09/20/12
I've been pretty inactive on MNFF and the Beta Boards lately, but I promise to respond to all thoughtful reviews...eventually :)
One-shots
^Dark and Light: Ron/Hermione and a bit of Muggle history, because why not.
Flame Red: the story of a redheaded girl, as told to James, Al, Lily, Rose, and Hugo. I am told that it contains "fantastic family fluff," which is just too good an alliteration to pass up mentioning here.
^Goatilocks and the Three Puffs: a crack!fic about a goat. 'Nuff said.
*In the Hufflepuff Way: conversations between Hannah Abbott and her parents.
Pineapple in the Library: Neville + Luna + math = awesomeness. Winner of the Nautilus Award in the 2013 Great Hall V-Day Cotillion.
Tomorrow Comes: a Tonks songfic, to "Do You Hear the People Sing?"
With a Slammed Door and a Loud Crack: an expanded version of the drabble which won the Hysterical/Historical challenge in TTB...it is both historical and more than a little hysterical.
Short Chaptered
The Beginning of After: my first fanfic, consisting of several scenes from the three days after the Battle. Recorded on Audiofics for their Inaugural Live Broadcast!
Poetry
Firework: Dolores Umbridge makes 'em go oh-oh-oh...as they shoot across the sky-y-y...
Look At Me: Snape, at the moment of his death.
*Musings: a bit of Lunacy, or perhaps perfect sanity.
*Philosopher's Stone: a Perenelle villanelle which defies summarization. (Actually, a lot of my poems defy summarization.)
Shall I Compare Thee to a Winter's Eve: an unhappy Sev/Lily whose first line happens to resemble a famous sonnet, no idea how that happened.
*Shell Cottage: an unusually long free verse poem on, you guess it, Shell Cottage.
*^Still: a prose poem inspired by an image of a woman in an explosion.
*The Closed Ward: the vestiges of Alice Longbottom's mind.
Today I Do Not Want to Be a Ravenclaw: your typical gripe about schoolwork, only with meter and rhyme.
Uncertainty: Ron/Hermione (or whatever other pairing you want) fluff.
*Nominated in the 2013 QSQs.
^Nominated in the 2014 QSQs.
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Two Guys, a Girl and a Whole Lot of Embarrassment by hestiajones
Rated: 1st-2nd Years •Summary: Harry, Ron and Hermione are on a trip in America. Or are they? It's April Fools' Day, and they might just be the victim of one cosmic prank pulled by a red-headed man and a ghost.For my flist, and for you.
Date: 04/02/13 Title: Chapter 1: Chapter 1
The reviews are funnier than the story is.
P.S. Did Peeves type all that by hand, or did he do it the cheating with with copy/paste? (Ohgod Peeves knows how to use computers...)
Author's Response: I think I was Imperiused by that poltergeist ... or I Imperiused him. One of these definitely happened!
Stars Above by ToBeOrNotToBeAGryffindor
Rated: 1st-2nd Years •Summary: Severus Snape's guilty conscience is magnified with scrutiny, and every star stares at him and what he has done.
Date: 04/11/13 Title: Chapter 1: Chapter 1
Jess, have I mentioned that you're awesome?
Thank you so much for this poem!!! It's so lyrical--it almost reminds me of Javert's song Stars from Les Mis, especially the line "infinite watchmen that follow me everywhere"...but the theme is different. It was a really interesting spin on the quote I gave--the one about the sky, which I had originally felt like was more a quote about hope and/or being strong. So your imprisoning sky idea-- "celestial jailers"--surprised me, and I love it. It is such a good metaphor for Snape's remorse and for his sense of duty. And I really like how you brought Harry into it, in the fourth stanza; how you captured the complexity of his reaction towards a boy with Lily's eyes and James's hair. And, oh my gosh, I loved the line "But from my task, I dare not stray, for I will feel those eyes again." :) Unrequited Snape/Lily 4eva!
--Jenny
Superharrywentballistichexedmesoferocious! by KarasAunty
Rated: 3rd-5th Years •Summary: Voldemort laments his final battle from beyond the grave …
Date: 05/08/13 Title: Chapter 1: Superharrywentballistichexedmesoferocious
Several giggles, actually.
Please do some more of these! :D
Take Me Back to the Start by iLuna17
Rated: 6th-7th Years •
Summary: Albus remembered her, through everything that happened. And he just wanted to go back to where it all began, where everything was fine.
