JAFF Resources
(the reddit thread of the same name by RoseIsBadWolf)
Does anyone have some invaluable resources for writing that they
would like to share? Here are some of mine:
Budgets that show the cost of living near Jane Austen's time
Every named character in every Austen novel (made these myself, excel and PDF format)
Comprehensive timelines for:
Sense & Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey,
Persuasion, Emma, and Pride & Prejudice (and another)
Mollands for public domain illustrations:
https://www.mollands.net/etexts/index.html
And of course, I always have the Gutenberg project version of
every novel open on my computer for reference!
Online Etymology Dictionary for checking language use.
I like to use the searchable copies of the books on The Republic
of Pemberley, which also has a lot of other resources, if you
look around.
The Regency Encylopedia, alas, has been down for some time, but
Jane Austen's World often has good information, and an old,
little-known blog that's great for historical research is the
Regency Redingote.
I use https://idiomsorigins.com to check whether an idiom or turn
of phrase would be era appropriate. However, I've been surprised
sometimes by idioms that aren't there.
https://Georgette-heyer.com/slang for regency cant and
expressions.
I also have Louise Allen's book “Regency Slang Revealed”
that organizes and indexes Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar
Tongue. This book is so interesting and kind of hilarious!
I write in British English, so I use
https://dictionary.cambridge.org to check British spelling if I'm
unsure.
See these posts on the Regency Era on Reddit by /u/Basic_Bichette:
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The Strange Disappearance of Lizzy Bennet
(my comments on “The Strange Disappearance of Lizzy Bennet” by HelenaMira, originally
published on Reddit)
I really wanted to like this story. The beginning of the story
promised a good plot and I like neglectful!Mr Bennet and evil!Mrs
Bennet as a fresh alternative to otherwise generally boring canon …
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Was Lisa Turpin descendant of Dick Turpin?
(my reddit thread of the same name)
That is Lisa Turpin and Dick Turpin. I am not sure where to
go with it, just a thought. Perhaps just that not everybody at
Hogwarts is so boringly middle-class bland?
Also Harry and Theodor are descendants of Dick Turpin's partners
in …
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Historical Harry Potter stories
(my comments on the reddit thread “Fics like Starnlicht?” by
BallZealousideal2109)
It is strange how little fanfiction authors investigated the
whole area of the historical stories, a life of the magical
community outside (and before) the canonical storyline. Aside
from replants of the normal fanon stories to the past (“Prince …
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No superheroes!
(my comments on “the thread on reddit”)
First of all, you should avoid the dark trap of all
adventure/fantasy stories: my story must be more dramatic than
the previous one, my heroes and my antagonist must be more
significant than the previous one. It is not enough to save …
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On bashing
Bashing and similar are not the cause of poor quality of their
stories, but they are just a symptom of the author being lead by
the poor design of his story into areas, which would be
impossible to resolve or it would be too difficult, so bashing is
then just …
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Harry Potter and Dorothy Sayers
(my comments on the thread “Overused tropes” by
u/Aa11yah)
OK, I will suggest a very weird book for reading. The Mind of
the Maker by Dorothy L. Sayers (yes, the author of detective
stories with Lord Peter Wimsey) is one of the best books on the
art of writing …
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Another comments on the Accidental Animagus & al.
(my comments on the thread “What are your thoughts on the
direction taken by 'Animagus at War' by White Squirrel?” by
u/SnobbishWizard)
I have already (many chapters ago) wrote a review, which
included my comments on this story, and so far I stand behind it.
On top of that …
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Note on Luna
(my comments on the thread “Best Luna fics” by
u/jasoneill23)
I like Luna in the Northumbrian’s stories, but there she is
not very central to the story (perhaps, aside from Yggdrasil by
Northumbrian, but it is not his best story). Actually, the
chapter 3 of Tales of the …
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Cepl’s Introduction to fem!Harrys
(my comments on “LF Fics to introduce me to fem!Harry by
u/frostking104” Reddit thread)
There are two types of fem!Harry stories:
Where Harry (with a different name, of course) is naturally
a girl, always was and always will be. Usually, I guess, the
motivation is that the …
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How redeemable is canon Draco Malfoy?
(originally posted on Reddit)
Yes, everybody is redeemable. I believe redemption stories of
some former SSmen (and SSwomen), guards in the Nazi
concentration camps, etc. Redemption (or let’s use the
old-fashioned term “conversion” or “penance”) however doesn’t
mean to somehow excuse previous deeds. It requires true
acknowledgement that …
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Augurey or loosing of sanity
(my comments on “The Augurey” by La Matrona, originally
published on Reddit)
What is my pet-peeve is when the characters behave like idiots
just to keep the plot together. Let’s see. I have just deleted
“The Augurey” from my computer.
First of all, just let me state, I have …
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Harry and Ginny as siblings
Originally published as “Harry & Ginny are brother and sister”
on Reddit.
I see it like this. Lily was already pregnant with her second
child (it is slightly over a year between Harry and Ginny so it
is biologically possible), when they found out about the Prophecy
and need to hide …
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Religionless universe of Harry Potter
(my comments on the thread “Probably gonna catch some hate for
this. Religion and Mythology and its place in fiction.” on
Reddit by RhysThornbery; edited for this blog)
The question is about the role of religion in the HP
universe, and it is very interesting one. I am a …
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Terms of Matrimony
(my comments on “Terms of Matrimony” by Galad Estel)
First of all, this story has broken link on Fanfiction.net, so
I have had to look up and down all over the Internet to find that
only working copy known to me is at ff2ebook.com link shown
above. Even …
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