reenka

the art submitted for the armchair valentine's day challenge makes me kind of glad i didn't try to (well, i guess i still could send in what i have, but...), since... there are gods among us. also, some mere mortals. i am definitely one of the latter. the ones that kill me are by the people whose art -always- kills me, so i guess it's not that weird, huh. (meaning, basically, alice, who is pretty much godlike, i agree (i mean, this might be my favorite h/d picture EVEReverevereverever, and that's saying a lot), and ndi of course, mawaridi, ali & ryo0ki).
but when i said "favorite" that didn't mean "most fuzzy/happy/delightful" because i think my delight kind of flitters and lands on whatever catches my fancy.

nefeleo's h/d valentine presently has my fancy. hee. am so fickle ><;;
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penelope_z said something in a comment in olympia's journal that i had in the back of my mind but not articulated before quite clearly enough.
    I have to say I enjoy reading an everyday scene, something usual and mundane in an emotional and intense way, and reading about BIG events, like death in an understated and colder way. The combination of big situations and big feelings annoys me, the lack of restraint.

the reason i adore stories is as much because of the things they leave unsaid as the things they say, and i think it all depends on the careful application of knowledge, scattered in certain grooves and corners. so that reading feels like a process of discovery, of uncovering, and the world is filled with wonder, with new possibility. both the modes she mentioned involve the use of the reader's imagination, which is what i think the secret is, if there was a secret.

i mean, certainly not giving enough detail makes the made-up world seem flat and dull, whereas too much detail and exposition clutters it and separates you from what you're reading about. this is, i think, something often mentioned in writing classes and so on. like, i think in almost any character-building how-to book you'd have, "and don't catalogue a characters physical appearance to the point where the reader -knows- that it's say, `george benson' and not -them-, and all hope of identification is lost".
    that's probably part of the problem with mary sues.
    but yes. it's just, this explains why i have such affection for the kinds of stories where you have both sensualism and restraint. in that way it approaches poetry, where you have economy and balance of form and function.

also: it is painful, to me anyway, to read "deep angst" when it's not my otp, unless it's really, really brilliant. simply because i think it kind of demands you -care-. and i suppose if you care about a character, you'd care no matter who they were with, but that's not quite true. it's strange, i guess, that while in one pairing i would obsess over say, harry's fate, but in another, he could die and i would be like... next?
    so, reason number 329873 i don't like deathfic: it feels rather disconcerting realizing you just don't care. this would probably have to do with the quality of the writing (as usual) and i shouldn't blame the type of fic. but some things don't require as much skill as others. ok, so what are those things... er. well, i don't know. sandwiches. anyone could write about sandwiches. there you go. also, balloons, gorillas and evil teddybears. anyone can write about severus snape holding a teddybear and wishing to kill. or not.

i think an interesting parallel to people who have "issues" clinging to a certain image of their own private fanon are people who don't like fanfiction in the first place, and "sullying of canon". i wonder if most people who read/write fanfic in the first place are more naturally challenging and interactive with the things they read. like, there's a desire to ask "what if" and to play with possibilities and to wish that something for something other than what happened. a certain openness and flexibility that makes you likely to seek out alternatives. i mean, people say, "but i needed something to do till the next book came out".... and okay. i myself have never felt that-- i just wait for years and years for the next book, if i have to. i may not be as excited and run to get it when it comes out, but it just wouldn't be the same if it wasn't-- well, the same.
    and again, i'm wondering if my wibbling should really be blamed on the writing quality. if it's really good it's hard to pretend i don't like it. if it's -really bad- i'm just pretending if i say it was satisfying to read it, otp or not. i've read snape/harry without balking before. (hell, i've read ron/draco without balking before, eheheh). maybe i'm just annoyed when someone makes into a sort of snarky rivalry, except it's icky because this is his professor and standing up to him is one thing, flirting with him is quite another. or maybe i'm just cranky ><
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intellislasher or not, i care not,

serious_black now has her fics archived and i was so happy i think i could've shed a tear. `6 ways of unpinning a butterfly' is now archived. as well as several of slytherlynx's fics. the world is a better place.

and btw, amalin wrote beautiful percy/draco (yep, percy/draco). i am simultaneously tingly and disturbed. then again, this is the girl who turned me onto tom/hagrid, so basically i'll read anything she writes ^^