On reading, mostly

[jlh]

Before I start, however:

loff for epicyclical

Right.

Now that I'm on a bit of a break, I'm doing a ton of reading, trying to get through all these back chapter owls, and I'm rediscovering a few things.

My name is Clio, and I like:

--Romance. I spend a lot of time in Astronomy Tower at FA. Granted, there is a lot of crap in AT, but there is also a lot of good stuff over there. I like the "Dear God, I love her!" moment, the "oh, this isn't just sex" realization, the "when did THIS happen?" part. In other words, "How long has this been going on?" My inner twelve-year-old girl wants to be Ginger Rogers, basically. Or maybe Katherine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby, or Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday. Why do you think my avatar is Cary Grant?

--Draco/Ginny. There, I said it. Cassie regrets ever even suggesting it. Aja hates it so much she can't bring herself to rec my fic. It's the Great Hated Ship of the H/D crowd, or so it seems. But I really like it. It's zippy and fun and sexy when done well. Which is to say, not like Romeo and Juliet. Blech. More like Fred and Ginger, actually. Or it can be.

--Good H/H. Of which there is very little. Why are they so mushy? What is up with that? Just because they don't have vast and t00by obstacles doesn't mean they have to be a big damn pile of goo. I have to brush my teeth after I read some of this stuff to prevent tooth decay.

--SBRL and P/O, but I am all caught up with the Y!groups like a good girl


I have also decided I am completely within my rights not to read:

--Anything dark. That isn't to say everything has to be sunshine and flowers (see above), but short fics about death are just not for me. Sorry. Go right ahead, call me shallow, call me a lightweight, decide to never take my word on anything ever again.

--Romances of ships I don't like. Epics, sure. But romances? I mean, what is the point?

--Stuff that doesn't grab me. Which I occasionally feel bad about, like I should give it a chance. But you know, you'll either go with it or you won't. I makes me freaked about my own fic and its inauspicious beginning, but there you go.

Yes, yes, all this will lead to recs very soon. Just wanted to set up the baseline assumptions, is all.

Comments

[thegraybook.livejournal.com]

*loff for Clio*

--Draco/Ginny. There, I said it. Cassie regrets ever even suggesting it.

Wubble. You know, the sad thing is, it's a ship that has definite promise and there are cool things about it. It can be great. I'm thinking of Renebre's fics, and Dark Days Are Coming; it can be fun and sparky, or twisted and psychosexual. I think I just wince at - and this will sound weird -- those that ship it in my fic, just because for some reason, and I don't know why this is, they are both far more vociferous than any other kind of shipper, and also seem to be reading just for the Draco/Ginny. Which was never the point. It was always a side pairing and never a focus, ever. Their hammering away at it just makes me hate the pairing. Wibble...

[jlh.livejournal.com]

they are both far more vociferous than any other kind of shipper, and also seem to be reading just for the Draco/Ginny

Hmm. Well, before I say a few reasons why that might be true, let me say that anyone that thinks the Trilogy is D/G is on crack--I've only read the first part and even I can see it ain't gonna happen.

I think people assume that if you have H/H and a reformed Draco than you have to have D/G. There also aren't very many epics with D/G, which really means that the D/G types need to get writing. But that may be why they are so hysterical. Of course, they annoy you more, so it's like hitting your elbow when you've already bruised it.

[ex-thezeppo783.livejournal.com]

--Draco/Ginny. There, I said it.

I like Draco/Ginny in the same way I like Draco/Ron or Tom/Ginny...if it's twisted and borderline abusive. Erm. Which I know defiles your stance on darkfic, so....
And funnily enough, despite being a H/D person (I am still am, on rare occassions) I don't get why D/G is despised as a kind of anti-H/D ship. Honestly. I just don't like it because most people make it fluffy, and if any woman is going to 'redeem' Draco, it's going to be Hermione. I mean, H/H is far more problematic to H/D, really. But I digress...

--SBRL and P/O, but I am all caught up with the Y!groups like a good girl

There's a P/O Y!Group? Where?!?

[jlh.livejournal.com]

...if it's twisted and borderline abusive.

Actually, there is a little-explored genre of D/G where no one is redeemed--where a disillusioned Ginny becomes a Death Eater. That's in the background of Roman Holiday, a very good P/O fic. I think that's the other thing I love about D/G--it can go either way. With D/Hr, she has to redeem him, and all the way. Same, to a certain extent, with D/H. But with D/G--as long as he isn't killing her siblings, I think Ginny can give him a little more wiggle room. Personally, even more, I love fics where she chooses between Draco and Harry. D/G is always very much about a grown-up independent Ginny, one who is leaving her childhood behind, and that's the sort of Ginny I like to read and to write. I think D/G is much less about redeeming Draco--it's so often post-H, and Draco has made his choice, often some shadowy one in between--than about redeeming Ginny.

I have found that most het is fluffy, which is annoying because then all the self-consciously artsy angsty dark types have to wander off and write slash, and then they look down their collective nose not only at any story where people are happy for longer than a page, but also all of het in general.

Percy/Oliver Writers Support Network (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/POWSN/?yguid=96309059)

The Zeppo is back? Dude, I can't keep up.

Re:

[ex-thezeppo783.livejournal.com]

Well , yes, it is one of the reasons why I can stomach (and to some extent enjoy the D/G) in EWFS, because it's not cloying or particularly fluffy.

And erm. I used to write fluff, or at least fluff/sap/angst, and it was all so cloying and treacle-y, I'm amazed I didn't drown prospective readers.

Possibly I've been 'turned off' for two reasons: one most of the early het I read was so unrealistically fluffy, and secondly, as a gay bloke, I'm very much of the 'Christ, I have to watch het my entire life, give me a break' viewpoint. Does that make sense?

Oooo. New P/O resource. They will probably hate how I write P/O, but okay ;)

And yes, he is. He took some time off to get better and slim down, but now he's all fit and ready for action.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

as a gay bloke, I'm very much of the 'Christ, I have to watch het my entire life, give me a break' viewpoint. Does that make sense?

That makes so much sense that I would venture to say that it is close to why I don't like darkfic.

As to POWSN, there's a lot of sadness over there. Lots of death and mournful graveyard visits and Oliver becoming a DE and Percy not being able to truly be out etc etc etc.

Re:

[ex-thezeppo783.livejournal.com]

As to POWSN, there's a lot of sadness over there. Lots of death and mournful graveyard visits and Oliver becoming a DE and Percy not being able to truly be out etc etc etc.

*blinks* I think I've just found a group of people with an even more depressing view of a pairing than I do...

I thought that was impossible.

[thalialuna.livejournal.com]

I only like your D/G. Everytime I think of D/G outside that context that comment about their 'pink haired children' just cracks me up and I can't take it seriously. I keep seeing little ones with lolly pink hair...

ROFLMAO!!

[thalialuna.livejournal.com]

And hey! You're listening to my most favourite song in the world.

Dreaming... Dreaming is free...

::dances around::