Hello Everyone!

[icicle33]

 1. Are you a writer, beta or cheerleader?
I'm mostly a beta and a cheerleader, but I'm hoping to change that.  I really want to start writing, which is why I joined this group.  = )

2. Will you be working on a single project or multiple projects?
Ahh...I really wish I could say that I only work on one project at a time, but that would be a big fat lie.  I'm somewhat  really scatterbrained and  tend to keep coming up with new plot bunnies rather than just focusing on one story like I should.  I'm not sure if it's because I get bored or that I just possess too many ideas in my head.  I think I just have a short attention span because I even read 3 and 4 books at a time.  

3. Are you participating in any fests, exchanges or challenges?
Sadly no, even though I've had an lj account for years, I never went on it until a few months ago.  I'm pretty new to the whole lj community and am still figuring things out.  I didn't even know all these challenges,exchanges, and fests even existed until recently.  I've been missing out on A LOT of H/D awesomeness.  I would love to participate in a fest, exchange, or challenge, but I'm not sure I'm really up to that point yet.  Since I'm just starting as an H/D writer, I think I need some more practice before venturing into the fests.  There are always so many brilliant writers, in at least the fests I've come across so far, that I feel I would pale by comparison and would probably be embarrassed. Lol.   Perhaps eventually, I will come up with the courage/motivation to participate in a fest.  Either way, I'll be there to cheer everyone else on. = )

4. What is your goal (wordcount) per month?
I'm a grad student and have a terrible part time job, so I haven't had much time to write so far.  As soon as the semester is over though, I'll have a lot more free time.  I have no idea what a reasonable wordcount goal would be...idk...5000k?  Basically, as many words as I can write and not cringe at the computer screen when I  reread them.

5. What are your project(s) about? (If it's a secret, we understand)
I'm working on a few different H/D stories and my goal is to finish at least one of them.  I haven't really posted anything substantial on my lj because I don't know if anybody else feels this way, but I  just feel that it's so much more personal than posting on other sites like ff.net or thehexfiles.  If someone reads something I  wrote on one of those sites, he/she will only read it if it interests him/her and any opinions made about the story will be completely unbiased and impersonal.  On lj, I just feel that your flist and others know you from the fandom.  Therefore,  I  wouldn't want to be discouraged by friends not liking my work or even the opposite, and having people sugarcoat their opinion and telling me something is good when it really sucks.  I guess I've just been too shy to post a lot of my work on lj yet, but hopefully I'll get some confidence and change that.  I really do want to grow as a writer, and I  think getting some creative and constructive criticism from other writers will really help me.

One of the stories I'm working on right now is a humorous fic that involves Harry keeping a journal in which he writes about his life, but mostly he just pines over Draco.  Draco is completely oblivious that Harry wants him, so even though Harry tries over and over to get his attention and court him, he fails miserably every time.  It's my less serious fic because all my other ones are serious and somewhat angsty.  Idk how so many writers get through all those angsty fics without getting depressed themselves.

One of my other stories involves H/D in somewhat of an established relationship, but Harry refuses to acknowledge Draco as his bf(publicly) and refuses to come out of the closet.   He's too afraid of being shunned by the wizarding world and his friends and family.  Draco is unhappy with their current arrangement, so with Pansy and Blaise's help, they use their Slytherin cunning in order to try to change Harry's mind. Then lots of stuff happens...lol. The plot is more complicated than that I promise, but I think I've rambled enough already.  


6. Is there anything else you want us to know about you?
Unfortunately, I think I'm a much better beta than writer; therefore, if anyone needs anything to be betaed, even if it's short notice, let me know.  I  usually get stories edited right away, and I don't mind tight time constraints either.  I  have to edit countless boring bio papers for one of the classes I  TA for, so I much rather be editing H/D fics instead.

