I have a Tumblr under the name 'Supermagicmarvel' (don't ask) so come on by if you want to drop an ask or see what new micro-obsession I'm into currently.

I also have an account on Ao3 (under the same penname). Anything new or in a different fandom is posted there. (Fandoms posted in on AO3 include: SPN, HP, PotC, and Marvel).

And since it has to be said: I do not grant permission to anyone in any form to repost my work or feed it into any kind of chat/AI model. I will consider this theft. Any AI/Chat data model that consumes my work has done so without my consent.

ABOUT ME:

Trilingual: English, French, Japanese, with a smattering of German, Korean, Welsh and Chinese (Mandarin). I am getting older. I try not to think about it.

I have a pet snake, and a deaf cat.

I've officially lived in the following countries: England, Belgium, France, Japan, and California. Current location: California.

I have two degrees, one in foreign language and the other in linguistics. Feel free to leave reviews in your language of choice. I always love a good linguistic challenge.

I have a lot of hobbies, and tend to cycle through them, so sometimes my writing gets discarded for one of several other hobbies, but I always come back to it. Unfortunately, I also tend to start a lot of projects but not finish them. I do have original writing that I one day intend to publish, which I've gotten more serious about lately (the clock is ticking, I am getting OLD DAMMIT) so my fanfiction has taken a backseat. Sorry about that.

.:.MY (unsolicited) ADVICE TO WRITERS.:.

1. Get a beta. If you're a professional you already know this. If you're just starting out, then this will help. As writers our minds are intimately familiar with our own story to the point where we can't see our own mistakes. Our eyes will skip over errors because our brains know what should be written, not what's actually written. I can read over my story three times and still not catch a mistake that my beta can read over once and immediately spot. On the subject of betas: research your beta. Make sure they know what they're talking about and aren't just blowing smoke. Get a second opinion. Just make sure they're knowledgable and that their 'betaing' is catching at least 95 percent of your mistakes. If you really want to improve your writing, having a beta (or two or three) is absolutely the number one best way to go.

2. Take criticism. I mean, would you be here if you're not willing to open yourself up to potential criticism? This is the internet. But to anyone looking to improve, when you post something, be prepared to receive criticism with an open mind. If a reviewer has taken time to sit down and write constructive crit for your sake then try to appreciate it and listen, because 9 times out of 10 that person saw some real potential and wants to help you nurture it. That being said, this does not mean you need to accept blatant abuse that is targeting you as a person. Report that immediately, but if the person is making an effort to critique, even if they might not be being as flattering as you would like, accept any validity in their argument and use it to improve. Hell, prove them wrong, if that's what it takes.

3. Characterisation is KEY. What sets apart a bestselling novel? Every novel that gets published has been through the gruelling process of being accepted by a publishing house...and ripped apart by an editor. All published novels should therefore have at least somewhat decent prose and good grammar. And all book plots are remixes of the same few basic concepts and tropes. They've been done and done again, thousands of times over. So what sets apart a bestseller? It's all about the voice. The characterisation. If a reader can't relate to your character, they're not going to read the story, it's as simple as that. When it comes to fanfiction, no one wants to read about an OOC character (without a very logical and rational reason behind the abrupt character change). No one wants to read poorly constructed dialogue and character motivation that makes no sense.

You want to know why a story with the same exact plot premise as your own is getting 10x more reviews and favs than yours? Definitely start by taking a look at your characterisation.

4. Tropes are fun, but don't get too carried away. Unless you're writing crack, then go for it. But otherwise? Don't get sucked down that dark hole where everything is a Deus Ex Machina solution away. If your story is too predictable then it's no fun. I'm not saying don't use tropes. Pretty much every story out there is built around a trope (or several). It's how you handle it that matters, so don't just throw in a trope for the sake of it without considering how it affects your characters, overall plot, or whether it even makes sense to have that trope in there.

5. Use logic. Always always reason things out. Ask yourself 'why would my character act like this?' or 'why would this horrible thing happen?' If you can't find a reasonable answer...scrap it. It won't work. I don't care how much you WANT it to work, if it couldn't reasonably happen within that world, then don't write it. Always have an answer to the question 'why' in mind. You want your character to be betrayed by his friends so he can run off and be independent? Fine. Now, keeping their canon personalities in mind, what would motivate his friends betray him like that? You want your character to be super powerful? Okay, sure. How are they going to be super powerful...and why? Always have an explanation in mind for something, otherwise your plot will fall apart and people will be able to poke holes in it so big it'll look like swiss cheese.

6. Don't succumb to fanfic faux pas. What do I mean by this? Simple. Stylistic writing trends start up amongst certain fandoms and then spread. Writing trends that are poor examples of writing, or just plain ungrammatical. Just because a fic is popular does not mean you should necessarily emulate their writing. Popularity does not necessarily equate to superior writing skill. Trust me on this one. So when anime fandom writers started throwing around terms like 'pinkette' and 'bluette' because anime characters have odd hair colours...that doesn't make them real words. Those words are not suddenly part of the English language and you certainly wouldn't find them bandied around any published material. "The pinkette smiled" is not an appropriate appellation and sounds ridiculous. (On the topic of appellations, however many you think you need to use, I can assure you it's one too many. The name of the game is: unless it becomes extremely ambiguous, stick to basic pronouns: he/she/they. Only use appellations when absolutely necessary to reduce ambiguity or because you want to draw the reader's attention to a very specific characteristic that's important for the scene, otherwise: Do Not). Likewise "The raven head spoke." I think you probably mean "raven-haired boy/girl". 'Raven' here is being used metaphorically, to represent the colour black. And why has 'orbs' become the norm to describe eyes? "His sapphire orbs shone brightly." What are his 'sapphire orbs'? An orb is a glass ball. Is he holding a pair of sapphire glass balls? "The older looked at the younger." The what, sorry? The older what? 'Older' and 'younger' are both adjectives. They are not nouns. Please stop using them this way, it's grammatically incorrect. I could honestly write a list a mile long, so TL;DR-- Before you fall prey to these overused, but incorrect or ungrammatical faux pas, stop and think about what your sentence means first. It's fine to use metaphors, but be judicious in their usage, and don't fall into the habit of emulating writers who use them poorly. I've seen a lot of these stylistic faux pas pop up, so learn to recognise them and avoid using them yourself.

