Comment on The Switch Up

  1. astelso on Chapter 1 Sat 08 Mar 2025 08:46PM UTC

    You’re my favourite kind of commenter 😭😭 my day is made by a simple emoji or a ‘loved it’—this though. Every author’s dream.

    I love when people go through and tell me what they liked/their thoughts because I really don’t know how it reads. I’m too aware of everything; it’s like seeing your reflection in a mirror and still having no clue what you actually look like. Body dysmorphia, but for writing.

    Also, I love the things I add enough to add them, so I do always hope someone else likes them too!

    Samhain may indeed have set the scene for strange happenings. Great catch.

    James and his Quidditch, bless him. Glad you found it relatable—oddly, I used to dance too! Ballet, so the mentally-ill dedication is coming from a place of amused nostalgia.

    It’s Sirius. Premeditation on his part would be entirely in character, like trying to sleep with every ethnicity to ‘catch them all.’ But I like to think, in this instance, he just… hasn’t noticed lmao

    Yes, exactly. I really loved that you noticed that about Sirius running away and them all still coming together, despite being so apart before/during summer. They’ll always give a shit, no matter what other shit has happened. Peter WOULD be the one most likely out of them to accidentally get eaten by a acromantula (he almost did in my other fic too, so maybe I want to see it happen—just once).

    And there’s some great reactions and puzzle-piecing done on your part here! I did try to put faith in readers to pick up some context, fill in some gaps, and… maybe brush off some signs as to what REALLY happened during fifth year. I’m so glad it worked as I hoped it would! I didn’t want to confirm that line had ever been crossed until later so, scattering clues for later.

    James always knows more than he lets on, just how much will be clearer later :) but yes, oh my god, James and Peter witnessing the messiest of Sirius and Remus with no context whatsoever? And they ARE that messy. Chaos, pure chaos.

    Lily and Marlene!! Marlene hasn’t quite had her moment in this story yet, but she will 👀

    THANK YOU SM for such an in-depth review. Wasn’t just entertaining for me to read, but incredibly useful too (beyond helpful for me to know how everything worked at the front-end and what got picked up, as I only see the back-end) ☺️🩷 xx

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    1. Ara (Guest) on Chapter 1 Sun 09 Mar 2025 11:59AM UTC

      I'm really glad if you found it helpful! I do enjoy commenting like this (as I said, hobbyist book-reviewer here) but I also try to think what I'd want to hear as the author and it would definitely both help me and make me happy to have a couple highlight picked out and see what it looks like, as you said, from the other end.

      You did? Cool! I'm also ballet - among many other styles, but this was a a ballet heavy week - and my feet are utterly wrecked atm, so it really was a call-out XD We're just all like that, aren't we? Some sports do not lend themselves to casual...

      Hmm, well, therefore I'm quite sure Remus has noticed enough for both of them, so I suppose it averages it out. (Totally how it works)

      No, that was a really nice touch; I think it's really core to them, so it was great to see. I'd forgotten about the arena acromantulas! Poor Peter lol, we probably all kinda want to see it happen once

      I think it did work! Between what we know, what we don't know and what we know we don't know yet, you're definitely keeping me on the edge of my seat - I'll probably comment ch2 later today, and from memory that picked up there, so I'll likely talk about it a bit more then.

      Outsider pov vibes!!!

      Oh, right, the Seer Marlene tag - doing so much heavy lifting, but only whenever I remember it. Must have (re)discovered it half a dozen times by now *facepalm*

      Ok, I'm gonna put my reply to your other comment in here too, try to keep the threads under control a bit at least. (Hope that's okay)

      First off, thanks about the name <3

      Yes, that's exactly it! Suffering can be part of a story, but it can't *replace* it.

      I see what you're saying; it can be a bit dense (neutral) and, yeah, that might end up not being for everyone. I myself find it kinda nice to slow down a bit from time to time, and anyway, I read quite a lot of classics (the entertaining kind they'd never have dreamed of english lit). 5 pages of Verne explaining things you never needed or wanted to know? Now *that* is a tangent XD

      With you here as well. I totally understand the appeal, but I don't personally get it. Like, tbf, I don't read contemporary fiction because a) boring, but also b) depressing - fantasy worlds can be as dark or dystopian as they like, can sometimes even be more interesting for it, but I can't spend a novel despairing over the worst this world to offer; like the difference between set-in-our-reality but fictional vs. true crime stories, if you get me? - but, eh. Just because I avoid potential triggers doesn't mean I don't need complexity/conflict to get invested. (Or sth else to make the reading worthwhile - writing style (Wodehouse), humour (Paddington), social critique (Austen, Mann).) Like, a story needs to be worth reading in its own right and that's why I just don't jam with rom-coms (romance as genre in general really) or coming of age/high school drama stuff - they don't, imo, stand on their own if you strip away the schmoop.

