Penname: Narya [Contact] Real name: Alex

Member Since: 25/10/08
Membership status: Member
Bio:
I am female, 20 years old, currently living in Scotland and studying for a degree in English; I'm an avid reader and I've loved LOTR ever since my Uncle introduced me to the Bakshi cartoon as a toddler. Apparently, I was a somehwat sadistic child - according to my Uncle, I always wanted to fast-forward to the bit where Frodo got stabbed...make of that what you will.

I developed my fanfiction habit by accident - unpacking my bags when I first arrived at university, I discoverd (gasp!) that I'd left my copies of The Hobbit, LOTR and The Silmarillion at home. Whilst googling to see if there was anywhere I could read them online, I stumbled across this site...and that was it. I was addicted.

I write and read whatever takes my fancy, both in fanfic and original work. Other favourite books include the Harry Potter series, William Golding's Lord of the Flies, Richard Adams' Watership Down, Susan Hill's Strange Meeting, Toni Morrison's Beloved, Sebastian Faulks' Birdsong, Charles Terrot's An Alligator Named Daisy, Chris Woodings's Poison, Winifred Watson's Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Hester Burton's In Spite of All Terror, Louis de Bernières's Captain Corelli's Mandolin and the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, as well as anything by any of the following writers:

Chaucer
Shakespeare
Dickens
Austen
The Brontës
TS Eliot
PG Wodehouse
Thomas Hardy
Elizabeth Gaskell
DH Lawrence
William Faulkner
Rupert Brooke
Evelyn Waugh
Oscar Wilde
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Ian McEwan
Ted Hughes
Haruki Murakami
Kazuo Ishiguro

I can't recommend any of the above works or authors highly enough.


What originally started me writing? Simple - envy. I was a tiny kid just out of nursery. It was the end of the day, and I was sitting on the rug with the rest of my class for show-and-tell, listening to one of the boys talk about the "book" his Mum had helped him make. It was only a few sheets of paper stapled together, with a Power Ranger on the cover and nothing on the inside, but my teacher was thrilled with it - she cooed over it, gave the boy a gold star and put the "book" in pride of place, smack in the middle of the display shelf.

Like a lot of kids, I was an attention seeker. I wasn't happy that the "book" had received so much praise (not to mention a much-coveted gold star) and my "artwork" merely a smile and a well done. I decided to make a book too - except mine would be better. Mine was going to be a proper big girl's book with words inside.

That night, I sat down with my Grandad and dictated a story about a little girl going on an outing to the fair. He found me a sheaf of plain A4 paper and helped me copy my story out, one sentence to a page, left me to illustrate it and then stapled it all together when I was done. Me and Grandad making "books" together became a bit of a weekly tradition. As I got further into school I found I didn't need to dictate the stories to him any more - I could write them myself - but I always gave them to him for approval before I showed anybody else. I've never looked back; I've been writing constantly since then. As I grew up I became more secretive about my work, hiding it from all but my siblings and a few close friends, to whom I often granted cameos - and then my Grandad died. He never got to see the best of my stuff; possibly he was unaware that I still wrote at all.

This coincided with me finding this site. I "lurked" for a while, then eventually decided it was time to start sharing again. I began to post Tolkien-related stories here, followed by original work on TMoA...and that brings me more or less up to date.

I'd like to say some thankyou's before I shut up - firstly, to my readers, for taking the time to check out my work. Secondly, to everyone who's reviewed my stories, for all your help and encouragement - it's greatly appreciated, believe me. Thirdly, to the other authors on this site whose works have given me so much pleasure, especially those who are on my Favourites list. Read their stories; they're all wonderful.

And last but not least, to Grandad, of course. God bless.

Disclaimer:

I own none of JRR Tolkien's characters or any other product of his extraordinary imagination; all stories are written purely for my own enjoyment (and hopefully the enjoyment of the readers!) and I make no money whatsoever from them.


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SOME NOTES ON MY STORIES

04/02/2010 - some of you might be wondering where and why Trapped and Under The Greenwood Trees have gone. I'm afraid the answer is purely selfish - I couldn't face all those WIPs staring at me every time I logged on to my account. They have not been abandoned for good - Trapped is about to undergo a re-write to incorporate it into my Second Chance storyverse, after which I will start re-posting. Under The Greenwood Trees has been placed on hiatus thanks to my decision to expand Second Chance into a series; since there were only 1000 words or so of it posted, I didn't think it would be any great loss to anyone. Between my new series, Three, the Trapped re-write, my Harry Potter WIP and my o-fic, I think I've got enough to be going on with - plus I don't think it's fair on the readers to be hanging on for updates that aren't going to come.

So there you go. Anything I've left up that is incomplete is almost certain to be updated in the near future and to keep getting updated. Thank you very much to all the lovely people who reviewed and favourited the stories I've taken down; just because I removed my work doesn't mean that I don't appreciate your support and encouragement hugely.