#PitchWars OFFICIAL (or something) MENTEE BIO!

All right, all right. I’ve seen so many other people doing this that I SUPPOSE I SHOULD AS WELL. (I know it’s not required, but I kinda want to. Despite being somewhat daunted. My .gif game is weak, yo.) But I’m always willing to take on a challenge, and I should do something productive while I consume my breakfast, and it certainly isn’t going to be a YouTube video. So! Let’s go~

Who am I?

My name’s Rion–officially K Orion Fray, but that’s a bit much for conversation–and I live in Richmond, Virginia. I’m originally from southwestern New York (read as: as far from NYC you can be and still be in the state) but I escaped down South to avoid the snow and yuck. I am not that much of a cold weather person. I followed my parents down here, but for the moment I don’t live with them. (If I can’t find a job soon, my apartment complex may boot me out and I’ll be back there, but here’s hoping against that.) I’d post a picture of my family, but we all hate having our photo taken sooo…

I got my BA in Liberal Arts with a focus in Writing Studies from Niagara University in 2010, and (hopefully this fall!) will be receiving my MFA in Creative Writing from Carlow University. I’m unemployed for the moment, but usually work somewhere in front of people or a computer/phone. (Fun side note: I’m trained as a cake decorator!)

Writing was never a shock to me. I started writing very (very) early on in life, since my elementary school allowed students to “publish” their work into single cloth-bound books. We could use our own illustrations too. I was very talented. (*cough*) I think the serious bug hit somewhere around 10 or 11, when my cousin and I decided that we’d write fanfiction together; he’d write the action scenes and I’d write the romance. (Obviously.) However, it became very quickly apparent that I was taking this way more seriously than he was, and in time, the story became solely mine. (My cousin’s gone on to get dual degrees in History and English, and is probably way smarter than me.)

After that it was a quick downhill slide into a lifelong ambition. I wrote fanfic, I was involved in role-playing games, I wrote constantly with friends. However, when I first went to college I was going to be an actor. Acting was my passion (so I thought) and this is what I was Meant To Do. And then, on November 2nd of 2010, I was introduced to NaNoWriMo.

I lost the first two years. Then I found the chat room, and the community. I’ve never lost a NaNo since, and I’ve been an ML for three years. When I lost my passion for acting and had a breakdown about my degree over Christmas break my sophomore year, I slowly transitioned away from acting and settled on writing. It’s the best decision I’ve ever made. My time and friends are Carlow just solidified that I’d made the right decision, and I’ll never look back.

Things I Love:

Oh dear. How long do you have? Okay, let me narrow this down…

Geek culture! I’m a cosplayer, a gamer, a roleplayer–you name it, I’ll probably try it. Remember, I started in fanfiction! My all-time favorite video game is Final Fantasy VII, and probably will be until the day I die, though right up there with it are Ace Attorney and Persona 4. I love anime too (some favorites: Black Butler, Ouran Host Club, Fruits Basket, Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Gundam Wing, Soul Eater). HOWEVER… I’m also a huge Doctor Who nerd, and I love me some classics like Star Trek and Star Wars. (Wil Wheaton is my hero.) I’ve started really getting into Marvel stuff with the Avengers as well.

Internet culture! This may also be geek-oriented, but I wanted to let it have its own space. I love watching Let’s Plays of video games on YouTube, and have a fondness for Markiplier and JackSepticEye’s videos. I’m also a very strong supporter of the indie ARG-style stuff, so Slenderman-based stories like TribeTwelve and Marble Hornets are big favorites. (Then again, I’ll watch the THAC guys do anything, not just Marble Hornets.) Horror is something that I don’t necessarily handle well, but am growing really interested in. (I don’t know how that works either.)

