bewize

My life is so hectic right now and I find myself being drawn more and more to want to write - but without the ability to follow through. I really am thinking about marvel_bang, though, because if I don't have to sign up until the drafts are due. So, I either manage it or not. No risk of signing up and then failing.

And, I think I have an idea that would easily fill a story that size (and probably then some, if I'm not careful). So, I may play with an outline and see how that goes, but if I start now... I could maybe finish by draft deadline.

I joined the discord for this challenge and I'm hoping to find some sense of community there. I think that would make it easier and more fun to finish. (Always looking to talk fic ideas - mine, yours, whatever!) and be cheerleaders in general. So, yeah, if you're interested. :)

I think, though, that my life's demands are such right now that I can't spend the time and energy that I used to writing - but it's more time and energy *now* that it was during the Big Drought of not writing at all. The pendulum swings, I guess.

In your own space, put some favorite characters into an AU, fuse some favorite canons together, talk about your favorite AU/fusion tropes, or tell us why AU/fusions aren’t your cup of tea.

This question threw me for a loop as I tried to differentiate between fusions and crossovers. I don't know that I have a good working definition for each, but... crossovers were my jam at one point. I still love one that's really well done.

Generally speaking, I don't read a ton of straight up Alternate Universe fics. I don't go for the coffee-shop/college/cooking show thing that I see a lot of right now. I don't dislike them, but they don't usually grab my interest.

I *adore* a good "divergent universe" fic where Character A makes a different decision and this is what happens.

I don't read a ton of gender-swap. I will read slash, het, ace, etc. without even a pause and it doesn't pull me from the canon, so to speak. If I have a strong pairing bias, I may skip stories that pair one of those characters with someone else, but I don't think that's usually a problem.

All this said, I've written a ton of crossovers.

I'll link to some of them that are on AO3, but this isn't even close to my list or even my favorites.

Lessee:

Spy Smut - An Offer of Friendship - Burn Notice/James Bond. This was written for a porn battle and kicked off my interest in this particular pairing. I have a much longer story that I've not moved to AO3 yet, but will eventually!

This one is more a fusion, I think. Darwin Awards (The One In a Million Remix). I wrote this one recently and it's very much a "knock the rust off piece" for me, but it was fun! X-men: Alternate Universe Movies/Jurassic World Trilogy.

I'm kind of appalled that's all I have on AO3. I have a lot left to move, clearly.

I wrote a lot of Psych/X-men, too. I also have a Big Bang fic that was Supernatural/X-men Movieverse (loosely). And I wrote an X-men Noir AU that I really thought was on AO3 and isn't. So... I guess I'd better buckle up and get busy moving stuff over.

There are a lot of interesting discussions going around the Internets right now about narrative and character choices and what, if anything, it reveals about the author. Many of them have made me think (always a good, if dangerous, thing) and now I have questions for you, oh Internets.

Is it possible to write a narrative that contains characters who are *ist (racist, sexist, misogynist, homophic, transphobic, fat-phobic), and wherein the fic structure isn't designed to provide either cosmic retribution of an after-school special teaching moment, and not have the fic be inherently *ist itself?

If the fic is *ist, to what extent is the author perpetuating the *ism on the world?

To use an example from my own work (which is the only way I can think to explain what I mean, without putting anyone else on the carpet), I wrote a Merchant of Venice fic (yes, Shakespearean even!), wherein Antonio and Bassanio basically have sex in front of a mirror. The fic contains this conversation:

"Dear Bassanio, do you have no trust for me? My heart, my home, my life… all yours for the taking."

Bassanio's voice hitched. "What we do is a violation of God's law."

"Aye."

"We damn our souls."

"Aye," Antonio breathed.

At no point afterward did I have the characters address the homophobic nature of that conversation. At no point did I ever bring religion into the story again. At no point did I include any hint that I - as the author - have a knee-jerk reaction when Christians (which is the faith embraced by these two characters) start preaching about how homosexual acts are sins.

So, tell me Internets, was that homophobic? Does the fic perpetuate homophobia? Does it therefore exist as proof of perhaps my own unexamined homophobia?

Or does the fact that I told this story, about two white men fucking each other, to the exclusion of exploration of the themes of the play involving anti-semitism, classism, sexism, and racism - of which the source material is rank - mean that I somehow embraced those *isms in my own story, and therefore perpetuated them by virtue of ignoring them?

To what degree am I, as the author, guilty of the sins of the characters?

(I am aware that this question may seem extremely combative and I honestly do not mean it that way. I am simply asking for opinions. I do not promise to agree with any of you, however! But, the thought-process is provoking introspection and I would like to engage in a dialogue. I will do my best to keep my ego out of it, I promise.)