Hello, and welcome to my profile!

I’m a 25 year old woman, born and bred in the north of England, and a History graduate now working full time for my local council. Apart from that, my life isn't all that interesting, hence why I enjoy the occasional foray into fictional worlds. I suspect, judging by the huge number of people on this site, that I'm not alone in that. I must say, I’m glad that I'm not the only one obsessed with fictional worlds.

I love reading and writing, and my interests in those areas are quite wide and varied, as you can probably tell by my stories. One thing that is very much clear about me is that I'm a nerd. A massive nerd. I tend to obsess over the things I love- which one of the reasons why I love this website so much! I only realised that fanfiction existed a few years ago, and I only found the guts a couple of years after that (despite the fact that I've always had story ideas floating around in my head) so I'm fairly new to the whole thing. I do have a good idea what I like and don't like, but the more I read, the more things I find that keep me coming back for more.

Of course, Harry Potter is, and will always be, my first love in the world of fanfiction. I've always been obsessed with Harry Potter, almost since the first book was released in Britain, and that hasn't changed at all throughout the years. I love the books, the films, everything about it, and I always will.

With regards to fanfiction, I tend to lean towards stories with canon pairings, and where the characters remain fairly close to how J.K. Rowling set them out in the books. I can make some exceptions, especially if the plot and writing is good enough, but I can't stand stories where Harry becomes evil and joins Voldemort no matter how convincing the author makes it.

I also generally hate character bashing, especially Dumbledore, Molly, Ginny and Ron bashing, which is so common that it's become difficult to find stories where these characters are actually presented in a positive way. I often find that by bashing a character, it makes them seem very two dimensional, rather than as realistic characters with many facets to their personalities. Real people have faults as well as good points, but no one is completely good, nor completely evil, and when an author bashes certain characters, they often disregard any good points those characters have. There are of course exceptions to this, but more often than not, it's just plain lazy and it puts me right off the story.

For example, I think it's a lazy plot device to simply make Dumbledore evil, when I think it is much more realistic (and more difficult) to present him as I think J.K. Rowling wanted him to be seen; as a man who has made mistakes, but who was, and is under immense pressure, and is alone in his great burden.

Also, I've often come across fics where Ginny and Ron have been bashed, simply because the author didn't like Harry and Hermione to be romantically paired with them. As incredible as it sounds (and yes, that was sarcastic!), it is possible to pair them with different people without bashing Ron and Ginny, but often the author decides that it's simply easier to make them evil or simply horrible people. Like I said, I find it's the sign of a lazy author and it immediately puts me off, no matter how good story is.

Harry Potter is by far my favourite fanfiction category to read about but it is by no means my only obsession. I also adore Bones, Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis, House MD, A Town Called Eureka, the Mentalist, and many, many more. As long as it's well written, I'll give it a go.

What I like to see in a fanfiction in general:

*Good plot- It doesn't have to be original, but it must be interesting and have an element that keeps me coming back for more. Often a story can start off as an interesting concept, but unless the author has put some thought into how to keep the story interesting then I find that plot often becomes tired and boring.

*Realistic characterisations- I find that I immediately turn off a story if the character I love starts to act so unrealistically that it becomes almost funny. I find it happens a lot in stories where the main characters begin by hating each other. The author starts by writing them as mortal enemies and then something happens and the BAM! in the space of one chapter they're best of friends.

*Correct spelling and Grammar- I immediately click the back button on a story if there is consistent spelling and grammar mistakes, on a scale where pointing out the mistakes would do little to help the story. It annoys me, because often the idea is promising and would become a good story if the mistakes were weaned out. I can excuse the odd typo, so long as it doesn't happen too often, because it happens enough in my own fics that I would be a hypocrite to gripe about it.

*A story that is true to the country it is set in- Nothing annoys me more, when I click on what sounds like a great fic, if I find that the characters can't even talk properly. I realise that there are a lot of American writers on this site, so it is only natural that 'Americanisms' are common in fan fiction, but one thing that irks me more than anything else is when British characters start to use words that only an American would say. That is not to say I hate all Americanisms. If it is the 'narrator' that is using words such as 'sidewalk' instead of 'pavement', or 'gas station' instead of 'petrol station', or even if the writer uses American spelling, then it really doesn't bother me. However, if you have a British character (e.g. Harry Potter) saying things like 'Mom' and 'sneakers' and have him eating pancakes for breakfast (we don't really do that over here) then he's no longer in character. It doesn't take much to do a little research to find out how a British person would say something, and it makes the world of difference to a fic in my opinion.

There's not a lot else to say really, except that writing these stories means a lot to me, and I promise to protect, love and care for any of characters as if they were my own children. I borrow them only so that I can play with them; I promise to leave them mostly in one piece.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy my stories!