NOTE: My avatar is a computer painting I did of Susan, part of an illustration where she visits her mother in Modesto, a little modified. I added Doc mainly to give her something to look at. It is not supposed to be anything remotely like me in any possible sense. For a start, I'm not even Californian...

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STORY STATUS UPDATES (30th October 2019):

Frozen/MVA: Legend of the Snow Queen: It's been a year since the last chapter was published? That is insane. True, I have been very busy with work and other real-life things, and I have been writing several other stories as inspiration strikes, but I have not forgotten this. Not entirely. It's not dead. I promise... (I wish I knew how I managed to have so much more time to write five or six years ago...)

Upcoming (in progress):

Frozen: The Thirteenth Princess: (Title very very provisional) My deeper, more adult, retelling of the movie, in the same vein as my retelling of Monsters vs. Aliens. I want to really get into many of the aspects the film glossed over, fleshing out the world, adding some alternative takes, and deepening characterization. Make it more mature in general, with better world-building and motivations. Basically, take the Disney out of it...

Vampire Diaries: I Feel Like She Died: Caroline's story, detailing her transition into and acceptance of her new life as a vampire. Ten chapters done, and she's still only been a vampire for less than a week. I guess I just like getting deep into the mental state of people, like Susan and Caroline, who are ordinary people to whom extraordinary things happen, and it makes them stronger for it in the end, but the path is not an easy one.

MY TAKE ON MONSTERS VS. ALIENS

So far I have six and a half [update as needed] MvA stories here. I am interested in examining the emotional and psychological reactions of Susan to her new life that I felt the movie didn't really deal with as thoroughly as I liked (though it certainly didn't ignore them). To that extent my stories are more on character interaction and how people feel rather than chaotic action. Sometimes they can go into some fairly dark places, but they always come out again (Not always. Sorry. One of my stories is bleak)--this isn't meant to be quite as depressing as reality can be.

One of the underlying themes of my approach to MvA as a more adult story is the duelling opposites of power vs. weakness. "Her strength is made perfect in weakness," if you like. Susan's physical power and mental/emotional weakness are at odds with each other right throughout the film, until the end. She is made physically extremely strong, but imprisoned, subjected to severe emotional distress, and only when she is physically weak again does she truly discover her mental/emotional strength. This gives her the strength to reject her comfortable old life, and sacrifice any hope of returning to it to save her friends. Therefore one thing I will always avoid is any fancy gadget to allow Susan to control her height: that to me negates the meaning of her sacrifice at the end of MvA. She gains a lot, but there is a price to pay, and being able to freely manipulate her size means she's not paying that price. This also means that while I may or may not add my own OCs (OMs?) in future, or look at the viewpoints of different people, the focus will always be on Susan's struggle for acceptance, both by those around her, and by herself.

As an author I am extremely self-critical, dislike spelling and grammatical errors, and like to fine-tune a piece for days before posting, smoothing it out as much as possible in the belief that what you offer to others should be as good as possible (I cannot believe people upload stories without even so much as using a spell-checker - to me, that means you just don't care about your audience, or about quality). Therefore any constructive criticism is very much welcome, as are any questions about plot or authorial choices I have made that don't seem to make sense (most have reasons, and some of those reasons are even sensible ones, so if they don't make sense, I need to make them make sense...). Even pointing out a minor spelling error is welcome (I use British English spelling, however: "colour" is not an error).

THOUGHTS (ANGRY RANT) ON THE MVA TV SERIES:
(March 24th, 2013) Saw the first ep of the television series. Holy crap that was the most awful pile of steaming cow turds I have ever seen thrown at a screen. I liked "Penguins of Madagascar" (a lot; frankly it's better than the movies [though the first was good]). I liked the MvA Halloween special. This, however, was bad bad bad on every single possible level, from character design to animation to story to direction to, well, everything. And they made her able to change her size at will?? Nononononono. I have a standing refusal to read fanfic that stoops to giving her a magic size control ability (ruins the most important part of her character as far as I'm concerned). That took it from the realm of sheer Bad to actively Evil. No, as far as I am concerned the TV series is so far removed from canon it should be shot from a cannon. Preferably into a deep, dark hole.
It starts with the preview, which is Bob Bob Bob all the time. Bob is not the star of the story, and this is like making Cars 2 be about Tow Mater as the kiddies loved him. Then the show's animation was a giant step back to 1990, with horribly flat textures, simplistic models, and jerky animation. CG done on the ultra-cheap. It looks worse than the video game. I know it's a TV show, not a film, but come on--textures are easy enough to render at least. Susan's uniform was a strange (and wrong!) blend of the Area 52 jumpsuit and the Gallaxhar suit. The voices were different, true, but I can accept that. I appreciated the exterior design of the base - it is from the original drawings in the Art of MvA book, and though I do think it is silly, it's the least of the show's crimes. The greatest by far (and I cannot stress this enough) is in giving Susan the ability to shrink to normal by "thinking small thoughts." Wait, that's not even it. It's more like remain normal 95% of the time and rarely, briefly, grow large by "thinking large thoughts." Considering that every single character point of the movie for her was predicated on her being a giant, and the movie ends by her deliberately choosing that over being "normal," this is a complete and utter betrayal of her sacrifice and character growth then. Such a deep, deep disappointment on every single level.

[Jan 31, 2015] I'd also like to thank all those readers who have now made God Help the Outcasts the most-favourited MVA story of all. Thanks! (Now with more than 80 Favourites!)

[Dec 25, 2016] "God Help the Outcasts" now has 100 Favourites! Only MVA story with three figures. Thanks to all who read and favourited.

