write about love

hello!

i'm not here anymore and i'm certainly never writing hp fic again, but if anyone wanted some kind of... closure? idk? on the hufflepuff draco series... here's the outline ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ literally just copied and pasted the entire doc here. for reference "quatch" was an in-joke name for quidditch with me & ao3 user aroceu.

( here it is )

tonight, for the first time in literally months, i managed to write fic again. two thousand words in one big stretch. i'm continuing work on the hufflepuff draco series, and i will once again apologise for my glacial pace, as i noticed it's been over two years since i posted the first part. in all fairness, the newly minted dr. renaissance (i'll stop showing off about it soon, i promise) has been doing other things. but hopefully i can put something out again soon! i know this sounds corny, but i have been kind of humbled by my weird little genfic about hufflepuff draco learning to be a good kid reaching 300 kudos. i promise you he makes even more progress in part 2. (who among us hasn't daydreamed about deradicalising draco malfoy at the tender age of twelve?)

the other thing: it's a weird time to be a hp fan right now. there are plenty of terrible takes floating around, not least of all jkr's. some people think we have to abandon the books/fandom wholesale. some people have decided hp doesn't belong to jkr anymore; others have rightly pointed out that there have always been flaws in the series, and that we can't separate the author from the works. mostly i have been feeling uncomfortable because it's been widely known that jkr is a terf for quite a while now, but i guess it took a "fuck it, mask off" moment for people to pay attention on such a grand scale. i first worked through a version of this many years ago, as a teen, when i became more aware of racist and antisemitic tropes and the way they're employed in hp. could i have chalked that up to ignorance? not after she kept perpetuating those tropes in the fantastic beasts movies. with jkr's terf activity on twitter, i don't think there's ever been any question about it. so to that end, i'm glad people are finally taking it seriously.

my stance on it is basically, people who need to step away from the fandom can and should be given the space to do that peacefully and quietly. i don't seek to defend my participation in a fandom for a series of books made by someone i fundamentally dislike and disagree with for her bigoted views. it's just, with childhood nostalgia, things get sticky. as much as we can't separate jkr's harmful beliefs from the hp series and its flaws, it's also hard for many of us to separate ourselves (and our fic, and our headcanons) from our love for the series. yes, the hp series has antisemitic features to it. yes, i projected on anthony goldstein as a jewish kid because i recognised his jewish surname, and no, i cannot excise my love for the version of his character and his world that i've created. harry potter, the series, cannot exist independently of jkr's bigotry. but the fandom can, and on many levels does, and has for years.

i've revisited my feelings on this, as i do every time jkr's bigotry is in the spotlight. maybe one day i'll change my mind and be on my way, but for now, i'm still here. i have devoted so much time and love to hp fic and the hp fandom. i will continue to put love into my works, and to uplift everyone else in this community: especially lgbt fans, fans of colour, and jewish fans.

so anyway, if you need me, i'll be expanding the anthony goldstein cinematic universe. (yes, huffledraco will also have him in it eventually.) peace.

for this edition of the sunshine challenge, i'm going to share my favourite fics of all time - the ones that have stayed with me in some way, where i've fallen in love with the writing and the setting and the interpretations of the characters. some of them are popular, some of them are hidden gems. all of them are exceptional. and after that i'm going to rec a few of my own fics, because hey, self-recs are allowed in this challenge, and i love to show off!


A Duet by mustntgetmy - Harry Potter, Sirius/Remus - M - 24k

not to scare you off, but this rec begins with a warning: not for the faint-hearted. it's neither graphic nor deals with particularly heavy scenes, but it is incredibly, deeply sad and affecting. of course, this is why it's earnt its place in my list of all-time faves. i read this whole fic in one sitting and absorbed it into my heart. i love what the author does with the canon divergence premise: sirius is in slytherin, and the way he comes into remus' life is very cleverly done. (i won't spoil it for you.) there's also a lot of really exquisite writing throughout, a strong setting of a kind that's rarely matched in fic. you'll be sad, but you'll be happy about it.


A Little Disguised, or a Little Mistaken by Page161of180 - The Magicians, Quentin/Eliot - M - 18k

you know those fics that just reach inside your mind and pull out everything you love, sticking it all in one story and making you believe that mind reading is real? yeah. this is a brian/nigel fic as well as a quentin/eliot fic - which will make sense if you've watched the magicians, i promise - and it's heavily peppered with pride and prejudice references. there's humour, there's intense romance, there's a lot of bittersweet moments, and there is some very clever plotting. it's engrossing; this is another fic i read in one sitting as it slowly took over my life. i also think you should read everything else this author has written, by the by.


Blackbird by sixpences - Yuri!!! on Ice, Yuuri/Viktor - M - 103k

what is there to say about blackbird that isn't just incoherent sobbing? this is a very, very good fic. the premise is that yuuri and viktor meet as spies during the second world war, and the fic chronicles their growing relationship over several years. hard politics is never overlooked, and every action has real consequences. you can tell that the fic is impeccably researched, and all of these details that shine through really help to ground the story in place and time. i read this as it was coming out, but it's equally satisfying to read it as a finished product, to notice all the foreshadowing. you don't need to have watched yoi to enjoy this. if you read one fic off this list, make it this one.


