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Snowflake Challenge - Days 2 & 3
Yay, the next day of the Snowflake Challenge is upon us! I’ve decided to do the 2nd and 3rd challenge in one go, since I think they go very well together.
Snowflake Challenge - Day 2
Since I can think of so many fanworks I’d love to bring to everyone’s attention, I’ve decided to do three x three recs instead of just three in total :D
The first three are fics that everybody already knows I love, but I just wanted to mention them again for good measure. The second set are recs that I don’t normally bring up, since they’re quite unusual and don’t always fit into my fannish conversations. The last three recs in the list are for myself more than anyone else. These are fics that I’ve wanted to read for a while, but somehow never got around to do. I hope that calling myself out on that in public will make me get to them faster. Feel free to share your thoughts about them with me if you've read them!
Predictable recs
Light on the Dark Side of Me - Cocoa-snape (Snarry, 114k words, and has an unfinished sequel)
I actually don’t talk about this fic that often, but it's one of my gateway fics into Snarry. This one hit me hard when I read it. Although Harry is the protagonist, most of the fic revolves around Snape and how he deals with the horrific things he has to do as a Death-Eater. These horrific things don’t really include rape and torture; no, they are much more personal than that and therefore all the more painful. It’s not difficult to imagine what Snape is going through. Yet, despite all Snape’s sufferings, this fic is at its heart an exploration of the relationship between Snape, Harry and Dumbledore, done in a way that I haven’t really seen elsewhere. It’s moving, it’s intense, it’s often sad and very painful - Yes, I loved this fic a lot when I first read it, almost 5 years ago. I'm not sure I'll ever reread it though, because I doubt I’ll have the same emotional response to it and I don’t want to spoil the memory. I definitely remember this fic with fondness, however.
Morior Animus – Vain (Snape & Harry gen, 15k)
I have already mentioned this fic about a hundred times, on at least 20 different webpages, to everyone who was willing to listen, but I don’t care; I love this story and I'll gladly mention it a hundred times more. It’s short and restrained, yet still manages to be incredibly emotional. Even though Vain tells you almost from the start what’s going to happen, and slowly takes you through every step to get there, when the thing eventually happens, it still manages to pack a mighty punch. It’s darn impressive is what it is.
The characterisations are also fantastic. Harry is brave and resigned, but still has his human doubts and fears. Snape appears cold and aloof, but he’s fooling no one. Dumbledore hardly appears in the fic, but still manages to cast a large shadow over the proceedings anyway. It’s darn impressive and I love this fic to bits.
But It’s Better If You Do and it's sequel It’s Best If You Don’t – Dracofiend (Snarry, 10k in total)
I read these when I was feeling a bit tired of Snarry because I had read too many fluffy fics, but Dracofiend hit me right in the feels and pulled me back to the ship in no time. In this one, Harry goes into hiding after the war and everyone starts looking for him. Snape finds him first and he doesn’t care in the least, which may or may not be exactly what Harry wants. These fics are intense, very angsty and not a little dark. There isn’t a fluffy word to be found here :D. On top of all that goodness, the writing is absolutely gorgeous, so you get the best of all worlds with this one!
Not quite predictable recs
Needs Must – Delphi (Snape/ Filch, 2.4k)
This is the first Snilch I ever read. I’ve absolutely no idea what compelled me to click on it, but boy, is it a great fic! If I ever had any doubts about this ship, they were completely obliterated after reading this. All the reasons Delphi mentions in this fic for why these two men work together, make perfect sense and I’m a thoroughly converted Snilch shipper now.
T0il_n_Tr0uble -
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
acid and Sinick (Snarry gen, maybe about a 15 minute read)Toil ‘n Trouble is a webcomic by Acid and Sinick. It currently consists of about 15 little one-page stories that can be read separately and not necessarily in a particular order, though you’ll understand a little bit better what’s going on if you start at the bottom and work your way to the top. The short stories are beautifully drawn and usually very funny to read. I went through them all in one go when Acid first told me about them and still revisit them occasionally when the mood strikes. This webcomic is just delightful and I’m sure all of you will love it!
Thranduil cosplay music video – Thranduart (The Hobbit, gen)
For something completely different, a video from the Hobbit fandom created by a Thranduil cosplayer. The video is a parody of Lady Gaga’s song ‘Donatella’, which is about fashion and therefore suits Thranduil perfectly, right? Right! The beginning of the video is very funny and shows Thranduil being his own fab self in his home and other settings from the Hobbit movies. As the video continues, it becomes more a celebration of cosplaying, which is unfortunately lost on me since I’m not a cosplayer myself. However, I'm very impressed by the amount of time and effort all these people must have put into their costumes!
Fics that I've yet to read
Long Summer Series – ellen_fremedon (Snarry, 53k)
I’ve actually already started on this fic. It’s a three-part series and I’ve read the first. I thought it was incredibly well-written. The characterisations really spoke to me, the storytelling was engaging and I was very curious to see how it would unfold. However, the other parts of the series are a lot longer than the first and I didn’t have the time for them at that moment, so I took a break. Since then I’ve found it quite difficult to get back into the fic, even though I really want to because I know I’ll thoroughly enjoy it.
