#and for a MIDDLE SCHOOL GRADE book series no less!!!!!!

[wylansvanhendriks]

the way that jonathan stroud wrote lucy and lockwood as characters that directly parallel each other in everything!!! she Listens and he Sees. he’s the title character and she’s the narrator. she has this great power and he wants to build a great agency. when apart she’s just as reckless as he is. even down to their likes and dislikes: she hates orange juice pulp and he loves it if only to pretend he’s a whale. she leaves to protect him and he comes back to protect her. she wants to communicate with ghosts and he wants to fight them. they have matching white streaks!!!! they are the most alike and the most different and that is why they work. literally no one has ever created such a compelling relationship with such compelling characters!!!!

[terapsina]

Ask Game for us Self-proclaimed BOOK WORMS 📖🐛

Name the best book you've read so far this year.

Favorite fantasy book(s).

Favorite fantasy sub-genre(s). (high fantasy, urban fantasy, portal fantasy etc.)

Favorite science fiction book(s).

Favorite science fiction sub-genre(s). (dystopian, superhero, aliens etc.)

Favorite romance novel(s).

What kind of common romance tropes do you enjoy and what kind do you dislike?

Favorite queer fiction book(s).

Favorite detective novel(s).

Favorite classical literature.

Favorite historical fiction.

Favorite horror book(s).

Favorite thriller(s).

Favorite humor and satire book(s).

Which genre(s) are your favorite?

Favorite trilogy.

Favorite finished book series.

Favorite unfinished book series.

Do you read new and less known books or only the big bestsellers?

Where and how do you find new books to read?

The book(s) on your school reading list you actually enjoyed.

Favorite example of a Chosen One trope in a book.

Favorite heist story book(s).

Favorite Young Adult book(s).

Favorite Middle Grade book(s).

Favorite novella(s).

What was the first book you remember reading as a kid?

Goodreads or StoryGraph (or something else)?

How many books do you have on your 'to-be-read' list?

How many books do you have on your 'currently-reading' list?

Do you mostly read through e-reader; reading app on phone; on your laptop; a physical copy; or by audiobook?

Name your favorite author(s).

How often do you read by listening to audiobooks?

Favorite book narration voice actor(s).

Least favorite trope in your most favorite book genre.

Your absolute most favorite character(s) from any book you've ever read.

The only example of your least favorite trope being written in such a way that you enjoyed it.

How many books have you read this year?

Do you read reviews before picking up a book?

Did you ever want to be a writer?

When you get ready for a week long trip to somewhere how many books do you download/pack inside the suitcase?

Do you buy hardcover book copies for previously purchased paperbacks and library books you enjoyed reading?

Title of a book you own that's in the worst physical condition you have. Explain what happened to it. Post a picture if you want.

The book(s) whose stories have become part of your very makeup.

What book(s) would you sell your soul to get a TV or movie adaptation of?

I like _____, recommend me a book to read, please (insert a book, or trope, or character, or... anything you like before asking for this one).

What are the last three books you read?

Do you leave reviews for the books you've read? How often?

Do you prefer hopeful, humorous, very emotional or darker books?

What kind of book have you never read but always hope to find at some point in the future?

[sophitz]

Notes on KOTLC, middle grade maturity, and fandom longevity

Now that @bookwyrminspiration and my tag ramblings have returned us to the topic, I'm actually pretty curious about the reception of middle grade lit (specifically longer book series) that progresses in maturity versus that which does not. Is it easier to retain readers if the series matures with them? Is it more difficult to maintain longevity and gain a new post-finale audience if the series is unsuitable for a single age range? (Yes, in my opinion, to both.)

KOTLC has a pretty strictly static 8–12 audience range, which I think is largely responsible for its high fandom turnover rate. There's nothing wrong with staying deeply devoted to the kids' books you were obsessed with in middle school, but the truth remains that most people don't. It's doubly true for series like Keeper, which is in itself perpetually middle grade. Teens grow up, they relate less to the characters, and they move on. Thus, the population pyramid of our fandom is skewed towards the masses of incoming tweens who largely lose interest by 16-18. I hate to bring HP into this because it's an outlier by all metrics of success, but the main nostalgia factor that helps it retain its status as an eleven-figure franchise is because people like to grow up with Harry over and over again. Sure, we've grown up with Sophie, but not to that extent. Maturity shifts allow a middle grade series to show a bildungsroman proper. Keeper doesn't exactly have that.

On the other side of the spectrum are series like the How to Train Your Dragon books. The first few books are chock full of fart jokes suited perfectly for ten year-olds, but then the series takes an abrupt turn halfway through by centering a slavery plotline, and by the final book, it's full of liberation armies, themes of colonialism, and violent deaths. I'd call it more of a bildungsroman than KOTLC has been so far, even though it only spans about three years in canon. The issue? Its fandom is pretty much dead. Even with the massively successful film/tv/reboot adaptations, the HTTYD books failed in their long-term social relevance, because unlike its adaptations, the series is a pretty awkward binge-read, maturity-wise. Keeper, on the other hand, is practically handmade to binge, because its maturity level never takes any big leaps.

I guess the question I'm tying to ask is which strategy yields better fandom longevity, because above everything, I want KOTLC to remain relevant and celebrated by an active fandom after its final book is published. Sometimes I'm frustrated by its refusal to age because I feel like that stagnation eats away at its potential for wider fandom engagement, but who knows! Maybe focusing in hard on a smaller target audience will bode well in the long run.

[lazydaisyhuntlow]

TOH Meta: Hexside analysis (size, schedule, clubs, staff roster)

We spend a lot of time at Hexside School of Magic and Demonics throughout the course of the series, but some things are never really explained. For my own reference, I'm compiling as much canon information here as I can about Hexside and the people who work there (plus a couple headcanons).

1. How many students attend Hexside?

In the show, most track-specific class sizes range from 3-4 students. For example, this Abominations 101 class from season one has 4 students, with seating space for 12 max.

However, I have reason to believe that this is not all the Abominations students! There are probably other classes for advanced students that meet later in the day (more on that in the Scheduling section below).

Let's say there's a (generous) average of 8-12 students per track. Multiply that by 9 tracks and we get 72-108 students, plus 8 in the baby class, for a total of about 80-116 students total.

The all-school assembly in Labyrinth Runners seems about that size.

Yep, around 100 students. Hexside is quite small!

Based on the visible school uniforms in season 2 episode Them's the Breaks, Kid, there are at least six magic schools on the Isles: Hexside, Glandus, St. Epiderm, and three others we don't have much information about.

I don't think we can accurately speculate school sizes from this one event, but for reference, Eda was the only representative from Hexside at the IFWOT that year. Glandus sent two students, and St. Epiderm sent five (including Raine Whispers and Gilbert Park, Willow's dad!), so those schools may be slightly bigger than Hexside.