      As for context, that's just part of the worldbuilding? And I'm a majority-fantasy reader, so worldbuilding's a *really* major one for me; I pretty much need it for a story to feel truly fully realised. Without context, it just sorta floats? (Does that even make sense...) And I think especially in fantasy, with different cultures in magical societies, you can play around with the contexts, but then you need equivalent fantasy replacements, because utopias don't make for the most interesting stories imo. For example, I've always headcanoned homophobia playing a bit of a second fiddle to the first priority of blood purity in the wizarding world, with it being more of a direct result of the whole heir/bloodline thing.

      Yep. Nothing wrong with having an opinion or exploring viewpoints in a story, quite the contrary, but can't stand preachiness. Silent suffering is noble, sex is sinful, be an upstanding member of Edwardian society - like, enough already, I get it!

      Glad you enjoyed the concert!

      I'd probably have to say both: more time to overthink and no real way to gauge tone online, but more opportunity for foot-in-mouth and why-the-hell-did-I-say-that hindsight in person.

       

      P.S. Wtf this is long.

      ... yeesh, sorry XD

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      1. astelso on Chapter 1 Sun 09 Mar 2025 02:12PM UTC

        Lol, don’t worry! And don’t feel pressured to leave any comments, I’m very much riding the high from what you’ve already left. Definitely aren’t expecting huge ones on every chapter! Sometimes, there’s just not much to say, and writing them must take time as they read like they’ve very thoughtfully been crafted. And don’t feel like you have to reply to me every time, I won’t take offence. Promise!

        Though, very interesting discussion so I’ve definitely enjoyed the conversation. Nodding my head along with everything you said.

        100% YES to the Pureblood and homophobia HC. That’s actually such an almost psychic thing to say, are you in my head??

        I’m also a big classics fan, if you couldn’t tell from all the literature drops in my works. I took English at uni and did my dissertation on Finnegans Wake (it’s why me and James Joyce have ISSUES, and why words and style fluctuations are basically not even misdemeanours but non-demeanours to me).

        I just posted the next chapter so I’d understand preferring to jump ahead and read that rather than working your way through the previous ones. Or, you know, reading anything else lmao. It’s your free time and this is an active fandom with a million stories, so I won’t stand here and be like: just uploaded!! Please go watch, like, and subscribe <3 (makes me feel a little too much like a content creator, and I’m sure you’ve got better things to do!).

        Don’t apologise for long, I’m very wordy (Christ, 7 chapters and 100k+…. What AM I doing?) I’m sorry reply this is shorter! I’m lowkey losing the ability to word after editing all morning, and going to go run (still got that mentally ill dedication—it never fades lol) to avoid my post-posting anxiety 🩷 xx

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        1. Ara (Guest) on Chapter 1 Mon 10 Mar 2025 10:27AM UTC

          Thanks for the reassurance! In return I promise I in no way feel pressured/obligated; I'm doing this because it's fun - I *never* get to talk this extensively about my literary (or fandom) interests irl, and this *has* been a very interestesting/enjoyable conversation, as you said.

          Legilimency! ... actually, better not considering what happened in this story. But it just makes sense; wizard bigots have bigger things to worry about.

          It did seem like you might be :) Okay, that's one I've never actually read, by and large (and excepting my love of Milne) I think I'm a bit earlier. Nonetheless, can I ask what the topic was?

          I mean, I'm spring cleaning right now, so better things to do is debatable XD ... I'd still make the time for a new chapter though - I mean, talked about that in my ch2 comment.

          Ugh, yes, the anxiety of first letting people read sth is awful (but if the run helps... and I've literally been like this since I was 7, so no, I don't think it ever goes away XD)

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          1. astelso on Chapter 1 Mon 10 Mar 2025 11:21AM UTC

            Same, I love real deep-dives into things (that’s why I ended up adding the ‘Character Study’ tag to this to warn the people who don’t), and getting to chat about fandom/literature is a rare treat. No one irl knows I write fic other than my siblings who tease me relentlessly for it. My irl friends are more instagram model-types and don’t even know what AO3 is (probably for the best), and my coworkers are more Star Trek and computer game nerds than HP and literature.

            Yes, of course! My main topic was Memory and Time; exploring the cyclical nature of, well, everything! The Wake is especially brilliant for this as the first sentence follows on from the last so there’s this experimental permanent flow throughout the novel. Honestly, I cannot in good faith recommend Finnegans Wake as it is truly a chore to read. Beautiful and interesting, but ultimately would take a lifetime (and all of a person’s sanity) to unpack. I might think my writing is dense but Joyce makes me look like I’m writing chatfic. Seriously.

            The ‘Anna Livia Plurabelle’ chapter is great, though. Again, very dense and takes work to understand, but when you realise what he’s doing… it’s kind of impressive—terribly pretentious, but still impressive! And one of the lines that has permanently stuck with me from Finnegans Wake is: “First we feel. Then we fall.”

            It’s such a simple line, but when you’re in the middle of the utter chaos that is the Wake, coming across something so stark and stripped back, makes it hit so much harder. Idk scratched that one part of my brain that lives for those sweeping universally applicable things that writers scatter in their works.

            I’m very grateful for the time spent with my words, regardless! Spring-cleaning is something I’ve been putting off, but I will get around to it since it’s finally starting to feel more like spring where I am. My dad always says: ‘March comes in like a lion, and out like a lamb’ xx

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