paulamcg: (Default)
The reveals are up at [livejournal.com profile] snapecase. I wrote only a short story for this fabulous fest. And the fic could have been easily recognised as mine by anyone familiar with my work, particularly with the Binns story I posted last October (A Different Truth).

Author: [personal profile] paulamcg
Title: A Short Story
Characters and Pairings: Severus Snape, Cuthbert Binns, Aberforth Dumbledore; Severus/Cuthbert
Rating: G
Word Count: 3060
Summary: In 1993, two days before Halloween, Severus is surprised as (the ghost of) Cuthbert Binns wants to confide in him and accompanies him to Hogsmeade.
Disclaimer: These characters won't help me make any money.
Notes: This was written for [livejournal.com profile] snapecase. Thank you for the fest, [livejournal.com profile] iulia_linnea and all the other participants! Thank you for the beta, justtoarguewithyou!
In 1993 October's full moon fell on the night before Halloween. It's not completely impossible to reconcile this fact with canon, although the real calendar was obviously not taken into consideration in the writing of PoA.

Read here on AO3,
here in the Livejournal community,
or right here: Let's hear it )
paulamcg: (Default)
Reveals – and glorious winners and amazing banners – are up at [community profile] firewhiskeyfic.


Check out all the masterpieces, most of which are hugely inspired by Hagrid! Once again I resorted to an animal's perspective and to dealing with a favourite character's situation in the PoA year.

Title: Not Fish But
Author: paulamcg
Characters: Fang and a stray
Prompts used: All the prompts: Hagrid, Forbidden Forest, Stripped Bare, Cuddling by the Fire, Ice and Snow, and “Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.”
Summary: In February 1994, Fang decides to venture into the woods, if only to escape a fishy smell and to encounter another.
Rating: G or M
Word count: 950
Author's Notes (if any): This was written for Not-So-Dry January Edition of [community profile] firewhiskeyfic. The original version can be read here in the DW community – together with the wonderful feedback from generously-commenting fellow participants.

The cleaned-up version is here on AO3
as well as right here:
a rare joy )
paulamcg: (Default)
The reveals are up at [livejournal.com profile] hoggywartyxmas. The party is over, but the splendid stories, artworks and comments remain. Tomorrow there will be a modpost about ideas for how the members of the community can continue to meet as Hoggywartians, celebrating as a group of friends.

Anyone who remembered my previous Hoggywarty stories should have easily recognised this little fic as mine.

Author: [personal profile] paulamcg
Title: Hiding the Truth
Characters and Pairings: Two house-elf OCs (one of them as the POV character), Minerva, Poppy, Remus and Severus; Minerva/Poppy
Rating: G
Word Count: 1360
Summary: In the 1970s, when there are four other shapeshifters, too, in Gryffindor, a loyal house-elf wants to help Minerva McGonagall in her duties and her love life, and, in the aftermath of a particular unfortunate incident, wonders what she needs to know.
Disclaimer: These characters won't help me make any money.
Notes: This was written for hiddenhibernian at Hoggywartyxmas 2022. Thank you for the party, my fellow Hoggywartians! Thank you for the beta, justtoarguewithyou!

Read here on AO3,
here in the Livejournal community,
or right here: inconspicuous in the shadows )
paulamcg: (Default)
Thanks to [livejournal.com profile] hoggywartyxmas and [livejournal.com profile] snapecase, I've succeeded in writing two more fics after the Halloween double drabbles. I can't say anything about those fics, as they will be posted in the Livejournal communities anonymously – one in December or January, the other in January or February. This means also that my current word count for 2022 on AO3 will probably remain the final one for this year: only 41,9K (and that includes some fics I wrote in late 2021). Unless I finally complete the fic which didn't become a treat for last spring's Femmefest (and in which Cho and Luna fly to Crete in May 2002), or get motivated to craft and share a drabble for [community profile] neville100, which inspired me back in autumn 2020, or...

In any case, I'm glad I signed up for those two LJ events, and now I'm looking forward to the party at Hoggywarty first. And then the first one of two upcoming events at [community profile] firewhiskeyfic, the Open Bar on New Year's Eve!
paulamcg: (Default)
Just as I'd hoped, some pairings firmly within my comfort zone and some open requests at [community profile] hp_halloween as well as the wordcount limit and the deadline helped me come up with my first humble pieces of fic since the drunken writing about an unexpectedly inspiring ghost character at the beginning of October. The tiny Ginny/Luna story I've just shared includes something I hadn't done before, young Ginny and references to CoS, although the piece is set around the PoA year's Halloween, where I continue to squeeze fics. The first treat I wrote (this one, too, for a recipient whom I don't know at all and who has not responded), however, is predictably about my damaged-by-Azkaban Sirius in 12, Grimmauld Place.

