FIC: Ginny Weasley: Dragon Slayer

[lettered]

Title: Ginny Weasley: Dragon Slayer
Rating: PG-13 for dragon slaying
Warning: meta, first person, some dragons were harmed
Disclaimer: HP belongs to Rowling, dragons belong to everybody, and the song used toward the end isn’t mine. It’s from Merrie England, by Basil Hood and Edward German. I have no idea how appropriate it is to use it as a quote

Comments

[ravenclown]

I don't just love what this pic says about Ginny . . .

I love what it says about the girl in everystory. Her function in story, her function in the world. What it means to be valued the most as an innocent, to be valued for everything you haven't achieved or done.

THIS:

But the king had tricked the dragon, for strength and wisdom may be hard to come by, but innocence can be sewn and grown, just like a crop. Just like a crop, it can be reaped, and so the king says, “If you stop laying waste to my kingdom, I will send to you a maiden every seven years.”

AMAZING.

This fic is begging to be read aloud. When I was reading it, I was reading it out loud in my head. I mean ...

For us, for so long he was the story, and I think that was what was so hard for him to understand. The wizarding world dreamed of The Boy Who Lived for a decade nearly, and when he came to Hogwarts, he was The Chosen One. Then he disappeared again his seventh year, and we were the figures ranged around the fire, and he was the legend passed around the flames.

It wasn’t until I read the books, however, that I realized I was only a minor character.

So then, when I got to this part . ..

Sometimes I am so caught up in rhyme that I forget what I am saying . . .

GAHH. SLAY. SLEW. SLAIN.

So beautiful. For so many reasons. GOOD ON YOU.

P.S. How did I not see Draco coming?

[lettered]

Oh, I'm delighted that you read this! Thank you! I'm glad you liked it.

Yes, I was trying to write about the place of women in fiction, and also the place of women writers, and . . . agh actually I don't know. I have a tendency to overthink everything, so when I came up with the conceit for this, I forced myself not to think about it too much.

I do think that if you're going to write something dense (this is denser than a lot of things I write) it's better to write it as if it's going to be read aloud. Whether the reader actually reads it aloud or not, it slows things down, allowing more of the meaning to sink in. Plus, this story is about writing and reading, but also about stories and story-telling, so there's a meta aspect to the read aloud quality.

I'm so pleased and very flattered that you liked this. Thank you so much for being such a wonderful reader.

As for Draco, I think I write about Ginny and Draco both because I feel like they were short-changed by JKR. So in a fic about how she didn't get her story, I wanted to suggest that there were others who didn't get theirs either.

Thanks again.

[ravenclown]

I like how this fic is full of ideas, but they're not all fully beaten out and sorted through. I feel like it's teeming with meaning -- almost playing with all these concepts of maidenhood and manhood, sex and strength, what it means to be the girl, what it means to be the hero . . .

What these things mean in a literary sense, and in a structural sense, and in real life ...

I like that it thrashes around a bit and hits all this important stuff, while you, the writer, also play with language.

I like how ambitious it is, but also how it doesn't try to solve everything.

(And you're welcome for all the reading. Like, eternally welcome.)

[ravenclown]

Oh -- interesting/good thought about how writing in this read-aloud voice helps absorb meaning. And that it's a meta move, playing with the idea of oral history and what sorts of stories get passed down.