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jackoshadows · 4 years ago

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While developing characters, writers use certain literary tools to add depth to these characters and advance the plot.

Literary Foils and Mirrors

This is arguably the simplest of the devices. Foil characters share few or no values or traits. Maybe one character is lazy and boring, and his best friend is energetic and a go-getter. These are foil characters. Put them together, and they’ll highlight each other’s strengths and weaknesses. The most common foil characters are the heroes and villains, who stand for different values and want to achieve separate goals.

Mirror characters are used for a similar purpose. They tend to share several qualities and are used to complement and highlight each other’s traits. Common mirror characters embark on parallel plots, sometimes to achieve a single goal, which tests them and highlights their traits in different ways.

Arya Stark and Sansa Stark for example are literary foils.

Arya was one of the first characters created. Sansa came about as a total opposite b/c too many of the Stark family members were getting along and familes aren’t like that. Thus, Sansa was created; he ended by saying they have deep issues to work out. - GRRM

GRRM SSM November 11, 2000

You may be as different as the sun and the moon - Ned Stark, AGoT

Foils have contrasting personalities, a different set of values and are often used to highlight a character’s particular qualities. Snobby Sansa is used to highlight Arya’s socializing with the smallfolk and non-conformist Arya is used to highlight that Sansa is a proper lady. Arya rushes to help the butcher’s boy, Sansa is more concerned for the prince.

And then we have the mirror characters who share similar traits and qualities, again used to highlight and complement our characters. They may have parallel plots, give hints and clues as to how one characters journey could end the same or be different to the other.

In ASoIaF, Arya Stark and Lyanna Stark are mirror characters, in that, the author is using a tertiary character like Lyanna to complement and give us more information about our main character Arya.

“Lyanna might have carried a sword, if my lord father had allowed it. You remind me of her sometimes. You even look like her.”

“Lyanna was beautiful,” Arya said, startled. Everybody said so. It was not a thing that was ever said of Arya. - Arya, AGoT

So here the author gives us some information about how Arya might look in the future as well as demonstrates Arya’s low self-esteem with regards to her appearance.

Lyanna is used to highlight Arya’s interest in wielding a sword:

Beyond, in a clearing overlooking the river, they came upon a boy and a girl playing at knights. Their swords were wooden sticks, broom handles from the look of them, and they were rushing across the grass, swinging at each other lustily. "Arya?" she called out incredulously. Joffrey glanced from Arya to Sansa and back again. "Your sister?" She nodded, blushing. - Sansa, AGoT

Now two children danced across the gods wood, hooting at one another as they dueled with broken branches. The girl was the older and taller of the two. Arya! Bran thought eagerly, as he watched her leap up onto a rock and cut at the boy. But that couldn’t be right. If the girl was Arya, the boy was Bran himself, and he had never worn his hair so long. And Arya never beat me playing swords, the way that girl is beating him. - Bran, ADwD

Bran sees a vision that parallels Arya/Mycah and even Arya/Bran with Lyanna and Benjen. Notice how Sansa is both incredulous and embarrassed at Arya dueling with Mycah - highlighting the differences between Arya and Sansa and at the same time paralleling Arya and Lyanna.

Horse riding.

You ride like a northman, milady,” Harwin said when he’d drawn them to a halt. “Your aunt was much the same. Lady Lyanna. But my father was master of horse, remember.” - Arya, AGoT

It hurt that the one thing Arya could do better than her sister was ride a horse. Well, that and manage a household. - Arya, AGoT

Notice how Arya and Lyanna are paralleled to highlight that Arya is a good horse rider, like the Northerners. And again, notice the contrast to Sansa. One character is a mirror here and one character a foil.

And again, with the flowers:

Ned remembered the way she had smiled then, how tightly her fingers had clutched his as she gave up her hold on life, the rose petals spilling from her palm, dead and black. […] “I bring her flowers when I can,” he said. “Lyanna was … fond of flowers.” - Ned. AGoT

Then to Sansa she said, “When we were crossing the Neck, I counted thirty-six flowers I never saw before, and Mycah showed me a lizard-lion.” - Sansa, AGoT

One day she came back grinning her horsey grin, her hair all tangled and her clothes covered in mud, clutching a raggedy bunch of purple and green flowers for Father. Sansa kept hoping he would tell Arya to behave herself and act like the highborn lady she was supposed to be, but he never did, he only hugged her and thanked her for the flowers. That just made her worse. - Sansa, AGoT

Text that is used to mirror Arya and Lyanna as liking flowers. We have Ned taking flowers to Lyanna and Arya bringing flowers to Ned. And again we have Sansa disparaging this. Mirrors and foils.

We have Arya and Lyanna stepping in to help people. Mirrors used to highlight Arya’s personality.

“Stop it!” Arya screamed. She grabbed up her fallen stick. Arya swung with both hands. There was a loud crack as the wood split against the back of the prince’s head - Sansa, AGoT

They shoved him down every time he tried to rise, and kicked him when he curled up on the ground. But then they heard a roar. ‘That’s my father’s man you’re kicking,’ howled the she-wolf.” The she-wolf laid into the squires with a tourney sword, scattering them all. - Bran, ASoS

Arya and Lyanna step in to help their father’s men and people like Howland Reed and Mycah. Sansa stepped in to help her Lannister prince.

Lyanna is deemed wilful and wild and comparisons are made to Arya.

“She was,” Eddard Stark agreed, “beautiful, and willful, and dead before her time.” - Arya, AGoT

And Arya … he missed her even more than Robb, skinny little thing that she was, all scraped knees and tangled hair and torn clothes, so fierce and willful. - Jon, AGoT

“[…] This willfulness of yours, the running off, the angry words, the disobedience … at home, these were only the summer games of a child. Here and now, with winter soon upon us, that is a different matter. It is time to begin growing up.” Arya, AGoT

So we get a warning for Arya that her predecessor with a similar personality had a tragic ending. Will Arya head down the same path or will she make different choices from her mirror character?

And then there is Arya’s relationship with Lyanna’s son Jon Snow. The fact that Arya, Jon and Lyanna all look the same - and have the Stark look.

I think the writing in the books makes it clear that Arya and Lyanna are literary mirrors and Arya/Lyanna are literary foils to Sansa.

In what way is Lyanna a mirror for Sansa? How does Lyanna in any way complement Sansa as a character? What information about Sansa do we get from the Lyanna call backs in the text? What can we glean about Sansa’s personality and how she would react from Lyanna’s traits? There is no information about any of this in the books.

Which is why it’s baffling when some sections of fandom keep talking about the many parallels between Sansa and Lyanna. There are no parallels here, none.

We first hear of Lyanna when Robert mentions that unlike his failed engagement to Ned’s sister, this time around, Ned’s daughter and Robert’s son can marry to unite house Baratheon and Stark. This is GRRM setting up the scenario to subvert tropes.

Readers expect that Lyanna is a Sansa like character but as we keep reading, it’s revealed that the daughter who is similar to Lyanna is Arya and not Sansa. Even Arya is surprised when Ned tells her that it is she who will have Lyanna’s beauty.

