vorona_394

I have posted this story on The Petulant Poetess. Not really sure how I feel about it, but I was tired of tinkering with it and just wanted it out.

Anyway, it's here:

http://www.thepetulantpoetess.com/viewstory.php?sid=9031

Too Easy

I want to talk about Deathly Hallows, finally. However, first, a short disclaimer. I've only read the book once. I read it one night at the end of July, all in one sitting. I read it very fast and slightly tipsy. During the course of the novel I was preoccupied with Snape. So, I might have missed some minor points or even some obvious clue by fours. Forgive me, therefore, my lack of depth concerning the details.

I really enjoyed reading it. I cried, I laughed, just as I have in all the other Harry Potter books. Unlike other books (most notably, Half Blood Prince), this one has grown less appealing over time. There are a number of glaring weaknesses in her writing of this book, and most of them have to do with her being too easy on Harry.

Let's start with the most obvious, shall we? The lack of sacrifice. Harry dies. Okay. He goes to the Underworld (well, not really, but we'll call it that) and comes out again. That's fine. That fits well within the mythic journey. Except that the *point* of going to the Underworld and coming out again is NOT about seeing your old mentor and being comforted about all the hard things in life. The point of going to the Underworld is to be challenged. The idea is that it's worse than death, or at least bad enough to be an equivalent sacrifice.

I will admit it, I really wanted some good moral struggling. That was my most wished for thing in the books (aside from Snape not being a loyal Death Eater and Snape not being in love with Lily — 1 out of 3 isn't terrible, but let's move on.) The Underworld journey would have been a perfect place to use it. By that time, he's callously gotten over his dislike of Unforgivables, at least when used against those he dislikes or thinks are inferior (Yes, the goblin rant is coming). I would have *loved* to see him be confronted by some sort of demon-figure (maybe in the guise of Snape? Or if you have to involve Dumbledore, make him less sympathetic to Harry and have him play the role of demon-challenger) about these not so pleasant traits of his. I would love to have seen him have to struggle with his newfound moral difficulties while trying to rid the world of Voldemort. A Dudley Demented kind of experience (since we know now that Dudley's experience with the Dementors was learning what kind of person he was — and I have an essay about that, too). But no, she took the easy way out. And if she wasn't going to torture him in hell, by God, she should have let him die.

And she didn't. Instead, he gets to come back to life, defeat the evil monster without having to do anything "wrong" and even live a normal life afterwards! She could have at *least* have had him feel somehow out of place a la Frodo, but no, even that is too hard on the poor boy.

The poor boy, my ass.

Anyway, so he didn't die, he wasn't tortured in hell, and he had a normal life afterwards. And, to make matters worse, he didn't even have to deal with the moral consequences of killing Voldemort! Let's imagine that the treck to Platform Nine and Three Quarters and Dumbledore never happened (because it happening automatically means he should have died or at least been tortured in hell). Let's say he made it to the final battle while still alive. He should have had to kill Voldemort. The -special- wand flying Expelliarmus is crap. It's too easy. He's not responsible for taking another life. He doesn't have to deal with having killed someone because really Voldemort killed himself (now don't get me wrong, I like how Voldemort was his own downfall... but I would have liked more moral difficulties for Harry). He should have had to kill him.

Although, seeing how he's reacted to other Unforgivables, this probably wouldn't have made any difference, and there wouldn't have been any moral difficulties anyway. Let's go back to Book 6. Book 6 is my favorite because, in my mind, Harry and Snape both show their true colors and Snape ends up looking better. Harry, sometime in late spring, discovers Malfoy crying in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Without thinking, he uses one of the Prince's spells "for enemies". Yes, when he sees what he's done, he's initially upset with himself. But within a week or so, he thinks Snape is deliberately keeping him from Ginny out of some kind of sadism. Excuse me? You just cursed someone and luckily Snape was there to "fix" it for you, and you're feeling all victimized? No. If Snape was deliberately keeping you from Ginny, good for him. And maybe it will teach you a lesson.

Not much longer, he's cursing Snape, using not one, but two attempts at a Cruciatus, Sectumsempra, and Levicorpus. Snape doesn't attack once in this period, and instead cancels another Death Eater's Cruciatus *on* Harry. If I was Snape at that point, I would have let that Death Eater keep going. After all, Harry had already tried two of them on Snape.