2. What is the schedule like?

Upon Luz' arrival, Bump gives her a schedule for the day with 6 different potions classes. I know this is meant to be a joke but I'm accepting that Hexside has a 6-block schedule where classes gradually increase in difficulty (hopefully with a lunch break in there somewhere!!) and that electives (club meetings, free periods, or any non-track-specific class like history/math/PE) are less frequent.

Gus mentions 'moving up a few grades', but since it's essentially a tiny K-12 school and the options at Luz' entrance exam are A) the baby class or B) the not-baby class... I think it's more likely the students are separated by level/ability, not strictly by age, and that Gus was moved up to the illusions track a few years earlier than expected. Or maybe there's a middle-school equivalent between the baby class and the track system that focuses on basics (like reading and runes), and we've just never seen it?

My headcanon is that the morning (periods 1-3) is for the beginner-level track classes. During this time, older students go to their electives like PE, history, math, language, or maybe even apprenticeships. In the afternoon (periods 4-6), they switch: track professors do advanced classes with the older students, while the younger ones go to their electives. Basing this on S1E9, where the older illusion students are taking some kind of practical exam in the Illusions Homeroom, but Gus is scheduled to be in a different, non-illusions class for that block (which he ditches to go to the Human Appreciation Society meeting).

But even if this is not the case, with such small classes, it would be easy to differentiate to multiple levels and give each student lots of one-on-one attention.

3. What clubs are there?

From the club fair in Any Sport in a Storm, we know that Hexside has a lot of student clubs, including:

Grudgby, Flyer Derby, The Good Witch Azura book club, Swimming, Hexas Hold'em, Screech and Debate, Fear Book, Drama, Gardening, Arts & Witchcrafts, Grom Decorating Committee, Skullpting, Casket Weaving, Brews n' Stews, Inner Demons, Scrying Committee, and Psychics.

There is a school newspaper called the Hexside Free Press.

Gus is the president of the Human Appreciation Society (not to be confused with the roleplaying Human Fantasy Club down the hall).

4. Who are the teachers?

Principal Hieronymus Bump

Attended Hexside as an abominations student (and played flyer derby!), joined the abominations coven, and came back to work as the abominations teacher while Eda and Lilith were students. He was promoted to Principal sometime after that. Firm, fair, open-minded, will defend his students from threats. Retires during the timeskip. As principal, he has the power to approve track switching and multi-track study, though he seems at least somewhat beholden to the whims of the Parent Creature Association (PCA) and has to play nice with the Emperor's Coven to get enough funding for the school.

This confirms that Hexside is a public school, or at least mostly state-funded, as opposed to St. Epiderm which is implied to be a private school (Raine mentions high tuition and scholarships in S2).

Professor Hermonculus - Abominations Track

Critical, strict, petty. Punishes his students with extra homework and pits them against one another with that dumb "TOP STUDENT" badge. Holds a grudge against Willow for changing to the plant track and even sends Amity to the principal's office for misbehavior. Very passionate about flyer derby.

Unnamed purple triclops demon - Illusions Track. My headcanon name: Professor Houdine

Stylish, caring, protective of her students -- in Labyrinth Runners her priority was to get Gus away from the Coven Scouts, and she was willing to trade Hunter back to Belos to accomplish that goal (though she probably didn't know or care what would happen to him). Seems to do a lot of assessments; encourages creativity and humor in her students. She becomes the new principal after Bump's retirement.

Unnamed spider demon - kindergarten/baby class. My headcanon name: Cera Fangston

Super cute!! I love her design and she appears to be a genuinely good teacher. Plushies, books, and art supplies all over the classroom, field trips to the astral planes... I hope she was okay after the day of unity because the kids descended into madness without her.

Unnamed parrot (?) demon - Potions Track. My headcanon name: Professor Sinder

Put a pun ("Let's mix it up!") and little doodles of potions flasks on her board, which I appreciate. Spends a lot of time with Boscha and appears to do nothing about her bullying other students, which I do not appreciate.

Unnamed bicorn - Oracle Track. My headcanon name: Professor Claire Lydgate

Serious, mysterious, detail-oriented. Cool aesthetic, but... let's be honest. That is WAY too many chalkboards. I can see why she has to keep her crystal balls in the hallway! Also, the oracle track's whole thing is ghosts, but I guess she ignored the decades-old ghost infestation in the girls' changing room and left it for other people to clean up?

Yeah. So she's either not very powerful or not very considerate of others. Maybe she's the one who keeps eating all the donuts in the staff room.

Unnamed snake (?) demon - History, math (?) My headcanon name: Professor Ladon

He doesn't like chatting in his classroom, but he sure LOVES grudgby! He teaches History and something about the Heximal System, so that's possibly a lower-level math class? His classes appear to be larger and include students from many different tracks.

Unnamed gray demon - detention track (temporary). My headcanon name: Mr. Eyevan Urgus

Sarcastic, uses his scroll a lot, punishes students with cleaning the classroom, can sleep through anything. Was only supposed to be in charge of detention track temporarily while the detention pit was being repaired, but he stuck around in the background til the end of season 2 so I guess they found something for him to do. Maybe he's a substitute? Also a contender for the donut thief.

Unnamed blue demon with wig - Bard Track (?) My headcanon name: Professor Presto

This guy appears in the background in Labyrinth Runners. I'm guessing he's the bard professor because... uhh... his robe is red (the Bard coven color) and the powdered wig reminds me of Mozart. I know that's kind of a stretch, but it's possible! The only other thing we know about the Bard professor is that they leave during the timeskip so Skara can take over.

Skara's 15th birthday happens in season 1, so she's about 19 here and probably a first-year teacher.

Miss Jenkinmeyer (no image) - possibly a staff member while Eda was attending Hexside. There was an incident involving her teeth which wound up in Eda's permanent file. The incident report, that is. Not the teeth.

Hexside Guards (temporary security guards) - can literally smell trouble. They were supposed to be protecting students, but they ended up throwing a lot of people into the detention pit.

That brings us to the end of all the canon staff members. Who is missing? We have no information on professors for the Healing, Plant, Beastkeeping, and Construction tracks, plus the PE teacher/athletic program director and any additional cafeteria/janitorial/admin staff.

I don't know if it's fair to make the snake-demon guy handle all the electives for every single student, so let's give him some help. One more electives teacher for "Spelling Class" (possibly language arts?). Heck, I'll throw in Astronomy as well because the movements of celestial bodies appear to be very important for casting powerful spells in the show.

Also... Hexside has a drama program and a championship sports program, both with VERY nice facilities.

They definitely need teachers to oversee those. Maybe the Bard and Illusions professors team up for drama, and the gym teacher is also the Grudgby coach?

5. What about the building itself?

There's a lot going on! Aside from all the classrooms, they have a cafeteria, a detention pit with tunnels under the school, a gym, an auditorium, an outdoor athletics field, Grom's prison under the gym, and this cool round atrium near the entrance.

There are multiple floors, but I don't remember seeing stairs anywhere except for the seating in the gym.

