General Info

Name: Lauren

Age: 16

Location: United States

Hello, everyone! My name is Lauren, also known as penname kaliawai512 on this site and FanFiction.Net. I was recently published for the first time - my book is available on Amazon.com and iUniverse.com if you are interested in buying. You can read the first chapter on FanFiction.Net.

My main interest is writing fiction, but I also am an avid pencil artist (I post under the username kaliawai512 on DeviantArt.Com). I recently also took up oil painting, pastel drawing, crayon drawing, and colored pencil drawing. My hobbies include computers, Photoshop, short-film making (no, I have not yet posted anything on YouTube), math, piano, cartooning, learning in general, walking around my neighborhood, and spending time with my friends. I just started my sixth semester at my local university (I'm a junior).

Unlike many writers out there, I am not an avid reader. If I find a book I really like, I am very enthusiastic about it, but I do not find many such books. Therefore, instead of saying that I do not like reading, I like to say that I am a "picky reader."

However, this does not mean that I will not read the works of people on FictionPress, or that I will not enjoy them. I have certainly seen a number of people on this site with very good work.

If you have any questions for me or if you'd just like to say "hi," please feel free to send me a PM. I'm always happy to get messages!

About my Work

The Phantom's Lullaby, my first published work, is my second completed book. The plot is difficult to explain, as it is a long book and has many storylines fitting into the larger storyline, but in a nutshell, it is a companion novel to The Phantom of the Opera. It tells the background story of Erik, the Phantom of the Opera, and what happened to him after he disappeared from the Opera Populaire. I base my story on the movie/musical. Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own The Phantom of the Opera. All rights belong to Gaston Leroux, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Joel Schumacher.

I am currently working on my third book, which I intend to publish late this year (2009) or early next year (2010). It is called Butterfly. It will be available to read on this website for a time, before it is taken off shortly before publication, at which time one chapter will be left up and the full book will be available to buy. Updates will be hopefully remain at two per week (Mondays and Thursdays), but at times, I may go a while between updates. Please understand that I am writing this book in a non-traditional manner - as in, I am writing the chapters in the order I want to, not in chronological order (though the chapters will, of course, be posted in chronological order). Therefore, things may not always make sense at first. I will try to post any changes I've made in the plot that will make the story confusing in the Author's Notes at the beginning of every chapter.

EDIT 9/15/09: Butterfly is complete!! I'm now in the process of editing. Oh joy. Anyway, I will keep the story up for a few months, probably until sometime near the end of the year. Because that's when I'll be sending it in for publication, and it's kind of illegal to keep a copy of the story online while having it published by someone else. Sorry, my faithful readers/reviewers. Once it's published, if you like the first chapter or you liked it in its entirety when it was up, please buy it! It will be available on all major online bookstores, like Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and the site of my publisher, iUniverse.

I have plans for four more novels, three fiction and one creative nonfiction. The first fiction story will be a companion novel to my current story, Butterfly (title of sequel not released yet). The second fiction story will be another original work, with the working title The Last Summer. The third will be yet another new, original work, with the very tentative title of Rain. The fourth, nonfiction novel may be called Gifted (though it is nonfiction, it is written in the format of my other stories). Please understand that I don't know which of these, if any, I will write. These are only possibilities.

If you would like to know more about any of these stories, feel free to send a PM, and I'll tell you what I can at this point.

EDIT 9/15/09: I am probably going to write Rain next. However, I may also do Gifted or my sequel to Butterfly (which will be called Aidan) in the near future. Again, no promises.

EDIT 10/17/09: I am officially going to be writing Rain for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) 2009! As soon as it is somewhat refined, I will post it here to anyone who would like to read it. It will be a Young Adult novel, with elements of Friendship, Drama, some Tragedy, and maybe, just maybe, if you tilt your head right, a teensy bit of Romance. Here is the current synopsis:

Twelve-year-old Aymie has forgotten herself, lost amongst the pain and teasing of her fellow students. But when she meets a unique boy and a tomboyish girl, maybe, just maybe, her life will be changed for the better.

Also, the editing of Butterfly is well underway! Thank you again to all my kind reviewers!

EDIT 11/2/09: Rain is well underway! In fact, I'm about a third finished with it, after only two days of NaNoWriMo. What does this mean? This means (to anyone who enjoyed my last story, Butterfly) that I am also undertaking my Butterfly sequel, Aidan, as soon as Rain is complete! So at the end of November, I will have two new novels to frantically edit and then post here. Darn, and I haven't even finished editing Butterfly yet... but that should be released soon! And until it's close to being available to buy, I will keep the full version online.

I also have several new plans for future novels to post here. None are guaranteed to be written, but if you are interested in them, please feel free to PM me: Luna, The Forgotten City, and Flavia.

Due to a particularly enjoyable assignment for my Creative Writing class, I will also be posting my first short story here soon! It will be called The Girl in the Loft.

Thanks to all!

EDIT 11/15/09: Well, it turns out everything is going even better than expected. I finished Rain more than a week ago, and will be editing it in December. I'm now nearing the end of Aidan, my sequel to Butterfly. What will I do afterward, you ask? You may have guessed it: Luna. I'll be working on that as soon as I'm finished with my current piece.

My plans are as follows: I will do Gifted: A True Story, my creative nonfiction piece, for JulNoWriMo next summer. I will do The Forgotten City, Flavia, and The Last Summer next NaNoWriMo. After that? Who knows. :) I will be posting The Girl in the Loft as soon as I have work-shopped it in my class.

