I've been writing fan fiction since I was a teenager, but have only recently begun to actually finish things. I'm married, have two not so little boys, deliver mail for a living, and don't yet qualify as an antique. I'm alternately roasting and freezing in the foothills of sunny Southern California, but I was born here so I'm used to it.

For those who have gone straight past asking why I'm writing Kung Fu Panda fanfic (because I couldn't tell you -- I just go where the muse leads me) and asked about characters and ideas in my stories, here are some answers:

The good news: I have definite plans for the character of Master Fox; and probably also for Isidorus, who took me by surprise when I was writing Tai Lung's back story.

The bad news: It won't be in Book of Changes. I have BoC outlined pretty thoroughly, and I also have notes on some sequels. Fox will definitely be back, but it might be a while Sorry.

The TV series: It's cute. I like some of it, and a weekly dose of KFP isn't bad. There are things I don't like; I don't like the Furious Five getting beat up every two minutes so Po can save their butts. I don't like Chorh-gom prison being a) apparently the only prison in China, b) apparently having a revolving door, and c) apparently being about a five-minute walk from the Valley of Peace. (Zeng:" Master Shifu! Tai Lung's escaped! He's on his way here...oh, never mind. Here he is."). I like Peng, but sorry, I can't fit him into what I've got planned. But I'm not averse to grabbing details I like, so Po does know 'princess style'.

Romance/pairings: I really don't have any planned yet. I'll just have to keep writing and see what happens. I remember a friend writing Star Wars fanfic back in high school, whose Mary Sue character was supposed to fall for Han but always seemed to end up with Luke. Drove her crazy. Sometimes characters have a mind (and heart) of their own.

Characters: Yes, I know in KFP2 Shen killed the pandas, got exiled, and waited thirty years to return, so Po must be in his thirties. But I just can't see it, probably because he reminds me too much of guys I knew in college, and I see him as being in his early twenties. So either the peacock exaggerated a little, or this is AU. Whatever works.

Gaur. Since a number of people including my best friend have asked, a gaur is an Asian bovine, looking something like a cross between a cow and a water buffalo, and big.

Mantis overlapping with Tai Lung: In The Art of Kung Fu Panda, an early concept of Mantis had him as a villain and an inside ally of Tai Lung. I dropped the Mantis-as-bad-guy part of it, but liked the idea of playing the characters off each other, which would mean Mantis had to know Tai Lung before his imprisonment. So I had him as a fairly new student at the Jade Palace, and had Fox and Gaur as fellow students. Since my husband likes the KFP:LoA idea that there were many previous Furious Fives, I have to say that these characters were not one of them. There were only four of them; and Tai was counting on being the Dragon Warrior, not just one of the Five. At any rate, shortly after Tai Lung went off his rocker, Crane arrived. Tigress came about a year or so later; I see Shifu's helping her and later adopting her as something encouraged by Oogway, which didn't help Shifu as much as he'd hoped it would. Then Monkey and Viper came in over the next few years, to complete the current Furious Five.

Timeline: When KFP2 said 'ancient China" I took them at their word. Isidorus comes from Alexandria in its heyday, which would be Egypt under the Ptolemies or shortly after. I love ancient history, though I don't claim to know the history of ancient China as well as I'd like -- I'm working to fix that. If I do something wildly anachronistic, sorry; put it down to this being a fantasy/AU version of China, with talking animals walking around.

Here's what I have in my notes for a timeline:

KFP -23 years Shen destroys the panda village and gets exiled

KFP -20 years A Word of Advice; Po is about 3, and the story takes place less than a month before Tai Lung's rampage

KFP -18 years 6-year-old Tigress come to the Jade Palace, which makes her about 24-25 in KFP

Kung Fu Panda

KFP 1.5 years KFP2: Usually I figure about 3 years between a movie and its sequel, but there just doesn't seem to be enough character growth between the two movies, and there's Po's line about "I just got kung fu!" So I gave it a year and a half.

KFP 2 years Book of Changes

I'll add more to this as I write more. Hope that answers a few questions!