#I also might try and talk to one of the creative writing professors about some of this at the writer's lounge tomorrow

[whorediaries-09]

Hi! if you still taking requests I'd love to make another one about the love of my life, James Potter.

I know it might be super cliche but I was thinking about professor! James forgetting his lunch or maybe reader is a sweetheart who brings lunch to him and everyone at Hogwarts it's obsessed with them because they're sooo cute and they're like their cool school parents

Please and thank u, muak right to youuu.

ugghh this is so cute!! i loved writing this one!! i hope you like it!

labyrinth;

pairing- professor!james potter x professor!reader warning(s)- fluff. (let me know if i should add more) a/n- i literally changed a lot but it's low-key similar?? i'm sorry though i hope you understand, my brain could only come up with this.

little train.

' you would break your back to make me break a smile you know how much I hate that everybody just expects me to bounce back '

'good morning students! i hope you've got your models ready for today.' you say, walking into the class. the curtains have been rolled up perfectly by your plethora of eager art students, who chant a good morning, staring at you as your steps fall into the classroom. they know you like to work with the sunlight.

they scramble around their canvases and models, the soles of their shoes rubbing against the newly polished tiles. they look at you with eager faces, waiting for your model to appear. you raise your hands, addressing them.

'okay so this the first class is for realism - which annoys a lot of people over here, i know. but everybody has to pass these few assignments okay? i've to send them for supervision to the higher authorities so that they can ensure i've put on the correct grades according to the quality of the work.'

'because unlike you, they don't care about the creativity,' the political science professor enters the classroom, wearing his dazzling white smile. the students turn their heads, watching him enter the room. among the few students who know both him and you, there's rumbling. and among those who know you, there's questions rising of the cause of the sudden rumbling.

'quieten down kids, no more talking. this is a very important class. you'll learn the basics and the importance of this branch of art. mr. potter,' you look him in the eye. he visibly tones down his raised arms and shoulders, 'i need you to bring me two tools and a canvas.' he nods.

*-

james is sitting directly under the rays of the sun. they are golden, reflecting upon his beautiful dusky brown skin. it hits him in the eye, but he's still, letting you take your sweet time while you explain the theories and the basics of the art.

he likes how patiently you teach them the correct ways and methods while also consoling them by reminding them every other artist has a unique style and shouldn't be bound by some rules. you stay to teaching them the outlines of color theories, which couldn't be modified much when this art style was practiced.

he's also never felt this nervous and giddy. he's usually a very confident man, but within your presence, a few ties of his uptight confidence break, and all hell loses free. he's turns into a puddle right under your piercing gaze, which is unusual for a man like james potter. he would still remember the day you'd asked him to model for you. he'd gone home and giggled into the pillow like a high school high on hormones.

'hi, mr. potter,' you'd whispered behind him. he'd been talking to sirius. he'd been taken aback by your sudden appearance- and sirius' lack of reaction, considering he'd been sitting facing james.

he turned around, and by habit ruffled his already messy hair. he smiled, trying to hide the pleasant shock behind his eyes. he felt his cheeks warming up with the way you looked at him. sliding him a paper cup, you stood, twiddling with your thumbs.

'this is?-'

'chai! masala chai! consider it a bribe for the awkward question i'm about to ask.'

'nothing is awkward james, love. i think you'll be fine.' sirius said. he slipped his fingers within the crook of his jacket that had been hanging on the edge of the chair. he smiled, a mischievous uplift of his lips. 'but just in case,' he said, walking out of the room, leaving you and james alone. james gulped, following his friend's silhouette.

'so...'

'yeah, uhm so i was wondering whether you'd model for me? only if you're comfortable though!' james was sure the red hot blood rush into his cheeks was extremely was visible. he felt his nerves turn mush and stomach flip with giddiness.

'i don't particularly mind it no,' he said. he took the burning cup into his grip, taking a slow sip. he only hoped it wouldn't be too spicy.

'so you're up for it?' you asked. he saw the tension from your back literally lift up, and a glee float in your eyes.

'i am up for it,' he said taking another sip of the tea. 'but you need to tell me why me,' you rubbed the back of your head, laughing nervously.

'uhh... i think you've gorgeously complicated features which would allow me to teach my students with enthusiasm because i teach the best with complicated features. i don't mean it in a harsh way, i also think you're beautiful so...' he nodded letting your words sink into his brain and stop himself from taking you by your neck and press his lips onto yours.

'is it any good? the tea?' you asked, breaking the awkward tension and the lack of his response. you wondered whether you made him uncomfortable with your answer.

'it's perfect. the sweetness and the spiciness.'

it was not.

*-

'okay so carefully outline your vision for the model, and let your brains take over your mind! this has been a boring class i realize but please submit your homework by the deadline so i'll suggest ways for improving your work-'

'-because this is extremely important for your grades students. now the kids over here who are also in my class, i'll deduct grades if you all don't take her words seriously.' james completed for you, cracking his back and rolling his shoulders. the students booed mockingly. one of them, a fiery person too raised her voice,

'you're barely serious in your own classes!' james knitted his eyebrows.

'are you questioning my abilities of teaching?'

'no, i'm not. i'm saying you're not serious in your own lessons sometimes- and you're a pretty much of a goofball yourself.'

'that's fine, i can be a goofball and be a good professor too. ms. grace, please mind your tone, or i'll be obliged to turn into an insufferable old prat.'

'okay come on let's not create an unnecessary drama over here, you have theatres and mr. pettigrew to help with that.' you said, trying to calm down bubbling waters. the students picked up their bags, walking away. yet again, leaving the both of you alone.

james helped you put on your coat. he wondered whether his part was done. he wondered why he cared so much about whether his part was done or not. the question lingered at the tip of his tongue before he spat it out.

'is my work done now?' he asks. you linger, your back faced towards him. he feels a wave of heat from your body crumple over his senses. you turn around, facing him. the remnants of the sun rays surround him, filtering out his outline. there's something in his eyes. a string of vulnerability you've never seen in his eyes. a string of vulnerability he's never felt within his.

'no.' you say. your breath is hot, which falls on his lips. he gulps, noticing how close you are. somehow it feels natural. in your piercing gaze he feels his beating heart stop. it's as if your features are one hell of a drug, reeking him into a spiral of things he's never felt before. your beauty is surreal, captured within his memories and his heart. he wishes he'd capture the way he sees you onto the canvas.

'are you bored of me, james?' you ask. you've never said his name before. it sets his senses on fire, a creeping hotness melting onto his nerves.

'no,' he says. he moves closer, his mouth so close to yours. he wants to touch them, get drunk upon the reminiscent taste he's never tasted before.

'are you sure, james?' you ask, your eyes falling onto his lips. he nods, unable to answer. in your eyes, he sees his portrait in a beauty he's never seen before. his fingers slips into yours, and he feels them.

and he wonders, when your fingers work on the canvas, how you conceive him, how you decipher him. all he's sure of is that he's the most beautiful when you portray him.

*************************************

taglist - @reggieisfit @siriuslycaptainofthedawntreader @jamespottergf @eternallybipanicking @fictional-magic @iamgayforyourmom1510

(if you want to be tagged please send a request through my inbox.)

****************************************

[bettsfic]

18 and 19

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.

passage below the cut! this is from Skinless when Layla and Henry meet. by this point we've mostly been in Henry's POV, where his coworker Layla seems like a nice young woman with whom he is foaming-at-the-mouth obsessed. we get to her POV (second person because that's just how she thinks, and also this is a flashback because her pacing and story structure is entirely separate from Henry's because i hate myself i guess) and find out she's been totally deranged for Henry from the beginning. this is the first time we see Henry from outside his POV.

backstory:

the career fair scene went through many iterations but has become an unfortunate foundational turning point of the story, despite the fact that a commercial underwriting department of a bank would never be at a college career fair

i did once research every question of every exam for a class where i thought the professor was being cruel. i also went to the dean about it, and there was an investigation, and every single student in the class went from a C to a B. (that's how bad it was: we all had the same grade, based on basically nothing, which was deeply ironic considering it was a statistics class)

like Layla, i've also had the Kids in the Hall theme song stuck in my head for most of my life

ultimately Skinless is a light-hearted rom com about two walking red flags who are trying to make their relationship work even though one of them is not who he says he is and the other is plotting a murder

the ethics test at the bank was really only 10 questions

19. Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?

the first thing i ever wrote was a series of stories in my diary when i was 8 or 9, and they all had the same premise in different settings: a child lives in a community but everyone hates him (they were always boy povs) and eventually the child runs away or is killed by the townspeople and everyone is much happier with him gone. the end.

a wrote a bit more here and there until i was 14 or so, at which point i seemed to forget writing fiction was even a thing. i kept a journal from 14 onward and that was the only creative writing i did besides the occasional poem until i was 24 and started writing fanfic.

i'm now 34 and i have an MFA in creative writing and half a PhD, and i've had some short publications and won some awards and i do artist residencies sometimes and have an agent. i'm hoping to put two manuscripts out on submission later this year or early next.

one of which will be Skinless, an excerpt of which is below the cut.

from Chapter 5:

In your final semester of college, you attend a career fair. As you wander the booths, you begin to consider that there might be industries more suited to people like you. You spot a bank. The man standing at the booth is talking to someone. You notice immediately that his congeniality is feigned, proven when the applicant walks away and his face returns to apathy. 