Like I  said before, I'm new to writing H/D fics, so if anyone could offer me any advice at all...it would be greatly appreciated.  So far, I love the H/D and HP community on lj because even though I find it intimidating to post my own writing here, I think it's so awesome that  fans can gush together over their love of H/D.  I've also been  impressed by how many of the writers respond to comments/reviews and are willing to talk about their stories.  That definitely doesn't happen on other sites.  I tend to ramble a lot...if you haven't noticed that already.  I've probably bored everyone by now, so I'm going to share an amusing story that happened to me the other day to try to make up for it.  Don't worry it has to do with H/D.

*One of my best friends bought me a kindle for Christmas. At first I wasn't crazy about it because I love to read actual books, but my kindle has grown on me tremendously, especially since I  figured out I  can read and put fanfics on it.  Naturally, I'm obsessed with my kindle now and take it with me everywhere even to class.  Anyway, I've been reading fics on my kindle all semester and I'm usually pretty careful to keep the text size small and to put it inside my binder, so it looks like I'm taking notes.  The other day, I  forgot to make the font size small and apparently this girl sitting behind me was reading over my shoulder almost the ENTIRE class period.  I didn't really know this girl because it's a large lecture hall, but after class, she corners me and asks me what book I was reading because she NEEDS...and she really emphasized needs to go out and buy it.  I almost died of both embarrassment and laughter.  I didn't know whether to laugh or run away.  She hadn't read Harry Potter before, so she had no idea what I was talking about, which made the situation even funnier.  I don't think I explained the concept of fanfiction to her too well because she just kind of ogled me and said, "I didn't know Harry Potter was gay or had sex.  I  thought it was a children's book series."  I almost died. Then I hid behind my sunglasses and left quickly. It was just a really awkward and hilarious situation.  I think I'm going to be sitting in the back row of that class from now on...lol.

Comments

[misbehavingmom.livejournal.com]

omg, lmao about the girl from your class!!! I lurked around the fandom for quite awhile before I started posting drabbles last year. Most everyone is friendly and always willing to answer questions. I've gotten tons more writing done since I've been on Chatzy. Word wars are excellent motivation and bouncing ideas off of each other had led to some awesome writing. Come and write with us sometime :)

Almost forgot...I love my kindle, but haven't really played with it. What do you use to transfer your fanfic??

[icicle33]

Haha...I have no idea what chatzy is or Word wars, although I have heard of both. They both sound like they would be fun. = )

As for your kindle, it's really easy to transfer fics onto it. If you don't want to convert files you can just copy and paste a fic into a microsoft word document and save it as a .rtf, .htm, or pdf file and transfer it directly to your kindle with your usb cable. However, I think it's a lot easier to read files in the original kindle format than pdfs or html, so I just convert them to mobifiles(.prc), which is the same as the .azw ones that you can buy on amazon. Just download mobipocket creator. It's a free download and you can use it to create pdfs, docs, html, and mobi ebooks all in one step. You can also add a table of contents or categorize/organize your stories in the options. You can also use fanfiction downloader and it'll make mobi ebooks for you too, but only of stories on ff.net, skyehawke, and a few other sites. I don't like it as much as mobipocket creator because you can't edit the names of the files and sometimes the formating is a little messed up once transfered to the kindle.

Trust me, it's not as complicated as it sounds. The whole process takes under 5 minutes. Let me know if you need any help. I don't know if I did a good job of explaining it.

[misbehavingmom.livejournal.com]

Oh Thank You!!! Can't wait to get home and try this! Chatzy is the hd_writers chatroom (http://www.chatzy.com/hdwriters). You don't have to be writing H/D to join in the fun. We share naughty pics, write, cheer, create plot bunnies and basically just get to know one another. It's fabulous fun! There is also srsbzns (http://www.chatzy.com/srsbzns). I've been spending most of my time there lately. It is more oriented toward actually getting some writing accomplished. Word Wars are a big thing there. We set a start time and how long we want to "war" for. Someone says go and we all write until the alloted time has passed. Whoever gets the most words wins....praise, hugs, snuggles and tackles are the most common forms of prizes!! This comm is having a 24hr word war this weekend.

