What if?

I loved to ask that question when I was a kid and first joined this site. I hadn't yet been diagnosed with ADHD, but it still came out in my stories in both the positive and the negative ways it does, especially in my what if stories.

I had always been highly creative and very able to focus on only the things that interested me. I was more readily spontaneous in my writing back then. And although I had very little idea where my stories were going, I knew I wanted to continue the awesome experiences that I had within my fandoms.

And as I've always wanted to do in the writing that I've shared, I wanted to write stories to entertain others.

As I'm sure is the case for most writers on this site, I hoped other fans would take just a minute to read my stuff, reveling in the joy of our mutually liked show or book. I specifically hoped they would get a good chuckle or a good sob in here or there – whether I'd intended the emotion or not – just as long as I could make them feel something to entertain them.

But as I grew older, my typical story-triggering question changed:

How can I best reflect the beauty of the truth?

I am a highly religious person. I am LDS, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes we're called Mormons). The truth I imitate is the religious beliefs I hold to be true.

But I do not write specifically for a religious audience – I write for a general audience and my religious beliefs shape my interpretations of my stories.

Of course, stories serve as a substitute for experiencing actual events, and what is actually seen in a story depends on the person. However, I still write in hopes that someone will be able to relate to something good and feel their own moral compass be affirmed and strengthened. I still wish primarily to entertain, just in a way that lifts others up.

I am not a perfect writer, and my writing is still affected by ADHD, but there are things I can do every time I post a new story or poem on fanfiction. I can tap into my creative resources even better now than when I was a kid, and I can complete every story I start. I can also experiment with something in each new story to try to work toward a better reading experience for those I wish to entertain.

Standards and Policies

Rating – As a teenager, I promised my mother that I wouldn't post anything rated PG-13 (T) in order to obtain permission to use this site. The original intent was to be a good citizen of the online community and get parental permission as a minor, but as an adult I've kept with the policy in an effort to keep in mind that I want to write stories whose endings leave you filled with hope rather than dragged down by their contents. I am a highly religious person after all, and there is no way I can write without it showing through – after all, each time you write, you show a bit of yourself, right?

In that same spirit, I will not read anything rated above a T.

Pairings – There are several types of pairings that pop up, or are even common, in the world of fanfiction that I disagree with. As a child, I awkwardly phrased it that I would respect the pairing but would read something else if I really disagreed with it, but this is not true: after all, how can I respect a pairing if I won't even read stories that contain it? What I meant to explain is that I 1) will respect any pairing I have no moral issues with, and 2) may not respect pairings that I have moral issues with, but I will still respect the people who read and write those pairings.

As you may have guessed, this also means that there are certain types of pairings that I won't write on the rare occasions that I include pairings in my fanfics, even if I'm asked for them.

Updating – I vowed of my own accord not to update my stories on Sunday. This is out of respect for the Sabbath, recognizing that even highly religious stories on this site are probably a little too worldly for the Lord's day.

As a policy that takes my ADHD into account, I do not regularly set deadlines for myself to update (only happens with holiday pieces) because I know I won't be able to meet them. However, I still like to update fairly often. Between having started my career and my focusing on original fiction at the moment, it seems like updates are going to come at about one month apart or longer.

Story completion – I see my posting the first chapter of a story as making a commitment to finish it. I sometimes get myself in a rut when it comes to updates and slow down my pace, but I don't usually even start posting anymore until I at least have a draft completed to help me in this responsibility that I've taken upon myself.

Recent and Upcoming Stories

Within the last six months, I have been working on a crossover fic between FMA (2003) and ADJL. I also have an experiment that might turn into an anthology: I have some linguistic training, some I'm in a good position to ponder on what Amestrian "English" might actually look like if it were real. I've written some fan theories about where the language came from and paired it with a ficlet. This will be up as soon as the current doc-upload error is resolved. I am also close on the next chapter of TUA.

The Urban Alchemist - a crossover between FMA (2003) and ADJL in which Jake must track down and stop the latest alchemist that Envy's using, and Fu brings home a stray.

The Forgotten History of Amestris - a currently experimental piece that contains both a ficlet and several of my fan theories.