For those wondering about my update schedule, skip to just before the end. For those wondering about using my ideas or asking me to beta, skip to just after that.
Howdy! I'm Jeune Chat, I'm a 27 year old woman living in the American Midwest. I work full time at an aluminum plant (yes, that's about as thrilling as it sounds) and I write fanfic on my days off.
I'm a big fan of Mercedes Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar series and Elemental Masters series, also Anne McCaffrey's The Ship Who Sang series, the Matador series by Steve Perry, and much of Piers Anthony's work. I read fantasy, science fiction, horror, and non-fiction. I've been known to read Tom Clancy and Steven King, peruse Bill Bryson, and pick up random books on interesting subjects ranging from Chinese footbinding to the number and nature of deaths in Yellowstone park. (Yes, that sounds morbid, I know, but it's very interesting.)
I used to whitewater kayak in college, and I still play D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) frequently, including DMing duties.
I collect crabs and lobsters (statues, toys, antiques, dishes, salt-and-pepper shakers, etc), Isabel Bloom statues, and things relating to Ancient Egypt.
I have a great interest in fairy tales and folklore and have a reasonably large collection of books on said subjects.
I enjoy an eclectic collection of movies, including bloody horror, horrific terror, offbeat comedy, action, sci-fi, fantasy, and true-to-life stories.
I play piano, occasionally sing, and have a music collection as strange as my movie selection, ranging from Disturbed to Deep Forest.
I am currently owned by a cat called Timothy, who lets me live in his house. That's his picture up there, isn't he pretty? My pen name comes from my cat, as he is a young cat, so thusly I am Jeune Chat!
I am currently only writing in the Sky High fandom, as that's where inspiration has struck me. I may write elsewhere as my muse demands. I have an account on AFF under the same pen name, but as per my conscience, I warn my underage readers to wait until they're 18 before warping their fragile little minds. Besides, you're not allowed over there anyway.
There’s a little story I once heard: A young actor was talking to an older actor in a bar one night, and was reading some reviews of his recent performance. Most of them were fairly bad, so the young actor turns to the older and says, "Well, I guess you have to learn how to ignore the bad reviews." The older actor claps him on the shoulder and says, "Son, you must also learn how to ignore the good ones.”
Quote of Coolness
“Groovy.” ~Ash, Evil Dead II
“Good. Bad. I’m the guy with the gun.” ~Ash, Army of Darkness
"Help, help, I'm being repressed!" Dennis the peasant, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"
“Eastman. He came out of the east to do battle with the Amazing Rando!!” ~Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie
“Your anger don't impress me.” ~ Goo Goo Dolls, “Broadway”
"Look and see her, how she sparkles, it’s the last unicorn!” ~America “The Last Unicorn”
“I don’t wanna be a crutch, one step away from down.” ~matchbox twenty “crutch”
“Reach down your hand in your pocket, pull out some hope for me, it’s been a long day.” ~Matchbox 20 “Long Day”
“Cut my life into pieces, this is my last resort.” ~Papa Roach “Last Resort”
“What if your words could be judged like a crime?” ~Creed “What If”
“She wears a coat of color, Loved by some, feared by others, She's immortalized in young men's eyes. Lust she breeds in the eyes of brothers, Violent sons make bitter mothers. Close your eyes, Here's your surprise" ~Creed, “Beautiful”
“I cry out to God seeking only his decision, Gabriel stands and confirms I’ve created my own prison.” ~Creed, “My Own Prison”
“The Horseman comes! And tonight he comes for you!” ~Sleepy Hollow
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” ~Dune, Bene Gesserit litany against fear
“Tidal waves couldn’t save the world from Californication.” ~Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Californication”
“She pulls and tears my ventricles, steals my one remaining breath.” ~Phish, “Heavy Things”
“With fingernails that shine like justice, and a voice that is dark, like tinted glass.” ~Cake, “Short Skirt, Long Jacket”
"Just explain to me what you were trying to do when this happened." "Well, I was in Barbados, hanging a picture on the wall..." "Ok, that tells me everything I need to know." ~Strong Bad and Homestar Runner, Strong Bad email "4 branches"
"Geez, guy wouldn't know majesty if it came up and bit him in the face." "That happened once!" ~ Strong Bad and Coach Z, Strong Bad email "dragon."
Quotes on Writing
My sister gave me some blank books to write in last Christmas. In one of them she hand-wrote several quotes on writing that I've found very inspirational. I thought I'd share.
