Snowflake Challenge #1

[malenkayacherepakha]

 A day late because I was too busy sleeping and feeling sorry for myself yesterday after NYE, here's my first post for the snowflake challenge! 

I'm MalenkayaCherepakha (which means little tortoise in Russian), but you can call me Rachel too. I'm a relatively new member of the Harry Potter fandom - I've been reading fic for around 2 years, and writing for a year. I've written for a variety of ships, but the majority of my published stuff is currently Drarry. All my fics can be found on AO3, and I'm also on Tumblr. I'm planning to make a list on here of everything I wrote this year too so that'll appear at some point.

My main ships are Drarry and Hinny, but I'll read basically anything, and have really enjoyed a bunch of other ships - I particularly love Jeddy, Scorbus, and Wolfstar. I actually first got into fandom via Marauders era fics, and finding Wolfstar was what really got me obsessed with reading fic. The main fic I have planned for this year is Harry x Ginny but I'm sure I'll write for other pairings this year too. 

I've only recently got into using Dreamwidth, but this year I'd love to post and comment more on here, as I love the community feel of it. I'm always open to more friends, from any fandom or from none at all, so feel free to subscribe and say hi. 

A few potentially vaguely interesting facts about me to finish this off: I'm based in the UK (always happy to britpick), work in Higher Education, can speak French and Russian (so if you have any fic recs in those languages hit me up). I also have a pet gecko and two tortoises (hence the name!). 

Comments

[writcraft]

Oh I don't think I ever knew the meaning of your name, I love that so much! Thank you for sharing this, I'm also really interested that Drarry and Hinny are your favourite ships as like me you have two Harry OTPs which I tend to find can be a rarer thing? I haven't read a lot of Hinny but I'll be very keen to read the one you have planned for this year <3

[malenkayacherepakha]

It definitely seems rarer - lots of people seem to have a bunch of pairings they like but I've met very few people who ship Harry with multiple people. People are almost protective? (I don't know if that's the right word) of him in their ships - he's either with Draco or Ginny (or others but those are the circles I'm in) and can't bear to think of him with the other person. It's definitely an interesting thing to navigate in pairing specific discords etc.

I've been taking a break from writing as I recover from the craziness of Owlpost and Erised but I've started daydreaming about my Hinny fic which I think means it's nearly time to start getting it down on paper. I'd love it if you read it but no worries if it doesn't end up being your kind of thing ❤

[writcraft]

Yes! I think it can be a real squick to see one half of the OTP with someone else? I definitely understand that too because I'm actually really fussy with Draco - I struggle with reading or writing Draco with someone other than Harry, one of the reasons I never got massively into Dramione although I love the idea of it and think it's a cool ship. My Harry muse gets sulky, LOL. I have an easier time pairing Harry with other people and have found that's somewhat more rare (e.g. I know less Harry/Scorpius writers than Draco/Albus).

I definitely need some writing downtime too after the holiday fest rush but daydreaming about a story idea is such a nice part of the creative process!

[malenkayacherepakha]

Yeah I can totally understand that for some people it's really hard to see the couple separated. One benefit from my point of view is that it means I get to meet even more lovely people - I've got great friends in both drarry and hinny circles who I would never have met if I didn't ship both as the communities for each ship tend to stay so separate.

I could very easily ship Harry with a bunch of other people (and I have a particular soft spot for Harry x Teddy) but it definitely seems like people struggle more with shipping Harry with multiple people- maybe because he's the main character? Who knows.

I'm loving the daydreaming stage, just wish they could appear on paper without me having to write it haha. I've got at least the first few scenes nearly completely planned out in my daydreams though so hopefully they won't be too hard to write.

[fadedwings]

MalenkayaCherepakha (which means little tortoise in Russian)

That is so cool!!!

[malenkayacherepakha]

I sometimes think I should have chosen a name that was easier to spell/remember but I love it so no regrets haha

[icarusinflight]

no shame in feeling sorry for yourself after NYE!!

hullo there, and may the rest of your 2020 be a little more pleasant!

