Fandon Mashup | Those of Wit and Learning

Fandom Mashup is an original featured created and hosted by the lovely Micheline @ Lunar Rainbows Reviews. Each week she proposes a unique fictional scenario and then invites you to build a dream team of five fictional characters from five different fandoms to help you to complete the task. Make sure you check out Micheline's blog for more info!

This week we're choosing five characters whom we think belong in Ravenclaw! Ravenclaw's my Hogwarts House, so this was a lot of fun...

Evelyn 'Evie' Carnahan from The Mummy (1999)

I will never, ever be bored of The Mummy; it's one of my favourite films and a lot of that is down to this lady. She's bookish and scholarly and learned, but also adventurous and brave, and she isn't mocked for her enthusiasm by the people who matter. Evie wants to be an academic, so she'd definitely be in Ravenclaw.

Belle from Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Any woman who can get as excited about a library as this woman does belongs in Ravenclaw. The 2017 Belle also belongs in Ravenclaw, especially being an inventor, but I prefer the original and the 2017 Belle looks an awful lot like another Hogwarts student...

Cosima Niehaus from Orphan Black

Cosima is a proud nerd and super smart, and while I'm sure Ravenclaw is full of bookish people I think the kooky, more Luna-esque people are sometimes forgotten about. Ravenclaw will have as many scientists as more artsy lovers and I think Cosima would find a lot of like minds there willing to help her with her experiments.

Samwell Tarly from Game of Thrones

He and Belle can nerd out over the Hogwarts Library together, and if Samwell could go to boarding school it'd mean having time away from his horrible father.

Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

We know Elizabeth loves books, but that's not the reason I'd put her in Ravenclaw. For me Elizabeth is a character who encapsulates 'Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure'. She loves to play around with speech, is constantly verbally sparring with other people even when, like Mr. Collins, they don't realise it. She'd definitely be at home in Ravenclaw.

Who would you put in Ravenclaw?

The Hogwarts Tag

I saw Catherine @ We'll Meet it When it Does do this tag and had to have a go at it myself!

Am I pure-blood, half-blood or muggle born?

Muggle-born.

Which wand chose me?

10" Beech wood with Unicorn hair core. Aw yeah.

‘The true match for a beech wand will be, if young, wise beyond his or her years, and if full-grown, rich in understanding and experience. Beech wands perform very weakly for the narrow-minded and intolerant. Such wizards and witches, having obtained a beech wand without having been suitably matched (yet coveting this most desirable, richly hued and highly prized wand wood), have often presented themselves at the homes of learned wandmakers such as myself, demanding to know the reason for their handsome wand’s lack of power. When properly matched, the beech wand is capable of a subtlety and artistry rarely seen in any other wood, hence its lustrous reputation.’

Did I take an owl, a cat, a rat or a toad?

It has to be an owl. Especially if I could have an eagle owl; I'd call him Apollo.

Where did the sorting hat put me?

Ravenclaw.

What house did I want to be in?

Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff.

What lessons are my favourite and least favourite?

I'm a huge history nerd so I think History of Magic would probably be one of my favourite subjects, and I think Divination taught by Firenze would be quite interesting (sorry Professor Trelawney). I was quite good at baking at school, so I think I could transfer those skills to Potions and I hope I wouldn't find DADA or Charms too difficult. Care of Magical Creatures sounds so fun, too, and I'd be great at Muggle Studies! I have a feeling Transfiguration is what I'd struggle with most on the basis that I was never very good at languages at school, so trying to transform something I know into something completely different is something I struggle with.

The form my patronus takes:

A snowy owl.

What does a Boggart look like for me?

I don't know and I don't think I want to know. I'm terrified of spiders, but I don't know if they'd be my Boggart considering Boggarts play on a person's biggest fear - for me that's probably more along the lines of failure.

Do I partake in any magical hobbies or school sports?

I've never been a big sports fan, but considering I'm a muggle-born and this is a sport that involves flying on broomsticks I'd have to give Quidditch a try - I was pretty good at badminton and tennis, so maybe I'd be a good beater.

Where would I find myself hanging in my free time?

The Ravenclaw Common Room's in the Astronomy Tower, so I'd have to try my hand at some star-gazing in my free time. Other than that I'd probably spend time reading in that cool library, hanging out with friends and exploring the school. I wouldn't mind heading into Hogsmeade for some butterbeer, either! I joke, we all know if I went to Hogsmeade I'd spend the day in Flourish & Blotts.