By the way, all of the stories mentioned here, aside from Gifted: A True Story (which will be very lengthy)and The Girl in the Loft (which is a short story)will be about the length of Butterfly. So about 85,000 words.

EDIT 11/25/09: I finished Aidan on the 18th, and am now a good bit into Luna. It's a very difficult piece. You'll see why when I post it. But I'm working on it! I just hope I can pull it forward far enough to reach 250,000 words, combined with Rain and Aidan, like I'm aiming for. I can write that much in the remaining time in November, but I'm just not sure if I have as much story to add in as I would need to reach that goal.

Oh, and yes, I'm still working on Butterfly. It's kind of hard to write and edit at the same time. But Butterfly should be available to buy soon!

Wish me luck! And to everyone in the U.S., Happy Thanksgiving!!

EDIT: 11/30/09: Well, that's it. NaNo 2009 is over (well, almost). And I'm done! I wrote Rain, Aidan, and Luna all in one month! But don't expect me to post them for a while. I still have to revise/edit Butterfly so that can be published, and then I have to do some initial revisions for Rain! But I'll post ASAP! This was SO MUCH FUN!

Now to prepare to write my next idea, Flavia, between now and April, write a screenplay for Butterfly for Script Frenzy in April, and write Gifted for JulNoWriMo in July.

Quotes - Personal and Other

"Dreams are no different than reality. They just haven't happened yet." - Me

"True beauty has nothing to do with how you look." - Me

"What is normal, anyway?" - Me

"Everyone does the best they can with the knowledge they have." - My Mom

"You may laugh because I'm different, but I laugh because you're all the same." - Author Unknown

"Life itself is a risky proposition." - Author Unknown

"There is no such thing as a weird individual. Some just require more understanding than others." - Author Unknown

"The function of the artist is to provide what life does not." - Author Unknown

"Why should everything be about who observes it? Why can't something be for the sake of doing it?" - A Very Good Friend of Mine

Copy and Pasted Stuff

Ninety-five percent of teenagers are concerned about being popular. If you are one of the five percent who aren't, copy this, put it in your profile.

98 percent of teenagers do or has tried smoking pot. If you're one of the 2 percent who hasn't, copy & paste this in your profile.

Weird is good, strange is bad, and odd is when you don't know what to call someone. Weird is the same as different, which is the same as unique, then weird is good! If you are weird and proud of it, copy this into your profile!

I like cheese. I have seen purple cows. If two gooses are geese, then why aren't two moose meese, or when two foots are feet, why aren't two footballs feetball? Milk tastes good. People call me crazy, but I'm just random! If you're random and proud of it, copy and paste this in your profile!

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For me, crazy is a loose term. Crazy is when you stare at a pencil and laugh when someone asks you just what you find so interesting about the eraser. Crazy is when you have an hour long sob-fest, then start singing and dancing when your favorite song plays. Crazy is when you do or say a totally random thing, like "Do you ever wonder where the eraser bits go?" or start having a thumbwar with yourself. So if you're crazy, copy this onto your profile.

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RACISM IS WRONG!

Racism is wrong and can often times destroy people's self confidence. It's a horrible and cruel way to treat people. To prove that we are all alike, try this simple experiment: Hold your hand up to a light of some kind. You'll see a shadow cast nearby. Now, have someone of a different race hold their hand up too. You'll see, essentially, the same image. Five fingers and a palm. Skin color doesn't matter when you get right down to it. If you are for racial equality, copy this message to your profile.

If you have inside jokes...with yourself...copy and paste this into your profile.

STOP STEREOTYPES! IF YOU HATE STEREOTYPES AND WANT THEM TO STOP, COPY THIS INTO YOUR PROFILE.

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wowlookatthisimtypingthisveryoddlinebreakifyoucanreaditcopyandpasteyousmartperson

!eliforp ruoy otni siht etsap dna ypoc ,sdrawkcab siht daer ot hguone trams era uoy fI

If you've ever felt like someone(thing) was watching you and then turned around to find nothing, copy and paste this into your profile.

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If you have ever started an argument with yourself and lost, copy this to your profile.

On average, 5 percent of the people in the U.S. don't have an iPod. If you are part of the 95 that do, copy this to your profile.

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If you've ever copied and pasted something onto your profile, copy and paste this onto your profile.

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If you have trouble making decisions, either copy and paste this into your profile or look up the word "floccinaucinihilipilification" in the dictionary.

If you think that Writer's Block stinks, copy and paste this into your profile.

If you have ever zoned out for more than five consecutive minutes, copy this to your profile

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If you have ever forgotten what you were going to say, right before you said it, copy this to your profile. ( I remembered it after the person left, d'oh)

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If your profile is way too long, copy and paste this into it to make it even longer!

Too many kids and teenagers have smoked or tried marijuana. If you haven't and won't do it, copy and paste this onto your profile.

R.I.P. Steve Irwin. Copy and paste this into your profile as a Memorium.

Pluto was declared no longer a planet on August 27, 2006, because it was "too small" and "off its orbit" for some scientists' likings. If you think Pluto should still be a planet, copy and paste this to your profile.

If you become obsessed with one particular movie/book/play/etc. for months at a time, copy and paste this into your profile.

If you think it is totally awesome to be a kid, copy and paste this into your profile.

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If you think the book and movie Coraline are really, really, REALLY cool, copy and paste this into your profile.

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If you are an environmentalist and want to do your part for the health of the Earth and all its inhabitants, copy and paste this into your profile.

If you are in favor of non-human animal rights, copy and paste this into your profile.