Writing Suggestions from Yours Truly, Number Five

If you're going to write a slash fic, maybe you should ask yourself if the way you're validating your pairing is by demonizing a female character. There's already enough rampant misogyny in the world as it is; the last thing we need is to tear each other down as well.

"Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness" by thanfiction

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4315906/1/Dumbledores_Army_and_the_Year_of_Darkness

I'm not really familiar with thanfiction's fandom history  but this is a pretty well-done fic with a fairly ardent fanbase. I usually try not to rec stuff that's already well-known unless I truly love it (like "My Immortal" or "Slytherin Spy") but I really quite enjoyed this and I figured, Why the hell not?

It's about what happened for the DA during year seven. Pretty enjoyable.

"Muse" by remuslives23

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4990087/1/Muse

You've got to appreciate a fic that includes the warning: "Sex. Oral, anal, rimming (very mild)."

This is some pretty straightforward erotica, although it's relatively well-written and believable. Remuslives does a fairly good job of using the sex in her stories as a means of character development. It's not exactly my cup of tea, but I can appreciate what she does, for the most part.

Speaking of the way she relates to canon in this AU story, I enjoyed the way she used James and Peter, and Remus's muggle parallel is very lovely. Sirius's plot, however, gets a bit lost in the shuffle and I sometimes found him lacking depth. But, like I said, this is SMUT, so, who really cares?

"The Strange Disappearance of SallyAnne Perks" by Paimpoint

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6243892

I love when stories uses flaws in Jo's writing to create a whole story arc. The only complaint I have about this story is that the author TOLD us the timeline in author's notes instead of leaving it up to the reader with clues in the texts, but really, this is something y'all should check out.

Do you know what happened to Sally-Anne Perks? To quote:

There weren't many people left now. "Moon" "Nott" "Parkinson" then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil" then "Perks, Sally-Anne" and then, at last - "Potter, Harry!" (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Chapter 7)

Ten minutes later, Professor Flitwick called, "Parkinson, Pansy - Patil, Padma - Patil, Parvati - Potter, Harry." (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 31)

~At some point between September 1991 and the spring of 1996, Sally-Anne Perks left Hogwarts. Perhaps she dropped out of school. Perhaps she fell ill. Perhaps she died. Or maybe she just vanished...

RIP Perfect Imagination

You were a great resource and becoming a beta reader made me the best writer I could ever be.

Writing Suggestion from Yours Truly, Number Four

The word "homophobic" in a fanfic bugs me.  I think because it hints that the writer's not going to be handling the subject very subtly.

"Moving On" by LadyKatie

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3717765/1/Moving_On

Fuck, I love this fanfic. It's Harry/Draco, post DH. It's canon compliant (minus the epilogue, natch), and just ... fuck.

It wasn't perfect. There were a couple of scenes where I rolled my eyes (and some cringeworthy sex), but nothing that made me stop reading. I also love how this fic explored the notion of Wizarding Britain after Voldemort's fall.

I mentioned in my last post that I was never a Harry/Draco fan, but if one fic were to make me like the pairing, this is it. This is my "Dating Disasters of Sirius Black" for all the Drarry shippers out there. This makes sense to me.