"The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes." ~ Agatha Christie
"You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what's burning inside you. And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke." ~ Arthur Polotink
"Writing is both mask and unveiling." ~ E.B. White
"There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein." ~Walter Wellesley Smith
"The role of the writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say." ~ Anois Nin
"Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia." ~E.L. Doctrow
"And by the way, everything in life is writable if you have the guts to do it and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy of creativity is self-doubt." ~Sylvia Glath
"What I like in a good author is not what he says, but what he whispers." ~Logan Pearsall Smith
"I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all." ~Richard Wright
"For me, a page of good prose is where one hears the rain and the noise of battle." ~John Cheever
"Be obscure clearly." ~E.B. White
"Being an author is like being in charge of your own personal insane asylum." ~Graycie Harmon
"A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one." ~Baltosor Gracion
"When you are describing/ A shape, or sound or tint;/ Don't state the matter plainly,/ But put it in a hint;/ And learn to look at all things,/ With a sort of mental squint." ~ Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)
"If I don't write to empty my mind, I go mad." ~Lord Byron
"What would there be in a story of happiness? Only what prepares it, only what destroys it can be told." ~ Andre Gide
"Words are but the vague shadows of the volumes we mean. Little audible links they are, chaining together great inaudible feelings and purposes." ~ Theodore Dreiser
"It is impossible to discourage the real writers - they don't give a damn what you say, they're going to write." ~Sinclair Lewis
"The pages are still blank, but htere is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible." ~Vladimir Nabokov
"Metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least space." ~Orson Scott Card
"A writer is someone who can make a riddle out of an answer." ~Karl Kraus
"If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster." ~ Isaac Azimov
"Being an author is having angels whisper in your ear - and devils, too." ~Graycie Harmon
"The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reason writes." ~Andre Gide
"i never think at all when i write. nobody can do two things at the same time and do them both well." ~Don Marquis
"The good writing of any age has always been the product of someone's neurosis, and we'd have a mighty dull literature if all the writers that came along were a bunch of happy chuckleheads." ~William Styron
"Writers are just people who have a whole lot on the inside that they need to get to the outside, with pen and paper as their preferred method of transport. Same with dancers, artists, and singers - all with the same urges with differing transportation.' ~Graycie Harmon
"Writing is a produce of silence." ~Carrie Latet
"Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart, confess to yourself you would have to die if you were forbidden to write." ~Rainer Maria Rilke
"Books want to be born; I never make them. They come to me and insist on being written, and on being such and such." ~Samuel Butler
"What things there are to write, if one would only write them! My mind is full of gleaming thought; gay moods and mysterious, moth-like mediations hover in my imagination, fanning their painted wings. But always the rarest, those streaked with azure and the deepest crimson, flutter away beyond my reach." ~Lygan Pearsall Smith
"Loafing is the most productive part of a writer's life." ~ James Normal Hall
"The artists' only responsibility is his art. He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one... If a writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate: the 'Ode on a Grecian Urn' is worth any number of old ladies." ~Faulkner
"A writers if someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people." ~Thomas Mann
"Writing is a way of talking without being interrupted." ~Jules Renard
Updates!
War and Peace In Mind - Complete! An epic-length tale from the first-person perspetive of Warren Peace (from the movie Sky High), this was a 22-month labor of pure love. It's primarily a drama/action story, with a fair amount of introspection. Rating is PG-13 shading into hard R for language (lots of F-bombs) and gore (if there's a broken arm, I describe it; I have a strong stomach). Sexual content is mostly limited to insinuation and innuendo; there are no overt NC-17 or M-rated scenes here. However, there is an M-rated cut scene from the epilogue entitled "Red and Black," that is both on AFF and my LiveJournal (my name is Jaune-Chat on LJ, watch the spelling).
Big Damn Heroes - My newest undertaking is a Heroes/Firefly fusion, with the characters of Heroes acting as the crew of Serenity in the Firefly universe. The plot will be a modified pilot from the Firefly series. I hope to have the first chapter up by late September 2008.
Origin of the Species (working title) - The sequel to War and Peace In Mind, I have this planned out to be a combination of trouble on the homefront contrasted with a world-wide crisis that affects everyone. Do not bug me about this until December 2008 at the earliest. If I have to push it back, I'll put a note in my profile.
One Shots? - I have some one-shots planned for the WaPIM universe to cover the time lapse between the end of WaPIM and the beginning of its sequel. Look for "Warren vs the weddings," "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap," and "Redeemers' Grace" sometime this fall.
Betas and Ideas - I've occasionally gotten requests asking me to either beta a story, use some of my ideas in a story, or a combination of the two. Let me let you know my typical response: Yes, I am generally cool with people using some ideas from my story in their own. I find it extra cool when people get inspiration from my own stories. However, please do ask before using anything, remember to credit me if I do give permission. There are just a few elements in my stories I'm fairly protective about and don't want other people using, so please remember to ask first.
Second, I'm generally willing to beta a story. Once. Due to the time constraints of having a full-time job, my own writing, and my social life, I honestly will not take on the responsibility of betaing a multi-chapter story because I know I can't handle it. Also, if you do decide to ask me to beta, I hope you're asking me to give suggestions about the plot and maybe some ideas about adjusting clauses, along with fixing normal beta errors, rather than doing a basic spelling and grammar check. If my trusty Microsoft Word can find something to complain about in every paragraph before I've even read the story, that's not a good sign. I'm an unrepentant spelling and grammar Nazi, so just make sure you put it through a basic spell-checker before you ask me to beta. I consider myself fairly harsh but fair, so you've been warned.
Thirdly, I prefer to beta within fandoms that I know well. I certainly can't tell you about characterization in Naruto, for example, because I've never watched it and honestly don't know much (or anything) about the characters. Here are the fandoms I may be willing to beta: Sky High, Heroes, Firefly, and Torchwood (others you'd have to ask about). However, I've only written in these fandoms, so do take that into characterization. If I have to keep going, "What? Who? Why?" then it's not going to be good for me or you.
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