HP Beholder 2011

[donnaimmaculata]

Oh, look, a fannish post.

I've signed up for HP Beholder - the only fannish activity I've been involved in for quite a while now. It continues to be my favourite fest, what with characters such as Aberforth Dumbledore, Aunt Muriel and Petunia Dursley getting some serious loving.

In order to get into the spirit of things, I have started to re-read Order of the Phoenix. I think, after all these years, it's obvious that this is my favourite HP novel. OotP is where I first liked Harry Potter the character - I had been rather indifferent towards him prior to that - and I love the atmosphere of the whole book. Reading the very first paragraphs, with the sweltering summer heat and Harry hiding in the hydrangea bush, already catapulted me back into the excited and elevated mood I had been in when I first read the novel (on a hot summer day; I read it in one day, sitting on the windowsill and eating cherries). And the aspects that many readers disliked about OotP, namely the moronic behaviour of the characters and the stagnation of the plot, has always very much appealed to me. These are no heros; these people are petty, narrow-minded, self-centred, resentful idiots, and they are supposed to save the world. Also, I love how they don't share important information due to sheer stupidty, and I love the atmosphere of stagnation that permeates the entire novel. Plus, OotP gave us Dolores Umbridge, who is as fine a villainess as I ever saw.

In conclusion: I <3 OotP

Comments

[babycakesin.livejournal.com]

Excellent reasons to love OotP! It's my favorite too - Harry having tantrums, finding out that James was a bully at school, I don't know, they become full fleshed in this one. Well, I could have done without the "thing" at the end, but apart from that? Loving it.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

I heart Harry so much for his tantrums! Until OotP, I always found he was too compliant and, well, boring. He would just take the shit that life handed him and push on like a good little plot device, whilst everyone around him got to be a proper fleshed-out character. And then, at last, Harry grew to be a real teenager, emo and all!

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

While I will always love PoA for giving us Moony and Padfoot, yeah, I love OotP. Books 3, 5, and 7 are my three favorites and I have a hard time choosing which one is my absolute favorite. And then I think, why the hell do I have to choose? :-P

All the reasons other people hate it also include CAPSLOCK!Harry and the fact that it's really fucking long. People go on and on about how all this crap could/should have been cut, and I'm like, fuck, no! I LOVE the extraneous shit! It's what makes the whole magical universe for me. And yes, I also love how everyone is a total ass at various times: Molly and her jealous possessiveness, Sirius and his reckless impatience and loneliness, Dumbledore in his protectiveness and inability to see the forest for the trees, Harry and his OMG!RAEG!, Ron and his insecurities... Umbridge is my favorite villainess, too!

Beth has been pushing me hard to sign up, but I've been so fail with exchanges lately, and I've had a hard time motivating myself to write. I was also 0 for 3 last year in exchanges with my recips failing to read/comment on my fics. (Remix doesn't really count since it's not an exchange, but the person I remixed did leave me a lovely comment. 1 for 4?)

*goes to look at signups anyway*

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

Yes, PoA will always have a special place in my heart because of Sirius and Remus (<3), but OotP is so much more complex, and, like you, I love the extraneous shit :-) It makes for such a rich universe to delve into, and I could read forever about Harry & Co.'s exploits at school. Plus, this is the last book in which Remus is still awesome ("Sit down, Sirius!").

I can't motivate myself to write, either, except for HP-Beholder - even though I never make the deadline and have to grovel before Beth. But there's a certain kind of pleasure in that, too. And the Beholder participants are an extremely comment-friendly bunch! I'm sure they would restore your faith in humanity in that regard - there's no way your recipient would not comment on your fic ;-)