#anyways the author here is JK Rowling

[skid-the-mighty-poet]

[onlycosmere]

What is an industry secret that you know?

- Typical_Affect8207 

frostandtheboughs:  All the most famous living artists have workshops full of people who make the art for them.

They spend their time choosing concepts, talking to their gallery reps and schmoozing buyers. The only time they touch the work is to sign it.

iwillfuckingbiteyou: Similarly, there's a very strong chance your favourite author uses ghostwriters. Unless your favourite is George RR Martin, whose publishers probably fucking wish he'd let them bring in ghostwriters so they could finally sell you The Winds of Winter, or JK Rowling, because if a ghostwriter turned in text so riddled with adverbs we'd be replaced with a more competent writer.

Source: Was a ghostwriter. Not a particularly high-level one, but I wrote a couple of minor bestsellers before I packed it in to languish in obscurity under my own name.

Andrew_Squared: /u/Mistborn [Brandon Sanderson] say it isn't so!

Brandon Sanderson: Ha. No, it's isn't the case for me. I don't think it's as common in writing as /u/frostandtheboughs says it is for other kinds of art. Though...I can unfortunately corroborate it does happen in fine art more than people expect. Not any of the fantasy artists I personally know, but some other artists.

I think /u/iwillfuckingbiteyou might be overstating their case. I've never known a person in f&sf to use a ghost writer--even myself, when called in to write on the Wheel of Time, was credited. They didn't need to put my name on the cover, but there was never a question if they would. Maybe it happens in thrillers or the like.

If I write a book with one of my pals, their name is on the book--and often, they do quite a bit of the work. But if my name is the only one on the book, I'm the one who wrote basically every word. (I did hire out the songs in Words of Radiance, as talked about in the front material, to have an actual poet in that seat. And editors do make suggestions that I often take, leaving their touch on the book in the shape of changed words here and there.)

I've never written a book with anyone but one of my pals, really--closest is the Legion story that we did in audio only (death and faxes) which I had very little input in, and insisted it be listed as "Brandon Sanderson's Legion" rather than with myself as an author. But even though they ignored that in some regions, it still has the other author credited as co-author. (It was pitched more as a television type deal, with an attempt at turning it into a serial run by a writer's room. Never took off.)

Anyway, no, this doesn't happen very often among the people I know and have met. Basically never. But different parts of the industry can be very different--nonfiction, for example, is a completely different world. It's full of ghostwriting. And I know in romance, pen names are very, very common, much more so than F&SF.

[jaegeraether]

Sunsets and footballers (Part 48)

Lucy Bronze x Reader (43) & Jordan Nobbs x Leah Williamson Mini (5)

Masterlist (other parts here)

((**Just a little one tonight...I've been busy. Also it's very emotional...Sorry!**))

“Tell me everything.”

Leah downed her second drink in a row. “The awards are going to start.”

“Not for another twenty minutes…”

The England Captain sighed and put her head in her hands for a minute or so, YFN leaving her to her thoughts until she was ready. She came back up with decisiveness, looking at YFN.

“The first I heard of Mark was when I was promoting my book last year. I was promoting it around social media and all that, and one of the things I did was a sort of sit down talk with JK Rowling about it. She’s a children’s author, my book is for children, it just made sense to everyone, including my publishing agency. Anyways, Joe’s team were confident that it would be a massive boost for her after the previous comments she’d made. They planned it so that doing this little interview with me would make people start to like her again and boost her reputations back up and… well Mark didn’t like that. He approached me without my team around and told me to make sure the interview never came out. I talked to my team and Joe’s team and they didn’t seem surprised he’d done that. My team told him no. The next thing I know, he approached me with a video of…” Leah closed her eyes and shook her head as if to rid herself of the memories.

“Leah you didn’t…” YFN stopped herself.

“No! No, I didn’t cheat on Jordan. The video was of Jordan and I, but you couldn’t tell it was her. You could definitely tell it was me.”

YFN heart sunk and she reached out to touch Leah’s arm reassuringly. “How.. how bad was it?”

YFN could see the tears forming in her eyes. She pulled her head back almost looking at the ceiling as she tried to keep them at bay and dabbed her eyes. “I’m sorry, this is relief more than anything. You’re the first person I’ve told.” She met YFN’s eyes again with a small smile that wasn’t fooling anyone. “It was bad. You can see most of me naked and the back of Jordan’s head between my legs, though it just looks like it could have been anyone. The problem was me obviously coming on camera. We were near a window in a high-rise so the only thing I can think of is drone footage… I didn’t see it…”

She was the first person she’d told. Leah had kept it all to herself. She squeezed her arm.

“It’s not illegal to video someone inside their home, but it’s a strong case for being unethical..”

“Yeah, my lawyers eventually worked that one out. But I didn’t want to drag Jordan down in my mess. I thought I was going down, and I..” she looked over at Jordan. “I didn’t want to drag her down with me. She deserves better.” She looked back at YFN. “You would have done the same for Lucy.. I know you would have.”

It all started making sense to her then. Leah’s talk to YFN when she was arguing with Lucy about ‘don’t fall into the trap of pretending it’s for the best when it’s not. I’ve made that mistake and can’t watch you do the same..’

Leah broke up with Jordan because of this. Because of Mark. Her eyes searched for him in the crowd as she spoke.

“So you broke up with Jordan because you were worried he would make it public and ruin your career and Jordan’s by association. It’s taken your lawyers a little over a year to win the rights to the video, so you’re trying to win Jordan back, and now he’s threatening to leak it out of spite?” Her words were said between gritted teeth.

Her eyes scanned over Lucy, only pausing long enough to see her look of curiosity and worry at the expression on YFN’s face which she guessed was fierce.

“That sums it up pretty well actu-“

Leah cut herself off when YFN stood and left, walking towards the man she’d finally spotted in the crowd. She didn’t care where she was.

“You!” She said, standing in front of him. “You like threatening people and ruining relationships, do you? What exactly do you want?”

Mark looked a little embarrassed and waved the people he was talking to away. “Leave us, I’ll find you.” He turned to YFN. “You want to do this here and now?”

“You fucking started it.”

A hand grabbed hold of her arm and she didn’t have to look to know it was Lucy.

“YFN, don’t. It’s not worth it.” Leah pleaded from YFN’s other side, her hand also finding her arm as she murmured the next bit quietly. “Let the lawyers handle it.”

“I want to know,” she said, fists balled up. “What do you want?”

He looked around as if to make sure they weren’t making a scene before he bent down. “You know what I want. Joe-“

“Joe has nothing to do with us, and even if she did, we don’t represent whatever she did to hurt you. So leave us alone.”

Mark laughed. Actually laughed. “As if you don’t have enemies as well, YFN?”

“That’s enough,” Lucy growled over her shoulder.

“No,” he replied harshly with a glare at Lucy before his attention turned back to YFN. “This world is built on enemies. Take a think about those photos of you and your girlfriend at the airport, hm? I don’t live in Barcelona. None of the people who work for me do. So take a moment to rethink… do you have any enemies? Particularly ones in.. oh I don’t know… Barcelona?”

Her stomach dropped lower. The photos hadn’t been the best quality, and she’d wondered if they were taken from a phone. Of course they would have.

“K…Kristie?”

“Not so innocent, are you?”

Lucy took a step forward when they were interrupted.

“Lucy! Leah! It’s good to see you again!”

They turned and paled as William and Catherine approached. They looked stunning, William in a tux and Catherine in a dress.

The five of them composed themselves quickly enough that the tension went unnoticed.

Lucy greeted the pair first and then stepped back, placing a reassuring hand on YFN’s lower back. She was the only person who knew that Catherine was her ‘Joe’. Leah greeted them next with a textbook smile, teeth showing, followed by Jordan. Mark had managed to sneak away, but not before flashing YFN another look as if he’d won. She pretended not to see. After the pair greeted the three lionesses, William’s attention turned to her.

“YFN, right?” She curtsied slowly to get her thoughts together. How did he know who she was? Luckily he continued as he shook her hand with a smile. “You’re the manager of Lumos, the new company for women’s sports, yes?”

YFN nodded. “That’s me. Lovely to meet you.”

“Fantastic work. Absolutely fantastic. I’m into football myself, if you can’t tell,” he joked, gesturing to the three lionesses beside her. He stepped just far enough to the side for Catherine to give her a similar greeting. Gosh, she was good at pretending they didn’t know each other. YNF shook her hand also.

“William is a sports fan but even more so a football fanatic,” she explained as if she didn’t know. The eye roll really sold it.

YFN had done her research and knew that William was the President of the Football Association, amongst his other titles.

“Catherine spotted some football stars, knowing I couldn’t resist coming over and saying hello,” he grinned. Ah, that made sense. This was Catherine’s way of intervening. She must have seen. “Anything to get out whatever we were previously talking about.” He was cheeky, which was refreshing. “Have you heard of Lumos?”

Catherine nodded. “Yes, they seem like a wonderful new start up,” she turned to YFN. “Is it just for women’s football or will it be for other things?”

“Starting off with women’s football. Aiming to have full coverage over all leagues and internationals by the middle of next year. Following that we’ll expand to other female sports which are lacking attention like cricket and tennis, and from there we’ll see. As of right now its main purpose is to bridge that deficit of coverage of women’s sports.”

“That’s excellent,” William said. “And much needed. Women’s sports have a lot of supporters and it would give young girls better access to sportswomen to idolise growing up. I remember you all saying how difficult it was growing up without that..”

The lionesses nodded, and Leah stepped in as Captain, supporting her and mentioning how Lumos was already becoming very popular with the players around England.

They spoke for a little longer, the conversation made easy by William. He was great at talking in general and holding interest. They had to leave after five full minutes of conversation, apologising as they were expected to meet some more people before the awards started. YFN was fine with that, she had too much on her mind to be entertaining a conversation when she felt like she needed to be sick.

“Fucking Kristie,” Lucy growled when they’d left.

YFN didn’t say anything, the feeling of dread sitting there.

“What are you going to do?” Jordan asked softly.

“She violated her restraining order. I’m going to get airport footage of her there.”

YFN was almost zoned out, barely hearing as she tried to find Mark again. Kristie hovering around them left her nervous and scared, but she couldn’t get over the feeling that came with knowing what he’d done to Leah and Jordan without caring. Her eyes wandered but couldn’t find him and regardless, the trio wouldn’t have let her confront him again anyways.