He is wearing a sharp black suit. Black dress shirt. Black tie. He is in his late twenties, perhaps. He has light brown skin and his hair is buzzed close to his scalp in a way that makes you eager to touch his head, feel it against your palm. He is tall and broad-shouldered, but he holds himself like he isn’t, slightly slouched, the way people stand in public transit to give others more room.

Something about him piques your curiosity, and as you walk toward him the small spark of your initial question mark grows into something that consumes you. You can’t even tell what exactly is drawing you to him. It’s not his beauty—although, aesthetically speaking, he is quite pleasing. It’s not his attire, though it’s strange to see a businessman in all black. It’s not the bored blankness of his face that reflects how you have felt these past four years pretending to be a peppy sorority girl. But it’s something, and suddenly you’re standing in front of him and handing him your resume.

He takes it and scans it. This is a bizarre interaction, this not speaking and not acknowledging each other thing, but he doesn’t seem to notice. Without even looking at you, he says, “Tell me about a time someone blamed you for something that wasn’t your fault, and what you did about it.” 

His voice doesn’t match him at all, this enormous man with this soft yet vaguely robotic voice. When you say nothing, he glances at you expectantly. You feel small and young. He doesn’t even see you. You are just one student among the many he will speak with today. 

“Last semester I had a professor who didn’t like me so he tried to give me a B,” you tell him. “I guess because I kept finding errors in our exams and proving it by cross-referencing the textbook. And it was outdated, so even if the exam matched the book, I’d be able to find newer research that conflicted with it. In a fifty-question exam, he would have to throw out almost half the questions and everyone got a way better grade.”

“You researched every question of every exam?”

“Yep.”

“Why?”

“He called a girl stupid and made her cry. And anyway, it’s not really ethical to be teaching outdated research.”

“So you—”

“Got him fired.”

“Fired? Really?”

Not exactly. He just didn’t get assigned any sections the following semester. You shrug. “Adjuncts are expendable.”

“And you don’t consider any of that underhanded?”

“I’d rather be underhanded than complaisant.”

Briefly he looks you dead in the eye. It ignites something in you like a match being struck. All the stupid princess movies you hated growing up and which Candy still makes you watch are right: love at first sight is real, and it happened to you, the person least qualified to do anything about it.

When Angie from the bank’s HR department calls you to schedule a formal interview, you begin your preparations. You buy an interview outfit. You ask Candy to teach you how to do your makeup and hair. Then you study. Common interview questions. How to answer them. What the fuck underwriting is. 

You arrive at the bank certain that the beautiful career fair man won’t be there, but he’s the one who greets you in the lobby. He’s once more wearing all black.

“Hi, Layla, good to see you again.” He holds out his hand to you. “Henry King.”

“Henry King,” you say back, awed as you shake his big, beautiful hand and look into his big, beautiful eyes. You’re going to be Layla King one day. You promise yourself you won’t go home and practice your future signature, because that would be ridiculous. 

Now you are in an elevator with Henry King, going all the way up to the thirtieth floor. He opens his mouth to pop his ears at floor sixteen. 

“Mr. King?” You wait for him to say, Call me Henry, but he doesn’t. “Do you have any tips for me?”

“Wouldn’t that give you an unfair advantage?”

“Don’t you want me to have an unfair advantage?”

He looks down and away, scratches his head, and even though he’s not smiling you get the impression he’s pleased. “As long as you don’t admit to being a psychopath, you have nothing to worry about.”

“I would never admit that.”

The elevator doors open and he holds them for you to step out first. “Just be honest,” he says, “and be yourself.”

When you arrive on your first day, Henry King is waiting for you in the lobby again, and he’s still not smiling but there is something in his eyes that tells you he’s glad to see you. He holds out his hand and says, “Congratulations.”

You won’t be shaking Henry King’s hand. You hug him and he goes oof. Tentatively he pats your back. When you pull away, you say, “Thank you for getting me the job. It really means a lot to me.”

He seems to be short-circuiting, like you have suddenly initiated improv in a well-rehearsed play. It’s fine. You have the job now, and after all, he did tell you to be yourself.

During your training, you’re required to read the corporate ethics guide and take a ten-question test. The questions are so obvious that you don’t really have to read the guide. In fact, you only need an eight out of ten to pass—which has frightening implications for the state of ethics here—but you read it like you’re studying for the MCAT. 

The section on dating in the workplace is a single paragraph. Should two employees engage in a romantic relationship, it says, it must be reported to HR. It also says that a manager dating a direct subordinate is grounds for termination.

You hail Henry over to your computer and show him the company policy on dating. Any other person would see how obvious you’re being. Not Henry. Henry says, “The ethics guide is a CYA document.” 

He uses that acronym a lot. It means Cover Your Ass. More specifically, it means to analyze all documentation from the perspective of the documenting party, whose goal is, above all things, to avoid a lawsuit. And in the event of a lawsuit, to avoid losing it.

“Look,” he says, pointing at your monitor, bent over your shoulder as you sit in your desk chair, so close you can smell him. He smells so good it makes you angry. “It says you have to report it. It doesn’t say what happens after you report it. That means the decision moves to the manager of the employees in a relationship. Then HR can wipe their hands clean of it, and the manager can fire both employees, citing that a potential breakup would create a hostile team environment.” He points to the next sentence about managers and subordinates. “It says ‘eligible for termination,’ but it doesn’t say who gets terminated. Again, probably both.”

You look up at him. “So we really can’t date?” 

Given his lack of a reaction, he seems to take your “we” to mean all employees of the company.

“It’s unprofessional.”

 

Every day the stakes grow higher. You study Henry, in part, thinking that if you dig deep enough you will find nothing, you will discover he is like all the rest, boring, bearing the sad burden of existence and merely passing the time until death. Watching television. Picking up a hobby. Sports. Disgusting.

You decide that you must first befriend Henry King. You have learned that people like talking about themselves, and for the most part they love being asked questions, because it is the status quo in the world to be self-interested. For all your faults, at least you are not self-interested. You’re very interested in others, and you’re so glad to be able to see this, in some ways, as a strength. You are at once perfect at everything but also somehow have no admirable qualities. You ask Henry King many questions and he tells you, simply, “I’m not answering that.”

You take a different tactic: you tell him about yourself. You try to be interesting. The cool stuff you learned in the classes you took, the drama of Candy’s vocational school love life. He listens and goes “uh huh.”

Next, you try to make him laugh. You are a funny person simply because, like all things, you’ve trained yourself to be. You have watched many hours of standup comedy and sketch shows. You’ve had the Kids in the Hall theme song stuck in your head for most of your life. 

One day, you’re busy looking at a client file while returning to your desk and run into the cubicle wall. Henry King laughs at you. That’s a start. 

After many months being his personal court jester, you conclude that Henry King exists in the infinitesimal Venn diagram overlap between having a dry sense of humor and being totally unable to understand sarcasm.

You’ve been looking forward to your first annual review, seeing evidence of your excellence. You’ve spent this past year learning quickly, working hard. You work through lunch sometimes. You arrive early and stay late. You take on as many deals as you can, some weeks more than Henry. You make sure everyone on the team gets a card and a cake for their birthday. Finally, you enter Jerry’s office with a notebook and a smile.

Fifteen minutes later, you return to your cubicle with a single sheet of paper marking you adequate. In every category, you “meet expectations.” No raise. No bonus. No promotion. 

Henry has a bad habit of offering hard truths in a way that is not at all gentle. “Look,” he says when you slump down into your desk chair. When he begins a sentence with “look,” you know you’re about to hear something horrible. “You’ll never get an A at work.”

He goes on to tell you the worst of all truths—that banks thrive on inefficiency and hard work is rewarded with only more work. And if you do too much work, employees will start to get fired, because it’s clear the workload isn’t high enough to justify paying so many people. You’ll also set a new standard for yourself, and if you set that standard too high, if you burn out and stop meeting it, you’re the one who’s going to get fired. The only reward you’ll ever receive is the privilege of returning to work the next day. 

To prove it, he pulls a manila folder out of his desk cabinet and hands it to you. You open it. Inside you find eleven identical sheets, each one declaring Henry has met expectations for the year, each signed off by the revolving door of bookrunners.

He’s the hardest worker you’ve ever known. You have a crush on him, sure, but even if you didn’t, you would still admire him. He’s diligent and patient, level-headed. He’s at least as smart as you, if not more. In every way, Henry King has exceeded your expectations. 

After work that day, you cry in your car. You haven’t cried since the time you watched Lacey torture a squirrel, and you witness it with interest and confusion. You’re not crying; crying is happening to you. Henry passes your car on the way to his. He pretends not to notice.

The next day, he asks you to lunch. You tell him no thanks. He does what you do: leans on your desk and stares at you for so long that you can’t ignore him, which is actually super annoying. You can’t believe he tolerates you. And since you’ve never taken no for an answer, neither does he. 

“I’ll pick you up and carry you out of here,” he says, nudging your shoulder. You’re always touching him but this is the first time he has touched you. Your face feels very hot.

You enjoy the thought of him picking you up and carrying you. You like how big and strong he is, even though he doesn’t seem to know that about himself, like a giant dog that thinks it can sleep in your lap without crushing you. 

He might be flirting with you. You’ve never actually been flirted with. You go to the copier to get your printouts. They’re still printing. Suddenly you’re swept up into his arms. You yelp.

“Put me down,” you say.

“Not until you agree to go to lunch with me.”

He holds you like you’re no heavier than a big client file. You know you’ll get in trouble if anyone sees you, but everyone’s at lunch. He takes you to the elevators. 

