~~inanity & hypocrisy & i should be reading luw

i'm starting to be bothered by this whole "issue" within the fandom itself (and by this i mean people who write/read hp fanfic), with underage sex. it seems hypocritical. i mean, once you get into slash/yaoi, you're going to have to go out of your way to completely avoid underage sex-- you're going to have to stick with those gun-toting drama shows.

so why do people keep bringing it up? "oh hp is all about underage sex and incest" *laughs* yeah. so? so are 80% of the other fandoms. clark isn't of age either, and no one's going on about -that-. and these characters are most often slashed with people exactly of age with them, too. it's not just snape/harry people have a problem with. it's almost like-- there are some things that are "ok" and some things that aren't, but considering we read lucius/draco and fred/george without even burping, i don't see what's so scandalous about them all being 16. it's like we need that last remaining bit of propriety to seem like we're really not perverts, we're just "enlightened in the ways of boy-on-boy lurve, which is natural and beautiful", blah blah. it's like-- are we (slash fans, hp fans, whatever) all so old, now, that we get to speak of people several years younger as "underage" and "icky" in relation to sex? what the hell?
     *sigh* doesn't really matter. just kinda silly though.

~~harry is who he is, and draco isn't: a list.

i know what i've said before that what i look for in fic is good writing & decent characterization & surprising twists & all that. but... the more i think about it... the more i long for really really canon harry & draco. i mean, i've been thinking about people's disillusionment with h/d stories, and how people are taking shortcuts & not really proving that these two characters, just the way they are, with no apologies or fumbling with facts, can be together. there's just something delicious about a fic that proves harry and draco, not like an equation, but more like a... philosophical argument, a thesis maybe. a lot-- a lot of my favorite fics don't do this. the only ones i can think of off the top of my head are `the losing side', `irresistible poison', `underwater light', and, from all indications, the Draco Trilogy. they succeed to varying degrees, and indeed there are ficlets that do a good (if incomplete) job too, at pairing canon!harry&draco (like, i think aja's `commencement' is kinda canon-- or at least realistic, but i could be wrong, and recently, weatherby's `red', and i even find maya's `chains' canonical [sort of], so what do -i- know, obviously).
    EDIT: and i'd completely forgotten silviakundera (*sob*), who blows me away with her sexay canon!harry&draco stories.

there are some rules i think i can see-- like, harry doesn't have a crush on draco to start with (i see a very good level of subtle, believable yet not-quite-canonical draco-interest in harry in slightlights' `mirrors'). like, their enmity hasn't waned or built significantly over whatever the span of time since 4th year. like, draco isn't sexually obsessed with harry (though otherwise obsessed is ok), from the get go. some growing up is "ok", but no drastic "maturing" should occur, since that's just another short-cut. i don't think you need to thrust girlfriends at them to make it more "realistic", but on the other hand, there's no reason to shy away from them being interested in girls, although harry is the obsessive sort and if there was anyone other than cho, it was probably yet another quiet, desperate crush, unless he's had adventures with this new girl. draco, i don't see having normal human relationships very easily, so if he does have "experience", he still probably doesn't have a "normal" (not just for appearances) girlfriend. he doesn't seem gregarious and casual enough to sleep around (and probably too careful/stuck in a certain self-image to act on any homosexual tendencies he might have, though this is just a personal belief).

so anyway, for my own amusement, i made a list of the sort of behaviors/characteristics i want my harry & draco to have, in a fic that brings them together and proves their rightness once and for all. mind you, other fics are great, it's just -this- would be actually bringing them together, not them, twisted into something easier to use & mold into a relationship with the other. i prefer a gradual transformation, if it were to occur, into an extra-canonical self. and the question of how much can/does love transform us would have to then be faced.

so, without further ado: ( `What I have learned from good H/D fanfic, or, characterization~ the Holy Grail' )

~~
in other news, pale green is probably the most canon harry/snape story i've seen-- not that i've seen/read many (and it -would- be flambeau, wouldn't it, heh). i mean really, it's creepy, because i can totally see it, and that is not something i'd ever thought i'd say about harry/snape, trust me. oh well, never say never, all that.

...luw12...pow! and she's out for the count

i feel like...
i'd been walking through a nice, calm, beautiful may day, smelling the roses and the honeysuckle and giggling and feeling the sun on my face--
and then-- boom!-- there's a gunshot.
and i see these-- images-- and my heart falls to the floor-- and every muscle tenses-- and i just want to run, and it's like, everything falls together even as it falls apart, and the air is thrumming with power, and everything is just--singing-- and-- it's like watching a really intense thriller, there's something that reminds one of `beauty and the beast' mixed with `run lola run' mixed with `mad love'...

*closes eyes*
i feel like i've accomplished something, stupid as that sounds.
it's that happy, energized, powerful feeling when you really feel the world come -alive- and the characters -breathe- and they're -with- you and you're -there- and it's -real-, and that's one of the most amazing feelings -ever-.

*bounces* harry and draco are reeeeeeeal! i'm not fit to review yet, but i had to commemorate. i was really touched and twisted and deeply moved by ip14, but this just picked me up and threw me, daring me, just-- it just pushed inside me. *looks well-snogged by fic*

that's the best feeling. that's what i read for. that sensation of my skin being -their- skin and there not even remaining much of me that's -me- and it's all subsumed into this -creation- that is so powerful it can become someone.
    the Great Hall scene. is-- already-- classic h/d angst, in my mind. right up there with rhysenn's Slytherin Dungeon #1 (which totally took over my head when i first read it). *sighs* pow!

yah. that's what i want. punchy. real. words with teeth, and guts, and blood, and raw emotion bursting. something to bite into. something to taste. something to grab hold of, and clutch to your heart. something to make you want to write, because h&d are suddenly so real in your head you could just -scream-. something to make you want to bare your teeth and hiss, heart pounding, adrenaline on the rise. well, y'all get the idea.

heh, not that i need to rec it or anything, like i said, this is just for my own benefit :)
~~
um. this post on armchair slash is the perfect complement to the chapter, i'm telling you *cackles* ah, the armchair. what a giggle machine.
"harry!"
"draco!"
"harry!"
*dies* indeed. *looks wise*

~~new york-- movie-- slashy-- premier-- begging

so, once again, i made a community. it is beautiful, because i spent 15 minutes and i made an icon, so um. it's hp_newyork and, semi-obviously, it's for harry potter fans in the new york area to arrange to meet for the `chamber of secrets' premier.

because. because-- there are the new england people and the orlando people, and i know you people live nearabout here, so like, yeah. i don't waaaaaant to just see it alone, in the crummy mall theater, having to stifle my squees. *sobs* please? pretty please? with a naked draco on top??!

it would be so nice. but if no one is, i guess i'm off to boston in november, heh. everyone likes an adventure....