*sigh* People don't RTFM, do they? :)

[snorkackcatcher]

Both A Really Bad Idea and Can't I Like Girls Too? have now been posted at Astronomy Tower. OK, I'll admit it -- submitting them there instead of TDA or Riddikulus was a blatant attempt to trawl (or possibly troll?) for reviews.

Bizarrely, the slightly ironic "warnings" line in the summary of Can't I Like Girls Too? ("Contains references to slash, which may offend some people. Contains references to het, which may offend some other people") has been replaced with the rather meaningless "Warnings: References to slash and het" in the Chapter Owls. I don't think whoever prepares that list quite got the joke.

Talking about getting jokes -- while they've garnered more hits than my other oneshots (which, given their shippy nature, was kind of expected) some of the reviews do rather tend to show that people don't read the author's notes at the end. Both of them are, to a large extent, no more than sendups of particular shipping ideas, and this is clarified in the notes, but several of the reviews rather suggest that the commenter hasn't noticed this ... Again, kind of expected, quite fun, but on the whole I like it better when people get the joke. So maybe readers should be encouraged to RTFM -- or at least RTFAN. :)

Chapter 26 of NTLJ has been submitted to FA, so expect to see it appear in about a week; it's the long but unavoidable Tonks-Kingsley cards-on-the-table chapter, and is unusual for this story in that it focuses mostly on canon events (from the Auror POV).

On a side note, I read in the local paper today that one of the 14(!) candidates for the newly created elected executive Mayor position here in Torbay was named Grimble. Since I invented that surname off the top of my head for Tonks to use as an alias, I was delighted to find someone was actually called that ... What's more, I'm sure I saw the chap in Sainsbury's today. Possibly I should treat this as a Sign. Oddly cool. :)

Comments

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

Clueless reviewers are the best, aren't they? (Well, all right, it's probably funnier when they're reviewing somebody else's fics...)

Have you ever read Grace has Victory's Restricted, by the way? Some of the readers' comments are absolutely priceless.

[snorkackcatcher]

Have you ever read Grace has Victory's Restricted, by the way? Some of the readers' comments are absolutely priceless.

I hadn't, but I went and took a look; very nicely done, and I suspect some of the reviewers' pumpkin-shaped goggles may have distracted them ... I realised generally where it was going early on (Harry's got bushy hair? *remembers opening quote* Oh, right, nice one), although it did take a careful look to be sure exactly what the relationships were!

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

I popped over to the reviews, and I was very amused by how many people simply didn't understand what was going on. As for the mayoral candidate, I think it'll be a sign if he gets elected. ;) But it can be a portent for now, certainly.

[snorkackcatcher]

As for the mayoral candidate, I think it'll be a sign if he gets elected.

Well, as far as I could gather from the article he wasn't an official party candidate, so probably isn't going to be ... but then when they did this in Hartlepool the local football club mascot was elected Mayor, so you never know. :)

[hannahmarder.livejournal.com]

I must admit, I've added a link to the review boards for both fics on my favourites list, because I found the comments so amusing. I was stunned when I went to review 'A Really Bad Idea' by the fact that the majority of other reviewers thought it was a serious fic about Ginny using love potions on Harry. Still, at least it saves you from the flaming torch brigade...

As for getting more reviews, my only fic on AT has by far and away the fewest reviews of any of my fics, and fewer hits too. It's the same with FF.N - I put a fic there because I'd been assured everyone gets zillions of reviews and readers on that site, but it has never worked for me...

[snorkackcatcher]

Hmm, I'll have to try it out on the Dumbledore's Feint list -- a lot of staunch H/Hr shippers there (but at least that's a H/Hr fic which isn't fluffy, and doesn't make Ron out to be a horrible person or a complete arse).

I posted a couple of stories on FFN as an experiment, but they probably weren't good choices, as they were about minor characters and I imagine got lost in the wash. I might try again with these two and just see what happens.

I checked your AT fic - that's the Jugson/McGonagall OTP challenge one, yes? Seemed like a perfectly good solution to an unlikely pairing, but I suppose it's just a pairing keen shippers don't look at (and McGonagall is rather underfanned and underficced relative to the amount of page time she gets anyway).

[snorkackcatcher]

If you were amused you might like the latest comment on Can't I Like Girls Too? - to be honest, I haven't a clue what it's about. :)

[maple-clef.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. Maybe the reviewers are trying to be 'ironic'? Or maybe that's too generous...

14 mayoral candidates! Well, I guess Torbay is the centre of the English Riviera :D

That surname is very much in use - I once met a chap called 'Barnaby Grimble', which is possibly the most delightful name I've ever heard.

[snorkackcatcher]

That surname is very much in use - I once met a chap called 'Barnaby Grimble', which is possibly the most delightful name I've ever heard.

Barnaby Grimble? Perfect - the kind of Dickensian name which fits beautifully into the HP world ... if Tonks ever needs to name her character's husband, I might do a McClaggen and appropriate the name (and hope he doesn't read HP fanfic, of course).

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I read the love-potion story - thought I left a review too, though apparently not.

I'm quite relieved actually - the controversy about the Love Potion having quite passed me by, I would have left a basically complimentary but slightly puzzled review. Looks as though I've managed to avoid major loss of face!

The trouble is, not everyone has the time to follow whacky fandom theories - and even the ones who do have time can't possibly get all of them - there just aren't enough hours in the day.

[snorkackcatcher]

That's OK - it just seemed to be a particular theory that got talked about a lot, eithet to support it or to spork it. I guess I assumed it was likely people would have heard of it unless they'd spent the previous few months travelling through China or something. :)

(The other one just assumes that people have heard of the idea of Remus/Sirius, which is probably an even safer bet, at least on FA.)

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

(The other one just assumes that people have heard of the idea of Remus/Sirius, which is probably an even safer bet, at least on FA.)


Well, everyone's heard of that...

*Looks shifty, trying hard not to draw attention to own anti-Wolfstar fic* *feels hypocritical*