“Okay, okay,” you say. “We’ll get pizza.”

At lunch, in a roundabout, somewhat evasive way, he tells you what a good job you’ve been doing and that he appreciates your hard work. 

“Thank you,” you tell him, choking up but refusing to cry in front of him. “I really look up to you, so that means a lot.”

A silence follows that would be awkward to anyone else, but you understand that Henry needs these occasional pauses. For him, silence is not something that stretches across time but must be carved into it. He makes spaces for feeling, for thinking, for simply being in the company of someone else. 

These traits make your crush grow to unwieldy proportions, but after a year of trying to get his attention, you’re still just a plucky young apprentice to him. You don’t know anything about him. You’re close to giving up and you’re shocked by how badly that hurts. A boy you like doesn't like you. Your broken-heartedness is so clichéd, so conventional, so boring, and yet it’s the worst thing you’ve ever felt. 

One day, you tell Henry a story about a high school friend, nameless, and he says, “Wait, is this Michelle or someone else?” 

You stop dead in the middle of the sidewalk. He listens. He’s been listening.

“Yes,” you say, “it’s Michelle.”

Another time, waiting for a table at lunch, you accidentally stand in the path of someone making their way to the host station. Henry puts a hand on your lower back and guides you closer to him, out of the way. 

Every once in a while, he plucks stray hairs that cling to your wool coat.

A new thing begins to grow, so nebulous and strange you don’t at first allow yourself to acknowledge it. Over time, it becomes too big to ignore, and finally you look right at it: 

You love Henry King. 

You no longer just want his attention, you want him to touch you, curl up on the couch with you and watch TV each night, have children with you, grow old and die with you. It’s disorienting to know something in your head immediately but not actually feel it until a year later. You wonder what other things you have only thought but not felt. You wonder how long you have confused thinking for feeling.

[fortheloveofenglish]

In Session with... Jessica Hindman

What made you study English?

A few months ago, my 3-year-old daughter looked out of the car window on a hot day and said, "Mommy, the sun is loud." Part of what excites me about creative writing is that it brings us back to the curiosity and wonder and creativity we had with language when we were very young. And that routine, mundane things can be made new again through fresh ways of describing them (the sun IS loud).

What made you choose the profession you are in now?

If you had told me when I was in college that one day I would be an English professor, I probably would have been very upset. I didn't particularly enjoy college, and I didn't major in English. But, life has a way of taking us in unexpected directions. When I was in my mid-twenties, I was working on several writing projects about the Middle East, where I studied during the early 2000s. To get help with my writing, I applied and was accepted to an MFA program in Creative Nonfiction writing. During the program, I won a competitive teaching fellowship that allowed me to receive free tuition in exchange for teaching. I was excited about the free tuition part, not so much the teaching. But the pedagogical training I received as part of the fellowship changed my life. It was there that I realized that teaching could be as intellectual an activity as writing; indeed, I began to see that learning how to teach writing was crucial to me becoming a better writer. I began to truly care about understanding my students' lives and helping them write what they wanted, how they wanted. From then on, I was on the path that led me to my current role. 

Any advice for graduating English majors and beginner English majors?

In my experience, the first few years after college graduation can be difficult. Gone are the days of knowing exactly what to do next. There is so much uncertainty, so much that is not within your control. And our current society is, in so many ways, a cruel one: There are few safety nets. If you find yourself lost, unmoored, depressed, filled with rage, cursing all of your choices in life, cursing in general--you are not alone. You aren't crazy or stupid. You are just in a tough time and tough place. Speaking for myself, the post-graduation years were some of the toughest, but they also ended up being some of the most important. I failed over and and over and over again. And all of those failures became the material for the book I would write, more than a decade later. I did not know much at the time (other than that I felt like a loser and my parents were mad that I wasn't making more money) but I did know to write down what I was seeing and thinking and feeling. And that writing—that sloppy, first-draft, sad-ass-journal-writing--that was the first draft of something that brought me to a much, much happier time.

My husband is an astronomy professor specializing in exo-planets, i.e. planets outside our solar system that might have life. We talk a lot about the process of going from being an amateur who loves something as a hobby (I love looking at stars at night and wondering if anyone else is out there!) to someone who is an expert (the extremely tedious and difficult math and science skills that have to be learned and perfected. The research that is so repetitive and finely-grained and slow, slow, slow). You don't just get a PhD in astrophysics and suddenly know how to find life in the universe. There is no class that can teach you how to do that—it is literally being figured out by the people trying to figure it out. 

I bring this up because the same thing applies to a new English major: the most important thing you can learn in college is how many things there are to learn and ways there are to learn them. This can be really frustrating. You keep realizing, over and over again, that you don't know the things you need to know. You don't even know the things you don't know! Take heart—that is the point. You will never learn everything, but you will begin to know where to find specific pieces of knowledge and how to learn specific skills on your own. That is the crucial thing you will take with you into your post-graduation life--how to always keep learning, keep searching. How to identify problems that don't have easy answers and work toward solutions in an intentional, creative, ethical way. 

[chronotopes]

about me meme spotted on the dash board what a great excuse to use up too much time answering questions

What's the origin of your blog title?

my favorite poem, "the idea of order at key west" by wallace stevens

OTP(s) + ship names:

help. not really in the stage of my life to have multiple otps, vriska/terezi homestuck + "vrisrezi" (or 'scourge sisters' if you're old school but i'm decidedly not)

Favorite color:

green and burgundy, though not together

Favorite game:

i so don't play video games, i find them fun when i do play them but i do not have the time. ive been known to engage in a Star Dew Valley in the past, which i am still fond of, even though my habit of ignoring the farm to go to the mines all the time maybe indicates that i should Play Another Game. the video game i have the most affection for rn is elden ring tbh which i do nooooot have the time or skill or dedication to play myself but i really liked watching jenny do it. maybe one day.

Song stuck in your head:

i'm listening to posing for cars by japanese breakfast rn so nothing is really stuck in my head

Weirdest habit/trait?:

i feel like my bad habits (picking at my cuticles, not refilling the water filter) are not necessarily weird and i can't think of anything else

Hobbies:

writing (though that might be more of a 'lifestyle' than a hobby), art when i feel like it, piano again lately (YAY). one day fencing will be on this list again but i'm still broke so it's still a no go lol

If you work, what's your profession?:

I write immigration law petitions (and mainly request for further evidence responses these days, which are little customized little letters where you yell at us immigration services for not reading the original petition) for stem researchers

If you could have any job you wish, what would it be?:

creative writing or literature professor at a small teaching college. sigh. oooor writing center director but that one's more complicated. i think i would also be good at working in publishing but i feel i would hate it so there is that.

i don't mind my job right now though, i just wish it had the kind of structure that allowed me to like list people as references.

Something you're good at:

writing (with room for improvement), cooking (both from recipes and on the fly), packing, summoning the energy to do important stuff (like packing, or a long drive), gift-giving, navigating train stations and airports, befriending my friends' gen x moms

Something you're bad at:

navigating things that aren't train stations or airports, being proactive about completing objectively easy work tasks fast, writing-related research, deciding what to eat for breakfast, emotional self-regulation (lol), inviting people i like to hang out, starting new hobbies, refraining from posting through it

Some( )thing(s) you love:

watching my girlfriend and friends' improv practices, the moment when writing goes from One Sentence At A Time to 'trying and failing to keep up with what your brain knows comes next', cold winter days in dc when downtown is empty of everyone but people who live in the area, the river in my hometown, green perfumes

Something you could talk about for hours off the cuff:

late 19th-early 20th century american tomboy literature :] also, adaptations as a whole

Something you hate:

there's plenty of serious things i could say but my first thought was 'how fast bathroom floors get gross'

Something you collect:

perfume samples lol not in the sense that i think of them as 'a collection' i just. happen to have a bunch

Something you forget:

periods of my life where nothing explicitly horrible is happening but i'm still too busy or sad to write in my diary

What's your love language?:

"I don't believe in love languages because they're Christian propaganda about how men don't have to love their wives." SO TRUE SEREN!!!!! that said um i do all of the love languages and like all of the love languages because they are all important to a good relationship. however 'quality time' is the one that i most profoundly need from people to not go insane, while that one and 'gift giving' is probably one of the ones that comes most naturally for me to offer to others.

Favorite movie/show?:

little women (2019) and star trek deep space nine.

Favorite food:

they tend to fall into one of two categories: Stewed Or Slow-Cooked Cozy Thing With A Great Depth Of Flavor (brisket, most beef braises, french onion soup) or Bright Acidic Summery Thing (most forms of tomato salad, any and all mango- or peach-based savory dishes, etc). man idk i like a lot of foods.

Favorite animals:

kity.......

What were you like as a child?:

ages 1–5 who tf remembers. ages 5–11 - quiet, shy, bookish, artistic, Sensitive Soul Whos Been Stomped On By The World (learned english by immersion in a very poorly classroom-managed kindergarden class a month after moving countries). ages 11–13 – LOL SO RANDOM warrior cats enjoyer writing one million novels at any given moment, insufferable know-it-all, seriousgirl who wants to be a funnyman so bad. as you might guess the last category is the one i feel the fondest of.