Lyanna and Robert do not get married because Lyanna went against the wishes of her family. Meanwhile Sansa wanted to marry Joffrey against the wishes of her father. Character foils. If anything the Robert/Lyanna and Joffrey/Sansa pairing demonstrates how much Sansa and Lyanna are as much foils as Sansa and Arya.

Lyanna could see through Robert, that not even his closest friend Ned could do. She was not taken in by appearances.

“Robert will never keep to one bed,” Lyanna had told him at Winterfell, on the night long ago when their father had promised her hand to the young Lord of Storm’s End. “I hear he has gotten a child on some girl in the Vale.” Ned had held the babe in his arms; he could scarcely deny her, nor would he lie to his sister, but he had assured her that what Robert did before their betrothal was of no matter, that he was a good man and true who would love her with all his heart. Lyanna had only smiled. “Love is sweet, dearest Ned, but it cannot change a man’s nature.” Ned, AGoT

Unlike Sansa, she did not believe that fairy tales were real. She was not idealistic about love. Contrast her with Sansa - who continued to love her sweet, beautiful prince after seeing him sadistically maul another child and try to harm her sister and after her own father warns her that Joffrey was not good

At first she thought she hated him for what they’d done to Lady, but after Sansa had wept her eyes dry, she told herself that it had not been Joffrey’s doing, not truly. The queen had done it; she was the one to hate, her and Arya. Nothing bad would have happened except for Arya.She could not hate Joffrey tonight. He was too beautiful to hate - Sansa, AGoT

“Once she had loved Prince Joffrey with all her heart, and admired and trusted her his mother, the queen. They had repaid that love and trust with her father's head. Sansa would never make that mistake again.” - Sansa, ACoK

Much is made of Lyanna crying over Rhaegar’s song. As if this is a quality specific only to Sansa in ASoIaF. Cersei talks about how Rhaegar made her weep with his silvery harp. Arya likes songs and Arya cries. Arya and Sansa just like different songs and we have no idea what Rhaegar’s song was even about. Arya named her direwolf pup Nymeria from the songs.

Arya named hers after some old witch queen in the songs - Bran, AGoT

Arya wanted to become an outlaw like Wenda the White Fawn in the songs.

Tom and Hot Pie resumed their song on the other side of the brook, with the duck hanging from Lem’s belt beneath his yellow cloak. Somehow the singing made the miles seem shorter. - Arya, ASoS

Ygritte cries over songs about the last of the giants and Ygritte reminds Jon of Arya. Again, Ygritte and Arya are literary mirrors to remind Jon of his sister and highlight Arya’s personality and other characteristics.

She reminded him a little of his sister Arya, though Arya was younger and probably skinnier. It was hard to tell how plump or thin Ygritte might be, with all the furs and skins she wore. - Jon, ASoS

"If you kill a man, and never meant', he's just as dead," Ygritte said stubbornly. Jon had never met anyone so stubborn, except maybe for his little sister Arya. Is she still my sister? he wondered. Was she ever? - Jon, ASoS

There were tears on Ygritte’s cheeks when the song ended. “Why are you weeping?” Jon asked. “It was only a song. There are hundreds of giants, I’ve just seen them.” “Oh, hundreds,” she said furiously. “You know nothing, Jon Snow.” - Jon, ASoS

Ygritte displays both grief and anger at the fate of the giants in the song - emotions that Arya often exhibits.

So GRRM compares two women who cry listening to songs with Arya in the text and yet the parallel here is somehow with Sansa?

Besides, let’s not forget Lyanna’s reaction to Benjen laughing at her crying:

The dragon prince sang a song so sad it made the wolf maid sniffle, but when her pup brother teased her for crying she poured wine over his head - Bran, ASoS

Who does this remind us of?

“You be quiet, stupid,” the girl (Lyanna) said, tossing her own branch aside. - Bran, ADwD

Who does this remind us of?

GRRM is deliberately writing in Lyanna Stark as a literary mirror to Arya Stark in the books. There are three possible reasons for this. One, to highlight and complement Arya’s personality and add depth to her character. Two, to highlight her strong connection to the North. And three, for a plot that he’s leading us towards, that will either parallel or connect to Lyanna’s story in some way.

GRRM sees no such need to connect Sansa and Lyanna because that is not Sansa’s story. Her similarities are with her mother Catelyn Stark. Her story has been revolving around Littlefinger for 5 books and Littlefinger is infatuated with her because she looks like Catelyn. The author has even talked about it.

My Littlefinger would have never turned Sansa over to Ramsay. Never. He’s obsessed with her. Half the time he thinks she’s the daughter he never had—that he wishes he had, if he’d married Catelyn. And half the time he thinks she is Catelyn, and he wants her for himself. He’s not going to give her to somebody who would do bad things to her. That’s going to be very different in the books. - GRRM

If there is an aunt that the character parallels, it is Lysa Arryn and not Lyanna Stark. Will Sansa fall to Littlefinger’s machinations and suffer the same fate as her mother and her aunt? Or will she forge a different path when facing same tests?

So why the obsession with Sansa and Lyanna parallels?

Sansa stans have this weird way of reading the text where everything is subconscious and not written on the page. This idea that what’s on page is not important but some sneaky, secretive subtext is what’s actually going foreshadow future events. So GRRM investing in Jon and Arya’s relationship in the text of the books means that Jon and Sansa are going to end up together. Or GRRM is making subconscious parallels between Lyanna and Sansa.

Sorry, but that’s not how GRRM writes. Everything that GRRM wants us to read and connect to is on the page.

“I’ve been planting all these clues that the butler did it, then you’re halfway through a series and suddenly thousands of people have figured out that the butler did it, and then you say the chambermaid did it? No, you can’t do that,” Martin reportedly said while addressing whether fan theories and online speculation influence his writing process for the “Song of Ice and Fire” series of novels on which HBO’s adaptation is based.

It’s easy to do things that are shocking or unexpected, but they have to grow out of characters. They have to grow out of situations. Otherwise, it’s just being shocking for being shocking. But this is something that seems very organic and natural, and I could see how it would happen.

Then there’s the misogyny. Beauty, songs, romance and love should only be associated with Sansa. Arranged marriages are only for Sansa, being used as a pawn for power is only Sansa. Only Sansa suffers the separation from family. Can’t associate any of that with Arya because she is ‘masculine’. Despite Catelyn arranging a marriage for Arya with a Frey and despite Ramsay marrying Arya to hold the North, only Sansa is the key to the North. Arya sees through Elmar Frey as easily as Lyanna sees through Robert Baratheon, but it’s only Sansa who is associated with an unwanted betrothal.

Every female character in this series has a betrothal plot, every female character is used as a pawn at one point - even Daenerys. We know nothing about Lyanna’s story - whether she was in love with Rhaegar, what she was doing in the Tower of Joy, why she eloped. We know nothing, just assumptions and headcanons. This is a character of whom we only get flashes here and there to add to Arya’s character for plot reasons and the mystery of Jon’s parentage.

In my opinion, this obsession that Sansa stans have with connecting the character to Lyanna arises from a need to prove Sansa’s Northern/Stark credentials. Sansa stans are fanatical about the North. Parallels to Catelyn and Lysa evoke Sansa’s Tully lineage rather than her Stark one and for people that are obsessed with the North, this will not do.

