WHO are YOU?

RcGrant

RcGrant

Loves semi-colons
Joined
Dec 2, 2007
Messages
337
...asked the caterpillar.

So, I've been hanging out here for a while now, and the same names keep on cropping up. But I don't feel I know any of you. So...I want to put some information to the names. Tell me about you. Whereabouts you live in the world, your non-writing day job (if you have one), what you like writing, interests outside of writing, and maybe where you're at with your writing at the moment.

Obviously if anything makes you feel uncomfortable, then don't answer it, and if this is an innappropriate thread, mods, feel free to delete.

So...I'll go first. :)

I'm Rachael, I'm 26, and I live in Cornwall in the UK. I've written for as long as I've known how to hold a pencil and use it to form letters. I've dabbled in different genres but I seem to gravitate back towards fantasy. Sometimes I don't think my fantasy fits into a specific category like some do (epic, elves, and the like), though I do seem to lean towards teenage protagonists. I write short stories too, but for some reason they lean away from fantasy and move more into mainstream.

Other than writing, I'm a book fiend (is there any of us who isn't?), and as well as enjoying reading them, I collect them too (different Harry Potter covers, versions, and first editions seem to be a favourite here, though I've moved into the realm of signed too). I have a collection of writing books large enough to keep my local Waterstones in stock. I also enjoy photography, creating my own jewellery, and excessive internet usage. :rolleyes:

My day job is working in a company that promotes the use of complimentary medicines (naming no names...), and through a lot of complaining about the state of the company newsletter, I've recently been handed that to do as well. Woohoo! But I would love to be able to make a living writing novels, obviously.

I'm taking part in NaNoWriMo at the moment, but I also have three other novels on the go: one is the first of a trilogy, another is the first of a duo of vampire novels, and another includes more magic than I am familiar with. I'm about halfway through the first and second. I've discovered, through trial and error, that I write so much better with multiple projects on the go. I'm stubborn, and I have faith in all of them. :)

Right, that's me...now it's YOUR turn.
 
I'm a fraud. I'm not really an aspiring writer at all, they only keep me around to do the punctuation. Besides, I really like my day job; well, I say "day", but I'm posting from work (always – I don't have a computer anywhere else) which, if you look at the time stamps on my posts gives you an idea how much time I spend here.

I'm sixty, live in Geneva and work in a recording studio, and, before joining this place used to read to excess, but not write (oh, an occasional translation, disc sleeve, something, but not, you know, writing)

Since starting critiquing people I've started writing some myself, and now it takes up enough of my already limited time that it's saving me considerable sums in buying books. I have even been paid for something I wrote.

When I rock and roll toured I went under the name of "Snoopy", and my computer still prefaces my mails with this, leading some spam filters to reject them.

I don't collect much but memories and friends, since I live in a miniscule flat with several spiders. There are books, certainly, but they're sort of there, rather than being collected. I don't even have copies of most of the music I've worked on over the years.

Writings? Write now, I've got enthusiastic about the collaborative project in the workshop, to which I am a major contributor, My dragon sequence is ploughing steadily ahead, my elfin safety story doesn't want to come to a head, I should rewrite the tree "after the melt" stories and try and find inspiration for a fourth, my interstellar ship's in a terraforming phase, and I've done a couple of short stories.

And as the answer for the first question, obviously, I am the Walrus (which you'd believe if you saw my carpentry)

Koo koo kachoo
 
It's interesting what assumptions one makes about someone from their username. When you didn't have an avatar, Rachel, I took you for a thirty-something Scotsman (I think because RcGrant looks a bit like McGrant, also RC = arsy?!)

(Note to self: include character called Arsy McGranite.)

Me, I'm Bryan, 41, and I live in Sussex near the beautiful Downs (though as a keen cyclist I also notice the Ups). I've been writing for about 15 years, but have never got anywhere because I tend to include in my long stories, almost as a kind of signature, deep structural flaws. The latest is a lot better planned though, and I might actually now know what I'm doing. But I'm still only 15000 words in, having spent a lot of the past few months sitting in coffee shops "plotting" (ie eating almond croissants). I'm expecting it to grow pretty quickly now though. My day-job is processing the results of online surveys for market researchers to get excited about. But I work from home, so that's OK.

