(no subject)
So last week I posted about the Archive Of Our Own, which if you missed it is being called AO3 because AOOO sounds like a basset hound. But I didn't really post as a reader. It didn't occur to me because I had just spent several days uploading all of my fanfiction there. (Well, that I still like. I actually do have two Greek mythology fics that I haven't posted there, but the second one is a sequel to the first, which was written in high school and has some gender issues I'm really not proud of.)
Anyway, after all that posting, I had kind of expected people to read my fic, but I hadn't actually gotten around to reading their fic.
And omg you guys, AO3 is great for fic-reading. At least for me.
Now, l may be biased here, because I started writing fan fiction because I couldn't find the fics I wanted to read. Oh, sure, I could find some that were relatively popular and had certain elements I craved, like plot and worldbuilding, but they always came with stuff I didn't much care for, like dwelling way too much on perplexing 'ships and having a lot of Dead Ron in the backstory. (Seriously, when I was 12 or so I'm pretty sure there were a few big name Harry/Hermione fics that killed off Ron in the first chapter/backstory that MADE ME CRY. Because I love Ron, and I was 12, and I didn't realize it was a common tactic to avoid writing Ron.)
The thing about AO3's tagging system is that if you like reading the kind of fic that you write, it's easier to find. I mean, it's not like the system lays similarly-tagged fics at your feet and is all HERE YOU GO, YOU WILL LIKE THIS GUARANTEED, but it's really useful to see if your favorite characters have been written about elsewhere on the archive.
Obviously, I am SOL if what I really want to do is read Helga Hufflepuff/Original Male Character fic, but I do much better if I search for Neville Longbottom. From there, I can search for all the genfic featuring Neville, or whatever else you'd prefer to see in your Neville fic.
Personally, I've been reading through all of other people's bookmarked fic containing original characters in fandoms that I know; I'll have to get around to writing up some fic recs sometime, but there is some excellent Torchwood fic out there.
Anyway. Having said all that, Chapter Seven of Between Here and Now and Forever is posted on:
The Archive Of Our Own
FanFiction.Net
Skyhawke
LiveJournal
In honor of this, more YouTube music links!
"I'm Impressed," by They Might Be Giants
On the one hand he'll / Give you five good reasons to follow him / On the other hand / You see nobody leaving the stadium.
This one is a Godric vs. Lady Aeaeae song, I guess; actually, it's mostly an Ineffective Gryffindors Trying Not To Go Along With Dictatorial Bad Guys song in general. Lady Aeaeae doesn't appear much in this chapter, but I think she appears enough to merit a song. Lady Aeaeae tends to rule with threats of violence, and while Godric doesn't find this particularly awful and terrifying, he (as someone whose mere presence is generally interpreted as a threat of violence) seems to find it more irritating than most. He'd still be pretty complacent about it, though, if it wasn't going to affect him. Godric tends to be practical before he is good. Lady Aeaeae, for her part, doesn't see him as much of a threat, probably because they were introduced by Rowena.
"Rigs of the Times," as sung by Broom Bezzums
Honesty's all out of fashion. / These are the rigs of the time.
For some reason people often seem to believe that no one ever lied or was ever dishonest in the Good Old Days. According to Wiki, this song was written in the 18th century. The first version I heard was the Steeleye Span version, which is from the '80s (I think) and comments on, among other things, multinational corporations and tabloid obsessions with (then-living) Princess Diana. A quick google got me this version, which is mainly about the war in Iraq. Basically, the song is always being rewritten to reflect new and wonderful political/economic unpleasantness. Which makes me wonder if I ought to filk it myself for the Founders, but I don't know how many other people would care. (Anyway, I still have to post that Thriller filk about writing crackfic.)
"I Crush Everything," by Jonathan Coulton
And the dolphins are all phonies / They seem nice enough at first / They pretend to be your friends / Until they see you at your worst and then they leave you / Without a word they swim away.
This is a Godric's Epic Manpain song. Well, one of them, there are lots of songs about Epic Manpain. It's about a giant squid, but I VIEW IT AS METAPHORICAL. I mostly chose it because in skimming chapter 7 before posting it, I was like "holy shit, Godric, that's a lotta manpain. I thought you were saving that for later chapters." But then I posted anyway. Godric is often overdramatic. Also, I think JK Rowling joked once that the giant squid was Godric Gryffindor, The Largest And Most Long-Lived Animagus In The World. This is not canon for my fics, but I felt it was worth mentioning.
"Seventeen Cups," by the Kaiser Chiefs
In my room there's not a lot to do / So if I let you in please don't touch anything.
This is a Jasper song. It's actually about staying in a hotel room but AGAIN, METAPHORICAL. Ish. Last week I had a long talk with thinkatory about Frank Lloyd Wright's bizarre attitudes towards furniture where I ended up deciding that Jasper as Hogwarts Castle's architect made a ton of sense and why hadn't I seen it before? So there, he's the architect. It's why he probably has the nicest classroom in the castle; in the future this will be the Divination classroom, but Trelawney decorates differently. Anyway, this song, even though it's actually about being in a boring hotel room, strikes me as very Jasper, because he has serious trust issues and doesn't really consider anyone to be his intellectual equal, but he has this terrible nerd-crush on Rowena (or at least, her treatises on making staircases move) and is having trouble reconciling the two. So he defaults to patronizing-but-nervous.
