A New Story (with a corpse in it, yes)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_debbiechan_/]

I love Orihime. IchiOri shippers should take note that this interpretation of canon events is informed by by profound bias against Ichi --> Ori and my arguable claim that I have the intelligence to make reasonable assumptions/literary speculations/honest guesses about what a manga-ka intends. ( True Love and Swirly Skirts )

I'm so Fricken Vanilla

[http://users.livejournal.com/_debbiechan_/]

Today's noodle is that I'm still having a Bleach fanfic writer identity crisis.

I spent much of the holidays reading very beautifully raunchy fanfic--mostly yaoi--and writing pieces without so much as a single kiss. Subsequently I am now insecure about my abnormal preference for romance between a monogamous, loving pair of heterosexuals. I read some IchiIshi fic, though, and it's so damn good that I want to try my hand at the form to see if I can spin on the boylove thing in my own way. I really dislike the fact that (in the Bleach fandom at least) my only yaoi has been between villanous, depraved characters who like to mind-fuck and knock each other around. Sweetness is my thang, so maybe I can do sweet yaoi?

Which brings me to another topic. Earlier I'd written something in this journal about how the whole seme-uke thing is a marvelous artifice that has little to do with gay reality (at least most Western gay reality) but how I love it anyway. It's got this elegant predictability like Greek poetry or something. Even if the characters are extremely OOC, putting them within the limitations of a form makes the OOC fic easier to read? I'm starting to think about how far writers can write characters outside canon... A/U plots are not looked at twice, but "oh no, that's so OCC" is a common complaint. The topic's been on my brain especially since the Bleach filler castrated Ishida. I mean, one could argue (and I did at the beginning) that Ishida without powers would be a slightly different person. But in my view he would be more guarded rather than less as he is in the filler. But wouldn't any "different without powers" period still allow for consistency in the story? The Bleach anime filler is really not that bad when you look at it twice--it has a storyline (albeit a dull one) and some very funny moments as well as a few very tender true ones

How much does it matter when canon itself is so wobbly? Many manga have characters grow from one way of being to another and thus the characters are not static throughout. Why should the fanfic standard be AS IN CHARACTER AS POSSIBLE . I myself like to read about the characters I love in their original settings (I love fic filler, just love it), but I want to be able WRITE about anything I want without being immediately dismissed as a fangurl with my hands in my pants.

I survived a lot of yaoi/het wars in another fandom and I've found Bleach to be amazingly tolerant (albeit a little touchy). Maybe the times are a-changing. I know I am. Last year I wouldn't dare write an A/U (I wrote yaoi but not A/Us). What's next?

Fanfic opera? *winks at Q* It will be quaedam 's fault if I go there. I know that all of you are expecting necrophilia since I have now written three stories with a corpse in them, but uh uh....there are some things Deb will never do. XD