“It’s not worth it,” Lucy said again. YFN looked at her harder than she ever had so she knew she was serious.

“Yes, it is.”

Her message got across and Lucy looked to Leah who was biting her lip. Jordan saw Leah hesitating and shook her head. She was done. She walked off. Lucy went to follow but YFN stopped her and her hand found Lucy’s, entwining their fingers. Lucy softened.

YFN turned to Leah. “We have ten minutes until we need to be seated, Leah.”

“I don’t deserve her,” she whispered. “I can’t drag her into this mess..”

“Leah…a mistake repeated more than once is a decision. Don’t make her decision for her again. Give her a choice, and give her the truth.”

Leah’s lips parted and her face fell as the words hit her hard. She nodded and walked over to Jordan. Lucy and YFN found a comfortable spot of their own and YFN told Lucy at the exact same time that Leah told Jordan. Lucy’s face fell and her head whipped around to find Mark, but was stopped by YFN catching her cheek with the palm of her hand.

“No, Luce. Not tonight.”

She planted a soft kiss to her cheek as Lucy calmed herself, turning to watch Leah tell Jordan. They’d never seen Jordan’s face drop so fast. She was distraught. Leah hadn’t left her because of her. Leah had left her to protect her. Jordan’s lips trembled and for the first time in a long time, she let Leah hold her, and stroke her back as she cried. Finally. Catharsis.

They’d all managed to tidy themselves up before the awards and they sat together in pairs, YFN noticing Leah’s hand was made open and available to Jordan which she eventually took. Their fingers laced together like Lucy’s and YFN’s while they listened to speeches and only then did she let herself relax and enjoy the fact that Lucy was here. She couldn’t help the looks of adoration.

“Your boxing class,” she murmured during a break.

“Pushed it to tomorrow,” Lucy smirked. “Figured some cardio on the day before El Clasico would be a good idea.”

YFN hummed her approval and gripped her bicep with her spare arm. “You came.”

“Of course I did, little one,” they shared a look, not really caring that they were in public. “Besides…I’m glad I did with this drama.”

“I’m glad you did too,” she sighed, her eyes finding Jordan and Leah again. “I really needed you tonight.”

She needed her every night, but she wasn’t about to admit that.

The awards were a nice distraction and they caught up with a few of the other lionesses: Alex Scott, Chloe Kelly, Mary Earps, Jill Scott and a few celebrities outside of football Leah introduced them to. After the drama of Mark, they’d all fallen into the enjoyment of the night and each other’s company. Most people left the venue quickly, however the four stayed and enjoyed the soft music and relaxed atmosphere as opposed to the chaos of the after party. YFN found herself slow dancing in Lucy’s arms, joined by several other couples who preferred that to a night club scene. They whispered sweet nothings to each other as they swayed, giving Leah and Jordan time to speak quietly at a table alone. Only when the conversation appeared to be ending, did they stop and join them.

They stopped for takeout on the way home, looking incredibly overdressed as they did so which amused them all. They sat and ate at the takeout place which was far too dirty for their clothes, but again, they were enjoying themselves and the company of each other. Somehow with all of her condiments, Lucy had managed to not drop any onto her outfit, and the trio let her know just how impressed they were. The table she’d been leaning over though…that needed a bucket and a mop. Her excuse was that she hadn’t eaten since lunch, though they knew her better than that.

They arrived back at Lucy’s house late, undressing, showering and getting into comfy clothes.

“I want to see it,” Jordan said.

Leah didn’t bother arguing. She knew she’d been wrong to keep it from her. She looked at YFN and Lucy who were already giving them space. It was none of their business.

Jordan watched the video with fear. It didn’t go for long, and it was exactly as Leah had described. They were in a high rise apartment they’d booked for a romantic night together in London. Leah was naked and propped up on pillows on the couch, and Jordan’s mouth was on her. It was impossible to tell it was Jordan as the couch arm cut off all of her body besides the head as it moved, her hands gripping Leah’s hips as she ate her. Leah was a mess at this point. Her hair was out and she was desperately chasing the high that Jordan was pushing her towards. She was a sweaty, moaning mess, unable to keep still, her hands finding Jordan wherever she could. The end of the video was Leah orgasming, her back arching and a whimper torn from her throat, her nipples excited and pointing to the ceiling. It was confronting to watch, even without sound.

They didn’t speak when it was done. Jordan handed her phone back wordlessly and Leah picked up her bag. Jordan walked her to the door. There hadn’t been any discussion on Leah not staying, it was just something they both knew was right.

“I love you,” Leah said from the doorstep, her bag slung over her shoulder. “I made a decision without involving you. I thought I was protecting you, but I took your choice away. I never stopped and will never stop loving you. I can’t change the past, but I can tell you here and now that I’ll give you everything, all of me, and I’ll never make a decision without you again. I’ve lost a year with you, and I can’t stand to lose another second. If you take me back and realise you can’t trust me….then I’ll bear that burden of pain and I need you to know that I’d never beg you to stay just for my feelings. I’d hold the door open and offer you everything I had, because you deserve everything, Jord. Just…think on it.”

Leah leant down slowly and kissed Jordan on the cheek one long, lingering kiss. Jordan’s head turned into her and their foreheads met, lips hovering over each others. Leah cupped her cheek and wiped away the tears that her words had drawn from Jordan. She was tempted to kiss her, but she was not going to make another mistake. It was Jordan’s choice from here on.

“You’re my person. I love you, Jord.”

And with that, Leah was gone, Jordan watching as she did. She watched her open her car door and toss her bag in. She watched her sit in her seat and put her seatbelt on. She watched her lips tremble as she exhaled her emotions, gripping the steering wheel. Her red eyes found Jordan on the doorstep with her arms wrapped around her body to shield herself from the cold. That should be her keeping her warm. She started the car as her own tears fell. Jordan watched until she could no longer see her car, her heart aching for those happy years with Leah again.

She went back inside and YFN was waiting for her with her arms out. Jordan planted herself there, letting her emotions out in loud sobs. Lucy came past and wrapped her arms around them both tightly, kissing Jordan on the head.

They ended up on the couch, Jordan crying herself to sleep in YFN’s arms, Lucy tucking a blanket over them. She settled herself on the adjacent side of the L-shaped modular couch, her head near theirs and her pinky finding YFN’s.

[infinityinakiss]

avatrice au fic recommendations:

i don't think there is a single avatrice au fic that i haven't read so here are some my favorites. i tried to find ones that weren't as popular, so hopefully there are couple here you haven't read.

I want to believe by puppybusby @yashastrongarms - x files au - basically 23k of avatrice flirting while being incredibly reckless with alien shit. unfortunately, it is only a one shot that doesn't delve into their relationship, but it is so worth it. and the tension. woof.

Truly a Steadfast Love by StoicLastStand - medieval au - they have a whole series of ficlets, but this is one of my favorites. there's a tournament to win ava's hand in marriage, ava goes undercover to fight for her freedom, but she ends up falling for the very knight who everybody wants to win. i also love their lucifer au, Greater Sacrifices.

a lover, or something of mine by Smokestarrules - reincarnation au - each chapter is a different life with a different story, and i promise you, if you have anything that even resembles a heart, you will cry. i keep going back and rereading chapter 4 because apparently i love to hurt myself. i also love the world is just illusion (trying to change you) by them, it's a road trip au.

i should love you (and i swear i do) by Noteveryonefitsintothebadbitchgenre - harry potter au (fuck jk rowling) - its that trope where they're married and they talk about each other constantly but nobody actually knows they're married. their students all think that professor silva and professor young have a friendly rivalry, but there are a couple of moments that don't add up.

purple by sxftmelody - hitman au - technically, but really it's just sad, i always cry at the end. beatrice helps ava run away after a job, and slowly they open themselves up and start to fall in love. tw: major character death. also love turning page by the same author, mercenary/princess au.

in our corner of the world by definitelynotthere - roommate au - i know, i know, there's a thousand roommate aus, why would i recommend a fic that isn't even finished and will probably never get finished? i don't know, i just really love this one, and if you're like me, you'll go "ooh, two cakes" and read it anyway.

The last hero of Ogygia by jessnope - percy jackson au - specifically calypso au, ava is calypso and beatrice is the flirty hunter that washed up on her shore. it's super cute.

stay there, 'cause i'll be coming over (while our blood's still young) by britishngay - spiderman au - ava's character voice is actually designed to be spiderman, and bea is the perfect doctor lady that patches spidey up when she gets hurt. plus beatrice telling lilith to "shut up and sit down" will never not be iconic.

sunday people (sunday shines for you) by gilligankane @piratekane - another roommates au - jealous ava is back again and out for blood, specifically jenn-with-two-ns blood.

this is my prayer (I'm in love with you) by nyxtyka - my best friend's wedding/spies au - i'll be honest, this fic went to my marked for laters to die. i don't know if it'll ever be finished, but it is one of my favorite aus, i promise it'll be worth the pain.

spellbound by onomofication - witch au - beatrice is the witch in the woods that ava goes to to finally find a way to explore the world like she has always wanted to. but as she gets to know the surprisingly kind, serious, kinda-sorta witch, she discovers that maybe the world was smaller than she had once imagined. i also love another fic by this author, hit me with you best shot, which is basically a cupid au, where ava runs around trying to stop jc, a cupid, from shooting the love of her life, beatrice.

the celestial glow is blinding by understreetlights - firewatch au - did i think ava and beatrice sitting around, looking at trees, and falling love with each other through walkie talkies was going to be interesting? no, but the world loves to prove me wrong.

too cold, it's withdrawal by KatieQgle - captain america au - give this one a chance, even if you don't like marvel. beatrice is hot as fuck as bucky and honestly the winter soldier plot line needed a little sapphic yearning. come on, avatrice in the army in the 1940s, being badass and fighting nazis together? who wouldn't love that?

i have a ton more, reach out if you want them!

[queerofcups]

a July rec list

I read a truly absurd amount of fanfic in July, and since I’m tracking my fic reading anyway these days, I figured, why not pull up some faves. I’ll do my best to tag authors when and where I can! I’ll throw some commentary in there to talk about why I like some of them, but rest assure this is a rec list and I think every one of them has something to love. 