Favorite subject in school:

In middle school, consistently literature and science (we had separate english and literature classes). from sophomore year of high school onward, i knew i was Going To Be An English Major but that made me a lot pickier about teachers, and i hated both my ap lit and ap lang teachers intensely. so in sophomore year it was english, in junior year it was us history, and in senior year, it was..... good lord, it was probably calculus lol

Least favorite subject in school:

P.E. in middle school easily; in high school, health and wellness followed by algebra ii followed by ap lang followed by ap us government

What's your best character trait?:

Good lord I don't know. I think I'm a good listener and a fairly thoughtful and self-aware person, which makes me good at advice. I am also a very proactive and dedicated person when it comes to acting in collaboration with someone or on someone's behalf. So I was really good about setting up housing and utilities and logistics when Jenny and I had functionally a three-week window for moving across the state. On the other hand last year I waited until April 12th to file my own taxes so ymmv.

What's your worst character trait?:

I still have kind of terrible emotional self-regulation, and it gets worse the closer with someone I get and the better they treat me, so not to be a dramatic ya protagonist boy but the nicer you are to me the greater your chance of one day seeing me be truly stupid and evil about something.

If you could change any detail about your day, what would it be?:

I dropped an egg on the floor this morning which I would rather not have done.

If you could travel in time, who would you like to meet?

Virginia Woolf.

Recommend one of your favorite fanfics (spread the love!):

Homestuck: Read Vinbre the Novel, obviously. Or CHARGING THE VOID. Or And the handmaid shall take the hindmost. Or my most underrated non-Aivide fic, the truth must dazzle gradually.

Deep Space Nine: Read Scenes from a Disaster Zone, and then read it again.

[scionshtola]

For the creative brainworms that won't morph into gpose or fic, this is your invitation to just ramble about any creative idea that you have rn! I'm suffering from the same Affliction TM so I wanna offer some help lmao

ty nero! i hope we can both overcome our Affliction soon 😭

i've been going back and forth in my brain between a couple things. one is affair au which i've talked about too much for what little i have written aklsdjfsd and the other is the TA romance AU, a modern AU where shtola is a young university professor and cori becomes her TA. and. there's romance lmao. i started writing it a bit the other day because i have in my mind like a montage of scenes from the semester where cori is shtola's student and their building friendship/dynamic that leads to shtola asking cori to be her TA/cori offering to be it. but the sentences were not flowing and for some reason in my mind i have to do that before i can start writing any other scenes from it even though that really doesn't make any sense LMAO

also still want to write the corishtola first kiss and i think i might try to gpose it today and see if that sparks anything lol

[femmefatalevibe]

Hello!

Hope you’re doing great today.

How do you become your best self- like operating in your full Potential? There’s a girl I know of who’s super popular on campus and she’s great: a model, may be doing pageants one day (I encouraged her), and is super smart. Recently on IG I saw she’s at Harvard Business school studying and she has a major in Political science.

I’m an English major - couldn’t attach myself to any legal studies because it wasn’t for me and I get insulted by family that I should be doing something other than English (they look down on the major).

So I find myself comparing myself to her because I am trying to do different clubs, and speak up and be all that I can be. But I’m not seeing anything changing for me.

I get over looked a lot, and it’s a new school for me (I’m a transfer student) so that’s added.

And I’m so lost.

I often looked down on my degree, I do believe I should be a speaker or go to galas and study things that holds influence. To be a woman of change but I don’t see that. I haven’t gotten any scholarships for holding events for clubs, nor do I get recognized.

I feel like I’m not doing enough and I feel inadequate in my abilities (I literally took a creative writing class with fifteen other poets for a special class and the Professor would constantly nit pick at my writing and say I have to revise - and the other students would be praised for their writing. And I actually thought I was a great poet til that happened. And he’s a poet himself, and well known so that hurt. And was embarrassing cause my peers weren’t helpful or encouraging either. They would just stare at me while he critiqued my work).

Not sure who I should be.

I’m not even good at the things I thought I was good at.

But when looking at my acquaintance- I see such great things going to happen for her in her future (all well deserved).

Hi love! You sound like you're doing great for someone in university, honestly. Most people, especially at that age, do not take the time or energy required to self-reflect and think critically about how they can improve/ thrive in their environment instead of blaming external circumstances for any obstacles they face. You sound very emotionally mature, which I'm sure will take you far. Having so much uncertainty and little support is so difficult, so know that your feelings are valid regarding why you feel uncertain and like you're losing time in this current moment.

While it is easier said than done, comparing yourself to others is a waste of the time and energy you can be spending on ideas, hobbies, and activities that make you happy/help you reach your goals. Please know that people putting you down for being an English major is very closed-minded. There are so many career paths you can pursue with an English degree (signed someone who almost did one, lol) – copywriting, PR, social media/content strategy & creation, UX & technical writing, broadcast journalism, reporter, editor, screenwriting, etc. Also, he is one poet – that is an opinion, not a general consensus. He might be a professional and have considerable skills under his belt, but that does not make his words gospel. Writing quality can be fairly subjective. However, the way he singled you out is awful – I would talk to an advisor about this unprofessional behavior.

The best things you can do in a situation like this are three-fold:

Focus on taking care of yourself. Block out what others, especially critics, think or say about any choices you're making that don't hurt anyone else. Try to establish some healthy routines (meals, walks, workouts, studying, skincare, reading, etc.) to feel more in control of your day-to-day life

Sit down and reflect on the activities that give you energy, what you're passionate about, and the goals that you would most like to achieve in the few years after university and the immediate ones while you're still on campus. For example, it sounds like you're interested in writing, public speaking, and fancy events. Find resources to get good at these skills and ways to get yourself in your desired work environment (internships, temp service work for special events, etc.) Maybe consider potential career paths like PR or speech writing. Consider creative outlets like making a podcast, TikTok, or Youtube videos.

Make it a priority to develop confidence in yourself and an unwavering sense of self-trust. I feel like an old lady saying this, but you're so young and have so much time to figure it out. Everyone has different histories, traumas, resources, and advantages/disadvantages in this life. Spending time ruminating over those of others and comparing notes is taking away the energy and creativity you need to pour into constructing your own life and identity.

Hope this helps xx

[paragonrobits]

apparently that One Youtube I Hate has recently been notably quiet after a lot of criticism of her 'writing tips' (the criticism being both entertaining and good writing thoughts, or at least approaches to creative works), but some of her videos lately have been about how binary morality is good actually (which is not at all terribly surprising) and that she really hates Puss In Boots The Last Wish for being... immature, apparently

because it has a talking, zoro-inspired cat fighting what she describes as 'baby's first OC' and saying its immature and doesn't have a mature story

the movie in question is VERY EXPLICITLY about the main character coming to terms with the inevitability of death, accepting his mortality and to appreciate what he has and literally making peace with death

this is not a metaphor, Death is the character he fights as a metaphor for taking his last life seriously and treating it with value, the movie is VERY EXPLICITLY about coming to terms with the inevitability of Death, that is KIND OF THE OPPOSITE OF IMMATURITY.

I'm not surprised she's fixated on binary morality, especially in a Good Guys Beat Bad Guys way (or rather, that anything a hero does is good because they're the Good Guys, and should feel free to kill villains without hesitation or remorse) and is apparently still trying to insist that the Dark Side should be treated more gray, or that the best series are the ones that treat it like that, and that's weird because LITERALLY NO CANONICAL STAR WARS SERIES DOES THAT

some might treat individual dark side users as somewhat complex (if tragically doomed to lose themselves) but the Dark Side itself is evil and makes you evil, no quibbling about it. It's also fascinating we have someone who is fixated on the idea of the Dark Side being good or morally gray, when we already have an aspect of the Force that does that. IT's the Light Side; the Dark Side is very much conflated with the evil fascist Empire that does 10 zillion atrocities a day. The dark side's signature technique is a torture beam that kills people as painfully as possible, and i think there is certainly some interesting analysis in the people who desperately want the Dark Side to be good, despite literally all canonical materials indicating how evil it is

there is also something to be said about how these mindsets take offense at a setting where controlling your impulses, reining in your desire to act out in anger during the heat of a moment, or otherwise exercising discpline, and REALLY want the power set that makes you want to strange people with your brain to be a Good Guy power, basically having the villains be the heroes but change nothing else

but also whenever I think about this person mention the name of Tolkien I immediately feel great rage and my mind shouts "YOU GET THE PROFESSOR'S NAME OUT OF YOUR GARBAGE MOUTH THIS INSTANT. NOW GO TRANSLATE BEOWULF FROM OLD ENGLISH AND DETAIL IN ANNOTATIONS ITS LINKS TO ESTABLISHED NORSE SAGAS AND LATER INFLUENCE ON FOLKLORE AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'VE DONE"

[1800titz]

Hi! I’ve read everything you’ve posted and I’m on patreon and your stuff is very *chefs kiss* and such creative story lines! I had one thought the other day and I mean this as like. Helpful critique one writer to another. Like in the way that you don’t have to take this advice but I mean to help not hurt. You’re really fantastic at using creative imagery and unique words and you write very poetically. And most of the time it’s so good. But every once in a while it feels like a bit much - like I just want to know where he’s actually touching her or what they are actually doing. Like sometimes it takes a while to get to the actual action or narrative. Other times it’s really beautiful and flows so nicely and you create a really wonderful rhythm with it as well. You use it as a great narrative tool. But yeah in a *critique* way not a *complain/mean* way, you might want to consider pulling back and occasionally putting in some simpler more direct language. Especially at like the climax of a scene when I’m thinking “hurry up I want to know what happens next!” Bc you’ve told such a good story and I want to know! In the same way that the poetic language is a wonderful tool for some things, I think the simpler more direct language can be a great tool for other things. And by incorporating both it might make it more interesting to read. I had a professor talk about how when you change the style of language the reader doesn’t always notice that, but they do notice that the mood is different.

