Hello one and all!

I guess I should probably introduce myself: my name is Griffin Quill (not really, but we'll go with it for now). I am 22 years old and I live in BC, Canada. I am currently doing a double major in Computer Science and Math. Should be done in roughly 3 years (I hope).

But that is the boring stuff, on to more interesting things. I really enjoy reading, listening to music (favourite band is Coldplay), playing piano and violin, swimming, video editing, and... writing! I actually found this website by accident and since then I've been hooked by several stories. Eventually, my muse decided that it was time for me to write my own. But wait, what kind of a story is that? Where's the drama? Well, let me tell you how it started.

For some time I've been playing with some ideas for an actual novel. On my first attempt, I wrote something like 60 pages by hand. I wasn't fully convinced by the story, so I decided to mull things over a little more. I tried again. The result was a partial draft of 20 something pages that looked more convincing. Still, it wasn't enough. Eventually I sort of gave up on it. Truth of the matter: the story still was too similar to the material where I drew my inspiration. By that point I was in my senior year of high school and I had next to no time to write, so I abandoned the project.

After a couple of years, I tried to get back into it. I managed to produce something that was new (or at least I thought it was), but I still needed more experience. Keep in mind that at this point in time, my longest story was a 40,000 word tale that was nowhere near as complex for what I was going for. My only other novel was 30,000 words, but this one was more focused on character feelings than story. So as you can surmise, I had no idea how to tackle something of this magnitude. Granted, I did have several short stories along with a couple of scripts for plays and movies here and there, but nothing really serious. So after trying so many times and failing, I decided that I had to try with something smaller (read less difficult) first before I actually got into the story.

Enter fanfiction.net. I remember the first story that I read was Harry Potter and the Oroborus Light. It's a good story. It definitely has its flaws, but it's a good story nonetheless. After several other stories, a light bulb turned on in my head. After doing some research, I found that Rowling did encourage fanfictions based on her story. So that got me thinking: I don't have to worry too much about the characters (save for any that I introduce), and I can focus almost entirely on the story. It was perfect! Brilliant! I was really excited... until I figured out I had no idea what I wanted to write about. By this point I had come across Harry Potter: Nightmares of Future Past, and I contemplated writing a time-travel story (the title was going to be Harry Potter and the Casket of Winters Past), but I scrapped the idea. This in turn lead to my first ever fanfiction: Harry Potter and the Elven Court. I decided to give it a go and... well, here we are!

Now, assuming that you have read all of my previous meanderings, then now you know how the story came to pass! A lot more exciting isn't it?

Anyways, moving on. Since I figure that some people are bound to ask me eventually (so far no one has, but hey, you never know right?), I wanted to get some questions out of the way.

1. What is your favourite pairing/ship?
I'm really fond of Harry/Hermione, since I really like her as a character (Emma Watson aside). But I've also grown to like Harry/Daphne, Harry/Gabrielle, and Harry/Fleur. The last two are more recent, but I still enjoy them (when done right).

2. Do you have any writing background?
I'm going to assume that this means actual lessons. The answer is no. All the knowledge I have of writing comes from 20 years of reading and 10 years of informal writing. I never took lessons, so I just learned from experience and critiques from people that were kind enough to give them.

3. What are your favourite authors?
Tough question. I'm very fond of J.R.R Tolkien and C.S Lewis. However, I also like some other authors, like Garth Nix, James Luceno, Matthew Stover, among others.

4. What kind of books do you read?
Mostly fantasy, although I do indulge in Star Wars (so long as it is before the original trilogy. I cannot stand Luke Skywalker) quite a bit. I rarely will read anything that isn't fantasy, with some notable exceptions like Agatha Christie, Edgar Allen Poe, and Shakespeare.

5. There are some simple grammar/spelling mistakes in your writing. Is English your first language?
Sigh. No it is not. Technically, I've been speaking/writing in English for close to 21 years, so it almost is. However, my first language is Spanish.

6. Why did you change the pairing of the story?
I knew that this was a risky move, but it was necessary. The reason was that the pairing that I had originally (Harry/Hermione) did not work well in the later stages of the story. As much as I like the pairing, it just didn't work. So I decided to change it. Some people were upset by this. Others said that I was too deep into the story to make such a drastic change. Realistically speaking, I wasn't that deep. At the time that I changed it, I was basically just setting things up, so nothing critical was lost. Keep in mind that this is by no means a short story, and there's a lot more to cover before we're through.

7. Is this a crossover and you just forgot to label it as such?
No. This is by no means a crossover. The Elves that are depicted here have no relation with the Elves from Middle Earth. I believe that the possible confusion stems from my usage of Quenya and Sindarin, which are the Elvish languages created by Tolkien for his world. Simply put, the only reason why I'm using them is because that way I don't have to scratch my head for days trying to come up with one myself. That and I really like it. There is no other reason.

8. How long do you expect the story to be?
I'm expecting the final word count to be somewhere close to 200,000 words. At least for the Elven Court. Yes, you read right... there will be sequels (it's actually a trilogy).

9. How often will you be updating?
As often as I can. I believe that my previous velocity was something close to a chapter a month. I will try my best to meet this, but keep in mind that school goes first. I also have other commitments here and there that do take time.

10. Why don't your chapters have author notes?
I feel that they distract from the story, and I often find myself annoyed at authors that use them. Hence why all my disclaimers, thanks and other things are on the very first chapter of the story. Any additional things will be posted here, so be sure to check my profile often to keep yourself updated!

If you have read all this way... thanks for sticking around. You're awesome!

Below you will find an update section, which I will try to keep up to date. Here I will give the rough status of the story, so you can keep track of things.

Anyways, I believed I've rambled enough. Please read my story and review. Comments are always welcome, and I am seriously looking to improve my writing, so any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Thanks and enjoy!
Cheers,
Griffin Quill

Important Update: Hello everyone! I would first off wish you all the best for this new year and hope that you all had a great holiday season. With that said, I know I said on my last update that I would be starting to write in January. Unfortunately, several personal issues have come up and I haven't been in the right frame of mind to write anything. At this point I am unsure as to when I will be coming back to writing, but rest assured it WILL happen. On a somewhat related note, I have been thinking on and off about the story and I have started noticing several glaring plot-holes that I hadn't noticed before. What this is means is that when I get back to writing (whenever that happens), there will be some changes. For those who went through the first round, the changes won't be anything as remotely large as that time. It will mostly be minor details that become significant later on, and others that just make the story flow nicer. I will also be writing an actual outline (didn't have one before and it was a VERY bad idea) so the story will be more streamlined.
Anyways, so that's all I wanted to say. Thank you to those that have favourited/followed the story so far and hopefully I will start writing again soon!