Date: 06/03/13 Title: Chapter 1: (one-shot)
Poor Albus...and Sophia...:'(
I like how you had the painful emotions right in the beginning, where the sweet/simple/non-painful stuff was at the end. It is very much the reverse of what usually happens, and it changes the dynamic of what the story would have been otherwise, because instead of apprehension for the troubles the reader knows will probably come, the reader is told of the troubles right away and then is left with a sadness in reading about the characters' earlier, happier times...sort of reverse catharsis. I really enjoyed it!
Author's Response: Thank you so much for the review! I don't know why, but as soon as I got the idea I knew it would have to be in reverse chronologically. Just because my stories generally go on a downward spiral very quickly, and I wanted it to look up for once. I'm glad you really enjoyed it, and I love the idea of a reverse catharsis.
Ellie
Winter at the Castle by Oregonian
Rated: 1st-2nd Years • Summary: The winter solstice, the shortest, harshest days of the year. Would you have wanted to live there?
Date: 06/04/13 Title: Chapter 1: Winter at the Castle
Wow! This is a terrific poem, and I'm sorry I'm not going to leave a length crit...I love your wording; the language seems so archaic and pretty, and your rhyming and meter is just perfect.
Glad to see you've joined PA. You should really write more poetry!:)
Author's Response: Thank you so much for your review. This is the kind of stuff I usually write, but I see that PA encourages/teaches us to write in many different styles, so there will be something to learn.
The Baby-Sitter by dmbw7052, Nagini Riddle
Rated: 1st-2nd Years •Summary: Ron has to baby-sit Hugo, and he takes Hermione's suggestion to read him a book. However, taking care of a toddler is no easy task...
Date: 06/12/13 Title: Chapter 1: One-shot
Wow, wasn't expecting something so fluffy, especially from Kaylee! Lol, it is really nice fluff, too. Of course, I particularly enjoyed the touch of Ron/Hermione..."Ready to learn how to impress the ladies? I’ll tell you a secret- they like it if you know how to read." :D
I just wish I could find out what the heck happened to the Muggle and the king, and what this has to do with cackling stumps. Curses on my stupid Muggle upbringing...(and my failure to get my hands on a copy of J.K. Rowling's Tales of Beetle the Bard--really need to do that!).
Author's Response: Teehee! :) I can write fluff, Jenny. I just prefer darker stuff. :) Anyways, thank you for the review! I am rather pleased you liked that part where Ron told Hugo women like men who read- I laughed out loud at it, too. It gives such a nice contrast to how their friendship started back in the first book. And if you really want to know what happened to the Muggle, you can just look it up on Harry Potter wiki. Perhaps it will inspire you to write your own story... ~Nagini
Look Up Now Into The Night by the opaleye
Rated: 1st-2nd Years • Summary: A song for the first Christmas after the Battle of Hogwarts.
Based on the traditional carol, Personent Hodie.
Date: 12/10/13 Title: Chapter 1: On this day we shall rise.
Hi Julia!
I know I don't spend much time on the forums these days, but I couldn't resist one of your poems...
The style of the poem works well for it--the language sounds like a hymn, what with its old-fashioned-ness (words like "morn" and the varied ordering of words in sentences) and in how there seems to be sort of pride in its purity/holiness, if that makes any sense. The meter pattern initially did not quite ring right for me, but then I noticed that these were alternate lyrics to a Christmas song, so I tried reading them along with the song and the meter seemed to fit much better. I believe that there is at least one grammar error; "frail bonds ... ties" uses a singular verb conjugation for a plural noun. Also, in "Forget we not their faces all/Or the song...," should "Or" be replaced with "Nor," since you have the word "not" in there? I'm not quite sure about this one...and the poem is otherwise flawless as far as I can tell.
You use a lot of nice figurative language here--I especially like your comparison of "hollow hearts" to stars. Oh, and just the entire second stanza because it sounds nice and so terribly sad...well, all of it, really! But my favorite part of this poem was the metaphor "born on earth to save us/with the lives they gave us"--where you compare them to Christ. It's so perfect, because it ties in the song for the fallen with the Christmas thing, and is also just an amazing way to describe the battle. We always think of Harry as the religious-allegory figure, because he's the one who actually walks to his death to save everyone, but your poem extends this idea to everyone who sacrificed their life in that fight, which is really a beautiful thought.
So, lovely poem :) and I hope you have a merry Christmas!
