If so, please feel free to friend me! I'm expecting to be quite active on LJ over the next couple of months as I plan and write my novel (Oh goodness, 50,000 words in 30 days, I must be mad). I am stocking up on all the coffee and planning out something vaguely writable by November 1st in Scrivener.

I live in the UK and I'm in my mid-twenties. I love commenting and chatting with my f-list and generally being interactive in their lives. I look forward to making some new friends! :)

Name: Raine.

Age: I stopped aging at twenty seven.

Location: Taylor, Michigan.

About me: Born and raised Canadian, moved to the USA in 2004. I've been married for nine years. I have a cat for a daughter, and a rabbit for a son. I'm a Jack-of-all-Trades-but-Master-of-None when it comes to learning musical instruments. Music is my life. Rock 'n' Roll! \m/ I'm also an aspiring author. I sing. I dance (bellydance, actually), I worship Neil Gaiman, I love Paul Bettany and Milla Jovovich, and want to travel the world and meet lots of interesting people. I am completely head over heels for the Irish Cork accent. I am also a Pirate with two levels of Basic Ninja skills. I am very shy. I am random.

About my journal: I'm actually trying to post more often, but I'm the silent lurker. I read EVERY single post on my friend's list, and try really hard to comment on a lot of them. My journal is just ramblings, events that happen, and LOTS of dreams. I sometimes talk about my novel characters.

What I write: Urban Fantasy is my comfort zone, but I'm not afraid to venture out. I participate in NaNoWriMo religiously, and it's usually where I experiment. I've written High Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Steampunk genres some years, and NaNo 2014 will be my first attempt at Paranormal/Horror. I have been known to write poetry in my teenage years, but I don't think I'm any good at it, anymore.

What I don't write: I'm open to trying anything, but I will admit to having a hard time with writing romance and sex scenes. I always have that "what would my mother think?!?" thing in the back of my brain, which causes me to skip those scenes, though I am getting better. Thank the Gods for adventure in the rest of the novels, else I'd never get anything written.

What I read: I don't read nearly enough! Each month I buy more books than I can keep up with, and my pile of 'to read' just gets bigger and bigger. :( I read anything and everything written by Neil Gaiman, and love reading Urban Fantasy, especially when it touches on mythology, and DEFINITLY if it touches Egyptian mythology. I also love Historical Fiction. My taste in books is pretty wide and varied. Some of my favorite books include "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman, "The Soulforged" by Margaret Weis and Don Perrin, "River God" by Wilbur Smith, and "The Gargoyle" by Andrew Davidson.

What I don't read: I think another member said it best: "Anything that doesn't interest me or that I can't be persuaded to give a chance".

Could I edit someone else's work: I could... But I'm better at offering advice and ideas in case you get writer's block, or kickstarting your muse.

what I'm looking for: People who love to write as much as I do! Especially those who treat their characters as actual human beings. I love those people. I'd love to make new friends, in general, too. I don't care what kind of stuff you write. If you like what you see, add me. I am very friendly. :)

Raine

Name: saint_sentiment or call me Chelsea if you prefer

Age: 21

About Me: I'm a fanfic writer and I'm aspiring to be a published novelist for the fantasy/horror genre. I have a few original projects under my belt that are going through the planning/outlining process, and I'm very excited about them. I love to discuss writing and I especially like to read about what helps other writers the most with their process, as I'm always open for new techniques.

About My Journal: I mostly post fannish things but I also post about my own writing, along with books, movies and TV shows, things I enjoy, and my daily life if it's not too private. I like reading about others and try to comment whenever I can. There are fewer things I enjoy than a good comment back and forth on LJ.

What I Write: I am the angstiest writer of the seven seas. I've tried writing with a light, uplifting or even comedic tone in the past but it always get dark real quick. That being said I write darkfic, drama, horror, and hurt/comfort the best. I've also been told I'm very good at action scenes, which is a surprise to me.