Unless it’s the idiotic Ned/Cat Jonsa parallels where they theorize that Jon is attracted to a girl who looks like the woman who emotionally abused him 😒. Of course, with the new batch of Sansa stans who ship Jonsa there is now an added reason for pushing the Lyanna-Sansa parallels as a connection they want for Jon and Sansa.

So, in the text of the story, the author writes Arya Stark and Lyanna Stark as mirrors and Arya Stark and Sansa Stark as foils. The author does not intend to have Lyanna and Sansa act as mirrors in my opinion. Rather, an examination of what little we know of Lyanna shows her to be a complete contrast to Sansa in all ways.

#Arya Stark #Lyanna Stark #Sansa Stark #GRRM #anti Sansa stans #fandom nonsense

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recentanimenews · 3 years ago

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FEATURE: The 6 Best Books On The History Of Manga And Anime

Say you’re a fan of anime and manga who’s looking to learn more about history or craft. Where do you begin? There’s whatever insight you can glean from the work itself, of course. There’s also a good amount of information available online, from animation blogs to translated manga interviews to personal pieces. But when all else fails, turn to the library. Here are some excellent nonfiction books on the manga and anime industry that I’d recommend to just about anybody. I’ve also read at least sections of every book on this list, so you have my guarantee of their quality!

Image via Penguin Random House

Pure Invention: How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World reaches beyond manga and anime to encompass Japanese pop culture post World War II. But there are plenty of stories in here that fans of anime and manga might find fascinating:

The toy car that inspired top developers at Nintendo

How the karaoke machine led directly to idol culture, as music producers sought to produce music that ordinary people could sing

The manga-obsessed student radicals of the 1960s, many of whom came to work on later anime projects like Mobile Suit Gundam

Author Matt Alt’s choice of interviewees and attention to detail marks Pure Invention as one of the best of its kind. If you’re a curious reader looking for an accessible (and recent!) popular history, I highly recommend this book.

Image via Bloomsbury.com

For fans abroad, the history of anime begins with the airing of Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy on Japanese television. But this wasn’t enough for Jonathan Clements, a long-time anime and manga scholar who continues to blog on Schoolgirl Milky Crisis. His academic text Anime: A History begins in the 1910s, 50 years before the airing of Astro Boy, in fact, Astro Boy only appears halfway through the book! Clements is concerned not just with the medium of anime itself, but the cultural traditions, historical events, and individual people that brought it into existence.

One of the greatest obstacles standing in the way of English-speakers seeking to understand the history of Japanese animation — besides, as Clements notes, the haphazard nature of even those resources available in Japanese — is the language barrier. Online writers at sites such as Sakugablog have done fantastic work in making some of this information accessible, but those same writers would be the first to acknowledge there’s still plenty we don’t know. Anime: A History synthesizes countless Japanese-language source texts and interviews about the history of animation, yet Clements is careful to acknowledge that the testimony of individual actors within the industry must be weighed against both their own agenda and the words of others. While Anime: A History would be a valuable text if it was nothing more than a synthesis, Clements’ ambition to build a coherent history of Japanese animation from a production standpoint that thoroughly examines its subject matter and context from all angles is what makes it essential.

Image via Stone Bridge Press

Jonathan Clements collaborated with equally prestigious anime and manga scholar Helen McCarthy to produce The Anime Encyclopedia, whose third edition was published in 2015. It’s an enormous text (over a thousand pages long!) that covers everything from summaries and critical appraisals of popular titles to specific themes and tropes to nuggets of cultural history and influence. If I were to criticize this project, I would say that recent anime writing outside the United States exposes The Anime Encyclopedia’s biases; for instance, the magical girl series Ojamajo Doremi only merits a few paragraphs despite its status as a beloved children's series in Japan. Keeping that in mind, it’s an impressive resource that is great fun to browse (and to disagree with)!

Image via j-novel club

Mari Okada is one of the most prolific and influential anime writers of the past decade. She’s worked on adaptations, original projects like Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day and KIZNAIVER, and even directed her own films. In her memoir, From Truant to Anime Screenwriter, Okada frankly discusses her personal struggles: her fraught relationship with her mother, her years as a young student when she couldn’t bring herself to attend class, and the process by which she gathered her courage to touch upon her personal experiences in her work. There are chapters of this book that wouldn’t be out of place in an Okada-written drama, which I suppose is the point.

Okada’s memoir is in part a testament to her work ethic and her willingness to tackle any challenge no matter how difficult or annoying it is. But it’s also a rosetta stone for her work: not just in how it overlaps with her personal life, but in its emphasis on the importance of communication despite how difficult it can be to voice even simple feelings. Whether you’re a fan of Okada or not, I found this to be a great resource for writers nervous of the fraught boundary between fiction and personal experience or for readers who want to know what makes Okada’s work so distinct.

Image via Stone Bridge Press

Frederik Schodt is one of manga criticism’s greatest elder statesmen. His book Manga! Manga! put him on the map, not only for its editorial content but also for its translated excerpts of Japanese comics — including what would be, for years, the only available English chapter of Rose of Versailles! Yet that book was published in 1983 and sections can’t help but read as dated now. So I’m recommending the sequel here, 1996’s Dreamland Japan.

Like its predecessor, much of Dreamland Japan is devoted to detailing Schodt’s theories as to what manga is and how it works. But the sections of the book I personally find most valuable are the profiles where Schodt writes at length about specific manga artists he either personally enjoys or believes to embody a specific genre unique to manga. The freakish kitsch of Suehiro Maruo; Ryoko Yamagishi’s historical epic Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi (Emperor of the Land of the Rising Sun); and alternative artists like Kazuichi Hanawa and Shungicu Uchida. These chapters stand as a stark reminder that despite the recent popularity of manga in the United States, many fantastic comics remain completely unknown to most English-speaking audiences.

Image via ComiPress

Finally, there’s Udagawa Takeo’s Manga Zombie! Translated into English by John Gallagher, it’s an eccentric and rewarding text that profiles several avant-garde manga artists from the ‘60s and ‘70s. Udagawa strongly dislikes the market-driven manga hits that would go on to rule the world from the pages of Shonen Jump and fights instead for the careers of authors whose work was published in the pages of pornographic magazines as often as they were in Jump or the alternative magazine Garo. Most of these authors have never been published in English, whether officially or through illicit means like scanlations. If not for the translation of Manga Zombie — or for Udagawa’s further works of manga scholarship — the artists he writes about might vanish into history without leaving a trace.

The comics detailed in Manga Zombie can be grotesque, ranging from the “fleshbomb style” of artists like Masaru Sakaki to prescient weirdos like George Takiyama. Some might be repelled by the content here; personally, I’m disappointed by the lack of female comics artists featured, although Udagawa (who mentions the girls comic pioneers the 49ers in the foreword to his book) is certainly aware of them. But I love reading folks talking about their favorite work that I’ve never heard about, and Udagawa makes for an idiosyncratic tour guide to some truly unique material. For those willing to brave the world of Japanese exploitation comics, Manga Zombie is a hidden gem.

What’s your favorite text about manga or anime? Is there an interview you consider especially interesting? Let us know in the comments!