Again I LOVE your work and I intend this to be helpful not hurtful and you know yourself and your work best so if you don’t want to do anything with these thoughts that’s so valid!!

Hi! This is totally valid and I want to thank you for the support and for writing this in such a polite, friendly manner, because other times people don't do it so nicely.

I think I can understand where you're coming from. That being said, I also definitely make purposeful, lyrical prose choices. I'll probably never be able to understand why when you google "purple prose," the first thing to come up is "how to avoid purple prose," because to me, most literature that I enjoy borders on purple prose, if it already isn't. Like, genuinely, the kind of prose that other people hate and actively try to avoid, I will actively look for. It's just a preference thing. It's what I enjoy reading from others, it's what I enjoy writing. I think writing and reading stylistic decisions/preferences are entirely subjective, and I can also agree with you that a line of "he smiles" or "he holds her hand," as opposed to a chunk of flowery narrative, can add a delicate touch of simplicity here and there that I can appreciate. I think, as writers, we're always evolving and experimenting with our stylistic choices. I also am totally down with re-writes, and going back months later to edit things, and add new things, and take whole chunks out altogether, because I feel like that is the essence of writing, and I've done it before for sure! I go back, and I rewrite, and I put things in, and remove things, even if they're already uploaded. I've noticed a lack of ~simplicity~ in the earlier patreon posts for sure, which is why I go through, and edit here and there, and add things, and take things out. That being said, I purposefully avoid depicting actions a lot of the time, unless it's in a passage of smut (where it's mostly touch and movement and it makes sense to spell things out), because those things kind of unfold on their own in my opinion, if that makes sense. You can illustrate the movement occurring in a scene in three or four words if you wanted to, but you can't sense the depth of an emotion/turmoil/context in the same way, which is why that is a massive, massive part of my passages. I absolutely do not claim to be a pro in anything by any means, in any shape or form. I'm well aware that there are people out there who don't like my writing style at all. I just write things the way that I would enjoy to read them, and the way that make my brain happy. The fact there are people out there who enjoy it enough to subscribe and support me is unfathomably flattering, and I am really grateful for that.

But yeah! I totally get what you're saying, and I am no stranger to changing things and trying new things and growing out of/into new things. I agree that direct, simple language here and there can add a nice touch, and I'm totally open to incorporating a "he smiles" or "he holds her hand" here and there. The flowery metaphors and imagery along scenes are just a purposeful stylistic choice that I couldn't ever bear to part with.

Thank you again for supporting me and sending this in a really kindly worded way! <3

[mei-wixie]

Undertale University AU??

Hellooo I am new(ish) to tumblr and also the Undertale fandom but I just finished the game a few weeks ago (played neutral and pacifist, watched genocide on youtube because i do not want to kill them myself) !!!! And I loved it a lot so I am finally passionate enough about something to be creative with it So I was like why not make an AU-type thing where everyone goes to university? It's probably been done before (?) but whatever I get to do it again I'm currently thinking of maybe doing some comics and potential fanfiction / writing? Anyway so far I have planned out everyone's majors: Sans - Physics I chose physics for Sans because he's aware of alternate timelines in the game, so I think he would be interested in quantum physics specifically. Papyrus - Game Design I had trouble coming up with a major for Papyrus at first but finally decided on game design. Here he can be creative with all of his interests as well as create puzzles for players to solve. He also seems to be online a lot in-game so I think this would be perfect for him Mettaton - Theatre This one is pretty self-explanatory, he likes to be dramatic and will do great in theatre. There is also a cutscene of him acting in-game so I think it fits Alphys - Computer Science (with Biochem as a 2nd major or minor) Alphys very much programs in-game as stated by Mettaton when he talks about her naming programming variables after Undyne, and she builds machines and robots! And Biochem might change but I chose this based on her experiments in the True Lab, I felt maybe those would be considered biology? Undyne - Criminology (potential focus on forensics) Undyne is a cop in Deltarune so I felt like this major fits Napstablook - Music (minor in business) Napstablook seems to be very passionate about music so that is their true passion, but their parents wanted them to become a business major so they could carry on the family business. They were originally a business major to appease their parents but decided to just have it be a minor and follow their true passion. Shyren - Music Obviously Muffet - Literature Muffet talks very properly in-game and is also based on the fairytale "Little Miss Muffet" so I thought this would fit! Toriel - Theatre Professor? Maybe English At the end of Undertale hard mode (where you name yourself Frisk) Toriel reveals she was acting out being dead so clearly she has the ability to be involved in theatrics. But she also gives off English teacher vibes and likes to read a lot so I'm not sure. Maybe both? Asgore - Biology Professor In Deltarune, Asgore grows his own flowers. I also need the professors to teach classes the characters will actually attend so this works lol Alphys will be in his class W.D. Gaster - Physics Professor Specializes in quantum physics and has his own lab at the university where he conducts research. Some people find him a little shady, but Sans works in his lab and does research under him. I'm very excited to work on this more, hopefully I have the time!! I also haven't really drawn much before but I will try my best :P Thanks for reading!

[kimyoonmiauthor]

This week in people trying to overextend their Degrees...

https://twitter.com/ylecun/status/1742233111037870259

Original comment I'm responding to:

I'm afraid you totally misunderstood my point. 1. Many authors I know are more motivated by the impact of their intellectual productions than by the income it might generate through books and other publications. 2. Many of them face the following trade-off: will I give up income in exchange for increased readership by making my book free for download, or will I generate income while decreasing readership by charging for my book? (Note that offering a free download does not preclude also selling physical books). 3. The calculus is this: since the expected income has a 50% chance of being below $2000, I'm not going to drop my day job. Perhaps I should give up on what is likely to be a modest short-term income and maximize prestige and recognition instead. Prestige and recognition through intellectual impact can turn into future income (e.g. by getting a prestigious position). 4. Lots of people in the academic world have made this calculus and have offered their books for free download. Some of them simultaneously offer print version through publishers who don't mind (generally some non-profit university press). 5. Many of those people have realized that the free download, instead of reducing printed sales, actually *increases* sales. There are famous examples. 6. Academics are very familiar with the idea that you don't get paid directly for your writings. Scholarly publications (and talks) do not generate any income (in fact, they can cost money!). The income is indirect: intellectual or artistic impact is a precondition to a position in academia or industry research labs. 7. Computer scientists are also familiar with the concept. It's called open source software. You give away your software for free. Sometimes, your employer pays you to do so. Sometimes, you just want to make a name for yourself by contributing to an important project. 8. A similar phenomenon exists in music, particularly in jazz: a number of jazz musicians achieve financial stability through a teaching position at a university or conservatory. Additional income comes from performance. They get almost nothing from recordings. I'm not suggesting people shouldn't get paid for their work. In fact, I find it quite sad that most people can't live off of their creative work. If you can make a living by selling your books, music, or video games, more power to you! But I'm wondering whether the modus operandi that is prevalent in the academic world and the open source software world could not apply to other types of intellectual and artistic production. It may cause some creative productions to exist that would not otherwise see the light of day because of lack of commercial interest from publishers.

1. Many authors I know are more motivated by the impact of their intellectual productions than by the income it might generate through books and other publications.

Many Who? Did you read #Publishingpaidme? No? Really? Did you see the last person who declared something like this and people jumping on them—it was an agent? You haven't been paying attention. Many who? Cite your sources. Do you have sources or any publishing experience in novels? I have industry experience and I can cite sources beyond one article. Should we start with Bisheng in China?

Authors and writers who do creative works are more desperate, but want to be paid and paid fairly.

Backing into the "many" without citation creates a fallacy. You can do better as someone who teaches at NYU and has a degree teaching computer science. (Though no lie in my last project on story structure, professors were the worst at citations. And yes, I can name names with that and posted long and ranted long about that and their plagiarism.)

2. Many of them face the following trade-off: will I give up income in exchange for increased readership by making my book free for download, or will I generate income while decreasing readership by charging for my book? (Note that offering a free download does not preclude also selling physical books).

This is because society, in general misinterprets creativity and devalues it as a "real skill" It has nothing really to do with your first assumption. Much like AI often pulls from large creative datasets and devalues creativity and artists' skillsets.

Also, this doesn't prove to be true, but then you haven't really looked at selling models for books. There are more complicated things going on that you don't know and aren't accounting for.

Like the psychology of reviewers and trying to game for more reviewers when your book isn't getting attention, which you would know if you knew the last debacle with the whole gaming the Goodreads reviews by over reviewing.

The calculus is this: since the expected income has a 50% chance of being below $2000, I'm not going to drop my day job. Perhaps I should give up on what is likely to be a modest short-term income and maximize prestige and recognition instead. Prestige and recognition through intellectual impact can turn into future income (e.g. by getting a prestigious position).

Ummm… this isn't calculus. Did you take Calculus? I did This seems like a mix of unsupported statistics pulling numbers wherever you feel like it without cross referencing.

You're trying to use fancy words to sound smarter while proving you don't seem to understand basic psychology and don't know how publishing, artists, or self-publishing works.

Most artists don't do things for prestige value. They don't want to be famous. It's more like sharing is caring. This might be your value set, but it's not everyone's. Have you interacted with artists and creatives? The majority of the time we're swapping different techniques and trying to help each other to the top, again, see Xiran's expose on Goodreads debacle.

