Harry Potter Starter Kit: Begging again, Hat in Hand

[icarus]

Okay, made good progress in the starter kit. I've ruthlessly culled the list down from its massive proportions consisting solely of novel-length stories to just One short story and One novel per pairing.

Mostly.

Here's what we still need:

One-shots:
Snape/Lucius: Can you recommend a good one-shot?
Remus/Sirius: Do you know any good one-shots?
Draco/Neville: I know there have got to be some good one-shots.

Novel-length:
Snape/Lupin: Are there any novel-length?
Harry/Lucius: Are there any novel-length? Or reasonably long?
Snape/Draco: Any novel-length? How 'bout just really, really long?

Both:
Percy/Oliver: No one recommended a single story!
Percy/Lucius: Need one-shot and novel (if available, ha)

My Gen Recs are pretty skimpy, as are my Het Recs, though this list is slash-oriented and I say that up front.

For those who go straight for the Porn, I'm looking for recs for the following NC-17 one-shots (mostly because all the kink I read involves Percy, eheh):

Magical Bond
Threesome
Incest
Exhibitionism
Voyeurism
Bondage
S&M

The fine print: I'm still not including WiPs (we can torment them later...), though series fics like The Tea Series are acceptable.

My own fics are only considered if more than one person suggests them, since this is my journal and it's likely people who read it also read my stories. If my own fics are suggested, they're still subject to being culled if I think there's something that's more representative of the pairing (i.e., so far only Beg Me For It has made the cut).

ETA: Yes, self-pimping is allowed. But if your Harry/Snape story is up against The Tea Series, your chances of being included are slim.

ETA2: Pants first, then shoes. Let me post the list before you bash it. If you bash it before it's been posted, it sounds like a personal issue instead a qualm with the list. Since you haven't read the list yet.

ETA3: No anti-recs, please. People are going out of their way to look up links, et al. If you have a qualm about a fic recommended, please email me instead.

ETA4: Definition of a one-shot. Er. Mine's sort of vague. Basically a story without chapters that doesn't take all night to read. But I read fast, so Helen's Close Enough is still a one-shot, though it's fairly long.

Comments

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

I'm not criticizing the narrowness of the pairings! I didn't mention that at all, and I don't see how you inferred that.

I'm just saying that my opinions (mine!) of the suggestions you've been given vary widely. Part of the value of a recs page (mine, or anyone else's) is that someone who likes the sort of stories that I like will find many things to her taste on my recs page. Conversely, someone who finds that she doesn't like the stories I rec knows not to bother with my recs at all, and will go on to someone who values different elements than I do.

With a recs page comprised of many inputs, the likelihood of enjoying one rec doesn't seem to me to have much to do with whether or not you enjoyed the previous rec. That's my only criticism. And for example, The Way of the World will appeal to a completely different set of people than like Cursed Artefacts for Sale, I suspect, even past the pairing.

I am not criticizing your project specifically; I feel the same way about all multiple-source recs groups such as the Yahoo HP-recs groups, quibbler_recs, and veelarecs.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I didn't mention that at all, and I don't see how you inferred that.

Oh, I was looking at the project as a whole, taking a step back after reading your comments. It's all right. I didn't take that from your comment, that's just me extrapolating where this could go.

I agree, and it's the fundamental problem of creating any sort of rec list, that you have to choose one fic over another.

Allow me to think out loud here for a sec.

My making the options so narrow and choosing only two fics makes it seem like I'm picking the two best. :D This brings up all kinds of tensions for the stories that are left out, i.e., the "you gotta be kidding me -- you picked the Tea Series rather than Civil War? Are you Nuts?!" syndrome.

But the main problem faced by new readers in Harry Potter is the vast array of fics... and since I'm covering so many different pairings, the list could become very intimidating.

I think the way to balance this problem is to stick with the two "sample" fics (this afternoon I was thinking I should expand the number, but no, the list would be too long). Have the caveat that these aren't the best or even best for new readers (since tastes vary so much) just... these are two good ones in my opinion. And then have a link to pairing-specific sites, where the reader can find more.

Then collecting everyone's recs into a sort of appendix would give a good selection, that suits a variety of tastes.

This project just keeps getting bigger, doesn't it? Oh well. One step at a time. I'll finish the recs list first.

Icarus

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

Oh, I think we're talking absolutely backwards and confusing each other. Actually, I think your editorial job (choosing 1 or 2 fics from each set) is a good and unifying one - it's the "collection of everyone's recs into an appendix" I'm not sure is worthwhile, because of its inconsistency.

I do think that having links to pairing-specific sites is a great idea!