Top FIves: Round Two
Top 5 SBBC stories
I’ve decided to go for stories we’ve discussed which I really like. There are a few discussions I enjoyed more than the fic itself, but, in general, my enjoyment of the discussion largely hinges on how much I like the story.
5. Memento Mori by Liandrin - One of my favourite dynamics in fan fic is the one between Harry and Draco, and this one is just a perfect snapshot of the two.
4. Moments in the Dark by Vindictus Viridian - There was something almost sickeningly sexual in the way the Tom Riddle manipulated Ginny through the diary, and it was really cool to see that sort of artistry at work.
3. Christmas in Amber by Inverarity - I admit it; I like Tom Riddle fics. He’s just so beautifully sinister, the perfect bad guy. But this story is different in that he is knocked down a peg in the end by his own ancestor. But really, though, the greatest part of the story that it just felt so in-character.
2. What Money Can Buy by welshdevondragon - Do you see a pattern, here? Yes, I like dark stories with raw, messed up characters. Florence Parkinson is just the perfect character. She’s unapologetically shallow and willing to endure unspeakable things for the sake of money. I don’t know if I’ve ever met a character quite like her for whom the author wasn’t trying to apologise.
1. The Colour of Distance by the opaleye - Um… Harmony? Written by Julia? Do I really need to say any more?
Top 5 fan fiction scenes that YOU wrote
You have NO idea how hard this is to do, considering I’ve forgotten half of my stories. >.> Do yourself a favour, and never write that many.
5. The death of Katie Bell in The Vindication of James Potter - It was one of the few deaths I’ve ever written that was truly heart-breaking. It doesn’t seem like much from the context of the story as she appears, but I know the road that was taken to get there beforehand. She became a sad woman with a sadder existence.
4. The kiss between Albus and Scorpius in My Secret, My Hell, My Burden - Much has been made by readers of how much of a friend Scorpius really was, after he tried to reform Albus’s deportment. That being said, though, this moment was when I knew he was made of better stuff than that. Albus wouldn’t have loved him if he’d not been a good man, and this gave readers an insight into the character that lives inside my head.
3. Scorpius saves Albus in Collateral Damage - Again with this Scorpius guy! It takes an uncommon man for him to be lied to, tricked, manipulated, and shagged by a girl who turned out to be a guy, and still find it within himself to come to said guy’s aid whilst in mortal peril. I almost think, in my head, that’s when Scorpius really realised that he hadn’t fallen for Melinda; he’d fallen for the aspects of Albus’s personality that shone through the polyjuiced exterior.
2. Michael Corner kills Miles Bletchley in Hollow Soldiers - The raw hatred that was poured into that Killing Curse was something that I think had been bottled up inside Michael for a while before. Just so much had happened to him to lead up to it, that it was not a wonder that he cracked. Even I felt bad for the guy.
1. Oliver drags a kicking and railing Roxanne into the shower in Wild Card - This scene, to me, was almost hotter than any smut I’ve ever written, mostly because it’s so emotionally wrenching. This was one of the defining moments between the two of them, the point where Oliver finally realises that Roxanne is far more to him than a player under his direction, but someone who can give him what he’s never had: love and passion for something other than Quidditch.
Top 5 bunnies you always want to write, but just can't seem to
5. The life and times of Marius Black after his excommunication from the Black family.
4. Remus/Lily that ends as Lily/James and Remus/no one.
3. Draco Malfoy’s life and times after the Battle.
2. The sequel to The Vindication of James Potter.
1. George Weasley’s struggle to acclimate with life without his twin.
Top 5 favorite (love to hate) sporks (worst fics I’ve ever read)
5. Yours by yours23truly - This story is, by far, the worst travesty against Drarry upon which I’ve ever had the misfortune to stumble. Everything from the dialogue to the characterisation to the writer’s constant POV flitting to the bastardisation of everything we know about both Draco and Harry… it’s simply diabolical.
4. Impossible Dream by lumos_aeternum - This whole story was a fucking trainwreck. The premise is a good one, but the execution… well, if only it had been executed. >.> We’d have all been happier. This is the home of the most fail dialogue on the face of the planet. At every turn it’s just ridiculous maximus.
