"What I do in writing of any character is to try to enter into the mind, heart, and skin of a human being who is not myself."--Eudora Welty

"I'm writing a story... 'cause Marina made me." --my younger brother, Andrew (see "Winchester Shoes" for more info on him) (I'm trying to get the kid on ffnet. He's a really good writer, just like his big sister, hehe.)

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Name: Marina Lynn Richardson

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: My e-mail alerts are down, so I don't get review replies unless they are sent in PM form, which I only get because of the awesome new inbox feature. I do, however, appreciate reviews, since I can check them on the website. If you want to get in touch with me other than through reviewing my work, please feel free to e-mail me. If you would like me to be your beta reader, please let me know through e-mail or a review. And if I have been reading your story, then all of a sudden stopped reading it, it's because it's dropped off my last 100 reviews list, so let me know you've updated! Thanks!

MY NEWEST PROJECT: A Supernatural story! I've fallen in love with Supernatural. That show jumps out of my TV, reaches into my chest, grabs my heart, and doesn't let go. Every time. So... I thought I'd give a fanfic a try. And it's loads of fun! I'm being really perfectionist about this, because I adore Dean and Sam and want to get them just right. So I'm getting some expert help from amyblair and constantly thinking "what would this Winchester do next?" Like I said, loads of fun! Check out my SPN story and let me know what you think!

Faith: Christian

Age: 23

Favorite Stuff (what a profound word): Supernatural (I'm marrying Dean Winchester, and Sam will be my best friend!), Heroes (hesitantly... each season is more and more depressing), Riley Poole from National Treasure, Twilight (a fun read and a good movie, albeit a bit repetitive), Kindred: the Embraced (the awesomest TV show about vampires ever), Serenity, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the 2005 King Kong movie, Equilibrium, The Island, the music of Josh Groban, Muse, and One Republic, anything by C.S. Lewis, anything by Stephen R. Lawhead, Final Fantasy, Eddings' Belgariad and Mallorean, Terry Brooks' Shannara books, etc., writing, reading, swimming, dancing, music, English literature, my faith (Thank-You, God, for everything.), my family (totally the awesomest people ever), my friends

Dreams:

1. Romance and marriage, then eventually a family of my own

2. To become a famous, well-loved sci-fi/fantasy writer (you can always say you read my stuff online when I was but a fledgling genius)

3. To write, direct, and star in my own movie and/or television show (also starring either Jensen Ackles or Milo Ventimiglia, heh heh)

4. Something, anything, really exciting--like an epic adventure

My Destiny: The good thing about all this is, (not to be melodramatic or anything) I've discovered my destiny. I know what I'm supposed to do with my life. And that is to teach high school English. Anti-climatic? I don't think so. I'm excited! I have a destiny! And eventually, those top three dreams may fall into place as well.

Check out my Myspace page if you like. Here's the link: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=11313031 If you send me a friend request, make sure and tell me who you are or I will for sure deny it. If you let me know you're someone from fanfiction, I'll probably accept it.

About My Stories

The Valentine Papers: One of my earliest stories, if not THE earliest. Obviously, it's a Final Fantasy VII story, and it's about Vincent Valentine. Warning: Maena is a Mary Sue to the core, and the story is very sappy. Reading it is kind of like drinking a gallon of dark chocolate. Either you're going to love the feeling of your melted heart oozing out of your chest and want more romantic sappiness, or you're not going to like the feeling of a melted heart and you're going to hate it. It's a bit of an immature fic, written in my Queen Amidala days (haha, back when I was "young and naive."), but it might be amusing to read or balm to your weary soul if your life is totally devoid of oober-sappy romance.

The Song of Aeris: Nice, tragic little one-shot. I always liked Aeris.

Mageblade: Brother Mage: Currently on hold due to lack of interest. It's a Final Fantasy I sequel about two brothers who are Red Mages, descendants of one of the original Light Warriors. I had fun writing it, but it seems no one had much fun reading it. Oh well.

Life in the Shadow Realm: My one Matrix story. I never finished it because no one was reading it. It was actually quite good, too. There were a few grammar mistakes, but one day, I might go back and fix them and finish up the story. It's mostly based on a dream I had in which I was in the Matrix.

Mind Over Matter: My Star Trek:DS9 story. The character of Marina is Mary-Sueish, I'll admit, self-inserty even. I wrote the story purely for my own enjoyment, with the hope that maybe someone else would like it, too. And other people did! I really, really enjoyed writing that story, and hopefully soon, I'll pop out a sequel. The story was quite on the sappy side, but a heckuva lot of fun.

