Welcome to my profile:

Hi! I'm Luna the Zekrom, though I'm more commonly known as simply Luna.

I've always dreamed of becoming an author, and I'm here on FFN to practice writing while I wait for my personal flash of ingenious inspiration. Constructive criticism is always appreciated, as long as you leave my sensitive feelings intact. Thanks! :)

A little more about me:

In the past, I've had difficulties sticking with an idea for more than a few chapters, but I'm going to try my best to put that behind me. I'm a firm believer that people change for the better as time goes on, as long as they do their best. Even when I'm hugely dissatisfied with my writing, I pick myself up and keep going. I have to prove to myself that I have the commitment it takes to be an author. Thank you for sticking with me on this journey!

My profile picture, along with all of my story covers, were drawn or photographed by me. If you're interested in seeing more of my artwork, you can find my DeviantArt account at /luna-the-zekrom

I'm honestly awful at keeping up a regular update schedule. My chapters usually start off at a reasonable length and then devolve into 8,000-word monstrosities as the story goes on (I'm looking at you, Twenty-Three Wishes!), which tends to exhaust my motivation to keep writing at a consistent pace. Sometimes it seems like the farther I progress, the farther away the ending of the story gets! Reviews and other feedback really help push my brain back into gear, so don't hesitate to leave some even if a story looks like it hasn't been touched in years. I have been working on it little by little.

I'm also planning to start responding to reviews more, because I really appreciate them. I'm a friendly person, if a bit shy, so if you ever want to chat, feel free to send me a PM! I mean it when I say that pretty much nothing bores me.

My philosophy/approach to writing:

For stories about canon characters, I do my best to keep everything as close to canon as possible. That's why I haven't broken off into any drastically different plotlines, even when it might make for a more "interesting" story. I suppose I might one day write a complete AU, but I haven't yet.

My short stories are predominantly character analysis. I like going inside a character's head and finding out what makes them tick. I feel like my short pieces tend to follow a similar pattern of introspection and not a lot of action, though, so I'm making a conscious effort to break out of that in my longer stories.

If I'm not feeling anything, I can't write, so I like to have a variety of stories in development simultaneously. That way, I can always be working on an update for something instead of sitting around waiting to feel good about writing a specific one again. That's why I have three stories going at once even though I struggle to update even one on a regular basis (oops haha).

I have a lot more ideas, but I'm waiting to finish one of my main three before I take up another one. My guess right now is that the first one done will be Orca's Ambition (aka That One Story I Wrote Two Chapters of A Year Ago), because my mental outline for Unexpected Places (aka The Monstrosity) has at least doubled in length since I started, and Twenty-Three Wishes (aka Writing Purgatory) is probably going to take me ten more years to finish at this rate. I don't expect any of them to be finished anytime soon, but I'm planning to write as much as I can this summer, so who knows.

(5/4/19) Here's my current estimation for the length of each story:

Orca's Ambition - 10-15 chapters; about 5,000 words per chapter

Unexpected Places - 50-60 chapters; about 3,000 words per chapter [originally 30 chapters]

Twenty-Three Wishes - 23 chapters; about 6,000 words per chapter

I really hope I don't have to come back here in another year and extend my Unexpected Places estimate by another 20 chapters...

For all readers:

My earliest stories are really old at this point. I'm not proud of them, but I've chosen to leave them up for now, for memory's sake. I obviously can't stop you if you want to look at them, but consider yourself warned that it's not my best writing and some of it is decidedly cringe-worthy. My newer stories really are a lot more developed. I'm still trying to decide whether to delete the old ones or not. If you have an opinion either way (either like them or hate them with a burning passion), let me know and I'll be sure to consider it. :)

I know that the lack of finished multi-chapter stories on this account and abundance of stories with "DISCONTINUED" in their titles make me look less than promising as a writer, but since returning from my two year hiatus, I've made a vow never to leave a story I publish here unfinished again. However long it may take me to update, don't worry; if the story doesn't say "DISCONTINUED", I will NOT discontinue it and am currently working (slowly) on the next update. Life is inherently busy, though, so I can't always post on a regular basis.

I'm starting to go through my older stories and delete the ones that I can't see myself ever going back to. However, there's one that, although published before my long break from FFN, I still am quite proud of, and that is The Spell You Cast. It still says "DISCONTINUED" in the title because I'm not sure when, if ever, I might get back into it. However, if I ever have the time and the necessary burst of inspiration, I might revisit it in the future.