The abominations students have to wheel their homework everywhere anyway, so maybe there are no stairs and it's all spiraling ramps?

Yay for accessibility!

Lastly, Eda's Secret Room of Shortcuts. It's one of the coolest concepts in the whole show, I wish we got to see it more.

To anyone who made it this far, thank you for reading! Let me know if I should add anything :)

[castleofravens]

“This is a middle grade book series and I think Shannon has forgotten that. Children read these books. Some parents do not want their children reading about LGBTQ+ characters and I think that middle grade books should be free of those topics because the target audience is so young. They do not need to get involved in things like that so early.”

bbg it’s like two or three mentions of it, and middle grade is arguably WHEN kids should be exposed to queer people. i would have killed for this kind of casual representation in fantasy (outside of the riordanverse) in middle school & it helps queer kids feel less alienated. also my little sister is in middle school and she’s has a girlfriend for a year now so … pretty sure tweens can be gay…

also you proceed to mention ‘spice’ like i don’t think a guy mentioning his husband or a woman mentioning her wife is equivalent to a full on sex scene AND WE TECHNICALLY GOT MORE OF THAT WITH THE ALICORNS IN BOOK 4????

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 10/22/2024

rare tuesdaypost with no fallow sections. i CANNOT find the exact image i am looking for (mouse-drawn person sitting on bar stool with ankles crossed and blushing with eyelashes) but i feel like i found a lot of things this week that charmed me immensely. rare many such cases of many interests intersecting.

listening

almost exactly a year ago i wrote about jolynn j chin's SHIFTED, a piano jazz piece where the time signatures change on every bar, which came with an explainer video that is, spiritually, a physics video.

she's done it again with OFF TIME and a full album of equally bonkers concepts. i have a brain that is fairly good at manipulating 2D things (yarn, fabric) into 3D things but i do Not have this kind of math brain. wild shit.

-

reading

thank you philip for overseeing the photography of this trio of DELILAH DIRK graphic novels from Tony Cliff. i saw these on the library shelf and went "holy shit i read one of these as a webcomic in high school".

very well-paced indiana jones and james bond adjacent pulp adventures, with a soupcon of steampunk conveyances for taste. delilah started life in 2007 when strong snappy female characters were far less common. this is particularly...not quite grating, but very notable in the first two books (published in 2013 and 2016 respectively). they are intended to be middle-grade (disney villain falling deaths, no tits or ass, etc), but they punch far above their intended age range. a particularly interesting reckoning with the long-suffering native guide trope. not a series overly concerned with historical accuracy, although it's certainly more grounded in real history than you might expect of a middle-grade pulp adventure graphic novel. more colonial political concerns than i remembered or expected.

the art is really killer in all three books. tony cliff really knows the effect of a good page turn spread.

he also has a very charming way of illustrating continuing action across a huge panel. all four shots are from The Pillars of Hercules (2018) bc it happened to be the last one i read and the one with by far the most ambitious art.

-

watching

tubi has acquired the streaming rights to most of the batman animated movies. i keep getting served ads on instagram for an upcoming animated film about batman and the yakuza, where the premise is that a portal from real-life japan has opened up over gotham and the yakuza are pouring through like a demonic horde. this seems to be a sequel to batman ninja (2018, dir. Junpei Mizusaki)

Batman, along with his allies and adversaries, finds himself transported from modern Gotham City to feudal Japan.

batman ninja includes the lines:

I’m going to rule this country and turn it into a kingdom of monkeys and rewrite the history of the world!

and

What am I going to do with you, Batman? You’ve destroyed a perfectly good giant robot castle!

i would describe this as more of a feature-length animation showcase than anything else. the haters on letterboxed didn't even give it an average of 3 but that's bc they hate fun. this is some real weeb shit. this is not a grimdark or particularly thoughful batman entry. this is an entry to clap your hands in glee at the giant gundam vs monkey army fight. they have once again done my favorite comics boy jason todd dirty but what the fuck else is new.

so much fun even on just the like tree field guide level of identifying the six or seven animation styles. plus everyone's feudal japan looks are sick as shit.

was it Good? no. was i delighted at nearly every moment? fuck yeah.

-

playing

EXCEPTIONALLY charming embroidery-based game jam game, Cross Stitched by Panzerr here for free on itch.io. made in godot. god bless.

(image from the developer) you've got your little baba yaga house gundam in the center constantly firing projectiles, and you have to keep these fucking birds back. you can WASD around the edges of the tapestry, and your health is in the top (i really love how it gets "ruined" dark chunks taken out of it as you lose health, like a piece of embroidery decaying) and the bottom black bar of motifs fills up as you make progress towards adding another level and another piece to your powerup level tapestry.

(following images from me) you do have to think about your placement and plan it out a bit, and you can't embroider over something you've already stitched. would not recommend surrounding your initial base damage motif with other motifs bc then you've sort of fucked yourself over. a really simple concept (a good bite size for a game jam) elevated by a very fun visual style and great music. really delighted me! i am so jaded by my time in the video game marketing mines that i forgot they can be fun actually!

-

making

unphotographable: too many bugs in my house! tried to replace the weatherstripping on my front door and discovering that both the front door and the storm door were installed incorrectly and should probably be replaced.

in better news, the newest pathetic little waif in the office bathroom has been freshly neutered and will be going to a nice cushy indoor home next week-ish. whenever he is fully recovered. the most polite cat i have ever had in this carrier: did not piss, shit, or throw up.

KO'd by six cc's of various goops. poor man.

[aria-bun]

A NEW THING: Conceptualizing Middle-Grade Book Series into YA

Inspired by some stuff @ein-keiser does

So basically I'm going to take a middle grade book series I've read before and adapt it into YA; basically making it more adult. This is mainly for the concept and not me rewriting it all (rewriting 9+ books of KOTLC is not on my to-do list this winter)

And my first one is: KOTLC! Aka one of my favorite middle-grade book series.

(this is also going to be similar to @ein-keiser's format by how he does things)

KEY CONCEPTS:

-In the books, the main kind of focus is taking on the Neverseen as the Black swan, and very focused on the rebel groups. I want to touch on the politics a bit more of it; pointing out all the wrongs of the Council, The Neverseen, and the Black Swan, show how all of them have flaws in the way they handle things. -Sophie isn't going to have as many abilities, since I think 5 is overwhelming for both her and the readers. She'll keep her Telepathy and Inflicting from Elvin abilities and have her teleporting from the Alicorn DNA, but i think I'm going to erase the Polygot ability and streamline the Enhancing ability to just having more enhanced Telepathy and Inflicting instead of being essentially a battery for others. -The Moonlark symbolism is definitely going to be more prominent, about equally as prominent as the Black Swan's swan and the Neverseen's eye

SETTING:

-The Elvin world will relatively stay the same, but the species will be a bit more intermingled and less separated, aside from the Ogres, who prefer to keep their distance. Elves aren't seen as the superior species by everyone else, but they do have that inflated sense of self. The Elven council is smaller, with 7 members (odd number to prevent ties; a lot of the council members were just... there not really doing anything before), and there are representatives from the leaderships of the other species that they meet with regularly. -The society is very classist against talentless Elves and those of other species who also don't make the bar of what considers them "normal" -Violence is still very frowned upon by the Elves, and Elves themselves are all vegan, but some other races aren't. While they are all about the timeline of extinction, they also don't eat meat because they biologically cannot handle ingesting it. Due to Sophie being genetically weird, she can't eat meat, but her body can handle other animal products (Dairy and Eggs), so she was raised vegetarian (Kinda makes the 'soybean' thing funnier).