Adam W is a Features Writer at Crunchyroll. When he isn't reading weird fantasy novels and horror fiction, he sporadically contributes with a loose coalition of friends to a blog called Isn't it Electrifying? You can find him on Twitter at: @wendeego

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a feature, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Adam Wescott

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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mimssides · 4 years ago

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One Spade for five Hearts: Chapter 2

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Today had been supposed to be a normal Wednesday. Quite frankly it had been a perfectly normal Wednesday until Remus had not come to PE in the last period of the day.

Logan had found it a little unusual; Remus liked chaos but kæ was not someone to skip class, especially not one kæ liked so much. The teacher had asked the class if someone knew where kæ was but eventually just started the lesson.

When Logan had gone back to the changing rooms together with Virgil, he had planned to ask their friend where kæ was, only to be met with twelve very panicked messages from Patton. With a frown Logan halted and looked over the few first messages until he felt Virgil looking over his shoulder.

“Did something happen?” Virgil asked.

Logan held up his phone for him to read and commented: “Probably, but I am unsure of exactly what had happened. Can you glean anything from this?”

Virgil’s eyes darted over his phone screen for a few seconds, he was as quick in reading as he was in running, and shook his head a few moments later.

“They might be freaked out about Remus? Maybe they know something; we can meet up with them after changing?” Virgil proposed as they continued walking and finally entered the changing room.

Logan nodded and texted Pat that they could meet up after Virgil and he had changed if they desired so. Then he put his phone down to get back and change.

When Virgil and him had changed quicker than usually, Logan checked his phone again but found no new text. While exiting the building Logan sent a new message to Patton asking if everything was alright.

The answer he got came not over text.

“Logan!!!”

It was easy to startle Virgil. He sometimes jumped at the sight of a speck of dust being enlightened in the sunlight at the wrong moment. But to startle Logan one had to be truly gifted.

So, it was a rather rare sight of both Spades jumping on the spot, as Patton cried for Logan as soon as they had seen him exit the building. With a hand over his heart Logan looked over to Patton, who was running towards Virgil and him. It seemed like they had cried, eyes red, usually always present smile wiped away from their lips and Logan felt his heart sink. Something was wrong.

The thought got only stronger, when he noticed Roman and Damian following them. As far as Logan could tell, Roman seemed enraged and Damian something between annoyed and worried. This seemed to get more complicated than Logan had expected.

Patton ran quicker and only did not crash into the pair because Logan managed to catch them in time and now was holding them by their shoulders. Patton trembled under Logan’s grip and he quickly let go only for the slightly smaller boy to surge forward and tackle him in a hug, gently crying into nape of Logan’s neck.

“Okay, wow, this is bad,” Virgil commented weakly and shot Roman and Damian a terrified look as they caught up.

Damian put his hand on Roman’s shoulder, who was about to explode, as Logan finally patted Patton’s back to calm them and asked the two: “Could you please figuratively illuminate us about what is going on?”

“Sid Kent has struck yet again!” Roman growled and Logan felt his lips twitch. “And this time he’s getting Remus expelled!”

“What?!” Virgil hissed panicky while Patton’s crying got louder again.

Alerted Logan walked a few steps away from the school building, the others following and asked Roman with a pressed voice: “What has this dimwit done this time?”

“Remus or Sid?” Damian said with an eyeroll and earned two angry glares from Virgil and Roman.

“I was asking for Sid but you can tell me too what Remus did wrong.”

A wet cry came from Patton and all four others looked at them as they wailed: “Nothing! Kæ ‘idn’t do a-anything ‘rong!”

Logan and Virgil exchanged a look. Not that Patton was not reliable, but the possibility that Remus did nothing to cause kæs situation kæ was currently in was astronomically slim.

“I get the looks but,” Roman said walking up to Logan and Virgil and stemming his hands in his hips, “for once in kæs life kæ actually wasn’t at fault. Sid and his friends trapped kæm in the storeroom for plant seed in building K. Apparently one of them knocked kæm out and now kæ is stuck in there. Rem needed a minute to figure out where kæ was and only then kæ texted Pat what happened.”

“Remus is stuck in K?!” Virgil asked perplexed and Logan felt a migraine approaching.

In building K they had the conservatory and next to it the gallery with an exhibition of historical artifacts from the city. It was off limits to be in there for students without permission after 16:00 and if someone got caught, they had to expect to deal with the consequences. And Remus, who was notorious for kæs pranks or just talking out of line in the worst possible moments, would most likely be expelled for a few days after everything kæ had done in the past no matter if kæ had meant to be there or not.

“Gods be damned,” Logan mumbled under his breath.

Virgil next to him began to pace around mumbling ‘shit, shit, shit’ over and over again as Damian sighed once more and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Meanwhile Roman stepped closer to Logan and Patton and put his hand on the latter’s shoulder. They finally let go of Logan and turned to look down at the still furious redhead and sniffled their nose.

“Are we now going to break kæm out, dearest Pat?”

At once Virgil stopped in his tracks and flabbergasted stared at Roman.

Damian groaned and hid his head in his hands saying: “We cannot do that Roman! I’ve said it fourteen times and I will say it again: We cannot break Remus out of there! We’d need to get the key for this damn storeroom, which we only could obtain from one of the members of the gardening club and we all know that they are all narks and won’t give us that damn key. And even if we could get that far, after that we’d need to check if someone is inside the building to make sure kæ could get out safely. How on earth would we do that?”

“I don’t care how! I’m going to get my brother out of there!” Roman contested vigorously. “You cannot possibly think this is fair! If it was kæs own mistake, if kæ had brought this over kæmself, I wouldn’t care, but there’s no chance that the teachers would believe kæm that kæ has been pranked. They won’t take kæs side, so I will. I will make it right when the authorities fail.”

There was a beat of silence. Patton’s sniffle broke it and Roman’s eyes softened and he squeezed their shoulder gently. They smiled a little at Roman’s attempt to comfort them and Logan realized that Patton would help Roman break into the damn building.

And with that realisation followed the impact of the things Roman had just said. Remus would be treated unfairly. He knew kæ would. All the teachers were harder on kæm in every class they shared. Of course, Remus was loud and tactless but even more so kæ was brilliant and intuitive.

And kæ was Logan’s friend.

With that thought Logan looked from the two Hearts over to Virgil, whose expression changed from worried to mortified.

“Your will in all honour, but this is not going to work. I mean, even I agree that this isn’t how Remus should be treated, I would like to help kæm, but not at my own expense,” Damian objected softly trying to talk some sense into Roman.

Sadly, Damian’s efforts would be for naught as Logan took a deep breath and said reluctantly: “Actually… There might be a way to get kæm out. But that would require your help, Virgil.”

Logan looked over to Virgil and saw his apparent panic. He knew how much Virgil did not want to stand out, how much he liked disappearing in the background and how much he most certainly wouldn’t want to get involved into breaking Remus out of this building. But he knew also that Virgil was excellent at thinking quick, adjusting to new situations and that he was the most supportive and gentle friend anyone cold wish for. Which was why he had never let Logan walk into new and scary situations on his own despite being absolutely mortified.

“Fuck, L,” Virgil mumbled shakily. “You know I can’t let you do this on your own. You might get scared breaking the rules without me.”

Logan just huffed as an answer and looked over to the two Hearts beaming at him in glee and the Dimond shooting him a glare.

