"Once upon a time, everything was grand... then I had to deal with people."

Current Works:

I recently deleted my Naruto story, because I felt it just wasn't up to par with my current writing stands - Meaning it was terrible - and have decided to entirely focus on my Harry Potter story.

Strength of Will, Power of Knowledge

Update, 11/24/2009

Been a while, hasn't it? Ok, I have good news, but it may annoy some. I've recently decided to defer to the great minds of Dark Lord Potter to help work on my story. There's a lot of helpful people and useful criticism there, but it's not for the faint of heart.

Anyway, as such I have acquired a Beta and am currently going over the old chapters, fixing a lot of mistakes. Chapter 5 still promises to be the best chapter to date, and will be even better than I originally had thought, but it will be delayed. Hopefully not much longer, but I need to spend time fixing the first 4, and learn from those mistakes.

Really, it comes down to Quality Quantity.

Hopefully it will be out soon, and the next ones much faster.

Currency

One of my readers was curious about the exchange rate in Strength of Will, so here it is:

1Galleon= 17Sickles
1Sickle= 29Knuts
1Knut= ... Well, a Knut.

1Galleon= £5 (Pound Sterling)= 7.35(USD)= €7.39 (Euro)
1Sickle= £0.29 (Pound Sterling)= 0.59(USD)= €0.43 (Euro)
1Knut= £0.01 (Pound Sterling)= 0.02(USD)= €0.02 (Euro)

You can find a more complete exchange rate here,
/wiki/Galleon

So, in chapter 2 Harry spent roughly 20 per book, 40 in total. Now, while textbooks are, for the most part, more expensive than this in the real world, I tried to factor in the fact that there is very few other forms of information sharing in the wizarding world; thus, due to competing prices as a larger total market, the price would comparatively be lower.

Future Works

Harry Potter/X-Men crossover
This idea is something I have recently come up with, and will most likely be written very soon. This will be set in an AU Harry Potter world, and will feature no Mutant powers, only magic.

The premise is that the Wizarding World never went into hiding and is discriminated against by Muggles. There will be no Purebloods, and the modern term for Wizard is Magi. (Pronounced Maj-eye) The series will feature a Harry with a normal background and not the boy who lived. I haven't entirely ironed out the details, but it will definitely be interesting, and he will most likely enter the school older than in canon.

Certain elements will be different. Magical Creatures will not be a common thing, so as to make Magi seem less 'normal,' and classes like Potions and Astronomy will be removed. On the flip side, History of Magic will be a hugely important course and a tool to teach Magi of their background.

The story with have many elements to keep your attention, and will most likely not follow the core events of the series. This will most likely be a very adult series, dealing with real world issues in a fantasy setting, and strongly feature discussion on human nature. Fighting and combat may not be as stong a theme like my other story, but that doesn't mean the story will be boring. I will most likely take this in a fast paced direction.

As far as magic is concerned, I will most likely take this story into a more arcane and spiritual direction, unlike Strength of Will which is more of a technical/geeky setting. I'm doing this both to compliment the more philosophical story and to make it have a different feel from my other one. This is undecided, but it will most likely not be featuring Wands as I feel this is too structured for this type of wizarding world, and wil most likely be using a Focus/Chanting system, more details later. But, rest assured, it will be up to my standard of awesome. ;)

My ideas are still just a rough drawing, but when I can think of more on this I will update this section. Stay tuned.

Story Types I Dislike:

Time travel:
What it really boils down to is that the story is usually just the Author writing out the HPverse as they wanted it to turn out, with the knowledge of events to pass to boot!
Some can be amazing, although no names jump out right now, but that can be said about anything really.

Post-OotP:
Please, oh please angst more, Harry!
Seriously. What. The. Fuck.
After reading a couple dozen stories starting with Harry mourning Sirius' death, angsting at Dumbledore and proclaiming he wasn't going to take anyone's crap, I feel like most of this FF should be killed with fire. What really bothers me the most is not that Harry acts like a petulant child, snapping at everyone for no reason, but that the author the tries to portray this as 'mature.'
Then, of course, he needs to go to the Will reading, gain a bunch of ridiculous powers and go argue with Dumbledore, in which all of his points hit spot on and the wizened wizard begs for forgiveness.

Die in fire, ect. You get the point.

Plot Devices I Dislike:

Ok, where to begin? - This will most likely become a large section over time.

Male Veela:
Words cannot describe how much I hate this smut fest. Stories of this nature usually tend to just be Harry - or Draco - having sex with everything. If I wanted to feel awkward and insulted by bad dialogue, I'd go watch some porn. I recommend anyone who likes this crap to do so also.

Surprise/ Unknown Wills:
Whether they be from his parents or Sirius, these kind of stories are generally my worst nightmare.

"Hey, guys, lets suddenly change Harry's personality and outlook on life because of Sirius' will, with no real justification!"
"I gotta say, that just sounds terrible."
"No way, it would be great! You see, he'd get all these new powers and stuff, like wandless magic and an animagus form, and then his looks would change. You know, he'd get a long ponytail or something, get super muscled, and girls would be all over him! Think of all the awkward flirting scenes we could write."
"Why would somebody want to read that crap?"
"Then afterwards he could go on a really big shopping spree with the money he inherited, so he could buy all the things that I - I mean he - wanted before, but couldn't afford, making him a huge political power."
"Wait, how does that make any sense?"
"Are you stupid-- What part of this story makes sense? This part shouldn't be any different!"
"Well, you've got me there."

This made up conversation really sums up my attitude towards the writers of such works.

Relationships I Like

HarryxFleur
Now, I am hesitant to admit I like this pairing, because while I like a great deal of HarryxFleur stories they are not the type on usually thinks about when considering the pairing. For one, I don't like Fleur being a complete stuck up bitch to everyone but Harry, and I also don't like the Veela aspect taking a large precedence in the story, or even better, if it is a negative aspect in her life, aside from mass jealousy ect. Anyway, don't know if I'll ever write her in as his romantic interest, doesn't seem like something I'd enjoy.

HarryxLavender
A very rare, very interesting relationship in my opinion. Stories of with this pairing usually tend to be more realistic, as she acts the most like a normal teenager. It annoys me to see anyone not a complete brain always portrayed as a complete dunce; to me, this is actually more superficial and shallow than the crap she did in canon.

Deliciously ironic.

HarryxDaphne
Please put your tinfoil conspiracy hats away-- this does not mean Harry will be with Daphne in Strength of Will.

Anyway, out of most pairings I've found that this one usually has my highest approval rate. I don't know if it attracts a certain type of author, or people are driven to write her in an acceptable manner, but the story usually turns out fairy good. Note that this is not a scientific fact, just what I have personally felt.

But, as always, Marriage Contracts need not apply.

HarryxLuna
Now, I don't like all of them, but good God have some of the stories I've read featured some amazing HarryxLuna. Something I've come to realise is that I don't like when her eccentric behaviors are completely blown out of proportion; a simple healthy willingness to believe without concrete proof is best. If you can, recommend me some stories of this pairing, although I've most likely already read it.

Relationships I Dislike:

HarryxGinny:
In all honesty, it's not that I dislike the couple, it's that Ginny usually ends up the biggest Mary Sue ever. If the story is well written, and there is no Soul Bonds, I can read this couple fairly easily. But, I will always be wary at first.

HarryxHermione:
Her personality is too dominating, even in canon, and I just can't picture any Harry with a strong will to be in that kind of situation. But, as with Ginny, if they're well written I give them a chance.

HarryxTonks:
Unless it's an AU with him older, or her younger, she's just too old.