#Cath Avery

[jazzythursday]

Did anyone else have the experience of reading Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell at the ripe age of 13 and relating to Cath because you read fanfic and had crippling social anxiety, and THEN eventually growing up to be a young adult who wrote fanfic and had crippling social anxiety, in your first year of uni and trying to finish your biggest fic yet by a specific self-imposed deadline at the expense of your finals assessments? Because boy do I have I story for yo—

I didn’t write fic when I read Fangirl for the first time—I didn’t write fic until the summer before my first year of uni, funnily enough—but seeing a character that used fictional worlds/relationships to escape the real one, who struggled in the same ways as me and didn’t so much as change by the end but grow and evolve was really special to me.

Rainbow gave me a little too much credit, maybe… I did not, unfortunately, get a Levi or a Reagan, nor do I have a spunky twin sister to reconnect with. It’s just me and my writing, my blorbos and my fandom friends—even now that I’m going through another fic deadline rush worryingly close finals in my second year, AGAIN—but I can’t help but think about how serendipitous it is that my life ended up mirroring a lot about a character that spoke to me so much as a tween.

I reread Fangirl every now and again and always, I think: oh, I feel like that. She gets it… which is maybe a little bit sad when it’s because you’re hiding in a bathroom for an hour because you’re too scared to go to the canteen, or crying because you’ve lived the whole first quarter of your life and you still don’t know how to talk to people, but even those times, being alone didn’t feel as… alone, I think, because of Fangirl.

I think about Cath when I’m on hour 6 of writing and I’m hunched over my laptop in the dark. I think about her when I put up fandom posters on my dorm room walls, or reply to fic comments, or straight up start crying because, besides fandom, I’m really lonely. (I think about her when I’m not so lonely too—when I talk to people and it goes ok, and maybe I can be person, actually).

I think about Cath when I’m scared. I think about her when I’m terrified and I just have to keep going anyway.

All that’s to say, I’m really grateful that Rainbow Rowell read so much drarry fanfiction wrote Fangirl, and I’m really grateful it was displayed at the front table of the bookstore I was in. I’m really grateful I read it, and related to it, and that I still do.

[lamentable-comedy]

writing simon snow fic is the correct response to reading the books btw. if for no other reason than to make cath avery proud

[poppletonink]

Best Quotes From 'Fangirl'

"I'm not really a book person." "That may be the most idiotic thing you've ever said to me."

'To really be a nerd, she'd decided, you had to prefer fictional worlds to the real one.'

"Read to me sweetheart."

"I'm scared of everything. And I'm crazy. Like maybe you think I'm a little crazy but I only let people see the tip of my crazy iceberg. Underneath this veneer of slightly crazy and socially inept, I'm a complete disaster."

"I choose you over everyone."

"Real life was something happening in her peripheral vision."

"There is nothing more profound than creating something out of nothing."

"Why do we write fiction? [...] to disappear."

"Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow."

"I'm the kind of girl who fantasizes about being trapped in a library overnight."

“I miss you." "That's stupid," she said. "I saw you this morning." "It's not the time," Levi said, and she could hear that he was smiling. "It's the distance.”

"I'm such an idiot. I can't even go nine hours without seeing you."

"How do you not like the Internet? That’s like saying, 'I don’t like things that are convenient. And easy. I don’t like having access to all of mankind’s recorded discoveries at my fingertips. I don’t like light. And knowledge'."

[elusiveprotagonist]

So pretty! Happy 10th anniversary to one of my favourite books of all time. I have read my original copy over and over so many times and I can tell this one will get just as much love with the lovely canvas feel of the cover, I can't stop touching it ❤️

[chronically-dumb-pessimist]

i wonder if im scared of dealing with my mental health problems because none of my favorite book characters ever have... so why should i. in conclusion: reading is actually shit and for the birds. thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[butchnavi]

i am the most cath avery coded person you will ever meet

[raeisprobablyreading]

I just finished Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

How am I supposed to COPE?????? I would give up my first born child to be with Levi.

READ TO ME SWEETHEART?????? in THIS ECONOMY????????

