Countdown to Small Gifts 1/6: Introductions

[smallgiftsmods.livejournal.com]

Welcome to Small Gifts! Every year as we count down to December 1, we post some discussion questions so that you can get to know your fellow participants and watchers (and talk about R/S, of course!). We'll have one question a day through Sunday, when the exchange officially begins.

Today: introductions. Tell us a bit about yourself as a R/S fan! Do you write, draw, read? What drew you to the pairing? How did you discover the pairing, or HP fandom in general? Feel free to say hi to other folks as you introduce yourself--we're friendly around here like that.

You don't need to be an official participant to play along! If you're watching the comm, we'd love to hear from you.

Comments

[magnetic-pole.livejournal.com]

Hi, everyone! *waves* I'm Maggie, one of your mods here since 2006.

I've been an R/S fan since I first discovered fandom, back at the end of 2005. I remember catching the very end of a radio segment on NPR (public radio here in the US) that featured a commentator talking about how Harry in his cupboard under the stairs was a metaphor for queerness. I went online to look up the full story and typed "Harry Potter gay" into google. Little did I know what I'd find! I read all kinds of fanfic for about a week before I found a Remus/Sirius story. "Aha!" I thought. "This could have been canon." I got to know folks by reading and writing for the LJ seasonal communities in 2006--scarves and hats, etc.

So excited to be back again this year! M.

[p-for-polkadots.livejournal.com]

I went online to look up the full story and typed "Harry Potter gay" into google. This made me giggle. Must have been quite the culture shock.

[brighty18.livejournal.com]

As normative as HP is on some levels, I love how open to interpretation it is. Queering HP is most certainly a thing.

[sambethe.livejournal.com]

Oh god! I can only imagine what 'Happy Potter gay' turned up in Google.

[rhye.livejournal.com]

I think I'm the same as most people. I finished reading the books and I asked a friend, who had been a fan for a lot longer than me, what fics I could read because I wasn't ready for HP to be over. She recommended SBP but warned me it contained Remus/Sirius in case I wasn't "into that". I honestly hadn't considered it one way or another until she said that but the moment she said it I thought, "You know, I definitely think I could get behind that ship. Why didn't I see that before?" I read SBP, and while it isn't really one of my favorites tbh, it did start me down the path to the dark side XD

I only read HP in 2008 so I think I'm a pretty "new" fan, so I started being active at a time when a lot of people were stopping being active. At first that's how it felt anyway. I found there was still plenty of people who shared my interest, though. I honestly don't think I would even still care about HP if it weren't for R/S. The comedy and tragedy available in this one ship is endless and can be endlessly explored. I think less of JKR for not having thought of it herself.

[magnetic-pole.livejournal.com]

I was convinced fandom was dying as I found it 2005, when everyone kept talking about the glory days of R/S and what the ship was like when Sirius was still alive. It seems to be a thing.

The comedy and tragedy available in this one ship is endless and can be endlessly explored. I think less of JKR for not having thought of it herself.

I'm with you on this one. It's a case of the text being more complicated and interesting than the author realized, so far as I can make out.

Glad to see you again, R! M.

[mindabbles.livejournal.com]

I catch myself feeling like a new fan, too. I think what we think of as the 'heyday,' just a little before we both joined was probably exciting because there was always new canon to look forward to and the 'endings' were totally open. But you know, it's fiction, so endings can always be something new. glad you're still around!

[dustmouth.livejournal.com]

Ah it's nice to find someone else who joined in at about the same time I did, for all I feel like I've been around the block a bit, I still always feel a bit like the new kid.
And I agree with you entirely about not caring much for HP if not for the fanworks that surround it- we really do have the best ship ;)

[brighty18.livejournal.com]

Hi!

I'm Michelle and, horrifyingly, for the first time in my life I had to ask for an extension. I guess I needed to get the confession out of the way first so...

