THIS AUTHOR IS ON HIATUS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. (My apologies to those of you who might be waiting for my Neville/Luna story, or anything else I promised to write. It will come eventually.)

Pen Name: Phoenix Neal

Gender: Female

Age: twentysomething

Location: US

Favorite fandoms: Harry Potter, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: DS9

Favorite pairings: Neville/Luna (HP), Harry/Ginny (HP), Remus/Tonks (HP), Ron/Hermione (HP), Paris/Torres (ST:V), Doctor/7 (ST:V), Worf/Jadzia (ST:DS9), Kira/Odo (ST:DS9)

If you can't tell, I'm into canon pairings. It's not that I wouldn't give non-canon pairs a chance; sometimes I like a canon 'ship before it becomes canon, and sometimes I think canon authors do a good job with pairings. Also, I'm a bit lazy when it comes to creating an alternate universe just to make a non-canon pairing work.

About Me and My Writing:

I was first exposed to the world of fanfiction and 'shipping in the summer of 1997. That was when I really discovered the Internet, and all the strange and sick and wonderful things that it contains. The first fanfics I ever read were highly sacchrine Paris/Torres pieces that were probably written by 13-year-old girls. Of course, I was about that age myself, so I immediately started writing my own ridiculously angsty, Mary-Sue filled fanfic. I never published or finished it, and believe me, it will never see the light of day.

A decade later, after a fairly long hiatus from writing, I find myself drawn to writing fanfic again. Yes, I'm trying to constructively move through my post-Deathly Hallows angst. JKR was kind enough to leave writers with all sorts of interesting avenues of creativity, and my brain has gone crazy with ideas. I've started writing several different fics; we'll see which ones make it to completion. (At the moment, I only plan on posting totally completed fics; I know how awful it is waiting for the next chapter, which may or may not ever come.) Although fanfiction by its very nature lends itself to AU/canon-bending, my goal is to write all of my stories completely within the framework of canon. I may not entirely succeed, but feel free to call me on any canon errors. I can't keep the whole Potterverse stored in my head! That said, my stories may not be consistent from one to another, since they aren't canon. We'll see where the Muses take me.

I appreciate constructive criticism and comments - everything from "You misspelled 'Snargaluff'" to "That story would make a lot more sense if every paragraph wasn't a single sentence" and anything else you can think of. Specificity helps; I really am trying to become a better writer, but the more vague your criticism, the less I can do to respond to it.

Just a note about my pen name: Though it has gone through a variety of permutations, I chose a decade ago to be known as 'Phoenix' - long before I'd ever heard of Harry Potter. It is a happy coincidence that the phoenix is a prominent figure in the Potterverse - I have always loved the idea that I could rise from the ashes and fly again.

About Reviews:

As I've previously stated, I appreciate reviews a lot. I make an effort to read and review at least one story by those kind enough to read and review my own works. If you review a story of mine and I don't return the favor, it's probably for one of two reasons: one, I simply haven't had time yet, or two, you don't have any stories I feel comfortable reading. I won't read/review slash or anything rated M, and I generally find it pointless to read stories in a fandom I know nothing about. The third possibility is that I have read one (or more) of your stories and found that I hadn't anything nice to say, so I'd rather say nothing at all. This is not often the case, at least when it comes to the work of those who review my stories. If you genuinely want to know if that's the truth, e-mail me. However, I'm not responsible for anger generated by honest replies.