Re: Ode to Summaries:
The best (or most annoying, take your choice) are the one-shots that have a summary longer than the chapter...i.e., story will go from before Hogwarts, through the final battle, and beyond. IN ONE CHAPTER STORY?
Annoying to the max: Harry/Snape; Harry anyone Slash. I realse there are those who (yuck) enjoy this type of story, at LEAST warn the rest of us! Harry has so few things, I should think his arse would remain his! To those who don't put a "slash warning", may I present "The Greasy Git Award"

cant wait for chapter 3

lol

love the "ode" you make some great points!! Whenever I see a particularly horrible summary I try and tell the person directly, but you just can't get at them all ...

your's was a much more creative way!

Ah, P.A.R. that was wonderful. And you know, it is exactly how I feel. There are quite a bit of craptacular summeries out there. How about the ones with terrible spelling? I don\'t really dabble in those much, hehe.

Family Relations is looking good so far. :) I like Orion all ready. Hehe. And I\'m glad that Hermione isn\'t in the story, because I don\'t like her very much...at all. hehe.

Anyway, I hope you get better as soon as you can. *hugs* I\'ve missed your stories. :)

Once again, wonderful ode. :-D *gives standing ovation*

Akk! It's not long enough! u need to make your chapter previews LONGER! Or are u trying to kill me with suspence? Your almost as bad a J.K.R giveing us that *tiny* little preview of the 5th book. Between the two of u, I'll be bald before summer comes around!

What island do I live on? Most likely u haven't heard of it, but its a little, cold, green island called Newfoundland, located on the eastern edge of Canada. And NO i do not live in an Igloo,(you have no idea as to how many people have asked that!) i live in a house, with high speed internet (not quite so high speed n e more thanks to all the downloaded harry potter screen savers) and cable!

*reads formor review* man, i sound like a sissy! whoa! what happened? But that is no matter! For that was when I was young, and 13! Now however i am 14 and ready to conquer the world! MAWHAHAHA!.....er.... once i get my drivers liseinses (nope, i can't spell!).

Poor P.A.R is sick!..oh dear... would u like some chicken noodle soup? I can send it to ya though e-bay! yup, lot # 167026279! really though, a non-life-threatening illness that will take a year to recover from? Smells kinda like fish, and thats not because i had cod for supper last night! Take some time offa work (that doesn't iunclude writeing) and shapen ur self up! I hope u get well soon, and heres a box of tissues!

FLORIDA?!? u live in florida? Thats where Granny lives (maybe I shouldn't be giving out so much personal information, but i have a feeling that ur not the freaky stalker type) I might me bumping into u in a drugstore sometime and not even know it! small world... although i heard its been cold down there lately, so stay inside, and don't let that illness get ne worse....

Back to the story ....Oh! So Orion and Charile are not gay! I was wondering that! To afried to ask though, just incase they were and i was offending u or something... i dunno.

Wow, what a long review! and the review really hasn't started yet! maybe i should get on with it then!

Tee hee hee! Ur a poet! Great! So am I !... *rambles* There once was a boy named Ryan, when he was hungray he rored like a lion...*looks ate people stareing *.....ahem...

I have to admit, other that the brillient rhymeing sceam, your story has a point too! Summarys can be dull, and then they can be downright awful! and I HATE Mary-Sues! I HATE 'em, I HATE 'em, I HATE 'em! Thank u touching on that subject, now hopefully anyone who writes a May-sue fanfic will go and remove it!...or maybe they wont... and "i can't think of a summary, just read" is another GREAT one, I'm as about intregued to read a story with a summary like that, as to got bunggie jumping on a windy day... yup , gotta say, i liked this "sorty/rant" and the perview very much , another reassurance that your NOT leaveing ff.net Untill next time , good bye , good riddenice and (please!) keep writeing!
P.S see, i was RIGHT about not likeing Orion! ... He's kiddnapping Harry! evil he is!

Aww.. I hope you feel better!! I can't wait for "Family Relations" to come out, or any more of "Enemies", I really do enjoy your writing. And I have to say, I love how you go through and respond to every single question that you recieve. I try to do that with my reviews, but you get ten times as many than I do, it must take you forever! You are one of the very best authors on this site, not only because of the way you write (which has a big impact on that), but in the way that you care so much about your reviewers. Your poems at the beginning were cute, and definitely summed up a lot of reader's feelings about summaries. Keep up your phenomenal work, just don't work too hard that you don't get any better!!!

