springtime_gen story – and a few grumbles

[snorkackcatcher]

Now that the reveal has been done, I can mention that my springtime_gen story was The Open Sea and the Sky, written for molly_coddles (hi!). The comm version is here -- I've also posted it to my fic journal with some additional notes. Many thanks to gloryforever for betaing it for me.

Summary: "The first ever Atlantic broom crossing [was] by Jocunda Sykes in 1935" (Kennilworthy Whisp, Quidditch Through The Ages). Jocunda tells the story in her own words.

As for the grumbles:

I'd originally planned on doing a comedy piece (The Art of Coarse Quidditch), but didn't see how I was going to get it done at sufficient length before deadline -- so I ended up taking this idea from my mental list of plot bunnies instead, on the grounds that it would be quicker to do. Naturally, what I'd envisaged as a short piece of not more than 2K words expanded to about three times that length -- something that happens uncomfortably often. So if I'd waited and gone with my original story ...?

I'd hoped that there weren't too many other treatments of Jocunda Sykes -- I hadn't seen one before -- but a few days after sending this off, I happened to be looking at MuggleNet Fan Fiction and encountered a story (written for their 'Famous Wizard Card' challenge) called Making History by GryffindorGoddess. This also deals with the theme of that pioneer flight, albeit in a very different manner. (I think my treatment of background details is more reasonable, but then I would, wouldn't I? :D)

Damn.

Then shortly after that, I signed up for the 2007 femgenficathon and got the following quote:

61. Of course I realized there was a measure of danger. Obviously I faced the possibility of not returning when first I considered going. Once faced and settled there really wasn't any good reason to refer to it. -- Amelia Earhart.

That would have been perfect as setup for the Jocunda story, wouldn't it? Of course, it also fits nicely as a basis for a post-DH story focusing on Hermione, but then everyone and their goldfish will be writing those after DH comes out!

Double damn.

And then of course omniocular came up with their latest challenge -- one based on the Wizards of the Month on JKR's site, which a while back included Jocunda Sykes ...

Triple damn.

I think I might just submit it there (everybody else is submitting their springtime_gen stories, after all) and claim it fits. :D

Comments

[such_heights]

That's... really unfortunate! Before reveals, I saw that omniocular post and decided that she'd completely been covered already - might I take this opportunity to reiterate how wonderful that story is? Because seriously, one of my favourite exchange fics of late.

[snorkackcatcher]

Thank you very much! I was fairly happy with the way it turned out -- the canon and RL details seemed to fit together unexpectedly.

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

Honestly, go for it. I would, in your position. It's just far too perfect for the omniocular challenge, after all.

Not so sure about the femgenficathon. If you can't come up with anything else, post it. If not...well...there you go. Options! Options are good!

[snorkackcatcher]

I think I will. However, femgenficathon specifically states 'no old fics', so I'll need something new there (the quote does fit wartime scenarios nicely as well, after all).

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

True, it does. And we've got a long time to come up with fics -- although somehow I always procrastinate till the very last minute. At least I've started this time. ;)

[jdbracknell.livejournal.com]

LOL. I hate it when that happens. I wrote something a while ago which I thought was quite original - or at least, I'd seen a lot of fics that dealt with the topic, but none that I really thought hit the mark - only for gilpin25 to post a fic to the same community that covered the same thing the very next day.

And then, I posted it to ff.net, went to check it had appeared in the queue to see what, nestling above me in the Just Added list? That's right. Her fic. So there they were, together, posted ten minutes apart.

[snorkackcatcher]

*groan* A pain, isn't it. :) I'll guess that was a R/T theme then?

[jdbracknell.livejournal.com]

Surprisingly not ;). We'd both written genfic about the aftermath of the infamous Marauder prank on Snape - which for such a big event, I find surprisingly under-tackled (unless it's in the context of R/S). I'd never seen one that really felt to me like the way teenage boys would deal with such an incident, so I thought I'd have a go. Turns out I'm not big on original thinking....

[snorkackcatcher]

There's a good one by capella_black and zgirnius on FA -- alternating chapters from the POV of Sirius and Snape.

[jdbracknell.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I'll have to have a look for that - just the idea of teenage Snape is such a fascinating one, and people who write him well are very few and far between, I think.

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

Saw the comment and couldn't help responding -- it's surprising how few fics deal with the Prank. Most seem to just shrug it off. Grace Has Victory has an interesting take on it in Moons of Deceit that I don't necessarily agree with, but it fits the way she's characterised Remus very well.

I'm also shameless and will self-plug because I wrote about the Prank and though my explanation is rather left-field (as snorkackcatcher put it), it does deal with Snape.

[jdbracknell.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thanks. I'll check those out when I get a minute.

I suppose a lot of people don't deal with the Prank for the same reason a lot of people don't write Peter - it's tricky to get a handle on. But I think it's a completely fascinating incident, and must have completely changed the dynamic of the group.

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

Oh Peter. I find him fascinating, actually, in a weird sort of way. I know the way I've written him is not so much to sympathise with him as to understand him, since his actions really *can't* be justified on some basic level...

[jdbracknell.livejournal.com]

Me too, which is why I don't understand why so many people try and write him out of the Marauders. I think you can understand someone's actions without thinking that what they've done is OK - you can show how they came to think it was OK, understand their motivations, even if their actions go beyond what you can sympathise with.

Now I really want to read your fic. Why do I have work today, why? ;)

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

(stupid messed-up first comment)

Anyway. I don't understand how people feel they can write him out of the Marauders. He was one of them! There was a reason -- a compelling reason -- why the Potters and Sirius trusted him as their Secret-Keeper. And we know they weren't idiots (well, not complete idiots ::grin:: ).

At any rate, both geyahi and a_t_rain write amazing Peterfic, and I believe both have links on their profiles. My only warning is that the former is incredibly dark.

[jdbracknell.livejournal.com]

So many reccs, so little time ;).

That's the thing with so many Peters - if people do write him, they make him Obviously Evil!Peter, always scheming and plotting something, and surely a couple of geniuses like Sirius and James would have spotted that?

[gloryforever.livejournal.com]

Many thanks for letting me work with you. As I've said before, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your piece :D

[snorkackcatcher]

Thanks! :)

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I would go right ahead and post it. omniocular is a showcase for goodfic as well as a place for challenges - I would use it if I were you.

BTW I am really looking forward to this story, which I am promising myself as a treat from when I've finished my current RL task - hopefully today.

[snorkackcatcher]

I think I will -- after all, you can post fics that aren't challenge fics at any time, and if one happens to fit the current challenge too, all the better, eh? :)