for never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo

[bubosquared]

I love Elfie.

So yesterday, I was convinced by certain people that for NaNoWriMo, I will write an f/f SF/fantasy/cyberpunk novel. Ho hum.

And of course, the Mini!Euro!HPCon (current number of attendants: a tentative three) is on during NaNoWriMo, so that takes away a weekend from my writing time, and that's not counting the fact that hi, I'm supposed to concentrate on non-fanfic after seeing CoS?

Having the strange urge to knit myself a Ravenclaw scarf. Will pinch needles and wool from parents tomorrow. Because dude, ther scarf I have now, I've had since my first year in high school, and is therefore ten years old. I'm just saying, much as I've loved that scarf, it's time for a new one, and if I hurry, I may get it finished before Mini!Euro!HPCon and go to see CoS in Ravenclaw colours. (Although I was planning to maybe wear my corset and stuff, and go in Hogwarts Style, and my cape is black and purple, but whatever. Purple and blue don't clash.)

Have stuff to do. Don't want to do stuff. Why is neither my email nor my FTP working? What is the meaning of life? Anyobody want a survey?

PART 1
Your Pseudonym:
Melle, which is short for Armelle (Amaya), which is the pseudonym I wrote under from late 1999 till May 2002, when I switched to my real name. I still go by Melle, though.

How long have you known about/read/written fanfiction?
know about and read since the summer of 1996. Written since the early spring of 1997.

What fandom(s) do you read/write/are you involved in?
A lot of them, heh. Right now, my main one is Harry Potter, but I still like Metallica, and popslash, to an extent, and U2 and Sex Pistols and all of my precious rare fandoms, of course.

Who is/are your favorite character(s) and why?
HP fandom: Dracodracodraco! Yes. I love the bastard. I love getting into his head and poking around and seeing him decide whether to join the Death Eaters or not and mmmm. And Harry, to an extent, but not really the canon Harry, who is boring, but the fanfic Harry I see in the best stories, in which we actually see some of the damage ten years with the Dursleys must've done to him. I also rather like Snape, but that might have something to do with the fact that I like other characters sniping at Harry. I have issues I should look into.

In other fandoms, I love Chris [Kirkpatrick, popslash], and Lars [Ulrich, Metallica], and Johnny [Rotten, Sex Pistols], and hi, are we seeing a pattern of Melle loving smart-assed bastards? Yes, indeed, we are!

Do you identify with certain characters? Which one(s)?
Hermione. Percy, too, but Hermione even more, because she does sometimes break the rules, and yeah, that's me. Pedantic little bitch, but I'm not afraid to break the rules for a cause and that whole S.P.E.W. thing is so me it's not funny anymore.

What type/genre of fanfic do you read/write?
Slash, first, foremost, and definitely primarily. I can be persuaded to give gen and het a try, but it's not something I go seek out on my own. Mostly because gen often leaves me frustrated (KISS, DAMN YOU!) and When Het Goes Bad, it's sososo much worse than When Slash Goes Bad.

Why do you read/write fanfiction? Please give details!
Because I want to know more about what goes on behind the scenes, inside characters's heads, with secondary characters, etc. I also like speculating on what's going to happen later, on what's happened before, what would happen if, etc.

Do you read official novel adaptations of TV shows? If you do, how do they compare? Please give details.
No. I don't want to pay for them, for one, and I'd have to pay extra for the English versions anyway, and most of them are so damn uninteresting, and anyway, it's been years since I was really into any TV- or movie-based fandom.

What are your favorite subgenres and why?
Heh. Um. Darkfic. Humour. Fluff, when I'm in the mood. AUs, definitely. I'm growing rather fond of drabbles, as well. Um, I'd read anything, really, but yeah, those are my favourites.

Is there any kind of fan fiction you wouldn't read?
Like I said, I'll read anything good. The only thing I can't abide is people not bothering to research canon, or, even worse, just using fanon and not realising it is fanon. I can live with authors knowingly altering certain parts of canon, because to me, those are kinda AUs, but at least know the canon you're altering!

PART 2
Do you prefer to read fanfiction online or in zines?
Online. Zines cost money, and none of the fandoms I read in have zines. Besides, I'm all for instant gratification, baby.

Are you a member of a mailing list?
Several, even. :)

If yes, do you participate actively on the list or do you prefer to 'lurk'?
I lurk, a lot. I hardly ever post anything but my stories, unless I'm really drawn into a good discussion.

How actively are you involved in your fandom(s)?
Eh. I'm on exactly on HP list, and that's a private, invitation-only one, and all my other lists are multi-fandom ones, so. I dunno, I really prefer to stay in my own little corner of the web, with people I know can and will point me towards the good stuff, and avoid the kernuffles and the flame wars.

Do you know other fans personally?
Personally, as in, I've talked to them online and all, yeah, a lot of them. As in, knowing them in RL, well, I've met a few of them IRL, but the only person I know and see (well, saw) regularily IRL who has the fan mentality and read fanfic and slash is (was) Linz.

Do you have friends who read/write fanfiction? If yes, how many?
See above. But I'm trying to get my brother into fanfic.

Do you talk about fanfiction with your friends and/or family?
Not really. But then, I don't talk about writing at all with people who aren't writers themselves, or aren't at least open to it. People tend to get uncomfortable if I talk about writing, so I've given up on that. Although I do talk to my dad about the woes of being a webmisstress (for femgeeks, obviously) sometimes, so it's not the gay porn part that makes it awkward, just the writing part.