EARTH'S CHILDREN

I have started adding some earlier fanfiction that I wrote a few years back, to get all my fanfiction under one roof, so to speak. The only other fanfiction I've written is for Jean M. Auel's "Earth's Children" series. Ayla and Susan share some similarities: both very powerful, yet vulnerable. There's also a haunting gulf of time dividing us - they live in a world so removed from our own it could be an alien planet, and yet for all the changes that have happened over the last few millennia, the vast bulk of human history is this ancient hunter-gatherer society. And as you might expect from my Author's Notes, I really love the research Auel does for these stories...

FROZEN

Elsa is one of the most interesting Disney characters I've ever encountered. Or even one of the most interesting animated characters. There are many parallels with Susan, of course, which is why she is of so much interest. Both with strange powers that cause others to fear them, both forced to deal with the isolating consequences of these powers. Unlike Susan, however, Elsa can turn hers off--she can pass for normal--but as it is a continual battle to do so, she presents a fascinating chance to examine power and weakness from another angle.

So far I've got one short story and one longish novel up, and have also made a start on a cross-over between Frozen and MVA, which will look at the issues of being seen as a monster.

I've added some Frozen art as well - see the last link down below. I want to do more when I have this mysterious thing called "free time"...

Re my Favourites: I have decided to only favourite completed stories. There are some very good ones out there that are unfinished, or have not yet been finished, but it's really not possible to judge the whole work until it's complete. My favourites listed here tend to be character-focused, like my own stories. No longer ones listed as yet, but I haven't read as many of those as I should (takes too much time away from my own writing...).

I've seen people who have thousands of favourites. How anyone could have 5,000 favourites here is beyond me. Have they even read them all? I would be very surprised. For what it's worth, I don't favourite things lightly. A story really has to move me before it goes on my list, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend any of those on my list, as they are ones that I myself return to again and again.

(Not Missing) Links of Interest...

NOTE: This useless site has decided to strip out all my links apart from the YouTube ones. It seems this is a site-wide purge to emphasize their fascist dictatorial powers.

Music video I did for "God Help the Outcasts" which shows why I chose the song title for the story title and the emotions I want to draw on. God Help the Outcasts

Thought experiment video of what Susan's voice might sound like (since obviously her larger voicebox would make a deeper voice. one much deeper than this in reality, I am sure). A better idea might be if you look up videos of people breathing sulphur hexafluoride - there's a good one from The Big Bang Theory with Penny Nolastname. Deep Voice Test

Some nice person has written up a TV Tropes analysis of For the Last Time in Forever Sweet!

ART: (Contains spoilers - links arewere to DeviantArt)

Photoshopped picture of Susan and the others at the Lincoln Memorial I came up with for fun... Susan & Friends in DC

I have started trying out some computer sketches of key scenes in "Love I Can Possess" and uploading them at DeviantArt (which everyone here seems to use). So here is an initial sketch of Susan getting mad and kicking the door in... Susan Gets Mad

(Aug. 20, 2013) Also added a computer painting of Susan visiting her mother, inspired by Almost A Secret's short story, "Atypical," where Susan visits her mother in Modesto. Susan is done by hand, the rest is photoshopped. Susan and her Mother

(Aug. 26, 2013) Added an illustration of Susan on her first night in her cell, torn from everything she knew, imprisoned by the military after being turned into a monster. Done entirely by hand on the computer save for the cell background and poster (I got lazy). Ginormica in Prison

(Sept. 11, 2013) I have now added an illustration of Susan in Death Valley, on the run, wracked with guilt and feeling desperately alone. Susan in Death Valley

(Sept. 24, 2013) Illustration for Ch. 23 of "Love I Can Possess," Susan's rampage in Vegas, added to DeviantArt. Ginormica's Rampage

(Nov. 12, 2013) Finally finished (largely redid from scratch) my illustration of Susan fleeing into the desert from Ch. 24 of "Love I Can Possess." Susan on the Run

(Nov. 26, 2013) Did a much more realistic portrait of Susan pleading with Monger for her freedom. I find this a more natural art style for me than the "anime" style, as nice as that can look when done well. Susan Pleads for Her Freedom

(Dec. 2, 2013) Added my rendition of Susan's mythical Zombie Cheerleader Outfit from "Mutant Pumpkins." She's going to get to wear it in my next story ("To The Edge of Night"). Susan's Zombie Cheerleader Costume

(Dec. 5, 2013) Added a simple illustration of Susan lifting the 200-ton locomotive in Las Vegas. This is one I have been working on and off for a while now and finally got sick of trying to make it look good. Susan Catches the Train

(Dec. 8, 2013) Added a digital painting of Susan and Doc talking quietly together in her tent. I rather like how this one came out. As a Tent to Dwell In

(Dec. 10, 2013) Added an illustration of Susan and Doc bathing together (from Ch. 13. "Love I Can Possess"). Shirtless Doc scene for Doc fangirls (and topless Susan, but hidden behind limbs to avoid DA's draconian "Mature" rating requirements). In the Eye of the Beholder

(July 18. 2014) Wow, it's been a while since I did any art. This one isn't MVA, however, but from Frozen. A parody poster for the movie if it starred real actresses (hand-painted in Photoshop: I'm working on some nice portraits of Elsa and Anna and couldn't resist the idea of a movie poster). Frozen Parody Poster

(Aug 5, 2014) Based on a throw-away joke in Bookwork Gal's "Vulnerabilities," I decided to draw a funny (I hope) picture of Link turned pink by one of the Doc's experiments. Pink Link