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isiscolo and minisinoo.
Y'know, this is harder than it sounds, because assumptions are, by definition, things that I don't actually think about. *ponders*
1. I am a Unitarian Universalist. (Please note my default flaming chalice icon. No, not that kind of 'flaming.' *sigh*) I'm not going to try explaining my religion here -- it would take too long, and defining UUism is notoriously tricky; it's also likely to make other UUs jump in and question, clarify, or otherwise mess around with said definition -- but I should probably mention a few points. I'm not Christian, but I know a fair bit about Christianity. I know random stuff about a lot of religions, actually, and I've cobbled together bits and pieces into something that works for me. In terms of my actual beliefs, I'm probably something of an agnostic pantheist with vague leanings toward a goddess-tradition and a thing for the symbolic lighting of candles, and also with a firm belief in sin and redemption and stuff like that. (Yes, those things can fit together.) But my spiritual beliefs aren't all that important to me; I'm more interested in values and actions, and maybe philosophies. I stay UU because of the community and the shared values, and because I think it's important that there be a religious community like Unitarian Universalism.
Being a UU -- and more specifically, being a born-and-raised UU -- informs a lot of my interests and probably a lot of the themes that crop up in my writing.
Don't worry. That's the longest one of these. :-)
2. I read fanfiction in a lot of fandoms. For many (if not most) of those, I have never read/watched/played the source material, nor do I have any interest in ever reading/watching/playing the source material.
3. I write fanfiction for Harry Potter and Naruto. I like them for pretty much the same reason: JKR and Kishimoto have created vast worlds (with kludgy bits that make no sense, yes, I know) that are just crying out to have something done with them. They've created systems of 'magic' and I have an incurable tendency to try to make sense out of things like that. I like their characters. And -- don't jump on me for this -- the source material simply isn't that special. JKR is a competent writer with a true gift for whimsy, but her books are seriously clunky in places. Kishimoto ignores a fair amount of the implications of his world and storyline, and his dialogue is often extremely stupid. (I know some of that is genre convention. I don't care.) I don't have any sense that their worlds are sacrosanct, the way I do for stories that really hit me in the gut, make me think, and touch my heart/soul/whatever.
(I do occasionally write in other fandoms, but that's not a continuing thing.)
4. I write original fiction. I have been doing that since I was in grade school, and before that I would go off by myself and make up epic sagas, some of which became bedtime stories for my sister. Writing (and storytelling) is what I do and who I am.
5. I suffer from periodic clinical depression. I have medication and I don't talk about it a lot, but it is something that's often lurking at the back of my mind. I sometimes self-edit to keep it out of my conversation. I'm pretty sure the depression also informs a lot of my writing.
6. I am 23 -- college age -- but I'm not a student, nor am I a college graduate. I dropped out, partially due to the depression and partially because the structure of college is a very bad fit with my personality at this point in my life. I've been working off and on for a few years now, with one year off to try college again -- it didn't work out.
7. Liz both is and isn't my real name. Elizabeth Culmer is the middle part of my legal name. If you look hard enough, I think you can find my first and last names in a couple early journal entries, but I don't use them online. I've been using Elizabeth Culmer as a penname since I was about 10 and decided I wanted one for when I became a famous writer. (I had big dreams then. *pats former self on the head*)
8. I worship spelling, grammar, and the proper mechanics of the English language. This is less apparent in my livejournal than in my stories -- I treat livejournal entries as dialogue, which has less stringent rules than narration -- but I still try for perfect spelling. However, I'm a terrible editor, since I'm also a control freak and I have to fight myself so I don't completely rewrite other people's stories. (This is why I'm not a beta-reader.)
9. I am notoriously bad with deadlines. I'm better when it's in a work situation, but you should almost always tack at least a day onto any estimate I give you of the time it will take me to finish something. (This is the other reason I'm not a beta-reader.)
10. I like Ginny Weasley. I like Draco Malfoy. I like Uchiha Sasuke. I like Haruno Sakura. I like Severus Snape. I like Ron Weasley. I like Hatake Kakashi. Etc. I will not stop writing characters because you don't like them. I will not bash characters because you don't like them. I am trying to write about human beings, and human beings are never one-sided.
Deal. :-)
Bonus 11. I don't have any OTPs, because I don't believe in True Love. In fact, I find the concept of One True Love rather scary -- I prefer to believe that I have a chance at happiness with many people, or by myself should I so choose. In any case, I read a lot of pairings, both het and slash, and a lot of gen as well. I like some better than others, but then, I like some characters better than others as well. I write a number of different pairings and threesomes, sometimes within the same story.
I'm a little leery of breaking up established canon relationships, especially ones that seem functional, but I'm not opposed to it. The closest I come to an OTP/OT3 is Naruto/Sasuke/Sakura, and even there I will quite happily read about them with other people, so long as their emotional ties to each other are acknowledged. (It helps that I'm almost certain this relationship will not happen in canon.) All I really ask, no matter how far-out the romantic/sexual relationship, is that the characters remain more or less in-character, and the author sell the story to me.
