Star Wars Fic:

[igrockspock]

Remix this year was a mixed bag. On the one hand, I got to play with celeste9's lovely works; on the other hand, I got some rude anon comments. Celeste had a cute story about Poe and Finn mixing up their uniform shirts, and I immediately thought about how that could have been a career-ending mistake in the US Navy not all that long ago, so I ended up writing an AU set during the Don't Ask/Don't Tell years. I do understand how someone could find that choice odd, but it was a story I really wanted to write. As a queer person who works in a conservative profession and lives in a conservative area, the relationship choices I made were constrained by my fear of losing my job. Obviously, I'm happily married and have no regrets, but I also see our country backsliding toward less accepting times. I remember feeling lonely when I was younger because I could never find slash that actually addressed the difficult choices I was facing, so I wanted the chance to write about some of those issues. Of course, I got a rude comment almost immediately, which was disappointing but not altogether unexpected. I'm still happy I wrote the story I wanted to tell.

Title: This Is Only a Drill (The Anytime, Anywhere Remix)
Pairing: Poe/Finn
Rating: Teen
Summary: The year is 1993. The Cold War is old news. Don't ask, don't tell is brand new. Poe Dameron is the best fighter pilot in the Navy, and he's in love with a man.
Word Count: 4800

Comments

[caudipteryx]

Hiya! You don't know me; I found you through celeste9's most recent DW post and then found one of those rude anon comments she mentioned on your fic. FWIW: FFS!! That was right on the leading, bleeding edge of a comment I would've deleted without a response. But I 1000% agree with you here that we're backsliding, and if somebody thinks writing about institutionalized discrimination is just for the "gay angst," I'd hope that somebody is a child who simply doesn't know any better (yet). :-(

[igrockspock]

Thank you for the solidarity! The sad thing is, I wouldn't have minded if someone had just wanted to ask a question about why I wrote the story that way. I might wonder what was going on if someone had written an AU where an African-American character was living in the Jim Crow south, and I can see how a don't ask/don't tell story could come off the same way. I would have been totally open to discussion about the best ways to use our writing to explore and combat issues of institutionalized discrimination! At the same time, I don't think it's appropriate to make a blanket judgment that all fic has to portray happy gay couples living in a world free of discrimination, because that's not what's happening in our world now, and it's certainly not true of most of our history.

Thanks for stopping by!

[caudipteryx]

Thanks for the reply! :-) Of course, there's a HUGE difference between asking about the source of a writer's inspiration out of genuine curiosity/desire to understand and asking as an implicit criticism. And why NOT a serious AU take on Finn in the Jim Crow South? That could be *really* interesting, actually! Especially since, unlike "Don't ask, don't tell," there aren't so many people alive anymore who remember it firsthand...life isn't/hasn't been a perfect bed of roses, and as you say, we're backsliding. So don't let AO3's young people get you down. You're to be applauded for tackling this stuff seriously! <3

[celeste9]

I saw that comment and it made me so angry! (I really liked your response, though.) Finn/Poe fandom has been particularly... volatile lately, so I imagine that had a lot to do with it, a certain segment of fans are just looking for things to be angry about. It was a really good story and as someone who is not LGBT but who has friends who are, I found it very moving and meaningful in a way that the fic that really stays with me is. Thank you for writing it, I've actually just reread it again because I enjoyed it so much!

[minoanmiss]

I think that's a WONDERFUL story idea and I alsready know you did well with it.

[katmarajade]

Oh, I've totally marked this to read later! <3