Previous Username Ravenclaweruditeowl

STATUS: Hopefully working on updating anything listed under "Current Stories."

Feel free to PM me if you have a question or comment that you really want answered, and I also respond to reviews that have questions/longer comments in them.

About Me:

She/her, teen, college student in usa, loves reading

Most of my stories are crossposted on Wattpad (@raeowl), and/or Ao3 (ravenclaweruditeowl or raeowl)

Some Favorites:

Series: Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, The Lunar Chronicles, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Villains (V.E. Schwab)

Stand alone books: The Hate U Give, The Sun is Also a Star, Chasing Orion, Paint The Wind, The One Thousand Doors of January

Shows: Merlin, Jane the Virgin, The Umbrella Academy, Carmen Sandiego, ATLA, Madam Secretary, She-ra, Manifest, Stranger Things

Reason for my username: Ravenclaw = my Hogwarts house. Erudite = was once my 1st pick in Divergent. Owl = Symbol of Athena (PJO/HoO)

Current Stories:

Blue and Gold: A Merlin soulmate AU I just couldn't get out of my head. Updates when I feel like it.

Silver Chain: Sequel to Gold Coin. Season 2 of Merlin where Arthur and Morgana know about Merlin's magic.

True Queen: Frostburned sequel

Petunias: Sequel to Daisies

Finished Stories:

Frostburned: A frozen/Merlin crossover that takes place in Camelot, for the most part. Eventual magic reveal.

Not Quite Mortal: After reading endless 'mortals meet percabeth/demigod stories, I realized they were all basically the same, and the ones I read weren't all that well written, and had no plot. So, I wrote my own about Percy and Annabeth's mortal friends. It's not too heavy in Percabeth fluff, if that's what you were looking for. Instead, it focuses more on the mortals' lives as they interact with each other and demigods.

Daisies (AKA Daisy Dursley: Flower Sparks) - Daisy Dursley, Dudley's daughter, finds out that she is a witch. She has to get past her parents', and grandparents' wizard prejudice, and a new evil coming to Hogwarts. On the side, Dudley finds himself enjoying times with the whole Potter and Weasley family - how can he admit it to his parents? Thanks to Dreamflower02 for being beta.

Shapeshifters: a twilight & fruits basket crossover - Deleted. If you were a fan for some reason, message me and I can email you a copy.

Gold Coin: A short Merlin magic reveal story I couldn't get out of my mind. Sequel is Silver Chain.

And a few other one-shots that I won't describe here :)

Future Story Ideas:

Bronze Shield: Gold Coin series finale taking place around season 3 of Merlin.

Potentially multiple stories in my Daisies universe (Harry Potter).

Tips for New Writers:

Don't hate your writing. So, you got a lot of negative reviews, or none at all. Everyone starts out there. You'll get better, and chances are, you aren't as bad a writer as you think you are. A lot of writers criticize their work way too much. Trust me. I've always been one of them. Even if it's not the best, the more you push on, the better you'll get.

Get a beta. If you are writing more than one story, you might only want a beta to look over one of them, but you can apply their advice to anything else you're working on. Having someone else look over your work (whether it's an online beta, a family member or a friend) can make a HUGE difference on your writing. Look over things that your new beta has written - you want one that is at least a little bit better than you (unless you're already top form, and just want an editor), but for beginners, this is not usually the case.

Try to use proper grammar. I've read tons of stories that had an awesome plot, but reading through them was so slow and frustrating I eventually gave up. Besides having a beta, type your stories out somewhere that has spellcheck and basic grammar check at least, like google drive, or Microsoft word, Grammarly, or ProWritingAid, which you can use parts of for free. Grammar is very important, but it isn't what makes a story, and anyone who's being rude about that isn't worth listening to. Everyone is at different levels - look for people to give you advice and you'll be great.

Know your homonyms and words with apostrophes. It's the difference between knowing your shit, and knowing you're shit. Know differences between your and you're, there their and they're, to and too, then and than, accept and except.

Commas ARE important: 'Let's eat, grandma' has a completely different meaning to 'Let's eat grandma.'

I've recently started using ProWritingAid which you can use parts of for free, and has more creative writing analysis tools than Grammarly.

Don't switch POV often, or write 'Character name POV' at the beginning of a section. For one, short sections swapping between different points of view can be confusing and unnecessary, especially when you're just starting to write in a way that switches POV and have no practice.

For another point, your writing will get better if you challenge yourself to stick to only one person for a while. It should be evident in the way you're writing who's point of view it is anyway, so there shouldn't be any need to label it. Exceptions would be if you're doing something Rick Riordan style, and each chapter is the name of the character narrating it. But even he sticks with one person's point of view for an entire chapter before changing it.

If you're writing something where the narration is omniscient, just make sure you do your research, and maybe get someone to help you edit.

Space things out. No one likes reading huge blocks of text with no breaks in between (especially people reading on their phones), so don't forget to separate those paragraphs out! Even if it doesn't seem to need a break grammar wise, break it up when you can.

Author's Notes: Write short ones at the beginning or end with things you think will interest your readers, or that you wanted feedback on. I don't know if it's the same for everyone, but I personally don't like it when people have characters arguing about doing disclaimers at the beginning of a chapter. I didn't was to read the disclaimer in the first place, really, don't make it longer. DON'T write little A/N's in the middle of a paragraph. Mark the section with a star* or something else, and then write about it at the end. These notes can be disruptive and annoying, especially if you have them every 2 sentences. Some people may not mind it, but I have found this to be a sign of a beginner writing, so if you want to come across as a serious writer, don't do it.

About Writers' Block: Writers block is in your head. Find the best way for you to get yourself out of a writers block. For example, I first take a break and do some other stuff for a while, like art, reading, watching tv, or listening to music. But after a while, if you still don't feel like writing, MAKE yourself write. It might be a really bad chapter, but usually after writing something, no matter how bad, I am able to push through, and get over the writers block faster. The best way out of a writer's block is to write yourself out! (lol, I am such a hypocrite on this one sometimes, but... just give it a try :) )