I was really hoping (as I said above) for Harry to have to deal with this. But he doesn't. Not once. And then J. K. Rowling shoots herself in the foot. Of all the things she could have done to undermine her own theme about race, what she did takes the cake. Throughout the series, we're essentially told that all the races are equal and valuable, and that humans shouldn't look down on non-humans. That the statue in the Ministry of Magic was a lie.

Draco and Snape made sense, sort of. They are enemies of Harry's, people he really hates. So, it makes sense that he might do evil things to them. His Imperius of the Gringotts goblin is totally different. He doesn't do it out of hatred or anger. He does it because it's convenient. Not only that, but he was completely disrespectful of the goblin on *his* side. That is, he should have simply been honest with the fellow. Yes, he couldn't say *why* he needed the sword, but he could have said "I need to use the sword for a while. You can have the sword as soon as I'm done using it."

Personally, I think the goblin would have been okay with that. But no, Harry doesn't respect the goblin enough to treat him as an equal. He assumes he can "pull one over" on the goblin. He's not human, so it's okay. And then there's the Imperius. I really hated that scene. Someone should have objected (Hermione, at the very least). Maybe they did and Harry overpowered them (again, I don't remember all the details). But Harry should have had to deal with the fact that he used an Unforgivable, not only on someone he hated, but just out of convenience. But no, I guess because goblins aren't human, they really are inferior. Shame on you, Rowling. You should know better after all the elf-rights.

As I said earlier, I was really hoping for moral struggles for Harry. I was watching him descend further and further into the Dark Arts. When he curses Snape, Snape blocks. It is unlike the attempt on Bellatrix in that we do not know if he would have been successful or not. He was certainly able to use the Imperius Curse without too many problems.

***

A little aside. I've long thought that the Imperius is the worst of the three curses, followed by the Cruciatus. It seems to be the least destructive, but think about it for a moment: that's someone else controlling you, and possibly making you do things that you not only don't want to do, but that you think are completely wrong. Think about something like that... That, I think, would cause extreme psychological damage. And I, for one, think psychological damage is much worse than physical damage. I'd much rather die, for instance, than be forced to kill my best friend. The Cruciatus Curse comes in second, if only because of its potential to drive someone insane. Avada Kedavra doesn't sound very painful. It's instantaneous. Yes, then, you are dead, but is total insanity any better?

Personally, if I was evil, I'd Imperius someone and make them use the Cruciatus Curse on someone they loved to the point that their victim was driven insane and then leave them together like that.

***

Anyway, so Harry has been getting closer and closer to being actually evil, and yet he never once has to deal with it. And then we get the epilogue.

I didn't mind the epilogue when I first read it, mostly because I've written things like that before (yes, I really have, let's move on). But when thinking of ways J. K. Rowling made things too easy on him, this is by far the prime example. She would have been better to stick "And they lived happily ever after" at the end than write that epilogue. At least then, readers could make up their mind as to what "happily ever after" really is. Are we really supposed to believe that everything just magically worked out so that everyone ended up in perfect couples and had no marital strife?

Okay. There's my long essay on how I think J. K. Rowling messed up in regards to Harry. Incidentally, I think she correspondingly failed in regard to Snape. Yes, it was nice seeing how Harry recognized at the end that he was the most courageous man he'd ever met. But that definitely wasn't enough. Perhaps another essay about that will be forthcoming.

Okay, so I could put this in two posts, but I've decided to keep it as just one.

So:

( Spoilers Abound )

This year, I'm not writing fan fiction. In fact, I'm writing pseudo literary fiction or magical realism...or maybe it's literary dark fantasy or something. Sort of on the opposite pole from fan fiction, at least as far as "respectability" goes... Yeah, right.

Anyway, I'm going to be using a different journal for that attempt because this is my Snape journal.

The new journal is ravens_quills

I don't know if I will be posting any or all of the actual novel, since last year, I got lazy and stopped posting after Chapter 8 or something. Anyway, I'm writing a twisted, insane version of Snow White.

Feel free to drop by or friend or whatever.

Any actual prose will be friends-locked, since this is something I'm considering publishing, but I will friend anyone who wants to read.

Well, here I am, and it's September.