How intensely are you involved with fanfiction/the fan community? (time, effort, etc.)
Eh. Well, there's femgeeks.net, and RareSlash and RS-X, and I do talk to people in my fandom-du-jour a whole lot, but on the whole, as I said, I tend to be a lurker in my own little corner, if only because I move from fandom to fandom pretty fast.

Do you attend conventions? If you do, how often?
No, because a) there are very few slash cons in Europe, and b) most slash cons ban RPS, and if they do allow it, it's not usually a major focus, and not only would it irk me to no end to have to shut up about half my fandoms, but it's also ... I'm just not interested in mainstream fandoms, so I'd be fairly bored a lot of the time.

PART 3/1 - READERS
Do you send feedback regularly? If not, what does motivate you to send feedback?
Er, no. Because I suck and I'm lazy and I really need to get my ass in gear.

Do you like to read AU stories?
Yes! I adore well-written AUs. The keyword in that sentence is: well-written. A lot of AUs are extremely OOC, but the few that aren't are a joy to read. Well, they are to me. As I've said, I have issues I should look into.

PART 3/2 ... WRITERS
How important is feedback to you?
Eh. I like getting it, but as long as I've had a good beta and I know my beta is satisfied with the end result, I really don't need it.

Would you write even if you didn't get any?
Yup. I wrote into a void for six years before I discovered fanfic, and I still don't get all that much, especially for my non-fanfic stories and my stories in fandoms no one bu me has ever even heard of, so.

Do you reply to every feedback/fanmail you get?
Yes. Always. Common courtesey, as far as I'm concerned.

Do you have your stories beta'd before you post them? If you do, do you think the comments/suggestions of a beta reader help you to improve your writing style?
Yes, yes, and yes. I usually pick my betas rather deliberately, and depending on the fandom and the style I'm going for. For Sin, I picked Beth, because she'd listened to my whine about it forever, so she knew what I was trying to do, and I knew she'd tell me what worked and what didn't, and kick me until I fixed things. For Kodachrome, I picked Katie, because she loves the Timbertrick, and she's good and stern when she has to. :) And of course, Silvia for Polar, because that was my first foray into litgeek-style, and Silvia is my style godess.

In your favorite fandom, what are the major differences between canon and fanon?
Ahahaha! Have you got a few days? Okay, quickly, the one that annoys me most is how Draco seems to be turned into either a vicious monster who is predestined to be a Death eater and is Pure Bloodthirsty Evil (hello, SS, Forbidden Forest, the unicorn scene?), or a Poor Misunderstood Studmuffin who only needs to Know Love before he turns into a sickeningly sweet Good Guy.

Ahem. Why, yes, this is my hobbyhorse. :)

In other fandoms, James as a Brutal, Repressed, Violent, Abusive Caveman, Kirk as a Whiny Slut with Issues who willingly lets James beat him up and then comes crawling back when James says he loves him, Lars as a devious, malicious, greedy slut, and Jason and the sandwich-eating extra. (I've mentioned the Issues, yes? Trust me, as bad as my HP Issues are, they'll never come close to my Metallica Traumas.) Oh, and in Sex Pistols fandom, and by extension in any UK-based fandom, bad accents and dialects. Just, no. If I never read a bad imitation of a Cockney accent again, it'll be a century too soon.

Have you ever worked as a beta reader?
From time to time, yeah. Mostly, I don't, because I'm not confident enough in my technical abilities, and I can't really explain why certain phrases and words and sentences don't work.

If you beta, how frequently do you do that?
Maybe five or six times a year, if that.

What is your primary motivator for accepting a beta reading assignment?
I know the person who's asking, they ask, and I feel confident enough.

PART 4
Sex: Female.
Age: Twenty-one. Turning twenty-two end of December.
Occupation: Administrative and IT Assistant
Place of residence: Antwerp, Belgium.
Describe/define your neighborhood: Muslim neighbourhood, which means I've a lot of night shops and tiny little groceries with exotic food. I love living here.
Ethnic background: Er. Dutch, German, French, in reverse chronological order, on my father's side. Belgian, possibly Dutch and maybe French, on my mother's side. Mostly, I look almost Aryan, with blonde hair and green eyes, so I suppose I'd go for "Germanic".
Favorite movies: Harry Potter, The Fast and the Furious, Bound, Romeo+Juliet, Total Eclipse, Gone With the Wind, ...
Favourite books: Harry Potter, The Dark Tower series, Isaac Asimov's short story collections, ....
Favourite music: Anything that's not techno. Country, bluegrass, classic, opera, rock, pop, r&b, ....
Sexual orientation: Lesbian.
Do you consider yourself an intellectual? Yes. An intellectual snob, even.

Well. That was fun. I'm going to get food and contemplate writing now.

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whole misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

Comments

[meacoustic.livejournal.com]

The R+J quote? So HP. It's HP to the nth power. Civil blood makes civil hands unclean, indeed.

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Oh, I KNOW! 's why I randomly quoted it. <g> And I keep wanting to say it's Harry/Draco, but it's really much more Ron/Draco, isn't it?

[punkrawkpyro.livejournal.com]

*Garsp!* I never even made the connection, but yes, the S.P.E.W. thing is so you!

Rest of the World: Melle, its okay, they're happy. Really.
You:...But its wrong!
Rest of the World:...::Sighs::

Hee! ::Huggles Crusader!Melle::

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Yes! Dude, I had to put the book away a couple of times because I was getting worked up over those scenes. Because it's not about whether they're happy or not, it's about whether or not you/we want to be the kind of person who would keep another semi-human being in slavery and hi, look, I'm doing it again. I'm getting worked up over the fate of fictional semi-human beings. Shut me up!

And I prefer to think of myself as less a Crusader and more a Revolutionary. ^___^