Responses for Reviews for "Gambit" on FFN
My thanks to ferporcel from which I gak'd the idea of responding this way to reviewers.
Thanks to kobegrace for her beta that made the story even better--you rock! And thanks to the Quidditch Pitch, where the story is also archived, for assigning her.
32 reviews for "Gambit" on FanFictionNet; 3 on Diagon Alley, 2 on HPStories, 1 on Unknowable Room, 1 on nfiction. Here are my responses:
Thanks for reviewing! You can make additional comments by clicking on the appropriate link.
Thanks to the Staffers on the The Burrow, On-Line Wizarding Library (OWL), where "Gambit" has been featured, and to The Petulant Poetess, where "Gambit" is archived, for suggestions and corrections that made the story stronger.
Also archived on Mugglenet, HPFanFic.Net, Veritaserum, and Wizard Tales among others.
Note: the version on Wizard Tales is longer and slightly different. They don't take stories below 1,500 words, and because I wanted to use the story to try out the archive, I expanded it a bit, so if anyone is curious feel free to take a look on that archive--I have to say though, I prefer the shorter version archived elsewhere that I have below.
If future stories are posted on archives without an author response mechanism, I'll leave a post here on my LJ with the links to reviews and my responses.
(on Diagon Alley)
Balayhoof 25-04-2006
Review: I never saw Ron as particularly clever before now....It all seems to fit perfectly, his billiance on the chess board means he has the insight to be a 'power-player' in the good fight but he keeps quiet and watches and stratagises. Excellent story. If you have any more I would love to read them.
Author's Response: I think anyone who could play and understand chess the way Ron did in that first book at age eleven--and with the courage and character to sacrifice himself would have that potential. I'm so glad you enjoyed the story. I have others on Fanfiction.Net and OWL--I'm primarily a HG/SS writer--Ron isn't a usual character for me.
chantal J 2005-12-12
Review: wow! brilliant!
Author's Response: Thanks!
Dartagnan 01-05-2006
Review: I've never been a very big Ron fan, mainly because he never seems to be written very well in fanfic, but this...this is stunning! You really bring depth to a chracter that can often seem one-dimensional.
Author's Response: Believe it or not, I'm not a big Ron fan either, but for a HG/SS I wanted to try writing my way into his head--I'm glad you liked the result.
duj 2005-10-31
Review: Excellent view of the Trio, especially Ron. Like how you use chess to explore their characters and the events of HBP. Well done.
Author's Response: Thanks, it just seemed logical to think in those terms--and of Ron.
e.danae 2005-11-22
Review: Well, there are at least three sorts of good fics for me. There are fics that amuse me and cheer me. There are fics that give some clever glimpses of HP world and make it even more believable. And then fics that rip cliches apart, turn the fic world upside down and open my eyes for a brand new look, surprising and stunning. "Gambit" is one of them. A real jewel.
Author's Response: Wow, I think that's the best review I've ever gotten--those are the kind of stories I read fanfic for myself. Thank you!
Holly Mariano 2006-28-06
Review: I have to say I find you an incredible author. This fic is really something... so complete and original and I am genuinely impressed.
Keep up the good work!.
Author's Response: That's quite the compliment. Thank you so much for that, and for the review.
Jeremy Demosthenes 2005-12-05
Review: brilliant, absolutely brilliant. I love it. The format, the content, the style... everything/ You know, You could make a damn good intelligent-ron fic, with his perspective like this, every few chapters, do one in his POV for thought context... oh here i am, spilling out my ideas. i lack the patience for fics though... anyways.
This is one of the best things i've ever read.
cheers.
Jeremy
Author's Response: One of the best? Really? That's an amazing compliment--as is thinking I could draw out this little vignette into something more ambitious. I'm not really interested enough in Ron's character to pursue that, but that this made you want more I consider a great compliment nevertheless.
KarenDetroit 2005-11-01
Review: A psychological power play! Excellent!
Author's Response: Thanks, chess works well for that.
Kleine Snowdrop 2005-11-25
Review: Very good. Nice insight on the characters and the plot of her stories. I can't believe that Dumbledore and Snape wouldn't have had a plan and that it was a sacrifice in order to save more people. Snape could have done so much more damage than he did that night. Something in that makes be believe that even though Harry (and probably most of the other characters) hates him, he still is working for the down fall of Voldemort.
I liked the spin on Ron and his understanding of chess and how the war seemed like a chess game, that Albus was playing, it was something that Ron, not the other two could understand.
Well I will stop now.
