UPDATE 01/22/09: Hey all! I apologize to those of you who read my stories. Right now I'm stuck in a rut and will be taking a break from fanfiction until the juices start flowing again. This will most likely occur when I enroll in creative writing classes again. Until that time, I have too many demands on my time to devote any attention to fanfiction right now. Life is calling for me to get out away from my computer and live with real people. So I'm putting my wonderful fictional friends on hold right now and living with my real ones. Until later, good friends, ELENA.

UPDATE 05/28/08: HEY! I'm back! Look at that! Mostly for practice. I've got some outside stuff I'm working on but before I start, I have to improve my technique and my style. So it's back onto Fanfiction I go for the practice and the fine tuning. If you feel inclined to help me out, let me know and I'll ask you for pointers.

Really quickly: NEW STUFF!

Prince Caspian fic: I'm working on doing a cannoncentric fic for once in my life. Aren't you proud?

As per request, I'm also drafting the first few chapters of a Cheaper By The Dozen (first movie) fic with my character Liz still very much present and part of the Baker family.

I'm also back on my HP story. And DON'T PANIC! at the sudden decrease in chapters. I'm rewriting the last few to make it easier to add in the rest of the story. Construction will be done soon, I hope!

Also, I'm finally adding to the teeny-tiny Spy Kids story I started a long, LONG time ago. I decided I might as well finish it. I hate leaving things undone.

So thank you to everyone who reviews me. Hopefully I'll have time to thank you in person, but there are no promises! I'm a busy girl.

Love to you all: Elena

The most important thing you need to know about me: I write for pleasure, not for reviews! Concrit is wonderful and I'm happy to have it, but I write for the joy of the language, rather than to "collect" reviews. I know, I know. SHOCKER, right? Some of my best work has not and probably never will be published.

I also am a big advocate for creating good, clean pieces of work. I don't swear in my fics and I keep my humor as squeaky clean as can be, so if you're in the mood for a lighthearted, thought-out tale, feel free to check out my stuff. If you dig angsty, dark, depressing stories, you'll just have to look somewhere else.

I don't publish rough-draft work. Most of my stories are scribbled out in a notebook somewhere, then put on the computer in a Microsoft Word document, THEN uploaded to and only after rereading several times, do I finally upload my chapters. If I make a mistake, feel free to point it out to me and I'll fix it. I'm completely open to concrit. That's the whole point of me writing on this site, as I see it. Well, aside from indulging in my guilty pleasures, of course.

Toodlepip and enjoy my work! I enjoyed writing it!

My name: Elena, duh. Doesn't signing my name as that everywhere make it so? No? Just kidding then. I have a unique name, that's all you need to know.

Age: Old enough to be in college. Young enough to still indulge in moments of delightful immaturity.

Hobbies: reading, writing (obviously...) biking, swimming/diving, spelunking (caving, for those of you who don't know), and listening to music.

Favorites:

book: Currently, I'm obsessed with any books that I want to read to my children (when I have them. I'm not THAT old yet) ie: Chronicles of Narnia, Little House on the Prairie, The Oz Books, Nancy Drew (originals only), etc. I also fell in love with Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist this summer and I'm a sucker for all things Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell. Lord of the Rings, To Kill A Mockingbird, Ella Enchanted, and this random but cool biography of Tolkien I found a few years ago are also high on the list.

Twilight is the worst thing ever produced by this generation. Just needed to get that off my chest. I mean, seriously, the writing is exactly like something out those two-bit, pathetic Mary Sue fanfictions we keep trying so hard to squash. And now we're allowing someone to make tons of money off of that kind of crap? Remind me to write crappy fanfiction and publish it next time I need money to pay off school bills.

movie: too many to choose from. I tend to lean toward the action/adventure stuff, comedy, and occassionally I'll go for a chick flick or two...

color: leaf green

animal: the platypus. It proves that God has a sense of humor

word: discombobulated, it's the story of my life.

quote: "Smile, it makes people wonder what you're up to."