For those who want to be famous, etc, you know what they preach over and over again? Don't fuck this up for the rest of the artists: Make sure you get paid for your art.

Do you need a name? John Scalzi. He is famous for saying both things.

You need another name? Harlan Ellison. Harlan Ellison argued freaking hard for this. He won court cases for us. He is famous for preaching over and over again to make sure you get paid while also wanting the prestige.

Most artists that want prestige alone don't survive in the publishing industry. It simply doesn't work because you need the skill set to go with it, and there are certainly less masochistic ways to gain prestige.

You have who exactly? Desperation isn't the same as knowing marketing skills.

Lots of people in the academic world have made this calculus and have offered their books for free download. Some of them simultaneously offer print version through publishers who don't mind (generally some non-profit university press).

This isn't calculus either. Many who? This is also false equivalency. There is a faster road and more sure road to this than getting a novel published or a nonfiction book published. You should realize the fallacy of this and also be able to own you just don't know the artists that create the art you're claiming on.

Many of those people have realized that the free download, instead of reducing printed sales, actually increases sales. There are famous examples.

No. It increases customer dissatisfaction, actually to give things away from free. I can cite Mur Lafferty with a lot of interviews with self-publishers. You have who, exactly to back your assertion?

Second one backs the assertion. I could go more academic, but it's not like you're pulling anything to support your assertions, despite being an NYU professor.

It's actually a higher satisfaction rate to charge for your book rather than to give it out for free. You get better reviews. So when people charged 1.99 for their books over free, the amount of reviews and reviewer satisfaction went up. This might be inverse of what you expect, but this is well-known among self-pubbed authors.

Psychologically, this is inverse because sometimes people think cheap is lower quality. And free is the equivalent of a mattress left on the curb–it must be used and worn and not very good–in fact it might have bed bugs.

Academics are very familiar with the idea that you don't get paid directly for your writings. Scholarly publications (and talks) do not generate any income (in fact, they can cost money!). The income is indirect: intellectual or artistic impact is a precondition to a position in academia or industry research labs.

Academics is not the same thing. You're asserting that you know because oranges are also fruit like apples, so growing oranges must be exactly like apples. That's not the case. Because Academia takes a different skill set, but a related skill set from creating books in the creative sphere. It doesn't seem you have enough publishing knowledge to back your claim, so you try to make a related claim and then claim the feelings around it must be the same.

Because the proess of publishing nonfiction and novels and short stories is different from academia, the atmosphere and the reasons why people want to publish or have a publishing career also change. There is a lot of difference in this industry compared to academia.

But it's not. It simply is not. Also, academic papers get better pay than your average article. Ask me how I know this. I fucking looked it up. You get better residuals too, in the form of prestige means you get better pay in your career itself. It doesn't work this way in general publishing. You can fuck up one day and lose your entire career. The publisher says goodbye, no more sorry, you didn't sell well that we no longer want your books. BTW, you need a reference? Brandon Sanderson said this on Writing excuses that he felt lucky that he's been able to have a continued career in this regard.

Computer scientists are also familiar with the concept. It's called open source software. You give away your software for free. Sometimes, your employer pays you to do so. Sometimes, you just want to make a name for yourself by contributing to an important project.

Open source software is totally a different type of field and psychology from what you're arguing here. Also false equivalency and computer science as a core career pays well, that people can do it for prestige? No. They want to innovate the field further and try to find other computer programmers and learn and explore things.

My Dad was a computer engineer. I know this from personal experience of being near computer engineers. I know how they think. I also worked professionally in UX. You're thinking the psychology must be the same without experiencing the people. This is over extending.

A similar phenomenon exists in music, particularly in jazz: a number of jazz musicians achieve financial stability through a teaching position at a university or conservatory. Additional income comes from performance. They get almost nothing from recordings. I'm not suggesting people shouldn't get paid for their work. In fact, I find it quite sad that most people can't live off of their creative work. If you can make a living by selling your books, music, or video games, more power to you! But I'm wondering whether the modus operandi that is prevalent in the academic world and the open source software world could not apply to other types of intellectual and artistic production. It may cause some creative productions to exist that would not otherwise see the light of day because of lack of commercial interest from publishers.

No. You're jumping in order to cover your lack of knowledge of a thing. Focus on the feelings of the publishing industry. Show your knowledge of the people that produce books.

Jazz Musicians don't have the same psychology either.

So, in total, you're confessing you don't know anything about publishing industry, how it operates and who is working in it and for what reasons, but assert you must know because apples are fruit like oranges, so you have to be growing apples and oranges in the exact same way–don't you water them and put them into full sun? So then you must be able to understand that how you grow them and the pests that come onto them and the things the farmers have to care about as an apple grower and an orange grower must be exactly the same.

This is how your argument sounds like. Why not actually do the investigating and stop spitballing and, ya know, act like an academic and ASK THE PEOPLE and stop doing your backfire effect in the wrong way?

Also, it might behoove you to look into scams writers face and why people fall for those scams.

BTW, Anthropology Degree and minor in comp lit. Also published. So yeah, I know what I'm doing when I pick on your argument.

[elleenvs3000f23]

Blog 10 - Where I started, what I learned and my personal ethic as an interpreter

Why I wanted to learn about interpretation

I first started to consider the value and role of science outside just curiosities sake seriously in first year. I was working as a research assistant to a prof and in the early days of lockdown was waist deep in trying to outline and plan my research project on hydrological connectivity. My professor kept talking about how we needed to find our story - did we want to make research that talked about agriculture and changing land use? Did we want to make a new piece for the climate change puzzle by looking at how incoming precipitation changes would move around the watershed? Did we want to comment on urbanization and the changing structure of our landscape? 

I realized very quickly that my research and work as a scientist was going to be much more complicated than the experiments I did in highschool labs, or even the modeling I was currently working on in GIS. Science for science's sake is fun - I think a good baking-soda volcano is a testament to human creativity and the wonder of the little things. But experiments alone don't exactly draw funding and publications - or better yet, inspire real action and as our school would put it "improve life". Learning how to communicate my work as a scientist has since become a goal in my undergrad and was what led me to this course. In a scientific paper, sometimes you read a few sentences about the background of a place or the people that might be impacted by X phenomenon but the papers are never actually written for those people. I think interpretation can be a vehicle for bridging academia and communities in a two way street. 

In our reading for unit 10 we watched a video conversation between David Suzuki and Richard Louv. One thing Louv said that really resonated with me is the impact our imagined futures have on the world. If people think that they are separate from nature, or that environmental movements are futile, we are bound to head towards that envisioned world. I think being able to share research and nature itself with general populations is crucial to making sure we as a community are on the same page about what we value and what we want the future to look like. 

What I brought with me into this course

I come from a family of storytellers. My mom writes children's stories, my brother is an actor studying journalism, I do improv theater - family dinners are always a riot. Early in the course I would always try to anchor my blog posts to a story or experience I had - it felt like a way to make my work both unique and relatable. I think this anchor in storytelling is natural to me and I love the work I produce as a result of it - I think it is crucial to my approach to interpretation and I don't plan on losing it anytime soon. In the video of Louv and Suzuki linked above - they also both start the conversation with personal stories that connect their lives to nature - it is clearly a powerful tool to build engagement and emotional connection. 

My moments of connection to nature are often grounded in my workouts - running and kayaking. I think the fact that I see nature as a place to push myself and let go of stress is important to how I interact with interpretation and would share nature with others. We talked about risk and interpretation in unit 3 and how being exposed to some level of uncertainty and hardship can push us to build resiliency and discover new abilities in ourselves. That unit also taught us to think carefully about what thresholds of risk are acceptable and how to know when to step back and re-evaluate. I have been on both ends of this rope - having some of my best times being recorded because I got lost during a run but also reaching a point where I pushed too hard and had to call a friend to pick me up from the trail when I got heat stroke. I think having this experience and attitude towards time in nature as time to test limits is a unique counterbalance to my hopes of sharing more academic knowledge as an interpreter - Is there a niche for nerdy-jocks? I think that’s who I want to be as an interpreter. 

What I learned about myself and interpretation 

This course opened my eyes to how we can interpret more than just information and facts. Music and art are also crucial to connecting with and understanding nature. I have to give more thought to how I could connect these to my own interpretation; I write songs but doubt I will be confident enough to share them with an audience any time soon so perhaps art and music can be a way to bring collaborators into my interpretation. I often mention my friend Jack and his photos on this blog so continuing to talk to and share the work of local artists would be something to include in my approach to interpretation. 

Overall I think my initial impression of interpretation as a way to communicate science was narrow minded. Interpretation needs to be a two way street that connects with the beliefs and values of the people participating - maybe they can even give inspiration for new research questions as I begin to understand their needs and questions!