Anyway, after all that posting, I had kind of expected people to read my fic, but I hadn't actually gotten around to reading their fic.
And omg you guys, AO3 is great for fic-reading. At least for me.
Now, l may be biased here, because I started writing fan fiction because I couldn't find the fics I wanted to read. Oh, sure, I could find some that were relatively popular and had certain elements I craved, like plot and worldbuilding, but they always came with stuff I didn't much care for, like dwelling way too much on perplexing 'ships and having a lot of Dead Ron in the backstory. (Seriously, when I was 12 or so I'm pretty sure there were a few big name Harry/Hermione fics that killed off Ron in the first chapter/backstory that MADE ME CRY. Because I love Ron, and I was 12, and I didn't realize it was a common tactic to avoid writing Ron.)
The thing about AO3's tagging system is that if you like reading the kind of fic that you write, it's easier to find. I mean, it's not like the system lays similarly-tagged fics at your feet and is all HERE YOU GO, YOU WILL LIKE THIS GUARANTEED, but it's really useful to see if your favorite characters have been written about elsewhere on the archive.
Obviously, I am SOL if what I really want to do is read Helga Hufflepuff/Original Male Character fic, but I do much better if I search for Neville Longbottom. From there, I can search for all the genfic featuring Neville, or whatever else you'd prefer to see in your Neville fic.
Personally, I've been reading through all of other people's bookmarked fic containing original characters in fandoms that I know; I'll have to get around to writing up some fic recs sometime, but there is some excellent Torchwood fic out there.
Anyway. Having said all that, Chapter Seven of Between Here and Now and Forever is posted on:
The Archive Of Our Own
FanFiction.Net
Skyhawke
LiveJournal
In honor of this, more YouTube music links!
"I'm Impressed," by They Might Be Giants
On the one hand he'll / Give you five good reasons to follow him / On the other hand / You see nobody leaving the stadium.
This one is a Godric vs. Lady Aeaeae song, I guess; actually, it's mostly an Ineffective Gryffindors Trying Not To Go Along With Dictatorial Bad Guys song in general. Lady Aeaeae doesn't appear much in this chapter, but I think she appears enough to merit a song. Lady Aeaeae tends to rule with threats of violence, and while Godric doesn't find this particularly awful and terrifying, he (as someone whose mere presence is generally interpreted as a threat of violence) seems to find it more irritating than most. He'd still be pretty complacent about it, though, if it wasn't going to affect him. Godric tends to be practical before he is good. Lady Aeaeae, for her part, doesn't see him as much of a threat, probably because they were introduced by Rowena.
"Rigs of the Times," as sung by Broom Bezzums
Honesty's all out of fashion. / These are the rigs of the time.
For some reason people often seem to believe that no one ever lied or was ever dishonest in the Good Old Days. According to Wiki, this song was written in the 18th century. The first version I heard was the Steeleye Span version, which is from the '80s (I think) and comments on, among other things, multinational corporations and tabloid obsessions with (then-living) Princess Diana. A quick google got me this version, which is mainly about the war in Iraq. Basically, the song is always being rewritten to reflect new and wonderful political/economic unpleasantness. Which makes me wonder if I ought to filk it myself for the Founders, but I don't know how many other people would care. (Anyway, I still have to post that Thriller filk about writing crackfic.)
"I Crush Everything," by Jonathan Coulton
And the dolphins are all phonies / They seem nice enough at first / They pretend to be your friends / Until they see you at your worst and then they leave you / Without a word they swim away.
This is a Godric's Epic Manpain song. Well, one of them, there are lots of songs about Epic Manpain. It's about a giant squid, but I VIEW IT AS METAPHORICAL. I mostly chose it because in skimming chapter 7 before posting it, I was like "holy shit, Godric, that's a lotta manpain. I thought you were saving that for later chapters." But then I posted anyway. Godric is often overdramatic. Also, I think JK Rowling joked once that the giant squid was Godric Gryffindor, The Largest And Most Long-Lived Animagus In The World. This is not canon for my fics, but I felt it was worth mentioning.
"Seventeen Cups," by the Kaiser Chiefs
In my room there's not a lot to do / So if I let you in please don't touch anything.
This is a Jasper song. It's actually about staying in a hotel room but AGAIN, METAPHORICAL. Ish. Last week I had a long talk with thinkatory about Frank Lloyd Wright's bizarre attitudes towards furniture where I ended up deciding that Jasper as Hogwarts Castle's architect made a ton of sense and why hadn't I seen it before? So there, he's the architect. It's why he probably has the nicest classroom in the castle; in the future this will be the Divination classroom, but Trelawney decorates differently. Anyway, this song, even though it's actually about being in a boring hotel room, strikes me as very Jasper, because he has serious trust issues and doesn't really consider anyone to be his intellectual equal, but he has this terrible nerd-crush on Rowena (or at least, her treatises on making staircases move) and is having trouble reconciling the two. So he defaults to patronizing-but-nervous.