Graduate student in Cultural Studies at George Mason University. Also publishing on livejournal, where I am WynCatastrophe.

I've been told I need to say more about myself and my fandom interests here on this profile. (Honestly, I had no idea anyone cared.) So:

- I write Star Wars fan fiction. My longest (and favorite) fic is a frighteningly long WIP centering on Anakin Skywalker's story and told partly from the point of view of a few outsiders; originally just the one girl from a distant planet, but then it turned out that her backstory required a whole foreign culture, and now there is a whole group of characters who drift in and out of the story. It has recently taken a darker turn, and things are not going well for the characters or the galaxy.

- The above paragraph ought to tell you something about my stance on OCs. But in case it doesn't, let me be clear: I like 'em. I enjoy creating new characters and exploring their personalities. I like when other people do it, too. I take the point of view that all characters were at some point original, and fan-created characters have been one of my great joys in reading and writing fan fiction. I point this out because I think that the Mary Sue paranoia in fan fiction circles is currently on the rise, and I find it irksome. Of course I've seen OCs who were badly written - who hasn't? - but I think it is painfully unimaginative to make the assumption that I often see in fandom: namely, that all fan-created characters are Mary Sues/Gary Stus. I think it is both restrictive and insulting to make the second assumption I often see: that fan-created characters are the author's self-inserts. I don't see any reason to believe this is more likely in fan fiction than in published fiction, and in any case I have to agree with Roland Barthes: the author is dead, so whatever s/he intended doesn't matter. Let the text speak for itself. I don't write self-insertion fics, but if I did, it would be nobody's business but my own. If I ever start, you'll be the first to know. In the meantime … it's more fun to write characters who are themselves, you know?

- I have recently deleted my very first story, Freefall, from FFN. It is still archived at AO3, or you can read the all-new "Special Edition" as I post Free Fall: Leap in the Dark (a revised/updated version based on things I've learned in the two years since I started posting). If you posted a review to the original version, and you miss it - not to worry! I have all the reviews saved as .pdfs on my computer. Just let me know, and I will be happy to share them with you! :)

- I am madly in love with heroes.

I unambiguously adore feedback, so if you have read something I've written, I would love to hear your thoughts about it. Thanks for reading!

You can also:

Find me on LJ: http://

Find me on Archive of Our Own: http:///users/WynCatastrophe

Find me teamed up with Estora: http://fanfiction.net/~wynstora or http://