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A Ficcy New Year to you!
I spent last night with a friend - first time in 4 years I've not been alone on New Year's Eve. It made a nice change (though I still miss the cat). Unfortunately left phone at said friend's house so am unable to text New Year's greetings. :(( Am feeling rather lost without it, I'm afraid to say. Never thought it would come to this!
For most of today I was in the cat rescue office, watching the steam trains puffing up the valley below. Helping pussy cats (however indirectly) seemed like a good way to start the year, and I managed to spend half an hour with one of our longer term residents, who as usual was very purry until I tried to leave, and then added a couple more scratches to my growing collection. Thankfully the nasty rain had stopped by the time came to walk home.
In fandom life,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
hp_holidaygen is done and almost dusted for the year, though I have a fair number of reviews to catch up on (apologies to anyone who may feel I've been modly absent - there's been a fair bit of work behind the scenes but I will read and respond to all the entries!). The number of entries has steadily dropped over the four times the fest has run (suggestions for reversing this trend would be most welcome) but the quality certainly hasn't. If you've not been over there yet, I heartily commend it. Masterlist is here.
As a mod, I feel it would be unfair of me to point to particular fics, and it would be difficult to make a selection anyhow as they're all worth a look. But I hope no-one will censure me for mentioning three.
First up, my wonderful gift In a year we all will be together (PG - Aberforth Dumbledore, Andromeda Tonks, Minerva NcGonagall, Harry Potter) from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
reverdybrune. I always like to read Christmas-themed fic at this time of year (well, slightly before this exact time of year, but you know what I mean). The theme of light in the darkness fits the Christian holiday, the season and my mental state, and reverdybrune delivered this beautifully in her tale of characters starting to repair their world and relationships around the Christmas after Voldemort's final defeat. I even shed a few tears. :)
Secondly, on the assumption that if you read my journal you might have a passing interest my fics, my contribution to the fest was The Last Christmas (PG, Albus Dumbledore) forslam_girl. She was interested in (among other things) younger Dumbledore; following one character through the holidays/some other event; a 'reunion of sorts'; and a character who's been through a lot of holidays reflecting on that. From those developed the idea of Albus Dumbledore 'visiting' Ariana and Gellert, bringing in memories of former Christmases and his younger self. Unfortunately Albus' reflections were more about the guilt of his past and his fears for the future, so although I felt the fic had elements of all the requests, I'm not sure it hit any of them completely. Still, I was happy with the way it turned out and I hope my recipient was too.
And finally, I have to mentionsnorkackcatcher's For the Greater Good (PG-13 - Elphias Doge, Albus Dumbledore), because it revived for me that feeling of journeying deep into the wizarding world that made me fall in love with fandom and fanfiction. snorkackcatcher does a terrific job of evoking the atmosphere in Europe during Grindelwald's rise, and showing Albus' reaction to it (and Grindelwald) through Elphias' eyes.
Elphias made his presence felt this year after a complete absence in the previous fests, featuring in three of our 24 fics. Other 'first time' characters were Pansy Parkinson, Antonin Dolohov, Michael Corner, Terry Boot, Dean Thomas, Bill Weasley and Albert Runcorn. The canon-time Trio were notable by their absence.
This made me curious about the most popular characters in the fest overall to date. According to the tags, we've had 151 entries over the four fests (140 fic and 11 art). The top thirty featured characters are:
28= Tom Riddle (4)
28= Teddy Lupin (4)
28= Nymphadora Tonks (4)
25= Bellatrix Lestrange (5)
25= Aberforth Dumbledore (5)
25= Arthur Weasley (5)
22= Percy Weasley (6)
22= The Weasleys (6)
22= Lucius Malfoy (6)
19= Fred Weasley (7)
19= George Weasley (7)
19= Peter Pettigrew (7)
15= Narcissa Malfoy (9)
15= Andromeda Tonks (9)
15= Regulus Black (9)
15= Albus Dumbledore (9)
14 James Potter (11)
12= Ginny Weasley (12)
12= Draco Malfoy (12)
9= Hermione Granger (14)
9= Marauders (14)
9= Ron Weasley (14)
7= Lily Potter (15)
7= Minerva McGonagall (15)
6 Neville Longbottom (17)
5 Sirius Black (18)
3= Luna Lovegood (21)
3= Remus Lupin (21)
2 Harry Potter (22)
1 Severus Snape (24)
I can't say I'm surprised at the top two spots, though this year Harry only took centre stage in one fic and Severus in two. Luna is perhaps more popular in gen circles than in fandom at large. I'm happy to see Minerva and Neville so near the top of the list, though I would have liked to see Neville a little higher. Unsurprisingly, the darker characters tend to be less frequent than in fanfic in general - the gen nature of the fest ruling out hot kinky sex fics and Christmas encouraging a higher proportion of 'happy' requests, even from some of those who usually go Dark. I find it interesting that Narcissa comes above Lucius (so to speak!) - this seems to be down to people exploring the dynamics between the Black sisters. The same possibly accounts for Andromeda appearing more frequently than her daughter, which did surprise me. But then unfortunately dead characters have difficulty appearing in post-war fic. Unless said character's name is Severus Snape...
For most of today I was in the cat rescue office, watching the steam trains puffing up the valley below. Helping pussy cats (however indirectly) seemed like a good way to start the year, and I managed to spend half an hour with one of our longer term residents, who as usual was very purry until I tried to leave, and then added a couple more scratches to my growing collection. Thankfully the nasty rain had stopped by the time came to walk home.
