Date:	2009-09-26 11:49
Subject:	Ugh coding...
Security:	Public
Mood:	cranky

I just looked at the previous post and realised that all of the links I put in there have disappeared...

Well that's the last time I use the imbedded linky thing. I would rather hand code them all rather than go back and try to find them all, all over again.

I shall fix the links later, my Mother is coming to visit soon, and the house is nowhere neat enough for my liking... damn fool thing that it is, why cant it keep it's self clean!

Date:	2009-09-26 10:41
Subject:	Reflections... nearly a year later
Security:	Public
Mood:	calm

It seems that despite having the time to read copious amounts of HP fanfiction, I never seem to find the time post on any of my sites...

Time to do something about that...

Recently I joined the Severus Sighs yahoo group here and quietly despaired that it was going to be one of those really busy ones where I really didn't follow what was going on and eventually set to special messages so that my inbox didn't fill up. Needless to say, I still get all of the emails coming through, and just as well as they are a prolific bunch of writers who often on the spur of the moment will have a challenge or something as long as it has Severus Snape in it!

Not only has reading all of these wonderful stories been fabulous, but they have convinced me to spread my wings and join in... as a beta! I have just participated in my first beta for a loverly lady fancypantsdylan as she writes her story for the snarry_holidays exchange. It has been an interesting experience for us both but a good one none the less.

In the meantime, I have been reading many loverly stories and I'd like to share a few with you...

The Snarry Games have produced some wonderful fics and art and these are the ones I have read so far...

"Something Ever After" By AbstractConcept
Genres: Crossdressing and Crossover/Fusion
Prompt: Some Enchanted Evening
Summary: Harry just wanted his happy ending. Instead, he’s stuck with a sparkly tiara and glass shoes, and the entire world seems to have gone mad.

Team Snitch Entry (FIC): "The Shadowless Hereafter" by Perfica
Genre(s): Literary, Alive and Kicking (EWE)
Prompt(s): Candle in the Window
Summary: "Mr Woodlock is a reporter from a very important periodical. He is here because he wishes to interview me on my time in the Great War."

Team Snitch Entry (FIC): "Sex, Lies, and Audiobooks" by RaeWhit
Genre(s): Alive and Kicking (EWE)
Prompt(s): Secrets and Lies, Coming Home
Summary: Belonging and deserving, needing and wanting—desires of the human heart that Severus and Harry must face when they're forced to the little village of Lochdubh to settle a very late codicil of Albus Dumbledore's will.

Team Snitch Entry (FIC): "Connecting the Dotty" by I Got Tired of Waiting
Genre(s): Alive & Kicking (EWE)
Prompt(s): Love and Marriage, Sands of Time
Summary: A gentle tale of growing old together.

Team Snitch Entry (FIC): "The Snidget" by Acidburn and Sinick
Genre: Alive and Kicking (EWE)
Prompt(s): Last Hope, Skin Deep
Summary: After the Dark Lord's victory, Headmaster Snape is living under a sword's edge, when hope flies in past his shields.

Team Snitch Entry (FIC): "Snow Harrie" by Eriador117
Prompt(s): Secrets and Lies
Genre(s): Literary/Historical, Crossdressing/Genderbender
Summary: Lily has always wanted a baby girl with hair as black as ebony, skin as white as snow and lips as red as blood...

Team Cauldron Entry (FIC): "Falling into the Stars" by Gnomad
Genre(s): Crossover/Fusion
Prompt(s): Falling Stars, Man in Uniform
Summary: A risky bit of magic goes horribly wrong and lands Snape and Harry in a place they never intended to be. Or to put it more succinctly: Snape and Harry! In space!

Team Cauldron Entry (FIC): "Seer Divine" by Shadowess
Genre: Crossdressing, Historical
Prompt: Seeking Knowledge
Summary: In Viking-Age Sweden, Seidhr magic was usually passed down from mother to daughter but since Harry was an only child, he became his mother's apprentice. Harry must now raise power for a ritual and turns to his other tutor, Severus Snape, to help him.

Team Cauldron Entry (FIC): "Sine Qua Non" By Dracofiend
Genre(s): Alive and Kicking
Prompt(s): Hold My Hand; Odyssey
Summary: He passes a hand over his face and takes a few seconds to silently, pointlessly curse the Dark Lord, himself, and the wretchedness of magic for burdening him with something so fantastic and absurd as true love for Harry Potter.