Shadows of the Island: My great success! I absolutely love Jackson's King Kong movie. So, of course, I had to write the sequel. And boy did I ever have fun doing it. I totally immersed myself in the characters and plot. Writing the story became an obsession. And I met so many awesome writers through this story! Yay! In this story, I got to pour out my feelings for Captain Englehorn and the rest of the King Kong cast, while adding some characters of my own. Gotta love those Seabornes! By the way, according to a Mary Sue test I took, Clytie is not a Mary Sue! She's probably my best OC to date.

Leviathan: The previous story's sequel. More Englehorn/Clytieness, Jack/Annness, and all the rest of that romantic good stuff, complete with espionage, a sea monster, a fabulously flamboyant Frenchman, etc. It's finished, too!

Journeys in the Jungle Room: Kind of on hold for right now. It's based on this crazy dream I had in which I went through a portal into another dimension, a dimension in which the events of good ol' Jackson's King Kong were true. And I ended up as a wasp-slaying babysitter. It's a little over the top, but it's loads of fun to write (and hopefully, to read).

Home Fires Burning: My Heroes project! (my other great success) This is my alternate second season (no offense to the actual 2nd season; I just wanted to try my hand at it). The story revolves around Peter, Nathan, Hiro, Claire, and an OC named Phoebe. Sylar is back, and they've got to stop him before he does something horrendous that will alter the future of the planet in a very negative way. Home Fires focuses on exploring the familial relationships between Peter, Nathan, and Claire, giving Hiro some happiness (he deserves it), letting Sylar do some very bad things, and developing an epic romance between Peter and Phoebe. Special thanks to my mom for letting me test it on her, my friend Stephen for clobbering me with ideas, and my dad for the fitting title.

Storm Clouds Gathering: The as-yet-unfinished sequel to Home Fires Burning. It continues the first story, with our heroes figuring out themselves and each other. It includes romance (especially between Peter and Phoebe), adventure, prophecies, atmospheric locales, and the introduction of some new characters, of which I am rather proud. Two new villains arrive--The Weatherman and Will the Snatcher--and Peter reunites with an old friend, named John Shoe, with a frightening ability. Kind of on hold due to my post-season three depression...

Veritas: An alternate second (AU) half to season three, in which Gabriel Gray is, in fact, a Petrelli and does, in fact, reform. The story mostly follows his travels with "new" little brother Peter, and the guys are joined by Phoebe Agnew, who, in this universe, is a truth-discerner. Other characters, such as Nathan, Claire, and Matt, make appearances, and Arthur Petrelli (still alive) makes life hard on them all. This story actually has a lot of potential and has been very fun to write, but is also on hold because Heroes depresses me now... Actually, I should probably take it back up because it's going to end so much better than the actual season three.

Something Like Treasure: I.love.Riley.Poole. He's one of the coolest, most charming fictional characters ever, and I love his brotherly friendship with Ben Gates, so I decided to write about it. The story is about the two friends and treasure, of course. They are joined in their adventure by Abigail and by red-headed newcomer Rachel, who seems to fancy Riley. It's a story about friendship, family, romance, and sometimes history... And it's also not finished yet. Beta-read by daisyduke80, an awesome NT writer herself.

Breath and Bones: See MY NEWEST PROJECT note above... way above... This is getting wordy...

Winchester Shoes: There's a really cool story behind this one. You'll have to read it to find out. I love Dean and Sam (especially Dean, but Sam rocks, too), so I thought I'd write about them... again... This story is a bit different from Breath and Bones--lots less violence and action and scary stuff, and more memories and warm fuzzies. ;)

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord my Strength and my Redeemer." (Psalm 19:14)

Random Quotes:

LOTR--

1. Elrond: Nothing is certain.

Arwen: Some things are certain.

Heroes--

1. Peter Petrelli: I was with that girl, and that guy that was trying to kill that girl, and this, this cop... I, I think he was reading my mind. They were all like us.
Nathan Petrelli: Dysfunctional?
Peter Petrelli: No... they... Nathan, I have to stop that bomb, I have to save everybody.

2. Peter Petrelli: Saving you ...did I save the world?

Supernatural--

1. Dean: I like him. He says okie dokie.

2. Dean: It's like we got a contract on us. You think it's 'cause we're so awesome? I think it's 'cause it's we're so awesome.

3. Dean: Planes crash.

Sam: And apparently, clowns kill.

My Family--

1. Andrew: (playing card game with me, his sister) Ah! So that's why you've got my White Witch.

2. Kayleigh: (little sis) I think I know where they live. They've got Jesus in their yard.

Me and the Pals--

1. Me: (walking to my car after work, key between my knuckles) Anyone tries to steal the deposit, I'm poking out their eyes.

Amber (work buddy): I'm with ya! We'll tag team them biscuits!

Total Randomness--

1. Someone else's profile: If you've ever gone up to someone, pointed something at them and said "Hello, My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!" copy and paste this into your profile. (HAHA, because I've totally done that.)

Total Awesomeness--

1. Jesus Christ: You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.