I've moved in with my parents. And mostly, I have gotten settled.

( Harry Potter Book 7 Spoilers Ahead )

I just have a few...

Unlike my other pet peeves, these are *strictly* matters of opinion. I think great stories can come with using them, although a couple have, I think, become cliches.

Most of them (but not all) have to do with making Snape less of an autonomous individual with free will. I like my Snape to be making the decisions he makes because they are the decision he *wants* to make, for himself, not as a reaction to outside events.

Thus:

1. All of Snape's allegiance changes have to do with reactions to Lily and/or Marauders.

One of the reasons I tend to dislike Snape/Lily is that it seems it's always his feeling of betrayal at her choice of Potter that causes him to join the Death Eaters and her upcoming death at the hand of Voldemort that causes him to leave. Like I said in the first paragraph, I don't think stories that do this are *wrong*, I just don't like them. There are a million reasons Snape would have to join the Death Eaters, and my personal favorite is that he was fascinated by the Dark Arts. I also think he probably got more respect, at least at first.

Revenge for the sake of revenge (i.e. not related to Lily) is a little more palatable for me, because he does seem the vengeful sort, but I think even he would know that Voldemort would just use him, if that's all it was.

2. The notion that Dumbledore made him do an Unbreakable Vow, and that's why Dumbledore trusts him.

While I definitely agree that it couldn't just have been a "tale of remorse" that did it (I doubt Tom Riddle would have succeeded at getting a job at Hogwarts via a tale of remorse), I also suspect that Unbreakable Vows are a kind of Dark magic that Dumbledore would not resort to. I also think it would not be necessary. He is very, very good at securing passionate loyalty. Look at what Harry did in the cave. I don't think he'd need more to sway Snape, nor that he would demand more. He either trusts a person or he doesn't. I think if he didn't trust Snape, he simply wouldn't have given him the job of Potions instructor, and more importantly, he wouldn't have sent him to spy on the Death Eaters.

3. Snape will be cleared by Pensieve memories left by Dumbledore.

This one is more of a cliche, since I seem to see it in a lot of stories. It just seems too obvious to me.

Finally, although I like a complex, neither good nor bad Snape, I do tend to like him better evil than fluffy.

I've been reading a lot of fan fiction, lately, and spending time over at the Mugglenet forums, and thus running into a number of pet peeves. This is going to be a very opinionated post, and I would like to state for the record that I believe ALL of these things could conceivably be done well. However, I find that these are, for the most part, basic assumptions that people don't question... and there's no real proof to any of them. In other words, they're treated as though they're undeniable, instead of having the necessary background explanation. So, onto the list:

Pet Peeve #1. You have to really hate someone in order to cast an Unforgivable, and specifically Avada Kedavra

Supposed proof of this:

1. Bellatrix, in talking about the Cruciatus Curse, comments that righteous anger won't do the trick. She says you have to mean them (Unforgivables in general) and for a successful Cruciatus Curse, you have to want to cause someone pain. This has been used because wanting to cause someone pain would require that you hate them.

Refutatation: She never uses the word hatred. She says that with Unforgivable Curses, you have to mean them. She says that to cast the Cruciatus Curse, you have to truly want to cause pain.

The Cruciatus Curse is a pain/torture curse. To truly mean to cause someone pain/torture someone is *exactly* the same as truly *wanting* to cause them pain.

Ergo: For the Imperius Curse, you must truly want to control someone. For the Killing Curse, you must truly want to kill someone.

2. Snape's expression of hatred and revulsion when he casts Avada Kedavra

Refutation: Just because Snape hated Dumbledore (or himself?) at that moment does not mean that it's a required element. Some blonds take French. That doesn't mean you have to be blond in order to take French.

Pet Peeve #2: Peter's silver hand and the death of a werewolf (Remus or Greyback):

One of the reasons this one is a pet peeve is that there are two meanings of the word "silver":

A colour.

A metal.

Harry sees Peter get a "silver" hand. He sees it. Thus, we're talking about the *colour* here, not the metal. He did not test it to find out if it's truly silver metal. The "silver knife" required for Potions, on the other hand, clearly refers to the metal.

