The Lupin/Snape Lurve Community

I originally wrote this up on my own LJ, and lore pointed out that I'd just inadverntantly made a meta post. So I thought some cleaning up was in order so I could repost in time for meta-month. *grin* The things we contemplate after a sleepless night...

The reason I am so hurt by fics where Severus loves Remus more than Remus loves him (if Remus loves him at all) is that Severus' life has been so dreadful already. I know life isn't fair, but I confess, in fanfic, I want it to be. I don't care if they have to face adversity, as long as, in the end, I know they have each other, and they are equal partners in it.

Don't get me wrong, I know Remus' life hasn't exactly been a picnic. But he's had a bit more control in some respects than Severus, at least over the past fifteen years or so. Not to mention that in my mind, Remus is more emotionally mature than Severus--because he's had more of an opportunity to experience positive emotions as well as negative ones.

All too often, I've been the one who loved more, in a relationship. I know how much that hurts. I know those constant fears that someday you won't be enough, that someday someone else will offer more than you can, even if you're offering everything. I know what it feels like to tell someone you love him, and not hear it back. To know that somehow you're too flawed to be given his commitment. That you're good enough to mess about with but not good enough to show off to his friends.

(Lest you think this is a self-pity party, I'll also say that I've had at least one serious relationship in which I was the one who loved less, so I've been on that side of the fence.)

But what we saw of Severus in canon through HBP was a picture of a man who had been bullied in his youth, made a probably impetuous decision to serve Voldemort, repented, and then spent the next 17 or so years of his life making up for that one mistake. In the meantime, he was still seen as someone to be hated and called names like greasy, even by students, who ought to have respected him, if not for his personality, at least for the knowledge he could impart. And Remus Lupin is one of very few people who actually treats him with equanimity, amiableness, even polite friendliness. Who else does that? Dumbledore, and perhaps Minerva.

Of course, DH made things worse. Oh, JKR tells us Snape is inexcusable because he was once loved. Right, okay, he had friendship from a girl named Lily Evans who obviously hadn't learned what unconditional love is when she refused to forgive him. Sorry, I don't buy it. If I look too closely at DH, I get angry for Severus all over again, so I'm just not going to go there, except to say that Lily's "love" for him wasn't much of a favour. And Dumbledore...well, if I look at DH, Dumbledore didn't even treat him as well as Remus does.

I suppose what it comes down to is why I read fanfic, and I'll be very frank: at least 90% of the time I read fanfic to be happy. Generally speaking that means I want the characters to come out of everything happy in the end, or at least with the promise of happiness. And Severus couldn't be happy in a relationship where he was treated as inferior or second best. I don't see the point in shipping Snape with anyone if he's not given at least equal treatment, after a lifetime of being second best in almost every respect.

As a hasty, almost-last-minute post for Meta Month (and a warm-up for Snupin Santa guessing games, if you dare), I thought it might be fun to revive the "Ten Signs" meme that went around many moons ago: what are the tropes, turns of phrase, themes, and other tip-offs that make a fic or illustration "typical" of your work? Serious (a la fanon manifestoes) and/or self-sporking versions encouraged!

(FWIW, this was prompted both by innerslytherin's recent posts and my current cringing consciousness of the things I do over and over again without realising it...)

For instance, here was my list back in January 2006. Here's version 2.0:

Ten Signs You Might Be Reading a Fic by bronze_ribbons/Mechaieh:

1. Harry may have vanquished Voldemort, but all is not well at the Ministry or among the Weasleys. Please.

2. Snape spends at least half of the fic believing Lupin is dead.

3. Snape frequently spends the other half of the fic trying to wrap his brain around Lupin's interest in him.

4. A no-nonsense female staff member of Hogwarts gets to tell Snape and/Lupin they're idiots. Sometimes because she's fed up with a lack of progress on #3, and sometimes because she's just tired of holding her peace regarding unsightly facial hair.

5. If no female staff members happen to be present, Tonks gets the job.

6. If a gift fic, there are often not-terribly-subtle in-jokes alluding to the recipient's interests or oeuvre, because I can't resist having fun with that.