-Jenny
Author's Response: Oh it's so good to see you, Jenny! Thanks for pointing out those errors :) I will fix them now. I was listening to this carol while preparing the Carol Challenge and I found myself thinking about the parallel between Christ's sacrifice and those who died in the Battle of Hogwarts. The first Christmas is always the hardest after the death of a loved one and so I wanted to write something for the Wizarding World for that first Christmas while incorporating the imagery in the original carol. I'm glad you thought it was effective! You're right, Harry is usually seen as the religious-allegory figure, but I like the thought of extending that to everyone who gave their lives. Thank you so much for this lovely review, Jenny. It brought a smile to my day :) A Merry Christmas to you too! Julia x
My House Is Empty And My Family Dead by Oregonian
Rated: 3rd-5th Years •Summary: Not only in wars with Death Eaters do we suffer loss. Sometimes everything is just stripped away.
This poem was nominated for the 2014 Quicksilver Quill Award: Best Poetry.
Date: 08/24/14 Title: Chapter 1: My House Is Empty And My Family Dead
Oh gosh. This is a really creative subject for a fanfiction poem--the Harry Potter world is just a snowglobe, and now there's dust accumulating on the glass...
Your poem also makes me feel kind of guilty, since I know I'm one of the ones who has gone off on hiatus and never really returned...I still enjoy fanfiction, but life has been keeping me busy, and I don't prioritize MNFF anymore.
Perhaps part of the problem is that the group of people who love Harry Potter is aging. A large fraction of the most devoted fans were kids when the books came out; now it's been 7 years since the last one was published, and our childhood lack of responsibility/demands on our time is ending. So maybe there's less time for hobbies like writing. Maybe? I'm only hypothesizing.
Anyway, way to make me nostalgic...
Jenny
Author's Response: Hi, Jenny. So nice to hear from you again, and thank you for reviewing my poem. The opening line haunted my brain for a long time, and I finally had to finish it up. I think that your supposition is spot-on. The fan base is getting older and busier with the mundane demands of life. The sad part is your statement "...maybe there's less time for hobbies like writing." Let it never be that the responsibility/demands take over our life to exclusion of things we really love.
I am hoping that when the new movies come out (three of them, two years apart) there will be an upsurge of interest.
Vicki
broken brights by Padfoot11333
Rated: 1st-2nd Years • Summary: Harry's breath catches when he thinks of Ginny.
I am not JK Rowling and I wrote this for the Random Song Title Challenge on the boards.
Nominated for a 2014 QSQ - Best Poetry. Nominated for a 2015 QSQ - Best Poetry.Date: 08/24/14 Title: Chapter 1: Chapter 1
oh, oh it's beautiful...
This really touched me. Not as fanfiction, just, personally, because I've been long distance for a year and all of this (except I guess the middle stanza, since it seems more related to H/G or some specific couple) describes so perfectly what I wish I could put into words...
The capitalization and spacing feel just right for it, too, because missing someone you love, someone far away, is not a sentiment for capital letters--a whisper, a slow song, not a yell. And because we never capitalize in skype messages, and we hit enter between long enough phrases, so sentences arrive in fragments.
Anyway, thank you...sorry all this isn't very coherent, but this poem belongs to me, or I belong to it, or I should really go to sleep or something.
Jenny
On The Verge Of Happy Endings by WrenWinterSong
Rated: 3rd-5th Years •Summary: After the battle but before all was well, those left in the wake of the Battle of Hogwarts struggle to find their lives again.
This story follows Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Luna, and Draco in a series of one-shots that capture their coming to terms with all they've done and all the things done to them. With such choatic early years, normal seems just as out of reach as it did a year ago. But all will find they still have a place in this new Wizarding World, though some may fight it. Happy endings may or may not exist, but this could be the preface to a happy beginning.
Date: 08/09/15 Title: Chapter 1: after
Hey Wren, just want to say, this is great! It feels so realistic--much more so than my own story about these few days...that was my first fic, and it was a bit sad but not dark at all. And really, the darkness is going to take a good long while to go away. I can see Harry thinking these sorts of things after the battle. Poor guy's spent his whole life fighting, he doesn't know how to stop.
Your idea about letting Voldemort use the Killing Curse on Harry back in that graveyard is a very interesting one...that could make for an unusual AU plotline.
Hope your next chapter goes up sooon :D
-Jenny
Author's Response: Hello Jenny! So happy to hear that you liked it. It took quite a few re-writes to get right. I've always been interested in what characters go throught after epic battles, since that's normally where the story stops, but there's so much more to explore. You can't stop the momentum so easily.
As for an AU plotline, that would be interesting but would also take way more thought and set-up than I'd be willing to give it. Anyone is free to take that plot bunny and run! Though, would that mean no Umbridge? Hmm...
The next chapter may take some time to post, unfortunately. The whole thing is written (eight chapters in total), but editing takes a lot of time. Hopefully, though, once the second one goes up, I can get the others loaded rather quickly. But no matter how long of a break between this chapter and the next, this story will be finished!
Wren