The other reason this is a pet peeve is that werewolves in Rowling's world may not have any reaction to silver as opposed to other metals. Just because that's one element of the general werewolf mythos doesn't mean it is true for Potterverse werewolves. Just as a revulsion to garlic in the the general vampire mythos doesn't immediately mean that Buffy vampires have that problem.

Pet Peeve #3: Peter, the idiot

While on the topic of Peter Pettigrew, this one really irritates me. Peter may not have been "on the same level" as James and Sirius, according to McGonagall, but he's NOT an idiot. Idiots do not learn how to become Animagi. Idiots do not change allegiance and betray their friends while managing to keep the trust of said friends to the point of being designated the most trustworthy Secret Keeper. Idiots do not manage to fake their deaths and survive after framing their former best friends for mass murder. We need to remember that McGonagall herself was talking at a time when she thought that Sirius had killed Peter, and not the other way around. Peter is very smart. It would be best not to underestimate him.

Pet Peeve #4: Snape being called "dear boy", "Sevvie"

It makes sense for Dumbledore to call Harry "dear boy". Harry is his student and not yet of age.

It is completely insane to think Dumbledore would refer to *any* of his faculty members as "dear boy". It is equally absurd to think that Snape, of all people, would not protest this. So, in stories where Dumbledore calls Snape "dear boy", I at least want Snape to explain why and how he accepts this.

He would also object, strongly, to being called "Sevvie". I could see it being used as an insult, say by Lucius or Voldemort, and he'd probably bite the bullet, but in a romantic relationship -- never. That would be an absolute deal breaker... unless it had some sort of history that's explained within the story.

Pet Peeve #5: General OOC without explanation/illustration of how that came to be:

Fluffy Snape. Submissive (only) Hermione. These are two of my personal characterization changes that I dislike. Or rather, I dislike them when they're presented without any explanation. I can imagine things that could cause them to change in that way, but for goodness sake, SHOW me how they developed into that from their canon self, even if it's just saying it was something that was always there that the rest of the world (i.e. Harry) never knew.

That's it for now. I'll admit that the Unforgivable one is the biggest. I *hate* that one. If I could, I would curse it into nonexistence.

Okay, this is something I just don't get. I was reading a story the other day, and it's an excellent story, so I'm going to leave the title out: I'd hate to be giving bad press to a generally good story.

The problem was the end, and I've seen this particular end on many, many Hermione/Snape stories, so, again, the particular story that made me write this is unimportant.

Snape asks Hermione to marry him, they get married, and have a child (or two, or three), and suddenly, he turns into goo-goo ga-ga dad.

I don't get it. If you like warm, fuzzy types, why are you writing about Snape? If you like Snape, why are you turning him into a goo-goo ga-ga dad? Why?

Snape is dark. He's sarcastic. He refuses to let go of past grudges even worse than Harry does. He hates clumsiness. He hates messes and mistakes. He hates being made fun of and has little sense of humor when it comes to that sort of thing (think Lupin and the vulture-grandmother-Snape or the insults on the Marauder's map).

Now, I'm not saying that if Snape ever had a kid, that he wouldn't love the child or be a good parent... but I don't think he'd turn into goo-goo ga-ga dad either. I think he'd be proud of the child's achievements, but also have impossibly high standards. He'd be frequently frustrated and snap at the child, too. He'd probably be somewhat distant, unsure exactly how to act, but sure not how to act... Given the wrong circumstances, he could be a horrible and abusive father. Given the right ones...

Well, yes, I can see him changing and eventually becoming a very loving father. But you have to show this! You can't just go from dark!Snape to lovingfather!Snape! You can't be telling a wonderfully intense, difficult, and amazingly good story about the Snape I know and then stick on this quick ending where he turns into Fluff-Dad.

The "good father" story would have to begin WITH THE BIRTH OF THE CHILD, to give the story ample time to really show the changes taking place.

But no, no... We have to make sure to give Snape and Hermione the exact happy ending that we want to have in our own lives, marriage and children included. Never mind that Snape is not particularly well-suited to having children.

At least that's my take on why. And it's not a good reason. If Mary Sues (i.e. wish fulfillment characters) are wrong, well, then surely wish fulfillment endings involving Fluffy Snape are equally wrong.

