Under the wide, wide sky

I had to wait all day for a chance to write, and technically it's Monday now... But for me, and Harry, it still feels like Sunday night.

Summary: Harry has almost forgotten what it is to be happy in love and life, until Draco gives him twenty-four chances to remember.
Word count (this part): ~640
Rating: Probably will be R or NC-17 overall.
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.

( Non-fluffy advent, part 8 )

I hope today's offering(s) make up for Harry being an idiot  the past few days without posts!

Summary: Harry has almost forgotten what it is to be happy in love and life, until Draco gives him twenty-four chances to remember.
Word count (this part): ~2,300
Rating: Probably will be R or NC-17 overall.
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.

( Non-fluffy advent, parts 3,4,5,6. )

Hello there! I've had a bit of a break from LJ recently but I'm back. And, er, somewhat coincidentally I finally submitted my erised. *coughs* *waves at everyone*

I've decided to write an advent fic this year. I haven't posted a WIP in ages, but er, I think it's manageable (and some is already written, thank goodnes!) It's a non-fluffy tale of heartache, love and Christmas cheer.

I won't post every day - the story itself will explain why, but there will be 24 parts of varying length to read by the time Christmas day rolls up. And it's going to be unbetaed, as I will probably only finish writing each section about five seconds before I hit 'post'! I will probably return to tidy it it all up at some point, so if you notice any glaring errors please feel free to send me a pm. If I get ahead of myself with the writing (I do have it all planned out) I will see if my betas have time to help out, but as Christmas approaches I think that the answer will be 'no'. They already think I'm mad for doing this in the first place. :D


Um, I have spent an hour on coming up with a title and still nothing. I will think of one, promise.
Summary: Harry has almost forgotten what it is to be happy in love and life, until Draco gives him twenty-four chances to remember.
Word count: ~2,500
Rating: G (Probably will be NC-17 overall. Yeah, baby!)
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.

( Click here for part 1 of this advent thingy without a name yet )

I really wanted to join in with Rectober, but I was really short on time in October. So here are some recs now! Um, consider it me carrying the baton on.

I am still catching up on all the amazing fics in this year's hd_fan_fair. I have recced one I particularly enjoyed below, but may well end up reccing more in the future.

( HD Level 2 )

( These two fics really touched my heart and I found them both original and beautiful )

I have had my beta hat on this week – reading some really wonderful stuff by eidheann_writes and oakstone730. As it happens, I made gently encouraged both of them to go a little more NC-17 than they had already written (as it fitted the stories they were telling). Anyway, I ended up compiling lots of notes about the writing of smut, and eidheann_writes suggested I make them into a proper LJ post. And here it is!

I should say that I don’t write much smut, and have written much less so far this year than last. evilgiraff helped me lots when I first started, with her constant reminders to meander. But I enjoy writing smut (although don’t profess to be any kind of expert – I’d say I’m actually quite tame), and I often have lots to say on the subject as a beta-reader, mostly in the form of endless questions, as will become apparent.

Also, I want to make clear that none of this is a criticism of any other writer, more just questions and issues that have come up through discussion with people through the beta process (both giving and receiving edits). These are all quite personal views; this is by no means a definitive guide to writing smut. And I should note that it’s mainly about writing a fairly vanilla version of smut (within the world of slash fanfiction), as that’s mostly what I write and beta-read.

( Omi's thoughts on writing smut )



(Many thanks to icmezzo for checking this through for sense and ignoring my liberal sprinkling of Brit commas. <3)

For birdsofshore. Surprise! Somehow I managed to write all day AND write you this, my dear. :)

Title: The Depths of Mystery
Summary: Sybil Trelawney believes in the power of Divination. She believes she glimpses the secrets and mysteries of life. When she sees kissing, skin and… thrusting in her crystal ball, she will not look away. It is her… duty to keep watching.
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Rating: Hard R
Word count: ~1,400
Warnings: Er, Trewlaney PoV?

Author’s note: For birdsofshore, on the occasion of her birthday. I can’t remember who I threw this idea around with, but I couldn’t quite forget  it, for some reason. ETA: It was the delightful icmezzo. Thank you for both the inspiration and the reminder, bb! I hope you like it, Birds (it is pretty random! Sorry, I’m not as good as you at matching likes to gifts, lol), and most of all, thank you for being such a wonderful friend. ♥

This is completely unbetaed, and I apologise for all and any typos, extra commas, terrible grammar and odd repetitions. :D

( The Depths of Mystery )

This fic was a real labour of love. It's my first Merlin fic, and it's inspired by Keats' poem 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci' (if any of you remember my Keats-obsessed phase a while ago). I wrote it for the paperlegends Merlin Big Bang, and I can't quite believe that it has finally posted - I worked on this for months, and just indulged myself on every aspect of it. Or as I described it on twitter: it's like one of my angsty one-shots, only it's 35k long.

I know that most of my flist is H/D rather than Merlin, but I hope you read it anyway - I'd say you don't need knowledge of the show to read it, although if you are a Merlin fan then it might make you even more sad. It is rather angsty - more so than is my norm.

( More about the fic plus links )

I haven't said hello for a while, as I have been busy with all the writing. But I've hit my targets, so here I am with a little update on what I've been up too recently.

Two weeks ago, I went to see the Tempest at the Globe. It was wonderful - a perfect summer's evening, a great production, and oh my goodness, Colin Morgan is beautiful. I mean, I knew this, but seeing him on stage... he stood out, he really did, as a creature of beauty. I couldn't keep my eyes off him. I am tempted to go back to watch it again - as well as Colin being other-wordly and pretty, it was a fantastic experience and I loved every second of it.

Unfortunately, you're not allowed to take photos during the performance, so have a nice pic of The Globe on a summer's evening instead.

( The Globe, on a summer's evening )

It was good timing too, as I have been busy working on my Paperlegends fic. Last night I finally finished my first draft! It feels so good to have (finally) got to this point.( More on writing for Paperlegends )

In HP news, I've claimed a prompt for the hd_fan_fair Book Fair, which I'm very excited about. I quickly sketched out some ideas the other day, and will now think about it for a while. It's quite a challenging prompt, and I'm really looking forward to teasing out all the possibilities and getting writing.

I've also got about a million fics to read to catch up on Smoochfest, but what I did manage to read before stopping to get my PL fic finished, I loved!

I do have one quick rec from hd_smoochfest (I know I'm usually rubbish at reccing, but this one really stood out): Sticky Fingers, art (although art really doesn't seem enough of a description for this story/comic). It is absolutely amazing, and it left me with tears in my eyes as it was just so perfect: beautiful to look at, and a wonderful, gentle story with real soul.

Or Omi forays into the Merlin fandom. And more Keats.

First of all, let me just reassure Birds all my lovely HP flist that I still adore HP and have written for Smoochfest. I'm still very much here.

( Merlin Paperlegends rambling )

( And more Keats )