Friday, March 7, 2014

Who is @Jennifer_Fulk?

This post is in the process of editing. If you don't mind childish rambling, go ahead and read the whole thing.

Absurdly Basic Information 
Me.

Very Basic Information 
Jennifer Fulk. For more information, see below.

Basic Information

I'm writing a 
five-book Fantasy/Science-Fiction series. I also enjoy writing poetry, short stories, and "songwriting" (Maybe I'll learn how to properly songwrite one day. It's easier when I'm learning ). 

Aside from writing, I also enjoy ocassionally-changing hobbies and side projects, as well as trying new things. This includes, but is not limited to: chain mail, painting, playing video games (mostly from the 90's and early 2000's),  photography, drawing, "inventing", singing, and adding random videos to my YouTube channel (IceCrossFire).

Better Information

I'm currently writing the fourth book in my Fantasy/Sci-Fi series. For a year, I wrote the third book and finished it in July 2014 at 422,587 
words. Using a comparison, that's longer than Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (257,045 words), but the revising, editing, and proofreading process will shorten it up quite a bit, which I will eventually go back to do. Starting in the middle of the series, I have yet to write the first two books. Readers will have to wait for a long while, perhaps 5 years or more. But it will be so worth the wait (Really, it's killing me not to explosively give you spoilers right now). 

I can't give you a summary, yet. But it will involve dragons, elves, battles, elemental powers, energy-dependent powers (no spells), animal-morphing people, wormholes (and some other space stuff), planet Earth, space travel (No high-tech stuff, no pew-pew lasers, and no ships involved), and an intricate mystery the main character will have to slowly unravel throughout the series. It's very deliberately planned and highly-detailed. Not only will it allow you get to know the characters super well (and love them for their humor, kind words, and determination), but it will also keep you on the edge of your seat (with a good balance of resting spots where dialogue and calm settings allow you to untense your shoulders and catch your breath).

More about me, I'm probably mildly autistic (I'm half like my siblings, both very Aspergian) and also very likely have auditory processing disorder, PTSD, and chronic fatigue syndrome. Oh, and I get vertigo-inducing, literally breath-taking panic attacks (on swingsets, kiddie amusement park rides, in strong winds, and, only if I'm sleep-deprived, when talking or walking). "Yay" says the one who has always wanted to go skydiving and fly in a wingsuit.

[Edit below]
Other than that.... I live in western Washington state. The weather here is terrible. Just kidding, it's always cloudy or rainy. But that's still terrible. It bores everybody here to death. In fact, whenever it hails, thunderstorms, or snows, people marvel at it and take tons of photos and videos like it's some extra-terrestrial phenomenon or something (Okay, so I do it, too!). Whenever the sun shines, people here blink around like blind owls. If it rains a lot, expect flooding and landslides. Wind? Fallen branches and trees on power lines, cars, and houses.


My Near-dormant Blogs


http://writinglog-g4o-jenniferfulk.blogspot.com/ 

This is the book I'm currently writing. It is the next book after "G3:DF". I abbreviate my titles and characters so I don't spoil the surprises for you all. I stopped keeping track long ago. Writing longhand makes it too time-consuming to calculate my wordcount.

http://writinglog-g3df-jenniferfulk.blogspot.com/ 

This is the writing log for the book I finished in July of 2014. Most of the posts is recording how much I write each day, the difference from each day, how many words I have written total, the date of each day I've written, what time I stopped writing (and at this I must note that I am a nocturnal writer because it's when it's most quiet with the least distractions. My family is noisy and often need my help with their issues and half-planned projects. *grabs a lamp about to tip over*), and how many days I've been writing. However, at the beginning and end of each monthly blog post, I say random stuff, often about what happened that month, so it isn't so boring.

http://pumpkinsrandomprojects.blogspot.com/

This is whatever I make or come up with. The only time pumpkins are brought up is in October. Otherwise, I share creations or ideas I have.