Author's Response: lol. You don't have to stop. This is the kind of review fanfiction authors live for--well, at least write and post for. I was a Dumbledore fan before I was a Snape fan, so every part of me refused to believe JKR would have that man go to his death like a lamb to the slaughter out of a foolish, misplaced trust and plead with his life.
kokonutsu 2006-01-24
Review: I like the dark undertones very mucho.
Author's Response: I like that you like;-)
lolaleila 2006-04-17
Review: Ah! Very Orson Scott Card-ish which I love.
I've never actually read a fic where Ron is this introspective and analytical and I have to say that it's very refreshing. He comes off as one dimensional in most fics (and sometimes in the books as well) but I
think you truly did justice to his character and made it very believable and interesting.
Good job.
Thank you,
UR Staff
Author's Response: Orson Scott Card is a favorite writer of mine, so I consider that a tremendous compliment. Thanks for the review!
MarbleGlove 2006-01-09
Review: Oh wow. This is as excellent as it is deeply disturbing. It's an absolutely gorgeous character study, touching on Ron, Snape, Dumbledore, Hermione, and the whole process of organizing a war. I got shivers reading it. Good job.
Author's Response: Shivers? Really, wow--that's amazing to hear. Thank you, I certainly find those themes fascinating to explore in the HP context.
mari 2006-01-08
Review: i have to say this is one of the most insightful and realistic fics i've ever read. it has a cynicism to it that fits prefectly in the war. masterful, it is truly masterful.
Author's Response: Wow, thank, you. Funny, I didn't think it as a cynical view--but then maybe that reflects my own cynicism;-)
MitchXI 2006-04-17 (on HPStories)
Review: That was deep man, real deep. I enjoy you're grammar. I had to read it again to get all of it. I won't say it's hard to understand. Pure Brilliance. I think you've uncovered Ron's role in the upcoming books, I really do. Keep it up!
MitchXI
Author's Response: Deep. I like that. I'm glad you enjoyed the style, and as for Book 7--well, we can hope! Thanks for the review!
Mon 2006-5-20
Review: Wow. This is beautiful. Not quite Ron's voice in my mind, but could be,
if you think about it. Nice piece :-)
Author's Response: Awww, thanks. I shared your concern about the voice--a bit of a stretch perhaps, but not so much when you think of the Ron we saw in Philospher's Stone--there is a brain hiding there;-)
Moniquee 2005-12-05
Review: I usually shy away from lower rated fics. Not that I have anything against them, it is just that they rarely have a strong maintained concept. Congrats. You intrigued me enough to read this fic of yours as well. Though short, it puts Ronald Weasley in a whole new light.
Author's Response: Hmm--lower rated as in G-Rated? Interesting, because of lot of my favorite fan fiction (or just short stories) are gen. I'm happy to hear I was able to make you see a familiar character in a new light--there's no higher compliment imo when in comes to fan fiction.
Possum132 2006-01-27
Review: This is very, very good. I wish we'd heard more about Ron's excellence at chess after Book 1. You might enjoy Excessively Perky's Ron-centred chess story - Midnight on the Weasley Watch
Author's Response: I'll have to make time to read that story--you're the second person who's mentioned it in a review and I agree that it's a shame we don't see more of the Ron we saw in Book 1--the strategist willing to make--and who understood--sacrifices. And I'd say that about both canon and fan fiction. My own Ron in "Gambit" was influenced by KazVL's in Falling Further In, an amazing HG/SS story on FFNet which makes you rethink everyone from the other staff, to the Slytherins, and especially Snape, but is also notable for one of the rare intelligent Rons--an especially rara avis in HG/SS.
psykiapa 2006-06-16 Unknowable Room
Review: Wow.
Rarely is there a fic that handles Ron so well. I get so frustrated with Stupid!Ron because I know he's not. He might pretend to be stupid, but really, Ron is smart. Maybe not Hermione-smart, but he can strategize.
I am not a huge Ron/Hermione fan (not to say it's a bad pairing, I just don't like to read R/Hr centered fics), and so I was glad that as I read this, it didn't turn into romance.
All in all, an impressive character study of Ron.
Author's Response: As it so happens, I'm not a R/Hr shipper myself--I write HG/SS, and read some DM/HG. But I'm with you, Ron is smart, and rather tired of Ron "the Prat" in fics. Thanks fo much for the review!
Rachael DuBois 2006-04-06
Review: I like that you've given Ron the reflective part in this piece. That's kind of an original idea. I also like how you compare a chess game to what happened.
Author's Response: Chess seemed a good metaphor for the events on the Tower, and who better to see things in those terms than Ron? Thanks for the review!.