My responsibility and ethic

I want to

Celebrate local environments

Integrate physical activity with time in nature

Make communicating research essential to my interpretation

Connect communities to relevant research that impacts their lives

Make work that is relevant to current issues and questions and motivates action on issues such as habitat loss, water resource protection and climate change

I need to make sure

Make sure emphasis on physical activity doesn’t exclude disabled people form my work

Make sure that higher risk interpretation activities have an awareness of when risk has gone to far and have an exit strategy

Make sure I am as accurate and faithful to the science I share

Make sure I people are able to continue to engage with what they learned

A summary of my approach to future interpretation

I am a water researcher - it's been my work throughout undergrad, I will study pollution and water quality for my masters and I hope to continue to a pHd. As I mentioned in my earlier blogs, I believe that water is a great connector of people and nature. Water has great historical importance as we established communities along the shores of water bodies and traveled oceans and rivers. We can’t live without it but people are very disconnected from it as a resource that comes from taps and bottles. I want to make sure that I am connecting my interpretation to high quality science as well as the needs of the local community. In my home of Guelph/Fergus, a great deal of concern exists around protecting groundwater reserves from the bottled water industry and a key landscape feature is the Grand River so I would focus my interpretation around the history of the Grand and the environmental role of groundwater and rivers. I also think by encouraging participants to share their memories, stories and art of time in nature I could help build connection. I want to do an interpretation that is directly relevant to the issues facing the environment and communities and I believe that we can all benefit from spending more time outside and being active. In a single sentence I want to do scientifically based, community focused interpretation with an emphasis on physical activity.

[abiiors]

Hi!! Can you please talk more about your job as an editor?? I’m really interested in that field and I’m trying to research how to get started so I’d love to hear about your journey!

absolutely darling!

so for starters, i have a degree in creative writing but we had modules on publishing and editing which were quite helpful to me. i think what you want to do for very basics is figure out what genres you like the best/feel the most comfortable reading etc. i personally do romance with a mystery thriller here or there so i don't get bored lol.

editing for litfics, poetry, non-fiction would be very different to editing for romance or mystery thrillers so i think it would be better to try out a few different genres to figure out what you like best.

when i was doing my creative writing course in uni, i asked one of my professors if he would write me a letter of recommendation for internships since he ran a magazine at the time. anyway, looking into internships or entry level editorial assistant jobs might be your best bet.

now i will be honest with you; an editorial assistant is a bit of a shit job. the publishing industry is unfortunately not that great to entry level staff but the good news is it doesn't have to be permanent. the whole point of it is to get some experience in trad publishing. another psa - editorial assistants don't actually do any editorial stuff, mostly just admin stuff. the most you'll get is proofreads for cover blurbs/newsletter stuff etc. regardless, it's definitely a learning opportunity.

i think it's also good to figure out if you're more interested in the big names like prh/s&s etc (opportunity to work with amazing authors but they also tend to treat entry level staff like shit) or if you're more interested in working for indie presses (which is what i do). there's always the option to go freelance but i can't advise you on that because I've never done it.

if you're interested in publishing in general instead of just editing, you could also look into other career options like agenting or graphic designers/illustrators etc.

bit of a long answer but i hope it helps x

and you can always reach out to me with more questions <3

[realposter]

BLOG 3

BLOG 3 (Warm Up: Word Substitution Poem) 

The word substitution poem was a challenge to me because we had to follow the example instead of using our own words and ideas. I understand why we needed to do it; we had to practice the proper way poems are written. 

I did not write poems. I did years ago in a class I took, and one poem made into the Cygnet student publication back in 2012, I think. I am taking this class because it is required for the Creative Writing Certificate. However, I am enjoying it. I have read some poetry in other classes, but I have never gravitated to it until now. I am loving it and hope I do well. 

The way some poets form their words, like Mya Angelou in “Still I Rise”, I may not write poetry now, as Huey and Kaneko say, to call myself a writer, but still, I rise as a poet. 

I believe in growth at any age. You should bloom where you are planted. I am rooted in this course and will try my best to succeed. I had some obstacles, and I am letting them become opportunities. My computer failed, and I had to get a new one and set it up, which set me back. I did everything needed for the deadline that did not require a computer to keep up. I am always ready to go the extra mile. Booker T. Washington says, “I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed". 

I have learned some important lessons in my life. Lesson one is to be flexible to see life from a different perspective. Lesson two always remember that change is the only constant in our lives, and lesson three, you are never too old to grow. I learned these lessons well and am reminded of what Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The reward of anything well done is to have done it.”, and Henry W. Longfellow said, “Do thy duty that is best; leave unto the Lord the rest”. I truly believe these two quotes. 

Huey and Kaneko spoke of community. It involves sharing ideas, dreams, problems, concerns, fears, supporting, nurturing and nourishing. To communicate successfully, be a good listener. It is a very important life skill. When speaking to people remember unintelligent people talk about other people, mediocre people talk about things and bright people talk about ideals. 

#word substitution 

Blaze 

1 note 

realposter1 

Feb 2 

BLOG 2: INTRODUCTION TO POETRY 

I always thought poems had meaning, but I had a problem figuring out the meaning. It is encouraging to know that I am not alone. The text says that poems can have multiple meanings, but the poet will have a point of view that we can follow. That is what I hope to glean from this poetry class.  The text tells me we have three brains, a Lizard, an animal, and a human. I am beginning to see the light after being sparked by the lizard. Now, I am waiting for the animal to respond. Soon after, the human brain will see the light and shine much brighter as the semester progresses, and the communication and connection merge ideas together with the class and the professor. 

Sometimes, we must understand that there might not be a clear meaning. It is the experience of the journey that is important. 

What does talent have to do with it? There are four talents a writer of poetry must have.  One talent you need to write is to be able to sit on your buttocks doing hard work writing, which is a great quality for a writer to have. Talent is also a brave soul who can muster up that innate courage and vulnerability to put his thoughts out there for the world to read. Each poem you write is a representation of you. And talent is the willingness to accept doubt. I am working on that, but that is normal. Writers are supposed to struggle with putting words on the page that show you care. Finally, talent is learning how to inspire yourself. I can certainly do that. Please don’t wait for inspiration, that you can find in everything you see, wherever you go, whatever you do, and even everywhere in the atmosphere. 

What does it mean to be a poet? It means you think of yourself as a writer, perceptive, and observant. You keep their eyes wide open, looking for material to write about. A poet makes writing a priority. You give up all else. Nothing remains but poems you read and write with an open heart of sympathy and community. 

My main preconception of poems was that they all had meaning you can pin point, and I had no idea poems consisted of metaphors and similes. However, I am ready to learn how to read and write poems this semester. 

#reading poetry 

Blaze 

2 notes 

[cavewretch]

captains log #755680 i don't remember how many numbers i used to put

been a while since i wrote one of these so it's Long

day 355 of the genocide in gaza. 500+ people killed in one day in lebanon. my neighbors put an israel flag in their window. hinds hall 2. i started watching this guy on youtube who does "gaza war sit reps," essentially summarizing events and the resistance's actions. he also does "tankie therapy sessions" with other ml journalists which are helping me keep it together. my mom said i looked down today and i said it's been a rough news week. she asked why. i'm trying not to let the rage and despair and biting indignation seep into my every interaction, but it'll be day 365 soon, and majority of people around me callously keep their heads firmly in the sand. how are you not also fundamentally different? how do you ignore this? aren't you at least ashamed?

no doctors will listen to me about mast cell activation syndrome. i don't almost die when i get a reaction so it doesn't count for them. i fear im getting more sensitive to triggers. i didn't get to go outside much at all this summer because of dust and pollen counts, and we didn't even have many wildfires this year. my pt said i should still do design for theater, and that i fit the vibe. "cool, chill, sure of yourself." that felt nice to hear :3 i tried to explain that i would love to, i desperately want to, but like. i get a migraine from other people's detergents. scented air fresheners force me to leave an area. i can't be in that environment anymore. not to mention my physical limitations.

i miss stimulants. pharmacies love to make you do a little dance before u can get meds. i hate being Dependent.

i can feel myself spinning out a bit on photosynth. i feel like i need to have something new every week to show to my professor, when i used to sometimes not even have a new note or idea for two months at a time. i think i need to turn the creative soil but i don't know that i have the energy for it.

i told my dad im a communist, and his first reaction was to tell me to talk to my grandfather about "living under communism" (former yugoslavia) (he left in the early 60s tho. and he lived on an island. his village has 6 houses to this day. he did not see socialism. i digress). this was a fascinating response considering my grandfather disowned my father in a fit of rage in april. do you still not think your father might be wrong about some things?

anyway. we bickered for a half hour, and the next day he informed me he downloaded the communist manifesto. probably the last thing i expected to happen but i'll report back if he actually reads it lmfao.

i've been watching a lot of documentaries on natural disasters and storm chaser videos on youtube recently. i've always had a fascination with extreme weather but i'm watching a lot lately. if you'll allow me to psychoanalyze myself. it's awe with weather and how the earth works. it's also a reminder that the world is bigger than humanity, we're part of an ecosystem. it's also a reminder that not all damage comes from us to each other . and that we can't possibly control everything. and it's nice to see people help each other. idk. it feels a bit twisted. but isn't it incredible that wind and temperature and water can mix up and spin and do all that?

writing about lesbians is very difficult. writing about lesbians under the (albeit lax) supervision of an older man in a position of authority over me is even more difficult. every time i feel the horror in the pit of my stomach i remind myself of that tweet that was like u have to write for u & ur dick (something like that) . and it actually Isn't perverse and evil . it's actually fine. (gritting my teeth)

ok thats all i got for now . disjointed wretched brain sample . good night 🤙

[magnus-sm-writes]

Short Story Update: End of 2023

Believe it or not, when I’m not writing novels, I’m typically working on short fiction. I know I talk a lot about my poetry—and believe me, I do write quite a few poems—, but I’ve been trying to work on my short fiction since October of last year. 

