lls_mutant

Just a short entry today, partly because today's author hasn't written much, and partly because I need to get back to work.

Today's favorite author is Alshain, from Fiction Alley.

Okay. So Alshain's really only got two pieces. I don't care. I'm putting her on spotlight because she's the one who won me over to reading HP fanfic.

The first piece of HP fanfic I ever read was The Never-Ending Diary of Remus Lupin, Aged 34 1.2. This is a wonderful account of Prisoner of Azkaban as told to Remus's diary.

What I love about this fic is it's not just "oh, Remus misses Sirius, etc. etc. etc." It's Remus coping with his feelings for Sirius, yes, but it's also Remus dealing with teaching, trying to learn the ropes of Hogwarts from the other side, and his interactions with his fellow professors- many of whom were his former professors. He's funny and likeable with a tired, dry wit and rather smoothly poetic, but he's also enchanting in his doubts and fears and mistakes and self-recriminations- many of which have nothing to do with Sirius.

This is a fic that all Remus-lovers should read. The slash is vague and in memory only, so it's a good starter-slash fic. The development of Remus is lovable and darling. The fact his entire life does not revolve around Sirius or Harry makes him even more believable.

The only thing I don't really like about this fic is Harry in a slash relationship. I just can't get my mind to slash Harry. But it's such a minor thing that it really isn't worth getting worked up over.

The only other Alshain fic I've found is Waiting for the Visitor, a Sirius/Severus fic. Now, normally I can't stand Sirius/Severus, because I DON'T believe there's a fine line between love and hate. I think I like this one because it's a short drabble where Sirius fantasizes about Snape (and there is acknowledgement of his relations with Remus, heh), and it's not long enough to destroy the mood it creates. This is just a short little ficlet, but it's powerful and an excellent look into Sirius's mind.

And if you REALLY want to depress yourself, make your mind think these two belong in the same universe.

Hey, don't say I didn't warn you about depression.

Another question though. (Obviously not related.) What do you do as a reviewer when you read a fic that truly offends you?

I was reading a fic today on Fiction Alley. I don't like to say which one specifically, because

a.) that's not nice and

b.) this is hardly the first author to do what she did.

It was a rape fic, but it was just drastically over the top and the characterization was so far off I read it because I couldn't look away. Do you leave a constructive, thoughtful review saying why you didn't like it? Or do you just ignore it?

On the one hand, I got a review the other day about AIL 5 from a woman who said I was WAY off in my characterization of Turkey. I appreciate her comments and plan to revise part 5 a bit as per her suggestion, because I never meant to offend. I also got a comment today that I obviously know nothing about snooker. I freely admit that my knowledge of snooker extends to a quick peek at a webpage, because from the books I've read snooker seems more popular in Britian than pool. These comments don't bother me so much in that people made them, but that they're RIGHT. They're constructive- I don't feel like either reviewer was flaming me- and hopefully that will show in my writing.

On the other hand, a lot of people don't appreciate unsolicited negative feedback, and this author had a "flames will be ignored" comment. Not that I would flame her. But I know it can be hard in the heat of the moment to distinguish between flame and concrit, especially if an author doesn't agree with your characterizations and a lot of your plot.

So if you see a fic that really bugs you, what do you do?