THEMES:

-It's definately more political than the original version, diving deeper into the councils wrongdoings, as well as the wrongdoings of the Neverseen and even the Black Swan. Sophie goes rogue for a while before eventually joining back up with The Black Swan. -Less focus on romantic parings when it comes to Sophie; Other characters will get romantic relationships though.

FOXFIRE:

-like the books, Foxfire is a school specifically for Elven Nobilty, though it is like a fancy prep school; there are other general Elven schools that you can go to regardless of class, and some that also have students that are other species. Like a prep school, Foxfire has optional dorms (And are only allowed for those ages 14 and older with permission from their guardian), but students aren't allowed to live in their dorms during breaks from school longer than three days. For that, they are required to be at home with their guardians. -The classes provided in the books stay the same.

CHARACTER DYNAMICS:

-It would be centered around the og main trio (Sophie, Dex, and Marella) more, with Keefe, Fitz, and Biana joining in (ofc the Twins when they come along too) - The stuff with Dex having a crush on Sophie will be omitted, instead having Dexiana coming later in the books - Keefe and Fitz stay close through the books instead of distancing from each other. -Stina and Maruca wont be as big of characters

aaand there we go

[orlissa]

@sailor-hufflepuff, here you go :)

Do you get paid by the word, page, or project? Technically, I get paid by something called a "sheet" - a sheet is 40K characters with spaces (one sheet accounts to about 20 book pages, but there are differences due to typesetting). So when I bill a book, the bill says that the book was, say 14.35 sheets long, and I got paid according to that.

Are you assigned books or do you compete for different projects? It's not really assigned, more like offered (I'm technically a freelancer, I can say no to any job), but yeah, usually I get a title that hey, would you do this? But part of this that the publishers usually know my profile and offer me stuff that fits it. Also, there have been cases where I got a list of projects and I was free to choose from them, and one case where once I was at the office and we were talking with the people there and I mentioned off hand that I'd bee going to the Eras Tour, and they were immediatelly like oh, cool, then if we have a Taylor project, we'll know who to call. And then they offered me a Taylor book less than a month later. Also, so far I have declined one project (I did the previous book in the series and still have PTSD from that), and said I wouldn't like to be assigned to any more books by another author (his worldbuilding gave me anxiety)

Do you work for a single publisher or multiple? Multiple! I currently work for three, but one I do way more work for than the other two (I had 12 project last year, and 8 of those were for one publisher). I worked for three others in the past - two are defunct/practically defunct now, and at the third I didn't like how I was being treated (incidentally this is the same publisher who has the rights for Leigh Bardugo's works here.) Also, the three I work for now have different profiles (although there are overlaps) - one mostly does YA/YA fantasy/romantasy/contemporary romances, one epic/high fantasy/sci-fi/comics, and one kids/middle-grade/some YA/licensed stuff (Disney, Marvel, DC, etc.).

How did you get into translation? ...That's a long and funny story, I think I've told it here before, but I'm not gonna get into it at nearly midnight - I'll get back to you about it tomorrow, okay?

Do you only do English or other languages? I've done some smaller porjects where I translated from Hungarian to English, but although I speak some German and Italian, they're not strong enough for this kinda work. (German I had to study for school and it's basically non-existent now, but I'm working on my Italian, and I wanna get to the point where I can read books in that language.)

All fiction or do you do like, appliance manuals too? 99% of what I do is literary translation - appliance manuals and the like are a very different kind of animal from a technical point of view. It's kinda like art and science (you can totally get into literary translation without a translation degree, what really matters is that you use language masterfully, while technical translations require a more, well, technical skill). That being said, I've had smaller project throughout the years that were not books. E.g. I have a friend who is an archeologist (Roman era) who curated an exhibition about two years ago, and I translated all the texts featured in that exhibition, from Hungarin to English.

What’s the craziest project you’ve ever done? Craziest as "I still have PTSD"... Mine by Katy Evans. It's been like eight years, and I still shudder at the thougth of it. Crazy, as in it was a crazy process - Taylor Swift - The Stories Behind the Songs by Annie Zaleski. It was a simultanous release over a bunch of countries, and when I started working on the translation the book hadn't been... finished yet. Because they last chapter covered TTPD which hadn't been released yet. The book is also full of illustrations, and at that point the last chapter was planned, page by page, based on what we knew of TTPD as of last March... then the double album happened. A lot of people were cursing like a sailor back then.

Do you work on one book at a time or a bunch? Usually, one. It's cleaner. However, there have been a couple of times when I worked on two at the same times, because two publishers hit me with time sensitive projects at the same time. Also, it's hard for some people (so I've heard) to switch from the style of one book to another so quickly/suddenly. I, personally, don't have this issue, I can switch between texts easily, but I've heard from friends that they have to take a day off after finishing a project to, like, flush their system.

[alaydabug2]

Okie dokie

Gonna get sappy/personal on here

I'm pretty sure the reason I'm so attached to kotlc is because it helped me through a tough time in my life

When I first read kotlc it was the summer before I went into seventh grade

Some important background information

I was in a trio group in late elementary school and in sixth grade we had a fall out

One person was being a jerk and narcissistic so me and the other friend broke off in our own little duo (my best friend kaylee)

Well end of sixth grade Kaylee tells me she's moving schools and going to public school (we were at a private school at the time)

The thing is I had other friends....kind of

Tbh I'm pretty sure I was the pity friend in that group

It's not like they were mean to me or anything, but I had zero in common with them

Not the same humor, same sports, same interests

Nothing

I was also the friend that got pushed to the end of the table so I usually didn't participate in the conversations much (and if you know me irl I love to talk)

But that summer I had just finished The Mysterious Benedict Society before school ended so while we were in the city for a doctor appointment we went to the bookstore so I could find something else to read

I was in the middle grade section and was just browsing when kotlc caught my eye

Idk what it was but i was just DRAWN in by it

Like it was a black hole or smth (sometimes I think it was God giving me what I needed at the time)

Read the back looked at the series

I told my mama this was the one I wanted

She asked if I wanted tk look some more before choosing

I said it was this one I wanted

So we went home and I read the first book

Fell in LOVE

Continued the series and just got immersed with the characters and the story

Then of course unlocked cliffhanger made me want to scream

But I went into 7th grade with that freshly in my mind and idk.... I think my brain just kind of... latched onto it