I read a wide range of stuff, not necessarily fantasy, but recently I've been getting up to date with George Martin's Song of Ice and Fire, which has been an enjoyable endeavour. I also enjoy the better examples of Japanese anime, which probably feeds into my writing. As a theme, I'm interested in the development (past and future) of consciousness, especially the point several thousand years ago when the separate ego-self really took off, along with a shift in emphasis from female earth deities to male sky gods, and how that whole thing affects our relationship with ourselves and the planet. As well as cycling I love swimming, freediving when I get the chance, and fencing.

I collect pulled muscles.

(Edit: wasn't implying that the Scots are arsy, just that it suggests male rather than female, though that might just have moved from racism to sexism .. argh! run away!)
 
Hmm.. a fiend and a fraud so far... Not bad.

I'm me, 33 (though many say I look 23, ha!), live in the country apparently least affected by the current economic crisis (Malaysia) if you believe the local media, and, of course, am male, despite the avatar (I've downloaded some Balrog pics but feel too attached to Alizee to change it :p).

I used to have a degree in Marketing & Computer Science - used to because the darn thing got washed away in a flood a few years ago (don't ask) and I couldn't be bothered to buy a new copy (it'd cost 20 quid excluding delivery!). Accordingly, I work in the computing industry, and worked my way from analyst programmer to chief technical officer and finally now to running my own (very small) software development company with a partner. I also used to write RPG-like games for free downloads, but lost the motivation after an 'accident' with my old computer (see the 'Backup Your Data' thread if interested). My partner and I have decided, however, that by the start of 2010, we will go into agriculture instead, probably rearing catfish for slaughter and mass consumption.

I have a mini library at home consisting almost exclusively of fantasy books (Tolkien, Martin, Jordan, Kay, Hobb, Eddings, Gemmel, Feist, Weis & Hickman, Wurts, etc.) with a smattering of Sci Fi. I think there is also Machiavelli's The Prince in there somewhere, which I pinched from college (Atlantic College in Wales, btw) because I liked it so much. Apart from reading, I also like to watch and play football (i.e. soccer), though the playing is mostly indoors now.

I've always known I wanted to be a writer. I wrote half a novel when I was 15. Upon re-reading it a few years later, I hid in a cupboard for a few months in shame and haven't written any such thing since then (though I 'worldbuild' pretty much ceaselessly). I am, though, writing again now, thanks to this forum and the beautiful people in it :)

- Dreir -
 
Ooooh Tricky personal stuff.

OK I'll give it a go.

Obviously I'm old and decrepit, with a cheerful cynical view of the world which sadly along with the rest of the known universe is due to end shortly.

In real life I'm a heroic Adonis like demi-god sent forth by the gods of creation with The Sign of the Barres Exit (Thesobe) to do battle with all forms of evil in this part of the galaxy. Currently I'm hunting down the entrails and remnants of a resurrected thread known to be wreaking havoc in the lower realms of this site. I usually live in the quieter regions of Mars though of late with all the noise from you humans I seem to be spending more time either here or on Sploggwand.

While I labour in my task I like to think of a world where I am an microprocessor/electronic design engineer running a small though reasonably successful company in the Manchester area of the UK where we design and manufacture intrumentation for industrial and automotive applications. I'm married to Mr's Tein who suffers greatly as a result, even to the extent that she voluntarily accompanied me on a recent occasion to the Chrons meet up in Carlyle (northern UK). All records of which seem to have been expunged from the site during the recent "post" credit crunch. We have two sons, one at Birmingham Uni and the other living with us and studying to be a plumber. He'll be the rich one of the family naturally.

I love a good argument preferably about nothing important and as Mr's Tein will testify I am not afraid to change sides mid argument if I think one side isn't holding up it's end.

