mix you up some some magic

Behind the cut is a long ramble about why I just don't feel the extra-team romances, technical necessities, and fun-house mirrors. ( Also about whether Haley has ever been out of the fridge since Season 1. Mostly about the mirrors, though, one way or another. )

The Why I Write Fanfiction Meme:

Bold any reasons that apply to you, strike out any that don't (if you feel like it), and add three (or more, or less) reasons of your own to the bottom.

1. To explore themes that I don't get to see in mass media using characters I love.
2. Because it's fun.
3. Because mass media does a crappy job of representing my race, gender, and sexual orientation.
4. Because I can get more people aboard my ship writing a story than a manifesto.
5. Because TV science-fiction doesn't explore its science-fiction premises in enough depth.
6. Because it's a gift I can give a stranger and know they will enjoy it.
7. Because I resonate emotionally with the characters what I read and watch, and want to find out why by writing about it.
8. Because every tale is a universe, often with fascinating nooks and crannies that the original author never explored.
9. Because I've made some of my best and dearest friends through this very wacky hobby.
10. Because the world the creator made is vast, and I want to see more of it.
11. Because writing as a communal experience is amazing.
12. Because I can.
13. Because I get so much enjoyment from reading fan fiction that I want to contribute to the community by providing enjoyment for other fans.
14. When I become interested in particular actors and/or characters, sometimes I want to explore them in different contexts than their canons would ever allow.
15. I enjoy writing but I feel ambivalent about trying to get published; writing fan fiction frees me by removing the pressure to sell from consideration.
16. Because every time I write something, I learn more about writing. And myself. And my readers.
17. Because someone can find it and know that there are other people out there who respond to media that way.
18. Because writing porn and having someone say, "this is hot!" is an empowering experience.
19. Because telling stories is what I do, and I base my stories on the world around me, including things that I read, watch, and listen to.
20. Because sometimes I just want to focus on the story itself rather than getting bogged down in the backstory.
21. Because as a person of color, I am invisible in nearly all science fiction and fantasy, on screen or in print, and I want to see myself reflected in the stories I love.

22. Because it allows me a place to experiment with the nuts and bolts of writing well.
23. Because there is always another nook, another cranny, another side, another angle to look at, and the best way for me to find those angles is to write them.
24. Because "What if..." is my favorite question.

Oh Neil Gaiman no!

Seriously, Neil, you are usually so good and on the ball! I get that we're all a bit blind to our S/O's faults, but seriously! A "no comment" might have been a better idea!

Am I going to have to put you on my List with Joss Whedon?

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In other news, RPattz is still trying to get fired. I don't even know where to start with this.

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So there's been a lot of teal deer talk about this matter. I'm not into shota, chan, loli, or bestiality. I'm also not particularly into m/m slash. Or male characters at all, really.

But this is so much bullshit. ( more teal deer )

TL;DR: Just because you don't like something doesn't mean it has no right to exist, and censoring pornography without outlawing the entire industry is dumb.

Dear everyone:

HA HA HA DISREGARD MY PREVIOUS POST I [INSERT ACTIVITY HERE].

Also, I am the biggest moron on this side of the planet (....well, second-biggest, Sarah Palin is pretty damn dumb).

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In other news, recent meta has sharpened my appetite for dealing with the Shadowsverse crew. They are all a bunch of assholes, except for Corentin and Cazgo (one of whom has her own issues involving her demon semi-fiance and the other of whom works very, very hard to seem like a brainless surferdude goofball), and I love them anyway (except for Dereth, who somehow manages to play the "abusive dad," "clueless ex," and "that's CAPTAIN rigid tightass to you" cards all at once--no, don't ask me to explain).

kaigou's recent post (for a value of "recent" that includes "in the past six months") has gotten me thinking about white/black~bright/dark~right-hand/left-hand symbolism, and the way I use it in Shadowsverse.

To drop into TV Tropes parlance, Shadowsverse itself is a trainwreck of three tropes: Dark Is Not Evil, Light Is Not Good, and Good Is Not Nice. There is very specific color symbolism: black magicians and white mgicians, one is "evil," and one is "good." Thanks to the color symbolism, the 'verse may read as a Pointed Look at racism, especially since all the major recurring characters are PoCs. But the truth is, Shadowsverse is, at its core, about religion.

But the major points of the 'verse have always been: A) "people" as a rule are roughly the same on the good/evil scale, B) good and evil get a lot murkier when you're riding the high horse of a cause or religion, and C) people atop the high horses of causes/religions tend to do more harm than good.

It's my angry "Seven years in Christian schooling SD:LKHSG:HGH I HATE CHRISTIANS WILL THEY ALL PLEASE SHUT THE FUCK UP" screed, in book form. Because if there was one thing I saw, over and over and over, repeated ad nauseum by not only students but teachers, professors, chapel speakers, parents, was the complete and total erasure of other faiths, other creeds. The people on the "right-hand" path couldn't fucking get the idea through their heads that the the rest of the world followed a separate path, and they could scream themselves hoarse and never change a thing, nor have any right to.

And at some point, I started formulating a world where the left-hand path was in control and always had been, where the right-hand path was shown to be just as vicious, just as hurtful, just as destructive as the left-hand path at its worst.

But thanks to kaigou's post, I'm starting to wonder: am I derailing or co-opting racial discussion by using deliberate colour symbolism to make a different point? Or does the implied point that "black/dark/left-hand" and "white/light/right-hand" are ultimately nothing more than labels make it permissible?