http://crazyfacebookconversations.blogspot.com/

This is so old, and my sense of humor is a bit less crazy. I had quirky friends, so that made me quirky.
...Okay, so if you want to read the craziest, weirdest, funniest, most random conversations, look no further. Oh, and the Zombie Reindeer one? Be warned: I had no idea it was going to end up with me getting raped by a zombie reindeer. It's not graphic or anything, but maybe a little disturbingly weird. A lot of my younger friends are just as "creative" as I am when it comes to writing stories, and I've found that when you have weird friends who also love to write, expect a bunch of laughs on social media. This blog is a good read with either your friends or by yourself, especially perfect for high school or college-age kids like we were.

http://whengoogletranslatesings.blogspot.com/
Remember that gal who sung "Let It Go" in the way that Google Translates it into other languages and back into English? Yep. I grabbed lyrics of songs I like and did just that. ...Just not the singing part. That'd take me forever to get right. Plus, I have a bit of a speech problem and stutter at times. So far, I just have Owl City songs in the blog, but they are terribly funny when they're read aloud. Read it around your friends. Or, better yet, try to sing it.


Probably Too Much Information to Have the Patience to Read

My Dreams

  Up until I was almost 13 years old, I had no dreams. People always asked me, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I went from staring blankly to "What does that mean?" (and still not understanding when they explained it to me. Information buzzed out of my head like a fly entering one ear and out the other.), an emotional "I just want to be me...." (I was afraid of undergoing a drastic change by force or from being expected to.) to "I don't know" (and lacking the imagination and knowledge to think beyond others' examples), "I want to be just like my mom!" to "A stay-at-home mom, just like my mom!"

  One day, after watching countless episodes of every animal show you can possibly imagine (Back when Animal Planet was in its golden age), I decided I wanted to be a veterinarian. After asking an aunt what it takes to become one, I was daunted by the mention of "risk of getting bitten" (I've always been sensitive to pain) and "years of college" (I was slow and had difficulty learning and memorizing in school).
  Clarity hit me, and my eyes were opened. I could see my life before me: Age 20, not knowing who I was, and what I was, while everybody else was calmly, happily comfortable with a job, a sense of belonging, and an identity from it. I suddenly felt like a nobody, and I was afraid of my future.
 Who am I? What am I? All my life, I was dragged around through everyone else's lives like heavy luggage that they never had to bring along. I was slow, incompetent, only helpful when fetching items, and I had never realized my worth until then.
  So I prayed. I got down on my knees and begged God to give me a purpose - no, *many* purposes in life. To make up for my past worthlessness. As I had written of it in my diary I used to have, "Give it through a dream! Give it through a flash of lightning! Give it through a car crashing through a fire hydrant! Just give it!" Afterwards, I felt better, but I patiently waited for a sign. I didn't know exactly what I wanted, but I knew God understood me and would know what to do, like the best dad in the universe. (I didn't have a dad, and I never had a good one, so I looked up to the One who would never hurt me and always protect and care about me.)
  About a month later, I had one of my often-ocurring type of dreams. It's what I called an adventurous dream, the movie-like, realistic kind I would never want to wake up from. I fought to stay asleep, to keep dreaming. This one was unlike any other I had ever experienced. 

[Edit and update below, too long] 
 
Singing experience: I was in a "Wonderland!" play in sixth grade, acting and singing different parts including Tweedle Dee, one of three Dixie Chickens, and a pawn. In ninth grade, I was starting to learn my part well as Lady Rowena in the play, The Princess and the Pea, but my aunt abruptly pulled me out of the school before the play's performance. Later, when I had to restart high school all over again because my aunt refused to give up my home school proof to the public school system a month before I was supposed to graduate, I was in a number of concerts as a super senior, and later as a super-super-super senior in high school. Some of the concerts were in full choir form (Veteran's Day concert, Holiday concert, The Beatles concert, Senior's Choice concert, and graduation concerts in the years 2011 and 2013), others I appeared as a solo singing a song of my choice ("You Raise Me Up" in the Love theme of Feature Night and [the theme song of the book series I'm writing, title not mentioned here]). In the Beatles Concert, the Senior's Choice concert, and at the 2013 graduation (the year I graduated in), I sang solos.