7. Snape is not Muggle-illiterate -- at least, no more so than any other socially clueless guy in his late 30s.

8. There's a lot of staring, murmuring, muttering, raising of eyebrows, rolling of eyes, twisting of lips, and turning away from the other person to gaze meaningfully and pointlessly at something else instead of, saints forbid, saying what one thinks.

9. There is zero mention of chocolate or cardigans or visible scars. At least, not in relation to Lupin.

10. Lupin and Snape are both voracious readers of both magical and Muggle literature, which allows me both to imagine new books they might be reading and indulge in my love of quoting existing ones. They're not geniuses, though -- neither of them are as smart off the hoof as James or Sirius were, and they had to work to reach their current levels of competence and awareness. (Otherwise I'd have no plots...)

Your turn!

Because all lore has to do is bat her eyelashes at me....I have done a self-sporking in time for Meta Month. I've always loved sporkings, and recently was reading snegurochka_lee's self-sporkings, which I thought was a much nicer way to do it than to pick apart someone else's fic. (Not that I haven't enjoyed those, too, and I can think of half a dozen people who've done that to very great, if somewhat disrespectful, effect. *grin*) And a side note: If you haven't read Lee's self-sporkings, do so (choose "Other hp & original"). They're hysterically funny.

Anyway.

The original fic:
Title Seeking Out Remus
Rating: PG
WC: 1,802
Era: Missing moments from HBP
Summary: Remus just wants a little privacy, but people seek him out in the oddest of places.</b>


So come, settle in with Remus and Severus, and see what the muses have to say about the fic I wrote.


( Sporking ahoy )

Back in July, I wrote a series of posts on Remus, Severus, and the draw of Snupin for my Blogathon posts. After which, I promised to clean them up a bit for spelling and grammar and post them to the L_S comm to share. Then, I promptly moved my site to a new host and spent the next several months rebuilding everything.

With this month's theme being Meta, it seems like a good time to finally post these.

To explain the set-up a bit, what follows here are three mini-'essays'. Each 'essay' consists of four posts written within 20 -25 minutes in order to make a deadline of a new post every 30 minutes with no pre-writing. These were written during my initial growly period over DH and contain only what references to canon 'chapter and verse' as I could manage to locate within the alloted writing time. Luckily for all of us, these were all written before the dreaded 'eighteenth hour' when my brain habitually shuts down and struggles to form coherent sentences during the last six hours of the event.

I have included them all in one post to prevent spamming the comm all at once. (I might have posted them separately over the next couple days, but I have company arriving on Friday and cannot guarantee when I'll be able to post again during the attempts to get ready between now and then.)

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( Remus Lupin, A Brief Character Study )

( Severus Snape, a Brief Character Study )

( Why Snupin Works For Me )

I was so tired of writing when I had to work on my SnuSa story. The minute I sent the final draft off to my Beta it was amazing...I had the desire to write again! And I was so mad at the boys for not cooperating for three months this little scene popped into my head.

Title:When the Muse Irritates You....
Author: anglo_don_juan
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 472
Warnings: Mentions of snogging and sex.
A/N: I have a super fragile ego so don't mind if I take all the comments and critiques personally and probably cry. :) Also, this is not beta'ed as my Beta is currently scouring my SnuSa for the mistakes it has. November is almost over, wanted to get something in on time....*grumble* The SnuSa will be on it's way....*hides*

Follow the fake cut back to LJ because I am lazy!

This idea was born out of my needing references for a drawing project. Using pictures of real live people (meaning no fan art or drawings of any kind), post features that best fit the features of these boys in your mind. For instance, you can post a photo and say "This has Remus' eyes" or "This is Severus' body type". This means, you do not have to find that perfect match out there (which likely does not exist), but can instead build your own perfect picture of one or both of these guys ala Frankenstein's monster!

The drawing project is going to actually be of Remus, but for fun let's also post some Severus ideas! Also, since the project requires me drawing him nude, nude models are more than welcome (and in fact are greatly encouraged). This means that some of the comments may not be work safe. Please view at your own risk.

Specific feedback is more helpful than saying something is "good" or that "I like it." - Peggy Tabor Miller


The editorial bit

I like to beta. I don't beta for a lot of people because of time commitments, but let's be honest: it's fun to be the first person to read a fic! I always get a little thrill when I see a new fic in my inbox. But if I forget that there's more to beta-reading than just reading it before anyone else, I'm doing both the author and all other readers a huge disservice.