It was my comfort when I was the friend who had to walk behind the rest of the group on the track because their wasn't enough room

It's not like I could just easily get new friends

Like I said I was in a private school at the time

There were only 11 people in my GRADE in 7th

I had pretty slim pickings and that was the best I was gonna get

Then of course I moved schools and went into public school

But at thus point it's 8th grade

Everyone pretty much has their established groups and it's hard to REALLY get included

Like you're in the group....but not IN the group if that makes sense

I've always had a pretty tough time fitting in

You guys have seen how I act

I act like this irl too

And that's obviously going to be hard to find someone who acts like j do without being weirded out

My personality is just loud

So again I fall back on these books

Cause the characters aren't going to leave me

The characters aren't going tk stab me in the back

The characters aren't going to tear me down

They aren't going to exclude me

So I hold onto these characters and find comfort in them and relate to them and just hide jn the world of the Lost Cities cause THATS where I want to be

Yeah things aren't perfect there

But heck at least I can have friends there that care about me and have sparkly flying horses and dress in ball gowns just to go to the store and I won't feel as lonely as I do now

I can just escape the world here and pretend nothing else exists except the sparkly castles and go fight bad guys and feel like I'm doing something useful instead of just sitting at home with no social life cause I'm never invited to birthday parties and I don't feel close enough to these people to invite them anywhere else myself

Going into high school this year idk if it's going to be better or worse on that end but I just know that these charach are able to take care of me when no person irl can

Of got these characters I've got this amazing world and I've got this fandom

Sometimes that in itself makes me feel less lonely than I am

[blossomingbooks]

Book(s) review: All The Wrong Questions, Lemony Snicket

Finally finished All The Wrong Questions, Lemony Snicket's prequel series to my beloved A Series of Unfortunate Events. In these four books, Snicket narrates his own adventures in a town called Stain'd-by-the-Sea, from when he was a young apprentice of the secret organization V.F.D.

Each book title is, accordingly, a question: Who Could That Be at This Hour? (2012), When Did You See Her Last? (2013), Shouldn't You Be in School? (2014) and Why Is This Night Different From All Other Nights? (2015). Each volume begins with the same formula, the same four words, followed by key points specific to each book: "There was a town, and there was a girl, and there was a theft." (#1), "There was a town, and there was a statue, and there was a person who had been kidnapped." (#2), "There was a town, and there was a librarian, and there was a fire." (#3), "There was a town, and there was a train, and there was a murder." (#4).

All of these starting elements establish the noir aesthetic embodied by this series. Heavily characterized by urban settings and crime solving, the noir genre is the main differentiator in All The Wrong Questions, setting it apart from its precedent. Although both series are very mystery-driven, Unfortunate Events relies on a more gothic and fatalistic tone. It's centered on a tragedy, while this prequel focuses mainly on the narrator himself as an investigator.

In the original series, the voice of the adult narrator is notably more disenchanted, gloomy and cynical. In this tetralogy, we encounter a 13 year old Snicket, naturally more naïve and lighter. Even the content of the stories is less morbid: while the concept of death is ever-present and looming over the Baudelaires throughout the 13 books, in this prequel the first death occurs only in the last book — possibly marking a significant shift in Snicket's life and worldview. The tone gets heavier and he realizes that “the world is beyond repair” (#4). Still, this prequel is definitely more fittingly classified as children's literature than A Series Of Unfortunate Events — which, although also marketed as such, I consider to fall more specifically into middle grade fiction.

On the other hand, there are necessary similarities between the two series. Although the tone is different, the voice is clearly the same, with its witty remarks, literary references and metalinguistic expositions. "Which here means", a recurrent expression in adult Snicket's narration, is here used in dialogue:

Moxie gave me a small smile. "Why do you always say that—which here means?" "I'll probably outgrow it," I said. (Why Is This Night Different From All Other Nights?)

Many elements and characters from the original stories are mentioned or make a brief appearance, hinting at the broader universe that connects these two series. They also converge thematically, regarding the pertinence given to reading, books and libraries as weapons against villainy. This is particularly emphasized in the third volume — which was my favorite, although it might be biased —, along with another main motif of ASOUE: fire.

All in all, the four books of All The Wrong Questions are a pleasant, fun reading for Lemony Snicket fans. It's lighter than A Series of Unfortunate Events and, although it can be read independently, I believe it to be much more interesting for those who read the original series and ��� like me — couldn't get enough of it.

[offbeat-manga-ships]

this is a weird sort of thing to say but i am like. so deeply appreciative your blog isn't mostly m/m stuff. bc like you i don't have a lot of interest in m/m (for me though this is mostly because i love women So Much my brain sort of shuts off if the story doesn't have women in it, i basically never enjoy a story that lacks women) and a lot of other blogs or accounts i've seen of this time tend to skew heavily with yaoi works bc. well a lot more yaoi works get the "freedom" to be "grosser", messier, less saccharine bc people are a lot more cagey about what girls get to do in fiction across the board..... i really really am so grateful you've got so many recommendations for series that are more to my taste in general and tend to feature a lot of messy and interesting women! not to say that's like Why You Do It, but it's a really refreshing thing since almost every time I go to hunt something fucky down it's m/m. the sheer volume of m/m overwhelms other series but you're bringing those ones into view and i've found a lot of really interesting series thanks to how you run things around here so thank you so much......

ANON!!!! IT'S A SUCH A PLEASURE TO RECEIVE A MESSAGE LIKE THIS!!! because i don't know if you guys know, and to be honest i don't remember if i deleted that part to make it easier to read or not, but i'm pretty sure that in the first iterations of my pinned post i went a little bit into why M/M is not my thing. i am exactly in the same boat of having ALWAYS been more into female characters than everyone around me. my mother has always teased me for it, my friends have always had varying degrees of "huh that's curious" to "weeell i don't care. how about that male character instead?" i was the person defending sansa stark and loving cersei lannister. i was lowkey in love with sharpay while pretending i didn't care about her, my favorite character from percy jackson was and still is annabeth chase, i loved sakura haruno and rukia kuchiki the most, i fucking HATED when anyone said anything bad about leia organa in star wars and it just became a pattern throughout my life that i would come to fiercly love female characters.

i mentioned before how i started watching shoujo when i got the 12 yo version of Being Serious about anime, but i also need to give credit to getting female friends in middle school and even more in high school with whom i talked about romance manga (some also real BL enthusiasts, but they still read some of what i read. honestly, i think it always came a surprise to them how much i liked some stuff the anime fans in general tended to turn their nose up to). 