I've been reading and writing R/S since about 2006 or 2007. Much like Maggie, I was drawn to the pairing because of the sense of "otherness" to both characters. Werewolf, ex-prisoner, runaway, outcast, all of these stand out as examples of marginalization that makes our boys so interesting. Even without straying into the delight that is AU there's so much to write about: issues of queerness, of socio-economic status, of parental expectation/rejection, of the prison/legal system, of race (at least in the HP sense) and gender politics. They're so interesting! I also like that so little was known about them in canon, for it gives us all more freedom to create our own sense of their characters. Okay, and, I'll admit it, they're sexy. And they're adults, which, as an older fangirl (yeah, I'm over 40) made me feel a little less creepy about the whole thing.

In my real life I live in the mountains of the American Southwest and enjoy things like sustainable farming, hiking, and reading. I work for Habitat for Humanity and I am in a polyamorous relationship with my legal husband and a fantastic guy named Cody.

And in not so real life, I am a mod for rs_games.

[magnetic-pole.livejournal.com]

Werewolf, ex-prisoner, runaway, outcast, all of these stand out as examples of marginalization that makes our boys so interesting.

*nods* There's this wonderful tension between them being marginalized in various ways and yet totally central to Harry's life and perhaps even to the larger story of the Voldemort's rise and fall. Plus they both have a complicated relationship to their own marginalization. (Remus, particularly--I think you could argue that he's someone who's internalized some of the negative attitudes he's come across and let them shape his personality.) They're complex characters, considering how few chapters are devoted to them. They're adults, and yet their younger selves are vividly present throughout the books. They're meant to be sympathetic, and yet their flaws are sketched out pretty clearly.

Why doesn't everyone ship this pairing as hard as we do? :) Welcome back, B. M.

[mindabbles.livejournal.com]

Oh, so beautifully put! Goodness, yes. There is so much there. With so few passages, we get hints at the span of their lives--class issues, race or, if you look a different way, disability, gender, relationships, different formations of family. Yes, and the adult thing helps with the creepiness factor.

LOL, I adore that you wanted to admit that you needed an extension. It's okay. You're okay. We love you.

[huldrejenta.livejournal.com]

I read the HP books years after everyone else, and fanfiction was a concept I knew very little about. But I went online searching for something interesting to read about my favourite characters. It took some searching, but I found some really great fics that convinced me of the merits of fanfic!
Remus and Sirius were both some of my favourite characters, but it was a bit of a coincidence that I started reading about them as a pairing. At first it was the beauty of them (and the fics I read) that drew me to them - but what's kept me here is the potential for exploring so many interesting topics and so much variety when it comes to genres. Of course, being a bit in love with them both helps as well :D

Having mostly written original fiction, I've just recently started writing R/S. I wrote my first R/S fic for this year's rs_games.

[magnetic-pole.livejournal.com]

It took some searching, but I found some really great fics that convinced me of the merits of fanfic!

*nods* There are some amazing stories out there. I laugh when I hear folks in real life or the mainstream media criticizing fanfic for its poor quality, because they clearly haven't looked very hard.

I'm fascinated by the fact that you wrote original fiction first, before moving into fanfic. (I feel like it's much more common for folks to go from fanfic to original fiction, though I might be wrong about that.) Do you feel as if there are any insights from fiction writing that have shaped your approach to fanfiction?

Also, welcome! M.

[mindabbles.livejournal.com]

Oh hi there, everyone!! Thanks so much for joining us again this year. How cool is it that we are still going and that there are both returning and new participants every year?? Cool, I say.