To me, agreeing to beta a fic is a commitment. As a beta-reader, I commit to making this fic the best it can be. The writer, in turn, commits to take my comments thoughtfully, not personally. We both commit to remember that this is not my fic, it's the author's, and anything I say can be used or ignored at the author's discretion.

Beta-reading is fun, but it's hard work! It's me saying I will be honest with the writer about what works and doesn't work. I won't be a yes-man, mindlessly squeeing over things (but if something makes me squee, I'll definitely mention that!). If there are plot-holes or moments of poor characterization, I'll point them out. If there are moments where the tension could be ratcheted up another notch, I note it. If there's a subplot that doesn't get tied up in the end, I remark on it. I look for spelling and grammar errors (though there are lots of people out there better than I am at this--and my beta readers will tell you that as a writer, I commit bloody murder on commas!) I provide commentary on my reactions to moments within the fic--things like, OMG that first kiss was HOT! and Yes, this is so in-character for him! go in there along with, Do you think he would really do something that nice at this point in their relationship?

Now I would never claim I'm a perfect beta-reader. For one thing, there are people I've betaed for who have probably cursed at me for how slow I can be. And I know of at least one person this year whose email sat in my inbox for a week, just plain overlooked. *blush* But the point of my post, really, is to examine the process of beta-reading, offer ideas, and hopefully get ideas back.


My ideal beta-reading process

1. Get the fic in my inbox; acknowledge receipt.
   
2. Settle in with chocolate and a Coke to read as a Reader. The only comments I'm allowed to make on this pass are of the OMG YES nature.
   
3. Settle in with my glasses to read a second time, as a Critiquer. At this point I'll make comments about characterization, plot-holes, etc.
   
4. Write a paragraph or three with my reactions. This includes listing favourite moments, overall impression of the characterization, moments that could be stronger, moments that are great...
   
5. At the end of my overall reaction summary, I tell the author, Remember, these are just my thoughts, my feelings won't be hurt if you ignore them, or something to that effect.
   
6. Send fic back to the author with a quick encouraging note.

*grin* I know some people I've betaed for recently are probably looking at this list shaking their heads. Again, I'm not claiming to be perfect! Part of the reason I began collecting these links and writing this essay in the first place is that I often feel inadequate as a beta-reader, and I want to improve my skills.


Tips for Writers

• Give a deadline when you need the critique back.
  
• Be specific about what you want the beta to look for (ie spelling/grammar, plot, characterization, etc).
  
• Ask questions about things you feel uncertain about. (For instance, I'll say, "Do you think this scene works?" or "Should Severus react this way?")
  
• ETA: Always let the beta-reader know ahead of time what they're in for, in terms of word count, any warnings, that sort of thing.

All information should be given in a helpful and supportive manner while also being honest. - Peggy Tabor Miller


Useful Links for Beta-Readers and Authors

• This is a fabulous essay on how to find a beta-reader, how to be a beta-reader, how to respond to beta-readers...it's very comprehensive.
  
• Kathryn Anderson has written an essay and guidelines on beta-readers, including tips for betas and for authors.
  
• Peg Robinson has written the lengthy and detailed essay The Mannerly Art of Critique which addresses both how to give and how to receive crit.
  
• Bentley's Bedlam, a Buffy-fandom website, has a very detailed example of the beta process, showing the original fic, feedback from all ten commenters, and the final version of the fic.
  
• Shannono has an essay about keeping beta-readers happy, which is aimed mostly at writers but would be useful for readers as well.
  
• Jenavira wrote an essay on beta-reading for the Harry Potter Writers' Guild.
  
• The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at my alma mater has some tips for Finding Common Errors in writing.
  
• The Science Fiction Writers of America website has Critiquing in a Workshop Context that, although aimed at in-person critiques, still has useful information about how to approach a text.
  
• ehow.com has How to Critique Creative Writing, which provides four clear steps on how to provide a good critique of a piece, and How to Critique in Fiction Writing Workshops which breaks the process into seven steps rather than four.
  
• Writer Amy Sterling Casil offers Critique Guidelines on her website.
  