Hockey RPF

In the scrawl of the ringside choir E, 37k, Hockey RPF | @goodnightpuckbunny Sid/Geno

“Geno, this is Sid Crosby,” Kris says, sitting back down. The kid towers over both of them, but seems small in the office. “You need a coach, so he’s gonna help you out.” He looks Sid over, eyes scanning like he’s looking for weaknesses, faults in his form. Sid has plenty, but he’s not fighting anymore. He doesn’t bother mirroring the gesture. He can guess without looking. “He old,” Geno eventually decrees. 

Interview with the Vampire

The Vampire Eric

E | 4k | falsescience (@theburialofstrawberries) Eric Bogosian/Jam Reiderson, Jam Reiderson

Oh ho, Eric thinks to himself, and then, aloud, because it’s just too delicious, and wouldn’t Rolin be ashamed, and a little pissed: “Oh ho!” He feels zapped alive: young, powerful, god-like. Jacob starts giggling immediately. “Did you just say ‘oh ho’?” “Or maybe aspen. What do you think, Eric?” “Not a damn clue,” says Eric, with a broad grin. “You look very satisfied. He looks very satisfied, doesn’t he?” Jacob smiles at Sam over his hitched shoulder. “Hm,” says Sam. “I think we play it safe, and go with red maple.” Yeah, Eric is certain: Jacob and Sam aren’t fucking. But they’d like to be.

First of all, I am RPF’ing these people real hard in some private chats. But largely, I like the characterization happening here, and the little turn of understanding that happens in the last third of the fic. 

reformation

E | 44k | verseau (@downstairsbar) Lestat/Louis

we're gonna heal. we're gonna start again. you've brought the orchestra, synchronized swimmers. // It makes him speechless sometimes, how much he loves Lestat. He thought for years, a decade, that it was sickness. It’s not. It’s not. Even when Louis hated Lestat, nothing was more certain than that he loved him.

There’s some great, great plotting and characterization here but/also I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve read a fic and known immediately that the author is Black. That’s obviously not a requirement of the fic I write but it's nice to have Southern Black characters really sound like people I’ve known/grown up around etc. 

let’s keep this off the record

E | 1.4k | anonymous

Louis/Santiago (sort of)

There would be no second chances for the Englishman, no opportunity for him to crawl out of some dump and seek revenge. Louis would make sure of that.

Honestly, I think it's great that fandom has a long and storied history of skullfucking. I think it's fun that weird shit like that still happens around here.

Maman

T | 2k | anonymous Claudia/Madeline, Louis/Lestat

Madeleine meets in the in-laws. Particularly one of them.

transpires

M-E | 5.8k total | familiar (@bigvampo or @camilliar? sekrit you've got so many blogs) Louis/Lestat

I mean, sekrit is just a fucking stellar writer. sekrit’s got a way of telling so much —  about a character, their mental state, the world their in —  in just a few razor sharp details. also these fics are so funny and the characterizations of Louis and Lestat feel like natural progressions from what we’ve seen in canon both in how much they love each other and how terrible they are (to each other and in general)

Harry Potter

Right. I think I’ve always been pretty upfront about my continued reading of Harry Potter fanfiction, but in case it's somehow necessary to say, please do not come to my inbox talking about JK Rowling. I don’t think about that woman and I’m very clear about what she thinks about me. 

Those Three Curses

E | 6k total | @dodgerkedavra Draco/Harry

Obviously I had a bit of a fucking dodgerkedavra moment here, but these blew me away. So much story telling in such little space. 

Former Things Come to Mind

E | 64k | dodgerkedavra

Harry Potter has had a headache for seven and a half years.

In the Presence of My Enemy E | 41k | dodgerkedavra Draco/Harry

All Harry knows is that Sectumsempra is for enemies. He doesn’t know that it will bind him to Draco Malfoy, for better or worse, ‘til death do them part.

Tiny Home

E | 30k | @wolfpants Draco/Harry/Ron

Harry and Ron left the Aurors years ago to travel the world and make up for lost time. When they finally decide to settle roots back in England, together, building a tiny home in the Lake District by hand seems like the perfect plan. What they don't realise is that Draco Malfoy already lives on the plot of land that they choose to build on. A story about years of feelings, about weaving lives in and around each other, and about finding a place safe enough to call home.

I really feel like there’s been an explosion of excellent Draco/Harry/Ron all of a sudden. One of my qualms with a lot of polyship fics is that it's very uhhh “we must do everything together” and I really love that this fic breaks that down and allows everyone to have histories and experiences together as dyads and all together. 

In Our Blood

E | 37k | secretsalex Draco/Harry

Draco is an accomplished pure-blood curse breaker, and Harry is tasked with accompanying him on his latest job—cleaning up the Van Boer mansion, which has been under a devastating fertility curse for seven generations.

I’m not even going to bullshit y’all. This fic reminded me why I love mpreg. Excellent use of body horror, body dread, suspense, all these things. Also, an mpreg fic that remembers abortion is a thing. Amazing!

Probationary Action

E | 63k | @toomuchplor Draco/Harry

As part of the terms of the probationary contract, DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY shall submit for inspection his WAND on the last day of every month, such inspection to be carried out by a duly registered and fully qualified AUROR in the employ of the MINISTRY OF MAGIC, and such inspection to include a PRIORI INCANTATEM spell to ensure that no PROHIBITED MAGICS as heretofore described have been practised by the aforementioned probationer.

I’ve been obsessed with toomuchplor since Inception and this fic reminded me why. I don’t love Auror!Harry fic (truly, just so much unchecked, delighted writing about police brutality) but I do like any fic where Harry starts to wake up to the fact that maybe just because they’re “the good guys”, not every choice made by the Aurors/Wizarding Gov’t in general is right. Also, I appreciate the expansion on the idea of sex charms!

Embers

E | 41k | @shiftylinguini Draco/Harry

Werewolf Alphas aren't meant to be alone, or to suppress their ruts indefinitely like Draco has been since he was bitten eight years ago. He needs company, companionship, to knot ― he needs an Omega Heat Companion. At least, that’s what the Healers say, and even Draco can admit contacting the person they’ve referred him to might be nice. Of course it turns out to be bloody Potter.

idk man, I like a fic that treats sex work like it's just a job. Worthy of respect, full of technical expertise, etc. 

--

Both of these next fics came from @hd-wireless which has been, pound for pound, one of the best fests I've ever witness and is a testament to how important having multiple fic fests in a fandom can be! so much good shit to read!

The most he’s ever said

E | 16k | anonymous Draco/Harry

It takes them twenty years.

Two Houses

E | 11k | anonymous Draco/Harry

Two households, both alike in... meddling Floo connections, apparently? Draco Malfoy is a highly professional and well-respected Ministry official, with a demanding schedule, a loving son, and—through no fault of his own—a faulty Floo connection that keeps regurgitating the Minister for Magic through his fireplace.

I really enjoy that there's been more of a trend of writing about these two as older people and fleshing out the characterization of their kids.

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: A Fable

[mysterious circle of robed figures] JK Rowling: hello children Rowling: today i want to introducce a very sspecial guessst- john boyne Rowling: author of the boy in the sstriped pajamassss John Boyne: ahem, that's the boy in the striped pajamas colon a fable Boyne: get it right!

Boyne: listen up people Boyne: Here’s a tip for anyone interacting with a novelist online Boyne: you can say our books suck   Boyne: you can call us bad writers Boyne: you can say we’re stupid, ugly or fat Boyne: you can say we're bald Boyne: you can say that we're lazy...

Boyne: you can say that we're plagiarists Boyne: you can say that we whitewash history Boyne: you can say that our work actively makes people dumber Rowling: where are you going with thiss Boyne: hold on i'm working up to something Boyne: you can say that we smell bad

Boyne: you can say that we're liars Boyne: you can say that we're pigs Boyne: but the one thing you cannot say is that we're cis Rowling: Rowling: well sssaid! well sssaid!

John Boyne: look, i wrote this really sympathetic book about how hard it is to be related to a trans person Boyne: i mean, if you think about it, being related to a trans person is really hard Boyne: probably harder than being trans Boyne: that just stands to reason

Boyne: anyway the trans didn't appreciate my hard work, so i don't like them now Rowling: how do you feel about the jewsss after they didn't appreciate the boy in the sstriped pajamass Boyne: ahem you mean the boy in the striped pajamas colon a fable Rowling: yess yess of coursse

Boyne: look i just think it's my duty to speak to the true victims of the holocaust Boyne: SS officers who might be really sad if they accidentally killed their sons when they meant to kill jews Boyne: i'm getting misty just thinking about it Boyne: [wiping tear] those poor guys

Boyne: i don't believe in the word cis Boyne: i just thought it was really important i weigh in on this controversy Boyne: this is in no way a diversion from my other scandals Boyne: my new book is about a guy trying to buy lamp oil, rope & bombs but he doesn't have enough rubies

[discoveredreality]

CHAT PLS DECO MY TREE :D (IDC IF WE DONT TALK MUCH OR WHATVER DO IT ANYWAYSS) (ALSO PLS SEND ME AN ASK SO I CAN DO URS)

BTW I HAVE THE SAME USERNAME ON DISCORD IF U WANNA ADD IDC IF WE DONT TALK MUCH OR AT ALL I LOVE NEW FRIENDS (IM DESPERATE LOL) BUT YEAH 👍

new intro post :D

ok the last one was getting really weird and chaotic so 😭

stuff u should know

i am a minor so interaction with adults is fine just no weird stuff pls

dms and asks are always open im fine with pretty much anything if u want to be friends pls say hi pls (im desperate loll)

sometimes i can't reply so pls be patient and if i don't reply in a while pls text me again idk but i swear im not ignoring u on purpose 😭

also if i do anything to make you uncomfortable pls pls let me know cause i'm kind of shit at social cues and stuff

dni

if you are racist, homophobic, transphobic, idk anything like that

also specifically if you support jk rowling literally get out

also if you hate on ships literally just block or ignore it there's no need to made a big fucking deal

or if you're just a bitch kindly fuck offfff <3

ok anyways lol intro post under the cut (not nearly as bad as my previous one yay :D)

about me :D

i'm ari (not my real name) (feel free to call me whatever tho) ✰ she/her ✰ minor ✰ ravenclaw ✰ istp-t ✰ cancer ✰ indian but i live in australia ✰ timezone is aest (suck on that everyone else im in the future :DDD) ✰ master of procrastination hehe ✰ i know english, shitty hindi and some bengali

fandoms :D

marauders ✰ soc ✰ drarry ✰ mcyt (specifically hermitcraft and trafficblr) ✰ kinda tma ✰ and kinda kotlc ✰ and more but i'm not into other fandoms as much loll

these artists could run me over and i would apologise

taylor swift (MOTHER) ✰ conan gray mll ✰ chappell roan omfg ahhh ✰ olivia rodrigoo ✰ sabrina carpenter ✰ david bowie <3 ✰ and idk a lot of other random stuff lmao

books and authors

harry potter (fuck jkr tho) ✰ soc ✰ shadow and bone ✰ kotlc ✰ inheritance games ✰ agggtm ✰ divergent series ✰ the selection ✰ powerless trilogy ✰ girl in pieces ✰ dictionary of lost words ✰ pjo ✰ more but i can't remember

karen m mcmanus ✰ chetan bhagat ✰ amish ✰ lauren roberts ✰ leigh bardugo ✰ and a bunch of other authors cause this is very short loll

userboxess

my pfp is the makowka picrew here

all the photos are off pinterest loll

the dividers are by @/saradika

[pendragonloki]

Why did JK rowling use owls anyway?

