About Madeline Johnston

*waves enthusiastically* Hello, my lovelies! Welcome to my humble internet abode, my online home, my little corner of the internet: Imaginary Worlds. This blog is dedicated to chronicling my writing journey and reviewing fabulous pieces of literature. For me, writing is a passion and something that I want to share with the world.

My name is Madeline Johnston. I am a twenty-year-old university student and part-time retail assistant, studying for my BA in History and English in order to get into a Masters of Teaching course, whilst residing in a small, cold and buzzing city in Australia. The weather here is constant rain and wind with low temperatures and always emulates winter. It gives me the perfect excuse to sit in front of the heater to read and write. When I am not studying, working, writing or reading, I am usually listening to music (especially Skillet, Angus and Julia Stone, Superchick, Nickelback and The Jezebels), hanging out with friends, baking cookies or cupcakes, going on roadtrips and spending time with my wonderfully creative mother, my equally (if not more) avid reader father and my adorable, geeky and Smash Bros. focused little brother.

I am also a huge television fan and I am currently obsessing over a number of wonderful fantasy, science fiction and supernatural series: Game of Thrones (how can anyone not love Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen or Tyrion Lannister?), Star Trek (all five series, though especially Voyager), Fringe, The 100, Teen Wolf, Grimm, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Smallville. However, I absolutely love Grey's Anatomy, Sons of Anarchy, Dexter, Two and a Half Men, Mike & Molly and Parks and Recreation.

Additionally, my favourite movies include: Remember the Titans, The Sound of Music, Divergent, The Hunger Games, The Breakfast Club, the X-Men series and Guardians of the Galaxy.

Growing up, my parents always encouraged to read. My father is an avid reader and we spend a lot of time discussing possible new books to read. But university turned me off reading due to spending so much time dissecting books and trying to find 'the meaning, the purpose' behind them. However, since that course is now over, I am slowly getting back into reading. I have done this by returning to the books that I initially fell in love with: Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead and Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling.

My favourite genres of novels and series to read are young adult fantasy, science fiction and paranormal, in addition to adult fantasy and supernatural fiction. I particularly love anything with werewolves. However, I am not really interested in reading romance or contemporary fiction.

I haven't always aspired to become an author, but I have always had a passion for writing. When I was twelve-years-old I wrote a tremendous amount of Charmed fan-fiction and shared them on various Charmed fan sites. It was horrendous, but I was convinced that they were wonderful. This sparked my writing journey, though I didn't write anything original until I was fifteen-years-old. I wrote a 17,000 word novella (I was intending it to be a novel) that was about demonic possession. It was terrible, but I was very proud because it was the first, long piece of fiction that I wrote. This lead to another novel, this time sitting around 33,000 words about my favourite supernatural creature: werewolves. It was a complete and utter mess, with storylines that made no sense and characters that were inconsistent, but it was a great way to practice writing longer pieces of fiction.

It wasn't until I turned seventeen that I decided to write my third novel with more commitment and determination. It was about a warrior race and it sat around 51,000 words. To be honest with you, I am immensely proud of this piece -- obviously the writing needs work and the plot needs further developing -- but I love the idea. Every now and then I returned to the idea, but for now I am determined to try something different. Who knows, one day I might finished it. But for now, I am focusing on becoming a better writer.