I knew from a pretty young age that I wanted to be a novelist, but for a variety of reasons I've never been able to commit to writing as a full-time occupation. Of course, that hasn't stopped me from writing and developing my stories whenever I can.
In the links above I have included two websites that I use fairly often when I want to create character icons for my original characters, and a link to my Ao3 profile.
While I have a good number of stories that I want to tell, the first and most important of these is the story that I told myself as a way to cope with the hardships I experienced growing up. I’m not ashamed to admit that it’s a self-insert fiction, heavily influenced by the characters and message of Yoshiro Togashi’s Yu Yu Hakusho. At least, that’s how it started. It has since morphed into an original story (a series, even) of its own and I figure if it can help even one other person as much as it helped me, then it’s well worth writing.
My main series takes place in a seemingly ideal world, populated by long-lived races of people. Many of these races have elemental or animal attributes, or a combination of both. Humans are curiously absent, sealed away in their own dimension, but it’s not a perfect solution. Although the main character would love to continue to ignore the problem in favor of her own agenda, the consequences are far more devastating than she could have imagined. Forced to start over with nothing, now she has to struggle to fix a seemingly impossible problem while searching desperately for the things she lost.
Neela has always gotten everything she wanted, but there's nothing wrong with that, right? It's not like she's a selfish or greedy person, she just wants to do things her way. It's not like anyone's going to stop her. Growing up priviledged certainly has its perks but, unfortunately for Neela, being royalty doesn't exempt you from the consequences of your own actions, and a sheltered palace life is no preparation for the messy realities of the outside world.
Shigeru doesn't really know what he wants to do with his life now that he's retired, but spending his days planting trees and helping his sister raise her family seems like a good start. As a former thief, keeping a low profile is his best bet at a peaceful life. That would be much easier of course if someone weren't using his alias and reputation as a legendary thief to carry out their own criminal operations.
My first attempts at writing, in my early teens, were through fanfiction and roleplay, and I haven't really stopped since then. For a long time roleplaying was my main social activity, and I've met a lot of good friends that way. I even met my spouse through a tumblr roleplay group!
This is by no means an exhausive list of all the characters I have portrayed over the years, but I have included many of the characters that have played a meaningful part in my life and in my writing journey.
I have been roleplaying as Hiei on and off since the early 2000's, and I always struggle to come up with anything to really say about him. He's been a part of my life for so long now that he's just part of the scenery at this point. He's your typical reluctant hero, introduced as a villain but very quickly adopted by the main character in spite of his grumpy and standoffish demeanor.
I didn't pay much attention to Avatar: The Last Airbender when it was first released. I saw a few episodes here and there because my younger sibling liked watching it, and I remember thinking that Toph was pretty cool. When Legend of Korra was announced, a few of my friends convinced me to go rewatch the series and join them in the fandom. I really personally connected with Toph after watching the series and immediately dived into roleplaying. As the series developed through Korra and the comics, I never stopped identifying with Toph, but some of the characterization hit a little too close for comfort for me and I eventually stopped roleplaying this character because I couldn't deal with the emotional feedback I was experiencing.
The X-Men series is such a good allegory for otherness. It's been one of my husband's favorite comic series since he was very young and I was more than happy to dive into it when the first few movies came out. Superheroes have kind of lost their appeal for both me and my husband since then just because of the ridiculous number of superhero films that have come out in the past decade. Still, I enjoyed watching the X-Men films, as well as several of the cartoons, and Logan hits so many of my favorite character notes that I couldn't resist taking a shot at portraying him.
Irish mythology in a Japanese anime? That's an instant yes from me. I had never even heard of a dullahan before this series. The series itself is very good in general, but the inclusion of an Irish death fairy in an urban, mostly realistic setting is just delightful. Celty remains a bit of a mystery throughout the show, so exploring her character through roleplay was particularly fun for me.
Let's be honest. Harry Potter as a series and as a fandom has been a big part of the millennial experience. Whenever I find myself in a rut with my writing, I always turn to Harry to get myself back in the swing of things. I haven't actually roleplayed as Harry too much though. I prefer writing fanfiction for this series but, although I have a ton of WIPs, I have put a pause on publishing any of them for now. I cannot in good conscious encourage participation in or enthusiasm for this series while it is being used to fund the anti-trans movement in the UK and elsewhere.