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Hello everyone!
So it's been a little while since I've updated on this account, but I want to start using blog again, mainly to keep track of my goals and progress for this new fic project I'm starting. As some of you who follow me on Twitter might already know, it's a been a desire of mine for a while to write a fic set post-Captain America: Civil War that depicts how Shuri fixes Bucky's brain using actual neuroscience. IRL, I'm halfway through getting my PhD in Psychology and am part of a lab that uses MRI to study memory in the brain, so being able to bridge my love for MCU characters and my passion for my field is something I'm really excited about. I'm tentatively titling this story "Fire Together, Wire Together" which is a common phrase in neuroscience referring to how learning happens at the neuronal level.
Half of this story will be in Bucky's POV, depicting his recovery, his reclamation of a sense of purpose, and the development of his relationship with Steve. With Bucky at last recovering in peace and safety and Steve grappling with the loss of his team and abandoning the Captain American mantle, I think post-CW is a time rich with possibilities to explore both Steve and Bucky's characters and also the status of their relationship now that they actually have the chance to get to know each other in the 21st century.
The other half of this story will be in Shuri's POV, and this is something I'm really excited to dive into. After the events of Black Panther, Shuri has a lot to contend with (the loss of her father, the fallout of N'Djaka's usurpation, building the international outreach centers) and I think it's important, in addition to showcasing her wit and brilliance, to also depict the way she struggles emotionally with these major changes. Additionally, science doesn't happen in a bubble, and the innovations in neuropsychology she accomplishes while fixing Bucky have huge implications for basic science and public health and I want to address that aspect of things as well, bridging Shuri and Bucky's narratives together to tell a humanistic story of science.
Right now, I'm currently in the research stages of this project, which are twofold. Firstly, I'm reading up on cognitive neuroscience topics to flesh out both what HYDRA did to Bucky in the first place and how Shuri is going to fix it. Canon is suuuuuuper hand-wavy when it comes to the actual process of turning Bucky into the Winter Soldier, and I'm really trying to come up with an actual process for what they did, and then I can use that to figure out how Shuri undoes it. The other part of my research is reading/listening to interviews from people involved in creating Black Panther because, as a non-Black person writing this story set in Wakanda and featuring Shuri's POV, I think it's important to understand the intentions of those who created MCU-Wakanda and it's characters in the first place, so that I can be respectful of those intentions while playing in this sandbox. (Also definitely planning on having a sensitivity reader as well.)
If you couldn't already tell, this the most enthused about a project I've been in a while, and I guess my aim for this blog is to just have a place to share cool research tidbits, give writing updates etc., mostly to keep myself on track but also in case any of my followers about to care about this super niche project. I'm planning to do weekly updates, consisting of some overall comments about what I've been working on and then end with a summary of what I accomplished and my goals for next week.
What I accomplished this week:
So it's been a little while since I've updated on this account, but I want to start using blog again, mainly to keep track of my goals and progress for this new fic project I'm starting. As some of you who follow me on Twitter might already know, it's a been a desire of mine for a while to write a fic set post-Captain America: Civil War that depicts how Shuri fixes Bucky's brain using actual neuroscience. IRL, I'm halfway through getting my PhD in Psychology and am part of a lab that uses MRI to study memory in the brain, so being able to bridge my love for MCU characters and my passion for my field is something I'm really excited about. I'm tentatively titling this story "Fire Together, Wire Together" which is a common phrase in neuroscience referring to how learning happens at the neuronal level.
Half of this story will be in Bucky's POV, depicting his recovery, his reclamation of a sense of purpose, and the development of his relationship with Steve. With Bucky at last recovering in peace and safety and Steve grappling with the loss of his team and abandoning the Captain American mantle, I think post-CW is a time rich with possibilities to explore both Steve and Bucky's characters and also the status of their relationship now that they actually have the chance to get to know each other in the 21st century.
The other half of this story will be in Shuri's POV, and this is something I'm really excited to dive into. After the events of Black Panther, Shuri has a lot to contend with (the loss of her father, the fallout of N'Djaka's usurpation, building the international outreach centers) and I think it's important, in addition to showcasing her wit and brilliance, to also depict the way she struggles emotionally with these major changes. Additionally, science doesn't happen in a bubble, and the innovations in neuropsychology she accomplishes while fixing Bucky have huge implications for basic science and public health and I want to address that aspect of things as well, bridging Shuri and Bucky's narratives together to tell a humanistic story of science.
Right now, I'm currently in the research stages of this project, which are twofold. Firstly, I'm reading up on cognitive neuroscience topics to flesh out both what HYDRA did to Bucky in the first place and how Shuri is going to fix it. Canon is suuuuuuper hand-wavy when it comes to the actual process of turning Bucky into the Winter Soldier, and I'm really trying to come up with an actual process for what they did, and then I can use that to figure out how Shuri undoes it. The other part of my research is reading/listening to interviews from people involved in creating Black Panther because, as a non-Black person writing this story set in Wakanda and featuring Shuri's POV, I think it's important to understand the intentions of those who created MCU-Wakanda and it's characters in the first place, so that I can be respectful of those intentions while playing in this sandbox. (Also definitely planning on having a sensitivity reader as well.)
If you couldn't already tell, this the most enthused about a project I've been in a while, and I guess my aim for this blog is to just have a place to share cool research tidbits, give writing updates etc., mostly to keep myself on track but also in case any of my followers about to care about this super niche project. I'm planning to do weekly updates, consisting of some overall comments about what I've been working on and then end with a summary of what I accomplished and my goals for next week.
What I accomplished this week:
- Made this post laying out my goals for this project and intentions for weekly updates
- Finished my list of papers to read, interviews to watch, etc.
- Watch Black Panther with director's commentary
- Read neuro papers on reading list and flesh out processes for what Hydra did and how Shuri fixed it
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Date: 2020-03-01 08:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-03-01 08:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-03-02 09:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-03-02 12:36 pm (UTC)