Enjoy!!

Date:	2009-01-20 17:56
Subject:	How tastes change - reflections of a freaked out fan
Security:	Public
Mood:	contemplative

I really don't remember how long I have been reading HP fanfiction now but I was introduced to the glory that was HP and the Philosophers Stone 9 years ago. We were on holidays and we were staying in communal accommodation, sharing with my aunt and her family as well. I was pregnant at the time and was staying there with my father and daughter. Due to the lack of anything to do and the general weariness that comes with pregnancy and a toddler combined, I was going to bed with the children. There really wasn't anything else to do as we were all staying in one room together. Every night my aunt would read a chapter from this new book, HP - PS, that everyone was raving about, and I was hooked, the last afternoon we were there I borrowed it from my aunt just so I could finish it before we left. I had to know how the story ended.

I can't remember the first ever fanfic that I read, I envy people who can in detail describe their first adventure into that world. The only thing that I am sure of is that it probably wasn't slash. The earliest memory I have is that of Harry and Draco sitting together at the train station and having a smoke. And Draco being surprised that Harry smoked. It was what I now recognise as an Independent!Harry fic. I remember that Harry 'rebelled' and did things he wasn't supposed to... yeah well that does feature dramatically in many fics. Was it well written, probably not, but then is that really a criteria when you are looking for something specific? Mostly yes, good grammer, spelling and punctuation are vital to help the reader relax, enjoy and understand where you are going. A good understanding of English is also vital. I could list a couple of my favourite 'English' mistakes easily.

For Example:

* Shutter instead of shudder, the first is a window covering, the second is a full body shiver

* Brake fast instead of breakfast, no further comment

* Wither/withering instead of writhe/writhing, to wither is to shrivel from lack of water, to writhe is to wiggle or contort your body

* Over use of the word lovely. 'his lovely eyes were a lovely shade of green like the lovely emerald in his lovely ring.' And yes I have read something very similar, except it was nearly a whole paragraph.

* Onyx is not an eye colour, it seems that at one stage everyone was using onyx to describe Snapes eyes, but onyx comes in several different colours including white and green and the black is often dyed that colour... really the best gift you can give a budding writer is to give them a thesaurus, I use mine all the time and for example there is listed in mine under black the following: dark; pitch-black; jet-black; coal-black; inky; sable; and nigrescent. hmm no comment.

Perhaps I'm being too much of a literary snob, but I don't think so, I can cope with the occasional spelling mistake, a finger burp as a friend calls it. The occasionally bad use of tense can be ignored if the story is good enough. But when the regular use of bad English, of the incorrect use of words gets to the point that it is every time they use it, then I lose patience and give up. I have seriously thought about offering my time a beta reader, only I have also seen stories where the beta readers comments are still enclosed in the text, or a paragraph is written twice with the second one having some adjustments done to it. Then of course is the authors note right in the middle of the text. Use footnotes please, if you must have a note there. There is nothing more disconcerting to come across a piece of text that has nothing to do with the story in general.

But then perhaps I am being too harsh. I'm not sure, it could have something to do with my job where I am always working/editing other peoples writing. I work with people who are more highly educated than me and others for whom the English language is a second language and not a very comfortable one at that. I am accustomed to editing text and seem to do it all the time regardless of what I am doing. So does that mean that I am the perfect writer??? Not at all. I cant write fiction and in momentary lapses of sanity, often dabble with the idea of writing my own fic, but have no illusions of the quality of the work that would be produced. So there is no threat of my having put out some dodgy work of fiction and getting upset because someone lambasted it for being of poor quality.

Anyway, until next time, when I lambast some poor soul's lifework.

Happy writing!!!

Date:	2008-06-24 13:37
Subject:	Some sweet Snarry recs
Security:	Public
Mood:	amused

Harry Potter has over taken my life yet again… ok I admit it, I never did get him out and now he’s joined by Snape, Malfoy and other bits of hot goodness!!!


A couple of new (to me) stories that I just had to share…


Smitty the basilisk

Smitty is the child of the Basilisk that Harry slew in 2nd year, he speaks English, can write (this is his story after all!!!) is a matchmaker of the highest degree!!! There are various pairings, the main one being Harry/Severus with a little Ron/Hermione and Draco/? thrown in. Fun to read, it did lag in one or two places but work sticking it out!!!


