MalenkayaCherepakha

Challenge #2 - in your own space, talk about your fannish history

I loved Harry Potter from the very first time I read it - I clearly remember buying a copy of Philosopher's Stone at Paddington Station on the way home from staying with my Grandma when I was 7ish and falling in love immediately. A few of the books were already out but after that I waited impatiently for each new one to be released and can still remember how excited I would be each time I'd wake up to find the newest book waiting on the doorstep. My brother and I would play Harry Potter for hours on end too, putting on robes and making potions with shampoo while using chopsticks as wands. I didn't know anything about fanfiction and fandom though. I do have vague memories of searching for Harry Potter stuff on the internet as I tried to get my fix while waiting for a new book to come out, and I think I ended up on fanfiction.net? but I was still young and not used to the internet so I had no idea how to navigate it and quickly gave up before reading anything. 

I only properly discovered the Harry Potter fandom in the past 2 years or so, and I've already forgotten how exactly I stumbled across my first fanfic. I do know that I started reading Marauders era fics, at first focusing on Sirius and Marlene, then Wolfstar. After that, I was hooked, and started devouring fics from all the pairings I could find. As a child and teen I loved reading - I always had multiple books on the go, and regularly got in trouble for reading at the dinner table - but when I went to uni I stopped reading apart from books I was studying. Fanfic reminded me how much I loved getting lost in a story, and suddenly I was back to reading constantly. 

I spent about a year just reading, and then I decided it was time to try my hand at writing. I've always enjoyed writing - as a child I wrote endless short stories, diary entries, and songs, and when I was at uni I made a tentative start on some original fiction. I also wrote the very beginning of what I now realise was Peaky Blinders fanfiction, which I hope has been lost in various computer changes over the years! My first Harry Potter fic was posted exactly a year ago today (happy anniversary, me) and is an incomplete Harry/Ginny fic which being realistic, I won't ever finish, although it has given me the very basic idea for my next H/G fic. After that I discovered fests, and spent basically the rest of the year with at least one fest deadline hanging over me at all times. I was not good at balance and moderation this year! 

When I started writing, I also discovered the fandom community - tumblr, discord, etc. I have mixed feelings about some of these places (I'm very glad I didn't discover fandom and therefore tumblr when I was a teenager as I think that could have been a disaster) but I've met some lovely people and it's been great getting more involved in the community. I'm looking forward to seeing where fandom takes me next, and continuing to improve my skill as a writer. 

So, I finally went for it and got a Dreamwidth account. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, but I'm excited to find out how this whole thing works and hopefully make some new friends and find some amazing fic to read.

A quick little introduction to me:
I'm a 20 something fanfic writer from the UK, who has fallen head over heels for the world of Harry Potter fanfic.

I've loved Harry Potter for as long as I can remember - it was a massive part of my childhood and I've lost track of how many times I've reread the books over the years. And yet somehow, I didn't discover fanfiction until last year?! I fell into fanfic via Wolfstar, and I've never looked back.

I write under the name MalenkayaCherepakha, and so far have written for a variety of ships including Harry/Draco (the majority of my fics), Harry/Ginny, and Neville/Luna/Ginny. I'm a massive multishipper, and have a long list of pairings I want to write for, including some new pairings coming soon.

I'll read basically anything - as long as it's well written, there are very few topics or pairings I won't read. Since I started writing my reading time has dropped dramatically but there's still nothing like discovering that fic that keeps me awake into the early hours of the morning because I just can't put it down.

One of my absolute favourite things about fandom has been the people I've met - everyone is so lovely and really makes this experience amazing. I'm always keen to make new friends who I can squee too about Harry Potter and the wonder that is the Wizarding World, so come say hi!