The other day I wrote a piece of fanfiction for the first time in a few years. It’s kind of a big deal because I used to think I would never go back to writing fanfiction again. I started writing fanfiction when I was about 12 and am wrapping around to my 21st birthday in a few months here.
Don’t get me wrong, I grew a lot as a writer (like, a LOT) by writing fanfiction, and I am grateful for all the feedback that I gained through that time. But I think that as a whole, there’s kind of an unhealthy environment in the FF community that celebrates pain. If you consider the genre of hurt/comfort, it’s quite dehumanizing and throws the spotlight on the trauma instead of the recovery required.
I wrote ‘Until I Burst’ as a kind of second-look at the very real issue of human trafficking, to bring into focus the humanity of the people behind it. There is a line between fiction and reality, and while we can’t all fight crime and kick down doors, we all can champion victim’s rights and support the recovery effort.
I’m not a fan of the hurt. I am a fan of the comfort.
And I will devote my life to the celebration of freedom and bringing victims out of darkness and into the light, both in a physical and spiritual sense.
So the link is below to the story I wrote. It’s set in the Numb3rs genre, between season 2 and season 3 (because that’s where I’m at in the series so far- haven’t seen past that point). I’m very happy so far with seeing page views and knowing that there are people in France and Germany and India who are reading this. I had some fun playing with the third-person limited perspective of a fairly intoxicated intellectual. So far it’s a one-shot, but if I get really inspired I might write either the other character’s perspective, or the actual case behind it. Let me know what you think!
And Grace will Lead us Home 