In fandom life,
hp_holidaygen is done and almost dusted for the year, though I have a fair number of reviews to catch up on (apologies to anyone who may feel I've been modly absent - there's been a fair bit of work behind the scenes but I will read and respond to all the entries!). The number of entries has steadily dropped over the four times the fest has run (suggestions for reversing this trend would be most welcome) but the quality certainly hasn't. If you've not been over there yet, I heartily commend it. Masterlist is here.As a mod, I feel it would be unfair of me to point to particular fics, and it would be difficult to make a selection anyhow as they're all worth a look. But I hope no-one will censure me for mentioning three.
First up, my wonderful gift In a year we all will be together (PG - Aberforth Dumbledore, Andromeda Tonks, Minerva NcGonagall, Harry Potter) from
reverdybrune. I always like to read Christmas-themed fic at this time of year (well, slightly before this exact time of year, but you know what I mean). The theme of light in the darkness fits the Christian holiday, the season and my mental state, and reverdybrune delivered this beautifully in her tale of characters starting to repair their world and relationships around the Christmas after Voldemort's final defeat. I even shed a few tears. :)Secondly, on the assumption that if you read my journal you might have a passing interest my fics, my contribution to the fest was The Last Christmas (PG, Albus Dumbledore) for
slam_girl. She was interested in (among other things) younger Dumbledore; following one character through the holidays/some other event; a 'reunion of sorts'; and a character who's been through a lot of holidays reflecting on that. From those developed the idea of Albus Dumbledore 'visiting' Ariana and Gellert, bringing in memories of former Christmases and his younger self. Unfortunately Albus' reflections were more about the guilt of his past and his fears for the future, so although I felt the fic had elements of all the requests, I'm not sure it hit any of them completely. Still, I was happy with the way it turned out and I hope my recipient was too.And finally, I have to mention
snorkackcatcher's For the Greater Good (PG-13 - Elphias Doge, Albus Dumbledore), because it revived for me that feeling of journeying deep into the wizarding world that made me fall in love with fandom and fanfiction. snorkackcatcher does a terrific job of evoking the atmosphere in Europe during Grindelwald's rise, and showing Albus' reaction to it (and Grindelwald) through Elphias' eyes.Elphias made his presence felt this year after a complete absence in the previous fests, featuring in three of our 24 fics. Other 'first time' characters were Pansy Parkinson, Antonin Dolohov, Michael Corner, Terry Boot, Dean Thomas, Bill Weasley and Albert Runcorn. The canon-time Trio were notable by their absence.
- Harry, Ron and Hermione featured together only in the background or in their parental roles.
- In contrast, Neville, Draco and Luna were featured together in two fics.
- Only one fic featured the Marauders.
- Lucius also appeared only once (*sniff*) but a wonderfully snide and conniving once it was (*smile*).
- Two fics took us to the Weasley's for Christmas.
- Two showed us Albus reflecting on his past.
- Three featured his friendship with Elphias Doge.
- Luna was the most popular character, with five appearances. Albus also managed five, but not always in a starring role. Aberforth almost challenged his brother, featuring in four fics, two of them without Albus.
- Post-war was the most popular period, with nine fics.
- This was closely followed by canon-period, with eight fics, one of which dealt directly with the war, three with events leading up to it and the remaining four featuring happier times.
- Of the rest, two were set during the first war, four (I think) in Maurader's era (with only one featuring Marauders, and the other three all having different perspectives) and one earlier.
This made me curious about the most popular characters in the fest overall to date. According to the tags, we've had 151 entries over the four fests (140 fic and 11 art). The top thirty featured characters are:
28= Tom Riddle (4)
28= Teddy Lupin (4)
28= Nymphadora Tonks (4)
25= Bellatrix Lestrange (5)
25= Aberforth Dumbledore (5)
25= Arthur Weasley (5)
22= Percy Weasley (6)
22= The Weasleys (6)
22= Lucius Malfoy (6)
19= Fred Weasley (7)
19= George Weasley (7)
19= Peter Pettigrew (7)
15= Narcissa Malfoy (9)
15= Andromeda Tonks (9)
15= Regulus Black (9)
15= Albus Dumbledore (9)
14 James Potter (11)
12= Ginny Weasley (12)
12= Draco Malfoy (12)
9= Hermione Granger (14)
9= Marauders (14)
9= Ron Weasley (14)
7= Lily Potter (15)
7= Minerva McGonagall (15)
6 Neville Longbottom (17)
5 Sirius Black (18)
3= Luna Lovegood (21)
3= Remus Lupin (21)
2 Harry Potter (22)
1 Severus Snape (24)
I can't say I'm surprised at the top two spots, though this year Harry only took centre stage in one fic and Severus in two. Luna is perhaps more popular in gen circles than in fandom at large. I'm happy to see Minerva and Neville so near the top of the list, though I would have liked to see Neville a little higher. Unsurprisingly, the darker characters tend to be less frequent than in fanfic in general - the gen nature of the fest ruling out hot kinky sex fics and Christmas encouraging a higher proportion of 'happy' requests, even from some of those who usually go Dark. I find it interesting that Narcissa comes above Lucius (so to speak!) - this seems to be down to people exploring the dynamics between the Black sisters. The same possibly accounts for Andromeda appearing more frequently than her daughter, which did surprise me. But then unfortunately dead characters have difficulty appearing in post-war fic. Unless said character's name is Severus Snape...