Don't have much up, do I? Well, feel free to read what I do have, and definitely read what I've favorited.

And for the record, yes I am working on a sequel to The Difference One Life Makes. It's taking a lot longer than I thought it would, but I'm almost there.

Have a bit of fanart up on DeviantArt. Been a while since I've done anything on that site. It's a reference to The Difference One Life Makes, Chapter Roundabout. Hope you like it!

irish-brigid. deviantart. com/ #/ d5sonq2

You may note that I have a poll up. Well, there are a few reasons for my asking that question, among them is simple curiosity. I have run into references to fanfiction that have Cloud and Tifa having a son, quite a few of them, in fact. I think I've only noticed two stories that gave them a daughter. Both grant some interesting story possibilities. So, preferences?

Another question that requires a more complicated question is 'what exactly is Cloud?' And I mean before he got dunked in mako. Between getting scraped knees from a fall that left Tifa in a coma, taking out a couple of the old AVALANCHE's Ravens with a sword he claimed to not know how to use (and this was after being seriously wounded), and throwing Sephiroth of all people into a mako reactor, there's something not exactly normal about him. I've run into a lot of stories (of various levels of AU) that made him a werewolf. Kinda easy, given the whole 'Cloudy wolf' thing, but I have other ideas.

The thing is, I have frequent moments of doubt as to how well those ideas would fit into canon and if fans would accept those ideas. So I'm asking: What do you think the most likely idea is? Or the coolest idea? PM me with an answer if you like!

Other people list their favorite series and pairing preferences, so why not? In a way, I think it's helpful when determining what fanfictions to read.

First of all, I don't do slash. I don't write it and I don't favorite it.

Now to the actual list.

Final Fantasy VII: Cloud/Tifa, Zack/Aerith -- I'm a bit of a stickler for canon. Still haven't made up my mind about Vincent/Yuffie. Isn't Vincent a little, I dunno, old for Yuffie?

How To Train Your Dragon: Hiccup/Astrid, Stoick/Valka (So many feels!) Really haven't made up my mind about Ruffnut, pretty sure she'd eat Fishlegs alive and I'm terrified of what she and Snotlout would spawn. Not even considering Eret, he's made his feelings on the matter quite clear.

Bleach: I somewhat prefer Ichigo/Rukia, but I see a very good argument for Ichigo/Orihime, too. Though, personally, I prefer Uryu/Orihime because they're just so much fun. It'd be nice if Kubo-san would decide on a pairing.

Inuyasha: Inuyasha/Kagome, Miroku/Sango, Kohaku/Rin -- The first two are canon, the third is rather speculative. Seshomaru/Kagura is another favorite. Dang, that was tragic.

YuYu Hakusho: Yusuke/Keiko, Kuwababa/Yukina, Kurama/Botan -- Yeah, only the first one is really canon. Togashi-san seems to have left the second one up in the air and the third is completely speculative. I'm pretty sure the only other canon pairing for the protagonists is Hiei/Mukuro.

Chii's Sweet Home: No pairing here, unless you count the mom and dad.

Rin-ne: Rinne/Sakura -- Knowing Takahashi-san, the other characters will probably get paired up eventually, too.

Full Metal Alchemist: Ed/Winry, Roy/Hawkeye -- Again, canon. Or at least close enough.

Yotsuba&: No pairings.

Blood: Haji/Saya -- It makes the most sense and seems to be canon, although Kai/Saya is rather tempting.

Princess Tutu: Mytho/Rue, Ahiru/Fakir -- The first is canon, the second probably would be if Ahiru hadn't turned into a duck at the end. Oh well, it's a platonic pairing, then.

Slayers: Lina/Gourry -- Even if they never act on it because Lina's self-centered and immature and Gourry's kinda dense.

Some pet peeves:

Writing like you've swallowed a thesaurus, but not a dictionary. 'He ran down the ascenders.' Seriously? This applies double for character dialog. Unless you're writing fanfiction for a 19th century novel, don't make the characters talk like they're in one.

Subset of above: 'She looked into his blue orbs.' Uh, they're called *eyes.* If the entire orb of the eye was blue (or any color other than white), there'd be a problem. There's really no need to get fancy here. In fact, it's distracting.

Weird mid-sentence paragraph breaks. These usually happen when you've written the story in Notepad or some similar program that does strange things to the formatting. For the love of all that is sane, check the document after uploading it! It's not that hard!

Over use of adjectives and adverbs. 'The cheery barmaid slowly wiped the brightly glistening dark counter as soulful music drifted imperceptibility through the empty air of the lonely bar.' Ugh. If you have to describe a scene in such detail, at least break the sentence up so each one focuses on a single aspect.

... Yeah. Most of my pet peeves are structural in nature. I'm a former English major with an English teacher for a dad. It's an occupational hazard. There are more directly story related pet peeves:

OOC: Some changes to a character, mainly due to the setting being AU or in the future, I can handle. But messing with the core of that character's personality? No. If you want the character to be a totally different person, maybe you should be writing about a different character.

Slash: Especially when it's pretty obvious the characters in question are straight. This is kind of a sub-set of the OOC pet peeve. Every slash story I've run into had the characters weirdly out of character. You know, maybe if you have to twist the characters' personalities so much in order to fulfill your homoerotic fantasies, then they aren't really gay! *headdesk*

Real world references in a non-real world story: Okay, this may take a little explaining. Tony Stark listening to AC/DC and wearing a Black Sabbath T-shirt? That's fine. The Marvel universe(s) are set in various alternate realities of our world. Aside from changes related to trademark and copyright snarls I'd expect references to real world entertainment/products/history/etc. Cloud Strife listening to AC/DC and wearing a Black Sabbath T-shirt? Not fine. Unless the story is an AU that clearly puts the characters in our world or an alternate reality thereof (or is a cross-over with a story that is), the inclusion of such references is, at best, jarring. At worst, it's out of character. The vast majority of such references that I've seen sound less like something the character would be interested in and more like something the author is interested in.

Addition to the above: Historic/mythological references are a little more tricky. Incorporating Norse legends or a pyramid-building culture into a story is one thing. Having a character mention an ancestor who fought in the American Revolution? Totally different ball of wax.

Second addition to the above: Some professional writers are able to get away with things like this. The Last Unicorn (the book, not the movie) is full of such references. It works because the setting is somewhat vague and the story is almost from the start highly self-conscious of its nature as a fairy tale. The references primarily serve to lampshade the various plot devices used. It's not something I would recommend a newbie writer try.