Order of Merlin, First Class

Bloody brilliant!!! I mean really! I had to stuff my fist in my mouth so that I wouldn’t wake up the house with all my laughing!!! This plot devise has been seen before, but this is a rather different take on it. Harry is at a ministry function and being presented with an Order of Merlin, First Class, when our intrepid boy hero is bored witless and surrounded by idiots and so he goes and hides somewhere and finds something unexpected! A lovely humorous bit of Harry/Severus with a little something different. Oneshot.


On The Usefulness of the tie

Again a laugh a minute oneshot, Harry/Severus in a humorous angsty tussle with a tie… and just who is Ron playing games with too???


How Harry Potter saved the life of Severus Snape - And how the avenged themselves for long years of manipulation

Ah, such a beautiful subtitle, and that just says it all. Harry and Snape get revenge on Dumbledore… with a little bit of life saving thrown in. God how I laughed!!!!


Everybody wants to be a cat

Summary: Harry, in his Animagus form, finds himself getting tickled by his dear Potions professor. He discovers some very strange and disturbing things about himself…and another person.

This is definitely a good one, but then I have a definite weakness for Kitty!Harry so that is no surprise!!! Even more amusing is the tease about the pairing for the following story, which I believe has not been translated into English yet.


Pretty Little Drawings

Summary: Who hasn't ever drawn a naughty picture on a scrap in their homework notebook? Hmm? Harry is no exception to the rule. Except that it's his Potions homework, and he turns it in without realizing.

The interaction between the two protagonists is glorious with it’s snark, and the visual teasing that the two take part in is precise enough that I can actually visualise the images themselves. In fact the imagery used in this story could produce some amazing fan art if one was so inclined…

Date:	2008-01-28 15:40
Subject:	Sweet Harry Potter
Security:	Public
Mood:	satisfied

As part of a web based project on CMS systems (yes that a bit of repetition for you who are in the know) I have started to put together a HP fic listing/rec site. It's ongoing and I don't think that it will ever end. There are that many fics out there and they are constantly growing. Never-the-less I am busily cataloging the ones that I have come across and trying to be objective about it all. Of course in the process of it all there are always one or two that you come across that just stand out. Either for being really bad or good! I am not fond of recommending WIPs unless they are outstanding, and I think that the following may just break that barrier...

Warning Adult Content Wings Eclipsing Night Part 1: Beneath A Shattered Fountain by kc_anathema

A Post War fic, with a strong slavery theme. Add a little veela!Draco and dark!Harry to the mix and you have a loverly little story about domination and love...? I am not fond of the dark!Harry theme that often runs through these stories, but this one is as subtly addictive as nicotine, just one puff, and then another and next thing you know you've spent the better half of the afternoon reading it to the exclusion of everything else.

Read it and love it! I did!!!

Date:	2007-11-29 13:38
Subject:	Long Time No Chat
Security:	Public
Mood:	working
Music:	some crappy radio station

It has been a while since the last time I posted. However this is not a bad thing as I have been working on some projects.

In the pipeline I have two projects that I'm working on, besides the overall general project of my main website, that is a database of manga, specifically yaoi manga. I'm tossing up the idea of cataloguing my collection and am experimenting with that. The second project I have on the boil is that of a HP fanfic rec site. Yes I am getting obsessive with the fanfics and HP along with Bleach are some of my favs.

Part of the reason for this is that I have to learn about this particular CMS for work, and figured that I may as well have some fun with it too!!!

Cataloguing is not something that I particularly enjoy, but would like to develop some thing so that I can find just exactly what I'm after. I'm hoping that the system that I'm trialling will do what I want it to do. But we wont hold our breath till then.

In the meantime try out this little beauty ---> Union of Doom

I believe that be worth your while, if you're a Snarry fan!!!

Till next time!

Date:	2007-07-03 19:36
Subject:	More ByaRen | yes I'm obsessive!!!
Security:	Public
Mood:	content

What! More ByaRen???? I didn't know it was possible to become so obsessed with two people who are debateably not real!!! <---apologies to all who think otherwise, but just because they move and talk does not a fish make!

Anyway, away from fish to a dish much more entrancing.... ByaxRen, RenxBya, RenxByaxRen, ByaxRenxBya, no matter which way it's served it's still a tasty dish!

On to the fiction...

( Three tasty dishes!!! )