I hate the warning Dubcon.  I don't mean I hate stories that explore rape issues; I mean I hate the existence of the category of Dubcon.  Yesterday I read an M rated story about Draco's Imperius of Rosmerta.  He realizing that he has total control over her and feeling less experienced than he wants to be, decides to take advantage of the moment by ( Read more... )

So you want to write about House Elves.  You’ve decided it would be great to give your characters a few house-elves to carry their luggage and pick up their dirty undergarments off the floor so they can drop them at their leisure.  Because of course House-elves love to work, and they love their masters, and really the more opportunities they have ( Read more... )

I hope I never have to say this again.  I find these issues mar otherwise excellent fics.  In Britain as in many parts of Europe, the toilet is the name for the room where you find the toilet and the Bathroom is the name for the room where you would find a bath.  That makes sense right.  They are not always the same place as in the US.  In my ( Read more... )

What's the best way to present a collection of drabbles?  I have several series of drabbles: one set on Alice and Frank and another on Neville and Hannah, and yet another on Neville in the field as a herbologist.  They were all written over a long period of time and are scattered everywhere.  What is the best way to put them together for readers ( Read more... )

I get a feed from a blog by the Australian author Justine Larbalestier.  She's an entertaining and thoughtful author who writes a lot about the process of writing and the nitty gritty of the publishing industry.  She has just written a new Young Adult novel about a black American girl, called Liar.    The cover for the American addition features a ( Read more... )

I was reading an interesting  post  ( birdseyeview.livejournal.com/811444.html )  at birseysview's journal about Steven Kloves, the screen writer for the HBP and his portrayal of Hermione and some of the other characters in the movie.   She wrote something about Luna that got me thinking.  She claims that the movies are to blame for ( Read more... )

I took this from Bird'seyeview:  Name a fandom, and I'll give you the scoop on at least three of my unpopular opinions related to that fandom.

Because my only fandom is HP, I like Bird'seyeview will alter the question.

I will follow the  ( Read more... )

I’ve been bemused by the number of  stories in fandom where the smell of manure acts as a short hand descriptor for anything associated with Herbology.  The walls of Sprout’s office are said to be permeated with the smell of manure, as are the greenhouses and the gardens.  I reached a real low when I read one story where Neville showed up for a ( Read more... )

Dear fandom,

May we have a Neville story that does not contain the words, "killed the snake."  I'm finding it repetitive and annoying. 
Thank you,
Vegablack62

Do people think about what they write at all?  I just started a fic that I thought had an interesting premise when I encountered a comment about a first year who Malfoy was flirting with.  Malfoy flirts with eleven year olds?  Since when?  I really can't see it.  Not content with assigning strange and disturbing interests to Draco, the writer then ( Read more... )