FF.net Bio

Chapter 12: Beyond This Land of Parting (Censored Version)

Pictures on my blog

To Honor:

Chapter 7 Censored Version

 If you are at all interested in my other fanfictions, I write in the Southern Vampire Mysteries fandom as well. You can find my stuff at:

www.sarifina85.wordpress.com

I write in another fandom under another pen name, but I've been having trouble getting back into those stories after some time off due to family illness, so I thought I'd work on this story instead. Hopefully it can get me going on my other stories and working in different fandoms will keep them all fresh.

And now, a word from our sponsors:

Well, not really, but I did have a few thoughts to share about my story and character and a few things to say about myself as well.

Okay, first off, in regards to the whole Mary Suedom in general: I guess it kinda depends on your standards for Suedom in particular. Personally, mine vary from fandom to fandom, and even story to story.

Is my character a Mary Sue? I don’t know, I guess that’s up to interpretation. But that’s what’s so fun about literature anyway. Everyone interprets things differently. What one person loves, another person hates.

But yes, I have taken read the Mary Sue litmus test years ago, so I am aware of what some of the “criteria” is. But like I said, I still think it’s a bit subjective. I’ve known readers and writers who couldn’t stand having any OCs in canon stories. To them, any OC is a Mary Sue (MS). And at times, I would have to agree.

As I said in one of my chapters, my character does have red hair, and right off the bat, I’m going to say that I disagree with that being an automatic MS qualification. As I stated, I have red hair, and there has been no sight of Mary Sue tendencies in my life. And yes, someone did ask me if I really have red hair, so if you’re wondering too, look up at the avatar. That’s me a couple of years ago on my first visit to see the ocean. And no, having red hair isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, but I still love it. The sunburns are a b*ch though. The similarities end at the hair though. I'm not much like Lane in any other regard. Actually, I think she's actually a lot calmer and more cool-headed than I am. I've been know to have a bit of a temper. I wish I was more understanding like her too. I doubt I'd ever be understanding enough to jump into a world where the cultures clash so vehemently with our modern world. I'm a feminist at heart, and I'd probably have already pissed the entire Fellowship off if I'd been in Lane's shoes. She's far more understanding of the whole male chauvinist/honor thing than I am.

Other MS qualifications: Is Elaina my name? No, not in any way. It’s Kelsey, and while I’ve never been over the moon about it, I like it just fine. Besides, who would use a name for their character that they hate? Yeah, I do like the name Elaina, but I’ve never wanted it for myself since it’s the name of a girl I knew in college. And yes, we called her Lane. Which I guess does kinda score on the Litmus test for being a guy’s name. But hey, it’s a nickname.

My character does score some points on other parts of the litmus test, but not in my opinion enough to make her a Sue. But hey, everyone is free to their opinion.

Will she fall in love with a main character? I’m not sure yet, but probably. It is listed as one of its categories being romance after all. And I’ll admit, I am a bit of a romantic at heart. Not that I’m not all for dragging the characters (and readers) through some angst and tears first. I like humor in a story, but mine tends to be a dry humor and I think I’m better at writing drama and angst anyway. *shrugs*

I am writing this as a means of bettering my fiction writing. Not as a means of writing the most outstanding LotR story in the world and gaining world recognition. It’s fanfiction, that’s never gonna happen. I’m trying to work on the mechanics of my writing and my storytelling. To a certain extent, that’s easier to do when you’re working within a story and world that’s already been created by someone else. Creating everything from scratch is more difficult. And yes, I do believe in respecting the world that another author created, so I’m trying not to tramp all over it while I’m in their house visiting.

I’ve been doing a lot of paranormal reading the last several years, so I guess that’s why this story has some influences from there. It’s what you get when those two genres collide I guess. ;)

Also, I’ve been a journalist my entire professional career. I also have degrees in advertising and business. So writing isn’t new to me, but creative/fiction writing is. And like I said, I’m trying to learn and develop my own storytelling style. If you think I’m not doing well at something or that I could improve somewhere, let me know.

And for goodness sake, if you catch a spelling/grammar error, please tell me. I’m very good at catching other people’s mistakes, but it can be very hard to catch my own. And yes, shame on me, I really should be using a beta to catch those mistakes, but I’m too lazy to go to the trouble of finding one I would like and get along with well enough to work so closely together on something like this. So if you ever catch something, just shout it out. Even in your review, it doesn’t bother me. I’ve got pretty tough skin now from years of publishing magazine articles and *shudders* the internship I did in college news writing. (Yeah, I hate news writing and think all forms of hard news are forms of cruel and unusual punishment)

I can crank out magazine articles without a lot of thought or effort, but truthfully, even feature magazine articles aren’t all that exciting to me anymore. I’ve come to like the total freedom and creativity allowed in fiction writing, which of course is what brought me here!

As I sign off from my unintended (and probably unnecessary) long-winded introductions and explanations, I thank you for stopping by. And if you’ve reviewed mine or any other writer’s stories out there, thank you from all of us. Your words are the only pay fanfiction writers get, and it’s amazing how far it can push us to continue and better our writing.

Cheers!