My Story:

I got onto fanfiction.net while procrastinating. It was during my trial exams in my last year of high school. I had finished rereading the entire Harry Potter series as my 'stress relief reading' (to sate mum's conscious) or as I refused to acknowledge a way to avoid study and hence have a reason why I didn't get the results I wanted, even if my parents would never understand that particular logic. Two months later and my HSC rolled around (NSW, Downunder final exams)... I was quiet intrenched in this site by then... of course mum thought I was doing wondrous study - i was in my room, sitting at my desk for a good 9hrs per day.

By Christmas I had created an account and was still reading... it was at that stage the parentals started getting suspicious... why was I still on my laptop? and why was that same page up that they had seen so much of during my exams? (isn't that the great thing about this site, its not glarey so it can remain your dirty little secret - hence why I left it up during the exams when they came in. Mistake, even technologically illiterate people will recognise the same site if they see it multiple times). It was my brother that finally got it out of me that I was reading Harry Potter fan fiction.

Still reading, with a growing list of stories on favourite and story alert lists Dad cornered and confronted me on a 3hr car drive... just the two of us, no one to bounce the subject off onto (not that the rest of my family would have helped at all). He asked me what so appealed to me about reading all of it, it took me a while to answer that and I now can't remember my reasoning. But he did ask me, once I had it out, why didn't I write a story. I said no I don't think that is going to happen.

I considered it for a few weeks and it ultimately inspired me to write The Clock is Ticking on the Light. So now I carry my notebook everywhere with me, on the bus home from Uni I write part of the upcoming chapters or any ideas for later down the path, I take it on walks with my puppy and write in the park while he runs around and anywhere else I am likely to be just waiting. I haven't told anyone about the story (in my real life) because they'll ask to read it and I would prefer to remain anonymous in a group of people who share my guilty pleasure.

AnExpressionOfWisdom