#doesn't really fall well into any of those categories outside of the assignment

[pavonisgiron]

Badge of Index Fossils - all hand cut copper. A stylized brachiopod sits above hexagonaria, both common index fossils that allow us to understand geologic time and the constant shifting of continents and biomes. It's meditative, in a sense, to see the remnants of long-extinct creatures that were once some of the most common organisms on the planet. Life continues on; to a degree it is humbling and meditative to realize that our time on earth was prefaced by countless other forms of life and after us, there will be many, many more.

Realized I haven't been posting any of my school work here at all?? Time to catch up.

[gothhabiba]

I can't find it but I'm pretty sure it was you who asked someone to define womanhood outside of gender roles/oppression, vibes/mysticism, and some third thing, with the argument that in a post patriarchal world women wouldn't exist but like. I think grouping "vibe" and "mysticism" is doing a lot of work. We can consider something being, say, "goth" as a meaningful term even though I'd say it's comparably difficult to delineate what is and is not "goth". I don't think the chain of people seeing each other describe themselves as some gender and some of it resonating with them and getting internalized and remixed will ever really end so like. Yeah I think I don't think saying womanhood would continue as a vibe is comparable to the other explanations you reject

Apologies if that post wasn't from you lmao

[about this post]

The critique I was trying to make in the post that started this conversation was of people who refuse to interrogate the ways in which categories such as "race" or "gender" are historically constructed (& currently contested, recontested, mobilised, reconfigured, &c.) out of / in order to justify and naturalise power, exploitation, & violence, and who also go so far as to claim that you're doing some kind of violence (material or epistemic) by pointing out that these categories are constructed.

The conversation about whether and how gender would exist without patriarchy and gendered violence is ultimately speculation about something that will not occur within our lifetimes—I don't think it's possible for us to know what "gender" (or "womanhood") might look like at that point, & the question of whether such a concept can meaningfully be called "gender" or "womanhood" in the same way that we understand those words to-day deals heavily in, like, the ontological branch of philosophy as well as semantics and perhaps semiotics. For my purposes, because I'm trying to describe the world as it exists to-day, I define "gender" in such a way that would make the answer to that question "no"—beyond constructing that neat little semantic tautology, it's just not a question that has any bearing on organising right now, so it doesn't really interest me.

I will say, though, that people who are convinced that there must be some kind of organisation of people into different categories based on commonly-cited aspects of behaviour such as clothing, mannerisms, personal grooming, rôles and other assorted habits (or at least, organisation of those behaviours into different categories), or who cannot consider any human society without such a thing—or for people like the anon who asked the question you're referring to, who go even further in being unable to imagine a world in which some people are not categorised specifically as "women"—I would ask why that's so unthinkable.

I also think there might be a bit of myopia involved in some people's conceptions of which clothing, mannerisms, rôles &c. would be associated with which "gender" (or would be associated with "gender" at all) and why—dominant concepts of which "gender" is associated with which clothing, mannerisms (arising from which essential "natures"), jobs, whatever, is subject to shift radically and rapidly based on factors including whatever myths are most useful for power at the time (besides being subject to significant amounts of internal tension and contension even within one given place). What would sort behaviours into different categories, or pin shifting beliefs about the categories a given behaviour falls into to a concept of "gender," absent the power that drives this myth-making? What would be motivating any of these beliefs? Why should we call it "gender"?

I see the comparison to "Goth," other than the fact that it is also a category, to be beside the point—it's not a category that is in our present context coercively assigned & policed by white supremacist partriarchy, that seeks to organise people from the level of the family to the level of government along lines of violence and capitalist exploitation. It is also, compared to "gender" (even if we restrict ourselves to a modern, Western context), associated with a far more specific set of aesthetics, moods, gestures, clothing items &c.—rather than a set of aesthetics and ideas that can shift so far as to utterly reverse themselves, and yet still be conceptualised as meaningfully belonging to the same 'system', because they seek to organise and justify the same types of power (which is the situation with gender).

[pidayforpi]

Things That Inspire Me (2): Music

[No spoilers/warnings whatsoever...as long as you don't look up the songs' context

Also there may be more links this time]

I would say music is the biggest, oldest source of inspiration to me.

Before anime, games or even cartoons, music is probably my very first interest.