PAR!!! SOMETHING NEW!! YEAY!!! ^.^
Awww... poor PAR I hope you get better soon!
Awesome, and oh so true, poems!
Ah... there not gay.... Ok.. I didnt know for sure.... lol
lol Most definatly Lucius and Legolas are related
There was a final scene after the credits of CoS? Awww.... shucks :( I missed it.
You need to see The Two Tower! Its awesome!
Oh... bought the Christian Bale thing.... well, that was Whips' thing and then she was telling me about Christian Bale, then she showed me a picture of him and made me watch the movie Newsies (which I now love and own ^.^)
I think he's hott =P but thats me
I suppose I've been hanging around Whisp too long.... lol
I'll be sure to tell her hi for you.
I really dont like who they've got playing Sirius though... icky warner brothers people... oh well... they're making the movie... suppose I should be thankful about that....
YEAY! Chapter two!!
mmk.... I really dont like Orion...
He's a great character and all.. but I just dont like him.
Why though does he want to take Sirius' money and stuff and Harry away from him?
Can't he be nice? I suppose not.. lol
I can't wait to see what happens between Sirius and Orion and also Harry's reaction.
I cant wait PAR! Post Enemies real soon!
Happy trails! ^.^
~Zimmy~

*claps* Now that is what I call a creative critique of summaries, P. A. R. Poor P. A. R., I am very sorry to hear that you are sick, loff. *sends hugs and chocolate*
Now, after that loffly poem, may I add that you are cruel! That chapter was a heart-breaker for Sirius. Orion knows that Sirius will act rashly and he wants to be perfectly sure his baby brother can handle raising a kid and all the "fun" that comes with it before he hands Harry over, eh? Very nice, dear. Very, very nice. Now, what are Harry's feelings on this? Chapter 3, please!

From reading all your stories, I've kinda gotten the impression that Sirius and Orion don't really get along well. And that dislike is more obvious now and I was wondering if you have a reason for them to not like each other? Cause I would think that if two brothers hadn't seen each other in twelve years, they would be happy to see each other, but that doesn't seem like the case. Anyways. Get well soon! And please try to get your other stories up soon.

I don't like Orion.

Hi P.A.R., good to have you back. I was already beginning to worry.
Sorry to hear about your illnes, hope it gets better real soon!
I have to admit that at the end of this post, I had already nearly forgotten that it started out with the poem. But it was funny, I really recognized some of the summaries that always keep me from reading certain stories. And I was glad not to find any of my own formulations in there. Phew!

I had never thought that reading Author's notes could be so much fun, but you really make it an event of its own.
And you're right, my review to Partners should have read 'Orion is AN OC' and not 'Orion is NO OC', but I guess my fingers decided to hit the wrong keys at the wrong time. And unfortunately, ff.net doesn't allow to repost reviews. Just wanted to let you know that I'm not completely daft, I realized the mistakes only couldn't do anything about it.
Everything you've written about Orion so far only makes me even more curious about him. I have to admit that I didn't imagine him to be a married man (though I also didn't consider him to be gay =)), but that should become interesting to read. And, after all, Partners didn't give that much of an insight into his character at all, so I'm really looking forward to reading more about him.
And yes, you dare to hope that you hit a very original story idea with Partners, but I'm fairly sure you already knew that.
When I read the preview chapter 1, I decided that I maybe didn't like Orion that much. After all, he tries to take Harry away. But, strange but true, your second preview made this feeling vanish completely. I mean, what he says to Sirius actually is reasonable and logic. Okay, I'm the first one to say 'Let the ex-convict raise The Boy Who Lived', but then again maybe he SHOULD try to get his own life straight first. But the preview made it perfectly clear that there are issues between those two brothers and I'm more than eager to get to know exactly what those issues are...
Just one thing that confused me: You said - more than once - in the Q&A that Enemies should be along soon (which makes me jump in anticipation), but you also said that earliest in December. I emphasize it: You said the new story would be out in December in a post that was uploaded in mid-January. OhOh. Please tell me that I got something wrong here. Or did you write the Q&A long before you actually posted this?
I just hope that there is a simple explanation and that I don't have to wait for eleven months until your next story will be up. If that happens, I'll call you Rowling from now on. *g* I'll look out for the story, but I've learned patience. I know that Real Life (TM) can interfere quite heavily and unexpected.
Btw, if Orion is married with family, what about Charly? Or won't this be important in the stories?
Oh, and sorry that your hopes about Gary Oldman not playing Sirius in the movie haven't fulfilled, but I guess he's not the WORST choice that could have been made...
So, and now I really have to stop this, this can become addictive, you know?
I'll put you on my fav's list (should have done that ages ago...), and then I'll look out for Enemies!
Get better soon!
Greetings from Germany
FairyTale

Ho,boy!

How can this be the same Orion as was in the other story? I see that the two brothers have Issues from their Past.

Was Sirius a bit irresponsible in his former life, before Azkaban, and is he going to have to prove to Orion that he's changed? Or is Orion afraid that Sirius is nuts from his time in prison? Or is it something else?

And poor, poor Harry! As far as I know, he's never set eyes on this man, and now he's going to live with a family with other children in it. This should be interesting.

I very much like the way that you take stories in a different direction. Your imagination definitely shows. I hope Charly is in this story, and I'm looking forward to meeting the wife.

I wouldn't have been surprised if Sirius had tried to attack Orion. Maybe he still will. He's going to need Arabella and Remus to keep him from going bonkers, I think. Although Orion had a point, of sorts - Sirius does need to get his own life in order now.