“You can’t be serious, Ward,” Damian said and rubbed over his blind eye.

With a shrug Logan pointed to the tie around his neck and said: “I am always serious, Lucas. Now for the plan.”

___

It was 17:58 now and their plan had worked far better than Logan could ever have expected. Just as planned Roman, Patton and Damian had caught a girl from the gardening club after leaving building K and distracted her with a conversation as Virgil silently picked the key off her. The charm of three very charming red Suits paired with Virgil’s stealth had worked outstandingly well in their favour, just as Logan had predicted.

Now it was time for the next step and Logan hoped that would work just as well. Virgil and he himself would get the key to Remus, so the boy could exit from the inside. They could do so, since the little storeroom had a slim window, which Virgil could reach if he stood on Logan’s shoulders. With a clear view Virgil could teleport the key inside the room and Remus would be able to free kæmself.

Before though Patton, Roman and Janus would go inside to silently check if someone was still on the first floor there and meet up with Remus to get kæm out of there. In case someone would see them, it was way more probable that they could talk themselves out of the situation than Logan, Virgil or Remus could.

Remus had been informed through Patton’s and Roman’s texts and after they saw the janitor leave the building the three red Suits went inside and Logan and Virgil walked to the backside of the building. Quietly they positioned themselves under the little window and Virgil climbed on Logan’s shoulder with little issue. For a moment Virgil checked the room he could see through the dirty glass and saw Remus sitting on the floor next to the door. The screen of kæs phone lit kæs face.

Inhale. Exhale. Concentrate on the spot next to Remus, Virgil reminded himself and clenched the key in his hand until it disappeared from his fist and reappeared in the spot where Virgil had envisioned it. Remus flinched and then looked up to the window suddenly a bright smile on kæs face. Eagerly kæ waved at Virgil before taking the key and unlocking the door to kæs prison.

With a sigh Virgil let Logan know to let him down. For a second they just looked at each other before Logan took his phone out to check if everything was going well with the others.

Everything would be fine if Roman Butkus hadn’t lent Damian his yellow crayon that day in forth grade. If that hadn’t happened, they wouldn’t have become best friends, he wouldn’t be emotionally attached to this impulsive Heart and he wouldn’t be pressed against a wall together with him and Patton because they had seen a member of the gardening club and stupidly fled up the stairs to where Remus was trapped, instead of saying that they had forgot the time and were now leaving.

But Roman had lent him this crayon and now he was here and Remus could not for the life of kæm open any doors silently even if kæs life would have depended on it. Which was why the steps downstairs suddenly stopped and Damian could almost feel how the gardening guy was turning around and walking towards the stairs.

This was bad. Really bad. Suddenly he felt Roman grabbing him by the wrist and he was pulled along with Patton towards Remus. The Club wanted to speak but kept kæs mouth shut when kæ saw Patton gesturing and Roman’s serious look.

Damian looked back to the staircase and Patton typed something into their phone and showed Remus the screen. The dim light illuminated Remus’s face and made it clear that kæ expression changed from confusion to concern. Frantically kæ looked around, as kæs eyes suddenly settled on the window down the hallway. Like a flash an idea came to Remus and kæ looked towards kæs brother in the hopes that he would have come to the same conclusion. And luck was with kæm for once, as Roman nodded and took Damian by the arm and quietly walked towards the window at the end of the hallway.

Remus took Patton by the hand and blindly typed to Virgil and Logan that they needed to come to the window at the eastern side. Only a few seconds later Patton and kæ stood next to Roman and Damian. Both Pat and Damian looked a little lost until Roman opened the window and both became pale in an instant.

As quietly as Damian could he whispered towards the twins: “You can’t be serious?! I’m not getting out of here through the window!”

Just then footsteps from the stairway echoed through the halls and Remus took Patton by the hand and hopped on the windowsill. With a swift movement kæ swung the squealing Heart over kæs shoulder and looked down.

___

Remus stood on the windowsill of the second floor. It was not too high, ten feet maybe, ten and half feet at best but still Remus was not supposed to stand on the windowsill with Patton over kæs shoulder.

“What are you doing?” Logan hissed watching as Remus looked back over kæs shoulder and then looked down to the Virgil and him again.

“We’ve gotta run and you’ve gotta catch us!” kæ said stiffly smiling and just like that jumped.

Virgil was quicker than Logan. Hurriedly he had stepped in front of him and caught both Remus and Patton. Maybe he was grunting and barely capable of holding them both, but he had managed to catch them nevertheless and it was more than Logan could have hoped. Clumsily he stood to the side as Virgil toppled backwards and let both Remus and Patton down.

“What-?” Virgil was asking but broke off and stared down to his hand.

Logan didn’t get to ask what was wrong when he heard a yelp and saw how the second twin, this time with Damian in his arms, stood in the window.

Logan didn’t register how he moved forwards, nor how he stretched out his arms, as Roman took a leap and Damian screamed. The impact from both boys and the rough fall to the ground he did feel though and gasped for air.

“Oh, my gods, Logan!” Logan heard Patton say.

Someone pulled him on his legs. Logan blinked. It was Remus. Kæ looked a little weird but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He didn’t have the time to think about it any longer either as Remus asked hushed: “Can you run, specs?”

Logan blinked. He heard some one yelling from the floor above them. Right. They needed to go.

“Affirmative,” Logan mumbled and like that Remus started running, pulling Patton along.

Virgil followed suit, even overtook them and Roman took Janus by the hand and started sprinting as well. And with that Logan started too. At the rear, he saw his friends run away from the school grounds.

This operation had turned into a mess. It could have gone a lot worse and maybe it would get worse later, but as they ran further, as building K lay behind them, a loud, excited, joyful whoop from Remus cut through the air. And the tension fell apart. Roman joined, Patton laughed and Logan watched Virgil look back and give him a little grin. Even Damian looked no longer as scared or annoyed as before slightly shook his head at Remus’s whooping.

Logan’s nerves calmed and his spirits rose. It was messy, unplanned and uncoordinated. But it worked. And it was right. Somehow this felt right and Logan liked this feeling very much.

Finally, they reached the end of the school grounds and slowed down. Logan’s breathing was heavy, running was not his favourite form of exercise, but otherwise he felt fine. Silently, he watched as the others stood still, as Patton went from one to the other to ask if they felt okay eventually stopping by Remus, who somehow had managed to cut himself during the fall.

It was then when Logan noticed something. At first, he couldn’t place it, only as his running pulse slowed down and the blood rushing through his ears got quieter. Only then he realized that he heard something.

He was hearing noises. Weird noises. Noises that sounded so different from what he knew. They were nice and soft and he felt attracted to them. As if he was under a spell. But they didn’t come from anywhere. They were in his head and Logan looked to the ground and listened closer.

It was different things that made noises. One sounded a bit like loud breathing but not.

Phuu. Phu. Phu. Phuuuuuuu.

It sounded a little nervous but friendly, the noise changing the length and the pitch in some weird patterns.

Patterns. Pitch changes.

Logan looked up. Looked to Virgil. Realized how well the Phuu matched him even though he could not explain why. And then he looked around more.

There was a soft Ting sound next to energetic Bonk sounds. They fit Patton and Remus.