Okay, okay. I'm going to preface this by saying that I know that Hermione is NOT going to end up with Snape in any of the Harry Potter books. Nor is it ever going to be "revealed" that they've secretly liked each other but would never admit it. Or that either of them has secretly liked the other without the other responding. I know this. That said, there are bits of Hermione/Snape subtext within the books and movies. Movies are not canon, but since I'm not talking strict canon at this point, I feel fine in including them.

1. Krum. He's described as being sallow-skinned, with a large beak-shaped nose, and he goes around scowling a lot. There's also lots of rumors about Durmstrang being full of Dark Arts -- the same sort of thing that seems to follow Snape around.

Krum is, admittedly, the strongest part of the subtext.

2. Crookshanks. Her choice of pet is a monster whose first actions we see are of attacking and being very agressive... and yet, he is extremely intelligent.

However, it shows us that what she chooses for herself is not a sweet, gentle, caring animal.

3. Her own ability at subterfuge. People often downplay this, seeing her as a quintessential Gryffindor. However, I recently realized how many things Hermione has done or come up with that rely on deception:

1. Burning Snape's robes
2. Stealing Potions supplies
3. Finding a location for brewing Polyjuice Potion
4. Taking Crabbe and Goyle out of the picture so they can't show up and ruin things
5. Using the Time-Turner without anyone knowing about it.
6. Knowing that Remus Lupin was a werewolf without anyone else knowing about it.
7. Agreeing to date Krum without anyone knowing who her date was.
8. Bottling Rita Skeeter.
9. Enchanting the D. A. list to reveal anyone who leeked the secret.
10. The lovely bit of lying that lured Umbridge out into the Forbidden Forest
11. The Confundus Charm on McLaggen, so that Ron would be Keeper

I can't remember any others in Book 6.

4. Ambition. If it wasn't for her sense of right and wrong (as opposed to obligation/debt, etc.), I think she could easily be a Slytherin (I plan to put up a post about the Houses as well). She is, I think, the single most ambitious character in the books, in the truest sense of the word. She is driven to succeed at everything, and the more challenges she has, the better. Her hand raising in Book 1 in Snape's class show how much she relishes the challenge he presents.

5. The movie reference: Hermione tells Ron she's going with someone else, and directly goes to Snape to hand him her paper, and walks out again. Snape's smirk after that seems rather -satisfied-. Again, the fact that the person she's talking about is someone who's features that are described as being prominent are the same as Snape's (aside from Krum's duck-walk) enhance this.

Again, though, this is all subtext and doesn't mean anything other than being something interesting to speculate about. I am under no delusions about anything. In fact, I think many of them were subconscious. Which to me, makes them more powerful, if less valid.

1. After Snape is the one to escort him into Hogwarts, Harry thinks the following:

"Whatever Dumbledore said, Harry had had time to think over the summer, and had concluded that Snape's snide remarks to Sirius about remaining safely hidden while the rest of the Order of the Phoenix were off fighting Voldemort had probably been a powerful factor in Sirius rushing off to the Ministry the night that he had died. Harry clung to this notition, because it enabled him to blame Snape, which felt satisfying, and also because he knew that if anyone was not sorry that Sirius was dead, it was the man now striding next to him in the darkness." (161)

It felt satisfying? Well, yes, I suppose it might, since of course the main reason Sirius rushed off to the Ministry was because he was worried about you and knew you had gone because of him.

Then, a couple of things during Dumbledore's speech:

2. About the hand, Hermione says:

"But there are some injuires you can't cure... old curses...and there are poisons without antidotes." (166)

Now, if I were Voldemort, and I had cursed one of my Horcruxes to cause a permanent injury that couldn't be cured, you can be sure that I'd use one of those 'poisons without antidotes' for another. Especially if I had a Potions Master working for me.

Which would mean that it's even more likely than I thought that the potion in the cave may have eventually killed Dumbledore, and that Snape would have known what the potion was when he saw Dumbledore's state.

3. Then, Harry, after learning that Snape finally has the Defence Against the Dark Arts job, says:

"Well there's one good thing," he said savagely. "Snape'll be gone by the end of the year."

"What do you mean?" asked Ron.

"That job's jinxed. No one's lasted more than a year....Quirrell actually died doing it.... Personally, I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for another death..." (167)

!!

Well, Harry, your wish was granted. Just not, I suppose, the person you wanted to experience that other "death".