What would I most likely get detention for?

Probably not getting homework done - but I really would try!

What career do I want after leaving Hogwarts?

I mean if you're a muggle-born pretty much any magical career is going to be cool, right? I think I'd have to be a Historian of Magic, though, with my particular focus on the history of European witch trials.

If you want to have a go at this, consider yourself tagged!

What's Up Wednesday! | 02/04/14

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin L. Funk as a way for writers and readers to stay in touch!

What I'm Reading

At the moment I'm reading a collection of John Donne's poetry - he's always been one of my favourite poets - and I'm reading my first Sarah Waters novel! I mentioned Fingersmith in my 2014 Booket List as the Historical Fiction novel I'd like to read most this year, but before jumping into that one I'm reading Affinity.

I'm also taking part in the Hogwarts House Reading Challenge over on tumblr, and because I'm a Ravenclaw I have to try and complete these challenges over the course of April!

This week the challenge is to read a book with a blue cover, so I think I'm going to pick up Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book; it's the littlest book of his that I own and I'd love to finally cross it off my TBR list.

What I'm Writing

It's day 2 of Camp NaNoWriMo and I've already made some changes. Because I'm rubbish.

As I mentioned in my post on Friday I wanted to work on a 20,000 word prequel novella to my current WIP, and while an entire novella is something I really want to work on, just the thought of working on another full-length piece, when I haven't got everything figured out for my novel just yet, had me wanting to bang my head against a wall. Add to that that I only got home from a very busy, very exhausting term at university on Sunday, and that I just want to relax this April, and you might be able to understand why the entire 20,000 words is no longer a possibility.

So instead I've set myself a new goal of 15,000 words, and I'd love to use those 15,000 words to write a small selection of Historical Fiction short stories, most of which I can turn into parts of the novella some time in the future!

One other short story I'd like to work on this month is a 5,000 word Beauty and the Beast retelling! Eggplant Literary Productions are looking for poetry and fiction submissions until 30th of April for Spellbound & Spindles, a pair of anthologies containing retellings of fairy tales which feature POC, LGBT and disabled characters, as well non-Western European and non-North American settings. 

So I'm still going to be busy writing away over April, just not as busy as I initially thought - I need a break!

What Inspires Me Right Now

Yesterday I was surrounded by Historical Fiction and Historical Dramas. As I mentioned above I'm reading Sarah Waters' Affinity, and then I watched The Awakening, a spooky film set in the 1920s, and then last night I watched the first episode of the new Channel 4 drama New Worlds, which is set in England and America during the 17th century.


As someone who enjoys writing Historical Fiction it's a lot of fun to experience it in so many different forms, and so many different eras! I'm rather picky when it comes to TV shows - the only shows I regularly watch are Game of Thrones and Hannibal - but I think I'll watch more of New Worlds; I particularly enjoyed the storyline that took place in Massachusetts and starred Alice Englert (Lena Duchannes from Beautiful Creatures) and Joe Dempsie (Gendry from Game of Thrones).


Are any of you watching New Worlds?

What Else I've Been Up To

On Sunday my parents picked me up from uni and we made the five hour drive down to South Wales. It's so nice to be back home, in my bigger bed and just be pampered for a few weeks - I was so tired after this term that my first night back home I slept for eleven hours! Then on Monday I got my hair cut which I was so looking forward to; I love having long hair, but it had gotten to the point where it was all dry and split and horrid, and now it's a lot healthier and lighter and just nicer.

Last week I had a meeting with another tutor who made me feel a lot more confident about my prospective PhD thesis, so now I can start looking into what I'd like to write about in much more detail and start making a list of prospective universities. I already have two I'd definitely like to check out and a possible third, but I'd like at least four or five.

That same day I also found out that I'm going to become an auntie for the fourth time this October! For so long my sister kept saying she wasn't going to have any more children - she already has a little boy and a little girl - but I had a feeling she'd have at least one more. Now I have to see if, nearer the time, I can guess correctly what the baby's going to be. So far whenever my sisters or one of our cousins has had a baby I've always guessed the sex correctly. Maybe this year I should start making bets...

What's new with you?