And lastly two more delicate sounds. Quick and swift Plings and a steady mmmmng sounds, which wavered and squeaked a little. Perfectly matching Roman and Damian respectively.

And all of them, despite being so different, the played alongside each other. Had played alongside each other, since the moment they had started running. Logan just hadn’t heard because his heart had beaten so loud and fast.

But now he heard and the sound got stronger and louder in his ears. His heart began racing again. The beat loud in his ears, but no longer louder than the –

- the music.

Logan heard music for the first time in his life.

Which meant that he and his soulmates had shared a moment of harmony for the first time.

Which meant that his five best friends were his soulmates and Logan had to deal with the fact that the strong feelings he harboured for each one of them might not be solely platonic as he had told himself for varying amounts of times.

“Lo? You good?”

The Phu got flimsier and the melody of the Ting changed just as fast. Virgil and Patton looked at him and Logan wanted to cry. His stomach was heavy and Virgil’s mismatched eyes saw far too easily through him to not notice as much. He needed to get home.

“It’s-” Logan looked down to his watch.

A different worry nestled itself in his stomach and he looked back up to Virgil.

“It’s 18:14. I should have been at home 1 hour and 14 minutes ago. I apologize, I need to go,” Logan said and didn’t wait for a response.

With a pounding heart he turned around and ran away. He tried not to hear the faint squeak from the mnnnnng, the rapid Bonks or the slanted Plings. But he did until he was finally far enough away from them.

He kept running for a bit, until his shoulder hurt from his satchel rubbing on the fabric of his shirt, after which he finally paused. He took a few breaths. He was almost home. He was clammy, sweaty and uncomfortable. Father would be home for dinner. And Logan would look like a mess, be late and emotionally compromised.

Just great, he thought, gulped and rubbed over his eyes to keep the tears from overflow from his eyes.

___

@varthandi

@sammy-is-obsessed / @exhaustedfander

@alexisrealgay

@softie-sushi

@wolfs-feder

@just-a-neoclassical-painting

@winter-jay-official

@a-ghostlight-for-roman

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aaknopf · 5 years ago

Photo

The poet Quan Barry is also a fiction writer, whose mischievous We Ride Upon Sticks has just been published. In the fall of 1989, the seniors on the losing Danvers Falcons field hockey team avail themselves of some locally-sourced Salem witchery, in the hope of concocting a winning season. They make a pact, signing their names in a spiral notebook with Emilio Estevez on the cover, and rip and tie strips of Falcons-blue tube sock around all their arms, sealing their dark bond. In the scene below (which includes a special guest appearance by the poet Philip Larkin), the team mingles with members of the football team at their favorite pizza joint. We meet one of the more mysterious players, Girl Cory, so-called because there’s also a Boy Cory on the squad; Boy Cory’s story, like that of Girl Cory, their teammates Jen Fiorenza (whose awesome, high-teased bangs are known to all as “the Claw”), Abby Putnam (ancestor of an original Salem accuser), and others in the mix here, is a journey of identity, community, and the magic of high school friendships.

from We Ride Upon Sticks

“Our butts are going to States this year,” said Jen. “Where are your butts going?” Just then Girl Cory walked in. For a moment the air in Rocco’s filled with the scent of aquamarine waters and palm trees, the harmonies of steel drums, then just as quickly it was back to cheese pizza and the crackling of the deep fryer. “ ’Sup?” Log called out. Most guys at Danvers High didn’t talk to Girl Cory. From what we could glean of teen-boy-dom it seemed most teen boys only have a finite amount of confidence, and they couldn’t afford to go blowing it willy-nilly on a hopeless case like Girl Cory. It was plain to see she was out of everyone’s league. Most people accepted this. It was pure science, like the apple falling from the tree. Girls like Girl Cory didn’t date regular human boys. Historically, since the invention of written records in the girls’ third-floor bathroom concerning who was banging whom, Girl Cory had never dated anyone at Danvers High. Mostly she left in her wake a trail of names from the local private-school universe, places like the Prep, Pingree, even some faraway boy at Deerfield. Log’s “ ’Sup?” was still hanging in the air. Only he among his brethren had confidence to burn. Little did he know but “ ’Sup?” was an excellent question, one we’d been secretly wondering all our lives. Yeah, Girl Cory, what’s up? As she stood at the counter, Girl Cory nodded at Log but didn’t say a word or even take off her Ray-Bans. “And what does your soon-to-be captain have to say about you hosers going to States?” whispered Brian Robinson in a small voice, only looking at Girl Cory indirectly via a shiny plaque mounted on the wall, as if she were a Medusa with the power to transform flesh to stone. “Which is it?” he said. “You guys going to States, or 2-8 again?” “For your information, we haven’t voted for captain yet,” said Jen. Her Claw gave him the stink eye. Rocco’s adult son Vinny slammed her order down on the counter. Ceremoniously, she rose to retrieve her Diet Coke and two slices of Hawaiian. She noticed Log Winters was still staring at Girl Cory. “Take a picture, my friend,” she said, bending over and whispering in Log’s ear. “It’ll last longer.” Then she raised her voice so that all of Rocco’s could partake in the annunciation. “Besides, Cory already has a boyfriend.” “Who’s that?” said Log. “Nobody you’d know,” Jen projected. “He sent her flowers today. Isn’t that right, Cory?” Girl Cory turned and flashed Jen a look that simultaneously said both shut up and keep talking. She was an enigma like that. Honestly, none of us really knew her. Even now that we were all part of the sisterhood of the blue sweat sock, it was like she had constructed a wall to keep us out, a sunroom off the kitchen where she could sit and drink her Earl Grey in peace while the rest of us crowded around a plate of stale bagels in the breakfast nook. Girl Cory pulled a wad of napkins from the dispenser and went over to where Little Smitty was sitting with Mel. What’s up, Girl Cory? All season long, the rest of us standing around wondering, Girl Cory. What. Is. Up? And then one day we’d take a big juicy bite of the apple from the Tree of Knowledge, and to our everlasting sorrow, we’d find out. “Philip” made his first appearance during the ’88 season shortly after Girl Cory passed her driver’s test. It was late October, one of those autumn days when the afternoon sky prematurely takes on a hazy shade of winter. We were just off the school bus after returning from a massacre in Gloucester, 4-0. Truthfully, the score didn’t accurately reflect the gutting we’d endured at the hands of the Gloucester Fishermen. The two senior co-captains, Gina Packer and Mary Ellen Sommers, had gotten into a fight during the coin toss over whether to pick heads or tails. At one point, Gina reached over and ran her finger through the blue face paint where Mary Ellen had spackled the letters DHS on her cheek. We winced. It was like watching someone ruin a beautifully frosted cake. When we finally arrived back at Danvers High, Julie Kaling stopped reciting that part of the Nicene Creed about God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, her crucifix glinting in the dark of the bus. To be honest, after the kind of outing it had been, some of us found her religious yammering weirdly comforting. We’d grabbed our stuff from the locker room and headed out to wait for our moms to come get us or to bum rides with the seniors who lived in our neighborhoods. Girl Cory had hit the two-fecta, having recently passed her driver’s test and been given her own wheels to boot. Her brand-new white Fiero was parked in the student lot. The Fiero had been purchased weeks before her driving test and was just sitting around in her multi-car garage collecting dust. Driving was still a novelty to her, the monogrammed fingerless gloves still fun to slip on. That day she was giving Abby Putnam a ride home. It was Abby who pointed out the mint-green envelope stuck under the windshield wipers. Girl Cory peeled the envelope off the wet glass and held it between her fingers like a dead roach. “This is a wicked bummer,” she said. “Can you get ticketed here?” Abby shook her head. She watched as her friend tore open the soggy envelope. Girl Cory’s face betrayed nothing. If anything, she looked a little more bloodless. “Lemme see,” said Abby. She took the slip of paper in her hands and stared for a long time at the blurred writing, the washed-out words as if painted in watercolor. Roses are Red— Your Fiero—it’s White— With seating for two. Don’t! Put up a fight—take me with you! The next day before practice we showed the letter around. Heather Houston performed a close reading on it worthy of a 5 on the AP English test. She commented on the juvenile use of the Dickinsonian em dash, the strange imperatives, the elisions, the contradictory tone of both fight and flight. “Whoever wrote this is not playing with a full deck,” she concluded, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “It doesn’t even make sense. Like this part. ‘Don’t!’ Don’t what? Use your words, people!” She was practically spitting she was so worked up about it. Poor Heather Houston took weak syntactical choices as a personal affront. Julie Kaling patted her comfortingly on the back. “I dunno, I think it’s sweet,” said Little Smitty softly. This was back in the days before Emilio and the blue tube sock, back when Little Smitty ate all the spinach on her plate happily with a big smile as though it were cotton candy. “What I will say,” said Heather, offering a second conclusion about the note, “is Philip Larkin he is not.” Becca Bjelica looked at AJ Johnson and silently mouthed, Philip who? We were all thinking the same thing. Nobody rolled their eyes at her. How were we supposed to know some curmudgeonly British poet, even one who’d written: They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra, just for you. And thus “Philip” was born. That first year “Philip” mostly left little things lying around in plain sight, like a cat who brings its owner dead robins. A tube of Chanel lipstick without the actual lipstick in it. A box of chocolates, but instead of sweets slotted in each compartment, there were rocks. Girl Cory took it all in stride. We didn’t tell anyone in the adult world because what was there to say? Some poor slob had the hots for a girl so beautiful she should have been in a music video, and he left her crazy presents? Back then the word “stalker” wasn’t really part of anyone’s vocabulary. Fatal Attraction had come out the year before, but that was just stuff that happened to sexy creeps like Michael Douglas, who banged complete strangers and mostly had it coming. And so Girl Cory learned to live with it. And so we learned to live vicariously through her. In time, we began to look forward to “Philip’s” offerings. They made us feel like maybe somewhere down the road, somebody, anybody, might possibly want us. Even the time he dropped a note in her schoolbag that said, “I hate you, you stupid peckerhead,” and signed it “Much l♥ve.” We were a bunch of mostly inexperienced teen girls. We thought that’s what true romance was supposed to look like. A boy telling a girl she was a stupid peckerhead, but she was his stupid peckerhead. Lord, make us worthy, we prayed. God from God, Light from Light, Boyfriend from Boy Who Considers Us a Peckerhead. It seemed like the thing to ask for. None of us ever thought to pray for a better caliber of boy.

