, the bad news is that to fix it I'm going to be rewriting a huge chunk of the 11k I've got.
☆ Redamancy : 305 words which brings the total to 4941 words. This doc actually has the bits and pieces I've written for the next five parts of the series, individual works will probably end up in the 2-3k range. Trying to stick to posting them in chronological order but not really feeling the spark on this right now so it's languishing. Frustrating, because the next part could be done in just a couple of hours if I could just buckle down and focus on it.
New words this week : 5322 words which is more than I've written in a week in years. I'm feeling optimistic about keeping the momentum going.
WIPs worked on this week : 2, with no new WIPs (yay!)
The Old Guard
☆ Old Kingdom AU : 5017 words which brings the total to 11,403 words and wow has this one been tough so far. Usually it takes me about 3-5k to really feel like I've got traction on a new fic, and here I was at 11k and still really struggling to get into it. The good news is I've figured it out--I'm writing a fusion thing, and I was unintentionally matching the tone of the book I'm fusion-ing instead of using my own voice. Which means that while the solution is obvious, the bad news is that to fix it I'm going to be rewriting a huge chunk of the 11k I've got.
☆ Redamancy : 305 words which brings the total to 4941 words. This doc actually has the bits and pieces I've written for the next five parts of the series, individual works will probably end up in the 2-3k range. Trying to stick to posting them in chronological order but not really feeling the spark on this right now so it's languishing. Frustrating, because the next part could be done in just a couple of hours if I could just buckle down and focus on it.
Drabble Series: In The Dead Of Night (Neville/Draco)
Jul. 22nd, 2025 10:46 pmlightofdayeTitle: In The Dead Of Night
Rating: NC-17
Characters & Pairing: Neville Longbottom/Draco Malfoy
Word Count: 4 x 100
Content: Slash, blowjob, anal, hint of characterisation
Disclaimer: The characters, settings and HP Franchise as a whole are owned by JKR and not by me. I make no profit from writing this piece of fanfiction.
Summary: He only dares to visit when no-one will see.
A/n: Unbeta'd. Written forneville100's Prompt #569: "Midnight". This was written as if it didn't come with a header that states the pairing. So forget you read that.
( In The Dead Of Night )
Rating: NC-17
Characters & Pairing: Neville Longbottom/Draco Malfoy
Word Count: 4 x 100
Content: Slash, blowjob, anal, hint of characterisation
Disclaimer: The characters, settings and HP Franchise as a whole are owned by JKR and not by me. I make no profit from writing this piece of fanfiction.
Summary: He only dares to visit when no-one will see.
A/n: Unbeta'd. Written for
neville100's Prompt #569: "Midnight". This was written as if it didn't come with a header that states the pairing. So forget you read that.( In The Dead Of Night )
Peridium (2017) · Alluvium (2018)
Jul. 22nd, 2025 10:57 ampauraqueI am very interested to play Powerhoof's new game The Drifter, but I'm really trying not to buy any more games until I play some of the ones I have already bought, so I played... two of Powerhoof's old free games? Wait, I think I messed this up.
These are both horror point-and-clicks, and they're both game jam entries so they're short, less than an hour each.
Peridium
( A researcher is trapped on an Antarctic base where something has gone horrifically wrong. )
Alluvium
( A plane crash survivor keeps talking about the things 'we' had to do to survive... yet he seems to be the only one around. )
Though I think both of these games are worth playing if you like horror, I wouldn't recommend playing them back-to-back in an evening like I did, because I was still thinking about Peridium while I was playing Alluvium, and I kept looking for similarities and got really distracted. So, play them, but not like that. Or maybe play the commercial games you have purchased that are languishing in your Steam library. Do as I say, not as I do.
These are both horror point-and-clicks, and they're both game jam entries so they're short, less than an hour each.
Peridium
( A researcher is trapped on an Antarctic base where something has gone horrifically wrong. )
Alluvium
( A plane crash survivor keeps talking about the things 'we' had to do to survive... yet he seems to be the only one around. )
Though I think both of these games are worth playing if you like horror, I wouldn't recommend playing them back-to-back in an evening like I did, because I was still thinking about Peridium while I was playing Alluvium, and I kept looking for similarities and got really distracted. So, play them, but not like that. Or maybe play the commercial games you have purchased that are languishing in your Steam library. Do as I say, not as I do.