I get why they're meant to be familiars and historical they are associated with witchcraft and magic yes that makes sense congrats rowling you read a book about witches and yes all the other animal opinions are also familiar animals

Yes rowling very clever you get to choose one of the historical familiars of witchcraft very cool but heres the thing...

...They're not familiars?...

Like at all like within the context if the books and movies what do they do that's similar to witchcraft familiars?

Ok so the owls are the only one with a purpose that is society wide yes they are messenger, the famously nocturnal and slow birds yes lets use them. And the only other pet that has a use is

The chipr frogs? Is this the equivalent of parents buying their kids art supplies?

But like this is a serious wasted pontenial for the pets to actually be familiars and be apart of magic and spellcraft but they're not in the slightest we see them be used once

We only see them involved in magic once where ron turned his rat into a cup

(Which is really weird what scenario would you need this? And also we dont talk enough about how this is actually a person? Like this spell works on people?)

But yeah whenever i bring up that rowling should have used literally any other bird for messengers someone brings up the familiars arguement but this doesn't hold any water to me. Like they just aren't maybe if rowling tied the wand cores to the familiars like owl feather cores, or rat tooth, frog wart and cats hair ball or something would have been cool or if the pets somehow helped the wizards control their magic. But otherwise it doesnt add up

Rowling really should've used crows and or ravens they both have magic association, and if she was a good author would have also connected them to the deathly hallows with death playing a major role in the story.

They are also infinity more trainable than owls who i remember the story from the production of the first movie them being horribly untrainable like each owl could only learn 1 trick each. Crows are highly intelligent and recognise human faces imagine your post man couldn't recognise your face

And then theres the hidden aspect of it. You're telling me the muggles arent recognising the random snow or barn owl flying near their house semi consistently? Atleast with crows/ravens would blend in with cities and then pigeons would make even more sense.

Pigeons are super caring, they dont bite, they have historically been messengers and they're ancient, theyre the first and only birds domesticated and rowling saw their rich history and said "nah"

Owls are silent flyers so makes sense for a secret society but you know what doesn't blend in? A giant owl, people dont even think when they see pigeons or corvids. Plus if she chose pigeons she could have written that they're navigation is magic and muggles dont understand it.

If you have to use animals as messengers

(They dont need animals they have flying paper aeroplanes and can make flying notes)

Thanks for coming to my ted talk, rowling missed out on much better animals

[beemovieerotica]

Yoo, your post about the whole controversy around jk Rowling being something not that wide spread outside internet really reasonated with me. I'm openly trans at work + Jewish (and I assume you might know about the Harry Potter game controversy), and one colleague (who I get along well with enough to call my friend) really really loves Harry Potter and keep trying to excitedly talk about it with me... Despite me telling her I am not comfortable about that media. She keep insisting on removing the work from its author because it was her childhood and so important to her.

I just... How do you navigate it when it happens to you? I could really use some reference or perspective overall!

No pressure to answer, I realize it might be controversial subject that may bait I'll faith engagement so I totally understand if you don't respond

oh I'm happy to respond, no yeah when I posted about me blocking anons baiting for discourse I mean I frequently get single sentence asks like "do you support ______" and that's...someone not interested in actually talking to me, but instead doing a witchhunt "are you a Good Person or a Bad Person" to a stranger on the internet. like if someone asked "do you support jk rowling" no context no other discussion, it's weird, it's impersonal, it's not how I want to talk to people (and anyone who has followed me for any length of time would know the answer anyway?)

but yeah sorry getting to your question, that's really difficult to reverse out of that situation if you've already expressed past interest in it...with my coworkers who like hp I'll do a very obviously polite-but-not-part-of-the-group "oh that's fun!" when they talk about it e.g. dressing up as hp for halloween, and I guess I consistently give off enough of an impression of never having cared about it, which is WILD because yeah it used to be my life. so they don't try to get any deeper into it than surface level mentions with me.

but if you've already breached the whole topic of jkr herself...AND they're not responding to explicit requests to steer away the topic...? they fundamentally don't respect your boundaries regardless of the subject matter. like remove hp from the equation and if my coworker said they don't like talking about pirates of the caribbean for even the vaguest reason on earth and I continued to try to engage with them about it, through their discomfort, then it's not really about whether something can ever be redeemed as media or not, they just don't respect boundaries.

at that point that's really shitty if she's in your workspace but she's a kind enough person about everything else to be considered a friend...but if she IS a friend, then you should be able to literally say "sorry I need to step away, this isn't a topic I want to get into" when she brings it up and then. physically step away. like make the boundary an actual physical thing that gets enforced if she doesn't respect your wishes. it SHOULD start to click for her then, because maybe at this point she's learned subconsciously "oh, my friend will talk about my favorite thing with me if I ease them into it, and I can make them get over their discomfort, because they're still here talking to me, aren't they?"

be polite, verbalize the boundary, and physically walk away to enforce the boundary and do something else. you don't have to burn bridges that you don't want to burn, AND you don't have to put up with behavior you don't like!

[thatthoughtatthebackofyourmind]

In Defence of Albus Dumbledore:

Look. I know this is an unpopular opinion, so I’m going to write this here because putting it anywhere else (like at the bottom of the fics which have inspired this frustration) would seem mean, and it would probably end up coming off as unintentional flaming, which I would never do to anyone ever. Also, as I’m less frustrated with individual works than I am with an entire situation, it wouldn’t really be fair to direct it at one specific person.

Get ready. This is going to be very ranty and long and I can't promise not to get off topic and onto a tangent a few times.

I understand that we all have grown up a lot since first reading Harry Potter. I get that once we realized how grey a few of Dumbledore’s decisions actually and the ways in which they affected the characters we love we all felt rightfully upset.

But can we please stop being so narrowminded about it?

There are plenty of redemption fics out there. A lot of them are works that redeem characters like Severus Snape, Draco Malfoy, Draco’s parents, various Dursleys and loads of other people. I’ve seen fics that have Sirius confronting the realities of his juvenal behaviours and having to atone for past wrongs. I’ve even seen (but admittedly never read) fics that redeem Voldemort himself.

But the least popular person for a redemption story in fanfiction by far seems to be Albus Dumbledore.

I get it.

He was supposed to be an infallible genius who did no wrong and he let us down. But please.

Can we all please just admit that we’re using Dumbledore as a stand in?

The hatred we as a fan community levy at Dumbledore is influenced by so much more than his actions in cannon.

It’s the dissolution we feel at growing up. The need as young people to bite back at overbearing authority. It’s the conviction that leaders should never be allowed to fail if failure means the death of innocent people. Even though we can all recognize on a personal level that our failures are typically unintentional and are definitely what make us human.

Of late, it’s very clear that Dumbledore is a stand in for the betrayal we feel at JK Rowling’s anti-trans standing.

We all loved her so much.

She gave us this world.

She promised it to everyone.

And then she said that it was all a lie, and that it was never meant for some of us anyway.

The parallels are clear.

While we were first reading, we loved who Harry loved. Simply because he loved them, and we loved him.

When we grew up, we started acknowledging the ways in which the characters mirrored people in real life, and we chose the people we found the most familiar to love instead. Personally, I understand the reason I read Severitus so often is because I had a largely absent father who I idolized as a child, and that father was a bit of a rockstar like person. Dark, intelligent, and cruel when he wanted to be. Artistic, genius, condescending, and amazing.

As an adult, I still long for his love and approval. Learning that Severus was capable of so much good at the very end of his story, that he was in fact good all along, even when he looked exactly the opposite, gave me hope that my father was too. Even though I now understand that redemption for my father is just a fairy tale it’s still a story I hold close to my heart. A story I long for. It’s a possible happy ending for both a lonely child and a jaded grouchy adult.

Albus Dumbledore was different.

This was a man that we trusted to have everyone’s best intentions at heart. We were told he was safe. We were told he was the smartest man in any room. And then he failed us. And we looked back at all he had done, and rather than seeing the good he had tried to achieve, all we could see were the mistakes he had made.  

I firmly believe that the reason that so many people hate him so strongly now is because we all loved him so much first. Like Harry, we all believe that he was incapable of mistakes. His mistakes in cannon aren’t any more morally condemning than anyone else on the light side.

Keep in mind that I said, “in cannon.” I feel like I need to distinguish that. In cannon, though Harry asked if he could stay at Hogwarts during the summer, he never told Dumbledore about living in a cupboard under the stairs. His letter was addressed to there, but we have no way of knowing whether it was physically or magically written on the envelope. And besides, that letter was signed by Professor McGonagall, not Dumbledore. Harry also never mentioned to him the Dursleys withholding food. Or locking up his trunk so that he couldn’t do his homework. He made it clear that they disliked him, that they thought him a burden, but think. Really think. Dumbledore is the head of a school full of children. How many children misunderstand and exaggerate even in their own minds how much their families dislike them.