What I Don't Write: Comedy, Mystery, Science Fiction, Poetry and Erotica (the last two genres I tried but failed)

What I Read: I'm most particular to the paranormal, fantasy and romance genres, but I'll read any book if the premise is interesting enough to me and it's well written. I'm also big on poetry and erotica.

What I Don't Read: Biographies, Autobiographies, Self Help, How To's

Could I Edit Someone Else's Work: Sure. :)

What I'm Looking For: I'd like to make friends with as many fellow writers as possible for discussion, cheerleading, advice, and sharing. Writing is my passion and being able to share my experiences, gripes, and triumphs with someone like minded is awesome sauce.

Name: I use my full name, "Robert Black," in print, but I'm Bob in person.

Age: 48

About Me: In the mid-1980s, while still an Engineering student at Vanderbilt University, I wrote for the Nickelodeon cable TV series, You Can't Do That On Television. I did nine episodes in all, and worked on several others as the on-set "script doctor" during the summer of 1985. Eventually, I made my way to Southern California with the intention of getting into Hollywood, but I learned that Hollywood and I weren't interested in each other. In the late 90s, I wrote several popular Buffy the Vampire fanfics in the course of learning how to write prose. In 2001, I had a "take this job and shove it" moment and quit my job as an Engineering Director for Dacor, a manufacturer of fancy kitchen appliances (that's where the "OvenGuy" user name comes from). I had enough money saved up to try writing full-time for a full year before I had to look for another day job. Today, I've published four middle-grade novels.



I also work as the Quality Systems Manager for Raypak, Inc., a manufacturer of pool heaters and commercial boilers, and I sing in the Canterbury Choir at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena.

About My Journal: I've been on LiveJournal for ten years now, and have used it for various things. These days, it seems like all the action is over on Facebook, but I'm trying to keep my journal alive over here as well. It's part "author blog" and part personal blog.

What I Write: Middle-grade fiction seems to be my natural audience, although my four-year-old nephew recently gave me a children's book idea that I might try to do. I've spent a good bit of the last 3-1/2 years developing a new style that uses storytelling to teach math concepts. Last year, I pitched it to my publisher and they gave me the go-ahead, so now I'm finishing a complete draft of the first book in what I hope will become an entire line.

What I Don't Write: Anything that focuses on what I refer to as "The Big Four" topics in books written for grownups - sex, drugs, guns and money.

How Did I Get Into Writing?: I started making up my own stories for TV shows I liked at a very young age. In 1984, when it started to look like engineering wasn't as appealing to me as I'd hoped, I decided to try writing my own TV script for real. It's been a long, strange trip from there.

What I Read: My books almost always involve doing research, and a lot of the books I read are both fiction and non-fiction that deal with whatever subjects I'm writing about, or that I think I might like to write about in the future. I also feed my spiritual side with the writings of Thomas Merton.

What I Don't Read: See "What I Don't Write."

Could I Edit Someone Else's Work?: I don't have time to edit for anyone, but I'd be happy to talk ideas and share my experiences with people in a mentor-type capacity.

What I'm Looking For: I don't want my LiveJournal to wither away! If the friends of mine who used to post here are all going to run off to Facebook, then I'd like to find some new friends who are still around.

Name: Jacey.

About me: Activist, particularly for animals. Aspiring professional author and astrologer. Bookslut, obviously. Future Londoner if it kills me (I fully intend to hop the pond and permanently relocate myself from the States). Open-minded. Owned by a stupid cat who six+ years later still isn't quite sure of his own name, a frighteningly smart cat obsessed with cornflakes, and a cat who thinks she is a dragon. Pansexual. Rapunzel-in-training, aka a longhair. Sparkly. Vegetarian.

About my journal: Still just getting started! I've been on LJ off and on for years, but this one is still new. :) Expect a lot of writing and assorted shenanigans; my life has a tendency to be a cesspool of lunacy, and I try to faithfully chronicle all the nonsense that it spews. Also, cats. ♥

What I write: Everything, at least once, if only to say I have. Magical realism might just have the biggest piece of my heart, however, alongside prosetry and rehashings of folk-and-fairy-tales.