For one, especially in my childhood, I tend to "associate" songs with life events (often overseas vacations), or certain periods in my life. Usually, I will be listening to that song at that moment quite frequently (i.e. I like that song very much at that time).

For example, the first time I went to Hokkaido, I was listening to (this version of) Wind Scene from Chronos Trigger. And now, whenever I listen to this song, I automatically remember that summer trip.

But the second time I went there, I was listening to a different (set of) song, so I associated another song with the memory of the second trip. This is one of them.

And then, that same summer, a friend of mine would leave to study overseas, and this remix of Tifa's Theme always reminds me of our last days together.

(As well as being one of my absolute favourites of all time)

So, uh, music has always been quite an important part in my life, frankly. I always don't know how to answer when people ask me "What are your hobbies?", but one thing I always reply is "listening to music".

But then, if you ask me "What genre of music? Who's your favourite artist?", I don't know how to answer that.

I must confess: I know almost nothing about popular music. Not in any languages or countries (not even my own). I know and like a few pop songs, but they are really just a handful. knowledge via jojo doesn't count

If I have to answer, I would say "anime/game music" in general. Most songs in this passage will probably fall into that category. I used to be a Vocaloid fan as well, so I guess Vocaloid music may also be one of the genres I like.

Besides being with me in everyday life (I do almost everything with music), music has inspired me a lot in my works. Of course I can't possibly "write music" (unlike describing anime scenes), but they have provided the atmosphere behind the scenes, even if they aren't "song fics". If I have to assign a "theme song" to every one of my work, I think I can do it.

I try to categorise the examples in terms of the different "feels" they give me, and the different atmospheres they correlate to.

I started the last passage with "anger/craziness", so I guess I will start this one with the same theme. And yes, all Higurashi soundtrack.

Higurashi has one of the coolest soundtracks in anime I watch, next to JoJo's (which is kinda cheating with how many songs JoJo has). Its "mysterious" songs are the best I have known, even outside of anime. They make those crazy scenes even crazier; and stand-alone, they provide a wonderful atmosphere when you are in for something crazy.

I have selected these three as my absolute favourite among the many songs of Higurashi (otherwise I would post the entire soundtrack). The main theme is pure mysterious, Kai is like searching for the truth, and Hayashi is arriving at a revelation. (TL;DR they are just plain cool)

I have discovered Higurashi not too long ago, but its soundtrack is now my go-to music when I am reading/writing/watching something dark (and is basically the theme song that plays whenever my Donald goes violent and crazy).

(Speaking of something dark involving Donald, those three songs above have been accompanying me when I am reading an awesome, ongoing long project by @cursegirlrabbit sorry for the tag: "Furious Revenge"!

It is primarily a DT17 fan fic about Donald "going missing", but with references, crossovers and side stories from basically anything Duckverse! It has been with me ever since I luckily stumbled upon it this January, and has impressed me all the way! If you have the time, I really recommend it!)

Next are sad themes, and I have chosen two with similar names as well.

Never Be Mine (from Battle Tendency) is more "explicit" in its sadness, painting a crushing feeling of sorrow. I think it is the best "sad" theme in JoJo, and it plays in two of my favourite sad death scenes too.

Never Coming Back (from Violet Evergarden) is more subtle, like a faint wisp of melancholy. While the previous song sounds like your loved one is dead in front of you, this one is more like you don't know if they are dead or alive, but they are gone regardlessly, and you will not be seeing them perhaps forever.

(Useless side note: Never Coming Back is the theme song for Ari the Aracuan Bird in my stories, whose first and best friend Clinton Coot will never be coming back ever again.)

The next section is...miscellaneous emotional? I am not sure how to categorise this. Basically music that is a mix of sadness/hope/love/determination (i.e. Mixed feelings that I can't put my finger on with my poor vocabulary). There are a lot in this category, but I have chosen two songs I have got to know more recently.

Main Theme - Hope (from Higurashi Sotsu) (please excuse the crazy rena thumbnail, the other video I can find is an AMV of literally the ending scene): This actually echoes my previous passage's section about bittersweetness in Higurashi, and I think this song symbolises it very well. It is a remix of the scary main theme of the Higurashi series, but it gives off a very different feeling. Like after a gruesome, bloody conflict, there is a happy ending. Not a perfect ending, but a resolution nonetheless. Not everyone (or anyone) could be satisfied, but we have tried our best, and we are finally at peace.

