Just a breakdown of a stupid comment
Urghh. I'm sorry but Harry is not an artisan.
(says who?)
Your goal for this story was to follow the book storyline closely
(I'm sorry, maybe I missed that part, but *where* did you say you would follow the book storyline? "Epilogue-friendly" does NOT mean "will follow book storyline closely". Seriously, what's the point with *FAN*-*FICTION* if you don't get to be creative and change things?)
- but in the books Harry show no intrest in art of any sort. My dad and grandfather are both really into wood working and school friend are glass blowing, pottery spinning, black smithing gods- but book Harry doesn't show even a fifteenth of their interesting in any of the above mentioned activities. Hell, the kid barely paid attention to the shit that Dean Thomas drew and apparently that was some good shit.
(As previously said in one comment - that MIGHT be because he was haunted by a madman who wanted to kill him. He had a few other things on his mind and didn't really have time to explore whatever creative sides he may or may not have. Also, he was very limited as a child, and probably didn't get to be as creative with crayons and clay as nearly all other children)
I could accept other world Harry being an artist, because he has a different life from book Harry and I could stretch my disbelief enough accept that his altered life course had some how shocked some art-interest into him. But there is no way book Harry would ever go for art.
(Just see above.)
So that's one problem with the story.
(No it's not, I think it's completely wonderful that Harry *finally* does something other than what's expected of him.)
The second problem is that you have one miserable world and one perfect world
(WHAT?! Have this person even *read* the story?! Harry doesn't even KNOW he's miserable in the Ginny-world (oh my god my brother just turned on the TV and they're showing HP OotP DUBBED. Sorry. I just got really distracted), in the Ginny-world he thinks that's the way life should be. He doesn't really know he's been miserable until he's in the Draco-world - and then he's miserable because he misses his kids terribly much! And poor Rose!)
- and I know it's a story about seeing what could have been and changing your life so it can be better and it's never to late to change business but it's so annoyingly unbelievable. I mean, everyone is happier, and looks younger and funnier
(newsflash: if you are happy, you feel better, you doesn't age as quickly. Both Harry and Ginny agrees that their marriage isn't what it was or that they thought it would be. They're tired and stuck in one place. If in another universe they are not tired and stuck in one place, well OF COURSE that leads to them being happier and looking younger. Deductive fucking logic. Other than Harry and Ginny, who are happier? Fred? Yeah, I would probably also be happier if I was alive than DEAD!)
- except Ron and hermione who seem unaffected by a major change in their friends life while others are wildly altered by it
(they don't know it's a change, and therefore CANNOT be 'wildly altered' by it. THEIR life is not affected by whether Harry and Ginny marries or not).
But this perfect vs. miserable world business is shameful. Shouldn't both worlds have their ups and downs (not a parentesis by vinterdrog -->)(and I don't just mean sad world but with kids and perfect world but without kids as ups and downs)
(I don't get what this sentence means so unfortunately I cannot comment on it)
To be honest, the artisan life always struck me as a second choice thing that he did because he couldn't be auror.
(I think Draco is really good for Harry in the sense that he probably encouraged Harry to do something he liked, and not something that was expected of him.)
And that way the two worlds were believable- one Harry had his dream job and kids but with an unhappy marriage and the other world had Harry with a happy marriage, but no kids and a job he liked but didn't dream off. But in your story other Harry made all the right choice- because he didn't even know about the kids he would never have, so they aren't even weighting on him.
(how do we know that? We only have ONE Harry. And THAT Harry misses his kids more than anything. We don't know if the real Draco-world-Harry miss having kids, 'cause we don't know him at all.)
The problem is that everyone has regrets, but the other world seems to be without them making it pointless, unbelievable and tottering on uninteresting.
(But it's really really hard to have regrets when you don't know what decisions you have made. Our Harry has NO IDEA what decisions That Harry has made, and therefore he cannot regret them. He also doesn't get to know the AU-people well enough to know if they have made decisions they regret. We really don't know anything about the AU-people. We definitely don't know anything AT ALL about AU-Harry, because we've never met him. Yes, the overall sense is that AU is a Happier U, because the people isn't stuck in one place, and being stuck in one place often makes you miserable.)
Just my two sickles, (they suck)
I'm sure hundred of other reviewer have no problem with how this is playing out- and continue to write for them. Just next story, try not to write about such black and white things and just make it a contrasts between two shades of gray instead, because you are a very good writer.
(THIS IS A STORY ABOUT THE CONTRASTS BETWEEN TWO SHADES OF GRAY!!!!!!!! I love your stories. You are one of my favourite fanfic writers of all time, and I've read fanfiction for eight years. Your CSI-fanfics got me into the CSI fandom (I actually read your fanfics, I had to google Greg and Nick to be able to tell them apart and place them, and *then* began watching CSI from the beginning - thanks to you) and what a wonderful fandom THAT is! All of your fanfics appeal to me because they're not very high drama (I've told you this before and I'll say it again) and very domestic and I LOVE that. AND I also think that because your stories are not very high drama, that *automatically* makes them about shades of gray and not black and white. Life is about shades of gray, and you write about life. Not about the drama and highpoints of life, but about *life*. And that is lovely.)