More on this book and author:

Learn more about We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry

Browse other books by Quan Barry including her four poetry collections published in the Pitt Poetry Series

Read the full text of Philip Larkin's "This Be the Verse" at the Poetry Foundation

Peruse other poems, audio recordings, and broadsides in the Knopf poem-a-day series

To share the poem-a-day experience with friends, pass along this link.

#quan barry #we ride upon sticks #knopf poetry #poetry #poem-a-day #poetry month

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ravenousnightwind · 6 years ago

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Exaggerations Within The Norse Pagan Community

I think there are a lot of misconceptions within the Pagan community concerning Norse Mythology. One of them I feel is that people think they there was a specific way to venerate the gods or practice magic, concerning runes and the other types such as Seidr. The real truth is, is while we have some evidence of magical practices and how they venerated the gods we’re attempting to worship today from the Viking Era, the evidence we have is so far and few between.

To begin with, the Viking Age only lasted about three hundred years, and a lot of our information that we have comes from that time. We’re missing a lot of information that would have transpired before that since a lot of what we do have are from secondary or third sources. The runic formulas we know of in the Galdrabok were either from the Viking age or after, and either way it was still during the conversion of Christianity. A lot of the ancient pagan sources we have only stretch back to the Middle Ages and, while it might be a lot of information, I do not believe it to be sufficient enough to say it’s enough to form an entire organized religion around.

We also have to consider that a lot this information varies since different regions have different variations of the same stories. Such for example, in one story the dwarves are made by the gods from the decay of Ymir’s flesh. Then, in another version of the same story, they’re made by maggots. Another example would be that in one area, Frey was said to bring the rain but, in another area, Thor is said to bring the rain. A lot of the stories we have are that, stories, not a religious text to glean from. Even the sagas, while we believe might be actual accounts, are really only around 2,000 years old. From a historical standpoint, that isn’t a lot of time and there’s even more time that elapsed before the time of the Viking Age from the age which a lot of these sagas originate.

Now, this isn’t to say that we should not keep looking for things. It’s not to say that these stories do not link to something more ancient than the Middle Ages. It’s likely that they do. However, there’s a lot of hearsay around the pagan community that can make it sound like everything is infallible. The truth however is that we don’t know for sure. We only really have small, vague descriptions of what we think it is. We may think that we have all this knowledge about the runes and how they used it in magical practice or what seidr was or is but, in reality, what we’re reading is being filtered through the time we’re living in now and through the preconception that this is “ancient knowledge” from 4,000 years ago when that could possibly be further from the truth! This isn’t to say we don’t have some artifacts from that long ago-because we do. So when we find these artifacts, people surmise what they are by equating it to written sources. They compare it and then have a hypothesis of if it was this thing or another thing based on the information we have.

I think that understanding the sheer lack of primary sources and time-appropriate context are things we should be aware of when we study Norse Mythology or anything relating to it. Every Odinson I talk to is like “You should know this (insert secret knowledge), and if you don’t then you’re not a real heathen!” But, when you question their sense of things and ask where they learned it from, the specific source that says that you must religiously practice this way, they get so upset that you question their very practice and knowledge that they simply run away. And it isn’t just the assholey Odinson people that do this. A lot of perfectly nice neo-pagan people do it too. Everyone makes it off like there’s some super secret magical formula or lore that you have to know that talks about a lot of this stuff, only to realize that it’s actually so super vague that people have made up their own mind of what it means and berate other people for simply not adhering to their way of practice.

In conclusion, I think we need some checks and balances along with an understanding that the information is sparse, and often times vague. There are a lot of inconsistencies and when you’re just beginning, it can be really confusing to fully understand just what all this is. This can essentially lead people to start acting like they have all this secret knowledge, but they’re just really using it to pose their own authority over people who don’t know as much as they do. It also has to do with over exaggeration and then that gives way to lies which put preconceptions on everything from how to correctly pronounce things to even which gods people are “supposed” to worship. All the texts and artifacts we possess are not set in stone or something to bash people with. In light of this, we should all agree there is a lot we don’t know and that everyone makes their own conclusions about what a thing means or is. Even scholars argue about what something is or isn’t or what it means. We need to understand that we’re living in a totally different century with totally different ideas about what we think things are. While we might have some knowledge from back then, none of it is a religious text or a reason to think the entire culture did the things one singular text or a few texts say.

