I’ve been away from the HP fandom for a long time, but back in the day Britpicking was a quite emotive subject, and I was wondering, Is anyone bothered anymore?
I’ll be honest, I prefer the HP characters to use English idiom (or Scottish or Welsh or Irish as appropriate), just as when I used to read figure skating RPF I expected the Americans not to talk about pavements etc. I learned over the years not to be an arsehole about it and just appreciate an author’s work (or not) on its other merits, but I still find it slightly jarring. Of course English young people ( my son included) use lots of Americanisms nowadays (movie, mail, etc) so maybe it’s just me being an old fart. Ho hum.

b>Title: inappropriate
Author:Vickyducky
Team:Death Eaters
Word count:about 215
Characters/pairings:H/D
Warnings: mention of character death (not H or D)
dracoharry100 Challenge: #846 health

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

(  This is how my drabble for dracoharry100 Challenge: #846 health started life. My drabbles always start long and get cut down and I thought I'd start posting the original, longer versions. Ficlet under the cut )

I’m one of the older GenX and I know this is a sweeping generalisation, but we don’t go in for tattoos like younger people do. Certainly when I was young only sailors and criminals had them. The only place I saw a tattoo parlour was by the docks in Portsmouth (we were getting a ferry somewhere), which would have had plenty of both type of clients nearby!
However, ever since my renewed interest in all things Harry Potter I’ve had a fancy for a tattoo of the Deathly Hallows sign on the inside of my left wrist. As I wear a watch most of the time no one would see it, but it would just be for me to know it’s there. Odd.
I think I’ll see if I still feel the same when I’m 60 and if I do it can be a birthday present to myself.

So when I ordered Tom Felton’s autobiography, Amazon suggested Alan Rickman’s diaries and I thought ‘why not?’

To begin with I found it a bit dull, just a lot of name dropping. But it got better, with more of his feelings about the various projects he was working on. He often was very scathing about directors, particularly those who don’t provide enough direction. Also critics and people who only talk about themselves.

He was very proud of Die Hard, which I was slightly surprised by, and there was obviously some legal wrangling over Die Hard 3.

Regarding Harry Potter, Warner brothers cut corners, the food was terrible, he didn’t get paid enough. He was quite scathing about the child actors, complaining that they didn’t know their lines, especially Emma Watson of whom he said “[her] diction is this side of Albania at times.” Whatever that may mean. A couple of passing mentions later on left me with the impression that he didn’t like Emma at all, but he clearly became very fond and admiring of Dan Radcliffe. Rupert Grint doesn’t get a mention :)

I almost forgot the most extraordinary bit. Apparently, David Yates wanted Voldemort to kill Snape with a spell, not Nagini. And was only persuaded otherwise when it was pointed out that Snape would then die straight away and wouldn’t be able to give Harry the crucial memories.

The end, written by his wife, Rima Horton, dealing with his death from pancreatic cancer was very moving and sad. Strange to think it was 9 years ago.

Title: Spring has sprung
Author:Vickyducky
Word count:100
Characters/pairings:Harry/Dracp
Challenge:JMDC No. 230 - egg, flower, green
Warnings: a bit of inuendo maybe.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


( In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love )

So I bought this off the back of my renewed interest in all things Harry Potter, having watched the 20 year reunion and subsequently googled the trio and Tom to see what they were doing now.
Obviously I wanted to read all about his time making the Potter films, what it was like working with Alan Rickman, did he get on with Dan Radcliffe et al. And yes about 2/3 of this book is about his time on Potter and the various scrapes he got into growing up. I think he was no different to many many teenage boys in the noughties, but at the same time, a bit of a reprobate. I was particularly interested to read that although he and the boys who played Crabbe and Goyle were friends, they also fought. As teenage boys do, jockeying for their place in the pecking order. When I was watching the reunion programme and Dan and Rupert and Emma were all reminiscing, I couldn’t help but think that there must have been times when they fell out. Being a trio can be awkward, two can have a tendency to gang up on the third every now and then,not always the same two. Tom doesn’t answer that question but that’s why I liked the bit about Crabbe and Goyle.

It was the final third of the book, about Tom’s life after Potter, that really touched me. (  Spoilers under here. )

So I loved this book and I defy you to read it and not end up a bit in love with Tom, I certainly did. He writes just as he seems to speak, going by interviews I’ve seen, slthough sometimes he talks about himself in the third person. It’s written in a very English vernacular and I wondered if the American version included a glossary, or if the English slang had been modified in the American edition. Would Americans know that ‘ordinary clobber’ meant ordinary clothes? I’m assuming there must be an American edition, Potter is huge in the US.

Finally, when I bought this, Amazon suggested I’d like Alan Rickman’s diaries as well and I thought they were right, but I have to say they are quite dull so far. Just lots of ‘lunch with X, Y and Z’.

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas for tomorrow! I hope Santa is good to you and that you and yours have a peaceful and joyful day, whether you celebrate or not.

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Happy New Year all!

Strictly speaking it's just under an hour until 2012 starts here, but I don't think I'm going to last.

To (probably mis-)quote HMQ 2011 is not a year I shall look back on with unalloyed pleasure! Still it could have been a lot worse, all those I care about are in one piece. Nevertheless I'm very much hoping for better times in 2012.

Wishing you all good luck, good health and much happiness in the year ahead, and always.

Something completely utterly wonderful has happened! I'm so thrilled!

A good while ago enchanted_jae posted a link to The Harry Potter Podfic fest, where you could submit Christmas themed fics for participants to choose to read and make podcasts of. Two years ago now I wrote 'Christmas Spirit' to fill the dracoharry100 Christmas challenge of writing a fic containing a list of 31 prompts. It's always been one of my favourite things I've written, partly because it was really fun to write, but also I think because it turned out exactly as I'd imagined it. So I submitted it to the fest and thought nothing more of it, not expecting it to be picked - but it has been! I'm really honoured that jenepel chose it and read it - it's here. She reads it beautifully, although I have to admit it's odd for me to hear my words read in an American accent, lol! There's also very nice cover art by fire_juggler. Thank you to all three of you!

I'm so happy