Title: Not Fully Happy
Author: paulamcg
Pairing: Sirius/Remus
Summary: In 1995 Sirius manages to remember another Halloween he shared with Remus.
Word Count: 200
Rating: G
Notes: This was written for bererjs at HP Halloween.

Read here on AO3,
or right here:
a prisoner in this grim old house )
paulamcg: (Default)
This year I decided not to sign up for [community profile] hp_halloween. To be honest, doing all that offering and requesting now that the fest is on AO3 looks like so much work, and I know I won't be sad when there's no gift fic written for me. I've always enjoyed reading a lot of double drabbes, giving a chance to any character, any pairing, any writer.

You can find all the 47 new Halloweeny/spooky/autumny 200-word works in this AO3 collection.

Here's one of the two treats I wrote this time:

Title: Eyes Wide and Wise
Author: paulamcg
Pairing: Ginny/Luna, pre-femslash, or rather friendship
Summary: In October 1993 Ginny is haunted by the previous year's horrors. Luna can see it and knows what can be soothing.
Word Count: 200
Rating: G
Notes: This was written for DandelionConstellation at HP Halloween.

Read here on AO3,
or right here:
in her nightmare )
paulamcg: (Default)
Reveals are up at [community profile] firewhiskeyfic.



Check out the other fabulous banners as well as the winners and all the other delightful stories. Firewhiskey and ouzo helped me write my first words of fic since mid-August, and I'm super glad that this fest is where I ended up sharing another odd story with a very minor canon character as the protagonist.

Title: My Friend Liripipe, or A Different Truth
Author: paulamcg
Characters: Cuthbert Binns & Remus Lupin
Prompts used: All the prompts: Nearly Headless Nick, Godric's Hollow, Jack-o'-lantern, Graveyard, Harvest Party, Bewitch
Summary: A week before Halloween 1993, when a colleague appreciates his company, Cuthbert may feel alive, even though he's dead and it's Saturday.
Rating: G
Word count: 2870
Author's Notes (if any): This was written for The Sleepy Hollow Edition of [community profile] firewhiskeyfic. The original version can be read here in the DW community – together with the wonderful feedback from generously-commenting fellow participants. This time I've added a couple of sentences close to the end, in addition to fixing the typos and a few other errors. Exceptionally, I've also chosen a different title before posting the fic on AO3.

The final version is here on AO3
as well as right here:
my voice can be heard )
paulamcg: (Default)
Reveals are up at [community profile] firewhiskeyfic.


Check out all the fabulously drunken masterpieces! I can't help feeling proud and not just glad to say that several of them feature my eternal OTC Remus – after back when when I first participated in these shenanigans in early 2020, I was the only one writing about him. Remus is certainly happier in some of those other fics than in mine. I have once again shared an odd little G-rated piece, which is probably gen, altough it's possible to interpret some Crookshanks/Sirius and Aberforth/Remus as well as Remus/Sirius in it.

Title: Some Alone Time
Author: paulamcg
Characters: Crookshanks, Sirius, Aberforth, Remus
Prompts used: Aberforth Dumbledore, Hog's Head, Marathon, Insomnia, Forced Proximity, One Too Many (Not used: Madam Rosmerta)
Summary: Crookshanks slinks into the night and feels he must stay in Hogsmeade so as to observe at least one of the publicans.
Rating: G
Word count: Around 500
Author's Notes (if any): An anomalous animal's pov

This was written for the It's 5 o'clock Somewhere edition of [community profile] firewhiskeyfic. The original version can be read here in the DW community – together with the kind comments from fellow participants. (Firewhiskey really is the best chance for me to get feeback on my fic, and I'll enjoy writing my thank-you notes. And posting more comments finally.) This time there were barely any hilarious typos (in my humble contribution, I mean) to be fixed, and I haven't tried to fix the (perhaps not merely) drunken feature of my storytelling that it suddenly just – stops.

