You're right it is surprisingly similar to shezza's mercielgate but for me the big difference is that I think shezza made the right move by backtracking. As much complaint that is here I don't think people actually want Santi to go back on what he has planned. Most are just expressing trepidation as to what is to come plus a little disappointment in the manner of his failing to enter.
It may very well be that Santi's alternative to having Harry compete is better. Maybe.

Problem is he has given himself a lot of grief if it doesn't match the excitement and possibilities of Harry competing

 

I don't Santi really has to backtrack much to shut people up. All he has to do is give Harry a stronger reaction.

 

Honestly I would like him to go back and strengthen the last chapter or two. Not necessarily change in a big way, but strengthen. He has done that on a few occasions.

That being said, if Santi doesn't come up with something amazing in the next couple of chapters than I think he should come up with a new outline involving Harry competing. Competing is somewhat straight forward in writing and would allow time for Santi to get his bearings and come up with some awesome future twists and turns for the plot line.

 

Santi has continually stated that fourth year was the one he was really looking forward to writing. The idea that this is going to be a weak point in the story seems pretty damn unlikely.

Seriously, stop bitching about this people. This isn't a fourth year fic and Santi can do whatever he damn well pleases with it. You really want to see another "Harry as a one man dragon-wrecking crew at age 14" fic?

Waaaaah.

 

Hardly, I made it very clear in early post how deadly and dangerous a dragon really is and I would like to see Harry be put against such a beast. I want him to face the ultimate magical killing machine that flies, breaths fire, and is capable of reducing a human to a pile of goo with a flick of its tail.

No one should expect Harry to dominate the dragon. We should expect him to attack like mad man with everything he has and come out wanting. To visualize him realizing that this dragon is beyond formidable and to be scared and than have him overcome his fear and continue to press on with his assault desperately vying for the egg. In the end he should get the egg, but never defeat the dragon. That is what I really want to see. I want to see this 14 year old boy risk everything against a foe he cannot beat and snag victory from that monsters teeth.

 

Ah the old how dare you criticize the author cause he can do whatever he damn well pleases routine. Have you mistaken this for FFN? The day people here refrain from critiquing stories because "the author looked forward to writing that part" (so of course it must be good) is the day this site isn't worth visiting anymore.

tl;dr Do you need new kneepads? I can loan you some cash for them.

 

Who are you talking to? Nobody has really made a post to long to read in a while. Beyond that if you're to lazy read someones post why would you bother responding to them?

 

I think that one went right over your head...

 

Certainly seems that way.

 

If you want an author to dance to your tune you can commission a story for one, or better yet, write your own.

I'm not saying this story is without flaws, but implying that it's going to shit because Santi didn't choose the "awesome Harry enters the Tri-Wizard tournament" route doesn't mean it's taken a turn for the worst.

You can criticize the writing or characterization all you want but the second you start criticizing the plot without seeing it played out you're just trying to be a backseat writer.

 

The last chapter was part of 4th year and it was complete and utter shit. Contrived plot devices were everywhere. Calypso conveniently letting the Dark Arts bit slip out, Rita just happened to be chilling in bug form at the time, and Harry missed putting his name in the goblet by seconds...I mean if it was just one thing it wouldn't be so bad. It is the combination of all the things that makes me think if the writing doesn't pick up this year will be the worst written thus far.

 

Here, I'll help. Tenages was implying that you were sucking Santi's dick.

 

And here I thought I was being rather critacal towards Santi. Strange how vastly different we perceive things.

 

Pretty sure Tenages was implying that Howdy, not you, was sucking Santi's dick.

As for the story itself, I plan to take a wait and see approach. I think that a lot of the criticism is completely valid. That being said, I don't think saying that the story is going to suck based off a small sample of subpar writing is fair really. It's entirely possible that Santi has his own reasons for doing this, and none of us can guess at the motivations. Or, it's possible that he might read some of the criticism and go back and tweak bits of it. He is posting in the WBA after all, which was originally designed for authors to get feedback on their stories to help improve them.

 

New to fanfiction? I'll give you a clue: it may have been disappointing for some, but it wasn't "complete and utter shit".

Rita's eavesdropping is canon. Calypso's reasons for bringing up the Dark Arts are probably deliberate for reasons we've yet to see. As mentioned, there are ways the timing of the Goblet's going out could be so unfortunate. There were clues in place in the story that Harry wouldn't be selected. (If you look back to the summer, that point was discussed in this thread).

Apparently, it's part of the overarching design for The Santi's story and it's largely irrelevant to Harry's magical development whether he goes through the Tournament proper--he's spent months training for it, pushing himself to new heights of magical acumen, and nobody's going to take that away from him.

Bitches need a sense of perspective. There's only been about a thousand words since:

followed by Harry's waking up

(in other words, not entirely clear-headed). Give him a chance for things to sink in before going off completely on him being out of character. He has expressed bitterness already in this update, alluded to a few times in the dialogue, but it's an acute hurt, with no time yet to assimilate the soul-crushing disappointment and depression of having sacrificing so much and still coming up short.

You're reading a chaptered story piecemeal and there just hasn't been enough text yet to put any of the new developments into context, short of employing a Dumbledore infodump or a lengthy Author's Note. This story is above such cheap copouts. Yet we have 200+ posts repeating the same gripes, with "hardcore" members like Tenages claiming folks are "sucking dick" if anyone like Howdy, Seratin, elvin), and now myself points out the obvious about waiting and seeing how things unfold. If they turn out disappointing and unmotivated, then by all means, call him on it. I'm sure we'll join in. But even on DLP, the guy and his writing team have enough street cred to be given some benefit of the doubt. The flaws with this chapter (to the extent that there are any not being covered in the next updates) can be managed easily with a few minor edits. We don't need another hundred posts bitching about the same old.

(And Tenages? I know you've yet to know the touch of a woman, but trust me when I say that my comments above do not constitute "sucking dick").

Seriously, I'd LOL hard if The Santi decided, "Let me get this straight--I blow all this free time writing a story and folks suddenly decide it's 'complete and utter shit' without trusting me even a little bit? Fuck that noise. This looks like a good place to end it." And pulled a Blaise.

 

I don't think thats the point, most people aren't saying they are done with the story it sucks now, just disappointed with that specific part because it did seem convoluted. Oh and now I feel bad about my sig so thanks Pers ><

 

DAMN

Pers you just shitted on them.

 

DAMNIT PERS DON'T TEMPT FATE.

 

Shit, you're right. I just assumed the whole thing was between cenares and Tenages, so I didn't bother to check. Still, what's a little bit of mistaken-identity-dick-sucking-accusations between friends?

 

I actually laughed out loud at that. So it was worth the mistaken identity.