My Stories:

Running Away

Complete. Chronicles of Narnia fic about an unusual girl in the forests of Narnia. There's a little romance, but not until the end. My sincerest apologies for her Sueishness. I'm only leaving this fic up because it reminds me that I've improved (hopefully) and, in her defense, she's not the worst of them, and I really like the syntax and language that I used in this one.

Bush Pilot

Complete. Eight Below fic. The idea popped into my head right after I watched the movie and the whole story is living proof that sometimes the characters just write themselves. Thanks to their tendency of doing just that, the ending has a suprise twist that even I didn't see coming.

So Much For Peace

Complete. A Cheaper By The Dozen fic based on the second movie. New family of four kids to wreak havoc and an extra Baker sister thrown in for more fun. A treat for my imagination, really.

Uniting Two Families

Oneshot sequel to So Much For Peace. Written at the request of my readers and for my own satisfaction since I've never done a wedding scene before...

Loving From A Distance

Oneshot. HSM fic. Chad has some second thoughts about his motives for helping Taylor in Operation:Split Troyella. He didn't get enough attention and I felt bad for him. Not to mention this is my attempt to let off some steam about the Zac Efron rage. He's not that great. o_O

Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady

In progress. Spy Kids fic. GaryCarmen. Post third-movie. I actually developed a wholly original plot this time instead of borrowing liberally from the orginal creators. It's kind of cheesy, but hey, isn't that what Spy Kids is all about?

Friendship Is a Crazy Thing

In progress. Harry Potter fic. I'm attempting to create a non-sue OFC in the Harry Potter fandom. Tough, I know. It's actually a heck of a lot harder than I thought, but I think Rachel's doing alright... thanks to her, not me. It's an AU story because character death depresses me.

The Star's Daughter

In progress. Narnia fic. Since there are tons of stories out there about Susan/Caspian (especially thanks to that dratted scene in the movie), Lucy/Caspian, Mary-sue/Caspian, basically everybody-but-the-woman-he-really-marries/Caspian, I decided to give Ramandu's Daughter her much-deserved and much-needed spot in the limelight as Caspian's love interest. Liberties are taken since she has maybe a three page cameo in Voyage of the Dawn Treader, half a page in Silver Chair, and a sentence in Last Battle and thus is almost completely undeveloped. So I'm having fun with it. Of course.

Can you tell I spread out? Little dip here, little dip there. I don't believe in writing for just one fandom. There's not as much scope for the imagination. However, occasionally, when the mood strikes me, I will linger longer in one fandom if I feel so inclined. Usually with the characters/stories I like the best.

UPDATE 02/14/08: Sheesh. It's been forever. Unfortunately, this is just a notification that, as of now, Elena and all her unfinished works are hereby on hiatus. Life is calling. So is the blossoming possibility and allure of my plot-baby for a real, honest-to-goodness book. If and when I decide to return, I'll certainly let you know. All my love to my wonderful readers who helped me grow as a writer. I needed the practice and now I know what I need to work on to become even better at what I love to do. Thank you all and I will hopefully see you soon. Oh! By the way, to those of you whose stories I review cough Bright Eyez cough don't worry, I will return for your sake. And if anyone else has a burning desire to receive a review from me, PM me and request it. I'm more than happy to offer my assistance.

For those of you that enjoy my work, please allow me to also recommend the work of katemary77 and her stunning Harry Potter fic, Complexities of the Heart. She is one of the few authors I've encountered who has managed to conquer the Mary-sue and create a believeable, realistic, and downright loveable OFC. The other author able to do so is Bright Eyez17, whose story, With Eyes Like the Ocean introduces a fiery, spunky OFC into the world of the Fantastic Four. If you enjoy either of these fandoms, please, read their fics. They have restored my faith that HP and FF writers can produce something other than a sickening Mary-sue.

New author recommendation from Elena! For my Narnia readers, you may or may not have discovered the wonderfully brilliant Mercury Gray. If you have, then you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, go check her stuff out. I highly recommend A Jewel in the Crown, her Ramandu's Daughter fic. It's a beautifully-written piece. :)