OHMIPRONGS, CAROLE!



This was brilliant! I was weeping tears of mirth while beta-ing this last night. :D I just thought the whole idea was wacky and unexpected and original, and you pulled it off with such ease.



The characterisation was perfect, the humour just right. Of course, the icing on the cake was the witnesses.



It was a great experience reading this. Good luck with the challenge!



~Natalie.

Author's Response: And of course Jean Paul Golompierre has nothing to do with your review. Hee hee. Thank you, Natalie. I'm glad it makes you laugh in the cold light of day and not when you're ridiculously tired yet still not sleeping *scowls*. ~Carole~

Gina!

That was a fitting closure indeed. Thankfully, everyone made it out of the mess alive. Sad that Lily and James had to suffer so much on their wedding, but hey! At least you gave them a proper one at the hospital. ;)

I feel almost sad that this action-packed romance has come to an end. And, oddly enough, I feel relieved for you at the same time because of the stress you went through in order to get it done. In any case, this was a great fic which had something to offer to everybody, and I'm honoured to be a part of it, no matter how small that part may be. Keep writing and giving us brilliant stories!

~Natalie.

Author's Response: Hi Natalie! Thank you so much for finishing this story! Whew, what a ride! Sorry about all the crazy IMs there at times, lol. Thanks again for your help and support. I'm glad its over too. It was really only stressful because of the deadline. You know I love James and Lily so I'm already thinking maybe I should write about what happened when he proposed, what do you think? Of course I'll keep writing something, although I don't know about the brilliant part. Thanks again for the lovely review, dear! They make it all worth it. :) ~Gina :)

Oh Holy Freaking Prongs!



What was this? It had me crying tears of mirth, And yet - and yet, I could discern your wonderful sense of humour here in the madness. There are so many parts which were hilarious I am not going to bother and tell you.



Draco could kill people with his sarcasm here. It was a delight to read, Seriously, this might just turn out to be my favourite fic from you. And even though you will resent me for saying this, I feel it takes real talent to pull such a story off, real talent to cram so much swear words and evilness and sex and then pull it off with elan.



My only nitpick was this part in your fic (the earlier paras) where you refer to Potter as 'Harry'. Apart from that, just brilliant!



~Natalie,

Author's Response:

Haha, I told you it was raunchy!

I'm glad you liked it. This was actually pretty easy to write, because, as you know, raunchiness flows out of me like a little volcano. :D

I shall find the instance of which you speak for the Potter/Harry character break and fix it straightaway.

I love you. Heart Heart (the little e-hearts screw up the HTML, and the Alt3 ones don't work).

~Jess

Jess,

I thought this was an imaginative entry for the challenge. You took a challenging pair and created an original story around it. It had the right mix of everything - mystery, drama, action, tragedy and romance. Although, I must say I still prefer the drabble version. Hehe. I mean the one which had all of us flummoxed. >.<

And, oh, Dorian Nott gives me the creeps. But wasn't that your intention? ;)

Love,
Natalie.

Author's Response:

'Ello, there, e-bestie!

I just figured that every other version of Bob/Isla had already been written in some way/shape/form. She's the beautiful black princess, doomed to love the handsome Mudblood. Why do they have to be so perfect? Can't she have an odd twitch, and can't he be a cranky a-hole?

Oh, and Dorian is definitely a creeper. I am contemplating expanding his universe. 

*hugs* 

Jess.

P.S. - I went through and re-read the whole thing and changed some stuff around. When I originally edited, I was really tired and in a hurry. Shame on me. >.<

Holy Prongs!

If there is one fanfic writer who could convince me to move over to the non-canon side of the universe, it would be you, Ritta. From Green Tinted Hufflepuff, which, incidentally, was the first fic with an AU setting which I thoroughly enjoyed, to this, I might just be converted.

I think what I loved most about this was that you didn't really destroy the characters either for the sake of humour, or for the sake of non-canon romance. I feel that, too often, fanfic authors gloss over characterisation to make a pairing happen, or to make something funny. This fic proves that you don't have to sacrifice the characters for the sake of either theme.

Really, really enjoyed it. You had me giggling in office.

~Natalie.

Author's Response: LOL -- I am flattered that I'd be able to convert you! XD Thanks for your lovely review! I love writing humor, but as you said, I don't think their character should be destroyed in the process, and I'm glad their personalities still are there =] If anything, I'm thrilled I was able to make you laugh. XD

Well...

I want to be Lily Evans.

~Natalie.

Author's Response: Ah, Natalie. Thank you for reading my story! I know you are busy but you are my J/L partner in crime! I hope you enjoyed it. I hope it makes up for my rather upsetting drabbles. ;) And I hope you like the next bit, I'm so excited for it! And then once this story is done I can get going on MORE! Whee! *hugs* Thanks again, dear. ~Gina :)

OOHH, this was a great take on the relationship between the two pairs. I am still mulling over your epitaph with a bittersweet smile on my face. :)

I dunno if it was intentional on your part, but I felt a few LOTR vibes while reading your stories. Here it was:

That’s got to count for something, doesn’t it?