What really got me going was the realization that it had been a full year since my last (and only, as of writing this) short story was published. “The Ghost You Left Behind” was published in Coffin Bell’s October 2022 issue. I got a little panicky about that (I think I cried). I’d put off both writing and attempting to submit short stories for quite some time due to the hectic events of my 2023. In short, I needed to do something. I was getting antsy.

I realized I needed to challenge myself more. Constraints equal creativity for me. It’s about testing myself, pushing to see if I can still write to a prompt or not.

This update showcases two short stories of mine: “The Boy & the Hag Stone” and “Plastic Fangs”. 

Out of both of them, you might think that “Plastic Fangs” was written first. But I actually began “The Boy & the Hag Stone” in October, and didn’t begin writing “Plastic Fangs” until December. What can I say? I’m a spooky boy year-round, except when it’s spooky season. Then I’m just a regular boy.

For both of these stories, I was inspired by visuals. Honestly, for any story, I am inspired by visuals. I don’t think in words; I think in pictures.

For “Hag Stone”, I was thinking a lot about the stone in Coraline. That cool little guy is actually rooted in beliefs that hag stones protected you from evil, and that looking through one could reveal hidden evils. Not exactly how it’s used in the movie, but I’m willing to give it a pass because I’m a sucker for a good Laika movie. I was also inspired by how much I personally hate wearing shoes. (I work in an office, and my coworkers know that I am most focused without my shoes on.)

“Plastic Fangs” was fun because it was my Halloween piece. (Just two months late on that, as always.) I had this idea of a scene where a vampire went as himself for Halloween. Not a very original idea, I know, but I was so inspired that I drafted the story in less than two days, and wrote a second draft in just as much time. 

(This is why I thought I could easily finish 2 short stories in the month of February. Which I did not do.)

These stories flowed from me with an ease that felt almost surreal. It was truly incredible. Perhaps that was because I had just gotten my full-time job and was finally able to stick to a schedule. Writing around an hourly work schedule was difficult for me because it was so unpredictable. However, with my work hours set (and by virtue of that, my writing hours set as well), I can easily finish more writing now than I could before, when I had objectively more time to finish things.

Both of these stories were fun additions to my growing collections of stories with fantastical elements. 

“The Boy & the Hag Stone” is about Rishi, a man who’s a little directionless in life, and the strange man he meets called Banshee. Banshee is the biggest manic pixie dream boy I’ve ever written. Quite frankly, I want to write more for him, even though he’s a very difficult person to write dialogue for. 

It is a little over 5000 words, though it needs some serious revisions. Somewhere in the middle, the style completely changes. I was going for a vaguely fairytale-esque vibe, in honor of the professor who encouraged me to write fantasy once again. It didn’t exactly work the first time around. Hopefully, a second pass will allow me to salvage the idea, because I think it fits the tone quite well. Banshee is mysterious enough to be a small-town folk legend. Funnily enough, that is my ultimate goal in life. 

My quote for “Hag Stone” is from Coraline, of course: “I think most things are pretty magical, and that it’s less a matter of belief than it is one of just stopping to notice.” I think that describes Banshee’s outlook on life perfectly. It’s not only that he himself is magical: he believes the world is full of magic, and that he’s just more attuned to it than the average person. 

What I love most about “Hag Stone” is that Rishi is just as willing to go along with Banshee’s weirdness as I would be. He’s having a far more interesting early-twenties crisis than I did. Mine ended (I think) when I became an administrative assistant; Rishi’s ended when he met a man who could see the future. We are not the same. 

EXCERPTS

His mother had swallowed a hag stone when she was pregnant, they say. He blew through town for a wedding. Though his name was Ian, they called him Banshee. 

Banshee came into people’s lives just as they needed him and left like a ghost. He was wild and unkempt, save for the polished stone around his neck, and had blank, colorless eyes like asphodels. I was a fool to let him sieve through my fingers, but I know I’ll see him again.

For some reason, I thought he would taste earthy. Like a mouthful of dirt, or of sand. Rotting leaves. Or like a mouthful of sugar. Pure and sweet. Like home, turmeric and sweat and heat, or home, wood polish and vanilla perfume and fresh laundry, or home, dust and stale noodles and horse. Banshee tasted like none of that, but somehow made me think of all of it. He tasted like a new home I could slip into. 

Songs I listened to while writing “Hag Stone”:

Haunted House - Florence + the Machine

Nobody - Mitski

Almost (Sweet Music) - Hozier

I Will Wait - Mumford & Sons

The second short story, “Plastic Fangs”, is one of my favorite things I’ve ever written. Marcellus is a vampire on the hunt for a lover and a good meal all in one. He finds that in Abel. But all is not as it seems.

It’s a rather wordy short story at 5800 words. The ending is the shakiest part. That much is typical of how I write short stories. (That is: with no ending in mind, only what feels natural.) 

“Plastic Fangs” was one of those works I finished in two days at most. I actually began writing the second draft before I finished the first. Marcellus experienced such dramatic character development in the middle of the story that I just had to change the beginning because it didn’t fit anymore. Originally, he was just a run-of-the-mill, angst-filled vampire. Now he’s just a strange person that reads people’s diaries to learn their deepest secrets. For a dead guy, he’s full of life.

Abel is a good contrast for Marcellus. He’s a little angsty, pretty lost. Marcellus has had a lot of time to figure himself out; Abel hasn’t. That’s what makes their dynamic so interesting to me, I think. They have different life experiences. 

I’m certain that “Plastic Fangs” will take far less time to edit than “Hag Stone”. For one, it’s already had one round of edits. I also didn’t take any risks with the prose. It’s a pretty typical example of my style. I could see “Plastic Fangs” and “The Ghost You Left Behind” taking place in the same world. They have the same sort of vibe to them. 

The quote for this short story is from Rachelle Lefevre: “The thing I love about vampires that I find so fascinating is that, unlike other sci-fi creations, they aren't monsters from the get-go, they're human beings first... and so what kind of human you are would dictate what kind of vampire you would be.”

EXCERPTS

In October, Marcellus’ penchant for the dramatic—that which made him what he is today—gets to come center stage as he attends various costume parties, parades, festivals. He buys a set of flimsy plastic fangs that sit strangely in his mouth. Tacky in a charming way. An amateur stage adaptation of Dracula. 

Marcellus loved performing Doctor Faustus in the troupe. We understand Faustus better than nearly anyone, Julius said, because we’ve already sold our souls for profane power. He understands making selfish decisions; Faustus was only his favorite because Julius got to be affectionate as Mephistophilis. 

Abel has a small, blown-out tattoo that might have once been a smiley face right above his hip.

Songs I listened to while writing “Plastic Fangs”:

Howl - Florence + the Machine

Waltz of the Bone King - Peter Gundry

Ravenous - Autumn Orange

Haunted House - Florence + the Machine

These two stories really helped drag me out of a writing slump. Moving into my parents’ house did a number on me mentally and creatively, and I only managed to get out of that when I began working full-time and forcing myself to go out more instead of succumbing to my depression as I was. I think you can tell that I was still pretty depressed when I wrote “Hag Stone”, even if it is a story about hope. 

My husband actually suggested I try turning “Plastic Fangs” into a book. I think there’s potential with that. These characters interest me so much that I want to do way more with them than I can within the parameters of a short story. I have a few scenes written for a larger project with them, but I’m not quite sure where that will take me. 

Please ask to be added to the taglist! I'm tagging @bardicbeetle, because Larkspur is and always will be my inspiration for writing weird shit about vampires. <3

[ridethedarkerwave]

Freedom and the creative life.

Sometimes I don’t understand how people can have regular jobs, the kind of jobs you work 9 to 5 or whatever, Monday through Friday, not doing something you love, looking forward each year to a couple weeks of vacation. At this point in my life, I don’t think I could do it (unless of course I really had to).

I am spoiled. As a professor, I can schedule my classes not to begin until 11:30am or later. I stay up until absurd hours most nights, going to bed anytime from 2am to 5am. Every winter, between fall and spring semesters, I get a full month off from teaching. Time to recuperate. After the spring semester ends at the start of May, I get almost four months of freedom to do whatever I want. Typically I stay home during the summer months to make progress on research and writing, but in the past I’ve also done traveling + summer hiking and camping. Summer is my time to really be creative. The past couple summers, I’ve made significant progress on my book writing project.

My job is not all butterflies and flowers. I work my ass off during the school year, preparing for lectures, grading far too many papers (I often have 90 to 100 students per semester). It can be stressful. As an introvert, I sometimes don’t want to try to be engaging in front of a classroom. I want to just sit in my office or at home, reading a book or working on my computer. But no matter how challenging it can become, I have a difficult time imagining myself doing anything else for a living. I would hate to give up this freedom that I have.

In addition to the freedom of time, I also get to choose which courses I will teach each semester and design their content based on my own interests and what I think the students might find engaging.

At nearly 2am right now, I’ve been finishing an iced coffee while looking over some research notes for the book I’m writing. I sit in my kitchen at the large table with minimal lights on, the windows open, the peaceful quiet and sounds of insects outside. Often I listen to music for hours, or Twitch Hearthstone streamers in the background, the ones who talk to their chat. (I think it makes me feel a little less alone.) Now that classes have started again, I sometimes have to set my alarm, at least on the days when I teach at 11:30. Tomorrow I just have one class at 4pm, so I can sleep as late as I’d like.

I remember once reading a quote about Madonna, something about how she is up late at night, doing creative work while much of the world around her is asleep. I feel similarly about my life, and I don’t think I’d want to have it any other way.