I was an R/s fan before I discovered fandom. I discovered HP because I was working as a therapist and a client and I were using it for metaphors in her therapy. Hmmm, little did she know that it would become my own personal therapy for years. A friend of mine in RL loved Remus and Sirius and wanted them to be happy and searched for fan fic and found R/S. She was originally looking for that canon pairing, but immediately realized that this was much, much better. The first thing I wrote was a bday present for her and I never, ever thought I'd post anything. I wrote a lot for a few years, and many pairings, but R/S will always be my first love. I participated in small gifts on the second year and then answered Maggie's call for co-mods on the third. Now, this place keeps me anchored in my little corner of fandom. :)

[dustmouth.livejournal.com]

I think that using fanfic to find the ending that you want is such a cool idea haha-

Thankyou so much for re-running this fest though, I'm certainly not going anywhere fast :)

[laroseminuit.livejournal.com]

I discovered fanfiction in 2003 when I was away from home for the first time with my own private computer and dedicated high speed internet connection. A classmate got me hooked via Buffy crossover fanfic, and it was a quick and slipperly slope to realizing there were fanfic communities for all of my favorite fandoms from there. I actually was not a fan of the HP books as they came out because I find Harry's story rather uninteresting as written (although for speech therapy, I had to read books 1-5 out loud to my parents every day before school for 15 minutes or so. I called Hermione "Hermon" for the first two because I couldn't say her name). Anyway, through crossover fics, I realized that the secondary characters, and the HP universe, were really kind of neat, and I started some reading non-crossover HP works. I can't say that I remember exactly when I discovered R/S, but it wasn't long, and I was a regular shipper of the boys from at least summer of 2004. Writing that just now, I realize that will be a decade ago this summer, and wow, I feel old.

I haven't been as active in R/S fandom this past year or two, due to a combination of real life stuff and an active attempt to spend less time online, but it's still a great community and I love all the people in it.

[mindabbles.livejournal.com]

Haha, I love the description of how you got into fanfic! How interesting that it was the secondary characters who interested you. I think a lot of us here fell in love with secondary characters first-so many more possibilities for creating new stories. So glad you popped back in for this year. I think we've become a bit of a nostalgia moment for many--not complaining!!! :)

[dustmouth.livejournal.com]

Hello~
I think for me, I never really had overwhelming interest in the books. I read them because EVERYONE my age read them, they were kind of inescapable as I went through school.
It was only when I came out the other side that I became more aware of the powerful force that is fanfiction- it was something that I acknowledged but which never really appealed. Then I happened upon some of epithalamium 's art, and I was done for.
I am completely suckered in by the way that people can have so much love for someone else's character, and the way that their same story can be retold again and again, and there will be something new and beautiful from each new person who writes it. And they are so beautifully bittersweet, there is nothing more tragic than a doomed timeline, I love that they can be turned from simple to heartrending in a single sentence.

But yes, this is secretly my favourite fest, I think- it holds more than a special place in my heart.
So thankyou for making taking part possible <3!

[magnetic-pole.livejournal.com]

I am completely suckered in by the way that people can have so much love for someone else's character, and the way that their same story can be retold again and again, and there will be something new and beautiful from each new person who writes it.

That's such a lovely way of putting it. I've talked to non-fandom folks about fandom and fanfic, and they inevitably ask, "How many stories can you tell about two minor characters?" And I have to laugh, because *everything* we do is about retelling stories, from catching up with friends to serial television show. So much of original fiction is retelling without the overt nod to the source.

So glad to have you back, D! M.

ETA: Sorry, didn't mean to reply as a mod, there.

[gryffindorj.livejournal.com]

Hi, I'm J but I am introducing my bestie torino10154

She is a rs_small_gifts virgin but there is no need to be gentle with her, she likes it rough. She likes a nice stiff gin and tonic, but not margaritas. Tequila makes her sick. She writes every pairing you can think of and even ones you never considered (Kingsley/Orion Black anyone? (http://torino10154.insanejournal.com/532090.html#cutid1)). The power of Sirius's sexy arse, and Remus's big cock finally brought her here this year. Her fic is really good (Pssst I read it already) and so hopefully this will be a repeat performance for her here.