---------

These three things make me suspect that Harry was far more complicit in Dumbledore's death than he'd like, and I think dealing with his own responsibility is going to be a major theme in the next book. I also think it will have something to do with Snape, since Snape is always, always, always his scapegoat.

This seems to reinforce the theory I had that led me to write The Secret Papers of Regulus Black. The Harry in my story is darker than the one in the books so far, but it's because of what has happened to him up to that point.

Page numbers are from the American hard cover edition.

Well, I must apologize, it seems, as I have not posted any of my story here in a long time. I sort of forgot this journal existed.

I don't know if I will post it here or not. I've been editing it, and learning that it's really quite awful in parts, which I suppose is expected for NaNoWriMo, but I'm not sure I want anyone aside from the four people I've already sent it to to see it. Also, it took a turn and most of it is very adult. I'm not sure I'm up to coming up with non-adult versions of more than half the chapters.

Especially when the thing ended up just shy of 117,000 (and yes, I did finish before the end of November -- just before: 11:30 p.m. November 30).

That said, I *am* editing it, and I do plan to post it to a couple of archives. I will give more details when I'm done. It's slow going, but I've found I really enjoy the editing process.

I hope everyone else who participated had an equally productive NaNoWriMo. Now that the madness is over, I've been doing several different writing projects.

Until later,
Vorona

I feel like I have a hangover...but I don't. I just have spent too much time looking at screens and not enough time getting sleep, so I'm kind of groggy and my head hurts. I'm also really hungry right now.

Last night, I watched Love Actually, which I hated. Good lord, there was no real conflict... some minor conflict, yes, but nothing of any substance, so most of the time, I sat there wondering why the people wouldn't just do the obvious. I was bored out of my mind. And the plot with the husband/wife/new girl never got resolved, as far as I could tell. *sigh* I don't even remember any of the characters' names. Total fluff.

This is all an attempt to get caught up on Alan Rickman movies, after seeing Die Hard (which I also did not like, although I enjoyed the Hans Gruber parts (or I liked it, but I did not like any of the ...(forgot his name) parts), which is how I ended up thinking that I should watch more).

I do want to see Truly, Madly, Deeply, because I saw that it features a cello, and it may be worth it just for that. Who knows?

I also watched Convicted, which I found to be much better, though I watched it second, from 12 - 2 in the morning, so it's possible I'm not remembering well. The ending was a little disappointing... Yes, I'll admit it, I like torturing fictional characters way too much for my own good. I also wish it had been reversed, with the woman saving the man, but, well, we all know how I feel about that. In any case, it may give me some inspiration.

On the writing front...not so great. I wrote randomly at work, during some of the free time I had, but I'm somewhat stuck in Chapter 7. And the evil chapter 8 is looming... I say "evil chapter 8" because for some reason, no matter how many words I have per chapter, I always get stuck at chapter 8. Except for last year. I don't know what it is about chapter 8, but that's always where I get stuck. Anyway, chapter 6 was amazing... at least I really like it. Reading it over again is always fun. Alas, not excerpt-able. But after that, it's hard to get back to the nitty gritty reality of Hogwarts.

I did discover some problems with my plot, but also some solutions, so that's good at least. And the outlining seems to be helpful, since I'm not having the "I feel like I already wrote this" problem. Still, part of the problem with chapter 7 is that I feel somewhat constrained by it.

Anyway, so here I am writing about writing and not getting anything actually done.

I'm at 19,520... some of my Coffeehouse friends are shooting for 25,000 today, but I don't think I'm going to do that. I'm going to stick to my original 1,000 words-a-day goal, and get to 20,520. I have Friday off, too, so I should be able to go crazy over the week-end again :)

*cheers mad writing*

(Last year, my motto was "Don't write badly, write madly".)

Well, last night, I was at 7,000 words, or so. I added a few more, and decided to make 10,000 my goal for today. I got up, wrote a bit, let the words just flow, and without realizing it, I had made it past 11,000!

Now, since night is my best writing time, I decided to add another 3,000+ words and get to 15,000.

I'll admit, I had a bit of a difficulty, but...

I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My official total, according to the NaNoWriMo validator is: 15,198 words. Don't try to make the chapters match, since I'm using the RoughDraft word counter for that (and it's a little high).