[ao3-locked] ode to apollo 13 by beautify - Yuri!!! on Ice, Yuuri/Viktor - E - 67k

this is another AU take on yuri on ice, this time in the form of a space opera. the chief reason this story has stayed with me is because it's an incredible feat of worldbuilding and descriptive writing. from the interiors of spaceships to the wild outdoors of different planets, from the medicine to the engineering, this is a fic with a lot of thought behind it. and as a bonus, it's also an exes AU: the flashbacks to viktor and yuuri's relationship on earth, before they both took to the stars, are some of the most vivid and poignant scenes you'll find in any fic. it's a feat of spectacle, and i guarantee you'll be swept away.


Seven Simple Machines by fluorescentgrey - Harry Potter, Sirius/Remus - M - 59k

if you've ever talked to me about fics i like, you'll probably have already been subjected to my rec for seven simple machines. this is an extraordinary work of fiction, a collection of seven sirius/remus AUs that tie together in the most incredible climax. each AU is self-contained, masterfully crafted, and contains a wealth of detail, from the historic settings to the speculative. the writing is uniquely brilliant. as i mentioned, i love fics with a sense of place, and this has a sense of so many different places, each one delivered for you to get lost in anew. it's a fic that feels like a movie. it's an artwork. read it.


self recs

i feel a little silly putting these fics alongside the masterpieces above, but i also need to learn to stop engaging in casual self-deprecation and value my writing more. also i write a LOT of fics. so here we go. i'm going to spread this across the same fandoms as above.

my number #1 self rec is always do something pretty (while you can). i just love it so much. the premise is simple and ridiculous: a yuri!!! on ice 00s high school au, heavily based on the movie clueless. i researched like mad, wrote in american english for verisimilitude (i am australian, so this was wild), and went through a rigorous editing process to make this as tight and cinematic as possible. i'm incredibly proud of the finished product, though it's not one of my more popular fics. if you read this for one reason, read it for viktor's short-lived emo phase.

these days i'm most active in the harry potter fandom, so i have quite a few self recs here. in general, my hp fic that i'm most proud of is The Accidental Renaissance of Zacharias Smith. if you don't remember who zacharias is, or you do and you hate him - he's the guy in my icon, and he's the worst, but don't worry, if you read this fic you'll love him as much as i do. this fic is kind of my magnum opus, my testament to my love of minor characters. i've written a lot of fics about zacharias and the other much under-loved hufflepuffs and ravenclaws of harry's grade (actually, zach's grade is not canon, but by the power of deductive reasoning which i really should post here on DW, it's most likely that he is in harry's grade.) if you're interested in reading more about these characters, i invite you to start with and whose army? (canon divergence AU where the war goes on well past 7th year), and then nothing much to shout about (canon compliant second war teenage britpop shenanigans).

if you're here for the wolfstar, i've got a few of those two. my favourites are Shadowplay (a first war canon divergence AU based on the man from uncle) and the time when you were mine (a modern AU with texting and silliness but also Emotions). if you don't like ships, read Learning to Fly, which is a hufflepuff draco AU that i will be continuing one day... and i mean it will have shipping but it's predominantly gen, especially for now, since they're still kids.

finally, the magicians: my friend and i have started posting a massive three-part canon rewrite, the first of which is A Spell to Bind All Magicians. look, it's only got chapter one up for now, but it's going to be good. it's going to be great. i also have a couple other solo magicians fics but i've rec'd a lot already so i will leave it there. thanks for reading!

1. primary: what you value
2. secondary: how you strive for your values
3. tertiary: where you can go if you're under pressure
4. antithesis: the opposite of what defines you

to elaborate; this maintains jkr's assessment that where you're sorted is based on what you value. your primary house is where you'd end up with the hat on your head. this by no means precludes you from having traits from your primary house that apply to other aspects of your personality, nor does it mean you can't value things outside your primary house. (e.g. lots of primary slytherins, who value ambition and cunning, will also happen to have those traits fitting the other descriptors - the key is they work to emulate these traits because they value them.) it's about the best fit. what fits best is going to give the most complete description, allowing for nuance outside the framework.

the way i usually type a character is "top down." i start by thinking which hogwarts house i'd sort them into, based on the values system, and then pick a secondary based on their actions in canon. once you've got the secondary, it can often be hard to separate the tertiary and antithesis, especially if you're working with a minor character or fresh new OC. i try to pick the tertiary first, but sometimes the antithesis is more immediately evident. you might even find an antithesis before you work out the secondary and tertiary. there is of course no wrong way to do this, since it's something i made up for kicks and am posting on the internet (lol), but i would suggest that starting from the primary is the best approach.