Movies/TV: Oh god, this one is hard. I adore all of them. All the movies. Not as many of the TV, but all the movies. Some favorite movies are: My Favorite Year, The Princess Bride, Her, Warm Bodies, Pitch Perfect, all the Avengers etc movies, Labyrinth, Rush, 1776, Breakfast Club, Chronicle, Emperor’s New Groove, Galaxy Quest, K-PAX, V for Vendetta, Howl’s Moving Castle… uh I’ll stop there because seriously, it goes on. As for TV, as I said I love Doctor Who, and also Sherlock, Firefly, Supernatural, and Top Gear (only the British one, though it’s gone now), and then stuff like NCIS, Criminal Minds, House, etc. I will also have a special place in my heart for The West Wing. I don’t watch TV shows when they come out all that often, because I have no cable at my house and I forget when things are on, so likely I’m behind on everything I love…but I still love it! (The caveat to this is Dancing with the Stars. I watch that with my parents when it comes out. I will always love Val, Derek, and Mark.)

Books! Oh if there was a worse one than movies… I’ll take a leaf out of Niki’s book and just link you to my Goodreads. I read all over the place and I really have no clue how to narrow it down. I will make a special note of being fond of the work of M.C.A. Hogarth, who you may have heard of if you saw the “space marine” snafu a couple of years ago. (Company tried to claim they owned the term “space marine.” The Internet revolted. Hogarth wins!) She is by far my favorite author, and I can’t recommend her stuff enough.

Travel: I love being all over the place, and I wish I had the means to travel more often. I was very lucky in that my graduate program sent me to Ireland to study twice, so I’ve had the pleasure of being in Dublin. I’ve also visited England and Scotland, along with Canada, Puerto Rico, and Honduras. I’ve been to the Pacific but not the Atlantic (yet), and from Minnesota to Louisiana. I’ll never travel enough.

Food! All the food. Forever. Did you see how much I weigh? (LOL!) But honestly, I do love food, cooking, and baking. The interesting thing is that I very rarely desire specific food, which makes asking me “where do you want to go out to eat” a difficult question, as I don’t usually know. (I can sometimes tell you what I don’t want.) I have often said, however, that if I could survive on crisps and fruit, I’d be a happy camper.

Friends: Since I’ve moved to a new city, I don’t have a huge number of local friends, so most of my friend base is online. I’m part of the Querying Authors group on Facebook, I’m active on Twitter, I’m a BookTube video blogger, and I keep a small group of friends from each of the schools I’ve been to.

Running: This is an interesting one, since I actually hate running. The caveat that gets it put here is that I have an app called Zombies, Run! which makes running fun and amazing. It’s well-written, voiced professionally, and helps urge you on in the moments when you want to stop. It trains you as a “runner,” or someone the base uses to fetch supplies, deliver messages, etc, for Abel Township. Your connection to the township via headset is Sam Yao, communications officer and adorable human being. I’m currently struggling my way through the 5k training missions, and Dr. Myers is doing a good job of whipping me into shape. I recommend this to anyone anywhere, even if you don’t want to run it. It’s worth it. Go get it, Runner 5. Do it. Now.

Interesting Facts/Hidden Skillz:

I’ve played guitar for something like 11 years now, I can sing anywhere from soprano to tenor, I make jewelry and crochet, I am madly obsessed with corgis, and I adore wine. I lived in wine country for most of my life, and have been known to drive for hours just to get to a wine festival. I love promoting local talent, be it music or authors or something else, and can probably name something for most common topics. I’ve grown up watching Formula 1 car racing, and I love it so much my father’s only gift to me from his trip to Italy was a Ferrari beach towel and I was THRILLED. I enjoy watching sports, but almost exclusively when I’m at the event (F1 excluded). I’m a fan of Chelsea FC, and cannot stand Man United. (I’m not sure I can explain why.) I’m also a strong supporter of the LGBTQIA+ community, and identify as genderfluid myself. I deal with depression and anxiety, and try my best to spread awareness and acceptance of both.

Things I Hate:

– Professor Umbridge
– Snape haters
– screaming children
– changed plans
– loose ends & missed opportunities
– mean people
– mushrooms
– boss battles, both in real life and in games
– spoilers

Ta-dah! A bio for you. You’ve made it to the end. Now for a few gifs that I didn’t have room for but adore anyway. BECAUSE THAT’S JUST WHO I IS.