~~and happiness is all about the denial thereof ^^

[reenka]

so. `power play'. it occurs to me i should say something-- or maybe i just want to-- since the last chapter is out, and well-- the thing is-- it's one of my all-time favorite hp fanfics. people usually don't mention it among luw and ip and ul and `beloved enemies' and so on and so forth, but.... in my introduction to fandom, i was lucky enough to read mostly smut and humor fics. and considering my huge penchant for both, i suppose it was no surprise that i adored dahlia's fic and its sequel. i would say that `power play' is a better-written fic than `the silver chain', but regardless i adore them both.
    i know, not really any coherent review-type-thing, but i feel sort of sentimental right now, because 14 was a great chapter, one of the best, even. it just builds so slowly and charmingly and never loses its down-to-earth humor, and i can't help but adore that. and the building slowly thing is funny, really, because the smut started right away, but it didn't entirely affect them to the point where they changed drastically and immediately, and i really appreciate that. i really didn't want it to end, though i don't feel -too- sad, since there's a sequel forthcoming.

i suppose the thing about it is, it's just such a pleasure to read. and the more i think about it, the more i think it's valid to have pleasure as a primary response to fiction and art. or, as plato had it, delight. yes, `power play' gave me pure delight. it wasn't soppy or fluffy or angsty-- it wasn't over-the-top comedic and it rung -true- for me, in a continuous sort of way, because it kept up its own characterizations, solidly and dependably.
    my current theory about why people seem to really love my feedback is, i think i use it to express my pleasure, which is often great. sometimes i feel guilty, that i'm too easy on some fics, that i ignore unrealistic scenarios and characterizations in favor of "the pretty"-- ie, pretty language or pretty sex or snark or angst or whatever. doesn't matter, does it? who cares, really. i think pleasure and enjoyment are at the root of my -impulse- to read (or write) in the first place. i am having obscene amounts of fun, and i express it, just because i can't help myself. i find my best writing comes when i'm really in the -flow-, really kicking as hard as i can. this is a definite correlation with pleasure. i want to extoll the virtues of pleasure, and defend writing for pleasure against all the people who want to suck it out, all the people who want a certain -thing-, predetermined and often cerebral, out of every single story.

i can't guarrantee that everyone would love `power play', or even tell you that you -should-. i don't love it because it's so "original" or because it makes some sort of deep statement about harry and draco. and yet i can definitely think of several long works i would stop reading or could just as easily -not- have read, even though they are supposedly more original and "deep" and beautiful, simply because they didn't make me fall in love. i didn't have fun with them. they didn't make me squirm, and wiggle, and really -care-. i mean, it -hurt- when bad things happened, and i laughed when funny things happened, but they weren't a joy to touch and i was perfectly okay with letting them go. and it's weird, because i've never actually -reviewed- either of dahlia's fics. i just giggled and meeped and grinned my way through it, enjoying it quite selfishly, quite content with my own little feast.
    and if i think of fics that have disappointed me halfway through, i think it's the ones which veered away from their heart, from their intimate connection with the characters and thus the reader, fics which became more about form than function (the function, to me, always emotive). i don't want to just feel -happy-, but i want to always -care-, have that tug that keeps me glued. and i admit, i enjoy feeling happy. who doesn't? i even admit that while i also adore fics that hurt me, nothing could ever compare to stuff that makes me happy to be alive.

and i don't mean it's fluff. i mean it's stuff that evokes a sense of childlike wonder, innocence, hope, faith, that makes me laugh and cry and think and fall in love, is multifaceted and rich with layers, which complement each other. but that's just my ideal. it's funny how i would just take pleasure, when it comes down to it, anything to make me grin, whereas i can't stand things that are soppy and sugar-sweet and fake like cotton-candy hearts. most fluff sickens me, really. but i think that's because it's not -real-. in real life, if people are so sugary, their minds are weak and pliant like taffy. er. yes. instead of ...sparkly minty face-gel??! yes -.-
~~

i don't know why, but i'm allergic to hearing about how it's oh-so-shocking that harry potter is attracted to his enemy, draco malfoy. that word, enemy. i hate it. it reminds me of the clichedness of it all-- of course, i also would hate it if instead of enemy it said "best friend" or just "friend". as in, how shocking it is that harry potter is now in love with his best friend, ronald weasley. a part of me wants him to be in love with neville, just so there aren't any stupid cliches. i mean, how do you say, and how shocking it is that harry potter is in love with just some bloke from gryffindor? who'd have thought? amazing.


he loved his enemy. who cares? it's harry & draco, to me, not harry potter and his enemy. the gryffindor and the slytherin. the blond and the brunette. the boy and the other boy. the green-eyed one and the grey-eyed one. the gryffindor Seeker and the slytherin Seeker (oooh, hot-and-heavy seeker romance, just kill me now). it makes me upset, somehow. pissed off, even. i mean, why am i reading about this love affair between pairs of eyes? who the hell cares?