She's been in fandom a long time. About as long as me. I can't remember how long that is, I bet she does though. Fandom is where we met and fell in love (If either of our husbands read this their eyes would be rolling a lot). Can't help it though because I love her to pieces. She's my best friend, my best cheerleader, and I'm so damn happy she's come to play with us this year. Hopefully I've said enough things that she'll feel tied down by it all. Don't worry she likes that sort of thing ;)

she is going to kill me

[torino10154]

Always making me cry, you. ♥ Though bringing up that fic. Jesus.

If anything it's Remus's big cock that brought me to the yard. ;)

[torino10154]

Let me introduce you to gryffindorj, Sirius lover extraordinaire and my BFF. She writes a damn fine tale heavily laced with smut. The fact the R/S is damn near canon is likely a huge reason she was drawn to the pairing and why even though I am not an OTPer, I do ship R/S as well. Ah well, this was supposed to be funny and I've gone all srs bsns. Typical Hufflepuff behavior.

[gryffindorj.livejournal.com]

*tackles* *kiss* This is all true. You did a damn fine job my love. Thanks for saying srs bsns and not Sirius business because I really do hate that pun.

[bearshorty.livejournal.com]

In about 2003? or 2004? or so, I read an article in USA Today about Harry Potter fanfiction - that it existed. And I went to the website the article mentioned. Harry Potter was my fanfiction gateway. For a long time I read mostly about Snape but in about 2005-6 a friend of mine, who I became best friends with talking about Harry Potter in the first place, recommended 'Stealing Harry'. That was the first slash story I ever read and it clicked with me. I always loved Remus - he was my second favorite character and I always read him as gay (Tonks in book 6 came out of nowhere for me) so this pairing made sense. It is canon for me. I can't read or talk about Harry Potter without taking for granted this relationship - it just works so well.

And then several years ago, I started reading this pairing and more importantly, I started writing them. (I don't always write for fandoms I love to read). But writing Remus and then also Sirius fits me. I love the angst and drama of their story. And being in this ship, made me understand and appreciate Sirius as a character - I never liked him upon reading the books for the first time. Now I get Sirius. This last story switches between Remus and Sirius - because I want to see both sides now. Having all these fests makes me write too - so I'm always very grateful to the mods for pushing my love for writing.

[magnetic-pole.livejournal.com]

*laughs* I love the thought that all those early mainstream news stories on HP fanfiction--which by and large were pretty belittling of the whole enterprise--created so many fans. More power to us for reading between the lines.

I'm a huge fan of Snape, too, and I'm always a bit puzzled that there isn't more R/S that includes Snape as an important, sympathetic character. (And I'll include myself in that categories of folks who ought to be writing that kind of thing but don't--somehow my Snape stories always attract a different cast of characters.) I feel as if there's more background R/S in Lupin/Snape or Snape/Black stories than there is any kind of Snape at all (romantic or otherwise) in R/S.

Also, welcome back, B! M.

[escribo.livejournal.com]

Hello! I'm Dani (escribo = juke_box_dive). I've shipped R/S since 2006ish, I think, but didn't really start writing (or reading) them until 2010. That winter I absolutely gorged on them, reading everything and finding so much wonderful fic. Even though I had a bit of a fling with another fandom (Suits), I've really come back to R/S these last few months. They're lovely, aren't they? :D

[gryffindorj.livejournal.com]

They are lovely yes! And you're the best writer who's come around in "recent" years. I'm completely thrilled you're here.

[veeagainst.livejournal.com]

I'm Vee, although I started in the fandom back around the time OotP came out under another name. I grew up reading HP and Remus and Sirius were my absolute favourite characters. Let's just say that I identify strongly with down-on-their-luck academics and people have some canine traits. I was utterly convinced those two were subtextually canon from OotP onwards (if anyone remembers elwing's essay detailing this, it played a major role in my conversion) to the point that I read the Remus entry on Pottermore not all that long ago and was just incredulous. In all that time that I've been shipping them, I've developed a very serious set of headcanons and someday would love to get around to writing them down.