The final version is here on AO3
as well as right here:
A tom like me )
paulamcg: (Default)
I hope to see you at this extra special drink-and-write all-day extravaganza which is arranged to accommodate more timezones:


Firewhiskeyfic on Dreamwidth


Beaides the drink from the HP world, any booze or your alternative to booze goes. And there are seven fabulous prompts, and only three of them clearly HP-related.
paulamcg: (Default)
Signups for July 2022 Swap on [community profile] concrit_x are closing today. I made up my mind only a moment ago, having hesitated mainly because I haven't seen any participant mention my single fandom. It would be lovely if anyone of you – HP writer or anyone else who reads my posts – hurried to sign up!

Here's the info post.
Here's the sign-up post.
paulamcg: (Default)
After completing the story made of the microchapters that May prompts on Tumblr inspired, I felt I needed to go on. So as to have some joy, I needed the daily writing challenges, small accomplishments, and the little bit of response to fic it turned out to be possible even for me to get on that platform. This is how I've ended up giving another try to the Wolfstar fandom.

Back when I returned from hiatus )

At the beginning of June I came across wolfstarmicrofic. And now for three weeks I've tried my best to stay content with the small number of likes and reblogs I get when I only slowly gain one or two more followers and my fics can't possibly get much attention. Besides, I still stick to my own style and perhaps unusual scenarios.

I've posted something on the basis of twenty prompts (just not on today's yet), a couple of times using two prompts in one fic. All these fics are with the wolfstarmicrofic hash tag on my Tumblr, here. Because ten of the fics are based on scenes in my earlier fics, I've posted only eight on AO3.

These four stories are set before Sirius went to Azkaban and have been added to my series The Four Shapeshifters.
Secret Records (200 words)
Private Rainbows (250 words)
Penny Sweets (235 words)
Right Here Right Now (250 words)

These are the new post-Azkaban stories, and each of them is part of my series Escape, Lie Low.
Broken Memory (200 words)
Relearning Closeness (700 words)
Imaginary and Real (200 words)
The Album Remus Has Treasured (100 words)
paulamcg: (Default)
This is where I've been and what I've been up to. )

This is the new, humble chaptered fic:

Is It True He's Mad? (here on AO3)

Summary: As if someone had lit a fire ... and the Dementors couldn't destroy it.

So far it's 15 chapters and only 750 words, rated G, and gen (Wolfstar only subtly).
paulamcg: (Default)
I can't resist mentioning Remus Lupin Fest, too, even though it's posting only on Tumblr and AO3, and it's not small enough for anyone to easily check out everything. There are a lot of different Remuses (and one of them is mine, of course).
paulamcg: (Default)
Here's another chance to check out all the anonymous entries at a lovely little Harry Potter fest. HP Bun in the Oven has posted the pregnancy-themed fest entries on DW and on LJ.

EDITED on March 29. The anonymous master list is here on DW and here on LJ.

I'm glad I succeeded in writing something for the fest again – something very different from my first pregnancy fic, The Wonder of Bearing, in which I perhaps went too far, resorting to Snorkack magic so as to let a character experience childbirth, too. :D
paulamcg: (Default)
Posting has been completed at the Salt & Pepper Fest. Now there's an exceptionally wonderful opportunity to check out everything in a small anonymous AO3 collection (here), or all the fest entries in a lovely DW community (here: [community profile] hp_goldenage).

Unlike, in my experience, almost every fest in our huge HP fandom these days, Salt & Pepper is not restricted to particular pairings, characters and/or tropes. The only requirement is that the protagonists in the works must be not exactly young (but at least fifty years old). Still, this diverse fest's size has remained manageable for any reader and commenter. This year six of the stories are clearly shorter than 4K words, and three are between 5K and 6K words.

And the single long story at the fest is an excellently-written, touching and thoughtful exploration of two fabulously-portrayed witches and of the developments in their lives and relationship:

I see a great deal of myself in you (Andromeda/Augusta, 20K words) by Anonymous
paulamcg: (Default)
The 200-word drabbles at HP Sweethearts 2022 were revealed yesterday. In this year's collection there are 104 romantic double drabbles. It looks like several participants wrote treats in addition to taking care of their assignment in the exchange. And some people posted a lot of treats. I hadn't signed up, but I wrote two treats, and followed the instructions to comment on a DW post, mentioning some favourite pairings. Here's the sweet surprise treat I got:

Bundiums to Blankets (Minerva/Poppy, G) by RoemaencePartnaerr
paulamcg: (Default)
Reveals are up at [community profile] firewhiskeyfic. I'm proud to have received my second award for the Least Coherent work. This time I tied in the voting with [personal profile] walgesang, who wrote a fabulous Witcher/Arthur fic. It's worth visiting the community to check out also all the other amazing works and the rest of the beautiful Dad Bod banners!