7. Do your research. I'm not kidding about this. Any good writer will do at least a modicum of research. I'm not saying you need to get a degree in the subject, but make sure you know enough about what you're writing about that your story sounds at least somewhat plausible, because while I can guarantee that there are readers who are just as clueless reading your story...there are far many more readers who range from slightly to extremely knowledgeable, and those who most definitely do have degrees in the subject. This ties back in with logic and realism. You want your story to make sense. You don't want your readers to be constantly pausing and saying 'this makes no sense' or 'that's not right, it doesn't work like that'. If you're writing fantasy, it will be easier because you can make it up...however, all fantasy has a basis in reality. Fantasy must still follow the logic that was developed within the context of that world. It must still make sense within the worldbuilding of your story. Just something to keep in mind.

8. Learn Grammar. And how to use punctuation. And don't use vocabulary words you're not sure about without checking a dictionary. There are a lot of homonyms in English and even more pseudo-homonyms. English is problematic. No one ever bothered to standardise the orthography for a really long time, so it's frankly a mess, and that makes it harder, but it doesn't mean it doesn't become easier with practice. Double check your vocabulary. Learn the basic concepts of grammar (what is syntax and semantics? How do sentences work?). Learn your punctuation. Learn register. If you don't know what I mean by this, please google it: language register. It's important, very, very important, for dialogue and characterisation. If English is your second language, then absolute kudos to you for stepping outside your comfort zone, it will definitely help improve your writing (and your language skills) if you learn more about how grammar works. The more you practice, the more you'll retain. And please, I am begging everyone to look up the difference between possessive s and plural s. This is the number one thing I see misused the most often.

Okay, good luck!

.:.NOTICE.:.

9/6/23: Quit tech, got a new job, survived lockdown, been writing some original stuff (no nothing published) and have mostly moved on from posting fanfic, but I can't quite bear to say I've abandoned anything yet (still) so, we'll see. Maybe. MAYBE I'll write enough here and there to finally post a chapter. In the interim, I just want to call out the creative AI epidemic right now and reiterate something, as someone who has previously worked in AI and machine learning and then quit because it was so soul-sucking: AI as powerful as ChatGPT and Sudowrite is built on stolen data. Let me repeat that: all those AI models which are so powerful and magical have scraped at least some of their data without consent so that they can build the model, because if they had had to pay for the consent to use that creative data, it would have bankrupted them. Every time you enter someone else's writing into those models or upload other people's art, you are feeding the model stolen data. You are a thief. You have stolen a creative's voice/vision and given it to a robot thief who will then incorporate it into its own model to use forever. Do not be naive in thinking this will be free forever, eventually, once they have taken (stolen) enough data, they will put all this behind a paywall and sell it. Capitalism does not allow for unprofitability. Once they have created robots capable of being artists and writers and creatives and done it by stealing the years of hard work of real artists and writers and creatives without compensation, they will then offer the services of their robots for a fraction of the price. All those creatives you enjoyed will be pushed out. A world where robots are the only ones creating derivative garbage that's just a remix of everything fed into it with no true human spark or meaning is NOT a world I want to live in. A robot doesn't feel and it doesn't understand what it's writing or painting. All these models are doing is running statistics. Very complex statistics, but it's still all just math.

AI and Machine Learning could be used for a lot of good. There are a lot of genuinely important applications in science: health care, cancer detection, natural disaster planning and response, economics, etc. CREATIVE WORK IS NOT ONE OF THEM. This has been my AI PSA. Thanks for coming to my ted talk.

30/05/20: Just a note to assure everyone I am alive and well, if somewhat unmotivated at the moment to be writing. Hope everyone is staying safe and well, and that their families and friends are also well. This year has been crazy and it's not over yet. Stay strong everyone.

09/12/17: I've had some concern that I might be dead. I am not dead. I am still here. I work full-time in tech and it's basically soul-sucking and muse-destroying. I still write, occasionally, but it's hard, and my muse (when it's alive) bounces around from story to story, fandom to fandom, and never settles for long. So, updates will be infrequent, but again, I re-iterate, I HAVE NOT ABANDONED ANYTHING. I will explicitly tell you if I have, I promise.

Also, I don't know about the rest of you, but the insanity that seems to be happening on a daily basis out in the world has seriously destroyed my creativity. I'm just...always angry, always dispirited by what I see happening. It's hard to feel creative in this kind of toxic world right now. Maybe that's just me.

Stay strong people!

.:.PROGRESS.:.

21/08/16:

Slip-Ups: Did a bit of editing/revising of old chapters. Nothing new though, sorry.

Ex Sanguis: Chapter 11 is up.

A Stitch in Time: Yeah. This is definitely, officially abandoned.

Harry Potter and the Medallion of Time: Also abandoned. I won't be picking this up again.

Note: All real life comes before my fics and my original book. When real life gives me time, it goes first to my original book, THEN to fanfiction. Just so you know my priorities. Sometimes though I don't feel like writing for my original book, and in those cases I usually bang out a LOT of pages for my fanfiction. So it comes in spurts.