What I don't write: Anything not character-driven. As I said, I'll try anything at least once, but there has to be a fleshed-out character to make me care about it first.

How did I get into writing: There wasn't really any 'getting into'; I've just always done. I've been writing -- or at least, attempting to dictate poetry, since I couldn't physically write at the time -- from age two. And at some point, it occurred to tiny little me that all of those books I clung to had to come from somewhere, had to come from someone, and that was just that. :)

What I read: Again, pretty much everything! But favourites things include Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Black Beauty, Bradbury, Byatt, fairytales, folklore, Gaiman, Good Omens, Harry Potter, Holly Lisle, Liesl & Po, Lisey's Story, Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes, Stephen King, The Dark Tower series, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, The Godfather, The God in Flight, The Little Prince, The Night Circus, Wilde, Will Lavender, Wodehouse, and Woolf.

What I don't read: Again, anything not character-driven, or with characters I just can't stand or care about. Unless it's so bad it's hilarious, in which case I will read it to laugh.

Could I edit someone else's work? Absolutely! I love editing, whether it's line-edits or helping to iron out plots or even just being a test-reader.

What I'm looking for: I love 99.9% of everyone, so long as they're not judgmental and can spell. ;P That said, chances are I'll love you, too! Whether you're looking for writing-buddies or proof-readers or cheerleaders or new friends in general (or any combination thereof!), I'm sure we'll get on. ♥

Name: Night, but it's Dr. Night here, especially since my real names a death horse that's been beaten to a fine pulp.

Age: 17, Female

About me:Um, I'm in high school. A high school senior. So, in a year, I'll legally be an adult and (if everything goes as planned) living at school. Mom and Dad are so excited.

I really, really like slash. Almost as much as I love, Aldis Hodge, Angel Coulby, and Nicholas Brendon.

About my journal:  It will mainly be original stories trying desperately to make it to novel length. I write all kinds, from the mundane, quirky rom-com hold the rom to the urban fantasy drag queen adventure epic. You know, the classics that everyone has to write one time or the other. But, hopefully, I'll also rise to the challenge of writing fanfiction.

What I write: Short stories. Novel-length stuff. Things of the heterosexual persuasion. Things of the homosexual persuasion. Things of the this sexuality thing is getting to long so I'll just say et cetera-sexual persuastion.

What I don't write: Um, porn, I guess? I'm not very experienced and I know, I know, that's no excuse. But. I'd feel like some closet, pervert virgin. Not to say there's something wrong with anyone who does that. No, I just have issues. Related to self-esteem. And stuff.

What I read: I write what I read, sure. Amongst other things. I love me a comedy. If it makes me laugh, I want to have that story's plot-babies. And steampunk, baby, all the way.

What I don't read: Incest. Especially twincest. I mean, I might drive through a cousin thing, especially if it's a fanfic about a pairing I love. Such as Oh Very Young by apreludetoanend. S/he's on lj too, I think.

Also, I don't read stories where it feels like one character or group of characters is being treated like shit in comparison to their counterparts. Whether it's a romantic pairing or an antagonistic relationship (whether or not it's good vs. bad). It makes me feel uncomfortable and bored, two of my least favorite feelings. In fandom, I hate it, when it's my not-favorite character and even when it's my favorite character. Let me give you an example:

It's an all human au. Xander's some bumbling blue-collar working getting paid, like, minimum wage or something. He has no friends, because all the Scoobies (except maybe one if he's lucky), for some reason, have decided that in this alternate world, Spike's a much better candidate then anything Xander-shaped. So Xander's drenched in lonely awkwardness, hobbled under the overwhelming lust he holds for Spike while the latter is, well, not. Spike's probably sleeping with Buffy, Cordelia, Angel, etc in his spare time while he works a kick-ass job. And is kick-ass. Canon, sure. I won't dispute that. But, moving on, they'll probably be pulled together in...well, to be honest, I've never stuck around longe enough to see.