Let me be clear; when I say kids exaggerate I don’t mean in terms of abuse. I only mean typical things such as, “My mom’s always grouchy when she gets home from work and she never notices that I’ve tried really hard by cleaning the bathroom if she told me to clean the kitchen before she got home and I decided to do the bathroom because I wanted to clean it instead of doing the dishes and now she’s yelling at me that she just needs me to help her sometimes, and I don’t feel like that’s fair because really I do. Look, I cleaned the whole bathroom by myself! And I straitened up the living room too! The only thing I ‘forgot’ was the kitchen and now she’s acting like I do nothing. This means she hates me and appreciates nothing I do. I am clearly a burden to her, and I should go live under a rock so that she doesn’t have to deal with me anymore.” Really, your mom probably isn’t saying you’re a burden. Your mom is more than likely overworked, over-tired, and almost certainly depressed in a society that doesn’t cater to mental health awareness, and on top of all that she was raised by a generation that was allergic to admitting and self-regulating their true feelings so she can’t articulate that and she’s instead taking her frustrations out on you.

This is wrong, and she shouldn’t do it. But consider. Why didn’t you want to clean the kitchen? Was it because you had a long hard day at school and you’re overworked, over-tired, and definitely depressed in a world that doesn’t cater to mental health awareness, and all you really wanted was a break from the hardest job and you just wanted to compromise by doing the ones you felt emotionally and physically able to do? Because I promise, that’s probably exactly how your mom feels about the damn dirty dishes that she’s going to have to deal with before she can make dinner after being cussed out and yelled at by customers and or bosses all day in between doing her actual work and that’s the real reason she’s yelling.

Because, though a lot of teens believe otherwise, parents are still just people and the feelings that overwhelm kids still overwhelm adults just as badly. And they’re even less likely to know how to help themselves because they didn’t grow up with the internet where everyone shares their feeling and gets back validation and advice, so they mostly just believed those feelings were personal failings that indicated something broken specifically only in them and that they should learn to live with it and never tell anyone ever because complaining is for babies and liberals. Okay, maybe that last bit is a little too specific to my own mother, but you get the idea.

It’s a cycle that’s been going on for years. Hopefully, we can eventually all learn how to communicate peacefully and compromise on chores sometimes so we can end it someday. Or everyone can just switch to paper plates, and then we’ll worry about how we’re killing the planet later and no one will have to do the dishes ever again.

The point is, while that isn’t the best parenting style, and it can cause issue’s with your familial relationship as you age, it isn’t technically abuse. And it especially wouldn’t be considered abuse in the 90’s while Harry Potter was taking place or the early 00’s when it was being published.

Harry was not bruised when he arrived at Hogwarts. He didn’t show obvious outward signs of abuse. He never told any adults what his life was like at the Dursleys at all. He really didn’t even say much about it to Ron or Hermione either. Mrs. Weasley sent him treats for his birthday, which was a sweet motherly gesture. Hermione and Hagrid did as well but think about it. Do you believe for a second that if Molly have-another-serving, can-I-get-you-some-more-bread, try-the-potatoes Weasley honestly thought the Dursley’s were starving Harry that she would first wait until the end of July to send Harry anything, and then only send him sweets? She would scale the Dursleys’ house and stuff a full six course meal through the bars multiple times a day before she let that boy live off stale birthday cake. When she asked if the Dursley had fed him enough she meant it in the same way she always meant it, in the if ‘I can feed the world I can love the world’ way.

 Hagrid sent him rock cakes, but again, think about it. Hagrid had shown up with a cake for Harry’s birthday the day he first delivered the letter when he couldn’t have yet known of the way Harry was treated. He just wanted to show Harry he was loved and missed.

Of the people who sent him food, only Hermione really knew Harry didn’t get to eat his fill at the Dursley’s and she still only sent cake because all she knew was that he was being forced to diet with Dudley. Which is why she sent him the kind of food one would eat if they weren’t on a diet instead of true sustenance. A fourth of a grapefruit as a meal is not a diet, no matter what Petunia called it. And if he had told Hermione specifics, she likely would have told Harry that, but again, he didn’t tell anyone specifics.

 Everyone knew that Harry was unfavoured by the Dursley’s and that they wouldn’t be celebrating his birthday, and he wouldn’t receive cake or presents, but they really didn’t know much else. Ron and Hermione only understood he was being starved in the way most naive well-fed kids from happy families can understand. It sounded cruel, and they did try to tell people, but because they didn’t understand the full gravity of the situation, they couldn’t properly communicate to trusted adults that Harry was actually experiencing abuse. Plus, Harry tended to downplay it even to them.

When Dumbledore speaks about knowing Harry would come from a less than happy home, you can tell he is picturing a world where Harry is liked second best to his cousin. Where he never feels fully at home. Like an overextended visitor in a relative’s house. He thinks they’ll treat him like the weird cousin who came to stay and never left rather than an immediate family member.

He isn’t picturing Petunia Dursley slinging a frying pan at Harry’s head. Or refusing to let him drink his fill of water on a hot summer’s day spent weeding her ridiculous flower garden. Or an overly restrictive diet enforced on an already undernourished body simply to make Harry’s morbidly obese cousin feel better about his doctor changing his eating habits.

I think we’ll all agree that feeling less than welcome by stuck up relatives sucks, but it’s better than whatever Voldemort’s loyal leftover followers will do to him if they manage to track down the person responsible for their dark lord’s downfall.

I understand why a lot of people feel like Dumbledore should have just put Harry under the Fidelius Charm and hid him rather than sending him to the Dursley’s but consider: If Dumbledore trusted Sirius the way he must have done to not betray James and his family, then it makes sense that he felt Fidelius was no longer an option. He fully believed Sirius was the secret keeper. Sirius, the Potters, and Pettigrew were the only ones to know of the change. It’s likely that after learning that the Death Eaters had convinced Sirius to betray the Potters he was jaded enough to take it as a sign that no one could be a trusted Secret Keeper. No matter how much they loved the person under protection.

He also likely would have insisted on a trial for Sirius had Sirius himself not told everyone that he was the one who killed James and Lily while descending into hysterical laughter. We know what Sirius meant, (he felt responsible for them dying because switching to Peter at the last minute had been his idea) because we read the third Harry Potter book, but Dumbledore didn’t have that same advantage. All he had was the word of an apparently mad man. A man who had just tracked down another dear friend and apparently killed him and 12 innocent bystanders in a fit of insanity.

Why, when last he had heard Sirius was the Secret Keeper, would he doubt a verbal confession from a man who did nothing to try and save himself from Azkaban? The Marauders never told anyone of their animagus abilities. No one but Sirius could have understood what Peter had done. Why do we expect Dumbledore to have known better?

So, instead of Fidelius and hiding Harry away for his entire childhood, he gave him the best protection he could think of under the circumstances he had been given. He sought to give Harry a normal life and to keep him safe from the remaining Death Eaters.

Dumbledore understood that fame was power, and that power could corrupt even the best of people with the strongest of minds, so he kept Harry away from the limelight. He also understood how fickle people where about fame. This was the right decision even if the Dursley were a bad choice in guardians. We saw proof of this numerous times while Harry was at school. His fame only ever seemed to bring him more hardships. In book two they said Harry was a dark wizard because he was a Parselmouth and that that’s how he overpowered Voldemort. In book four even some of Harry’s friends refused to believe he wasn’t just a glory hound and that it hadn’t been him who entered his name in the tournament, but rather someone trying to kill him. In book five, almost everyone refused to believe Harry was telling the truth about Voldemort’s return. Every single time Harry’s name entered the limelight, it was in a way that harmed him. Imagine how much earlier it would have started had he grown up in the wizarding world. They would have been debating his kindergarten finger paintings if they could have.  

Why does the entire fandom also assume that Dumbledore thought of himself as the wisest most all-knowing man in any room? The only people who canonically acted like they believed that about him were the Golden Trio, and they were enlightened otherwise multiple times throughout the books as they grew up. Just as everyone learns new truths about trusted adults they thought of as perfect as they grow.

The fact is, Albus Dumbledore has always been just a man.

He was a great and powerful but flawed man who wanted more than anything to make sure that evil could not prevail. He obviously still holds plenty of shame and guilt over his dealings with Gellert Grindelwald in his misspent youth. We have surmised that when he looked in the Mirror of Erised he likely saw his sister Ariana, or something as equally heart-breaking which he recognized as his own fault. He fully understood that he was just a man. He encouraged everyone to understand that fact about Voldemort as well.

He was not a god, and he didn’t pretend to be.

Not in cannon anyway.

Fanon Dumbledore, on the other hand, tends to be anything from a meddling idiot to a full on manipulative dark lord complete with moustache twirling and nefarious intent. Which, I believe, further influences and enforces the fandom’s collective bad opinion of him. Most of us haven’t reread the real books in years. It gets hard to remember at some points what was something he did in canon vs. what was something he did in fanfiction.

 Every other character seems welcomed to grow in the world of fandom.

Severus was canonically a willing Death Eater in his youth, a bully to children in his care in his adulthood, and a petty grudge-holder who couldn’t let go of the past. We accept that we can’t fully know how much of his behaviour towards the students was an act to fool the Death Eater’s children, but we can assume it definitely wasn’t all of it. Still, he gets plenty of redemption fics. He had literal access to Harry’s traumatic childhood memories but still saw no signs of abuse because he was too busy trying to keep a 15-year-old child from gaining any ammunition about his own past.

Looking back, it seems obvious that as very few of Harry’s childhood memories were shown in the Occlumency scenes, he likely wasn’t as bad at clearing his mind as either he or Snape assumed, but it was also possible that Severus didn’t see those memories because that wasn’t what he was looking for. The memory of Harry getting chased up a tree by Marge’s dog as the rest of his family watched and laughed should have triggered at least a couple of red flags, but Severus was typically determined to only see the bad in Harry, so he overlooked it.

James Potter who is often thought of as the better choice for Lily was also a bully. And he spent years relentlessly pursuing a relationship with someone who had never given him any indication that his advances were welcome and had in fact outright told him the exact opposite of that many times until he finally wore her down and convinced her to give him a shot. That’s gross, unacceptable behaviour but I guess it is technically better than dating a budding racist that sees you as the exception to his views on your people, so James is rebranded as a lovable hero who changed after having a slightly misspent youth rather than a mean spirited bully who likely grew bored with his main target once he no longer saw him as competition (there would have been no reason to bully Snape if Lily wasn’t friends with him anymore after 5th year which was conveniently around the time he began to “grow up”) as well as a pushy loser who wouldn’t take no for an answer even though Lily said it multiple times. (There’s also the point that once Snape knew about Lupin being a werewolf, James likely wouldn’t have bullied him anymore so as not to provoke Snape to reveal the secret and get Lupin thrown out of school and possibly killed.)

