Personal: I'm 25, full time student, part time fast food slave, live in the coastal part of Virginia, and have been an (embarrassingly) avid reader of fanfiction since I was 17. I have dabbled in the writing of fanfiction, but I really don't have the self-discipline, although I have about 6500 words of a Devil Wears Prada fic in the works. I started it six months ago, if that tells you anything about my writing speed. I may eventually post stuff here, I may not, but if I do, it will most likely be completed fics, as I have a pretty intense dislike for unfinished works, and I like to polish my stories numerous times before I let anyone see them.

What I like to read: Femslash, mostly, although I will read almost anything well-written. I love a good AU--there's only so much you can do within the constraints of fandom sometimes, especially in the more popular fandoms, although I have a great deal of admiration for those who can write good, original material that is completely canon-compliant. I will read het (especially HP canon-compliant het) or slash, but only if it's well-written. I do not like OOC fics, Mary Sues, songfics, deus ex machina fics, fics that obviously have not been beta-read, time-travel fics with flimsy reasons for going back/forward, wildly AU fics with no good reason (just like HP only Harry's a girl who goes to ballet school in Cleveland...barf!)--the usual suspects. I also dislike authors who demand reviews in exchange for writing, either outright (10 reviews/chapter, or else!), or more subtly (the more you review, the faster I write--wink, wink). If you want to write, write. But do it for the joy of it, not for the recognition. And, for the love of God, please do not post a zillion one-page chapters in an attempt to garner more reviews. It's both transparent and exasperating.

Fandom History: Xena was my first love, but not because I liked the show. I actually thought the few episodes that I saw were pretty cheesetastic. I fell in love with the depth and breadth of quality fanfiction that was written for that show. The quantity of prose that has been lavished on the Xena/Gabrielle relationship is pretty staggering--it was the first serious outlet for femslash writers, and they seized on it. Anyone out there who reads femslash and has never read Xena fiction--you need to. Seriously. You would not believe the wealth of stories out there. Melissa Good, in particular, is a goddess among writers. The Royal Academy of Bards is a good place to start if you want to get into Xena fic. Pink Rabbit hasn't been updated in a few years (although it looks like it might happen!), but it has some great stories as well, and of course Lunacy's reviews (also not updated for several years).

I got into Star Trek: Voyager a little bit after I started on Xena...mostly because of Seven of Nine, but now that I'm past the hormone-laden teenage years, I have a much greater appreciation for the thing of beauty that is Captain Kathryn Janeway. I will read any femslash pairing, but J/7 was my first love, and I have consequently always had a hard time accepting T/7 fics, although, strangely, I like J/T or J/OFC fics quite a bit. Who am I to question the strange workings of my mind?

I don't read much Xena or STV these days. My biggest fandoms for the past few years have been Buffy and Harry Potter (I've been a B/F fan for years), but I've also gotten into The Devil Wears Prada pretty seriously over the past year or so. This is almost solely the fault of Telanu, who is an insanely good writer and could probably make tax preparation exciting if she chose to write about it. There is a very active DWP group on Livejournal which I read and post in--way more to read there than on FF.net.

I've also started reading some Chronicles of Narnia fic on FF.net recently, but much of it is so different from the books that I find it alienating. The good fics are hard to find. My favorites involve the Pevensies' lives in England after they return--I find it a rather serious flaw in the books that Lewis never really addresses how frustrating it must be to essentially be an experienced, middle-aged warrior/diplomat in a teenager's body. I recall several conversations about how much everyone (except Susan) misses Aslan/Narnia, but nothing about them acting in a suspiciously adult/royal manner, which I would think more likely than them mentioning Narnia by accident. It's much easier to avoid saying specific words than it is to change one's entire way of dealing with the world. Maybe Lewis intended to convey that passage between the worlds necessarily dims the Narnian memories and distances them from the children's lives in England? Hard to say. It doesn't seem entirely likely, though, that they would have years' worth of memories of specific events, and yet be able to shut off their kingly/queenly personalities like a light switch.

The same goes for The Lord of the Rings as for the Chronicles of Narnia--I love the books (and movies) to death, but most writers are just not capable of the grand, Tolkienesque style. Plus, the quantity of fics revolving around Legolas is pretty annoying. I find it so irritating that people write the different races as if they are merely humans in strange bodies, rather than members of an entirely different species, with their own physiology, language, culture, etc. C.S. Lewis did tend to write creatures that way occasionally (Tumnus, for example), but Tolkien did not, and neither does JK Rowling (for the most part).

Miscellaneous: I am a grammar/spelling/punctuation freak. That is not to say that I am perfect. Obviously, I am not. However, I think that it's a basic sign of respect to one's readers to at least attempt to correct one's mechanics, and ask someone to read one's work over, especially if English is not one's first language. There are spelling and grammar checkers on most word processing programs--please use them. Also, memorizing the differences between there/their/they're, too/to, its/it's, and a few of the other commonly confused words, makes a vast difference in readability. I'm much more likely to continue reading (and comment favorably), if I don't wince every few paragraphs. If I wince several times in the first few sentences, I may not even read any further.

I do not believe in leaving negative reviews. I don't like hurting feelings needlessly or starting pointless confrontations. If an author welcomes constructive criticism, I may deliver some, but otherwise I will refrain from commenting unless I have something positive to say. If you see that I took the time to comment/favorite/alert, it means I liked your story quite a bit, and if you would like some constructive criticism, I will be more than happy to offer it. Just PM me.

10/22/09: I have a couple pages of an AU semi-apocalyptic Harry Potter fic written. I have no idea when (or if) I'll have the time to finish it, but I am very much in need of a Potterverse beta reader. Or at least I will be, eventually. Mostly for content--characterization/plotting/pacing, etc. I catch most of my own mechanics errors, although if you find the few that I miss, I will be eternally grateful. PM me if you're interested. Thanks. --Spork