I'm Achipiquon Que, or Achi. I am actually a music type person, but have been told by English type people that I should be an English type person. I don't think I need to choose one or the other. My pen name is pronounced "AH-h-pee-kawn QUAY," or something to that effect (there's actually a voiceless "hee" where the "h" is, like you're hissing like a cat). It's Delaware, or Lenni Lenape, for "Flute Woman," although I don't really play flute very well with the exception of folk flutes (I have a Renaissance flute with a beautiful timbre). I compose and sing, mostly. If the comments I get from other people are any good, I'm also a decent songwriter. I'm an opera freak (Mozart and Verdi are my polyandristic husbands). Along with classical music and anything else that sounds fairly different from the rest, I adore Celtic music. Aside from the arts, I enjoy history (particularly medieval and Renaissance history, as well as Colonial America) and anything else that happens to seem interesting (I have done independent studies on the strangest topics, including albinism, Philip II, OCD, MS, Mary I, and Asperger's).

So why does a music-type person think she's any good at writing? Well, I have been reading and writing since I was...really young, and still enjoy both whenever possible. People who have read my stuff seem to enjoy it. My favorite authors include Tolkien, Lois McMaster Bujold, Peter S. Beagle, Terry Pratchett, and anyone else who writes good stuff.

I don't write things set in medieval fantasy worlds (not ones that are globular, anyway) with beautiful, graceful elves and spitting, cave-dwelling dwarfs with Scottish accents. I do not roll dice to determine moves in fights. I do not have half-races (half-Elves, half-Orcs, etc.) or even fantasy races at all in most of my stories (although a friend and I are working on a rather unconventional fantasy story which comes close to cliche but has managed to sidestep it so far--it's fun and challenging). My female characters are neither damsels in distress nor tough-as-nails pieces of meat. My stories do not include overbearing mentors or Dark Lords. In other words, it is unlikely that you have read fifty stories like mine before, as I see no point in writing stories that have been written fifty times before. I have fun writing the ones I do write, though, so that might mean that they're still interesting.

I have a desperate adoration for characters. I love writing interesting, human characters. They are what drive my stories, so I try to make them immediately appealing to the reader. I never assume that people are automatically interested in them. I always try to give a reason the reader should invest in these characters they don't know. If I fail, tell me.

My stories are clean and generally free of profanity, but can be very dark at times. Some are high-spirited adventures which do not take themselves too seriously. My ultimate goal in creative writing is to write something the reader enjoys. I'm not the "screw you, I'll write what I want" type. What's a writer without an audience? I love making peoples' days better, and if I can do that with a well-written story, perfect!

I crave feedback. That's constructive criticism, folks. Any barely-spelled flamey reviews will be passively ignored, so you may as well not. For those of you who know what you're talking about, I really mean it--if you think something will make the story better, or notice an error, I will genuinely consider it. I have been known to change things drastically at reviewers' suggestions.

Now, on to the fun stuff.