Reccing and Bragging

[paulamcg]

Challenges #6 and #9

#6 In your own space, rec at least three fanworks that you didn’t create.

#9 In your own space, brag about yourself. Tell us what things you've done that you're proud of; the things that make you the wonderful person you are. …
Rec YOUR work, YOUR fic, YOUR art, YOUR meta, YOUR anything! Maybe you host a challenge, or maybe you have lists of resources that you've lovingly curated that you'd like to share. Or maybe you . . . whatever you do, we want to hear about it!!

I'm reccing fics by writers whose HP fanworks I've found only this year, thanks to year-end roundups and Snowflake: Cerberusia, kira_katrine and nightfalltwen.


Vervain and Dill (Evan Rosier/Severus Snape, T) by Cerberusia (3200 words)
Rosier returns to the Slytherin boys' dormitory after taking the Mark, and finds Snape.
A brilliant portrayal of Snape, a beautiful hurt/comfort scene, and excellent writing that makes it all wonderfully vivid.

Mint and Tiffle Berry (Luna & Hermione) by kira_katrine (1600 words)
Hermione is having trouble figuring out Luna's approach to the competition.
This delightful fic makes me feel I love Luna ever more, and that's a lot. Hermione is wonderfully IC, too, and even though this is AU, it could be about the two girls' attitudes towards school work – or ours towards fanfic writing.

Under the Mistletoe in Greenhouse two (Pansy/Neville) by nightfalltwen (800 words)
Neville and Pansy find themselves trapped beneath mistletoe and only one thing is going to break that spell.
A lovely little fic. The writer has fit in a wonderful characterisation of Pansy (with references to other things in her life), as well as a magical problem and its solution, and a real feel of cold.

As for bragging about myself, perhaps, for once, I won't say that I'm hopelessly stuck in the Harry Potter fandom. This wonderful person here is still devoted to complementing the story of Remus Lupin's life by crafting more stories about him and others in the same first-five-HP-books-consistent world, and making each fic work on its own, too.

As I think I'd better limit my self-recs, too, to three... I start by reccing two series! You can read any fic separately as well.

If Not a Prank (Remus/Sirius, T) by PaulaMcG includes three fics which offer a probably unusual take on what's usually called Sirius Black's prank on Severus Snape. I've developed this idea as a part of my story about Sirius-loving Remus's life (so as to make his unrelenting love plausible without contradicting the canon of the first five HP books). The second, Sirius-pov fic was written for the Wolfstar Games and has got a bit more kudos, but I'd love to hear what people think of any of these fics. Each can be read separately, too, and they can be read in any order.

Professor at Hogwarts (mainly past Remus/Sirius, also Remus/Severus and minor pairings, G – M) by PaulaMcG is a collection of my PoA-era stories. The latest one was posted with the title Another Round here at hoggywartyxmas, where I got my share of the generous commenting, but I'd like more people to meet my Remus in other situations of his year as Professor Lupin and to tell me that they love him how they like the fics.

Finally, a single story on which I've got no comments at all. (Except from my lovely beta, who usually only points out a few embarrassing errors, but in this case said she really liked the intriguing non-linear narrative.)

From the Oblivion (Tonks, and a hag OC, references to various pairings but not to any Remus/Tonks, T) by PaulaMcG
In July 1996 Tonks is coerced into reliving moments shared with Sirius, Lupin, and Amelia Bones.

Comments

[seleneheart]

I admire your dedication to Remus Lupin. He was treated pretty shamefully by his creator, but that's the wonderful thing about fandom - we can fix it!!

(I have only on Remus icon but it's quite NSFW and I don't feel like I know you well enough to inflict it on you. It's in my icons list if you care to go have a look. ^_^)

[paulamcg]

Thank you! Remus has given a lot to me, in turn. I'm happy I concluded as early as right after OotP that there would not be space for using all Lupin's potential in Harry's story, and I started writing a chaptered Remus-pov story set in autumn 1996. That's why I haven't needed to care how Lupin was treated in HBP and DH or what the writer said about him (or anything) outside the first five books. Thanks to my Remus, who didn't agree to marry Tonks and wasn't even proposed, but instead seriously stood up for his and his fellow creatures rights, I got to extrapolate a lot from what the books showed of the magical world, and later in one-shots fics I've written about more and more characters whose lives touch Remus's directly or indirectly.