Oh Tein yeah he's a

Cynical, critical, disbelieving, questioning ,fascinated by anything, easily distracted, daydreaming, night dreaming, insomniac by choice*1, argumentative, miserable old git.

So some say.

*1 "sleep" near death but not quite as good as the real thing. Actually thats not true. I love sleeping only because it gives access to dreams. So I arrange to be woken by having the radio tuned to the world service to get more dreams in.
 
I'm a bear of very little brain, but reasonably large imagination. I am female, not long turned 40, have no children and two small rat-dogs. I live in rural NSW on a farm, and am an artist/potter by trade. I read many things but my favourite is SF/Fantasy. I used to write a bit for fun, but the non-finishing thing is my doom. I am not very talkative and tend to read considerably more than I contribute, and wish I could read more (even on this site my connection speed or lack thereof can be a trial). But I have come to consider myself a semi-regular here, it's a nice kickback kinda place, even though the most regular thing I do is quote other people's avatars.

As you may have gathered I'm not a writer, even if I write on occasion. I'm a draw-er by nature, and I've been going since I could pick something up to form scribbles. I have an atrocious memory, partly due to the fact that I don't put verbal labels on my memorygrams (I only realised this the other day).

I live in a part of the world that is always beautiful, often harsh, and sometimes dangerous.

I am nowhere near as theatrical or melodramatic as TEIN, though I have a philosophical bent, and am secretly a fan of chrispenycate, who I think is very funny, though he always reminds me of chicken.
 
I write Web article content and have had the opportunity to be a co editor on some textbooks nothing fancy or great but hey, it pays the bills. I wrote a few books but they pretty much sucked, so I'm still working on them because I'm tenacious like that. I did really boring corporate research market crap for a while and before that I worked at Dell for a very long and sad scary time. It was Hell. Really.

I have five kids, three of my own womb and two step kids. All but one are preteen or teen, God help me.

I love movies and video games and books and video games.

I hate it when the dishes are not done. Which they are not, so I'm posting on here...lol...

I am easily annoyed and angered and quick to forgive and ask for forgiveness. I blame it on being a Scorpio.

So that about sums me up. Oh, and I've been here like five or three thousand years. I don't keep track much. I keep telling people that I just had my nineteenth birthday, but nobody believes me. Not even the dog. Or the snail I was talking to earlier when I went outside for a smoke. Incidentally, the snails name is actually Snail. How weird is that?
 
I can't but help think it would be weirder if its name was Spencer, Dusty.

Culhwch is, strangely enough, not my real name, but due to my intense attachment to privacy, it's the best your going to get. And after bouncing around this site for quite a long time, it almost feels like my real name.

I'm twenty-seven, soon to be twenty-eight. Recently married. Work in a library, but not a particularly interesting one. Well, a little interesting, I guess. Love to read, love to watch movies, love photography, and I love football. Oh, and cats...

I've been writing since my late teens. I even studied it at university, after trying out science (too precise) and teaching (too, er, many kids...). Almost exclusively fantasy, though a little science fiction, and the very odd bit of regular stuff. I'm yet to finish anything of a decent length, or that wasn't a piece of assessment, but when I do, you'll all be the first to know, I'm sure....
 
I am confused. No, not about anything in particular; confused just happens to be my state of being most of the time. I like the name Precision Grace because to me it embodies the state of being I aspire to and I've been bored of my real name for as long as I remember. It always seemed to me limiting to have just the one name. It's somehow inadequate.

Scribbler by nature, not finisher by trade. I dabble in writing and this place is my social outlet. I have cultivated reclusiveness (or is it reclusivity?) for a long time and I think I've got it down pretty well by now. I live in a small village, have a reasonably sized shaded garden and four cats. One of which is at the vets again to have his paw re-sutured after yesterday's operation didn't hold as well as it should have. Not much sleep was had last night.

There are no kids in my universe although I do like them, in a general, non committal sort of way.

I read everything and anything. Not a lot of SFF strangely, but I did just come back from a second hand book shop where I picked up an HP Lovecraft, a Terry Brooks and a Jean-Paul Sartre.