I haven't posted all the chapters publicly yet. They're all private until I can figure out which parts are adult and which aren't. I know chapter 5 does have adult content, but it wouldn't make any sense to post that before chapters 2-4!

So, soon, you'll be able to see them, though they will show up as being *earlier* than this post.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with my progress, as you can probably imagine :)

*does the dance of joy*

Well, since I do actually want some sort of comment on the writing, I've added everyone who's added me back to the NaNoWriMo filter. I figure, if you don't want to read it, you can always just not read the posts or ask to be taken off.

I should warn: this is a rather vain and egotistical post.

I happened to be up at Sycophant Hex to check things out over there, and I saw that they've changed everything around. One of the new things they added is a ratings system (you can rate a story 1-10). Well, I looked at the story I have there (The Secret Papers of Regulus Black) and was delighted to see that the rating is 9.1.

*happy dance*

It also happens to be the first fan fiction story I've ever written, which makes me doubly happy, especially since the second (and only other posted story of mine thus far) was for a Mugglenet contest, and it got second place in the contest.

I should note, however, that I have a lot of amateur (never published) experience with original fiction. Still, I'm pretty happy.

As I said in the first official entry, this is a dystopia, so there are some adult themes inherrent in it. I do not expect there to be a lot of blood or gore in this, but expect some despair, depression, and a very grey, unhappy atmosphere.

Secondly, there may be a sexual aspect to the story. Therefore, I will be setting up an "Adult" filter. If there is any sexual activity, it would involve the following:

1. Snape/Hermione: if even the consideration of this pairing (even with Hermione well into her 20s) disgusts you, you probably don't want to be in the "Adult" filter. Please do not ask to be added to it.

2. Part of the moral quandary is that Snape will be Hermione's slave (legally). Any sexual activity between the two will therefore likely involve that aspect of their relationship. If you are uncomfortable with this, do not ask to be added.

3. I do not expect to actually show any actual sexual intercourse in the story, because, to be honest, I'm terrible at writing it and also do not enjoy writing it. If the reason

**NEW! ADDED NOVEMBER 3, 2006
Thirdly, because one of the themes in this book is punishment and control issues, there is going to be (and already is) some torture. So far, it, like the sexual aspects, is not just bloody violence. As I said, I don't expect there to be much bloody violence. This is a grey story, not a red one. The torture is more psychological, and though there is some physical torture, it isn't bloody. Personally, I think it's worse than just describing being beaten, because there's this control aspect. And there is one very, very squicky part. Do not read if your stomach isn't strong.

***

Other things to keep in mind:

1. By asking to be added, you certify that you are of legal age to do so.

2. I will have summary posts in place so those not in the filter can know what has happened without having to be added and see things they would rather not.

3. Again, I do not know for sure if the story will go in that direction, but I wanted to make things easy for me in case they did, so that I wasn't sitting there wondering: shoot! Now what do I do?

So, armed with that new knowledge, please comment on this entry to indicate if you'd like to be in the Adult filter. (If you do not comment here, I will assume you do NOT want to be in the Adult filter, so you do not need to comment if that's the case. Only if you *want* to be added).

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NEW: ADDED NOVEMBER 3, 2006
Finally, if you want to be added for *some* of the entries, but not all (that is, if you want the torture but not the sexual stuff or vice versa), let me know that as well, and I will make arrangements.

~Vorona

I think I'm going to be defriending and refriending people, because I think I need to have more of an idea about age and also because I think I ought to write out exactly what I think the story is going to include so people can be more aware:

1. This is fan fiction in the Harry Potter universe (I feel odd calling it "Harry Potter fan fiction" since Harry will not be in the story at all).

2. This is going to be dystopia. I cannot guarantee that it will be, in any way, a happy story. There are two possible endings in my head: one happy and one not, and I do not know for sure which way the story will go.

3. This is also going to involve hard moral choices, and people may not make the right ones. Those who want Hermione, in particular, to stay innocent (in the sense of always knowing what is right and wrong, and never doing anything against her beliefs) will probably not like this story.

4. Harry is dead before the story starts. He died in the war with Voldemort. Also, Ron and Hermione are not friends, let alone involved romantically.

Please do not ask to be friended if any of these things will upset you.

If you are concerned about/interested in adult content, please see the next entry.

~Vorona