Ron told Molly outright that the Dursley’s were starving Harry and had fixed bars on his windows to trap him after weeks of being concerned when he didn’t reply to Ron’s letters, and she still ignored it, assuming instead that Ron was exaggerating and never even tried to check with Harry to learn that he wasn’t.

Remus spent a year teaching Harry individualized lessons to repel Dementors and never once asked him why he was so sad that they affected him in ways that none of the other students experienced. I mean really, he couldn’t have been the only orphan attending that school so Remus couldn’t have thought it was just that. And Neville’s backstory was nearly just as sad (and just as well known to Remus) and even he didn’t faint like Harry. Yet, he didn’t question Harry once.

Sirius (who is also a bully and a petty grudge-holder) never wondered why a child would want to move in with an escaped prisoner who he had never met before that had just mangled his best friend’s leg and tried to commit murder in front of him instead of the relatives he had been with his entire life. Even when until that very night he had believed that prisoner wanted to kill him?

Arthur actually met the Dursley’s and saw Vernon’s rage at magic when he came to collect Harry for the Quidditch World Cup and he still questioned nothing.

Half the Order found Harry locked inside his bedroom with locks affixed to the outside of the door, and all they did was give vague unfulfilled threats to Vernon and send Harry back. You could blame that on Dumbledore, but I think that’s ridiculous. They were not under Imperious. They made their own decisions. Every adult there had a responsibility to that child, and they all failed him individually.

Yet time and time again I see Dumbledore condemned so overwhelmingly in the very fics that redeem and or absolve these other characters of those very actions.

Even McGonagall, who knew from the start that the Dursleys were awful people, never pulled Harry aside as his head of house and asked him anything about his home life. And, as I stated earlier, her name was the one on the letter addressed to the cupboard under the stairs. She also made it very clear that she wasn’t someone for Harry to confide in by constantly dismissing any concerns he presented her. The way she reacted about the Stone was ridiculous. And her non-concern over the amount of detentions Harry received from Umbridge followed by the ‘have a biscuit’ scene rubbed me the wrong way. And yet, of late she seems to be revered in the fandom community as some kind of badass grandmotherly character. All because she protested one time about leaving Harry with the Dursleys and then never brought it up again.

It’s getting a bit ridiculous. I’m exhausted by the way the fan community continues to rewrite cannon to fit their dissatisfaction with our once trusted role-model JK Rowling through Harry Potter’s once trusted mentor Albus Dumbledore.

Just once I would like to read a Harry Potter fic without having to think about the various ways in which JK Rowling let us all down. And with everyone rewriting Dumbledore as the ‘real villain all along’ I can’t help but be taken out of the fic and forced to relate it to reality.

[stephsycamore]

Hello friends. Yet another post on a topic literally no one here signed up for but the blog is about my hyperfixation of the month so here we are

I have been reading dramione. I know in my last post i said i was ki da over dramione after a couple of fics because i find the pairing too toxic but i only kinda lied because i have just reread the like 4 dramione fics i found and liked and now i will review them. Technically i have read/started more than 4 but i won't be commenting on fics i didn't like because that isn't fair to the writers.

The first one was manacled. Which i know what a fucking reintroduction to the fandom. But i am no young newbie. I used to read and rewrite A LOT of harry potter fic and while its still fuck jk rowling, she doesn't financially benefit from fic and i heard years ago that she doesn't like fic so. I hope its all a big fuck u to her.

Anyway, manacled. Wow!!! What the fuck???? It has lived rent free in my head ever since. I literally cannot stop thinking about it. If ever i reentered the harry potter fic world let it be known that it would be so i can write fanfic of this fanfic. A couple points - manacled is kinda overly long and would benefit from an editor/beta reader, but I heard senlinyu wrote it on her phone while nursing a baby and just???? Idk what her day job is, but that woman needs to be doing creative writing mfas, writers workshops, residencies, whatever. That is extraordinary creative talent.

I think the first part with hermione in the manor was a bit overly long and too torture porn ish. A lot of the scenes bordered into the unnecessarily gratituous. But overall, it was well plotted, well written, and gut wrenching. The last section takes my breath away

The second fic i read was Remain Nameless. And while i kinda don't love smut (it makes me a little uncomfy) i think remain nameless is a perfrct example of fanfic as a genre. Within fic, there are obviously genres, but there are stylistic elements and things that I think makes fanfiction a genre in itself. Remain Nameless is an exploration of character that goes beyond the confines of conventional or traditionally publish-able story structure. It is too long, too drawn out, too indulgent to be a traditionally published story. If i swap out the names and details in Manacled or Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in love (up next) out, its a probably close to a stand alone novel, but Remain Nameless relies on you knowing and already caring about Draco and Hermione. I don't mean that disparagingly at all, I just think sometimes people don't realize that fanfic should be different from traditionally published novels and that is a benefit of the genre. I think Remain Nameless is great. Its an indulgent, fluffy read that takes two broken people and slowly puts them back together again. Its like a hug in book format.

My next one is DMATMOOBIL!! I loved this one. And the author??? You cannot convince me that this fic was not written by someone with literal years of publishing experience in contemporary romance. No way. Its too good. Not just in a good writing way. Manacled is good in an unfiltered, raw talent way, but DMATMOOBIL is polished. The plot is perfectly structured and then each chapter within that is perfectly structured. I loved it. It wad witty, funny, heartfelt, and exciting. Not sure what more I can say about it. It reads like published fiction both in its polish and readability, and I think of all the fics I read has the best worldbuilding. It is truly exciting to read about the possibilities of magical and muggle science colliding in this book and bringing their world to the 21st century.

The last fic i read was Green Light by SereneMusafir. I thought it was so good but would benefit from being split into two maybe even three books. Green Light features a journalist coming to interview Draco many years after the events of the book, so that kinda complicates splitting it up, but as it stands, the story parts are too vast and thematically disparate to be one book. The first part has Draco and Hermione on an expedition in the desert to find a archeological myth and the writing is extraoridinary. Its poetic and cinematic. But I think at times it all tries to do too much. Like I said, the whole thing needs to be split up but each chapter also needs to be a bit shorter. Again, I don't mean cutting content, but rather restructuring. As it is, I read an incredible scene, but then there's like 5 more scenes of something else, and by the time I'm at the end of the chapter, I've kinda forgotten what amazing prose I read earlier on. Things get lost in this way. Beautiful passages buried.

I think two or three books would also allow each thematic section to be explored better. Idk i thought about this one a lot. I likely will not reread Green Light the way I have reread the others on this list, but other than Manacled, it is the one I think about most. Its the most ambitious plot wise and it kinda got lost in that ambition but I think it has so much potential and was over all very good.

Anyway. That is the end to this book review no one asked for. I will likely not be reading more dramione. So here ends that brief of excellent phase.

[maleswillbemale]

Don't mind me just dropping receipts of JK Rowling engaging in holocaust denial~ Tee hee! :3

https://youtu.be/whJJGqVtkEk?si=aN1HXEfuR7BgxmgY

First of all, I should be financially compensated for having to watch this guy in an Ethel Cain shirt for thirty minutes.

Also, all of the voices used to narrate the posts were so blatantly exaggerated to make people he disagreed with sound cartoonishly villainous which was cringy as fuck. He was incapable of handling this topic with maturity or neutrality at all, and that made it incredibly difficult for me to digest this.

Here's what I learned, unbiased, from the video.

JKR saw a tweet from another user that claimed that nazis burned books related to trans healthcare as an argument point against her. This original tweet had no sources. JKR asked if this was a fever dream and commented that she would need to check her sources because it sounded false. Because it does. Because the original poster didn't provide any proof of this. That isn't Holocaust denial, that is skepticism towards a random Twitter user who made a big claim on a sensitive subject without providing further information. You shouldn't blindly trust what you're told online, especially on Twitter.

The books that the Nazis burned were by a homosexual Jewish man. Someone apart of the LGB alliance who was not JKR got into arguments over whether or not the author of the books was truly a good person, with accusations of him being pro-eugenics and supporting the castration of homosexuals being brought up with a book as a source. JKR posted a link to the thread with this information, but did not make the claim herself nor did she probably read an entire book or look too deeply into the claims happening, which granted she should have done, but she clearly took the elaborate thread and source for granted.

According to mister YouTuber, neither he nor someone else on his source team could find exactly what the LGB alliance claimed was in the book. He admitted things could have just been worded differently than on the thread, but the exact phrases such as "genes" were not in the book. Apparently the author was with a man 40 years younger than him though which I don't know why mister YouTuber brought that up (not even negatively, just randomly dropped) but okay I'll mention it here I guess

Hirschfield (the author of the burned books) was in fact racist and a supporter of eugenics by admission of mister YouTuber. Oops! Mister YouTuber admits that Hirschfeld supported castration for the "feeble-minded", but argued that there wasn't any evidence for homosexuals being considered under that umbrella for Hirschfeld. He also admitted that Hirschfeld, regardless of showing support for some feminist movements, still viewed women as inferior to men.

Hirschfeld's research partner created vaginoplasty, and it's mostly practiced the same way today. He (the research partner, Gohrbandt) also practiced horrific experiments on people for research in hypothermia apparently (and was never punished afterwards), but that's somewhat unrelated. Which leads to:

Mister YouTuber conflates criticism of Hirschfeld's political views and research to the criticism of modern transgender plastic surgeries sterilizing people, which is something JKR has expressed concern over before. This entire discussion isn't even remotely related to the denial of the Holocaust.

Next a user named Alejandra accuses JKR of Holocaust denial with screenshots to various articles that discuss the burning of Hirschfeld's books. JKR replies that the burning of Hirschfeld's books does not mean all healthcare books researching transgenderism were destroyed nor were trans people the very first victims of nazis, which Alejandra didn't claim and argues that she didn't. JKR responds with a screenshot from another user who was making those claims to clarify that despite Alejandra not saying it, others were. That was a bit off topic, but mister YouTuber goes on about people commenting unrelated to JKR even outside of the whole LGB alliance discussing the Hirschfeld mess as well, it's not just JKR going off about unrelated shit during this discussion.

