#why can't i just write. suspend disbelief a lil

[sakanoshitaa]

part of my problem with writing fic is i get way into the weeds with details so it takes forever to get anything done.

[initiumseries]

what did you think of Storms power loss story on x-men 97? And did you believe her relationships with jean and forge?

I thought it was interesting that Storm went through the power loss. Initially I was annoyed because she lost her powers defending Magneto, and, as usual with these things, I couldn't understand why she had to use her physical body as opposed to moving Magneto out of the way with a wind blast, blowing a chair or anything in the path of the beam, but I also realize these things are done for story purposes, I just feel like, for someone like Magneto, there needs to be an unavoidable reason why Storm sacrifices her own personal safety instead of absolutely anything else, first. But barring that, I was curious about her SL, and the lil demon thing that shows up. I will say, it felt a bit random, like, so...there's mutants AND like, demons in this world? Huh? But I was willing to suspend my disbelief to consider Storm's indecision, anxiety and pain at the loss of her abilities and therefore sense of self, drew this thing to them, thus forcing her to confront her deep rooted fears (taking the visual form of her claustrophobia but obviously extending beyond that), in order to tap into her powers again. The science behind this doesn't make sense, but I think with x-men, it's just better to not look too deep into any of it lol.

So, it took a bit for me to adjust that the weekly release means that it's written as if there's been story development that we just aren't privy to (not uncommon, it was how most things were written for cable and I see it when I go back and watch things like Smallville for ex), so it was clear to me that a lot of the development of Storm and Forge seemingly happened off screen, which I thought was a bit of a shame. It would've been nice to see them fall in love, because I don't think what we DID see, was enough, especially when we find out that his tech is what led to Storm's predicament. How did she overcome that? I get the demon thing helping her get there, but it shouldn't have been the only thing.

With her relationship with Jean, I thought the sisters thing was a little too much, but then I remembered that this is basically, kinda picking up where the OG x-men series left off, and when I took that into consideration, I was like okay, well, they were the 97 graduating class, they're the only women on the team, and they're incredibly powerful, so, it makes sense they'd be close, and I don't think I needed to see that relationship build up in this new series.

TBH, the only part that I was annoyed with and couldn't suspect my disbelief on is some of the dialogue. Part of my problem with metaphors for racism, is they get stupid when applied to actual racialized people, especially Black people, because it means now, we actually have to *acknowledge* the racial element, and we almost never do, because Black people aren't in the room in a decision making capacity. Because it's insane to me, that Jean and Storm have this whole conversation about being human, and wanting a human baby, and Storm's dialogue is stupid because it's like, iirc, she fantasizes about being regular, being human, and I'm sitting here like, girl, you're BLACK. This dialogue is DUMB, because they'd STILL hate you. And she would KNOW that, if Black people had been writing for her. Things like that eternally frustrate me because no Black person would ever talk like this and I just can't suspend my disbelief there. If you introduce/have Black characters, they should operate authentically, otherwise it's just a weird sort of writing blackface.