• Arlington Heights Memorial Library's The Writing Place offers critique guidelines for fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
  

Peggy Tabor Miller quotes taken from the ClarityWorks website.


Now it's your turn. Questions? Comments? Corrections? *grin* Let's talk.

First off, I just have to hint, that if anyone wants to write an essay on Snape/Lupin post-series for Meta Month, it would be a most welcome addition to the ship. We have essays I'm about to cite that are post-OotP and post-HBP, but it would be nice to have a definitive end-of-the-series essay. No need to volunteer, just, if you want to give it a try, please feel free!

---

All right! This post is about listing the moments in canon that make up your take on the Snape/Lupin pairing. These can be moments where they are together, or separate, moments from books Lupin isn't even in, and even moments from other characters, such as Harry's thoughts regarding Snape and/or Lupin.

By "moment", I mean scene or line from canon, or an impression from canon that could be truth, either of which are part of what feed in to your idea of Lupin/Snape. For the purposes of this list, let's stick with book canon.

When this thread is through, we should be able to put together a comprehensive list of the parts of canon that make us believe in Snape/Lupin. It's a list I'd like to put on the side-bars and the wiki, so that you can point to it when people ask you what you saw in canon that made you ship Snupin.

There's no need to bust out your books, we don't need whole bits of the books typed out. Just state the moment as you think of it and which book it's from. Please feel free to use the book abbreviations SS, CoS, PoA, GoF, OotP, HBP and DH or any variation thereof. If you see someone's already listed some of your moments, you can skip adding them, or not - if the responses get deep, I can understand not wanting to read through them all to see if someone covered your idea.


Finally, some examples to get us started:

DH: When it is revealed that Severus accidentally severed George's ear off because he was saving Remus from a Death Eater's attack.

Series: Remus is shabby and ill-looking - increasingly so. (This is a canon impression)


Feel free to explain your canon impressions. "That Remus is presented as shabby and under-fed made me want someone to take care of him and as Snape can brew Wolfsbane and other helpful potions, I thought Severus would make a good choice for Remus."

You can get some idea of canon moments from two ship essays by McKay written after books 5 and 6: Wild thing, I think I love you and A Matter of Trust.

Have Metalicious fun with this! There's no right or wrong answers. *grin*

love, lore

Title: Self-Referential
Artist: Irena Candy
Pairing: SS/RL
Rating: G
Warning(s): none
A/N: A meta-art sketch



( Read more... )

...this is what happens in my head. Seriously.

( The Meta Fic )

Title: Untitled
Rating: G
Summary: Lil comic strip for the Meta Month!
ps: I wasn't sure how to apply the metalinguistics I learned in school to fanart so...

( Read more... )

I'm unofficially participating in National Blogging Month, and when I asked for prompts from my flist, someone asked about how arionrhod and I collaborate together. I wrote up a response, and I thought it might be appropriate for sharing for Meta Month.

In this post, I talk about our collaborative process, how we write, how we generate ideas, and who usually writes which character; I even included some unfinished commentary we wrote for "Another Kind of Fandom Wank", which has never been posted anywhere before.

Welcome to Friending Frenzy, the IJ version! The purpose of a Friending Frenzy post is to act as an online mixer/introduction for people in fandom so they can make new friends. We had a Friending Frenzy at lupin_snape last year, and we're past due for a new one in our new home! Here's how it works:

Leave a comment on this post - Introduce yourself to the rest of the community! Use the following template if you like.

Hi! I'm [lore, but call me lore.]

Why are you participating in the Frenzy? [new to fandom/LJ, want more friends, want recs, why not, etc.]

Likes: [(other) characters, (other) ships, genres, interests, kinks...]

What's in your IJ? LJ? JF? Other Places You Hang On-Line? [mostly fandom/mostly real life/mix of both, fic posts, art posts, recs, opinions, challenges, RPGs, icons, drabbles, fangirling, randombabble, quizzes and memes, other fandoms...]

Rec something you've done: [link to your fics/art/website/RPG/list/community/humor, etc.]

It's encouraged to chat with one another in replies or to offer recs for what someone is looking for. The ultimate goal is to hook you up with new friends. Putting your name in the ring means you're welcoming people to friend you.

This frenzy will be active until the next one and will be added to the sidebar of lupin_snape on IJ.