TRAs were trying to twist the narrative of Hirschfeld's books being burned to instead mean that transgender people were the first target by Nazis and that ALL books pertaining to them were destroyed, which was factually not true and, frankly, incredibly insensitive. Mister YouTuber argues that a TIM named Dora who had vaginoplasty surgery at Hirschfeld's institute disappeared during Nazis storming the institute. Dora may have died or been arrested, the actual fate is unknown. I have no comments on this because no one ever said trans people never died to Nazis which he is insinuating and arguing against but I'll mention it here.

Mister YouTuber uses this incident as proof that trans people were targeted by Nazis and they lost all of their research - which was mostly worded with the same mythical usage as when people describe the burning of Alexandria, where people assume we'd be way ahead of what we are right now if the burning didn't happen. I wish I could drive home the fact that transgender people were killed and targeted (and still are today!) because they're seen as homosexuals. A lot of them ARE homosexuals. Man who is feminine = gay = a threat that needs to be dealt with. That is the reality of violent 'transphobia'. Homosexuals were murdered by Nazis. People like Dora were seen as homosexual males. Hirschfeld was a homosexual Jewish man.

The video then pivots to be about whether or not transgender people were killed by Nazis for being trans. JKR criticized TRAs for making the literal Holocaust center around themselves.

Mister YouTuber then goes on about transgenders being targeted by Nazis. We could go in a circle again explaining that transgender people were conflated with homosexuals which is exactly why Nazis would want them dead, or we could go over how NO ONE SAID THEY WERE NEVER KILLED BY NAZIS, but it's useless to keep having this argument. I will bring up that race was a big factor for transgenders when they encountered Nazis according to mister YouTuber's source excerpts though - 'aryan' transgendered people were almost always safe while Jewish and Roma ones were not according to this video's sources. When they (aryan transgenders) were charged, they usually had to pay a fine or go to prison rather than concentration camps. While still bad, it's not even remotely comparable and it happened far less because usually they were deemed not guilty in court since they were "racially superior"

Mister YouTuber brings up JKR's goblins in Harry Potter which is beyond a dead horse at this point.

Here's a direct quote from the fucking video YOU linked me from this man himself: "Joanne may have denied Nazi war crimes, but she isn't a Holocaust denier."

She literally only showed skepticism towards a random Twitter comment that didn't provide sources or any explanation. Should she have researched on her own time before responding with skepticism? Probably! But to stretch skepticism to mean Nazi war crime denial is just that: a stretch.

YouTuber uses anti-Semitic comments from other Twitter users as proof that JKR is bad somehow. Not her fault and there's plenty of TRA idiots who comment dumb shit all the time too. It's irrelevant. She has millions of followers and I see disgusting comments on random Twitter posts literally all the time, it's extremely common to have annoying bigoted trolls on there.

Anyways, here's my takeaway from this:

JKR needs to stop responding to random TRA comments who say dumb shit without sources. That TRA was using the Holocaust, a horrific and traumatizing part of recent history, as an argument point for the trans movement. She probably should have just ignored it or researched what the commenter was talking about so she could be better prepared.

With that being said, I didn't get any notion of Holocaust denial from her whatsoever. I saw nothing but skepticism at a random comment because people love nothing more than to be painfully inaccurate about historical events

I don't think Hirschfeld sounds like a good person at all thanks to his racism/hatred towards black people, his misogyny, his support of eugenics, and his bizarre 40 year age gap relationship, but I don't support Nazis terrorizing him for being a homosexual Jewish man fucking obviously. I would say that Malcom bringing all of this up is sort of irrelevant to what was actually being discussed. It's good to know that Hirschfeld had horrific political views but that wasn't really the point of the discussion going on so it felt really unrelated and out of place in my opinion, but Malcom isn't JKR.

JKR linked to Malcom's thread because he expanded on what these claims were talking about and he provided sources about Hirschfeld and his beliefs. She just didn't read the book that he used. I think she needs to be more careful about source checking and research, because otherwise she's ripped apart even if it's not her saying it.

'Aryan' transgender people were spared the horrific crimes of the Holocaust more often than not according to the very video that you linked to me. I hope white TIMs think about that before they make the Holocaust about themselves, which is exactly what JKR was saying she didn't want them to do. Because she doesn't deny that the Holocaust happened and knows it was a horrific event. It was almost alwaysJewish and Roma homosexuals/transgenders who suffered the brunt of Nazi hatred.

I don't read Harry Potter, and I don't have a deep attachment to JKR. I went into this video wanting to see where exactly the accusations she's receiving were coming from, and I'm left just feeling frustrated and disappointed. It's normal to not trust what a Twitter user claims at face value. It's normal to be skeptical about big claims surrounding the Holocaust. It's normal to not want something as serious as that trivialized.

There were some talking points in the video I didn't cover because I'm on mobile and I didn't have as much to say about it. The link is there for anyone to watch it and take away their own opinion afterwards.

My opinion is that I think JKR handled this poorly, but I do not think she is a Nazi nor do I think she is denying the Holocaust.

[nalachew]

so here's the thing

I see a lot of ppl on here shunning other ppl who still enjoy harry potter or ppl who call themselves 'harry potter fans' despite joanne rowling's destructive and radical terf-ism. and I get it. I GET it. like, wow, great to know someone I used to admire could be so discriminating and openly hateful to a group of people already fucking suffering so hard

but here's the thing

I can enjoy my childhood of harry potter fun times whilst recognising joanne as the terf force that she is. sure, I'm no longer gonna support any of her works or opinions that she unleashes unasked to the world, but those books are a huge part of me. of myself growing up. and though the books themselves harbour NO queer characters, few characters of different race, and no trans ppl at all - in my mind, they do. in my world of hp, hogwarts be gay as fuck. u tellin me that dumbledore wouldn't be stanning ALL of the lgbtqia++ pupils??

in my interpretation, hogwarts is a safe space. for anyone and everyone who feels different. I feel that once JOANNE (said with sardonic scorn) shared the world she created it no longer belonged to her - it belongs to everyone who felt called to it. everyone preaches death of the author but, as she is still living, I hope ppl can learn a way to separate the works of fiction from their ill-educated and ignorant harm-inducing author so they can still enjoy a story that -from the outset- promised to share the importance of the power of togetherness, love, friendship, and equality.

and look - I'm not saying the books are flawless BELIEVE ME (house elves ahem goblins ahem judaism ahem heck urh ) I'm only saying that, in my hogwarts, harry saw the whole slavery thing and actually did shit about it

anyways, to sum up. fuck you joanne. you nearly ruined 3/4s of my childhood. but fuck you, I'm queer and I'm reclaiming it

trans lives matter. do not endorse jk rowling. give her nothing.

(p.s. pls note I mean nothing of any harm or offence to anyone identifying as trans. I don't mean to cause you pain or insult, I am merely justifying my younger self's escapism into hp during a time of a lotta death and its impact on me and my growth, whilst acknowledging and despising joanne's hateful preach against a heavily marginalised group of people. I stand with you, hopeful, not against you. any hate you perceive is ignorance. message me so I can do better. best wishes x)

[do-angels-dream-of-starry-seas]

I got a question re: your last HP post. I was given a full set of the movie dvds by my (now ex) sister-in-law. I never watched 'em, but I've been curious for years about the movies. I did not pay for them and they were all bought second hand anyway. Is it fine to watch them sometime? I don't have any of the books except a 🏴‍☠️ epub of the first one. I also loathe JKR and all she stands for and pray daily for the devastating failure of the upcoming tv series. ✌

So this is coming from someone who was never a fan of HP, but has followed the discourse since the beginning, and is autistic and fully understand the feeling of special interests being That Strong.

Whenever people ask me whether it's okay to watch A Thing, I try to take it out of the mindset of "is this problematic" and turn it into "what is the impact of me watching this".

What do I mean by this? Take HP Lovecraft: the guy was racist as fuck, but he's dead. Nothings gonna happen if you consume his stuff, he's not getting paid for it. Then take Homestuck: the story is from what I gather a good story, but there's elements in it thats inherently antisemitic and racist thanks to its author. You can't exactly ignore it, or twist it, so you have to acknowledge these elements so you don't internalize it.

What happens if you combine these two exs? You get HP.

JK Rowling not only has moments in her story that are questionable at best (slavery of a race being justified) and actively fucking harmful at worst (please look at why Hogwarts Legacy is antisemitic, if you are unaware - I won't get into it here, since I'm not knowledgeable enough on that topic) - but she's still alive and profiting off of it at this very moment, using it to fund anti-trans legislation in the UK.

It is not a matter anymore of whether it's alright to consume HP; it is quite literally a transphobic dogwhistle, with JK once saying that anyone who's still a fan of HP is actually supporting her!

It's a sad situation, and unfortunately the only solution atm until she dies (hopefully painfully - and even then it depends on how her estate is used thereafter), is to let its pop culture hold on society die by not acknowledging it

[franki-lew-yo]

About the 'Roald Dahl edits'

Can someone please just show me an actual, undoctored picture of the changes being made to which books?

That's all I ask! I keep seeing absurd clearly liberal-mocking fake scans that no book company would ever make being presented as "evidence" of the changes. Don't do that. Show me a list of the changes.

Welp, I'm writing about this because, as I've expressed before, I love Roald Dahl as a writer but I don't like him as a person. That's the thing about some people's work- it just comes with the territory that they are at LEAST 'problematic' given the creators worldview; Dahl, Lovecraft, Tezuka, Uncle Walt, even my German-crabapple daddy Ted Geisel. I'm not gonna @ these dead ppl for DARING to not be up to my modern liberal standards no more than I am gonna paint them as REAL LIBERATORS bcuz I want them to be -! When it comes to removing books from circulation or editing out words, I understand.

Regarding the changes though...I really haven't seen anything that's too wild?? Yet.

As a brief aside, I think it'd be better for everyone if The Witches was just removed from publication. It's Dahl's most offensive book when you combine it with his real world politics. And again I say screw the accusations that this book is 'sexist' when the problem with it is that it's antisemetic and so was Dahl.

But honestly? Changing the line to be "some ladies do wear wigs and there's nothing wrong with that" works with Dahl's writing style. Same with calling Augustus Gloop 'enormous'. Same effect in place, just without the sting of just calling a child fat.

