starspray | Snowflake Challenge 1-2

Late to the party because I couldn't decide if I wanted to do it at all, but it turns out I do so here's the first part of playing catch-up.

Challenge #1: In your own space, introduce yourself!

I haven't updated my sticky, but it's always just been links to where else I am online.

I'm StarSpray. My real name has probably been dropped a couple of times here or there but I mostly prefer not to use it. RL - I'm an ace woman in my late twenties. I like cooking and baking things, and I really enjoy knitting, especially while listening to audiobooks or podcasts. I listen to a lot of true crime because of course I do. I have a dog named Xiggy who's a Yorkie and he's the Sweetest Boy.

In fandom I read a lot more widely than I write, but I mostly hang out in the Tolkien fandom. I write mostly gen, and my favorite characters are all of the Peredhil. I got into fanfiction in 2003/2004-ish. The first fics I wrote have been lost to time and at least one computer crash, and I do not mourn them. I also write original fiction but I don't post it online. I also sometimes write for Harry Potter and the webcomic Stand Still Stay Silent.

Challenge #2: In your own space, talk about your fannish history.

I was introduced to fanfiction on FFN via the Tamora Pierce fandom in the early 00s. I wrote some stupid stuff before someone flamed me for using the same title as their fic--I kid you not, that's literally what they said. I don't remember being particularly upset about it, even as a young teen I was aware at how absurd that was, but I did leave FFN for fictionpress to try my hand at some original stuff. The cast of characters consisted of my own group of friends and the sandbox was a fantasy world of my own making. I still play around in there, as a matter of fact, although obviously it's grown and changed and, I hope, matured along with me.

I came back to fandom in 2005 or 2006 when I and my best friend got super into The Lord of the Rings. I had read it before in 2003 because I had wanted to do so before seeing The Return of the King in theaters, but I don't remember much about that first read, so I came into the fandom more a fan of the films than of the books. But I got into the books pretty quick. The Silm took a few tries for me to get into, but once I was in I was hooked, and that's been my main fandom ever since.