I can’t seem to figure out what to put in here. It's easy to write a story but when the arrow turns round to me I can't find the words. I guess if you read my stories or my reviews you already know me better than anything I could write on here anyway. But I’m gonna give it a go! I’ll do it Q&A style.

Why are you on FF?

Writing makes me happy. I want to practice my writing, experiment with different things, challenge myself and develop my individual style with people who love reading the same things I do. I want to have a kickass time and meet new, different, interesting people with vastly different perspectives so that I can grow (and my writing can grow too!).

I like reading stories. Basically! I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t like reading the variety of stuff on here and sharing what I think with the writers. I enjoy reviewing as much as I enjoy reading and writing stories. A lot of times my reviews are long and rambling but that’s only because I’m excited. Please forgive me! I fail at succinctness! FAIL! SERIOUSLY!

I like a good story so I’m pretty understanding with language and grammar and such if it’s obvious that you’re trying and not just putting it out there without care. If you love your story, it shows.

Why do you write?

It makes me happy expressing what's in my head in a way that I like and finding new, interesting ways to say the same things.

Someone once read some stuff I wrote and thoroughly enjoyed it. They really laughed. It made me so happy. I can do something that makes other people happy. That’s pretty cool!

I guess we’ve all got something like that whether it's art, sport, science, music, comedy, theatre, dance . . . hopefully this is mine and with time and practice I want to be better at it.

How would you describe your writing?

As I said before, this place is my world of experiments. In my stories I want to try out different writing styles, different perspectives, lots of different things – sometimes I might fail but I like to look back at my failures and learn from them so that’s why, once they are understandable, I might leave them unchanged in a story.

I like to focus on not just telling a story but on the storytelling itself – how to make people see, feel, hear, smell and taste what’s going on in the story. I want to try to make readers feel happy, sad, scared, surprised, curious ... anything, from the way I tell the story. I want them to feel what the characters are feeling by playing with sensations and creating richer, deeper characterisations. I want readers to believe the story. Everyone has their own way to do that, their own individual style, and I’m trying to find and refine mine.

I write in British English, unless this site changes it or you ask me to change it. Most of my readers/reviewers are American so that's why I'll change it if asked. But my default is always British English.

What do you like to read?

Mythological fantasies, science fiction, historical mysteries - mysteries in general I think, thrillers, things that make my heart race and make me desperate to turn the page to see what happens next. Like I absolutely must know. You guys know that feeling right? These are the kinds of stuff I like reading most I guess.

I like things that ask me to think; to get involved. I don’t want to just read a story. I want to get buried in it so much that I start questioning it, reading in-between the lines for layers of meaning, going through older chapters for references and things that help me put the pieces together. I want to see the story that’s inside the story, and the story that’s inside that one. Words are beautiful things. They can mean so many different things if you choose them and arrange them just right. The same story can have so many possible meanings and I like reading stuff that take advantage of the power and flexibility and even the cheekiness of words to stimulate me – make me do more than just read.

A light-hearted, playful, straight-forward story can do that too. If you think about it, that’s what fairy tales are. They’re fun and light and easy to read but they aren’t static; they’re engaging and meaningful and creative. They’re not just empty words. Even if it is just a crack for laughs (some of my fav stories), I probably won’t laugh unless it’s creative! I think that’s why William Shakespeare has lived on for so long – Twelfth Night and The Taming of the Shrew are crack simple and complicated at the same time.

What’s SpinalCoil like?

Oh God! If you read my author notes, reviews and/or PMs you’ll know that I’m not always entirely all there. I’m silly and sometimes quirky. I’m not afraid to be goofy. I’m just a bit off-centre. I’m the bubbly girl, or the peachy girl, the girl who likes to make people laugh even at her own expense (self-deprecating humour is my thing. You can’t have my thing!).

With my writing I guess I can be a control freak. But we’re all serious with the things that matter. If we aren’t, how are other people supposed to take them seriously?

This is boring but, ultimately, I think I’m just a simple, happy girl. I have insecure days and tired days like everyone else, I have things I can be serious about, but generally I’m just a happy girl who likes to laugh and make other people laugh!

Oh, and I like to help even if sometimes I don't always have the time to help as much as I want.

News: I just started a Twitter account under this username ([at]SpinalCoil) for fanfiction/geeky/bookwormy stuff. I thought we could ‘talk’ writing/books/manga/anime/games/anything. Let’s get to know each other...in 140 characters or less... -.- I’m doomed! This is why I never got into Twitter! *tears* Another challenge for me. Help me!

Okay! So that’s all I can think of for now. If you have any questions about me I’ll happily answer so feel free to contact me. I don’t bite anymore. Apparently that’s rude. *scoff* I don't know who came up with that! Besides, with all that hoopla about sexual harassment and all...sigh... not happening! So if you’re looking to be bitten, you gotta look elsewhere. Sowry... _

Thanks for visiting my profile. I hope you learnt something more about me today!

Have a great day! Ja ne!

Request!: Some quick notes on the writing style in FTCC

My narrator is an omniscient third person intrusive narrator. She doesn’t like to just tell a story, she likes to comment and be involved. She's a bit high maintenance as well but let's keep that between us!

The way she tells the story changes based on what she wants us to feel. So her sentences can sometimes be messed up and confusing and we have to read them a few times to get it. That’s because she wants us to feel confused and messed up.

This happens a lot with Lucy. The sequence where Lucy remembers her past while grooming Thunder was originally written in a watered-down, pop fiction attempt at a stream of consciousness narrative - sort of like fragments of memories and sensations loosely held together and running into each other. It was meant to reflect Lucy’s state of mind when it comes to her past. Her memories were supposed to give readers the feeling of flowing, muddled memories, images and sensations. But it didn’t work. It was a hard to read. So I switched to heavily punctuated sentences instead. That’s how Lucy’s past is generally written now: lots of short, direct sentences or really long ones chopped up with commas. This is most obvious in the dream allegory (Chapter 13).

Some chapters are narrated as recollected memories: with short time skips backwards and forwards through time. This works for some chapters and not others. It helps me move the story along and fill in gaps in time without dwelling on the little things. I hope it works.

Mixed-in with these are a lot of descriptions.

I’m afraid it all probably makes for tedious reading. I’m not sure. I’m waiting for someone to scream ‘Stop!’ so that I’ll know where the limit is. You don’t always know when you’re writing it.