UPDATE:
22 July 2008: It's been quite a while since I've updated this, so I'm giving it a shot, trying to do it without all the banners/links. You can, however, see all of the banners for my stories by going to the profile for my LiveJournal community, fics_by_megan:
http://community.livejournal.com/fics_by_megan
There are the pretty banners made by the artists here on MNFF, as well as those made by the artists over on TDA, since I also post my stories on HPFF.
As of today, I have 40 stories posted on this account, and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. (Even with starting university in a few months.) Another one-shot, as a matter of fact, is with betas right now.
Lately, I've fallen in love with reading and writing Sirius/Hermione stories, although of course, my current WIPs are still, definitely, being worked on.
~Megan
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Hello. The name is Megan, and the age is 19 (though I'll be 20 quite soon).
My Award-Winning Stories:
-- Thousands Say Farewell (Third)
-- Are You Brave Enough? (Second)
-- Fortune Favours the Brave (First)
-- Messages of Heart and Mind (Honourable Mention)
-- Recolitus Optimus (First)
-- Never Leave You (Second)
-- Adoris Integare (First)
-- Justify (Third)
My Upcoming/Planned Stories:
1) "Untitled": a chaptered fic, it'll be the largest part that tells the overal story that I have planned for Sirius and Hermione. Both "Come Back To Me" and "Watching Him Remember" are parts of this story, and there are hints in both of them about the overall mystery, but it's in this longer fic that everything will be told. [Expected Release: TBA]
2) "Once Upon a Time": a short story, this is another Sirius/Hermione story that's being planned out right now. It's written in response to a challenge given over on the HPFF forums. And of course, it will star Sirius Black and Hermione Granger. [Expected Release: TBA]
3) "Untitled": a short story, this is an idea that's been in my head for ages, though I haven't gone much further with it than dwelling on the basic plot. Will be an Alternate Universe fic, using canon up until around mid-OotP. Mainly starring Sirius Black and Lord Voldemort, with plenty of appearances by the other characters of the books. [Expected Release: TBA]
4) "Caught": a one-shot, it will be the sequel to "Brothers", and will basically pick up right where that one left off. Currently in the planning stages, and starring Sirius Black. [Expected Release: TBA]
Fabulous. Very beautiful story. It was wonderfully written.
I'm not a huge fan of poetry, but this was extremely well-written. It was a very moving and touching piece of work.
Pretty good story; can't wait for the next chapter. Keep up the good work.
Grayson was a pretty neat character. Not a bad story, either.
Fantastic story! I absolutely love Sirius and this story was written very skillfully.
Just a short review. Great story! Also, I think the ending was perfect.
Pretty good story.
I absolutely LOVE this story. It is, by far, the best characterization I have ever read of Tom/Voldemort. He's always been my favorite character, and your story brings out his truly evil and minipulating mind. Again, excellent job and continue adding to this story.
Author's Response: well... you finally have it! the new *HIGH-QUALITY* chapter with evil Tom being a nice little sadist
This was a fantastic one-shot, and really thought out and developed with a lot of skill. I think your characterization was fabulous; Amos was completely believable in all senses, and I want to congratulate you on achieving that believability.
Also, I think the idea for this --- the prophecy and all that --- was truly inspired and very unique. You had the plot and everything developed very well [ike I said earlier :) ], and your writing showed a lot of talent. That's something else I'm going to congratulate you on.
This story being my only venture into the Mystery genre, I can't really compare it with others in the same category, but I can easily say that it is one of the best pieces of writing that I have seen on this site. Congratulations once again on writing a truly talented story.
~Megan
Firstly, I think this was a good start, and Remus's characterisation was perfect here, in my opinion. With the setting -- time-wise, of course -- that you have in this prologue, you portray him quite well.
He had lost everything he had known, all in one night.
Good line; a nice way to sum up everything that Remus would have been feeling at this time, in my opinion.
The only thing that I wasn't as fond of was Snape's insertion here. It just seemed a bit more unexpected or awkward, like he didn't really belong at this point in the fic.
~Megan
Author's Response: Thanks for you review - I\'m glad you enjoyed Remus\' portrayal as he is one of my favourite characters. I understand what you mean about Snape, although hopefully as you continue through the story, the reason for his brief insertion here may become clearer. Even though this was written long before the release of DH, I feel his role here is even more appropiate now. Let me know what you think - I hope you keep reading!
Extremely fabulous and filled with suspense! I can't wait for more, I need to know what happens. You have a lot of talent, and for all that is good in the world, please update soon!
Just spent the last hour or so reading your story up until this point, and I have to say it is fabulous. You are an excellent writer and I am looking forward to reading the rest. Update soon, and keep up the good work.
Hello.
First off, I want to say that I liked this story. It was quite short, in my opinion, and I would have liked to see more, but it was fine as it is.
There was one statement in the beginning, though, that I found a bit awkward in its wording.
He then, with a flick of his wand, disposed of the ashes.
The statement in and of itself -- the idea and action it's presenting -- is fine, but the wording is just a bit awkward with how it's broken up. Personally, I think it would sound better written like this -- "With a flick of his wand, he disposed of the ashes." You don't really need the 'then' in the sentence, and I think if flows better this way.
Also, I personally think the story would have been nicer if you had perhaps put the memory in italics as a means of distinguishing it from the rest of the story, rather than breaking up the one-shot by saying "Dumbledore's memories" and then "End memories." You had a nice transition that Dumbledore was going to go back and remember something before you started the memory sequence, and then you came back clearly enough; the reader could have made his/her own connection to the beginning and ending of the memory.
I did, however, like your portrayal of Dumbledore's connection with Fawkes and how he came to him. It was nice, but I think the best part was the very end. The best line in the entire story was the final one -- A tear trickled down his face as he watched it disappear into the bowl’s gray mist. Perfect!