I've sort of written one short story and I'm working on several others (mostly in my head). I've also investigated script writing and this is something I plan to get back to some time soon.

In my day job I shuffle paper and try to make sure people's expenses are paid on time. If only I could figure out what type of work would make me trully happy, I could then choose a Masters or something like it to get me there. In the meantime, my science degree gets used less than the Shroud of Turin.
Strangely, while studying for my degree I worked in a place that promoted use of alternative medicines for certain skin complaints.

Making up new words is a hobby and a passion I'll likely never give up.

Age-wise I'm old enough to know better and youthfull enough not to care.
 
I'm Andrew, a Scot, Not an Australian (Sorry, when people see, 'Perth,' they don't think of the original).

I fix computers and write badly, on the rare occasions when I can think of anything to write, but mainly hang around the tearoom with my pets;

Freda, a jumping-spider the size of an alsatian, the intelligence of a five-year-old, the curiosity of a cat, a wicked sense of humour and a passion for pringles.

Tangle, Freda's constant companion. She found him in a pringles tube as a kitten and he tends to ride around on her head.

Rob (Ouroboros), a banana-eating 30-foot python who moves about three inches a week, unless someone feeds him chocolate.
 
I'm Dave, I'm 50 and live in south London, I've been writing for many years, with intermittent short story success (I don;t submit enough), and two finished novels, with a third on the way.

With short stories I tend to write to please myself, using them to explore ideas or styles, find out what happens when you bang odd things together. My last novel was a contemporary detective fantasy about sea monsters, global warming, mermaids and old ladies with too many cats. The current novel is about 10k written, with a big stack of plot and character notes. It's a kind of SF road-trip movie kind of a book about aliens, drug dealers, good music and the richest man who has ever been.

I write at least 5 days a week, I read a load, I write reviews for Hub magazine, I'm in a great genre writers group in London, called the T Party, and also a member of a Monday night 'write-in' session called Million Monkeys.

I trained as a botanist, my day job is IT tech support, which despite having done it for decades still manages to stay interesting. I grow tree ferns (and recently started on cycads). Apart from writing my other serious pastime is making leather costume for role-play and reenactment, and chain mail jewellery.

That's me. pleased to meet you all.
 
I couldn't help thinking as I read through this, that we sound like a Writers Anonymous group.

I don't spend much time in this here aspiring writers section, although I do flit in now and then (as I do with all the other places around the site). But I am a writer of sorts, so without further ado *stands up and takes a deep breath*

I'm HoopyFrood (a very Hoopy Frood); my real name will be kept secret for a little longer, although it's getting harder now with these Facebooks and Chrons meet-ups. I suppose I'd better specify that I'm a girl, as sometimes it's not clear (not that I care -- although my current avatar makes it a little easier at the moment). I have recently turned 21 and I don't have a day job because I'm one of those lazy student types -- and even worse, an arts student. I'm at Exeter University, currently in my third year of an English degree and enjoying it immensely. I'm a bit of a Renaissance fanatic, as people are slowly starting to realise, and love a good bit of poststructuralism, even if I'm still getting my head around it all. I've also been taking a few creative writing modules the last couple of semesters -- currently doing one on the Short Story form (my seminar leader is Philip Hensher, recently shortlisted for the Booker Prize...just thought I'd throw that in) so I do an awful lot of reading and writing, even if it's not so recreational as it once was.

I wrote half a novel between the ages of forteen and sixteen, but it's one hundred thousand words of your very typical fantasy stuff; but all good experience, nonetheless (which is about the only good thing you can say of it). Currently half way through another, although I mostly only write for my own enjoyment anyway. I'm more of a short story writer; I love the condensed nature of them and the ability to put a lovely twist at the end. Particularly horror stories. I'm quite the ghoul; love horror films, both creepy and gory, books, video games...

Ah, this is why I should never be allowed to talk about myself. I ramble too much. Anyway, only really got majorly into SFF in the last couple of years (since coming here, probably) and I'm a completely omnivorous reader, with my tastes ranging from Stephen King, Austen, Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Hardy, Pratchett, Erikson, Heinlein, Waugh, P.G Wodehouse and beyond...