and i literally won't ever forget when my friend gabrielle showed me the pride and prejudice movie in 9th grade i think and i honest to god had no idea i could love something so overtly aimed at women that much. like, sure i've been casually watching cartoons aimed at girls (if you didn't have cable tv, you watched the cartoons open tv made available to you in the saturday mornings. and yeah i watched and enjoyed totally spies and powerpuff girls and thought kim possible was really cool, but my bread and butter was still ben 10, naruto, jake long, static shock etc. it wasn't just me in the house though. every relative i had at that point from mom to aunties to grandma and cousins: all of them women. we had plenty of girl movies and all of us got together to watch melodramatic soap operas in the evening).

but anyway my point is that i really opened up my personal media consumption after feeling such love for this "chick lit" movie (which of course is actually a great and important piece of western literature which became one of my favorite books not only because i'm still in love with lizzy bennet to this day but also because it's so SO DAMN FUNNY. i laugh out every time i re-read it.) i started watching romantic comedies, i watched series like pretty little liars and whatever seemed to have a bunch of girls in the cover lol and yes, i started reading even more romance manga. even with my 12 yo shoujo watching, i still wasn't fully into those shows. i really liked some of the protagonists (much love to misaki ayuzawa, nanami momozono, haruhi fujioka and risa koizumi but i also could not be fully into whatever was transpiring between such cool girls and those guys LOL). but it was because of the influence of my girl friends and exchanging ideas about what manga to read that i fully found my place in smaller niche romance manga with odd couples and interesting women. 

and it's not like i'm not capable of enjoying media with a lot of guys in it, so i'm a little bit different from you in that regard. i have plenty of favorite male characters and one of my favorite movies ever is master and commander: the far side of the world and that has not a single woman in sight except in one picture and one 5 second shot 💀 obviously, it's not my only favorite movie (they're mostly dominated by women too). as a bi person, of course some men catch my eye once in a while and it's true that sometimes (though it's rare) it's a m/m couple that gets my main attention in a random piece of media. and that's because i'm not like a person with any agenda. i'm fully and wholeheartedly following my instincts (basically a somewhat lighter version of you. my brain also kinda shuts off when it's all the same old Men At The Forefront business and i have to work towards trying to care lol) and it just so happens that i think girls are fucking cool. i don't know if i've said that already, but the main reason i decided to stick with tumblr even though i didn't initially get the appeal of it was because i could find a lot of lesbians here LOL and true, some of them were fujoshi but a lot of them honest to god liked female characters and saw their appeal as i saw them.

and just to wrap this up, i want to clarify that me clearly having an involuntary preference for female characters was not one of the reasons i laid down on that other post when i said why i wasn't as drawn to m/m but it was basically just because i was trying to list reasons that had to do with what m/m had to offer me and not just what it lacks. i sincerely try to approach any story with an open mind and an open heart and i have done that many times even though i realized soon enough that seeing those trope-filled romantic scenarios between manga boys is just really not for me. if you're curious about the type of m/m i like, it's basically the unexpected kind in random non-lgbt media with (probably) tortured men in it and a severe lack of women and it always has been. which is why going after specific m/m media doesn't appeal to me as much (though i can still enjoy it. i really really loved watching the interview with the vampire show for example and even though i didn't like louis/lestat — as i hadn't liked then watching the movie years ago —, i still loved the characters and enjoy a few other m/m pair possibilities).

i'm sorry i went on this whole thing with this many words, but i just want to say, not only do i see you anon, i am you!!! if this blog is for anyone, you are at around the top of the list of people i wished to reach and knowing i could help and connect with someone else who feels the same way i do is such a warm and priceless gift. i understand your frustrations of female characters being more limited very well. not only because i love them, but i abhor any injustice since i was 3 apples tall and that has bothered me since the first signs of the development of my critical thinking skills. but ultimately i also can't help but love manga and i want to find the gems and celebrate varied, complex, weird or even toxic female characters and their messy relationships as much as i can.

[cartoonfangirl1218]

Tales from a Not So Bratty Little Sister

I know, I know. I admitted in my last post that I have too aged out of the series to enjoy it. But I still keep coming back because I have to know how it ends. . .

I have a feeling it might be coming soon, but Russell is certainly stretching it out.

Russell said in an interview that she always wanted to do a book in the series from Brianna’s POV and as this is the fifteenth (!!!) anniversary, it was time to do it.

Like I said numerous times before, I think she is squeezing this as long as they can. This diary takes place over the course of one day plus the morning after as Nikki gets ready for the day before high school. Not that she ever says “high school” but she does say she’s ready to put all the middle school drama behind her so I’m taking that Russell hasn’t retconned Nikki from eight grader to seventh grader or something, thankfully.

Actually, it starts out promising. Nikki notes that her friends have already gotten started on new extracurriculars with Zoey working on a music-youtube channel and Chloe making friends with the drama girls, branching out and all that. I wish Russell had worked this in the previous books so it doesn’t seem to be coming so out of the left field but still, I like the idea of them branching out. Brandon is working at Fuzzy Friends as usual.

It makes Nikki feel a little insecure to see them getting ready for the next phase of their lives while she is freaking out over her first day of school outfit just like last years. So she resolves to be a more responsible friend and get her butt into maturity.

Unfortunately, the book doesn’t go deep into that. Nikki freaks out at the slightest problem and takes Brandon saying he has a job at Fuzzy Friends as evidence of being friend-zoned. Girl, he has kissed you TWICE!!! He exhibited jealousy when another guy was interested! You were his date on Valentine’s Day! You are not in the friend-zone anymore!

But there is a nice section where in picking up headphones for Zoey, she selflessly gives up her chance to shove through a mob to get limited edition headphones in order to help a frazzled employee not get trampled. It reminds the reader that at heart, Nikki is a kind person when it comes down to it. Although she has her selfish and melodramatic moments.

But that’s it because her diary ends up in the hands of Brianna when she is struck down with appendicitus. You could really tell that this is a filler book as Russell has Brianna make copies of Nikki’s illustrations from previous books with Brianna’s commentary on them. In my most optimistic opinion, she was using it as a nostalgia, looking back at funny sister moments for the 15th anniversary.

Still, there’s not much new to be gleaned from this and the moral of appreciating sisters was already done in book 8 (and better I might add).

Also, I thought this might be the one book where Mackenzie doesn’t make an appearence, signifying that Nikki is moving on to high school and won’t have to deal with her again. . . and she pops up in the last ten pages for a two page cameo. It was so. . so unnecessary that I feel like Russell is contractually obligated to shove her in. The excuse of her visiting Nikki in the hospital was implausible within the universe and without. It was kinda aggravating. She’s less nemesis and more of a pest at this point.

If you had to include Brianna, why not have Brianna be at Mackenzie’s house because she’s still friends with Mackenzie’s little sister? Easy and will feel part of a plot.

And well, that’s it. This could have been filled with potential with Nikki veering at the edge of high school and deciding to take stock of her diaries to become a more mature person who communicates with others and has self-esteem not to jump to the worst conclusions. Maybe go back to her art skills like when she won the eight grade art contest, return to her roots. But nope.

