snowgall: (close-up)
The 'That Picture' flash fest at [livejournal.com profile] hd_remix was such a treat that it needs two posts! My previous post contained quotes from all of the wonderful stories generated by Alekina's picture, while here I'm just going to rec my favorites :)

When Alekina first posted her amazing artwork, I was inspired to create a list of Dark Mark removal fic recs (though maybe I should have called them "Dark Mark modification fics" since the mark is not always removed!).
This can be thought of as "part 2" of that list ♥


HarryDarkMarkDraco

Best fics from 'That Picture' flash fest, novella category:

favicon Unexpected Consequences by [livejournal.com profile] lauren3210, NC-17, 39,200 words
Summary: Harry was going back to school. He was going to play Quidditch, sleep in lessons, hang out with his friends, and generally just enjoy being a kid for a change. And he was also going to do it while being bonded with Malfoy, because apparently life was just going to continue throwing curveballs at him. Harry didn't know why he expected anything different.
This fic has both all the feels and all the sex! My two favorite things!
The characterizations of Harry, Draco, and Hermione in this fic are so well done. We understand right away why Draco would agree to be bonded to Harry for the year, and why Harry would (reluctantly) agree to this as well.
There are so many wonderful details throughout the fic that reveal how much attention Harry and Draco had been paying to each other in previous years and why they know each other's habits and preferences so well. And there's this whole section where Draco is first musing on the rumor mill and his own feelings and wants for Harry, which was simultaneously incredibly moving and incredibly hot.
And there's so much wonderful wonderful sex in this story! But best of all, all of the sex scenes are important in terms of character development and plot. They are not merely gratuitous.
This was a wonderful, wonderful story, and I'm so, so, happy that it sprang from my prompt. But honestly, even if this hadn't been written for me, I would have loved it still. It's fantastic. (extended rec at hd-storyroom)
Dark Mark remastered: Harry takes over the control of the mark, but doesn't change it


favicon Like Diamonds We Are Cut With Our Own Dust by [livejournal.com profile] raitala, NC-17, 10,914 words
Summary: Draco has borne the mark of the Dark Lord for over ten years. It is familiar to him, but he pays the price for it every day, and Harry has noticed.
This was so beautiful, and so perfect! The image she painted with her words fit the image Alekina painted with her brushes just flawlessly.
The premise here is that Harry and Draco are partnered cursebreakers. Harry comes to realize that Draco's mark is a drag on his magic and that it has been searching for a new master. Indeed, Harry can feel the pull of the mark on himself and offers to remove it. It's a question of trust: can Draco trust Harry to remove the mark without installing himself as its new master, and can Harry trust himself not to give in to temptation? I just adore Raitala's dry wit in this story. So many wonderful lines. And I'm in love with her biting, sarcastic, irreverent Draco, and her restrained yet oh-so-powerful Harry too.
Dark Mark removal: Harry decides to remove Draco's mark


favicon Where Darkness Follows by [livejournal.com profile] alpha_exodus, NC-17, 12,000 words
Summary: Harry dreams of snakes and darkness, and Malfoy is always watching him.
This was a really really fascinating story and well told. I was totally sucked in and trying to figure out what was actually going on! What was the connection between Harry and Draco and why does it make Harry's head hurt? Fortunately, the revelations at the end were delicious and lovely and heart-wrenching. ♥
Dark Mark removal: Harry decides to remove Draco's mark


Best fics from 'That Picture' flash fest, single scene category:

favicon Harry Potter and the Mysterious Portrait Painter (or How Harry Came To Realise Draco Has A Magnificent Arse) by [livejournal.com profile] create_serenity, PG-13, 1,600 words
Summary: No one had much minded when the pictures first started appearing; even Draco only greeted them with a raised eyebrow. Now it seemed Harry really should have given them more thought.
This was an utterly delightful scene. The dialogue was just great: absurdly meta and full of wonderful snarky banter. And I loved that Draco was fully conscious of just how devastatingly attractive he looked :) My only complaint is that the story needs a continuation! Why is Alekina painting portraits at Hogwarts, and when will Harry and Draco just give in and start snogging? The public needs to know!
Dark Mark meta humor: Draco asks Harry what he's doing to his mark


favicon The Artist by [livejournal.com profile] lumosed_quill, PG-13, 1,200 words
Summary: They said a thousand Galleons would buy the best. I should have known. Nobody uses language like that unless they mean him.
Beautiful and intense and with a terrific ending. I loved the way we got into Draco's head in this scene - that Draco hadn't known it would be Harry until he saw him arrive, and that Harry had no obvious reaction to seeing that it was Draco. And the way she described how Harry touched Draco as he was removing the mark was perfect. Now that's just how I'll always picture it.
Dark Mark removal: Harry is asked to remove Draco's mark


