Hey. I'm just a college student studying Political science who has a ridiculous passion for literature and writing. I'm working on a few separate fanfics right now. I do this because I need something else to do with myself besides study and read, and after reading a bunch of fanfics, I figured I'd try my hand at it. I have to warn you, this is my first real shot at creative writing since I took a high school course on it. I hope to get better over time, but right now chances are good my stories will sound a bit forced.

Story Updates:

Wrapt Not in Eastern Balms Chapter 2 is posted. 1615 words. For the most part, this is a fluff chapter. You're introduced to Harry's few friends and the scene is set for the confrontation with the Potters. I'm still not sure if the Potter adults are going to be guiltless in Harry's abandonment or not.

I apologize for how short the chapter is. This scene was one I really wanted to get out of the way quickly. The wrods didn't flow the way I'd have liked, and writing this chapter was certainly more idficult than Chapter 1. Chapter 3 will be longer and much more interesting, I assure you. I'm looking to carry through the end of summer in Chapters 3 and 4. Plenty of action coming, so please don't kill me for giving you a short, boring chapter. You are getting it a day after the last one, which should redeem me a bit (I hope). Look for CH 3 sometime between now and Friday. Anyway, enjoy the story.

Eastern Balms Status: Abandoned. After reading through it, I realized the protagonists are overpowered. I walked into the fic already granting Harry and Su the skills and relationship that a fic would normally build up to. I may re-start it eventually, under a new name, but this version is pathetic. It had a good idea behind it, but I need to add new story elements and actually write a story, not an overpowered shoot 'em up. So, sorry.

Update #2:

Th above commentry was innacurate. Eastern Balms is offensive to my own eyes, and I honestly can't believe I wrote something that awful. That being said, I'll leave it up as a note to myself as to how atrocious my writing can be.

Copy and Paste Section:

Sorry, some of these may piss you off if you disagree with my morals or beliefs. Guess what? I don't care, so don't whine.

Reflections on Christ

Jesus had no servants, yet they called him Master...

He had no degree, yet they called him Teacher...

He had no medicine, yet they called him Healer...

He had no army, yet kings feared him...

He won no military battles, yet he conquered the World...

He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him...

He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today

Feel honored to serve such a leader who loves us...

If you believe and God and Jesus Christ is His son...

Then copy and paste this into your profile

If you ignore him, in the Bible, Jesus says..

"If you deny me before man, I will deny you before my father in Heaven..."

Criticism:

When you want to critique one of my stories (There will be a lot to criticize, at least at first), do it right. Don't review anonymously, and please don't flame. I don't care if you think you wasted your time reading my story; that's your problem. If you tell me something that you believe will improve my writing, I will attempt to work it into my style. Flaming will just annoy me, so don't do it.

Pairings:

Let's clear this up immediately. I despise the Ginny character as it is written in canon. She's a fangirl for most of 6 years, has about 2 lines in the first 5 books, and Harry falls in love with her. Yeah, that makes sense. I really don't like the character.

I'm also not a fan of Ron Weasley or Molly Weasley. Molly's a smothering, manipulative crone and Ron's a disloyal bigot. Needless to say, if I write a story that is canon-compliant with JKR up to a point, I will be bashing both of them. However, in my stories that are completely AU, they might become more likeable.

The pairings I really like are many. My favorites are HP/DG and HP/GD (Gabrielle and Daphne), but I don't mind HP/SB. The only story I have published right now is Eastern Balms, wihich is a Harry/Su Li pairing. I'm working on stories involving the first two as well, but Eastern Balms just flows more easily right now.

Not a fan of Harry/Hermione. I have read one decent story with this pairing, and that was The Last Casualties by Muggledad. Honestly, the pairing doesn't define the story, which is why I liked it.

Overall, I prefer to see a story that rebuilds or reinvents canon characters. We don't see any of Su Li, or Tracey Davis, or Daphne, or Gabrielle in Canon, at least not in a substantive role. The main girls in Harry's life just dont click as partners. Sure, they're great as friends, but as lovers? No.

Characters

Other characters I don't like include Cho Chang, Dumbledore in his canon-compliant role, and Percy Weasley. Chang's a whiny little girl using Harry to get over Cedric, and a canon Dumbledore seems way to manipulative. There is a lot of room for redemption with the Dumbledore character.

The same goes for Draco Malfoy. I will write him both ways; There's room for both redemption and rebuilding the character; thus, perm, do both.

Characters I like

All other Weasleys as JKR writes them. They're loyal and powerful; excellent supports for Harry

Remus and Sirius: The last of the Marauders. I'd like it if they were put into a more mentor-like role for Harry, which I tend to do, but otherwise I like the characters.

Moody, Shaklebolt, Tonks: Kickass Aurors who aren't afraid to die and want to take as many with them as they can. What else need I say?

Hagrid: Big, loyal, tough, an all-around great supporting character. Harry's first true friend in the JKR universe. Often, I like to see him with some kind of weapon (normally axes-I've seen that a few times, and its an awesome story), hunting down Death Eaters and their allies. When you make Hagrid a badass, your story gets better. Seriously, you have a character who is immune to most magic; give him a weapon and send him chasing after Death Eaters.

Flitwick: JKR tells us in HPaCoS that he's a dueling master; Okay, so why is he not more involved in the fighting, or helping Harry? I think that's a chekhov's gun that JKR misused, and I like to correct that.

James and Lily: My favorite stories involve Harry being raised by his parents, with a few OC siblings thrown in. These are excellent AU stories, and often combine some really great elements. A few of my stories are like this. When they're alive and helping Harry in a fanfic, that fic is generally one of the better ones.

Goblins: Use them as allies. Adds depth, and definitely makes things unpredictable

Character Traits/Story Types I like

Powerful Harry: For obvious reasons. Who wants to read about noble Harry Potter surviving because of something his mother did? That's not a hero, that's a punching bag. No story I write will end with that type of Harry.

Time Travel: Cool. Not my favorite story class, but I'll read them and enjoy them.

Living parents: As I said above, this is among my favorites. Not re-explaining it.

Different house: Excellent platform to launch the "Powerful Harry" motiff. Coincidentally, this also makes it easier to get rid of the Ginny/Harry pairing. Combine this with living parents and Powerful Harry and you get a very good story. My favorite is Harry gets sorted into Ravenclaw.

Independent Harry: Duh. I don't want to read or write about a pawn in Dumbledore's game.

Raised by different people: See Eastern Balms. I like the idea because it can transition easily into a powerful Harry story that's very believable. The stories where Harry discovers magic at the Dursleys and uses it on his relatives are unrealistic, even for magic. No 8-year-old can consciously control apparition. No, wishing something would happen doesn't make it so. If it did, Harry would have escaped the Durley's far more easily. Remember in SS Hagrid tells Harry that accidental magic occurs when one is scared. If you allow Harry to consciously control magic that easily, chances of overpowering the character and making the story trivial and insignificant are very high.