3. The Dragon Does the Tickling by jenniferes - If ever there was an embodiment of everything that I find retarded about Dramione, this is it. Not only is the smut ridonkulous and clunky, but the characterisation of both Draco and Hermione was something that make my inner canon fan die. I don’t even ship canon ships, but I support canon characters. Leather Trousers!Draco plus ditzy, not sexed-up-properly-by-Ron Hermione equals FMLMAKEITSTOP!
2. Her Twisted Path by Filius_Flitwick101 - I would dearly love to tell you what this story is about, but I’m afraid that’s impossible. It was just too effing baffling for me to figure it out. It’s supposed to end in Dramione, but I’m not entirely certain of that. Feel free to read it and decipher it for yourself. It’ll make Sudoku look like tic-tac-toe/noughts and crosses.
1. Late Night Chat by fawkes_07 - This story is in a whole new stratosphere of things that make me inwardly shudder. I’ve read Weasley-cest, rapefic, incest, twincest, m-preg, Snuna, Triorgy… but nothing, and I mean nothing, bent my brain worse than this. I’m not even in objection to the idea of a Harry/Sirius story altogether. But never in all my life have I read something that made me physically want to vomit more than this. Not only was Harry’s characterisation raped by Jeanine, Sirius was made out to be a leery old guy who wanted to bang a child who was trusted to be in his care. It isn’t the generation gap or even that, though, that set me off. It was the James/Sirius aspect of it and the mention that they had been an item and even considered having sex WHILE IN ANIMAGUS FORM that did me in. That is it. This is officially the most horrible thing I’ve ever read.
Top 5 strangest plot bunnies you've considered writing/written
5. What They Deserve - I am fully aware that a Filch/Pince, quasi-romantic fic isn’t on anyone’s preferred reading list. That being said, I was given the Prompt of DOOM and had to write one. I never imagined that I could come up with something. I was dangerously close to defaulting on the prompt and not getting one written. But my bunny farm didn’t fail me, and this was the product!
4. Never Let Me Go - I’ve not run across many Weasley cousins shipped, and they usually don’t NOT involve Albus or Rose. I am rather attached to this bunny with Louis/Lucy, and though I missed the Mysterious May deadline, I still plan to finish it. Which should be simpler without challenge restrictions.
3. Brazen - I freely admit to writing this story for my own amusement. I just wanted to write something raunchy with lots of swearing. It so worked, lol.
2. Wild Card - I’m not sure the plot bunny in itself is odd, but the story is more about a 45 year old Oliver Wood falling in love with a 20 year old Roxanne Weasley. That is def strange in the fanfic world, lol. Consider it conquered.
1. Collateral Damage - How is it NOT the most batshit thing you’ve ever read that sort of worked out all right?
Top 5 stories you never thought you'd like but did.
5. Life Happens by ColorOfAngels - When I first joined the site, I was reading anything and everything I stumbled across. This one is a Harry/Ginny. I am not a fan of the ship and never was, but I read it anyway. I am still amazed that I enjoyed it and still want to know how it ended, though the author never deigned to complete it.
4. Becoming Rita by hestiajones - Don’t beat me, f-list! I hate Rita Skeeter and want her to fall in a well. I had no desire to read about her further. When the story first came out, I skipped over it. It was only when it was discussed in SBBC and eventually nominated for a QSQ that I finally read it. I should’ve known better than to doubt Natalie. I is shame.
3. He Loves Him by Celestial Melody - This story’s summary was a bit… weird, mostly because I had no idea what it was actually about. So I clicked and read. There was something beautifully enchanting about it. All the time, I thought Rose was pining after Scorpius, which is one of my favourite pairings, but then at the end, I realised that it was, indeed, her cousin Albus who was the object of her desire. I suppose I’d never seen that line crossed in fan fic before, cousin!love. However, to this day, I still hope to encounter a good Albus/Rose story. And I will keep looking.
2. Shades of Grey by Liandrin - Few ships do I find more ludicrous than Draco/Ginny, but I had read some of Lia’s fics before. So I gave it a world. I was genuinely impressed with her ability to draw a ship and NOT slaughter the characters. I suppose, if I am to read a lamentable pairing, I would be okay with it in the hands of a good author.
1. My Troubled Tyrant by Belledeg - Again, when I was a noob on MNFF, I read any story that was long, and this one fit the bill. I finished what was posted in a matter of hours and angsted over updates for weeks until Ellie finished it. It was my first fanfic ‘blown away’ moment. I knew from that moment that the way I read fiction would never be the same. I craved angst and unhappy endings. Nothing else quite did it for me from that moment.