I hate this. It's never happened where Xander's in the super sauve position (or I've never read such a fic, not long enough to see this parallel at least, because let's be honest, ultra sauve Xander is hard to write and isn't usually written across from a hapless Spike--let alone a Spike at all.) But I've seen it with Rodney McKay, for example. And I feel bad for John, even if I admittedly love Rodney heaps more, I still love Col. Sheppard.

Wow, that got long, didn't it.

TL;DR?

Could I edit someone else's work?  I'd love to, but this is my senior year, so I barely have to time to be surfing lj at all, let alone giving any real attention to details like that. I'll have the time during times like Winter and Summer Break, sure, but they're sadly too few and far between.

But one day.

One day.

(BTW, you should look forward to this day too. I've been told I'm an editing fool [in a completely awesome way, of course.] Don't let any typos fool you. If, by some miracle I'm able to write this at two in the morning, then forget I typed that. There are no typos or grammatical errors. There never are. Because I'm perfect.

Oh, I didn't care for that judgemental silence. At all.)

What I'm looking for: Writers, friendship and readers (who give comments and critiques.) And writers. Did I say writers? Sometimes I'll search the web for hours for something to read and...huh, maybe I'd have time for editing if I could cut that out...See, there's some incentive now!

If I came off as crazy or desperate, it's because it's 2 am and I woke up at 6 am this morning. That might be child's play to some of you, but stop being smug.

Name: Amanda (I prefer "Mandy"; it just doesn't flow as well for a user-name)

Age: 25

About me: I've always been a bookworm, and I've always loved writing.  I adore animals, especially cats; my little one is named Annie.  I'm an off-and-on again college student.  For more personal things, I'm always up for messaging.

About my journal: I plan to update more frequently.  Sometimes, I share about my day-to-day life.  Often, I mention the progress on my projects.  I plan to liven up my journal a bit!

What I write: I'm kind of all over the place.  I mostly write novels: fantasy, young adult, and realistic or general fiction.  However, I'm also writing this thing that is sort of science-fiction, and another of my projects would probably be considered chick-lit.  Oh, and I'm a fan of writing short stories, novellas, and flash fiction.

What I don't write: I'm not great at writing romance, and I don't write erotica.

What I read: This includes Mark Twain, American classics, mysteries, general fiction, young adult fiction, fantasy, early British literature, Neil Gaiman, Garth Nix, James Herriot, Diana Wynne Jones, Yann Martel, Lois Lowry, Carson McCullers, and Terry Pratchett.

What I don't read: I'm not well-versed in romance or erotica.  Also, I don't like most of what is sold in grocery stores and drugstores.

Could I edit someone else's work?  Yes.

What I'm looking for: To connect with other writers.  If we get to know one another well, I might be open to doing manuscript swaps for editing and feedback.  I love stories of most kinds, although I do have a preference for character-driven stories (not always, but often).

Hello


Here you have a hobbyist writer interested in adding one or more fellow writers to trade editing/critiquing and possibly character and plot development advice.  I mostly write about relationships, angst and drama but looking back I find that I've enjoyed setting these stories against backdrops of police/detective and mystery settings.  Until now I've written mainly original work and some fanfic.  I'd like to try fiction based on the Sherlock/Watson characters and this is a main reason I'd like some companionship - not sure I'm quite clever enough to get a Sherlock story together.

Overall my preference is to not feature killing or other extremes in crime or include gore or excessive cruelty.  A good writer shouldn't need to use sensationalism. In fact, my opinion is that a good writer could describe an empty cardboard box and make it interesting.  I enjoy the role of beta to other writers' work and will gladly fulfill this role for any writing associates I might make here. 

I've noticed that many people posting here include their age and relationship status and all sorts of other information.  This may place me at a disadvantage but I'm a bit more reserved about such things and hope to keep my associations here focused on furthering the skill of writing and the exchange of ideas. 

Thanks for reading.

Jess