ETA, 3/30/06: Okay, and since I've started reading YuYu Hakusho, I have to say that Yusuke/Keiko comes damn close to being an OTP as well. You can break them up, but you'd better have damn good reasons, and you'll have to work a LOT harder to sell that story to me than you would if you kept them together.
isiscolo and minisinoo.Y'know, this is harder than it sounds, because assumptions are, by definition, things that I don't actually think about. *ponders*
1. I am a Unitarian Universalist. (Please note my default flaming chalice icon. No, not that kind of 'flaming.' *sigh*) I'm not going to try explaining my religion here -- it would take too long, and defining UUism is notoriously tricky; it's also likely to make other UUs jump in and question, clarify, or otherwise mess around with said definition -- but I should probably mention a few points. I'm not Christian, but I know a fair bit about Christianity. I know random stuff about a lot of religions, actually, and I've cobbled together bits and pieces into something that works for me. In terms of my actual beliefs, I'm probably something of an agnostic pantheist with vague leanings toward a goddess-tradition and a thing for the symbolic lighting of candles, and also with a firm belief in sin and redemption and stuff like that. (Yes, those things can fit together.) But my spiritual beliefs aren't all that important to me; I'm more interested in values and actions, and maybe philosophies. I stay UU because of the community and the shared values, and because I think it's important that there be a religious community like Unitarian Universalism.
Being a UU -- and more specifically, being a born-and-raised UU -- informs a lot of my interests and probably a lot of the themes that crop up in my writing.
Don't worry. That's the longest one of these. :-)
2. I read fanfiction in a lot of fandoms. For many (if not most) of those, I have never read/watched/played the source material, nor do I have any interest in ever reading/watching/playing the source material.
3. I write fanfiction for Harry Potter and Naruto. I like them for pretty much the same reason: JKR and Kishimoto have created vast worlds (with kludgy bits that make no sense, yes, I know) that are just crying out to have something done with them. They've created systems of 'magic' and I have an incurable tendency to try to make sense out of things like that. I like their characters. And -- don't jump on me for this -- the source material simply isn't that special. JKR is a competent writer with a true gift for whimsy, but her books are seriously clunky in places. Kishimoto ignores a fair amount of the implications of his world and storyline, and his dialogue is often extremely stupid. (I know some of that is genre convention. I don't care.) I don't have any sense that their worlds are sacrosanct, the way I do for stories that really hit me in the gut, make me think, and touch my heart/soul/whatever.
(I do occasionally write in other fandoms, but that's not a continuing thing.)
4. I write original fiction. I have been doing that since I was in grade school, and before that I would go off by myself and make up epic sagas, some of which became bedtime stories for my sister. Writing (and storytelling) is what I do and who I am.
5. I suffer from periodic clinical depression. I have medication and I don't talk about it a lot, but it is something that's often lurking at the back of my mind. I sometimes self-edit to keep it out of my conversation. I'm pretty sure the depression also informs a lot of my writing.
6. I am 23 -- college age -- but I'm not a student, nor am I a college graduate. I dropped out, partially due to the depression and partially because the structure of college is a very bad fit with my personality at this point in my life. I've been working off and on for a few years now, with one year off to try college again -- it didn't work out.
7. Liz both is and isn't my real name. Elizabeth Culmer is the middle part of my legal name. If you look hard enough, I think you can find my first and last names in a couple early journal entries, but I don't use them online. I've been using Elizabeth Culmer as a penname since I was about 10 and decided I wanted one for when I became a famous writer. (I had big dreams then. *pats former self on the head*)
8. I worship spelling, grammar, and the proper mechanics of the English language. This is less apparent in my livejournal than in my stories -- I treat livejournal entries as dialogue, which has less stringent rules than narration -- but I still try for perfect spelling. However, I'm a terrible editor, since I'm also a control freak and I have to fight myself so I don't completely rewrite other people's stories. (This is why I'm not a beta-reader.)
9. I am notoriously bad with deadlines. I'm better when it's in a work situation, but you should almost always tack at least a day onto any estimate I give you of the time it will take me to finish something. (This is the other reason I'm not a beta-reader.)
10. I like Ginny Weasley. I like Draco Malfoy. I like Uchiha Sasuke. I like Haruno Sakura. I like Severus Snape. I like Ron Weasley. I like Hatake Kakashi. Etc. I will not stop writing characters because you don't like them. I will not bash characters because you don't like them. I am trying to write about human beings, and human beings are never one-sided.
Deal. :-)
Bonus 11. I don't have any OTPs, because I don't believe in True Love. In fact, I find the concept of One True Love rather scary -- I prefer to believe that I have a chance at happiness with many people, or by myself should I so choose. In any case, I read a lot of pairings, both het and slash, and a lot of gen as well. I like some better than others, but then, I like some characters better than others as well. I write a number of different pairings and threesomes, sometimes within the same story.
I'm a little leery of breaking up established canon relationships, especially ones that seem functional, but I'm not opposed to it. The closest I come to an OTP/OT3 is Naruto/Sasuke/Sakura, and even there I will quite happily read about them with other people, so long as their emotional ties to each other are acknowledged. (It helps that I'm almost certain this relationship will not happen in canon.) All I really ask, no matter how far-out the romantic/sexual relationship, is that the characters remain more or less in-character, and the author sell the story to me.
ETA, 3/30/06: Okay, and since I've started reading YuYu Hakusho, I have to say that Yusuke/Keiko comes damn close to being an OTP as well. You can break them up, but you'd better have damn good reasons, and you'll have to work a LOT harder to sell that story to me than you would if you kept them together.