Which, by the way, I think should be "hasn't it?" :D, reminded me of Pippin telling Gandalf, "But we've got the White Wizard. That has got to count for something."

In Isla's story, it was Bob asking her not to turn him into something "unnatural", which reminded me of Sam asking Gandalf not to.

Okay, I will stop my embarrassing theories here. :D

What I really want to say is, "Great story!"

~Natalie.

Author's Response: Thanks, Natalie. I have never thought of the "Tolkein" vibes, actually, since I haven't opened any of those books in years and the movies just aren't the same.

I love this poem, Minna, and it astounds me that it has only one review. What in the name of Morgana?

The first thing that gripped – yes, gripped - my attention was the title. Nundu? When I first read about them, I was scared. They are just so lethal. However, I’d never consider writing a poem on them, less still a VILLANELLE! D: How do you guys handle with that villainy?

Anyway, getting on with ‘srs bzns’. The poem flows very well – I tried reading it out (quietly), and it has a nice rhythm to it. You definitely chose the best lines for the repetitions. Also, the words – clinging, stinging, bringing, etc. – created a chanting in my head so that I was swept along with the poem. As far as structure is concerned, I think it is a brilliant poem.

Moving on to the mood, the poem has a very dramatic feel. In my head, I could see a vivid picture of an African village, where the people are hiding and crouching in fear as the shadow of the beast looms large. It is almost like somebody is asking these questions as he or she waits for the inevitable death. You managed to portray the fear associated with the deadly Nundu very, very well; it is effectively captured, especially in the lines below:

From the noxious breath that's flinging
From the throats of beasts - their guise:

Teeth flash white and fear is singing,
Burning in our lungs and thighs,

Excellent work, Minna! Original and wonderful to read. May I request one on Lethifolds? :)

Happy Birthday!

~Natalie

Author's Response:

Hey, Natalie, thanks so much for the review.

 On Nundus and writing a villanelle about them - honestly, when I learned about them I was told "a villanelle is a nightmare" and I wanted to write a villanelle, and I wanted to try my hand at Potterverse poetry, so I thought "Potterverse nightmare" and my first thought was Nundus. God, they sound horrific. I remember vividly playing an imaginary game once where we were attacked by Nundus - I think I was half scared for real even though we were pretending. xD

As for the comments on structure and mood: I can only say thanks, and blush quite a lot. I'm not especially experienced with poetry so I'm even more nervous about it than prose.  I did want to create that fear and feeling of looming death, and I'm glad I accomplished that. =)

Again, thanks, Nat!

Minna

Hello Kelsey!

(You can tell I stalked your author page.)

I really, really loved this one-shot, and I am shocked that you haven't got more reviews than 2. Well, 3, counting mine. It seriously deserves more.

I don't even know where to begin this review. You nailed everything so well. I was hooked till the end. This story had suspense, humour, wit and drama. Can I also gush about how fluidly you write? I love your description and dialogues - they read so easily, and yet, beautifully.

But what I loved most was your characterisation of Tom. It was brilliant! I daresay I tend to think of Tom as being inherently evil, even though I am aware of how unfair such a conclusion is. But your fic made me rethink. Sure, he is still a morbid and violent kid, but I must remember that he was, after all, ostracised, too.

Can I ask you something? What inspired you to write this? Why Harry? This is the first time I am directly addressing an author in my review, but I am so impressed and intrigued.

Really fantastic story!

~Natalie.

Author's Response: Hello Natalie! This is seriously one of the greatest reviews I’ve ever received – it made my day! So thank you very, very much for taking the time to read my monster of a one-shot, and leaving your thoughts! I’m glad it hooked you until the end – whenever I reread it (which I do often, just to nit-pick) I tend to worry that it drags on for ever, so it’s a relief that you didn’t get bored! To be honest, I don’t really know what inspired me. I keep a log of random ideas I have, and one of them was Tom having a friend who turns out to be his imagination (though as I was writing Seedling, I decided to leave that part ambiguous). I randomly became really interested in Tom – he is one of the most intriguing characters, in my opinion, and I just love stories involving him and Harry (slash or not). I just think they contrast each other well. Not to mention they are my two favourite characters. ;) The movie Donnie Darko might also have had something to do with it, but I can’t remember if I saw it before I wrote the story. Again, thank you very much for your lovely review! Kels

HAHAHAHA!

Take that, Yates!

This is brilliant, Lori. Simply brilliant. I can't WAIT to see how you tackle the unnecessary Harmony dance.

~Natalie.

Author's Response: I'm thinking about how to write that dance already, but I'm not seeing much humor at this point. Poor Ron. :( As for this, I'm glad you thought it worked! Thanks, as always, for the review!