A post! A post! My kingdom for a -- nevermind, I don't know where I was going with that.

So, aaaaaaaaanyway, on to the less incoherent stuff.


A few weeks ago, fungus_files mentioned that furiosity and incognito were running the Bringing Back the Dead fiction challenge and that I should contribute my darklord!Lavender and inferi bunny rabbits fic. I don't know whether she was joking or not, but I asked furiosity if it would be eligible and she said it would be. Of course, each fic for the challenge has to be at least 3000 words long, and the inferi bunnies fic simply wasn't. But NEVER FEAR, dear friends, for it is being rewritten from the ground up. In point of fact, this is a very, very good thing, for several reasons: 1) I am changing the focal character from Harry to ... to someone I can write better than Harry. 2) There may be slash. Small amounts of slash, yeah, but slash nonetheless. 3) There will be actual plot. Sort of. Maybe. Honestly, I'm bad at plot. I just like to throw characters together and watch them interact.

Also, I impulsively decided to have a go at musesfool's mp3 challenge. I was really worried that I'd end up with a song that I couldn't do anything with, but I lucked out and got one that obviously lends itself to ... stuff. (Sorry about the "stuff" there, but I feel that talking about things before I've actually written them jinxes them HORRIBLY. The last time I tried to talk about something that I hadn't written at least one complete draft of, I passed out. IN PUBLIC, no less. It's pretty much the only thing I'm superstitious about.)


I'm going to need betas for these fic things. Does anyone know where I go to find a good beta? Like, I won't need one for at least another few weeks, but it can't hurt to figure these things out in advance.

Also, I don't exactly know what most people mean when they say "beta," but what I mean is someone who would make sure I have like, ACTUAL PLOT (since I'm bad at that), that my characters were in character (well, at least recognizable as themselves for reasons other than their physical attributes), that the parts of my fic that were supposed to be funny were actually funny instead of just lame, and, obviously, that my grammar and spelling was accurate. I don't want someone who would just read it and go, "oh, I fixed some grammatical errors and switched these words around so that it made a bit more sense," because like, ANYONE could do that, pretty much. Is all of this betaing supposed to come from the same person? Or do I find different people?

*is confused*

Also, the other day it struck me that someone could write a deliciously bad fic to Marjorie Fair's "Empty Room" (mp3 here [right-click save-as to download]). It would, naturally, involve a very angsty Harry who was in a relationship with someone -- it doesn't matter who, really, but we'll go with Draco -- and he has to Go Fight Voldemort Imminently and he's all angsty and it's VERY DRAMATIC (and the lyrics are interspersed throughout the fic at inappropriate times, interrupting the narrative flow and causing the reader to pull their hair out) and he just thinks the relationship is SO POINTLESS because he's GOING TO DIE, and so he starts sabotaging it and making Draco cry (mainly he does that because Jehnt likes it when Draco cries, which we probably shouldn't think about too much) and then Harry sits in his EMPTY ROOM all alone and watches the sun stream in through the windows and thinks it is very beautiful. And then Harry dies. Or, if that's TOO angsty an ending, then it ends kind of like this:

===============

At five-fifty-seven in the morning, Draco heard the loud crack of someone apparating into the house.

Harry, he thought, rolling off his couch and onto the floor, which was cold under his palms. Harry, he thought again.

There was a clatter in the kitchen, as if someone had knocked over a chair. Draco pulled himself to his feet and staggered to the kitchen door. He stopped there, with his hand hovering over the doorknob. It might not be Harry, he thought. It could be Ron and Hermione. Ron and Hermione without Harry.

Draco took a deep breath.

Then, straightening his back, he opened the door.

Harry was there. Harry was alive. Harry. Harry was turning around. Harry looked horrible. Harry needed a shower. Harry was alive. Harry was -- Harry was saying something, something Draco couldn't hear past the roaring in his ears.

Draco took a deep breath and swayed toward the wall, leaning heavily against it. "Harry," he said, "You -- Harry."

Taking a step forward, Harry gave Draco a tired smile.

"Me," he replied, "Harry."

===============

*cracks up* I was trying to make that even angstier and lamer than it was, but it just wasn't working. I realized only after I'd finished writing that I'd forgotten to include the lyrics anywhere, dammit. Of course, looking at the lyrics, they don't really FIT anywhere, but that was part of the point.

The funny thing about all this is that I don't even LIKE that song.

ETA: I just realized that is the first fic (drabble, whatevs. do we really distinguish between them?) I've ever posted publicly. *facepalm* OH MY GOD. Yet, despite this, I feel that I should celebrate. I'm going to go break out the ... soymilk. Yeah. That sounds good. (Dude, we have like no exciting food at my house currently. Not even any ice cream.)

ETA again: I just reread the thing I wrote again, and I'm really unsure about the paragraph breaks in the first half. Advice?