That's quite enough from me, I think.
 
I'm Julia, and I'm addicted to writing. I can also attest that Dave up there is lovely because I go to the T Party too ( a recent conscript :)) BTW Dave, I really love your latest.

You can see my bio here: juliaknight.co.uk *subtly or not so subtly directs people to her crappy website which might lead them to the publisher which might lead them to read the excerpt hint hint*

I write mostly novels, and I love to get inside my character's heads. Reading and writing - for me it's all about the character. Mind you I've only actually finished writing the one novel, though I have about 4 first drafts begging for attention.

I'm pretty addicted to the internet - I managed my own entry in WOWWIKI due to the fact I was never off the forums, but I gave those up a year ago when I decided to get serious abouty my writing. Now I just haunt writing websites when I'm procrastinating about writing. Hey - it's edumacational. Or that's what I tell the Old Man

I also seem to be obsessed with turnips as a theme in my writing and have been forced to promise exploding ones in my sequel. Oh and the wrestling. You just can't have too many half naked men covered in muscles, sweat and baby oil.
 
I'm the resident ghost hunter, I am fascinated by anything spooky.

Me and a friend spent 2 years, nearly full time back in the late 90's investigating the Spirit world and we witnessed, and were told alot of unusual things.

In 2000 a medium told me 'In six years I can see you doing something very creative. It will be very sucessfull and you'll go all over the country with it.'

Dont ask, I dont know what 'It' is:mad:

I didnt think much about the messge it until I watched the BBC documentry in 2004, I remember thinking £300,000 advance.:eek: I could do that! But I didnt start straight away as I was busy with my business.

Sadly the business went bust in late 2005 and during xmas that year I thought about the documentry again and made a cunning plan.

Eventully March 2006 with a new laptop, I started my book.

Only then did I remember the message from the medium, I'm still writing. I've probably written 250,000 words since 2006 and with advice from John Jarrold and critiques. I'm at 90,000 words at the moment. ( mostly written recently and binning the rest )

I'm aiming for 120,000 so I'll keep plodding on. I'm 50 with 2 kids and 2 dogs (see avatar) and have been married for 25 years.

Dont know what she sees in me,:confused:

Anyway, I find writing relaxing so I'll keep going until fate reveals her plan.
 
Name: Sapheron
Age: 18
Birthday: September 17
Sign: Virgo
Occupation: 'Student'
Grades: A*'s/A's
IQ: 144
Coursework: Is overdue. By weeks.
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 78kg
Favourite Genre: Fantasy and Science Fiction
Favourite Book: Lord of the Rings? Sabriel? Artemis Fowl? The Giant Jam Sandwich? Anything by Douglas Adams?
Favourite Film: The Last Samurai
Hobby: Karate
Write: Fantasy
When: Late at night
Where: My room
How: MSWord
Why: Amusement/Self Inflicted Punishment
When Drunk: Regret what I did last time I was drunk
When Angry: Overreact to everything
When Happy: Believe both the world and myself are perfect in every way
Use to society: Minimal.
 
Hi:

I'm Chris and livein St. Augustine, Florida with my wife Lareesa (from Ukraine) and our girls, Mar ina and Sabrina. I am a newly published science fiction author with one book to be out in January and a second one sitting with my publisher.

I like to read and write hard science fiction with plausable technology.
 
The scientific experiment gone right. Well, mostly. A wolf that can mist through my fur, and generally control water. Still working on the story. Female, age 22, living in Minnesota, all by myself except my dog, Toboe, and loving it.

Been writing since the fifth grade. I love reading and drawing. Tried the college thing, but didn't work out. I also like manga and anime. Whootage :}

Okay, anyways. Mostly serious, but can be randomly silly, so don't mind me. Hates winter, loves the other seasons, but fall not as much.

I work at a hotel, though it's not my favorite thing to do. I write on my break, so progress is slow, but coming.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top