Well, hey there, all. :)

Little explanation about my ID: "Whitney" is no part of my name in real life. Actually, "blue whitney" is the name of a sleep-inducing flower I came up with for a fantasy story I plotted out (and was completely in love with) for a good while. I never really did anything with it, and I'm not sure it'd be one of my better efforts, but I guess I'd still like to write that story some day.

I'm not going to try to list all my "likes," because I like so many damn things it's rather pointless. But I'll jot down a few:

Fictional Works

LOST: My number one show. :) But I'll never fic it, because I honestly think it's too smart for me. Like, I can just hear the other fans reading my LOST fic and tearing me a new one.

Futurama: Second favorite. I could quote this non-stop if anyone around me knew what the hell I was talking about.(Thundercougarfalconbird.)

Heroes: It's become sort of a guilty pleasure since Season One, but as long as Sylar's in it, I'll keep watching. Can't help myself.

Monster: (the manga in particular, though the anime was extremely faithful and well-made) This is seriously one of my favorite fictional works ever, in any form. It saddens me that so many people are familiar with Death Note and other popular Japanese works, yet have never heard of this BRILLIANT work by Naoki Urasawa. Wonderful story that's astounding in its intricacy, with art that's beautifully expressive and very un-stereotypical of manga. To boot, it's a non-supernatural story (I, for one, find that INCREDIBLY refreshing in a manga). I cannot rave about this work enough.

Harry Potter Of course. I miss the speculation, don't you? :(

Fruits Basket: Wonderful, beautiful, funny, exciting, romantic manga. In terms of plot and art, easily the polar opposite of Monster, yet probably ties as my favorite because it's that good.

Characters: Benjamin Linus (Lost), Gabriel Gray/Sylar (Heroes), Severus Snape (Harry Potter), Tohru and the Sohma clan (Fruits Basket), Johan Liebert and Wolfgang Grimmer and, well, all the characters (Monster). ESPECIALLY Grimmer. I heart him THIS MUCH.

Ships: Snape/Lily and Remus/Tonks from HP, Gabriel/Eden (AU to be sure, but damned adorable and kinda smoking) and Sylar/Claire from Heroes, Shigure/Akito from Fruits Basket, Johan/Nina (yeah, I know, twincest and all that, but it's THERE, damn it, don't you see?! It's SUPPOSED to be that disturbing, because he's ing INSANE) from Monster.

Fun Fact about Me: I'm a review whore. A shameless one. Yet I always dread the reviews, so I wade through my inbox first looking for added "Story alert" or "Favorite Story" additions to quell my trepidation over new stories or chapters I've posted. Cuz I always post thinking, "OMG, finger, what are you doing, don't click that button, that chapter's CRAP!!" So the people who review, alert, and favorite are truly appreciated. I know that sounds cliche and generic, but I mean it wholeheartedly.

My Views on Fanfiction:

You know what? I'm just gonna admit it: I think it's unhealthy. I mean, look. I've wanted to be a writer my entire life, yet the longest, steadiest thing I've written to date is my currently 14-chapter, roughly 25,000 word Sylaire fic. That's not helping me reach my life goal, is it now? I could be doing something productive, damn it, creating my own original fiction (I've got tons of ideas, so what's my damn problem already?). But nope. Sitting here hammering out Sylaire and the occasional stoner-Lyle fic.

But, hell, if it's not productive, at least it's CREATIVE. Sure, we fixate on characters rather than create our own, but we explore their psyches and limits by putting them in situations we know are unlikely or just plain impossible in so-called canon. In short, we didn't build the puppet, but we might as well make it walk and talk, right? It's all in good fun. And it IS fun, which is the most important thing about fanfiction. Putting it out there, getting feedback, it feels nice. Hell, sometimes it feels downright warm and fuzzy.

So, yes, I believe fanfiction is unhealthy. But I think it's unhealthy in the same way that brownies are unhealthy. And if brownies are wrong, hey I don't wanna be right. :)