okay, later than I planned

The problem is that I plan to go to bed early. It just doesn't happen.

I've been reading the 3rd and 4th book in Naomi Novik's Temeraire series: Black Powder War and Empire Of Ivory. Very enjoyable reading.

It would probably be a good idea to get some sleep before the sun comes up. Probably...

Harry Potter and RPF

Harry Potter: It Makes You Gay (a vid of Daniel Radcliffe accepting an award)

And some thoughts on RPF from a discussion about how Daniel Radcliffe/Emma Watson ≠ Harry/Hermione here.

Personally, shipping real people baffles me. Why celebrities? Why not your postal carrier and your next door neighbor? Because really? It's the same damn thing. Real people with real lives who are absolutely not characters from books, movies, and television and whose real lives have no impact what-so-ever on those books, movies, or shows.

I may lead a dull life, but if it ever gets so bad that rooting for actors to get together in order to validate my shipping preferences, I'll go out and buy a pet.

Amen to that. (Okay, except about the pet. I already have a pet.)

demarcation lines?

What's the difference between an okay story and a good one? An acceptable book and an excellent one?

I mean, there are a lot of 'okay' stories. And then there are some that zing you. I have trouble personally identifying why some stories zing me, while others are 'hmm...okay'.

Fandom tends to kinks. People have a softness for certain types of stories. Fluffy romances, BSDM kinks, hard emotional angst, the tough hero who has a dark past but a heart of gold and a soul of marshmallow when it comes to the beautiful smart heroine, secret lives, whatever. That's fanfic.

( original fiction )

I'm not quite sure where that went.

Oh. Okay. What tends to grab me hardest is the worldbuilding and the plot with the characters coming close after. I can like a character, but if the plot makes no sense to me (like a character refusing to go into protective custody with the FBI after seeing the faces of plotters who caused environmental terrorism, because if she does she'll be letting the terrorists win) then I'm out of there.

What grabs you in a story? The characters? The plot? The world? The kinks? All of the above? And which is most important to you as a reader?