Pen name? Belle Bayard

Email you prefer to receive feedback at? druidlady@yahoo.com

Link to website if you have one? http://elaine-robson.tripod.com/bellesbayou/

Links to other favorite websites? http://councilofelrond.com/ (I mod the Prancing Pony there)

Where do you live? San Diego, CA

Age? 52

Family? Married for almost 23 yrs, have a 22 y/o daughter, 17 y/o son, a 22 y/o horse (part Arab), 2 cats who DON'T get along (females and constantly grousing at each other), 1 blind part collie/shepard mix dog (poor ol' guy), a huge tank with survivors consisting of two really big Plecostemi (or should it be Plecostemuses? LOL)

What do you do for a living? Retired Navy, now work as an RN for the Veterans Administration

What other hobbies do you enjoy participating in? Love to sew (especially scrub tops and Ren costumes), ceramics (though I haven't done it in far too long), read, write, play D&D type PC games

How long have you been writing fanfiction? Eee... Scary question. I started writing Star Trek fanfic back in the late 1980's. Then I did some Star Wars. LoTR fanfic I began writing after the FoTR movie came out.

How did you get started writing it? I was frustrated with some of the left unsaid/undone stuff and figured "What the heck? No one else is going to read this." Hehehehe...

Which are your favorite characters to write about? In LoTR? I must say most likely Elrond and other Elves, though I also like Aragorn, Boromir, and Faramir. Haven't done much with Men, little with Hobbits, and really, nothing with Dwarfs except Gimli in relation with the Fellowship.

What is your favorite genre/style, etc to write in? *sigh* Angst seems to be something I fall into though my stories may become sagas. I've done a couple of vignettes. I've written both het and slash as well as general. I just like writing.

What other fandoms besides LOTR have you written in? Currently, I have stories in Forgotten Realms (ala Drizzt Do 'Urden, my favorite Drow), Star Wars (still have WIP in that), and X-Men (with Rogue and Gambit) as well as a story about Disney's Gargoyles.

Do you write original fiction or poetry as well, either published or unpublished? Yes, which you will see on my site. I also have a completed novel length story that collects dust under my metaphorical bed (it's actually under my kitchen table).

What gives you the best inspiration for your stories? Movies, books, photos... pretty much everything listed there. Sometimes I'll get a wild idea (like my WIP involving a crossover between FR & LoTR where Drizzt Do 'Urden's sent to ME to retrieve a powerful artifact), other times I just do the old "What if?"

Anything else you would like to say? I love the richness of Tolkien's world because it provides so much fodder for imagination. I try to encourage others in writing as well because to do otherwise would be meanspirited. Even if the person may have technical difficulties, an author should help that person (if they're willing). I think we've all done the Mary Sue/Marty Stu thing in the beginning. It's a natural thing to do until you learn to expand your horizons. :)