Rgmlk (sharesecrets2004@yahoo.co.in) 2006-03-20
Review: This was excellent. I love it. Your style of writing, your deductions, your everything! It's just superb!
Author's Response: Thanks, that's always a wonderful thing for a writer to hear!
RowanRhys 2006-04-30
Review: I am gobsmacked.
You got Ron right. In so many fics, he is portrayed as the sometimes jealous, sometimes clueless, younger brother. It's good to see the promise of that first chess game, when he made the choice to sacrifice himself to get Harry across that board to save the Philosopher's Stone, fulfilled.
Now I have to go read the rest of your fics! (I followed you here from your work on OWL.)
Author's Response: Particularly because "Gambit" goes against what we see in most fics, I'm concerned about readers finding him convincing. I, too, loved the early promise we saw in the character. It's better when you can btw to review on OWL or another moderated archive, simply because FFN has no easy review response (thus this LJ entry). Thanks for the review!
samuraiheart 2005-11-14
Review: Very nice. I like the logic of it ^_^
Author's Response: Thanks--you need an abundance of that to play chess well.
Servane 2005-11-01
Review: Ouah ! Wonderful "métaphore" (sorry, I'm french and I'm very bad in english ^^'). That's a new vision of Ron, thank you for this fic.
Bravo et bises.
Author's Response: C'est bien. Merci beaucoup--no need to apologize--thank you for your lovely review.
Sharky McCarthy 2006-04-17
Review: I just read 'Book of Shadows', so far anyways, and I love your perspective of Ron. He's not stupid, not blindly loyal, or blindly hateful...he just knows why those things are done, in a very nice way too. My friend is trying to teach me to play chess, I'm not sure I'm up for the game.
Author's Response: I see him very much that way--from the first book, and wish we would see more of that Ron. I wouldn't feel intimidated by chess' reputation--it really is an enjoyable game, simple in concept, but fascinating in the complexity of play;-) Thanks for the reviews!
Silverthreads 2005-11-01
Review: Wow! Excellent! JKR should pay attention to this piece!
Author's Response: Wow back! That's a wonderful compliment.
Sindie 2005-10-31
Review: Very, very well-written. I liked this very much.
Author's Response: Thanks, I'm glad you liked it.
SlytherinLinzi 24-04-2006 (on Diagon Alley)
Review: Oh! Where have you been all my life? I love Ron. I love gen. I love gen featuring Ron! This was a brilliant piece of work... I loved the way you wove the chess details into the story and I loved how astute Ron's observations are. This seems to me to be an extremely plausible moment post HBP.
Very nice work. I can't wait to read more from you! Welcome to DA.
Author's Response: Thanks for the welcome! Ron isn't ordinarily a character I think a lot about--I wrote "Gambit" to better get inside his head actually, so I'm glad someone who loves him thinks this works.
S. McC. 11-06-2006
Review: I've already reviewed this and think it's an excellent piece but I decided to add a little more since I've read it a few more times now...I think that Ron has some very good ideas involving the chess pieces. Good analogies and they got me to thinking more about theories for the next book. Maybe more people should read this and get somewhat of a clue about war and strategy instead of blaming it all on Snape.
Author's Response: You're read it more than once? Wow, that's an amazing compliment. I do think with time to calm down, many fans are seeing that all is not the way it seemed on the surface with Snape.
SoloMoon 2006-4-10
Review: I really like the analogy you make here. I love to compare these books to a chess game, though I've never done it as well as you do here. This is really good. Wow.
Author's Response: "Wow" is always wonderful to here. Thank you so much for the review.
stocktonwood 2005-11-22
Review: wow, what a great piece, the analogies were wonderful and I adore your Ron. Great job.
Author's Response: Thanks, I'm so glad you liked it!
Stormy1989 2005-10-31
Review: Very well done - I like the parallels between the war and the chess game and with it all in Ron's POV, it was very original. Fantastic!
Author's Response: Thanks, I'm glad you thought my take was fresh.
sweetsyphn 2005-12-14
Review: wow, deep. I really love your writing, it looks much deeper into the characters than many other fics and i look forward to reading more from you in the future
syphn
Author's Response: Thanks, I'm glad I left you wanting to read more from me!
Talriga 11-06-2006
Review: Have finally got around to reviewing this fic. Can I just say I love it? It's so very interesting to see the way Ron thinks--not the silly, stupid, clueless Ron that appears in fics all the time, but a Ron who's portrayed as intelligent and strategic. And the last line: "I'm tired of
playing games." Very... solemn, in a way. Because war isn't really a game, once you think about it. Once again, a great fic!
