Wireless Festive and Other Fests

[paulamcg]

I've been happy to see Christmas-themed drabbles as well as fascinating meta by you wonderfully productive people. Myself I'm not truly devoted to any writing project at the moment (still not even planning anything for fests with deadlines in 2021), rather just looking forward to the holidays – and particularly to the party at hoggywartyxmas.

I've submitted something also to another event with anonymous posting in late December: Winter Exchange at rarepair_shorts. And I hope I'll soon be ready to submit my contribution to mini_fest. Now I'm just working slowly on a short story which I may or may not post to HP Femslash Minifest December 2020 when it's late for Wireless Festive Minifest (both on AO3). I still haven't managed to contribute anything to events with daily prompts, although I wished I could have done that this month.

The only new public thing I've got to share is the rewritten lyrics to The Twelve Days of Christmas.
You can read the thing here in the Wireless Festive Collection on AO3
or right here


This version of the traditional Christmas song was sung by Lily and the four Marauders probably in December 1980. The first six verses are based on the presents Lily and the Marauders gave each other at the first solstice after leaving Hogwarts, and an earlier version of the song is sung in the closing scene of my last December's fic A Portrait of Best Friends.

The Twelve Days of Christmas



Lily:

On the first day of Christmas
Remus gave to me
A portrait of my best friend.

Sirius:

On the second day of Christmas
Lily gave to me
Two knitted mittens
And a portrait of my best friend.

James:

On the third day of Christmas
Sirius gave to me
Three off-key songs
Two knitted mittens
And a portrait of my best friend.

Peter:

On the fourth day of Christmas
James gave to me
Four Butterbeers
Three off-key songs
Two knitted mittens
And a portrait of my best friend.

Remus:

On the fifth day of Christmas
Sirius gave to me
Five stolen kisses
Four Butterbeers
Three off-key songs
Two knitted mittens
And a portrait of my best friend.

Sirius:

On the sixth day of Christmas
Peter gave to me
Six old calendars
Five stolen kisses
Four Butterbeers
Three off-key songs
Two knitted mittens
And a portrait of my best friend.

Lily:

On the seventh day of Christmas
James gave to me
Seven Quidditch stories
Six old calendars
Five stolen kisses
Four Butterbeers
Three off-key songs
Two knitted mittens
And a portrait of my best friend.

Remus:

On the eighth day of Christmas
My Animagi gave to me
Eight fun full moons
Seven Quidditch stories
Six old calendars
Five stolen kisses
Four Butterbeers
Three off-key songs
Two knitted mittens
And a portrait of my best friend.

Peter:

On the ninth day of Christmas
Moony gave to me
Nine scary howls
Eight fun full moons
Seven Quidditch stories
Six old calendars
Five stolen kisses
Four Butterbeers
Three off-key songs
Two knitted mittens
And a portrait of my best friend.

James:

On the tenth day of Christmas
Lily gave to me
Ten crying babies
Nine scary howls
Eight fun full moons
Seven Quidditch stories
Six old calendars
Five stolen kisses
Four Butterbeers
Three off-key songs
Two knitted mittens
And a portrait of my best friend.

Lily:

On the eleventh day of Christmas
My Marauders gave to me
Eleven silly pranks
Ten crying babies
Nine scary howls
Eight fun full moons
Seven Quidditch stories
Six old calendars
Five stolen kisses
Four Butterbeers
Three off-key songs
Two knitted mittens
And a portrait of my best friend.

Remus:

On the twelfth day of Christmas
My best friends gave to me
Twelve happy moments
Eleven silly pranks
Ten crying babies
Nine scary howls
Eight fun full moons
Seven Quidditch stories
Six old calendars
Five stolen kisses
Four Butterbeers
Three off-key songs
Two knitted mittens
And a portrait of my best friends.

Comments

[bemused_writer]

I have a hard time with daily prompts, too. XD They usually wind up being prompts I fill throughout the year (provided the event allows that kind of thing).

[paulamcg]

Thank you for replying and telling me I'm not alone. :) I've never really tried to participate in events with daily prompts. But when I filled all the prompts at neville100 in August, September and October, I always had fun writing the drabble in a short time, often on the last day before the next prompt, and I hoped I could feel motivated by the December events in the same way. I seldom care about old prompts, and while I've written only for fests this year, I've used self-prompts, too.

[bemused_writer]

Self prompts are great! I've got several prompts I came up with to challenge myself, so now it's just a matter of sitting down and getting to them. I think daily prompts as drabbles makes sense. My problem is I have a hard time keeping it to drabble length. ^^"

[paulamcg]

Thank you for still commenting. It's interesting to hear about your attitude towards prompts.