I don’t know why I have so much investment. Maybe it’s because I still want answers about Brandon like his absent parents, his French background. . . I mean I can guess that they died when he was young but like I want to hear it from him and have a meaningful moment between Nikki and Brandon where they make it official. It was such a mystery and it hasn’t been mentioned since book 5 I think? Completely dropped. Same with Theo and Marcus coupling with Zoey and Chloe. And the newspaper. And so on.

[umathurwin]

#i also have headcanons about s1 and the months leading up to it that could fill a goddamn phone book

….well know you Have to share with the class🤲

oh ym god. i’m so glad you asked

first i wanna say i feel like i have a different timeline imagined out than most other viewers do? i also play fast and loose with the ages and grades. i’m not calculating this down to the minute. second is that i’ve had some of these headcanons so long that i’m blurring the lines between conjecture and reality. now come along!

first i think kiara was part of the friend group as a young girl, maybe starting in late elementary/early middle school. she once said in an argument with her parents that they’ve been her friends “since kindergarten” but i think this is just a heated exaggeration because even john b himself says he’s only been friends with JJ since the 3rd grade. i get the feeling pope came later and then kiara last, like in 5th-6th grade

i think that getting pulled into the kook school was a last ditch attempt by her mother to groom her into the wealthy side of the island. anna still tried, like in the midsummers episode, but that was more forcing her to do it and less... getting kie to feel that way naturally. anyways she enrolled kiara into the private academy and this drove a wedge between her and the boys

after that, it’s mentioned in canon that kiara is befriended by sarah cameron, and this was basically the start of kiara enjoying being a kook— which is only brushed upon in the series. i think when kie and sarah were friends the first time, kiara was capital R ready to leave those fuckass boys in the past (honestly, i don’t even think that’s that much of a hot take from what i’ve seen other people say about kiara and her elusive kook year (which also, i imagine as being more like a year and a half))

now this is my massive kiarafe bias coming in, but i think this is when she and rafe also fell for each other. i think she spent a lot of time at the cameron house, probably even went on vacations with them, and she grew very close with rafe, too

quick note about rafe— i also think that kiara had a very personal look into rafe’s mental health spiral. s1e1 doesn’t pick up at the beginning of rafe’s issues, they’ve clearly been progressing for some time. rose is the only character in the series to speak frankly about rafe and his behavior, and she says that he’s had problems since he was a child, and i believe that his anger issues and addiction maybe got worse while kiara and rafe were together. i have this very specific headcanon that kiara and rafe broke things off within 24 hours of sarah throwing the party without kiara

and yeah, then sarah threw a party without kiara. the in-universe explanation for this is so bad it’s comical, which forces me to believe sarah developed feelings for kiara and comphet made her cut ties. i also have the feeling sarah would obviously know her brother and best friend were seeing each other, and this probably complicated things even more for her 

so then we have kiara, utterly betrayed by her best friend and freshly alone. probably felt entirely isolated from school after busting the party, too. kiara talks about this time in the show with a lot of anger, but this sounds like the most depressing situation a teenager could be in, and it’s odd to me that they didn’t approach it like that. it had to have been so bad that anna agreed to take kie back out of the kook academy and let her return to public school

this is where my next hot take comes in— kiara’s return to poguehood happened like… three months before the pilot. IF that. i think that not only was her existence in the friend group contingent from the ground up, but i think the wounds from the cameron siblings were FRESH.

keep walking with me. i think kiara, looking to fill a rafe-shaped hole (don’t be gross), developed a crush on john b. this isn’t even that much of a reach, since even JJPope point out her behavior to him, but i wanna specifically put the word “crush” on her feelings

but remember, she’s on probation. she just spent the last 18 months partying on yachts and going to the hamptons for the summer and dining in places where pogues work. she has to prove she can be one of them again, and that includes following the weird made-up rule “no pogue-on-pogue macking” which… don’t even get me started. omg

so i think s1e1, kiara has a fat crush on john b and is doing a half-ass job hiding it. i do love this ship, but even i can see it visibly fizzle out as kiara slowly gets the ick for john b and his zealous antics. i think him getting excited and kissing her actually was the thing that fully stomped out her crush on him. she has this PAINFUL moment outside the lighthouse where you can see her realize “ohhh he’s totally in his own world, yeah i could never date him, bye lol”. and that’s the death of john biara. but it was a good run!!

(although, if someone was to argue it wasn’t totally dead and that him choosing to work with her ex-best friend was a massive betrayal TIMES TWO… i wouldn’t cover my ears)

i also just want to mention that if you examine s1 by itself, if you stopped and asked JJ which of the boys should date kie, i think he’d say john b. in fact, i’m almost certain of it, based on the motel scene. but i digest

and honestly, to cap it all off, i think that kiara/pope and kiara/jj were never meant to be. really, i know they weren’t since the latter was fan service and the former died on impact, but i think it even spells it in the narrative that john b, pope, and JJ were all meant to fill the void left by rafe. but that’s for season 5, i’m getting ahead of myself…!

anyways, that was over a thousand words of my HCs for ONE CHARACTER, and only her time BEFORE the series. i’m just scratching the surface baby. i have so many thoughts on this show i need to buy a podcast mic or some shit

[coridotmp3]

i bet this would look beautiful on film (1)

chapter one// somethin' stupid - frank & nancy sinatra

words: 417

warnings: reader is nicknamed "Honey", they/them pronouns used for the reader, this first chapter is just entirely emails :')

summary: "Why did you even agree to come on this trip if you all you can think about is leaving?"

"Did you ever think that maybe I missed you too?"

(Or, the one where Honey desperately needs a photographer, and Bob desperately needs a break.)

read on ao3||series masterlist||masterlist

From: Mx. Honeydew <adewadventure@lglmag.com>

To: Robbie F :) <hardyboyrjf42@gmail.com>

Subject: Trip Down Memory Lane?

-------------

Hi, Rj! I know it's been a while, so this may seem pretty out of the blue, but I ran into your mom at Anne-Marie's shop today (speaking of, please tell your sister that her croissants are nothing less than heavenly and that I have dreams about her gingerbread latte).

She let me know that, in a couple of weeks, you're going to be in town on leave. Sorry, I know that you probably didn't want that information publicized, but don't blame Lucille! You know that she loves to brag about you and your family to anyone that will listen. Especially, her baby boy Robbie :)

She also mentioned, between her many updates on your life as of late, that you're going to be around for about a month this time. Well, it just so happens that your second week of leave coincides with a trip I have to take for the magazine. A trip that my favorite photographer just backed out of...

If memory serves, you were pretty fucking fantastic with a 35mm back in the day.

I was wondering if you would be willing to don your Minolta for one last adventure? For old time's sake? It could also be a good opportunity to catch up! I would love the chance to get to know the version of you I've missed out on these past few years.

There's no pressure, though! Only accept if you really want to! I just figured I would reach out since I could use the help and, according to Lucille, you could use the change in scenery.