Title: Figuring It Out
Author: [personal profile] paulamcg
Characters: Arthur, Ron, Ginny
Pairing: Mainly gen, but implied Arthur/Molly and Molly/Amelia
Rating: G
Word Count: 590
Summary: In January 1990, Arthur tries to relax and get something done.
Author's Notes: This was written for the Dad Bod edition of [community profile] firewhiskeyfic. The prompts were: Arthur Weasley, Ottery St Catchpole, Misuse of Muggle Artifacts, Plugs, Tinker, and Dad (perhaps also Dad Bod, and Dad by Edgar Albert Guest). I've now tried my best to fix the spelling and added a bit of punctuation. The rest of the incoherence of my typical stream-of-consciousness and second-person writing is intact here.

The original version with all the glory of the tipsy typos can be read here in the DW community.

The cleaned-up version is here on AO3
as well as right here:
you'll manage )

Fests

Jan. 22nd, 2022 09:25 pm
paulamcg: (Default)
[community profile] firewhiskeyfic is happening tonight! After recovering from that, I'll perhaps manage to write at least one treat for HP Sweethearts, which takes place on AO3. You can find the requests here, and the deadline is the 4th of February. In case 200 words feels like too much, there's also Three Sentence Ficathon. So much fun to help me not write too early about fifty-plus characters for Salt and Pepper Fest at [community profile] hp_goldenage, where claiming is open until the deadline, mid-February.

(There's no risk I'll start anything for Remus Lupin Fest yet. But I have a draft for Fireside Tales.)

Oh, prompting continues at [community profile] hp_bunintheoven until the 27th. So far almost all the prompts have been posted in the community on LJ, [livejournal.com profile] hp_bunintheoven, here.
paulamcg: (Default)
The collection for this year's Festive Fun Fest is closing tomorrow, on the 1st of January. The Rare Pair Shorts Winter Exchange is still posting on DW and on LJ. I've barely managed to craft something for these two events. Unfortunately, because I worked on an unexpectedly long fic for the [community profile] hprarepairfest until the 19th of December, a set of prompts remained my only contribution to [livejournal.com profile] mini_fest.

After ten days of no words of fiction written (but most of those days spent happily on reading at [livejournal.com profile] hoggywartyxmas), I finally came up with a little thing based on the first two random prompts I'd got from the Rare Pair Shorts mod. (I hope it's okay I used them although I'd already resorted to asking the mods to change my prompts.) This is the most festive thing I achieved. To be sure, the pairings are as rare as anyone can expect (and have no tags in the community yet), but they are all only implied and/or unrequited.

Title: Appreciate Being a Friend
Author: PaulaMcG
Pairing: Amelia/Tonks, Tonks/Tiberius, Arthur/Molly, Amelia/Molly
Summary: In mid-December 1995, after romance has eluded her once again, Amelia Bones must host a dreary Ministry function.
Word Count: 940
Rating: G

Read here on AO3
or right here:
what bloody Fudge has come up with )
paulamcg: (Default)
The holiday fests are here. As Sirius seems to be able to enjoy the ride, I trust each of us will find a way to do it, too. :)




Today is the last day for prompting at Mini Fest. The signing up is open and all the prompts from previous years, too, are available, and the deadline is the 20th of December.

Claiming (here) at [community profile] hprarepairfest closes today, and I should finally make up my mind and write more than a few sentences based on one of the prompts. The deadline is in five days, after all! There are a lot of prompts still available, and unless you are an awfully slow writer like me, it can be fun for you to grab one now.

You won't be surprised to hear that I find all those fests (like [community profile] adventdrabbles) with daily prompts overwhelming. But perhaps I'll ask for prompts at Festive Fun Fest at [community profile] rarepair_shorts. Check out the sticky post in the community and see what a low-pressure fest that one is!

I am... heading for a time of quiet (to quote Paul Simon in Quiet) and looking forward to the party at [livejournal.com profile] hoggywartyxmas (and to the posting at [livejournal.com profile] snapecase, but that's been rescheduled to start only on the 9th of January). Not thinking about fics for next year's fests yet (not even about a spooky Renus/Sirius thing that I should come up with for Fireside Tales by the end of January).

I'd like to remind you all of the fabulous Salt and Pepper Fest at [community profile] hp_goldenage. The deadline is only the 15th of February. At Remus Lupin Fest the deadline is even later, but the signing up closes on the 13th of December, and I've hurried to claim a prompt because there's no self-prompt option.
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