[jakuako.livejournal.com]

Oh, that story is excellent! I would be so mortified! Sadly, very, very few people in my 'real life' don't know that I write fanfic, let alone smutty, steamy, slashy fanfic. :B But there's a brilliant idea I'm snatching off you (I have a Nook). Thankfully, I'm learning from you and will always remember to check the font size.

As for writing 'tips' (though this really isn't one), you really couldn't have chosen a better fandom to join. The nice thing about the H/D community is that anything goes, really. And I mean that. There are SO MANY fans that you are almost guaranteed to find someone who will adore whatever you write (as long as it's written well). And I, like you, have been completely thrilled with the friendliness I've found on lj. :)

Welcome!

[icicle33]

I was definitely mortified and probably will not be sitting near that girl ever again. LoL I think I was being punished for not paying attention in class.

I can tell that people here seem very friendly and thank you for the warm welcome.

= )

[khalulu]

that's a really funny story! As for having a bunch of stories going at once - I just went to a talk on getting past writer's block, and they recommended working on different things, so when you were stuck on one you could get something done on the other. Though i do know that you (I) can get distracted from finishing.

[icicle33]

Wow, a lecture on getting past writer's block that sounds very interesting. The only lectures I ever attend are on biology and new types of bacteria because the head of department requires that all bio students attend his lectures(probably so they won't be empty). Is there anything else that you learned and wouldn't mind sharing?

I'm glad to hear that working on various pieces isn't necessarily a bad thing. I suppose eventually...I will have several finished stories rather just one. Thanks for sharing. = )

[khalulu]

well, it wasn't a university lecture, it was at a sci-fi fantasy convention that had a little HP slash contingent there. Other things people recommended - set aside a time and place to write and don't let yourself stop to be distracted, including by research - do that separate from your writing time. Write stuff you want to be writing. Write what you have energy for at the time. Edit, but don't edit to death - let it be finished sometime. What I realized is that I write stories in patches - I write scenes out of order and then stitch them together. That might not be the best way to develop a smooth arc but at least if I'm stuck on one thing I can leave it and move on. Anyhow, that's what I remember. Good luck! Oh, and someone mentioned computers having random word generators or prompt generators? I don't know how that works.

[a-clairvoyante.livejournal.com]

I have that problem all the time -.-
I don't have a kindle so I have to go with good old paper.
I don't really want to know who else knows xD
But you'll get through it - two years or so back almost my whole class found out, today nobody talks about it anymore. Or you could recruit a new fanfic-reader ;)

[morgana-fire.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to hear that my mind isn't the only one to work that way. One of the reason i have such a hard time to sit down and write is that I have too many different stories yelling at me from within my head. and then my mood swings never helps, bah...that's why I love chatzy, somewhere where I can talk about this fandom, i want to talk about it at work, but yea ummmm no one would really understand it or get it, and my daughter that i live with isn't a H/D fan so she could care less...i don't know what I would do i my co-workers found out I write H/D porn lol.

[talekayler.livejournal.com]

Yay!! Good on you for joining! And don't fret about the fests. My first fest fic was like... my third one, and none of the ones before it have made it to LJ (thank goodness). It took me a while to learn around LJ too after I decided to delurk, and I'm still picking up new things! *cheers you on for fest joining*

And aww, the fic you're working on sound so cute! ♥ ♥ And the other one sounds interesting! Harry trying to be 'normal' and upholding the image everyone has set for him.

AHAHA, ooh, that's such an uncomfortable situation! I would be at a loss as to what to say to her. Although, I might do that too, a bit, reading over people's shoulders. I've been wanting some form of ereader, purely for fanfiction because I thought it would be such a great idea.

And yes, I see that mbm has already brought out the Chatzy card! We're all really friendly, and there hasn't been trouble (at least, not when I've been there. And I'm there a lot). Really, we're all a bunch of procrastinators in the regular one, but srs bzns is superb. :D