If it's any incentive, the magazine would be more than happy to compensate you for your time and for any images that end up being used in the article!

Let me know either way! Hope to speak to you soon, Robbie Floyd :)

Honey xx

Mx. Honeydew (they/them)

@/adew.adventures on instagram

Let's Get Lost Magazine est. 1993

---

From: Robbie F :) <hardyboyrjf42@gmail.com>

To: Mx. Honeydew <adewadventure@lglmag.com>

Subject: RE: Trip Down Memory Lane?

------------

Sounds good. Let me know when, where, and how much film to bring. I'll book a plane ticket as soon as I can.

It's good to hear from you, Honey.

- Robert

P.S. the seventh grade email account? really? please, just text me next time, okay? i'd like to be spared any embarrassing middle school flashbacks thank you (xxx) - xxx - xxxx

Next Part

(a/n: this fic was inspired by "people we meet on vacation" by emily henry and each part will be named after a new song :) i'll post the full playlist soon !!)

[plasticfolderr]

Why representation of mental health in children and young adult media and literature matters- a rant <3

DISCLAIMER: This is not a self diagnosis, but merely a grateful rant to a piece of literature that means a lot to me!

I first came to know of something known as ADHD in 2016, when I started reading Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief in 6th grade. After summer camp, my uncle picks me up and drops me off at the library. I come back with the first book of the Percy Jackson series. I am forever grateful to my friend from summer camp for recommending me this- it perhaps changed my life forever. It surely shaped my personality a lot, but most importantly, staying loyal to our topic- it opened my eyes to a condition called ADHD, which I probably have.

Growing up in a household that was very skeptical of medicines, doctors, professional help in health and mental health etc. UNLESS it was an emergency, but simultaneously obsessed with me becoming a doctor- I was so not educated about stuff like these (p.s I did not end up going for a medicine degree). Whatever I found and learnt I owe it to my reading and the internet.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians is about a guy called Percy who is a demigod, initially struggling to fit among “normal” people until he is claimed by his godly parent and goes on to live a very risky and adventurous life while balancing his life as an average middle schooler. Percy, like many other demigods, had ADHD- which according to the plot was to help them in war and similar situations. What’s ADHD? I google it up to find out it means Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. I proceeded to read more about all this to mildly relate to the symptoms. I ended up brushing it off thinking I’m just pretentious and I’m trying to relate to the main character of the book. I came to do that more and more in the years to come. I finished the whole pentalogy, read its sequel and related trilogy by the author (absolutely loved all of them in case y’all didn’t notice). I, in fact did relate to a lot of stuff they said about their life outside the demigod life. These books touched my core for reasons I don’t know how to explain- it just did.

In high school or higher secondary school (ironically, I don’t remember), somehow this whole ADHD topic popped up in my life again. Or maybe my awareness of it just resurfaced. My friends used to say that my behavior screams that I have ADHD. How I get distracted, how I get overwhelmed, how I hyperfocus, how I can keep talking and my stream of thoughts were endless- so many examples. They even said the stuff I like and are attracted to are very “ADHD core” even, which was and is so funny to me.

After messing up 12th grade academics big time, I came to a realization that my drop in academics wasn’t because I was stupid or the syllabus being too hard or me “slacking off”. My thoughts concluded to a possibility that what if a major part of the series of unfortunate events in life was because of something beyond my control? No matter how much I worked or put effort I’ve felt I had to put more mental energy into things than an average person, leading me to become heavily overwhelmed very frequently especially in my teenage. Presenting this to my family was crazy, as any mental health issue was a taboo and equated to insanity. But I finally convinced them to take me to a doctor.

The first thing the doctor said after talking to me is that ADHD is usually only in kids- under 12 and all. He proceeds to ask my mum if I was extremely hyperactive in school to the point, they call home and all, her answer was no. He diagnosed me with anxiety, which is a condition I do have. I was put on mild antidepressants and regulation medicines, and I had them for like 3 months when for some stupid reason I stopped. I kind of managed on my own for 6 to 8 months after that, as life had been pretty peaceful and not triggering.

Fast forward to current times! Recently I came to read articles about how ADHD is less diagnosed in women. This was due to ADHD research being predominantly run on hyperactive little boys. It also talked about how inattentive ADHD is more common in women and women end up masking symptoms more. All of this made so much sense. Ever since I came to college, every symptom of mine is obvious now and my anxiety has been pretty out of hand too. I’m going to go to a different doctor this year end to assess what my condition is- if I do have ADHD, or if it’s anxiety itself or if it’s something else. Fingers crossed.

As I write this in my last year of teenage (I turn 20 in a few months oh lord) I am and forever will be grateful to Rick Riordan for writing his books for his son who has ADHD in a way it’s not a “disability” but something of greater purpose, a demigod context and all- which in my opinion was the perfect way to present such topics to a young audience. Here the highlight is that these books are not about mental health or anything at all. It’s a mythology fiction series that got me into Greek, Roman and Norse myths. But these small things that were part of the characters and even better- their personalities DON’T revolve around any of these (I hate when books do that), made it spectacular. It is not just there to be there, but it subtly adds meaning to the plot.

I hope more non stereotypical books shows and movies will help kids and teens find themselves regarding any matter.

[thetomorrowseries]

I don’t know quite where to begin when writing about John Marsden. I have read so many amazing things since his death this week. He touched SO MANY lives. He has left a legacy that is profoundly personal to so, so many. I realize in my middle age how incredible it is to have at least one person in your life that believes in you completely and utterly. Who values authenticity above all else. Who keeps you true to yourself. Who champions your strengths and celebrates your gifts and wins. Marsden was this to me. We have been friends since I was 11. I was a vomit covered, homesick little country bumpkin who he met off a plane and took under his wing. He was my English teacher in Grade 6, Year 9 and Year 12 at the three different campuses of the boarding school I went to. He became a friend of my parents, and stayed and farm sat when our family went overseas. We went to each other’s weddings. We wrote letters in the 90’s, I worked for him at his writing camps and even though we saw less of each other as he started his schools and our lives got busy elsewhere, we always kept in touch. Each time he wrote a book he would send me a copy fresh off the press. It was our secret that he based the character Ellie on me in the Tomorrow series, until the sixth book – where he outed me in the dedication. I was just a daggy but capable farm girl who fitted the part – but it is funny to see the horror and bewilderment in kids’ eyes when they find out that this (still daggy) 53 year old lady was the so called ‘inspiration’. He was a complex and brilliant character. Desperately shy but the warmest and most caring person one on one. He remembered every student he ever came across. He observed and took notes on everything and everyone and his notebooks were a thing of wonder. I hope they are somewhere safe. There is so much I want to say. I have been going through letters and old essays 🥹 I’ll miss Marsden every day. No more phone calls to discuss the problems of the world and each other. I was so lucky to know him as a teacher, mentor and friend. We were ALL so lucky – and will continue to be with the extraordinary legacy he has left behind. Thank you JM - so bloody much 💔