it's all so melodramatic and boring. i mean, symbolism and dramatic possibility and personal chemistry is one thing. falling in love with your beautiful, wrong-as-could-be enemy is something out of a really bad harlequin. this doesn't happen to real people. no one falls in love with their enemy. i mean, they fall in love, enemy or no, just because it's those two people, falling. enemy or not has nothing to do with it whatsoever. reminding the reader of that in a casual mentioning just sort of makes me feel like i'm supposed to want that. oh, how great. his enemy. how romantic.

when i write an original story, this doesn't come up for me at -all-, but i suppose other people would create it if it didn't exist. i mean, i create established relationships sometimes-- these two are friends, these two have issues, these two are sisters. i hate it when it's the same though. it's always the same story. enemies in love. it gets old real fast.

i kind of like the idea of opposition, conflict, anger, teasing. on the other hand, my dislike for labels is intense and quite rabid. so nevermind me. this has probably to do with my equal disdain for people's insistence on repeating how harry potter is the gryffindor golden boy, the boy who lived, the little-hero-that-could, the most shaggable boy at hogwarts (next to malfoy), and so on, and so forth. it's the "the" i object to, the use of titles without mockery. it's so boring as to choke me. this must be why people start writing neville/angelina johnson het smut. simply because no labels and cliches can possibly be involved. sigh.

of course, all this is sort of ridiculous wibbling, because were i to stop reading h/d i'd stop altogether, that much is obvious. het still freaks me out (harry kissing ginny is enough to make me squirm while dobby/sorting hat just makes me giggle). and other stuff just seems bland. it's a strange addiction. in a way, i'm habituated and frustrated, but in a way, i'm not, simply because when it's good, it's still -really good-. maybe even better than before, i don't know. i could never really care about characters this much. this is more like some sort of mental role-playing or something. i'm not sure. although, what do i know, harry kissing cho (especially if she tastes like "chocolate and spiced roasted almonds") just makes me laugh. loudly. okay so it was polyjuiced!draco, so maybe that's different, but still. i think harry kissing hermione would make me laugh even louder.

just..... imagining hermione in a romance novel setting, with gasping sighs and overwhelmed moans and tiny shivers makes me guffaw. also, catching breaths, watering eyes, trembling hands, sweating temples, secret smiles, speeding heartbeats, etcetc and so on and so forth. just how funny is that??? pretty funny.
~~

btw, this is one of the most messed up and insane h/d (smut)fics in existence, honestly. oh, i love it so, ahahahah. i am so, so sick of h&d displaying gentle loving kindness i can't even begin to say. i mean, honestly now, what's up with -that-??! "and draco secretly wanted to be touched gently and told how he was cared for and reassured and held at night. awwwwwwwwwwww". *chokes and sputters*
    honestly, this touches upon yet another(!) pet-peeve. why oh -why- do people write abusive!harry & wilting-maiden!draco? why? why? WHY?
    this has happened way too many times to be a product of a single, extremely disturbed mind. it's virtually -prevalent-. this theme of abuse. now, ok, abuse is okay for a subject (though 95% of the time, people treat it so horribly as to make me physically sickened). but my beef isn't with poor-widdle-abused-boy!draco. no, it's when you have harry hit draco (or, rarely, vice versa), and the other just take it. that, or run away.
    say -what-??

now, if harry had the size/shape/mentality of dudley, or crabbe, that'd be one thing. but he's -harry-. slight? skinny? awkward? hello?
    to have draco be traumatized because harry slaps him is the height of insanity. what happened to slapping someone back? giving as good as you got? getting -angry- instead of -afraid-? i mean, when -hermione- slapped him, he didn't get all mental, did he? and okay, so maybe the opposite-- having them -get off- on hitting and biting and beating each other up isn't the most realistic thing in the universe, nor is it more "healthy", but at least it's boys acting like boys. grr. ergle. eek.
~~

oh, and, as many people have noted, penelope_z is right and that is, in fact, priceless >:D<
although, honestly, i wouldn't even know where to -begin- to apologize with my stories.
perhaps,
"I'm sorry, Draco. I never meant to be so free with your first name" would be a start, ahahahah. or, "I'm sorry I made you a brooding, pontificating, existential bastard once. I know you'd rather just shag Harry." *snorts* or, "I'm sorry, Ginny, that whole homicidal rage thing was just uncalled-for. But how -else- were you shagging Harry, hmmm, hmmm? Tell me -that-."

in other news, mistermaki's harry has me -gurgling- (ie, gar. erkle. muphmph. sputtlecluck. eeeeeeeeeeeeee~!!!). is that not the hottest-yet-realistic harry ever?? well, nevermind. i think i'm in that sort of mood right now ><;; and, and, the harry/draco. eeeeeeee!
    and. read vignette00's `a second metamorphosis'-- and well, come to think of it, everything else she ever wrote. guh. i can never get enough of the sweet insanity, eheheh. oh god. way too many 80s sitcoms for moi.

