Ramblings of a total Zack girl

Considering how much I hate real-life Starbucks baristas (OMG it's Utah, okay, the concept of the noncaffienated drink shouldn't be THAT foreign, and yes, I'm serious about my three-times-repeated request for that particular flavouring), it's kind of hilarious how much I enjoy them in fic.

If one ever hit on me by writing their number on my coffee cup, I might go out with them just because I'm thinking of Jon Walker/Mike Rosenbaum/Jared Padalecki/John Sheppard/Draco Malfoy et al doing the exact same thing.

(It would probably be a mistake, I really do hate baristas. *G*)

ETA: In all fairness, really who I hate are the ones at my Starbucks, because they are hideously incompetent. It is not fair to blame all of them in the world. *G*

I'm catching up on reversathon--really catching up, like, I've only read three stories before today.

Something strikes me, though...so many of them seem to be bittersweet or melancholy. I think one or possibly two of the ones I've read so far--and I've now read about fourteen, fifteen--are funny and cheerful. The vast majority are, if not actually dark, much more pensive/sad.

I wonder, if I went back to check, how many other ficathons would have the same trends?

In the posting for the 2005 Reversathon Masterlist, fluffyllama mentions that she is about to lay hands on her copy of HBP for the first time. The fics I remember from the 2005 Reversathon were much more lighthearted...admittedly, I didn't read them all, as that was a crazy summer, but I did read the ones written by/written for/recced by my flist, which was quite a few.

How much has HBP changed our perceptions? Why?

I know I'd never have dreamed of writing anything as dark as All He Had Left to Him before HBP. I don't know how much of that to blame on my own personal growth in versatility of taste, when it comes to what I want to read/write, how much to consider part of an apparently quite widespread trend.

Not to say that there isn't still funny fic, fluffy fic--well, I think there's less, but possibly that's because I've learned that so much of it is crap that I should hit the back button when I see the warning signs--crack!fic, or jolly!fic...but there seems to be less of it being produced, and generally even if those elements are present there's a deeper significance to what's going on.

What do you think, y'all? Is it just that I click on different things now than I did when I was a newbie? Did HBP really change us all that much?

Someone on my flist was questioning fanfiction and how often it is different...really different...from canon. I will not mention her name, as I'm sure she didn't intend to start wank, but I wanted to preserve my own thoughts, as my reply to her came out too long for one comment-box.

( Cut for meta and opinions )

Hours of sleep, one discussion, and a good look at the flist later, I become slightly more rational.

( Spoilers )

Seriously? Whitney called me when she finished the book. Well, she called Jen, Mia, and Amy (none of whom had finished it), finally got my number, then called me. My dad comes into the room, saying, "It's six o'clock, you know."

ME: "Hah, hah, very funny. It's only, like, eleven."

ME? WRONG. He was right. Man, I musta been tired.

We had a nice talk, though I was still just-wakened and just-reacting, considering how soon I went to bed. Having seen the flist, though, many things make much more sense.

So, following shocolate's example, I am thinking about cutting off my fic reading pre-HBP. The thing of it is that I can more than likely re-read all the books if I start on the Saturday before the release, and probably even have time to read OotP twice (which I'd like to do, as I don't know it as well and I'd really, really like to get kicked out of the trivia games for knowing too much again.) So I'm thinking that that will be my drop-point. Any fic I want to read will be put in my "Come Back To" mem category and read after I'm done with the new canon. Except for parody. Parody I will read.

So that is my decision, people.

Write me some parody that week, eh?

What do you fear?

( Dementors )

Er...that started out as a fun entry/poll thing on what I'm afraid will be in HBP, but it turned into something else. You'll get the fun one later. But seriously, take off the last line, and it's all me anyway. So, this is the "Serious Fears" entry (except I do want to add that I'm afraid Draco will choose the Dark Side, or never realise that he has a choice.) Fandom/Funny fears are the next entry. (Here)

Myf just left me a review for DC that made me squee, and in general (sparked by Kele's entries on this topic) I've been thinking about reviews/reviewers lately. Of course, my thoughts are very different from hers because, duh, Kele=major goddess and Lu=small humble acolyte.

The thing about my fics is, they're not huge anywhere, or especially popular; in fact, people who don't know me personally probably wouldn't recognise my name. And this is good and proper because--I am not that good. I write fluff, which follows rather predictable lines because it follows what comes from the book, and although I try to give it an original spin it isn't really anything special. Even DC, my best piece, which is quite original and unique and not at all fluffy, is not very well known.

I am grateful for every single review, even the stupid ones because they drive my numbers up. And higher numbers of reviews mean that more people might be likely to try my story. And the real reviews, constructive comments from people who really read it and thought it was worth reviewing, I adore. Pauline, my favorite reviewer, gives me meaty reviews that I want to fall upon her neck weeping in gratitude for.

But in particular I wanted to talk about my DC reviews. This is Myf's: Ew, that was nasty. In a very good, but highly disturbing way. I love the utter madness within. And I really like the name Doran.

I have to say the overabundance of ellipses were a bit annoying, especially placed after a question mark. Plus, there\'s some formatting problem too - many of the ellipses were followed by a full stop/period, which they don\'t need.

Thanks for that - it was chilling. I hate his utter casualness, his flippancy about the whole thing. And I particularly didn\'t like the detail about the colour of Remus\' blood.

(er - it\'s so hard to critique a fic I loved but hated - when I say I didn\'t like something, it\'s probably because it was written so well, and consequently freaked me out. )

Leaving out ( The punctuation stuff ), which I really do like to hear in case I'm doing it wrong, this review is just right, and very like the other reviews I've recieved for this story. On DC I get almost exclusively quality reviews, because in order to dig up DC you have to be enough of a fanatic to be interested in weird points of view or be obsessed with Lupin, in which case you are probably obsessed enough to really think about what you say in a review.

However--and if this is not so, please do not destroy my precious little vanities and illusions about my baby--I like to pretend that it is also because of the power in it, because of the way it makes you think. It is disturbing, on lots of levels, but it's meant to be. It stirs up strong emotions and considerations. You can't have an uncomplicated reaction to it (unless (I tell myself) you are blindingly stupid).

So this was my blethering for tonight. It is now an obscene hour of the morning--I was out later than usual watching Oscar (which all people with any kind of a sense of humor adore, if you haven't seen it go rent it NOW)--and I have work early tomorrow, but I was in a blethering mood.

Pardon my spam, darling people. Good night.