I'm afraid my self-prompts have rather been something I've signed up with after I've decided what is the story that can be a meaningful addition to my ficverse (and readable separately, too, of course) and that I want to write next. In lists of prompts I look for something that would suit my ideas rather than any new inspiration. (For Creature Fest I must have written the fic before I worded my prompt: A hag minds her own business, which is worthless at best, right? My problem with e.g. holiday-themed daily prompts is that they seldom inspire me to write even as much as a drabble that would mean anything to me. Choosing someone else's prompt has sometimes given me at least one reader, though. Perhaps I still haven't learnt to participate in fandom properly. :)

[bemused_writer]

Of course! I can understand choosing prompts in that way. Sometimes it is a matter of needing a nudge to write something in a preexisting story we're working on.

I also have trouble with most holiday-themed prompts, largely because I'm not usually doing much for the holiday so I feel a little disconnected from them. If they're more general it's easier for me to work with.

It's true that choosing a prompt can get other people reading, though. I've had some success with that as well. It's also fun to see the recipient enjoy the fic. :D I've only really done that twice, but it was a good feeling (and, admittedly, a bit of a relief that they enjoyed it!).

[paulamcg]

Thank you so much for still replying. It feels wonderful that you express your understanding.

I can relate when you talk about feeling disconnected from holiday-themed prompts. Even if my characters could celebrate more than I have for several years, I've felt that a meaningful, interesting story about them should be something more than a more or less surprising kiss under the mistletoe, and if I managed to fit something more in a quick drabble, it wouldn't suit the mood in the fest. As if I ever managed to complete something on the same day or the day after I see a prompt! :)

And yes, it is a pleasure and a relief to see that the giftee or another prompter has found my writing enjoyable. I've just got an amazing long comment from my giftee at a HP rare-pair exchange, and I realise that I had a similar experience with a rare-pair wishlist event last summer. Perhaps these are the most rewarding projects, albeit unnerving, too.

[bemused_writer]

Yes, I completely get what you mean about wanting more depth than a holiday prompt usually entails. Although, I have occasionally gone in some pretty bizarre directions with prompts so, uh, I say we get creative. 8D (Notably there was a prompt for "cake" or "sweets" and I turned it into a multi-chapter murder mystery. Things happen.)

The giftees often leave the nicest reviews; it really made me happy to take part in the challenge! But yeah, it can be tough, too.

[paulamcg]

Yay for bizarre directions! They are not too risky, particularly not when the prompt event is not an exchange. And sometimes unexpected takes on prompts at exchanges lead to nice reviews from lovely giftees.

[bemused_writer]

All very true! Sometimes taking that chance is well worth it. (^^)

[paulamcg]

♥

[enchanted_jae]

How cute!

And, this would be a fun addition at poetic_hp. Monthly prompts are posted there, but all HP-related poetry is welcome!

[paulamcg]

Thank you! I'm happy to share something small and cute about these favourite characters of mine... Why not in the poetry community, too! I hope I'll now even remember to try and compose a haiku to post.

[kelly_chambliss]

I'm so looking forward to Hoggywarty! I'm trying to put together a short piece for Rarepair Shorts, too. I doubt I'll be able to manage anything for Mini Fest, but I wish I could. Still, even though so many of the grand old holiday fests are gone, there's still plenty of HP yuletide fun left.

Your "Twelve Days" are a lot of fun, and each character's "gifts" are well-suited to the giver. Nice job!

[paulamcg]

Thank you so much for commenting both on my thoughts about fests and on the song lyrics!

I haven't dared take part in the Festive Fun Fest, even though I have managed to branch out and write about a lot more pairings than before my hiatus. (Or... When you pick a number or numbers, will you not be given a character or a pairing, but just a prompt or prompts to use for writing about any characters you choose?) Back then I wrote for Mini Fest only once, and never for any of those grand old holiday fests you miss. I was so exclusively devoted to my grand old chaptered fic and wrote only few short stories and only about my protagonist and characters close to him. My only regular holiday fest was Remus/Sirius Small Gifts, and I was happy to find it on DW last year, but the level of interaction was far from what I remembered from the old days, and now the fest is gone. After I've taken part in various fests – on DW, LJ, Tumblr and AO3 – all through the year, it seems to me that some of the very best fests are still on LJ.

I'm glad the Marauders and Lily's Twelve Days work for you! I was afraid some of the first gifts wouldn't make so much sense without the context of that last Christmas's story, and this whole version of the song is more cute than witty.

Looking forward to seeing you at the Grand Opening – and to reading whatever you may write for other fests, too!

[sperrywink]

Awww, cute song-reinvisioning!

[paulamcg]

Thank you! I'm so glad whenever my canon-divergent-after-OotP Marauders get some love. (Muggle-AU Marauders are often even cuter than mine here, and such AUs seem to be the popular trend in Wolfstar now.)