[malenkayacherepakha]

It was a good night so worth the tiredness on New Year's Day happily. Thank you, I hope you have a lovely 2020 too!

[magpie_fngrl]

Love the meaning of your username! I did wonder if you were Russian. I'm hoping to read some Russian lit this year in an effort to reduce the number of US authors I read.

It's def rare to have two Harry OTPs. Most people in fandom tend to like their Harry only with their Draco (whereas I think Draco is the one that gets easily paired off with other characters).

[malenkayacherepakha]

I'm not Russian in the slightest but I started learning Russian when I was 12 and studied it at university. There are some fantastic Russian authors out there - I've mostly read the classics as that's what my degree course focused more on but I'd really like to read some more contemporary Russian literature. If you read anything good I'd love some recs!

It's interesting that people tend to only like Harry with one character (whether that's Draco or Ginny or someone else) but that they can ship Draco or Ginny with multiple other people too. I wonder if it's to do with the books being focused on Harry or something. I find him very easy to ship with a wide range of people - I'd love to write them all someday.

[pauraque]

Meanwhile, I'm not picky about who Harry's with (Draco? Ginny? Hermione? Ron? sure!) and it's always a bit of a surprise to me when I run across the Strong Passions that Harry ships can often inspire. Maybe it's partly that when I first got into the fandom I didn't read or write that much Harry fic in general, so I didn't get really attached to just one interpretation of him.

Happy new year!

[malenkayacherepakha]

It's really interesting to me how differently people ship - I'd love to know more about why people chose their OTPs and how they ended up with such strong feelings for each ship that they can't see them apart. I often feel like my approach to shipping is quite different to others in fandom, although I think that's probably just because the OTP people are louder in their shipping. I love seeing different interpretations of Harry (and all the other characters) so maybe that's why I ship so widely too.

Happy new year!

[lq_traintracks]

It's awesome to read more about you like this! :D <3

[malenkayacherepakha]

Thanks, I'm loving learning more about everyone through these posts too 😊

[gracerene]

Happy New Year's! <3

[malenkayacherepakha]

Happy new year!! ❤

[themightyflynn]

Hi! I'm pretty sure I've seen you around various parts this past year. The community feeling on DW is so much fun! People are nice here and it's so much easier to use than other platforms. :)

[malenkayacherepakha]

I thought I recognised your name too so we must have crossed paths somewhere. I'm really enjoying dreamwidth, and now I've spent a bit of time here it's feeling very easy to use and much easier to keep up with!

[ragdoll]

Hiya -- thanks so much for following me. I know I've seen your name around on daily_deviant (I'm sort of the invisible mod there) too. *waves*

It's always nice to meet newer fans -- I think it's great that HP is still bringing in people after all this time. I always thought I was a late fan, and I got into it 20 years ago! I'm terrible with a lot of shipping names, so mine are basically Bill/Tonks, Charlie/Tonks, Bill/Tonks/Charlie, Ginny/Tonks, Ginny/Luna, Neville/Lavender, Bill/Tonks/Sirius, and a ton of Weasley-based rare pairs. I like reading other things though -- if you can sell me the pairing in the story, we're good. :)

Love your name!

[malenkayacherepakha]

Hi! I thought I got into HP fandom late but I still see new people joining all the time which is lovely, and it's great to have so much amazing fic to catch up on. Ooh those look like great pairs - I love rarepairs and, like you, I'll read basically anything if the author writes the pairing well.

[spikedluv]

I took a semester of Russian in college, but had to drop it because the time conflicted with classes I needed for my major (math). I've often thought about picking it back up.

Good luck posting and commenting more at DW this year!

[malenkayacherepakha]

Do it, it's such a great language! I've been bad at keeping up with it since university though, I need to do more practice so I don't lose it.

Thanks!

[walgesang]

Hello and Happy New Year! I love your username. :) It's good to know about the britpick, those are always useful! I'm so glad you're enjoying fandom and look forward to talking to you further.

[malenkayacherepakha]

Happy new year! Thank you :) Feel free to let me know if you ever want a britpick, happy to help out!