I hope the next chapter is a nice long one. I really enjoy your writing and have missed you. I hope you get better soon, and I'll put you in my prayers. I know how it is to be sick for an extended period of time. I could write a fanfic with evil doctors as the villains (hmm... an idea there...). I know, doctors aren't evil, but sometimes... you know what I mean!

Thanks so much for saying you can review my little story. It means a lot to me. No hurry, I promise. No pressure.

Glad you're back! And I enjoyed your little verse! Here's a followup:

"Ten Commandments of Harry Potter Fanfiction (from Now On)"


1. Thou shalt not start the story on Harry's birthday, in his bedroom, with letters and gifts coming in. While Harry is depressed.

2. Ginny shalt not be a strumpet, almost 6-feet-tall, with impossibly lustrous red hair and legs up to who-knows-where.

3. Hermione shalt, indeed, be wrong sometimes.

4. Thou shalt not redeem Draco unless thou has much backstory and reasons why. He is usually a git.

5. There shalt be no foreign exchange students.

6. There shalt be less slash, and if there shalt be slash, it shalt have a plot behind it.

7. Thou shalt get more points by including Hagrid, who is not dead yet.

8. Thou shalt remember that poor Ron is supposed to be one of the Good Guys. He doth have good qualities.

9. Thou shalt not bring Lily or James back from the dead. They are not alive. Sorry.

10. If thou makest Harry, Ron, Hermione, or Ginny into gorgeous sex-gods or goddesses, thou shalt have built this up ahead-of-time, and shalt have a good reason.

Although we mayest let thou goest on this one.


There should probably be more, right? Thanks again!


lilahp

I hope you'll feel better soon! :-)

You're so right with what you say about summaries. I especially dislike the fishing for reviews some people here seem so fond of... more fond of actually writing their stories it seems. Being bribed to review in order to get more of a story isn't my cup of tea - because I don't like being manipulated, and IMO nobody forced anyone to post a story here, so nobody should be forced to review. :-(

In your Q&A you mentionned a story called "Proper Friends" - as you referred to it in context with the Sirius/Orion-relationship, will it be part of the "Family x"-series? Or completely independent, or simply a side-story telling more about the 2 brothers? I can't help being curious! *g*

BTW: "Harry being seriously ill"... could you give a few recommendations of stories here? I love Fever, I love "Never alone, never again" - and I yearn for more. :-)

Family Relations:

First, I have to say that I don't have the time right now to reread Family Life in order to get this little hint of the reason for Orion's actions. Reading this preview I must admit, though, that Orion has a point. Sirius *has* to get over Azkaban, he *has* to get a grip on his own life before he can really take care of someone else, even more so a boy who already has troubles of his own. I mean Sirius did a great job in Family Life, no doubt about that, but that doesn't change the fact that there are still some unsolved issues and that Azkaban surely left its marks. Sirius never had the chance to really grow up, he never had to work for a living - and judging from what he said about his heritage, the thought of having to actually earn his money hasn't really occurred to him yet. So, I do understand Orion - at least partly.

However, I also understand Sirius' apparent need to wipe that "elder brother attitude" from Orion's face. Trust me, I have an elder brother... *g* Why didn't Orion talk to Sirius in a better setting than the court? If he really felt the need that Sirius isn't able to take care of Harry and of his money, then he should have had the guts to confront Sirius about it and not wait till the last moment. Harry has been pushed from one caretaker to the next - what's he going to think about being removed from Sirius' care the day he thought he'd finally gain a real family? Those first days with Orion and his family are certainly going to be rough... and not least thanks to the poor timing on Orion's part.

Puh, you already get me ranting about a story that's months (I guess) from being actually posted... *g* But I'm definitely looking forward to it. I like Orion but he'd better have a really good reason for what he's doing here.

I hope to read more from you soon! And again, get better even sooner! :-)

u posted! u POSTED!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! ::does a little dance:: this is WAY better than nothing!!!! o well...u POSTED!!!!!!! what a neat ryhme...i wish i could ryhme like that...wow i was reading ur response 2 me....that is LONG! o well it makes me feel special...ooo and i got a GOLD STAR!!!!!!!!! yayayayay!!!and that preview of family relations...great!!!!! absolutely fabulous!!! i saw the lotr Two Towers in december...wow...i loved it and i saw CoS...was there a last seen??? i guess i didnt see it...whatever they do to the movies it will NOT EVER be as good as the books...ok im waiting PATIENTLY for Enemies and Family Relations..buh bye!!!! and get well soon!!!!!!!!!!

Thank You.

Yes yes yes, i was a very busy little reader over the holiday.

Dang! i hoped that it would be longer, u kinda stoped it suddenly so i was just wondering

I've read every single one of ur storys except Partners, haven't gotten that far yet.

I'll be waiting as best as i can before i go insane for Ememies and i'll read Partners before that.

Thank You again for everything, i really enjoy your storys and I am sry that u r sick.

GET WELL SOON! (not just so i can have more stories i really mean it! I swear!)

Lots of Love,

~Annie