I've now had a good long look at your Lupin icon. ♥ I love it in particular because I figured out only about a year ago that there was a chance for some Remus/Severus in my ficverse, and I've had fun writing it.

[adriennefae]

oh! You recced my fic! Thank you so much, I'm so glad you liked it and that it made you love Luna even more!

And the Tonks fic sounds interesting--she didn't get as much development in canon as a lot of other characters, so it's cool to see people's takes on her. I'll have a look at that later.

[paulamcg]

And I'm glad the rec made you happy – and made someone bookmark your wonderful fic. I hope you've noticed I posted a comment.

Yay! Thank you for saying you'll take a look at my Tonks fic. My Tonks is based only on OotP. I was not so happy about how she was developed in the last two books, and that's another reason why I think it's fortunate, after all, that I'm stuck in writing in the same consistent ficverse I started in September 2003. Tonks appears as a friend of Remus's in a few scenes of my chaptered fic set in autumn 1996, but I've written about her only in two one-shots. The other one is Sharing Breaths (Amelia Bones/Nymphadora Tonks, T, 9204 words) (When the second war’s starting, Amelia begins to live and believe in a new relationship.)

[mekare]

Lovely, loving a character that much is great!

[paulamcg]

Thank you! I guess I fell for Lupin as soon as I saw him sitting on the train, and that I've loved the Remus I've written and not only loved writing him. That's why I go on and write about characters who've loved him and even those who've loved hating him...

[rhoda_rants]

Bookmarking "Mint and Tiffle Berry"--I love Luna, and I wish there were more fics about her being her delightful self!

Also bookmarking "If Not A Prank" as that's one of the hardest scenes to reconcile. I'm looking forward to seeing your take on it!

The first five books really are the best. It's not that I dislike the final two (or even the weird spinoffs that came later), but there is something especially magical about years 1 through 5.

[paulamcg]

Yay! I'm so glad you're bookmarking that fic by kira_katrine, who's already been happy about the rec alone!

But due to your words about Luna fic, I can't resist mentioning that I've written about Luna myself, too. She's the pov character in Look for Laughter (Luna/Cho, G, 1168 words) (A week after the Yule Ball, Luna hopes she can comfort Cho.) and has quite a big role in To Know What She's Seeking (Cho/Luna, Cho & Roger, T, 4396 words) (In January 2002 Cho takes pleasure in flying and dancing, and becomes aware of a deep need not long before she learns to see herself more clearly.). I've written also about her friendship with Remus when she's twelve, and Bearing Fruit (Remus/Luna, M, 2278 words) (Luna comes to Remus again when the time is ripe.)

That's what you get – more recs thrown on you – when you say you're bookmarking one of the series I self-recced. I think you might like at least the first and the third part of If Not a Prank.

But because you enjoyed the shattered timeline in To the Sensational Jaws, I guess you might like From the Oblivion even better than the no-prank fics. My Tonks, too, is based only on what was magical in canon – only on OotP.

[rhoda_rants]

LOL--I might have to save those for later! But thanks, one can never have too many recs. <3

[paulamcg]

I trust you'll keep them safe! <3

[lee_bella]

I read "From the Oblivion" and left a comment on AO3. Just to add, I really like the scenes between Remus and Sirius. They are wistful and bittersweet, and I like them wistful and bittersweet. Knowing what happens later on adds a sense of tragedy to the "what could have been" between these two characters.

[paulamcg]

Thank you so much! Overwhelmed by your comment on AO3, I enjoy rereading it and crafting my thank-you note. And it's so lovely of you to add these beautiful words about the scenes between Remus and Sirius. Having met your wonderfully wistful and bittersweet Remus and Sirius, I shouldn't be surprised that the sense of tragedy appeals to you, but it's reassuring and heartwarming to hear that you've reached it in these glimpses of them in my Tonks's mind. Even though I've kept trying to make my puzzle both wider and more detailed through all these years and stories, this is actually the closest I've got to describing (also) the time soon after Remus lost Sirius again.