Yearning – Mandy/ geneticallydead (Snarry, 22k)
I loved another fic by this fanfic writer and have been meaning to start on this for ages. If the other fic is any indication, I’ll enjoy this one a lot. The summary definitely sounds very promising. Yet I haven’t yet been able to sit down and really go for it, even though the fic isn’t all that long.
Anything by
perverse_idyllI’ve wanted to read something from this writer for ages. I have a very similar taste to her and her meta always really speaks to me, so I’ve no doubt I’ll enjoy her fic as well. Yet there’s always something holding me back from giving it a go. Even when I sit down, open one of her fics and fully intend to read it, I find myself becoming strangely nervous and click the fic away again. It’s bloody annoying to be so intimidated by a few words on a screen. I wish I knew why, so I can finally enjoy these fics the way I’m sure they deserve.
Snowflake Challenge - Day 3
Rec a piece of original canon and explain why you love it so much.
For this challenge I've chosen to share a soundtrack, from the 3rd HP movie, namely Double Trouble (composed by John Williams, lyrics from Macbeth, by Shakespeare).
I enjoy listening to soundtracks in general, since they make for great background music. The HP movies especially have some fantastic tracks and there are quite a few that I love to listen to. However, if I had to pick a favourite, it would definitely be Double Trouble, since this song encapsulates the 'Harry Potter feeling' to me. It's magical, it sounds happy on the surface, but has an undertone of sadness to it. There's somthing melancholic and wistful about it, which the HP series as a whole also has (at least to me). I also love how the songs ends with a loud 'something wicked this way comes!', as a clear indicator for what is to come, both in the 3rd movie and the later ones. To me, this is the perfect HP song and it's my personal theme song for the whole series.
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I agree that writing can be very stressful, so I understand. As I said earlier, I think 4 fics in a year is very impressive and you should be very proud of having written them! Still sorry to hear you're not going to participate in the Thon, but I completely understand why. I hope you'll still find some time to relax in the coming few months!
So happy to hear you loved Toil 'n Trouble! Hope you enjoy the rest of it too, because the comic is worth it!
Re. PI's fics. Yeah, I remember our conversation about .... fic :p. Other than that mystery fic, I've read a couple other hugely popular ones last year that I also didn't enjoy as much as everyone else, which I feel strangely guilty about. I think that also plays a role in making me feel somewhat weary of committing to other well-known fics, so reading a more obscure one by PI seems like the best course of action now. 'Dark' and 'Fairytale-like' are pretty much the magic words when you want me to read something, so The Lost World is making its way to the top my TBR :D
Nope, I haven't seen Hannibal. If you hadn't guessed yet, I'm not much of a tv show watcher . I have heard a lot about Hannibal though and I knew it was dark, but if it's also fairytale-like, then it definitely sounds like something I'd enjoy. Thanks for the rec!
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The imagery and cinematography is probably the best I've ever seen on television. Every murder/crime scene is constructed like a work of art. Basically the show depicts violence & death as a monstrous sort of elegance and beauty. It's unlike anything I've ever seen, which made me think it had a sort of fairytale quality, but it's more accurate to describe it as dreamlike or nightmarish. And entirely psychologically driven. Will's gift for empathy allows him to put himself in the mind of killers – to the point where he starts feeling like one. His boss is worried about him, so he orders him to see a therapist. The therapist... is Dr Hannibal Lecter, who is secretly a serial killer. He sees a kindred spirit in Will, and instead of helping him, sets out to drive him mad, break him and remake him in his own image. It's very dark, and if you're uncomfortable with graphic violence or gore I'm not sure I'd recommend it. But it's really quite extraordinary. They are the only two people who can possibly understand each other; they cannot coexist, but also cannot survive without each other. It's very Snarry-like in that way. And the ship is all completely there on screen, in canon. Eventually, Will asks another character with total seriousness: "Is Hannibal in love with me?"
Oops, look at me rambling like a crazy Hannibal fangirl. I'm going to start a new comment to reply to the rest of yours because this is already way too long! (Please don't feel like you have to reply to all these comments by the way. I totally won't mind if you skip or ignore any of them!) <3
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Thank you as always for your kind words about my writing. I am strangely proud to have written 4 fics, even if I look at them now and want to change so much about them! Even my Snapecase one that I thought I quite liked... now that I have a bit of distance from it, I'm freaking out because I can see so many flaws and am questioning whether it's even good! :D People seemed to respond well though, so I should probably stop being so hard on myself.
I'm kind of interested in which other popular fics you didn't enjoy as much as other people! Although, I do wonder whether your lack of enjoyment was at least in part because of your 'Snarry fatigue'. Maybe if you had read them at another time, you might have felt differently? Either way, you definitely shouldn't feel guilty about whatever reaction you had.
Ok, I'll stop spamming you with comments now <3