ETA: I can see I left something important out. If someone replies here, they are welcoming you friending them. You don't have to ask, just go ahead and friend, but leaving a reply and letting someone know you have friended her/him is fun and polite.

And that's it! If you have any questions, feel free to ask. For my inbox's sake, I'm going to turn off comments on this post, but you can always poke me in my journal, find me on YM or use the community email: lupinsnape @ gmail.com (no spaces)

Have fun!
love, lore

Title: Refocus
Author: Irena Candy
Pairing: SS/RL
Word Count: 1687
Rating: G
Completed: Yes
Summary: Severus and Remus write a story.
Disclaimer: Anything that you recognize is the property of J.K. Rowling. Everything else is the product of this fan's imagination.
Warning(s): None
A/N: A meta-fiction adventure -- especially for lore.

( Read more... )

Hey gang! Welcome to November, the month of desperate exchange production, NaNoBloPoLoDeeDoh and illness from the changing of the seasons. Since we're all pretty darn busy this month, our challenge is one designed for fun and procrastination. November is....



Wait, what's Meta, you ask? Normally, meta is defined as "self-referential; referring to itself or its characteristics" - for example, a movie within a movie, or a book about writing. For our purposes, Meta is any discussion of the Snape/Lupin pairing, issues around writing or drawing for Snupin, and then other fun discussion or search posts we might think up.

Anyone can post a discussion post this month. Actually, anyone can post discussion at any time, but I am saying discussion is especially encouraged this month. Essays would also be very welcome for this challenge - it doesn't have to be long to be an essay. If you are feeling creative, you can also try to write meta stories or drabbles, create meta drawings/icons/photomanips, or attempt any other creative pursuit you can think of that you can bring meta to.

If you need any examples, a meta story might involve Snape and Lupin being aware they're in a story, or aware of the author or that they are enacting cliches. Meta art could be a piece where Snape and Lupin are half naked and trying to cover themselves as they stare out at the "audience" in horror. And icons, well! They can have Snupin-related sayings (isn't Nom nom nom popular in the chat room), or lines of dialog that is meta. For example, a meta icon might say: Snupin - Mating for Life since 2003! If you'd like to make a post looking for ideas, please feel free!

Deadline for this challenge is November 30! I hope everyone will feel free to participate in the discussions and activities that interest them. To get us started, I offer up links to two of my recent journal posts that address Snape/Lupin: Snupin in 10 years and Genderswitch/fuck in Snupin.

And a challenge to get us started: Link us to some art or stories that you think are Meta in reply here.

*****
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Resurrection Fest! I think we showed 'em that a little thing like probable deaths can't keep a good ship down. *grin* We'll have a master list in a few days. And, as always, if you're running behind on a challenge, don't give up. Late posts are welcome, always, and can even be added to the master lists as long as you're willing to reply to the list with links.

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A reminder: The sidebar and profile/info page for the community hold a wealth of information and resources. I've been getting a lot of questions lately where the answers are right there for the taking. Please try to make use of these sources whenever you can. And, as always, suggestions on how to improve or add to them are more than welcome (sekrit message: Os, we're going to redo that one thread as part of Meta month).

*****
Request for Help: innerslytherin is looking for a native French speaker to help her translate some lines for her fiction into proper French. If you can help her out, please contact her or reply here. She wanted me to ask in case others were looking for similar help. For that matter, anyone who is willing to help authors and artists with any language, a reply here with the language you can work with would be welcome.

*****
Authors and Artists, please take notice: You might want to go through your fiction or art and gather up permanent links to 3 - 5 pieces you might want to put into a future art/fiction exchange. I am giving plenty of advance warning so if anyone wants to do some organizing before we start the exchange, like uploading drawings or reformatting fic, they will have time to get those works "settled" online.

*****
If one of the mods on either LJ or IJ see this post and wants to update the info page with the new challenge, please feel free to go ahead and do it. Otherwise, this bit serves as a reminder to me to do it. heh. (bad mod here's more notes to self: comfort, friending, beta, collaborating, pictures, artists, canon list)

*****
I'm sure there's more, but for now, good luck to all you frantic writers and artists out there (myself included)! I'll be back in a couple days with some meta and fun! *HUGS GROUP*

love, lore