FIC: The Year After, "Another Long Week"

[nenyaentwhistle]

Series: The Year After
Title: Another Long Week
Pairing: HP/SS
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 4,165
Beta: djin7
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and am making no profit.
Note: This is loosely based on the events that will happen in Book Seven. The series is a work of vignettes set in the same universe. Also please read The Snape Holiday first.
Summary:

Comments

[quite_ah_safe]

Yay for the subtext!
I belong to the group of readers who prefer to read between the lines. To paraphrase you, some stories are better without words (well, SOME words are necessary, lol), it just shows the wrtiter's class and skill when they're able to show instead of saying it.
Plus, not spelling everything out conveys the characters' confusion, too. Perfect example:

“I am tired,” said Harry. “I am so tired of doing the impossible. I don’t care to try anymore. I’ve done enough.”
“Then why,” said Snape stiffly, drawing back and away, “are you still here?”
This time Harry lifted his head and looked Snape in the eye. “Don’t you know?”
-
Harry didn’t have to pull Snape to bed tonight.

[nenyaentwhistle]

yes there's quite a bit of subtext in here (my beta missed a bit of it). the problem is real people aren't very clear (or they're very repetitious) when they talk. i know when i'm listening and when i'm talking i do it.

thanks for being part that do enjoy something like this, despite the confusion. i mean harry is confused and perplex and in a real relationship you really don't know where you are doing.

[quite_ah_safe]

the problem is real people aren't very clear (or they're very repetitious) when they talk.

Yes, exactly. Thus, some writers tend to polish their dialogue, lest it seem too fragmented and awkward. The result? Characters, instead of speaking, make speeches. Each line of i.e. Snape-Harry dialogue is followed by fourteen lines of Harry's interpretation of Severus' every single word and pondering on what to say next.

It just DOESN'T happen in real life, we talk for the sake of talking, and make only brief pauses to actually listen to what other people are saying. And half the time we don't make much sense of it. That's why your writing seems so natural, so visceral. I like it.

[nenyaentwhistle]

no, i try to make my dialogue real w/o being annoying. and really ppl don't talk in long speeches because most importantly they simply get interrupted by other that want to talk. that happens loads to me. and i do it quite a bit to other *is quite rude*.

and yes brief pauses are a great part of what goes on in dialogue (hence the action in between the words or description or something to break up the talk).

[iamravine]

I read this instead of working (I got caught too), but it was worth it. First, I do love all the ambiguity but I will be interested if you do write the beginning so to speak. The drool bits seemed to me, to further the relationship as did Severus staying to sleep the night.

and I would like to thank you for explaining why I can't diet properly. Apparently my "magic" is in sync. Damn it.

[nenyaentwhistle]

well then, ask harry how to make your magic out-of-sync then!

[aliciamasters]

This was lovely and poignant. I look forward to more.

[nenyaentwhistle]

thanks love.

[djin7]

Of course I wanted clarification. I'm blatant that way. *g* This is fabulous, darling. Of course, I love how your Severus and Harry interact, no matter the story. So not fluff. Ever. I have always liked that about you. I like how Severus stays and stays trying to 'cure' Harry. As atonement, I'd bet. Great stuff.

Thanks again, and please do write while you are away. Have fun!
Cheers!

[nenyaentwhistle]

thanks love. i try to avoid fluff as if it were the plague. enough ppl do it that i don't feel that i need to :).

[perverse_idyll]

Oh I really like the gritty dailiness of these scenes. The struggle, the weariness. Severus's refusal to give up. I love terse, elliptical fic (which I couldn't write to save my life), the kind that leaves gaps and silences and ambiguities. And I'm glad you chose Harry's slant on things, because it's very . . . well, slanted. Unexpected. Snapshots from the perspective of the unwell. It makes sense that the cost of winning the war would be something like this.

Also love how they push each other's limits and throw down gauntlets at peevish moments (so very IC for both of them) and say so much by failing to leave when the opportunity presents itself.

You get points for unsentimental sex.

And really, what the hell would these two do with a spoken, "I love you"? It would fall out and sit there between them on the floor or the mattress with both of them staring at it, nonplussed. There'd be no follow-up. Life would revert to what it always is.

Really individual. I could read this stuff forever.

[nenyaentwhistle]

gritty dailiness! thank you! i am quite good at the gaps and ambiguities it seems (my creative writing prof always wants me to be more specific in some cases and keep the vagueness in others, haven't quite mastered it). well i don't tend to write in Snape's viewpoint. i'm just not that good at it. i do Harry much better.

oh, unsentimental sex is soooooo bloody hard to write. glad you liked it. and you're exceedingly right about the 'i love you' bit.

i will eventually write the prequel to this *coughs* tentatively titled: "History of Living Together"