There’s something magical about the Disney castle.
Your Stories and Characters don’t Belong to you. Get over it!
Hello My Imaginary Friends,
I have seen countless actors, writers, and creators complain about fan fiction, shipping, and head-canon. Especially when it comes to character’s sexuality or gender.
For a long time LGBT+ characters and stories were banned from all forms of media and other minorities weren’t included for many terrible reasons. That meant that people had to read into the subtext of characters and stories to try and see themselves. Now it’s less illegal but still greatly lacking.
Fiction is incredibly powerful, it can change the way you think and can even the way you act.
The emotional bond we feel towards fictional characters is incredibly strong. Not the least because we project ourselves onto them and their surroundings. Between that and emotionally intense fictional events can cause a weird disconnect between reality and fiction. I’ve always described that like a fog combined with awe.
As a writer, I’ve come to realize that once I release my characters into the world I no longer have control of what people think or do with them. Isn’t that amazing? To have created something that is absorbed into the daily life or identity of others. That’s fantastic. To have people love what you’ve created so much that they want to build on it and continue the story is just beautiful.
Now you may think that anything that doesn’t come from the creator’s mind is worthless and devalues the characters. I disagree completely. If your stories can bring joy to others, then you’ve helped make someone happy. If that means they want to ship two characters that you think shouldn’t be together, then don’t read it. You are not obligated to read or create fanfiction, slash, ships, head-canon, fanon, or anything else.
You do not have to right to judge, insult, or humiliate others for loving something you created so much that they want to see themselves in it or play with the world.
I look forward to finding out what people love, what people see, and what people do with my creations. To me that is a completely new form of success.
Later Days,
Éric
Disclaimer: I am speaking of non-commercial use and emotional bonds. I do not support or condone the infringement of someone’s intellectual property. Plagiarism is bad… Duh!
Blush: Recommendation Wednesday
One of my close friends posted a very good article on coming out as asexual last week, and I got permission to link to it for my Blush post this week. Please go and read it, and like her on Facebook (here).
I was greatly heartened after the surprisingly well-attended Asexual Identities panel at CanCon this year. It was really awesome to be on a panel with other people who were so similar to myself, and had similar experiences. It was wildly reaffirming, and helped me a great deal on a personal level. [Read more]
If you’re enjoying the Blush blogs, consider learning more with Blush: The Card Game from Renaissance Press.
Dear Dragon – Nightmare
Dear Dragon,
I had my first nightmare with you in it and it surprised me. I don’t remember most of my dreams; those that I do don’t last long and unlike your mom’s they’re not complex.
Your Gramma told me that in her nightmares I was always a small child. Even when I was in university, her dream version of me was no older than five. I always assumed that you’d be a newborn in my dreams. I was wrong.
In my dream you were trying to get to me and making that pterodactyl screech you make when you’re annoyed. You were toddling towards me, screeching, and darkness swallowed you. Your screeching turned into your panicked scream and I couldn’t get to you.
You were hurting and terrified and try as hard as I could I couldn’t get to you. (There are tears in my eyes just remembering the dream.)
When I woke up from the dream, I thought you really were screaming but after a few seconds of panic, I could tell you were just snoring. You were getting over a cold and your nose was doing this weird whistling noise.
Most likely the dream was caused by stress and feeling like I’m not spending enough time with you. I wish I could work from home every day. You change so much and so quickly that I don’t want to miss anything.
My greatest fear is that I won’t be there for you when you need me. I can’t promise that I will, but I’ll try as hard as possible.
I love you Dragon,
Your Papa
Tinkerbell and the TARDIS
Tinkerbell was fascinated by the TARDIS, as I expected. It’s a great Lost Thing!
NaNoWriMo (AKA Éric wants to torture himself)
Hello My Imaginary Friends,
I’ve decided to do NaNoWriMo again. If you haven’t come across the term it stands for National Novel Writing Month. In short, during November a whole lot of writers and aspiring writers try to write 50,000 words in a brand new novel.
This will be my fifth attempt. A Study in Aether and The Sign of Faust were both started with NaNoWriMo. It’s a wonderful (if stressful) way to jump start a book.
What Am I Writing
I was listening to a particularly sad song by Ed Sheeran called Supermarket Flowers.
The song reminded me of an old book idea I had about taking a roadtrip with my Mom in an alternate universe where there were dinosaurs roaming around.
The original idea was an apocalypse story, but listening to this song I realized how much I miss talking with my Mom. It’s been 9 years since her death and this book will give me the chance, in an odd way, to spend one last roadtrip with her.
It will be one long conversation between me and my mom. A memoir, love letter, with dinosaurs.
When I wake up in the hospital where I was born, I find my Mother waiting for me. Instead of going home, she decides that we should go on a roadtrip. “Let’s get lost,” she says with a mischievous look.
Over the trip we’ll reminisce, laugh, and tell each other things we never had the chance.
But why are we on this trip? Why was I in the hospital? And why are we being followed by dinosaurs?
I can already tell that this will be the hardest book I’ve ever written, but I think I’m at the point in my life that I can write it properly.
I apologize in advance if I’m not overly active online or if I’m a little sad over the month of November.
Follow my progress on my NaNoWriMo page. Add me as a buddy if you’re also diving into the pool of imagination.
Later Days,
Éric
Northern Ireland
I’ve already written a general post about Ireland here, but I didn’t go into much detail about the Game of Thrones tours that are available.
Tourism Ireland offers several on their page, as does Winterfell Tours. There are tons of tours offered through Viator and Expedia as well.
While visiting Ireland, you should definitely check out at least one of these tours!
Are you interested in travelling to Northern Ireland? Jen has retired from working as a travel agent. Hope you’ve enjoyed Fandom Travel.
Recommendation Tuesday – truLOCAL
Hello My Imaginary Friends,
After having some terrible luck with a certain company, we decided to look for other options.
If you’re in Ontario you might have seen the ads on facebook and other social media for truLOCAL. Unlike other companies where you have to buy a year’s worth of meat at once, truLOCAL is a subscription box that comes to your home on your schedule.
You can do every 2, 3, 4, or 6 weeks and they have 2 different sizes of box.
You decide what you want. Each box has a certain number of points and you select meat that has a number assigned. A package of two chicken breast is 2 points and so is a single fillet minion steak. Before every delivery you can go online and change what you want and try new things.
The meat is fantastic and the service is amazing. We commented that we had less chicken in one box and they made sure we had extra in the next delivery. They answer almost all questions asked on social media and are always friendly and polite.
I highly recommend this service!
Later Days,
Éric