Thirty Days of Fanfiction: Day Four

4 – Do you have a "muse" character, that speaks to you more than others, or that tries to push their way in, even when the fic isn't about them? Who are they, and why did that character became your muse?

Oh, boy, yes. *points wordlessly at icon*

As for how Charles Xavier became my One True (Fictional) Love, that's a bit of a long story.

I started watching X-Men: The Animated Series around 1993, and the first episode I saw was Deadly Reunions. I can actually tell you that my first thoughts on my future beloved were "who's that guy telepathically tormenting the hottie in the red and purple outfit? And why is he wearing that awful green suit?" So, you know, not exactly love at first sight *g*.

If you'd asked me who my favourite mutant was in those early days, I'd have told you it was Magneto, and it would have been true. He won me over in minutes with his sexy voice acting and his tortured past. But Charles had my interest, too, and by the time they were running around the Savage Land fighting dinosaurs together, I'd started to wonder about what made him tick. (This was also around the time I invented slash fiction all by myself.) The Dark Phoenix Saga made me even more interested.

A few years passed, and I had a geeky friend who was able to lend me some comic books - including a reprint of Uncanny X-Men #12, which is Charles' origin story. And I think by then I was already hooked. When I went on a work experience trip to Melbourne in 1996, I went to Minotaur and bought everything in the back issue bin or on the racks that had Charles Xavier on the cover, and then I knew it was love. (This was around the time of Onslaught, so at least he was on the covers sometimes. Even if the story as a whole wasn't very good, it had plenty of interesting stuff in it for a budding Xavier fangirl.) By them time I actually discovered the internet in 1997, I was disappointed to find out that there was almost no fanfiction about him. (Thank goodness for Alara Rogers, or I might have wandered off into some other fandom, feeling sad.)

I think that covers the how, but it doesn't cover the why. As for that, well, there are a lot of reasons. Like all kinds of love, it accumulates over time. Because he genuinely wants to make the world a better place. Because he's Lawful Good for values of 'lawful' and 'good' that other people find extremely confusing. Because he'll forgive his enemies and open his door to anyone. (Because he's genuinely that compassionate, and also because turning away a potentially useful tool would be unwise.) Because he always has at least three reasons for doing anything. Because he wants to be a teacher, not a general, no matter how much he keeps screwing that up. Because he believes killing people never fixed anything. Because of the time he gave Wolverine demerits. And more recently: because Patrick Stewart. (And James McAvoy, who does not have the voice but has the right colour eyes. So I can find it in my heart to love that version, too.)

For the past month, I've been back writing bits and pieces of X-Men stories. It's like he's never been out of my head.

( The rest of the questions ... )