#I highly encourage all authors/storytellers: never delete your old stories. even if you hate them. even if they're crap.

[redwinterroses]

tw for what could possibly come across as transphobia

i'm glad ivory came out, and i'm glad she can now live as her like,, authentic self and stuff, but i've been mourning mythrodak. like, the character. i feel like he's died and i've been told to forget him. and i know her comfort is much more important than a character she made that she's since disowned. but it's been fucking me up and i wanted to know if anyone else was feeling this.

(sorry for sending this to you on anon, i had anxiety over saying it as Myself)

No, I get it. I really do. I'm sure whatever Ivory does is going to be awesome, but just from some of the things she said I definitely think it's going to be very different in tone and content. Which is fine and great and creators should always be making the content that makes them happy (and absolutely not what makes them miserable) but I also feel sad to lose Mythrodak.

And I don't think there's anything wrong or transphobic about that -- it's not like we knew the cc behind Mythrodak and are saying we want him back; we're missing an entirely fictional character that we have grown to love and be fascinated by. I do think it's sad that Ivory doesn't want people to tell any more stories about Myth, but that's entirely her prerogative to ask, and I definitely respect it. Personally, I've got a few fics that I'm going to have to shelve and not do anything more with (at least, not without entirely changing names and faces. One of the stories could easily stand on its own as an og work if I wanted it to) but it's what Ivory has requested, so it's what we need to respect.

(And, for the record, ccs have this prerogative even if it was an entirely different situation. If Grian one day said "Hey guys, please don't write any more fics about my character," I would be greatly saddened, but I would abide by it because it's his character, not mine.)

There is a strange feeling to it... I compared it last night to hearing about a celebrity death. Like, it's not someone I know -- in this case it's not even a real person, it's only a character -- but I can still feel some grief at losing this storytelling vessel and the worlds that go with it. Actually... no, I take that back. You know what it really reminds me of? The death of Iron Man in Endgame. I'm a huge Tony Stark fangirl, and his death in that film absolutely flattened me. I was sobbing in the theater (wasn't helped by the fact that the big buff guy behind me was crying his eyes out either, lol. I was fine until he started.)

There's nothing wrong with mourning the end of a fictional character. I know there's kind of a weird fuzzy line with ccs and characters, but that line is why I'm wholly willing to respect Ivory's wishes to lay Mythrodak to rest. If Myth was just a character Ivory had been writing stories about or something, rather than a sort-of extension of herself, it might be different? After all, as I said before: no one cares that Doyle hated Sherlock Holmes, lol.

But mcyt characters are a separate and weird category, and that needs to be respected. Respecting that line, however, doesn't mean I'm not allowed to be sad that Mythrodak stories are no more -- and nor does it mean that I'm not allowed to go back and enjoy the stories that already exist. I'm hoping that Ivory doesn't decide to take down the Mythrodak channel, but until she does, I don't see any reason why people can't still enjoy those stories and the amazing work that went into them. (The ad revenue probably won't be unwelcome, at any rate.)

Thanks for feeling like you could share this, anon. And no, you're not alone, and no, I don't think being sad about the loss of a fictional character is anything wrong or to be ashamed of -- I'm still mourning Tony Stark, lol, and it has absolutely nothing to do with RDJ. I wish Ivory the best in her new life, but I can also be thankful for the amazing stories she already told that grabbed my imagination and emotions, and I can simultaneously respect her wishes to lay the character to rest without entirely erasing the character and stories from my imagination.

#redwinteranswers #long post #I really do hope that Ivory leaves the old channel up. those stories are fantastic and deserve to be appreciated #and tbh -- as someone who has gone back to look at old stories I've written #and been gobsmacked by things and themes I certainly didn't intend to include #and have learned so much about myself from the safe distance of time and fiction #I highly encourage all authors/storytellers: never delete your old stories. even if you hate them. even if they're crap. #they can teach you amazing things about yourself in retrospect #...alternatively they can be very hilarious to look back on when you're older lol