if you like mbti, it may help to think of this as a pared down version of that system. each house placement here is a function. your primary and tertiary are extroverted functions - i.e. they explain how you interact with the world around you - and secondary and antithesis are introverted functions - i.e. they explain how you internalise and create a sense of self. a character will always exhibit more primary and tertiary traits than secondary, but getting know them and the inner workings of their mind will very clearly reveal their secondary and antithesis.

it's best to learn by example. let's break down how i sort harry potter himself:

1. G: harry values courage in the face of adversity, daring, and being outspoken. he has more sympathy for people he dislikes who are brave than those he likes who become cowardly.
2. S: the way harry works towards his goals - i.e., the communication of his values & ideals to people around him - is through a whole lot of moxy, ambition & cunning.
3. H: under pressure, harry turns to his friends. he is capable of working hard if the situation calls for it, but it's not the kind of thing he'd turn to without external pressure.
4. R: harry is defined by his lack of interest in the acquisition of knowledge and creative thinking - in other words, he is more content to do things by the book/in ways he's done them before than to look for new ways on his own.

one of the common pitfalls of personality typing systems is they almost seem to pass judgement on the person being typed. i want to impress that none of these things are value judgements, except the primary house as a judgement of what someone values. saying that harry has no interest in learning is not to say he should - just that it's an aspect of his personality that he doesn't have that interest.

harry's character is pretty solid for us, since he's the protagonist. let's take draco as an example of how we can fit a more secondary character to this system:

1. S: perhaps because of how he was brought up, draco values people who are ambitious, traditional, and isolationist. it's clear from his actions, especially in hbp, that he emulates cunning thinking in his approach to taking on a task.
2. H: draco achieves his goals by exploiting his extensive support network. it's not just from environmental factors - he seems to naturally rely on others and enjoy having loyalties, going both ways.
3. R: again using hbp as my evidence, it seems like draco turns to obscure knowledge and fairly creative thinking in high-pressure situations.
4. G: to me, draco's gryffindor antithesis is more evident than his tertiary ravenclaw. he is constantly shown to disregard brazen acts of courage. he freezes in situations that require him to act against the norm and seldom shows bravery himself.

i hope from this you can get an idea of the rudiments of this system! feel free to ask for other character typings (i have a fair few of them kicking about for hp), or to come disagree with me in the comments. if you want to use the system to type characters yourself, please link back to this explanation - not just because my secondary slytherin wants credit, but because my primary ravenclaw thinks it's a good idea to have a concise point of reference so you won't have to explain everything a second time :)

this is a very open question (it didn't need to be a fanwork, but i went with that in the spirit of fannish positivity) and as such i am giving a particularly strange answer. as some of you might know, my forever fandom is the harry potter fandom. i was an awful, contrary little child and for a few years i refused to read harry potter because everyone liked it, therefore it was too mainstream for me. when i was 9, on a few-hours flight home with my parents, they bought me philosopher's stone to read. i had always been restless, but for that one flight i read non-stop and didn't look up once—and i haven't looked back since.

so, i started writing harry potter fanfic shortly after, of the very basic sort that children write, self-inserts and simple plots. i found online communities at 11, and published my first fic at 12. i very quickly discovered that i had a niche in the harry potter fandom: i was absolutely taken with the minor characters in harry's grade who never got much of the spotlight except in their roles in dumbledore's army. in particular, i was passionate about anthony goldstein, because as a young jew who was lacking representation and role models (outside of, like, rugrats,) the surname "goldstein" leapt off the page at me, and as they say, the rest is history. unfortunately for my budding obsession with anthony goldstein, michael corner, and terry boot (who were barely mentioned in the half-blood prince! i was scandalised!) there was always very little fan content. enter the hp lexicon.

in a world before wikia, the lexicon was there for those of us who were sticklers for canon and needed the detail in our fics to be absolutely perfect. i don't remember exactly how old i was when i stumbled upon it, but it very quickly became another obsession. apart from wiki-like cataloguing, the lexicon also has essays asking the big questions about the potterverse, deconstructing its minutiae with love, never pretension. this was pure, earnest attention to detail, and it was one of the best things i could've been exposed to as a kid. i read all the essays and absorbed their details into my version of canon, but there was one essay in particular that has stuck with me forever.

it's this: secrets of the classlist by diana summers. it's an in-depth demographic study of the known (and unknown) students in harry's grade, and it places them all over britain and gets into issues like class, religion, and ethnicity. some parts of the essay are a little reaching, such as the assumption that terry boot is from an evangelical family just because of the possible reference to jesse boot, or the idea that justin finch-fletchley will meet a violent death because finches are small and vulnerable and fletchley means "field of arrow heads." (and the customary blaise zabini speculation!) but that aside, i'm glad i read this when i was fresh and new to fandom, because it sets a bit of a standard for acknowledging diversity, something the hp books themselves don't do all that well. it's deeply researched and cleanly presented, and has continued to inform my headcanon over the years.

(also, in light of the wank that happened years later, it's worth noting that this essay acknowledged what we all knew: anthony goldstein is jewish!!!)