Manifesto...* (or) Apologia**

*a declaration of policy & aims..
(dt beg.this:5-1-07-still adding
& amending on:5-14-07)
**a formal written defence of one's opinions or conduct...
(I'm letting everybody 'off the hook' here--
ego te absolvo)
It's nobody's fault but my own;
I just didn't have enough imagination
or creativity to incorporate any of these
prevalent themes into my own attempts.
********************
For two years, I have been reading the
contributions of fellow T-fen as posted in the
'Ninja Turtle' category on the fan fiction site.
All too soon, I became aware of the
terrible dearth of imagination,
creativity, and ingenuity in
my own attempts at writing stories
about these cultural icons.
********************
For instance, it never occured to me
to involve(pair) these mutated reptiles in
sexual or 'romantic' relationships
with female members of species H. sapiens.
Yet, several, nay, a great many, quite proficient
writers have created believable scenarios
wherein our heroes have human girlfriends!
excursus: in those barren times when there
was available no 'ninja' turtles to study,
I took advantage of the resources of
my then workplace, the Biology Library
on the UC Berkeley campus.
I spent many hours browsing* the
Zoology/Natural History shelves.
(QH and QL sections of the collection)
What I learned from herpetological
publications definitely predisposed me
against any such considerations when, much later,
I first started 'writing' stories about mutated turtles.
Anatomical, physiological, hormonal-
you name it, the reality of the physical
differences between the two species,
hominid and chelonid, was probably
enough, so that to sexually or emotionally involve
a human female character with one
of the turtles just never occurred to me.
Now that's indicative of my grievous lack
of imagination!
*it's called 'shelf-reading' & is an ongoing
facet of work in any library.
**********************
Secondly, there are a few T-writers who have
managed, adroitly or not, to insert themselves
into their fictions; either as a barely disguised
character or blatantly as their true selves.
Some of these insertions could be labelled
'Mary Sue' -ish--but since prose quality
is often bearable, they are acceptable.
Again, I never thought to do such a thing.
The very idea seems to be a bit more
than sacrilegious--true anathema!
*******************
I must preface the next statement
by mentioning that I spent the major part of
my working life in libraries.
In so doing, I discovered that well educated
members of the gay and lesbian communities
find libraries to be congenial workplaces.
Therefore, I will say that I was more
than familiar with the gay lifestyle;
it was a constant and pervading factor
in my daily working experience.
Why then, did I not think to utilize this
familiarity and
experience when I first began to write
stories about ninja turtles?
Surely, it would be evident to even the
most oblivious observer that these
four brothers had only each other
as objects for the release of those
sexual tensions invaribly preoccupying
the psyche of adolescent males.
The TMNT fan fiction site is rife
with postings categorized as: turtlecest.
excursus[again]: The four believe they are
brothers, an assumption of
a genetic relationship; the probability
is equally that there is none
*************
See what I mean when I say that I am
severely deficient in truly creative thinking??
******************
******************
Of course, after reading the above polemic,
someone just might be inquisitive enough
to ask--"Well, if you didn't write about
those themes--what did you write about??"
********************
Ahem! It was only when I encountered
the major opera of
Kyabetsu & Red Lioness that I
found a thematic sisterhood.
*******************
Take it from there.