Now, if these lines are left in place while Luke's grandma's explaining in the text how "no, don't pick at people's hair even if they're wearing gloves they aren't all witches" are given the boot, I can understand some outrage. But, again, to me I think this is better proof as to why Witches should just be left alone and maybe not published anymore. The og text did provide context, the problem is that the book itself is racist by asserting that all witches are 'evil', and that the only reason to not bother women with wigs and gloves is they "may not be a witch". That's messed up, even if it weren't alluding to any real life antisemetic-isms. Asideaside-- I'd be very curious to see how the The Twits is changed if it's changed at all. Twits has this very poignant description of how, no matter how unconventional you are, you can never be 'ugly' if you are good and sweet- where no matter how "pretty" you are, if you are an ugly person inside people will see you that way. It's a really good breakdown of that phenomena even though it's still technically bodyshaming. Also, they're monkeys, not people (take that as you will) but The Twits is about an abused family of stolen monkeys and birds tricking the Twits, who are their captors, into killing themselves and then returning to the wild where they belong. --- Anyway...removing the part of BFG where the giants says humans of different country's taste different or Mr. Grasshopper's awful quip about Mexicans in James and the Giant Peach isn't any skin off my nose. Especially if they are going to read to young kids today, kids don't need to hear that kind of language. Philly Pullman can disagree with me all he wants but personally I think these books, not their author's squeaky image or politics, deserve to live on.

That being said-

I would be upset if changes were made that started insisting that characters who were fat AREN'T fat, now. Or that the white cis cast Dahl wrote were now being described as bipoc or genderfluid when they weren't. Let's not pull a JK Rowling here. Yes, it is true that for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald both a) wanted Charlie and the Buckets to be a black-British family and b) removed racist descriptions of the Oompa Loompas within his lifetime from real life pygmies to a fantasy-race. That's awfully neat of him for someone so much of turdwhich. Those kinds of changes are best for adaptations and reinventions of the stories. But it'd be indecent of the publishers to suddenly push the idea that the Buckets are black and always have been now, and/or that the Oompa Loompas can't still be racist somewhat just because they aren't depicting a real life ethnic group. To alter the original text of the books well after Dahl's death to be more 'friendly' IS the kind of censorship and historical revisionism to be wary of.

It's there that Pullman's comments of 'read another book' ring true: If you can't take that the book has some problematicisms in it, I tell you there are other children's books to read! By making the text of the books 'progressive by modern audiences' standards, that'd be erasing this very discussion and, more importantly, the concerns of BIPOC/Jewish people everywhere.

That'd be like if Disney rereleased Fantasia and had a redesigned, less offensive Sunflower in the background. That'd be disgusting, not because Sunflower shouldn't be reclaimed or redesigned, but because that's a company wanting to hide from the mistakes of the past in order to sell more stuff to you and make you trust them. I'd love me a black Charlie Bucket, but in a new version of Chocolate Factory, not an attempt to hide liberals from the fact that uncle Dahl was racist.

That's what I think should be continued, both as a way to keep his work alive and also to diss Dahl from beyond the grave: adapt his works!!!

Fantastic Mr. Fox, Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, BFG, and Willy Wonka are awesome. Dahl hated changes to his stories being made for film....so change his stories for film! Some things have to change and should change. While the 2020 Netflix The Witches was bad, I could get on board making Luke and the humans in the story people of color. That has the potential to turn the connotations of the original on it's head; instead of witches being a metaphor for 'secret societies' they'd be an illusion to real life organizations that tout themselves as kind and homely and traditional but are actually pure evil. How the witches specifically target children of certain demographics only for the dog to bite back and fight them with their own medicine- also keep the nice witch from the 80s film.

None of these changes would ever fix the fact that the og book is what it is, but they're an example of why adaptation, not revisionism, is so important.

Don't hide from mistakes of the past. That's why I'm as upfront with you all about my inspiration for my works being Dahl and Dr. Seuss. These people are not perfect and they're also not my own essence of creativity- but you can believe I was inspired to write because of them. Dana Terrace absolutely has Harry Potter to thank for The Owl House-it doesn't mean Owl House should pay for Harry Potter's sins. Let Owl House pay for it's own sins, thank you!

When it comes to problematic/ offensive work of the past, we should not be hiding from them. Teach kids and adults to think critically and learn that their white-made nostalgia is biased and bad sometimes. When it comes to problematic/ offensive works by still living authors, please just don't by Hogwarts Legacy.

That's all I got. Feel welcome to @ or message me if there's something my white-Gentile-ness forgot or am leaving out. I want to have an actual conversation about this cuz I think it's important. This post also kept me from falling asleep midday again.

[where-fading-princesses-live]

People don't create for money (or shouldn't)

This has been bugging me.

I guess there's been a misconception here about why people write books.

I am not an author, but I have friends who are writers, some published (like Denny Reese), and others are just starting out and never been published before like Sarah Rose and Catharine. Some of my friends even make fancomics like Gabi and Kayla but they're darn good fancomics at that!

But here's the thing.

If you think people are writing books or making art for the sole purpose of making money that's a wrong assumption and here's why.

I follow a ''Writers helping Writers'' Facebook group and all these struggling writers get advice from published authors. And I've read their posts and I've listened to what Denny has had to say, having been through it, and according to most people, realistically, most writers don't generate a big income no matter if it's a bestseller or not. Sure, *certain* authors make millions, like JK Rowling, but she is a rare exception. Very few authors become millionaires off their work alone even if they're moderately successful. Most writers take other jobs to make a living. Most lecture at colleges or teach English because publishing books doesn't really bring in a lot of money and I guess according to some who work in the publishing world, royalties are not what they used to be either. According to Denny (and this is something I didn't know beforehand) but especially for writers who sell on Amazon, I guess Amazon takes most of the profit anyway and Denny has said most writers don't push Amazon sales because they don't make much! He has even said ''Other people have made more money on my book than I have.''

Did he do it for the money? NO. And he has other businesses to pay the bills. His books are selling and successful but he is not rich, and he has two books out and another one on its way. So if it doesn't make money why do people do it?

Because they genuinely enjoy writing!

They want to tell stories. They want to share with the world a subject they're passionate about. Most writers are writing from the bottom of their heart, and in Denny's case, he's written a book about the Gomer Pyle series as a fan for fans! There weren't any other books about it and so he put one out for us! He didn't do it for the money.

And my friend sarah Rose is writing a Jim Nabors bio. She has no book deal, she has no agent, she's never published before and she makes no money as an English tutor but she's been funding research out of pocket just because it's something she really enjoys doing! And no one is paying her to do it! she probably won't make back half of what she spent on the project but she's doing it anyway NOT FOR THE MONEY but because she has a story she wants to tell, as a fan for the fans! It comes from a place of love, in honoring this man's life, not profiting from it, and yes, a lot of fans want to read the book and a lot of friends of Jim want to read it too! Ruth Buzzi wants to read it, Karen Morrow wants to read it... and it's not for the money. Even Hollywood bios don't make a lot of money these days unless you're an A-list Hollywood director or actor... the agent will probably take so much percent of it and the publisher will take the other the other half of the cut I guess? (I'm not exactly sure how that works but that's the gist of what I've heard).

So many people have written books about Mayberry and most of them didn't make money, and most of them are out of print these days but they were created with love and were by fans for fans, to preserve the humanity and the spirit of the show. It didn't make anybody rich!

So people who think that writers write for the money, you're dead wrong and have unrealistic expectations when it comes to publishing!

If there are writers out there wanting to make a fast buck then writing is NOT the way to do it ... it is NOT a money making field (or at least it's not the most money making field) unless you're a cult leader who writes a self-help book or something. You'd be better off becoming a dentist because writing takes a tremendous amount of time, effort, skill, and the most dedicated ones pour all their sweat blood and tears into their work and may NEVER see their work on a bookstore shelf. But they do it anyway and they keep trying and pushing through the rejection! even if it slowly kills them, they keep writing because writing for them is like breathing. It's a way of life. It's a way they express themselves. A writer is not what they are it's WHO they are and they know nothing else.

So I read a post from a guy who wrote 6 books so far. He said: ''All of them were written in those times when I wasn’t seeing patients, kids are in bed, and my wife fell asleep. I turn on the gentle light, and I write. The books take up the time and energy that I can’t spare. And they bring really no income to speak of. Retire on them? I don’t see how.

But, I write them. It organizes my mind. Writing regularly creates order in my mind. Some people meditate. Some pray. I write.''

I think that perfectly sums it up. This guys has a day job and he raises a family and he still writes even if it doesn't support him financially. He writes because it's a passion of his.

Most writers don't get rich and famous, that's just the reality, but that's not why most people do it.

There are so many other jobs and career options out there that will make more money than becoming a writer.

So anyway, just to clear the air, for most writers, the motivation for writing a book has never been money (or shouldn't be).

Sure, it would be nice to be able to support yourself off your art, and it doesn't make you a bad person if you do make some money from it, because let's face it, that's almost like saying, ''Oh that singer shouldn't make an album to make money'' or ''That actor shouldn't do that TV series to make money!'' Well yeah and most don't it FOR the money, they do it because they enjoy creating, but you know, artists gotta eat, too, and even they can't be putting on concerts or making movies for free, they gotta support themselves! But they don't do it FOR the money. It's not the only reason. It's a job, yes, but it's also their sentiment and if we're gonna fault people for selling commissions of their work, then you clearly are just horrible and judgemental for no reason who obviously isn't a starving artist.

Here's a quote from Mike Awoyinfa, journalist, publisher and author:

''It’s not about riches. It is about having a good, original story,  carrying it in your head like pregnancy, nurturing it and giving birth  to it in the labour room of solitude, passion and persistence.''

Azubuike Ishiekwene: journalist, author:

''Riches and fame are, in a sense, relative. I think contentment and purpose are the key things.''

Artists feel fulfilled when we create something even if nothing comes from it. I went to art school to be an animator. For Disney or Pixar or something... Did I? No. Will I ever? Probably not. I've been working retail since I've been out of school and I was rejected from Cal Arts.  I don't draw as much as I used to and I've never sold my art, but I doodle occasionally because it's still fun for me even if it didn't end up paying my rent.

But we're content, right? Most of us are living in poverty, but we're rich in the soul because we love to create and make things that make us happy, even if the rest of the world doesn't like it, it doesn't matter because it's our own personal accomplishment and self fulfillment.

Anyway it just irks me when people think writers or artists do it for the money because no you're wrong and you're obviously not a writer or an artist if you think that way. You should see how empty my bank account is and my friends, always looking for work, never knowing where our next pay check is going to be coming from and none of us got rich and famous from our creations but hey we still do it in our spare time because we love it!