~Megan
Great job on this; I really enjoyed it. I have to say that the poem interspersed throughout the story was my favorite part, and the poem was very good, too :)
The story is also unique, going from Regulus's point of view (I haven't seen many fics told via Regulus), and I also enjoyed the fact that it was all dialogue --- a unique way to write something, though it can become very difficult, but in this story, you kept the flow clear and the format really worked. Good job on that.
You also did a good job on keeping in character with Regulus (it was quite believeable). My only criticisms would be that Voldemort seemed a little too cliched, and some of Regulus's and James's dialogue was a little weak --- Nothing too drastic, but it just felt slightly OOC, especially on some of James's lines.
Overall, a good job, and I'll say again that I thought the poem was the best part and wonderfully composed. (By the way, I, too, believe that Regulus is RAB. :)
Author's Response: Thanks megan_lupin.
For Voldemort, I'll admit that I don't have quite a good grasp of his characterization. He is a bit two-dimensional here ^_^ but I have no idea on how to polish him up.
On James, he had to be depicted in a somewhat negative POV because I'm using Regulus' POV.
^_^ owed the smooth flow of this to reviewers like you who pointed out the weak points for me to fix it up until I got it right. :)
Thanks for the review :) and glad you liked this.
Hello.
Personally, I liked this story, and I think one of the most unique things about it was the way that it was written. The one-shot was like a bunch of thoughts -- broken up and vague, yet powerful at the same time.
I love your description of how the Veil is eerie and isn't understood, even by the people who work there. It is a very odd and mysterious thing, and I liked how you wrote that.
A typo (I think) that I noticed was in part of the statement of the Ministry's workers about the Veil -- agonized them were the Veil, -- I think it needs to be "agonized them was the Veil," since the second part of that statement is separate, and the Veil is singular.
Another thing that I found a bit questioning was the voice. Did you have a particular person in mind to say "Harry," or was it Sirius / Dumbledore / someone else? I want to say that it's Dumbledore, strictly because of the whole feather thing (which I loved, by the way), but I'm not sure.
Finally, and as a last little note, I absolutely LOVED the ending. The second-to-last paragraph is really nice, but my favourite line through the entire thing was the final one -- For he knew he would not be facing the day alone. -- It's a perfect line for Harry post-HBP.
Once again, let me say that I think you did a wonderful job on this uniquely told story.
~Megan
Good job. I thought the idea was really good, however, I did notice a few typos, though it's nothing horribly obvious. I think it would have been nice to have the battle described in a little more detail, but I will say that you did a great job envoking the right degree of emotion in the story, especially at the end.
Author's Response: Thank you, emotion was whatt I was going for mostly. I'm terrible at action scenes so I chickened out on it a bit. Thank you for the kind review and for reading.
This was a really great story, and I just found it today. I didn't really expect it to be Draco at first (blame that on my not reading the summary), so his identity being revealed was a slight surprise.
However, I will comment on your wonderful talent and skill with keeping Draco in character. Your story almost makes one feel a bit sorry for the younger Malfoy (because it is like he is just in way over his head), but at the same time, he is MALFOY after all. :) , so the pity doesn't extend too far.
Also, great job on portraying Snape --- both his hesitancy in the beginning and his resolution, so to speak, in the end. He is such a conflicting character in the books, and no one really knows the truth about him, and you also extend that aspect into your story (It's not until at the very end when the reader sees that he's not going to save Draco). Great job on keeping Severus in character!
My only criticisms for this story, other than a few typos, was during a select few moments with Voldemort. I wouldn't put it passed Draco to beg Snape, but I don't think Voldemort would appreciate some of Draco's actions too much (such as when Draco kisses Snape's robes, which is an action usually employed only with Voldemort.)
(Hope you don't mind slightly lengthy reviews), and again, great job on the characters and the plot.
Signed,
Megan
I loved it, and an excellent job to you! Bella is just the type of character where one wonders why she does what she does, and you have her character and her mindset in this fic done perfectly.
Though I was slightly hesitant at first with the Bellatrix/Harry pairing, I found by the end that it definitely worked, and that the story would have been missing something if it hadn't been there. I'm also impressed that in all the torture and stuff (for lack of a better word at this time), you did not go "overboard" so to speak, which so many people tend to do in these types of fics, and that takes away from the fic's authenticity. You did a great job maintaining the reality in this fic, and for that, I congratulate you! :)
I definitely agree with some of the other reviews --- You should give a shot at exploring Bella's character more and telling just how she became like she is.
Also, I have to say that my favorite part was Bella's comments about the schizophrenia (sp?), especially at the end (That was a terrific line.) I can definitely say that I'm scoring this fic with a ten! Again, great job! (Hope you don't mind somewhat long reviews. :)
Really great, and the story really does a wonderful job getting into the mind and thoughts of Draco. Until HBP, he had always seemed like a slightly shallow character, but after that book, his characterization developed a lot, and we (the readers) were able to see just how conflicted he is. You did a wonderful job in portraying that aspect. Good job!
Also, I absolutely love your writing style in this --- having the whole thing done with dialogue. It's a very unique way to write something, but it's also so easy to cause the story to get confusing (knowing what character is currently speaking, for instance). However, your story did not cross that line, and for that, I applaud you :) .
I also really enjoyed the pieces of the poem that were interspersed (sp?) throughout the one-shot. I think it added and improved to the story, and was a wonderful way to show Draco's inner feelings and thoughts. Great job!
Normally, I'm commenting on typos or problems of a story that I found at this part of a review, but nothing jumps into my mind with your's. It truly was an excellent piece of writing, and definitely deserves a score of ten.
Signed,
Megan
Thanks for the review and glad to see that I didn't scare too many people away by writing in this poetry-dialogue style. :)