And just to entice you further, don't forget these were all inspired by this wonderful piece of Drarry fan art:

Alekina

He wants to laugh at the irony, he really does, as he lets Potter
brand his arm and override the dark mark with a new one.


credit (art and quote): Alekina

snowgall: (close-up)

"That Picture" Scenes

The 'That Picture' flash fest at [livejournal.com profile] hd_remix has just ended and I am in awe of all the amazing stories inspired by Alekina's fantastic art:

 

Alekina

He wants to laugh at the irony, he really does, as he lets Potter
brand his arm and override the dark mark with a new one.

credit (art and quote): Alekina

 

The old saying is that 'a picture is worth a thousand words', but in this case it was actually worth over 92,000 words from 11 different authors :)

I thought it would be cool to excerpt quotes from each of the fest fics of the scene which most closely resembles Alekina's picture. In order of publication:

 


 

Read more... )

 


 

Note: my previous rec list of Dark Mark removal fics were not inspired by Alekina's art, so I will be posting a new set of selected recs from this fest shortly! here.

 

snowgall: (knitting)
As I'm sure is obvious, I'm totally in love with Alekina's recent Drarry art. But I think is important to point out that popular art (and fic) is good for the fandom. In this case, I even have the evidence to prove it.

My LJ blog is relatively new, and in general doesn't get a whole lot of traffic. According to Google analytics, most days I'm lucky to get more than 15 pageviews. (When I post my "Best of the Year" lists, the traffic bumps up maybe as high as 120 pageviews for a day, but that's about it.) But when I recently posted a list of "Dark Mark Removal fics" to appease the demand that came from the art, Alekina reblogged the link to tumblr. And Holy Cow. I got nearly 400 pageviews on that post in a day and a half. And it's still by far the most popular thing I ever posted.

And the point is, I recced four fics in that post, and I'm pretty sure they all benefited from it.

Only one of the four fics I recced is on AO3 (Becoming Us), so that's the only one I can easily track. It had been posted to AO3 for about 4 months (129 days) before my rec went up. In that time it had earned 87 kudos, which is an average of 0.67 kudos a day. My rec (and Alekina's tumblr boost) went up Feb 16. In the 11 days since then "Becoming Us" has earned an additional 20 kudos, for an average of 1.8 kudos per day. Basically its kudo rate tripled.

Now, maybe it would have earned those kudos anyway--it's a good story after all--but I think the timing makes it pretty clear that the boost from Alekina had something to do with it. And I like to think that the three other fics I recced also got more love and readership as well.

So maybe that's just an effect on a handful of fics, but I don't think it's limited to that. Alekina has posted to their personal blog many examples of fans writing to say that that artwork caused them to search for more Drarry fics, or get back into the fandom, or create newly inspired Drarry art, and even people who don't normally ship Drarry are into it.

So when a piece of art gets super popular it's good for everyone in the fandom. It creates new fans, jumpstarts interest in overlooked fics, inspires authors to write, and inspires artists to draw. I don't think that celebrating that means we're putting other artists down. I think it means that we're excited about our invigorated fandom and are eager for artists and writers to keep creating new works.
snowgall: (knitting)
I wished for it, and I got it :)




Time line
21st February - Prompting is open!
25th February - Fest opens for Sign-ups
5th April - Submissions Due
9th - 15th April - All Submissions Posted at [livejournal.com profile] hd_remix.



(until then, you can check out the Dark Mark removal fic recs I posted here)

 
snowgall: (close-up)
So you saw the amazing artwork posted to tumblr by Alekina...

 
Alekina
credit: Alekina

 
...and want to read the fic it's based on, but can't because it's not based off of any existing fanfic. Well, if you just desperately want to read a fanfic where Harry helps Draco change/remove his Dark Mark then I can rec a couple of fics for you:

 
Click for recs )
 
Those are the two best fics I know of that involve Harry in changing Draco's Mark. If that's not enough for you, I know of two others which are decent reads as well:

 
Click for two more )
 


 
More in this series:

 
snowgall: (close-up)

This image was just posted to tumblr yesterday and it has exploded over there. I'm not sure how many LJ-ers check out tumblr, so I thought I'd post a link so y'all can see this lovely thing (click image for larger version on my tumblr page):


Alekina
credit: Alekina

He wants to laugh at the irony, he really does, as he lets Potter brand his arm and override the dark mark with a new one.

It's not based on any existing fanfic. So if any of you lovely writers happen to be inspired to write a fanfic based on this artwork...well that's my evil master plan after all. *please*
 


 

Update 1:

Update 2:

[livejournal.com profile] hd_remix hosted a 'flash fest' to generate fics inspired by this art, which took place April 9-15, 2015


 

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