(This is the song I imagine to be playing, when, at the end of my DT story, Scrooge finally sympathises with Donald, atones, and reaches an understanding.)

Isabella's Lullaby (from The Promised Neverland): This is the single most beautiful song I have got to know in a year. I had seen this song from time to time before, but only listened to it in December of last year. And it is absolutely super powerful. (I know the version above isn't technically the original one, but it is the version I first listened to and like the most)

Isabella's Lullaby gives off the feelings of all the adjectives in the first paragraph of this section: There is sadness, but also comfort. There will be suffering, but also determination. There is going to be despair, but also hope.

(There is a scene I have imagined involving Clinton and baby Donald, inspired by this song. More info in a longer infodump about my Ducktales AU settings that I absolutely have to write it out.)

Last and least, there are songs that are...hyper? Basically music that gets you hyped. I don't usually write shounen anime-esque stuff, so they don't really have anything to do with my writings. But when I am reading something epic or gaming, I will play these in the background.

Since apparently there is a limit of video links I can put in a post, I will simply list some of them out:

→ You Say Run (My Hero Academia)

→ River in the Desert (Persona 5)

→ Moon Prism Power Make Up! (Sailor Moon)

→ youseebiggirl/T:T (Attack on Titan)

→ SONO CHI NO SADAME (the JoJo theme)

→ Hymn of the High Seas (by Antti Martikainen. Not an anime/game music but is the coolest song I have ever heard)

(6-8-2023)

[writingquestionsanswered]

Hello, i wanted to know about the genre my book fits in, bc I'm lost with the categories. Certainely YA thriller or just thriller. At the start of my book, my protagonists are 15, then there is a jump and they are 17 and by the end of the book I think they would be in their early 20s. They also have typical YA problematics like learning to assert themselfs, take their independance... but lot of that have a thriller twist. Like the conflict is that there is a murder happening at prom ball...

Struggling to Categorize a Book

First, I want to make this abundantly clear:

YA is not a genre!!! :)

Young Adult, aka YA, is an age category within the broader age category of children's books, aka kidlit. YA books can fall into any genre. You can read more about age categories in this post: Understanding Age Categories (MG, YA, NA, etc.)

A Word About Age Categories

I just want to add, also, that age categories are really just a marketing tool invented by the publishing industry so they know where and how to spend their advertising dollars. If you're advertising a book that has broad appeal to middle grade readers, it makes sense to target middle grade readers in your advertising. Age categories can also help parents and teachers look for books that are more likely to appeal to readers of a certain age due to the content and style. In no way, however, are age categories reflective of writing quality, story quality, or broader reader appeal. Many books that are assigned an age category weren't even written specifically for that category... they were just categorized that way for marketing reasons. Age categories are not barriers meant to segregate readers into their own groups or to shame readers for reading or writing books categorized in an age group outside of their own.

Figuring Out Your Book's Age Category

Even though age categories are a publishing industry marketing tool, it's still helpful to know how your book might be categorized so that you can target the right agents, publishers, and readers.

For YA, the characters are typically in the 12-18 age range and deal primarily with the types of "coming of age" problems that are typical within that age range. Where things get a bit tricky is when they start the story at an age below that range, or when they finish the story at an age above that range. Genre stories, too, tend to mean dealing with more adult problems regardless of the character's age.

The Hunger Games series is probably a good comparison. It's a heavy genre story that was marketed as Young Adult. The main characters fall within the 12-18 age range, but outside of first love, most of the problems Katniss deals with are less specific to her age and more specific to her situation. They'd happen regardless of whether she was 16 or 26. And, she is in her 30s at the very end of the story. However, this book was still marketed as a YA book and it did very well in that category, perhaps because for all its grittiness and hard subject matter, it was comparatively soft when you look at books in that genre that aren't marketed toward younger readers.

So, we know your character ages fall within the YA age range for most of the book, and they deal with typical YA problems. So, what it will most likely come down to is the extent of things like violence and gore, language, sex, drugs, etc. While those things can certainly be shown in a YA book, they have to be handled in a specific way and not done excessively or explicitly. A good way to think about it is by imagining your book as a movie and thinking about what rating it might receive. If you think it could get away with a PG-13 rating or the equivalent, it probably falls into the YA category. If you think it would get an R-rating, it probably doesn't.

And, if you put your book into the wrong category, it's not the end of the world. Just make the best, most informed choice that you can. :)

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