Purpose of This Blog
The first step to writing is…to write!
—William Forrester
That's a big part of why this particular blog exists. Just writing down more/less polished ideas I think others may find interesting. Mostly fandom-related.
I do some light discourse on here as well. I multiship because I am fucking tired of watching people be ugly to each other over character relationships...and I don't treat headcanons, fanfics, or officially licensed spin-off works as necessarily heretical to canon (unless specified as such or having incompatible timelines, because in the first two cases that's rude AF, and in the third case it's just nuts. I won't be calling anyone delusional for their perceptions, but I may say something about how this or that perception may be improper or based in toxic attitudes/social values, etc.
I also tend to stan all the women characters who get the most hate, because they tend to be the least understood by fans, and given the least benefit of any doubt for BS reasons. I know what it feels like to be taken less seriously for how I am different. I deep dive into their stories and try to imagine what they are thinking, and how their lived experiences make them who they are, and what stories the authors are trying to tell me through them—instead of making shallow assumptions, inappropriately projecting personal strife, and failing to neurodecolonise oneself at all before analysing non-Western media. If this description of my discourse approach bothers you, perhaps it's best for you to DNI.
For my writings (fanfics), my AO3 name is the same as my blog handle here: ashmacg
Current WIPs to look forward to:
( {Title} — {Fandom} | {Themes/Synopsis/Gist} )
The Undying Sutra — Kpop Demon Hunters/background Mr. Queen, | Humanity, Body, Identity, and Self-Talk Narratives in a world that, while better than the one it replaced, still has work waiting to be done. Finding one's place in the world and in a found family after spending so long believing there could be no such a place, and could be no such family. Also about a spy who came in from the imperialism. Hurt/comfort excruciation/healing. Pigeon Cadaver, Not For Culinary Use, but meant for study of the Human Condition anyway. CURRENT WIP FOCUS
A New Home — Violet Evergarden | Isekai as Treatment for Depression, Sapphic Relationships, unplugging/touching grass, finding purpose, living through another world's version of WW2, Schrödinger's Homecoming, learning to help a despairing friend in spite of a strained relationship. This one's for you, @theteltales, as promised, my thanks for a wonderful entry to reading fanfic.
The Second Half — Ranma 1/2 | Transition, Queer Rights, and Mental Health in the late 80s/early 90s...finally unencumbered by the incessant shenanigans. Transitioning from someone who needs help
Ninjas of New York — Naruto (high school AU) x Person of Interest | Queer Theory, Antifascism, Activism, American Life in the 2010s, the Terribly Difficult Quandary of I/P and Fighting Genocide in General. Team 7 is mildly superhuman and itching to do some missions, and Sameen Shaw finds them just as she's burning out from the workload of being a solo investigator on behalf of The Machine. TM finds Team 7's abilities very intriguing and very cryptically helps the three youth develop them. Maybe... Shaw/Itachi... crack af but maybe craic af, too? (in addition to SNS and eventual Poly7 bc ofc Poly7. Probs Poly7+Ino)
Becoming More Than Enduring — Naruto | The decision to make a change in one's life to become the person one needs to be (multiple independent such decisions; changing the narrative completely). Canon AU, Multiple Divergences. A character from a previous work returns as the Bodhisattva of Unrequested Advice.
Bloom Into Him — Boruto/Sakura and Sasuke focus | I will try to work in Bloom Into You themes…currently in fizzled-out-due-to-plot-clunkiness turnaround; recalculating route.
Distant Fics I Hope to Do:
Rumi 1/2 — Kpop Demon Hunters x Ranma 1/2 | A fusion of the two franchises; basically the Ranma 1/2 story told through the characters and contexts of KPDH.
Kstep Daemon Hunters — Kpop Demon Hunters | It's KPDH—ergo, it's a retelling of the movie, but muD4ng is a Korean dubstep/D&B indie girl group who moonlight as a Red Team/hacker trio in the spirit of Mudang trios; they work with the South Korean Nat'l Intelligence Service on cybersec stuff. Rumi has secrets that give her reason to stray close to the hacker's line between red gat and black gat, and her father was a black gat hacker for the pa. (Yes, Celine was an agent for the NIS/Gukjeongwon) An enforcer/hitman w/ a heart of gold and a pa-affiliated Kmetal band befriends Rumi for black gat purposes but helps her feel better about her strife. Yes..........eventual Poly—...um. Eventual PolyD4ng. *scratches back of neck and chuckles nervously*
Unnamed procedural/big city crime/politics/etc AU — Arcane | Retelling of Arcane (Netflix) in a big city modern Earth context (NYC, Chicago, London, Paris, Berlin; somewhere the issues of a subjugated undercity and political invasion make sense.
Snap Back to Reality — Naruto/Boruto | a generally canon-compliant exploration of SNS and themes RE: Japanese queer folk choosing conformity throughout the Blank Period, with a later canon divergence from Boruto canon after Naruto & Sasuke together make different choices about their lives' works.
Current Fic 1st in Line for Posting:
The Undying Sutra, Chapter 1: Gilt
The first rule of sorcery, in any discipline, ought to be—pay attention to your intention. Fail to, and you may create something horrible which was meant to be wonderful. In other words—the Golden Honmoon is created. Too much focus has been placed on the absoluteness of the barrier. This causes a severe problem. The chosen solution? Global Demon Apocalypse.