Author's Response: I don't see Ron as particularly "intellectual" or articulate, and I think people underestimate him because of it--intelligence is expressed in many ways, and Ron has demonstrated a strategic mind in chess and Quidditch. Thanks so much for the review!
TheSeer. 2006-05-09
Review: This is an extremely well written story. I suppose the obvious criticism is that Ron isn't nearly as cerebral in canon as you've written him, but presumably you knew that already. "What-if" is one of the main purposes of fanfiction, and there's no reason a good author can't say, "What if a character isn't what we think he is?" That's what you did, and you did an excellent job.
The only real criticism I'd make is that Ron's chess metaphors get a little mixed. Specifically, Snape is represented alternately as a white knight and a black knight. I admit the ambiguity is appropriate, but it doesn't really work. In paragraph 29, I'd cut the word "black" from "... sending out a lone black knight in a move so subtle..." Replacing it with "white" might also work.
Oh, and also, in paragraph 26, the sentence "And I know that sometimes if I bury myself in Quidditch..." is awkward. On close inspection, it's actually gramatically correct, but it doesn't sound like it. I'd cut the word "if" and both occurances of "it's."
But these are just minor, technical issues. The story\'s concept, characterization, theme, understanding of canon, metaphor, and style are all excellent. Good job and keep writing.
Author's Response: I don't agree with your criticisms, but I appreciate your offering them (for one thing, Ron is playing black, so I can hardly change the knight to "white"). Thanks for review.
unlikely2 2005-11-02
Review: 'I could be the next Albus Dumbledore, sending out a lone black knight in a move so subtle it gives you a headache just thinking of the permutations.'
It's interesting that he has not yet considered the price of demanding that move of the knight.
This is a really good take on Ron. I like his youth and innocence. His implied vulnerablity to a better understanding of the game (which he will surely come by soon) is poignant. Very well written.
Author's Response: Thanks--I think he might suspect--but not be quite ready to apply it to himself. He is very young, I think people forget that when evaluating his character--just as they forget that at 11 he played a chess game masterminded by a wizard--literally--and was willing to sacrifice himself to win through.
Vialana 2005-12-16
Review: Wow.
It's rare to find a fic this insightful, especially involving Ron - who is so underplayed, in my opinion. You don't become that good at strategy without realising the encompassing consequences for any situation. I like how you've developed that idea through Ron.
And your take on the Astronomy tower scene, I loved the metaphor that you used for that. It was obvious there was something more to the whole situation. And Ron's take in it in the fic ... it would be interesting to see how, or if, he could get Harry to see what he does.
Brilliant story, I will have to add this to my faves and C2.
~Vialana
Author's Response: I'm delighted you think my story is fav worthy (and C2 worthy). I agree that Ron is usually underestimated and underplayed in fanfiction (particularly in my favorite ship HG/SS) where he's usually little more than the comic relief. Although a lot of that I think is that JKR showed little of that side of Ron since the first book, and the movies also tend to reinforce his comic side.
As for Harry in this sort of scenario--where Snape is innocent of murder--well, I think if anyone could make him see it, it would be Ron--even over Hermione. But it would be a hard sell. Harry hates Snape now more than Voldemort I think. If JKR is indeed going for Good!Snape, then all I can say is that Book 7 will be quite the ride.
Viskii 2006-01-28
Review: One word-
amazing.
I'd love to read the conversation afterwards.
-Viskii :)
Author's Response: I'd love to hear it :) But Ron's not talking. lol. Thanks for the review.
Wade Scott 2005-11-19
Review: hey-I'm glad you like Thirty Pieces of Silver. Chapter one, at least. I hope you know that I liked YOUR fic so much that I'm stealing something from it. I don't think it's anything specific, just Ron's attitude, I guess. Remind me to give you props for it. :)
Author's Response: I did indeed enjoy your story and hope for more of it. And you're welcome to use my Ron--I myself was influenced by KazVL's Ron in the HG/SS story Falling Further In, my favorite HP story. That Ron is no immature prat, but a strategic thinker fullfiling the promise we saw in The Philosopher's Stone.
Yehudit 2006-05-24
Review: This was an excellent piece - a very neatly turned scene for the Trio. Characterisations were wonderful and on spot, particularly Ron. I have to admit, I never considered Snape a knight, before!
I especially liked your ending, despite the ominous feel to it. All the games and practices really are ending for the kids now, aren't they?
Author's Response: Definately see him as a knight--a black knight maybe but... LOL. I'm glad you enjoyed it, thanks for the review!