[magnetic-pole.livejournal.com]

Let's just say that I identify strongly with down-on-their-luck academics and people have some canine traits.

*g* Me, too.

I *do* remember that essay about the pairing. I didn't find fandom until after OotP, so the question of whether the pairing was canon or not was always a bit moot for me, but I'm fascinated by fic that came out between PoA and OotP, when things could have gone quite differently. I'd love to do a R/S reader or something of that sort, where you could get a greater sense of what the main themes were over time.

Is this your first year here? Welcome! M.

[erised-rain.livejournal.com]

Heya there! So, I’m new around here (as the mods already know haha, I’ve had a little bit of trouble with the coding stuff, sorry guys). Anyway, I’ve discovered this fandom years ago and it’s a funny story actually. Back in the day I used to role-play Sirius on HP sites and on this one site the girl who rped Remus was a fan of Wolfstar (Merlin bless her!). So, her Remus had a crush on Sirius and I was like ‘Um…okay. That’s new. Never thought of them that way but hmm it’s so…canon. Let’s give this a try, then.’ Oh, the awkwardness when Sirius realized he was in love with his best friend, ‘twas so much fun to rp. Fell in love with the puppies right there and it’s the love that never ends! I’ve been reading fanfics ever since but I rarely write it...lack of time, unfortunately *sighs*

Anyway, I'm glad to be here! (:

[sambethe.livejournal.com]

Aww, no need to apologize, these things can get a bit tricky the first time through. We are more than happy to help new and olf faces through. :)

Glad you are joining us this year!

[rosalui.livejournal.com]

Hello!

I fell in love with Potter in 2001, and like everyone else about to turn eleven I promptly began waiting for my Hogwarts letter. (I've been waiting ever since.) I graduated uni last year and currently teach English in Japan. \o/

I was slow coming into the R/S fandom, since canon has always been my first love, but R/S has some of the most well-written Potter fic I've ever been honored to read. I miss reading good new R/S fic (and good new fic about my favs in general), so I'm very excited to be here to cheer everyone along!

I write and draw for other fandoms, but my meager contribution to Potter fandom is limited to sad Marauders graphics and meta rambles defending Sirius's general existence.

[sambethe.livejournal.com]

meta rambles defending Sirius's general existence

Yay, one of my favorite past times as well! It is even how I ended up in a fandom.

[sambethe.livejournal.com]

As Min and Maggie have already said, but it bears repeating, thanks to everyone for joining us (again) this year!

I'm Sam. LJ tells me that I created this account in Feb 2006, so I've been around HP & HP fandom since just before that time. I fell down the rabbit hole earlier that winter while in grad school. I'd fallen ill and was holed up in bed for a week. My downstairs neighbor was trying to cheer me up and left his copy Sorcerer's Stone at my back door. Despite myself, I was completely sucked and and tore all the way through to Order of the Phoenix that week. That last ended badly when I got to the end, realized that it was very much a possibility that Sirius wasn't coming back, and tossed the book across the room in frustration. Shortly thereafter I found myself lurking around some HP forums and occasionally dipping in to defend or wax on MWPP, which led to following some links that ended up in fan fiction. It was all downhill from there.

Like others have mentioned, I was attracted to this group and R/S in particular because I left that we knew just enough about them to make them interesting, but there was still so much more to know. I enjoy seeing how others fill in their dynamic and that of those around them. I'm sucked in by the absolutely tragedy and unfairness of the whole thing. They are all just so utterly young. It is so easy to relate and understand how your idiot 20-year-old self can be so blind and so able to make so many judgement errors.

Besides, as I said in an above comment, I'm an absolute sucker for a Count of Monte Cristo plot. Dress it up with a leather jacket and I'm done for.