Fictional men have no business making me simp. I am a WLW BITCH FOR LIFE (unless you're a fictional man 🫶)

If you need me no you don't I will be losing my mind. :)

[gloster]

TAG GAME

6 fictional characters that you relate to! tagged by @narcobarbies

1). Gabriella Montez from HSM

2). Cath Avery from Fangirl

3). Kate Sharma from Bridgerton

4). Layla from Winx Club

5). Fiona from Shameless

6). Gloria from Barbie (2023)

Tagging: @negrowhat, @kila09, @kayla-charmanderrr96, @sebbies, @lexirosewrites, @starlitruns

[showmethesneer]

"They were just stories, but stories weren't just anything."

-Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

[drelizabethgreene]

I’ve been reading Fangirl over the last few weeks and I have a love/hate relationship with it. Like the first half of the book had great world building and I found Cath’s struggles in college to be so well documented and vivid, like I was living there with her, but the second half of the book has gone downhill. Why is she majoring in creative writing if she only wants to write fanfic? Not that there is anything wrong with that but then pick a different career path! Don’t tell your professor in fiction writing that you don’t want to do the assignment. Girl is lucky she wasn’t failed. I feel like Cath is kind of relatable and likable but also weirdly entitled.

And at first, I thought it was sweet that Levi supported her fanfic passion, but the fact that she spends so much time reading to him and he’s turned on by it feels infantilizing to the both of them. He even tells her “it makes you easier…” like is this what makes you want to have sex with her?

I’ll probably finish but this book is definitely a trip.

[merakicharm]

guys check out chatty book reviews on my blog!

[chemicalarospec]

finally picking up my Fangirl re-read again (it is DATED and I kinda love it for that) and aspec Cath tbh... "wouldn't want to kiss a stranger" and stuff. It's giving demi-ness, romantic or sexual or both. Knowing Rowell I think she'd also find just vaguely-aspec!Cath cool too.

[sadlittlehcrmit]

"What, why are you looking at me like that?" (Cath/Levi @fanboylevi)

She didn’t realize that not being able to see him for part of the year would have such an effect on her. With Abel, she didn’t feel anything. She had thought that she missed him — that the reason why she texted him when they both finally moved away and were attending their respective colleges…was because she missed him. But now? Now she knew that she felt like she had to out of the obligation of being in a relationship. Now, she felt an ache in her stomach that she couldn’t get rid of. Their phone conversations weren’t enough to satiate that pain in her stomach. She had written over and over again what it felt like to miss someone — someone you were in love with — and that felt mediocre compared to the ache in her stomach. In her chest. She understood why her sister would be glued to her phone when she was dating someone now. She understood just how much of a side table Abel was — and how much she hadn’t really cared about him.

So when he was there, at her home — it was extremely hard to keep her hands to herself, because there was absolutely no way that she was going to be affectionate around her Dad. Wren was fine. But her dad? She wanted to remain at least a foot away.

After dinner, the two of them were found in her room — her dad had always trusted them…probably far more than they should. The expression Wren had sent her when they disappeared into the room made her blush and roll her eyes before slipping into her room. Out of pure habit, she plopped down onto her bed and pulled her laptop onto her lap. She was getting ready to open it up — but the sound of the floor under his feet creaking distracted her. Her eyes followed him as he moved to sit next to her — taking in everything about him. That tanned skin, the deep widows peak — that she still always assumed was because of how much he liked to run his fingers through his hair. That absolutely sinful chin paired with that…stupidly handsome smile. His question only pulled her attention to his eyes.

“Oh—” a pause to push her glasses up her nose and she felt a heat rise in her cheeks while she gave him a smile that she hoped didn’t look as awkward as she thought it did, “It’s just been a while. And I’ve…missed you.”

[canwriteitbetterthanueverfeltit]

Desperately fighting the urge to ignore the rest of my life and start writing fic again

[apricusapollo]

it’s fixed!! let’s hope i am strong enough to actually write at least 1k words now!!

my dad is fixing my laptop right now because it kept glitching and when he fixes it MAYBE I'll start next chapter of paper rings ??? hmmm ???

[ineffable-grimm-pitch]

sitting in my freshman dorm with very limited friends and a mean roommate writing simon snow fanfiction bitch I AM cath avery