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Tweak says, "He full-on Obi-waned me!"

Ribbons (bronze_ribbons) wrote in lupin_snape,
@ 2007-11-28 11:17:00

Current mood:	embarrassed
Entry tags:	november 2007: meta month

Meta month: "Ten signs you are reading a fic by [your name here]"
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!

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innerslytherin
2007-11-30 12:12 am UTC (link)

*G* I need to clean up my thing about Snupin and equality and post it over here. It was definitely interesting to me to go through and try to do this - a lot of times I can see trends in other people's fics before I see any in my own.

And as far as the default position--a while back, I read a fabulous Draco/Charlie fic, and there was just enough in there that I envisioned Snape sending Draco to the Order with a letter to Remus asking him to teach the boy to behave. I went so far as to comment to that effect while praising the fic to the author, and she came back with a "Yes, I think that's probably what happened" or something like that. It made me realize that that's how I read fics, too. If there's no mention of ships for the two men, then in my head they're automatically shipped together.

(And on a marginally-related note, are you as tired as I am of having to put entitlement disclaimers on things? *grin*)

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	bronze_ribbons 2007-12-06 12:17 am UTC (link)
	(And on a marginally-related note, are you as tired as I am of having to put entitlement disclaimers on things? grin) ZOMG YES. Also, how did I miss commenting on #5 earlier? I love #5! (And I just saw your manip, and yum. :-D) (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	innerslytherin 2007-12-06 12:29 am UTC (link)
	grin Men in glasses, rowr. ^_~ (Reply to this) (Parent)

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