[cackling-madly.livejournal.com]

I usually skip the introductions because I can never remember exactly when I fell into fandom, but I know it was some time in 2007, though I probably didn't start participating until 2008. I accidentally discovered HP fandom on ff.net while searching for fanfic for a tv show/pairing too embarrassing to divulge. R/S fic was a revelation! When I discovered it existed the relationship in the books made so much more sense! I admit to shipping Remus/Tonks at first, only because it was canon. I liked both characters separately but reading R/T never felt quite right. Not like R/S. I went from writing about Remus and Sirius, my fave HP characters, to writing R/S pretty quickly. I have also dabbled in drawing them over the years but find it daunting. How could I ever translate what's in my head to paper? I'm much more comfortable writing about them.

Though I haven't been too active in fandom lately iin terms of writing, I have been co-modding rs_games for the last five years, along with brighty18, as well as pica_scribit and whitestar. It's something I look forward to - along with this fest - every year:)

[magnetic-pole.livejournal.com]

Sorry to respond so belatedly, but welcome back!

Oh my word, no need to apologize for Remus/Tonks--or tv show fandoms, for that matter. (Now I'm curious: which one was it?) I wish I could figured out how to incorporate Remus/Tonks in my writing without getting upset about the way it was handled, because I really liked Tonks in OotP. (I was convinced she was coded to be queer when she showed up at the Dursleys'.)

I didn't realize you were an artist, too. Have you posted R/S art, too? M.

[fullmoon-dreams.livejournal.com]

Hi

I'm FullMoonDreams and late to the party as usual. This year I actually left it too late to sign up at all. Was going to pinch hit but decided in the end that finishing off one of my R/S stories that has been lingering without being updated since 2009 ought to take priority. I may, if I get time, hop in and join in the bonus round.

I first ventured into the HP fandom about six months before Order of the Phoenix was released. I had read the first four books and came online to find someone to talk to about them. I loved speculating and wondering what was going to happen. I mostly hung out at the Chamber of Secrets site which I have long since left along with most other Snape fans. Yes, I am afraid I am a diehard fan of Severus Snape and he, not Remus or Sirius is my favourite character of the series.

My first venturing into the pairing was reading them and this was long before 2007 (when I started writing them) and I am sorry to say was not a good experience. As a fan of one Severus Snape I was pretty much unwelcome amongst the Sirius fan girls. I was quickly sent on my way and left without any real intention of returning. Those who look waaaay back through my archives will find that the oldest stories are gen Snape fics rather than romances.

I was very late joining the fandom for the pairing, having only really entered into the slash arena from a writing perspective after J K Rowling outed Dumbledore back in 2007. After writing my first (and only) Dumbledore/Grindelwald story I got quite a few reviews from people who only wrote Remus/Sirius stories. Since back in those days I had a lot more time and tried to read and review everyone who had read me in return, I found myself reading a lot of Remus/Sirius stories and it was only a matter of time before I started to write them too. I wrote my first R/S fic in late 2007 and other than a few forays into next gen and non-pairing fics, I wrote mostly only R/S during my later years in the fandom.

I am now only in fandom part time, generally coming back once a year for this fic exchange before disappearing into obscurity again.

Despite my lack of time due to other projects, I do try not to get completely separated off from the HP fandom and love catching up with the newest adventures of the puppies during the Christmas Holidays.

Full Moon Dreams

[magnetic-pole.livejournal.com]

Sorry for such a belated reply, but welcome back!

I'm a big Snape fan, too, and I wish there were more R/S fic with Snape as a sympathetic major character. As I was saying to bearshorty above, I feel as if there's a lot of Sirius in Snape/Lupin and some Remus in Snape/Sirius, but R/S tends not to have as much Snape-on-the-side as you might expect. (Or perhaps as much as I'd like. :) I remember Busaikko (who was writing both R/S and Lupin/Snape at the time) referring to the two fandoms as oil and water. I can see the overlap between Dumbeldore/Grindelwald and Remus/Sirius fans, though--they're both friend-pairings with some serious sources of tension within the relationship.

Would love to see your WIP fic during the bonus round, if you're up for it! M.