With my experience in writing music... well, I don't know how to write sheet music. For years I've written my lyrics, sung my songs over and over again until I can't stop thinking about them, and recorded video of my singing on a digital camera (not showing my face because I feel I don't sing as well most of the time when I do it, I look terrible and awkward in bad quality, I'm often wearing my pj's when I come up with new music for some reason, and because I can direct the camera at the lyrics I wrote). Most of the time, when I come across some old lyrics I wrote a long time ago, I can remember how it's sung.

With my experience with photography, I didn't start taking pictures until I was around eleven years old. Most were terrible either because I kept dropping the camera (I was so clumsy), or because the camera would take pictures over pictures even when I ran out of film, creating these spooky double images that looked like they came out of a haunted house. Later, at twelve, I got a lot better and shot at unique angles (High-five to my Mom for angling the camera for nearly every photo she ever took!) in Disney World. They turned out great, but then I lost them when I left my aunt's house. Living with my mom again, I had a digital camera I took on a bike trip through Canada and in my first Owl City concert, which turned up with a lot of good shots. In my last year of high school, I took a Digital Photography class, which allowed me to learn a number of useful skills (High five to Mr. Low! Wait a second...). Afterwards, I had a newer, better digital camera I took on another bike trip in 2013, this time through the San Juan Islands. That also turned up with good shots, (I remember how I took over 400 pictures). Right now, I'm still using a Canon Powershot SX160IS. It's terrible in low light, tends to come up with yellowed images, not good when the subject is moving, takes pictures too slowly, refocuses too often, and sucks up batteries like crazy. But at least I do like how it has excellent zoom and captures great detail up-close.

Compared to others, I have little experience in acrylic painting. I was never shown how to do it, but I guess I watched enough of Bob Ross as a kid that I got a little magic when I first tried it. I wasn't sure on what I would paint first, so I looked through some scenic postcards I had that I got a whole bagful at a Value Village and settled on one with a snow-laden cedar tree on it. Instead of there being snow on all sides, I decided to just make it look like it went through a bad wind/snow storm with snow on one side of the trunk. It turned out simply beautiful. I was surprised it was so easy. Adding a background of a dark lake, a river, and mountains, though, I was not pleased. It was done in three days. Another painting was of a yellow tanager, an eagle, and a lyre. It had no background, being done in a hurry in about four days. My third was not finished, portraying four dragons akin to how I've always pictured them in the book series I'm writing. It was long and difficult, as I've never been really great at making art out of my imagination alone. I'm better at manipulating a subject I see. I haven't painted in over four years, but I plan on painting again soon.

With my experience with sketching, I've never taken a class on it, but I have sketched (and manipulated in some cases) a picture of a fox from a magazine and made it look bigger, my face, my sister's face, a small hemlock branch from a tree nearby, and various other subjects I've forgotten.

With my experience with inventing, it's only been me coming up with a variety of different ideas. I've never had the materials, the experience, nor the money to creating things, but they're good ideas I keep on a gazillion papers. Unique-looking electric guitars, for instance? I once had an idea I shared with a German rock band called Meridian Mind, and they thought it was cool and suggested me to find someone to get it made, but I haven't the idea of who to turn to and who to trust.

And finally, with my experience with writing.... Let's say I've been writing since I was about thirteen and have had a huge improvement since then. 

In a group, I was a head founder and the vice-president of a high school creative writer's club in the school year 2011-2012, a member the next year (because I couldn't run for president, having a job after school), and the president in the school year 2012-2013. During every summer the club has existed, I've lead 1 - 3 club meetings outside of school. Recently in February, I got a request from the present President (who's also a friend and my former vice-president) to assist him in leading and organizing the activities of the club for an hour. Personally, I'm okay with leading a 10-person writers' group, but I find I write best when I'm alone. I don't work well if I have to work together with others on writing one thing, unless it's for comedic, unprofessional purposes, such as writers' pass-arounds (which are silly, often take random turns, and most always are filled with outbursts of laughter).