-KoaL
(-Caroline)
(says who?)
Your goal for this story was to follow the book storyline closely
(I'm sorry, maybe I missed that part, but *where* did you say you would follow the book storyline? "Epilogue-friendly" does NOT mean "will follow book storyline closely". Seriously, what's the point with *FAN*-*FICTION* if you don't get to be creative and change things?)
- but in the books Harry show no intrest in art of any sort. My dad and grandfather are both really into wood working and school friend are glass blowing, pottery spinning, black smithing gods- but book Harry doesn't show even a fifteenth of their interesting in any of the above mentioned activities. Hell, the kid barely paid attention to the shit that Dean Thomas drew and apparently that was some good shit.
(As previously said in one comment - that MIGHT be because he was haunted by a madman who wanted to kill him. He had a few other things on his mind and didn't really have time to explore whatever creative sides he may or may not have. Also, he was very limited as a child, and probably didn't get to be as creative with crayons and clay as nearly all other children)
I could accept other world Harry being an artist, because he has a different life from book Harry and I could stretch my disbelief enough accept that his altered life course had some how shocked some art-interest into him. But there is no way book Harry would ever go for art.
(Just see above.)
So that's one problem with the story.
(No it's not, I think it's completely wonderful that Harry *finally* does something other than what's expected of him.)
The second problem is that you have one miserable world and one perfect world
(WHAT?! Have this person even *read* the story?! Harry doesn't even KNOW he's miserable in the Ginny-world (oh my god my brother just turned on the TV and they're showing HP OotP DUBBED. Sorry. I just got really distracted), in the Ginny-world he thinks that's the way life should be. He doesn't really know he's been miserable until he's in the Draco-world - and then he's miserable because he misses his kids terribly much! And poor Rose!)
- and I know it's a story about seeing what could have been and changing your life so it can be better and it's never to late to change business but it's so annoyingly unbelievable. I mean, everyone is happier, and looks younger and funnier
(newsflash: if you are happy, you feel better, you doesn't age as quickly. Both Harry and Ginny agrees that their marriage isn't what it was or that they thought it would be. They're tired and stuck in one place. If in another universe they are not tired and stuck in one place, well OF COURSE that leads to them being happier and looking younger. Deductive fucking logic. Other than Harry and Ginny, who are happier? Fred? Yeah, I would probably also be happier if I was alive than DEAD!)
- except Ron and hermione who seem unaffected by a major change in their friends life while others are wildly altered by it
(they don't know it's a change, and therefore CANNOT be 'wildly altered' by it. THEIR life is not affected by whether Harry and Ginny marries or not).
But this perfect vs. miserable world business is shameful. Shouldn't both worlds have their ups and downs (not a parentesis by vinterdrog -->)(and I don't just mean sad world but with kids and perfect world but without kids as ups and downs)
(I don't get what this sentence means so unfortunately I cannot comment on it)
To be honest, the artisan life always struck me as a second choice thing that he did because he couldn't be auror.
(I think Draco is really good for Harry in the sense that he probably encouraged Harry to do something he liked, and not something that was expected of him.)
And that way the two worlds were believable- one Harry had his dream job and kids but with an unhappy marriage and the other world had Harry with a happy marriage, but no kids and a job he liked but didn't dream off. But in your story other Harry made all the right choice- because he didn't even know about the kids he would never have, so they aren't even weighting on him.
(how do we know that? We only have ONE Harry. And THAT Harry misses his kids more than anything. We don't know if the real Draco-world-Harry miss having kids, 'cause we don't know him at all.)
The problem is that everyone has regrets, but the other world seems to be without them making it pointless, unbelievable and tottering on uninteresting.
(But it's really really hard to have regrets when you don't know what decisions you have made. Our Harry has NO IDEA what decisions That Harry has made, and therefore he cannot regret them. He also doesn't get to know the AU-people well enough to know if they have made decisions they regret. We really don't know anything about the AU-people. We definitely don't know anything AT ALL about AU-Harry, because we've never met him. Yes, the overall sense is that AU is a Happier U, because the people isn't stuck in one place, and being stuck in one place often makes you miserable.)
Just my two sickles, (they suck)
I'm sure hundred of other reviewer have no problem with how this is playing out- and continue to write for them. Just next story, try not to write about such black and white things and just make it a contrasts between two shades of gray instead, because you are a very good writer.
(THIS IS A STORY ABOUT THE CONTRASTS BETWEEN TWO SHADES OF GRAY!!!!!!!! I love your stories. You are one of my favourite fanfic writers of all time, and I've read fanfiction for eight years. Your CSI-fanfics got me into the CSI fandom (I actually read your fanfics, I had to google Greg and Nick to be able to tell them apart and place them, and *then* began watching CSI from the beginning - thanks to you) and what a wonderful fandom THAT is! All of your fanfics appeal to me because they're not very high drama (I've told you this before and I'll say it again) and very domestic and I LOVE that. AND I also think that because your stories are not very high drama, that *automatically* makes them about shades of gray and not black and white. Life is about shades of gray, and you write about life. Not about the drama and highpoints of life, but about *life*. And that is lovely.)
-KoaL
(-Caroline)