Comments

[dahlia-777.livejournal.com]

Hello Cassie,

I must admit, it never surprises me to hear someone dislikes my fics - they're extremely brash, and I'm under no illusion that this holds mass appeal. But I am sorry that you don't like them, for the very shallow reason that I'm a great admirer of your stories. Ah well.

Your criticisms of Power Play are strongly argued, and after thinking them over, I can understand why you might read the fic that way. I wouldn't describe the Harry and Draco I've written as "hateful" myself, but they are unusually adversarial, considering that they are the main characters in a romance story. But my view is that they wouldn't just forget the years of bitter enmity overnight. They really *hated* each other. For *years*. Also, they're both pretty fucked up (or that is my reading of canon, anyway). PP and its prequel take place over a couple of weeks, which isn't long to adjust to such a big change in their relationship. I see hostility as being something of a habit for them, although it's obvious from early on they have deeper. more caring feelings that they're in denial about. Incidentally, and somewhat ironically, chapter seven and the, ahem, offensive chapter eight, fall exactly in the middle of what will be a three-part story. And it's structured so that first Draco, and then Harry, start to realise they are more than just fuck buddies in that section. From then on, they gradually (though grudgingly) come to terms with each other, and become kinder and more affectionate. But I guess the hints of this came far too late for you - I had already stretched your patience to breaking point!

And now I must address the misogyny issue, about which I was somewhat taken aback, both personally and in terms of my fics. I am not a misogynist - *searches heart for self-hatred, finds none* - and I don't believe my story is misogynistic either. Of course, that is only my opinion, and since you don't know me, it's up to you whether you believe these assertions or not. Perhaps I'd better stick to talking about the fics, huh? When I started The Silver Chain, I worked in all the female characters that I could, and tried to develop the ones JKR had only sketched (which means all of them, except Hermione). And I can assure you, I love all those girls dearly! Sure, most are raucous, sluttish and bitchy. But I, er, rather regard those as positive attributes. And anyway, the girls are no more or less badly behaved than the male characters. (It's that kind of fic). If I had to pick a favourite female character from PP, it would be Lavender - she of the ululating orgasm. I don't remember exactly why I wrote her such an amazing climax in that scene, but it probably had something to do with giving her a good time.

[thegraybook.livejournal.com]

Hey Dahlia,

Thanks for responding. You know, it's really interesting because I was just having a really long think today about criticism, and fic criticism in particular, and the fact that some people just take it so horrendously and personally when you don't like their story. I was thinking it was probably not worth bothering at all, ever, to give an honest opinion.

And then you come and prove me wrong by being insanely mature and cool about this. :P

You know, I was in a truly horrendous mood when I commented here, and I think I was a lot harsher than I needed to be. I think my problem was that I was really *enjoying* Power Play, for the most part. I mean, the sex scenes are killer. Some of the best slash smut I have read, and I use the word "smut" in its best sense. As I said, the writing isn't bad. It's good. I think that's why I got so upset at what I percieved as misogyny when I hit that scene. I couldn't help comparing it to the scene where Hermione walks in on Harry and Draco, and feeling like I was being told that girls are icky, and boys are not. And I do feel there is often an undercurrent of truly weird misogyny in slash fics, so I might have been looking for it. I don't really know; I just know that it made me blindingly angry at Harry, and I hate not liking Harry, or Draco, in a fic where I know I am supposed to.

Anyway, your replies have have definitely reassured me that that wasn't your intention. So I'm going to go back and reread PP, with that in mind, and see how I feel this time.

That said, I wanted to thank you for adopting Dex and showing him a good time. I owe you one for that.

I'm going to add you to my friends list, too, if that is okay with you.

Cassie

[dahlia-777.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't see the point of taking offence over what people think of my fics. I'm always pleased if someone likes them, but I'm not fazed if they don't - I mean, the graphic content is enough to send most people dashing for the exits. Besides. I'm used to receiving candid feedback, which I suspect I attract because of the blunt, no-holds-barred style of my stories. Readers aren't often moved to write me pretty, sugar-coated reviews. (On the other hand, I do learn quite a lot about their, erm, sexual interests and activities).

I have to admit I was rather thrown by the misogyny thing though. I'm aware that misogyny exists on the slash side of the HP fandom, but it never occurred to me that my fics could be read that way. Partly because I've written such a lot of strong, sexually confident female characters, who can more than hold their own against the guys. And also I guess I assumed my fondness for the girls was evident from the indulgent tone in which I write about them.

Anyway, please don't feel obliged to reread PP. I like to entertain people, not make them suffer! Twice!! But I'm glad you don't mind me borrowing Dex. I can assure you that he has a very good time throughout the rest of the fic. And I've lined up someone brand new for him to shag in part three.

Cheers,
Dahlia