#i.e. I wrote Julien with some of my personality in him but I do not do crimes obviously

[laviedavantgarde]

Important Fanfiction Personal Update Below!

Putting this below a Read More because it is a but lengthy and I do not want people to scroll too much!

I haven’t updated my fanfictions in awhile, and there are two main reasons why:

I’ve tinkered and refined Julien behind the scenes.

I have major writer’s block.

Back when I began to write Grand Theft Immortal, I initially wrote this fanfiction to be a mostly original parody of the infamous My Immortal fanfic. I did not take it so seriously in the first few chapters. However, with the introduction of my OC Julien, that’s when it really took off.

I stopped where I did in GTI because I did not know how the second part of the fic would play out, and after some time, I was dissatisfied with Julien’s plot. I considered his feud with the publishing head to be way more ambitious than I thought it would be. Considering that My Immortal’s protagonist is a literal Mary Sue, I subconsciously made Julien into a Gary Stu to fit the parody. Am I re-writing his canonical situation to Julien’s mother’s death? Yes.

GTI was a real-time evolution to how I saw Julien and his character at the moment in writing. I put a lot of myself in Julien’s personality at the time, because I wanted to see someone like myself represented in a fic in terms of our trans and gay identities, as well as our love of academia. Julien and I are similar, but he has a more “serious” disposition. I also tried to fix My Immortal’s overused love triangle trope to a polyamorous one, as both Julien and I are polyamorous. Would Julien be involved with Michael? Sure, but he probably would stay far away from Trevor romantically. At the time, I was very invested in trying to write and explain how I saw Michael and Trevor’s relationship.

Now, I have very different feelings about GTI. It did serve its purpose in trying to find my identity as a young scholar and academic in Julien and cultivating and working hard at a polyamorous configuration. (In real life, I have had lackluster experiences with past partners and my ex metas- a poly term for my partner’s partner(s).) The fic served its purpose in working out the nuts and bolts for Julien as an OC. However, I think it is time to “abandon” the fic. This means while I will still have it for people to read, it is certainly not 100% canonical in terms of Julien’s events.

This is still canonical about/for Julien:

He is a professor at ULSA and has a PhD in English

He is a vigilante assassin who works behind the scenes (he rarely gets on the front lines)

His mother’s unfortunate demise

June Margot is his surrogate mother

He is trans/gay/poly

He’s a dual citizen of Canada and the US, but grew up in the US.

He speaks enough French to get by and have a conversation, but he is not 100% fluent. (His mom was French Canadian - Quebecois)

This is NOT canonical for Julien (as of 5/22/23):

His mother’s killer is the publishing head.

He is personally involved with the GTA V trinity and other characters.

He did not write a script for a movie.

You can say GTI is both a fever dream and a fanfic study. I am indebted to the readers and commenters, as well as the friendships I made with others over my fic. However, due to my feelings about where I see this fic now, it is time to shelve that away. Also, with My Immortal’s foundation in being a HP fanfiction and of its series’ author being a major bigot, it feels unethical for me to continue GTI.

That also means Blue Eyes and Homoerotic Vibes is a fever dream in itself, although I still find it quite enjoyable to read. (And downright sexy.)

In terms of my fic with Julien and Juan (Éxtasis en Aguamarina), that is another fanfic case study. Julien in a million years would never associate with Juan due to his own safety in mind. At the time, I was super simpy for Juan and I wanted to write more homoerotic fanfiction.

Fanfiction will always hold a special place in my heart, and I want these stories to still be accessible because I want the guys/masc folks in the GTA V/GTAO fandom to enjoy fanfiction written by someone like me and to see themselves being desired.

I still very much play GTAO, but I have so much development in terms of Julien’s character in the works behind the scenes. If I were to upload that content, it would technically not be fanfiction. It would be original writing. Let’s see where this goes, and I will find a place to house these original works of Julien.

Is this to say I will stop writing fanfiction for good? No. My fanfiction writing comes in waves. I just have to be really hyperfixated on a fandom and have a lot of ideas. Right now, I don’t. My priorities in how I engage in fandom morphed significantly these past couple or so years. I still very much love to discuss and analyze media! I’ve analyzed both as a student and as a young adjunct. I just enjoy the nonfiction parts too. I’m that guy with an iced coffee who will sit down with individuals who want to play Operation on media and discuss, analyze, and critique media in the lens of scholarly and informal inquiry. If that sounds like you, I would love for you to join me at this metaphorical table.

I still very much am invested in Julien, other OCs, and your fanfictions! I am just taking a step back from the fanfiction writing table to focus on Julien’s world buildings.

If you read this far, then you’re a champ. Here’s a gold star!

Much love,

Avant