For my Pokémon readers:

After lots of procrastination and clinging to the nostalgia of Pokémon Spirits being my first story published here on FanFiction, I have decided to delete it. Why? Because my writing was not very good in that story, and I feel that it no longer accurately represents me as a writer. It had lots of flaws (including cringeworthy author's notes) that reflect my personality and writing skills in a negative light, and I want to put all that behind me. I'd like to thank everyone who read the story for your support and constructive criticism. They've both been invaluable to be in the years since I posted Pokémon Spirits, and I feel I've improved a lot in that time. One day, I might write another (better) Pokémon story, but for now, this is goodbye! :)

Updates:

I'm officially back into writing! :D

I've found that I'm more suited for writing shorter stories, but I'm also working on longer ones called Unexpected Places, Twenty-Three Wishes, and Orca's Ambition. Please give them some support so that I can keep up my motivation for writing!

My poll for short stories is now closed. Battlewinner won, with three votes, while Onyx and Kestrel had two each, and Tamarin and Asha had one each. Battlewinner's story is now posted! I hope you enjoy it! I might write stories for the other four when I get a chance, so keep an eye out for those!

(12/5/19) I know it's been a while since I've posted anything, and I'm sorry about that. I've been unexpectedly busy for the past few months, with very little time to write. I do want to post something soon, but it will probably be something I've had mostly pre-written for a while instead of either an update on one of my longer stories or a brand new one-shot. I'm sorry about the situation, but there's nothing I can do about it at the moment. Real life obligations have to take priority over fanfiction. I'm hoping to get an update or two out by the end of December/early January, but my writing schedule might continue to be rocky until the summer, so I won't be back to regular posts until then. I'll try to be more transparent about how the writing process is going in the future and check in more frequently even if I don't have any new chapters to post. Thank you for your patience!

(1/31/20) I've made it my New Year's resolution to stay more on top of my writing this year, and things have been going well so far. The story I mentioned last time does unfortunately need a bit more polishing, but I'm hoping to finish and post it soon. Here's the current status on my stories:

(Untitled): This is the story I have mostly pre-written. It's a Steins;Gate fanfic taking place directly after the true ending. I'm currently envisioning it as a one-shot, but I do intend to add more to it in the future. However, this chapter and all future chapters will be relatively self-contained, meaning I want them to be able to stand on their own just in case I accidentally don't update it for years on end. It'll move generally forward in a certain direction, but will not have much of an over-arching plot. For that reason, I will probably mark it as complete and consider it as such even as it continues to be updated.

Twenty-Three Wishes: This is currently my #1 priority as far as long-term stories go. I'm in the middle of Chapter 4 (I think? It's been so long that I can't exactly remember how it left off) right now. The upcoming chapter probably won't be as long as previous chapters, but I just want to focus on making it a cohesive narrative at the moment. Once it's done, I might need some time to clean it up and make sure the style remains consistent with previous chapters, considering how long it's been since I last updated and how much my writing style has changed since then. Thank you to everyone for your patience!

Orca's Ambition: Currently on hold, but I might continue it sometime in the next few months if I get the chance.

Unexpected Places: Probably will not get an update until the summer. I need time to reread everything prior to this chapter and refresh my memory about where the plot is going and what this next chapter needs to do. I'm sorry to everyone who's been waiting for an update, but I want to take my time and make sure this story continues to be the best it can be.

(5/10/20) The Steins;Gate fanfic has been posted, and so has the next chapter of Twenty-Three Wishes. I've also been going on a Danganronpa writing spree lately, so I may be posting a few one-shots for that fandom in the near future. Next up on my list for the long stories is Unexpected Places!

Completed Stories:

Wings of Fire:

The Future I See

A Different Kind of Hero

Monochrome

Twisted Mind, Broken Soul

Memories of No One

Cold Regret

Final Fantasy VII:

Half Full, Half Empty

Wicked:

The One Who Mourns the Wicked

Danganronpa:

Hopeless Devotion

Braver Together

Zero Escape:

Two Minus Two

Steins;Gate:

Our Scars (Make Us Who We Are)

Beyond the Gate

Stories In-Progress:

Wings of Fire:

Unexpected Places

Orca's Ambition

Final Fantasy VII:

Twenty-Three Wishes