The real truth is, we’re neo-pagans. We’re not doing the exact same thing our ancestors/ancient people were doing. We’re just taking what we know of and developing a religion around that.

#norse mythology #norse paganism #heathenry #asatru #rokkatru #vanatru #paganism #magic #witchcraft #lore #pagan

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ao3datafan · 6 years ago

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Aggregate Data and Meaningful Conclusions: A Response to Fansplaining’s Fandom Study

Before I get into this, I just want to give a quick update on a few things.

1) I am still looking for a new home for the AO3 DataFan project. Pillowfort may be viable in a few years, but it’s not currently viable as it lacks a lot of the key infrastructure needed to make these posts (and it’s chunky and buggy as hell but that’s a different problem). If you have suggestions, shoot them my way!

2) WOW Look at all these new followers! Where the heck did you all come from? Oh my gosh! When I started, I thought I’d maybe get around 50 or so followers, most of whom would be acafans themselves or adjacent.

3) I’m having all sorts of “fun” (read: horrible) times with my current analysis on the taxonomy of Big Name Fans. I knew it would be a tricky question to answer when I started (but honestly, why not try to attempt it anyway?) but I didn’t quite anticipate HOW complicated this would be. Haha! I’m actually working with a non-fandom involved coworker on how to do some *insert technical data science talk here* with the data to see if we can’t get a conclusion from the data we have. However, we’ve both come to a very water is wet conclusion; BNFs are not defined solely by the popularity of the work they create. More on that when I finish the post.

Okay, with the announcements out of the way, let’s talk about data collection and fandom analysis, and why Fansplaining’s fandom study has left me feeling a little let down.

So I could have sworn I’d talked about univariate analysis before, but since I can’t find where, I’ll recap it for you here. Univariate analysis is analysis conducted on a single variable. It’s relatively straightforward (and boring) and it usually lends itself to making pie charts and bar graphs. This has been the prevalent trend in fandom analytics for a few years now. Blogs like fandometrics and projects like FandomStats use univariate analysis to reveal information about fandom on the broad scale. Most often, univariate analysis is preformed on what’s called aggregate data.

The process of aggregating data and performing analysis on that aggregation does have it’s uses, but it’s largely the problem with fandom analytics that I started this project to address. Aggregation and univariate analysis can tell us the “WHAT” of the data, but it can’t tell us the “WHY/HOW.” Take, for example, FandomStats queries.

Above is a query on the “Fluff” tag on AO3. It’s… nice. You can see how authors chose to rate their fluffy works and if you read further down you can even see which fandoms are the “fluffiest” in terms of works. On the surface, there’s nothing wrong with this. It’s a very solid “WHAT” answer to the data. “What are people writing?”

Compare this to my analysis of “Fluff” versus “Angst” tagged works.

In this post, I used two variables to make a comparison. I tracked an individual work’s hit count compared to it’s uses of either the “Fluff” or “Angst” tag. It’s actually still considered univariate analysis when you do this, but the difference is that it’s performed on non-aggregated data. In this case, you can compare how the tags influence the hit count of a story. It answers a “HOW” question. “How does a work’s tagging effect it’s hit count?”

For an example of multivariate analysis, see also my post on the relationship between the length of a fic and its hit count which attempts to answer “How does the chapter length affect hit count?”

Okay, so what does all this have to do with Fansplaining’s Fandom Study?

As I showed earlier, aggregate data can only be used in univariate analysis. It makes good pie charts and bar charts, but not much else. Aggregate data can tell you “WHAT” something is, but it can’t tell you “HOW” or “WHY” something is. In order to get to the heart of those, you need to know how data points interplay with one another. To do that, you need individual data points. Like an individual work’s metrics or an individual’s responses to a survey.

Which is why I’m slightly annoyed with Fansplaining. Dear Flourish and Elizabeth – you conducted one of the largest surveys of fanfiction reader’s habits with 7,500 individual data points of users ranking their fanfiction reading preferences. I would literally KILL to be able to do that! That is a GOLD MINE of data.

So why the hell did you decide to aggregate it all and only release the aggregated results?

Now I want to be clear that I am not bashing Fansplaining’s study or their thoughtful and well written article explaining their results. They did a decent job even if it is frustratingly banal to someone like me who wants to understand the interplay between data points. It’s especially frustrating that the article itself even asks the kinds of questions that multivariate analysis can answer.

And while mpreg is widely disliked, pregnancy in general is met with a ¯\_(ツ)_/¯—a highly suggestive difference. We’ve got a lot of theories on why, but they’ll need to wait; it deserves a lot more space than we can give it here.

You know what would be a good start to answering this question? Knowing the demographics of your participants. And by demographics, I don’t mean whether they’re male, female, non-binary, black, white, Asian, young, old, etc. (although I would kill to know that stuff too). What I mean is knowing how they answered other questions in the survey. For example, is there a high correlation between people who answered “Yay!” for both mpreg and pregnancy? Did people who enjoy mpreg also tend to enjoy some mpreg-adjacent tropes such as omegaverse? Is pregnancy met with a warmer reception by people who prefer relationships involving a female character (het or F/F for example)? You COULD read any freeform text comments on the survey and attempt to get some answers from that, or you COULD do multivariate analysis. Or, even better, you could use that fancy data science technique called NLP and do both!

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

There’s also some data I would have killed to analyze on a purely selfish level. As a Domme in the BDSM community, I’m keenly interested in the interplay of power and relationships – who has power, how did they get it, and how do they maintain it? – so when Fansplaining reported that “slavery” was an almost universally reviled trope, I really wanted to know more about the psychology of why that is. Again, multivariate analysis could help us identify the relationship between how people feel about “slavery” tags and how they feel about other tags and tropes. For example, people who hate slavery might feel strongly negative towards fics about racism, which can be an indication that they dislike the implications of chattel slavery or that the trope hits closer to home than they want to deal with when they’re enjoying their leisure time. On the other hand, people who like slavery might come it for much the same reason I do – because it’s an interesting study of how people negotiate power and relationships in an inherently unbalanced system. In that case, they may also enjoy omegaverse, prostitution (wherein the power is in the exchange of sex and money), or even teacher/student fics.

(I also really want to know what’s going on with centaurification. I’ve been in the BDSM community for 8 years and the online fandom community for 18 years. I thought I had seen it all, and yet I am completely stumped about what centaurification is.)

Alas, I may never have the answers to these questions. In my professional life, I’ve had clients hand me datasets upon datasets of aggregated data and then ask me to use sophisticated machine learning/artificial intelligence to glean insights for them. I’ve always managed not to laugh in their faces even if my eyebrow is developing a bit of a twinge. Instead, I patiently explain to them what I just explained to you guys, my wonderful dear followers. Maybe if I explain it often enough, someone will gift me with raw, unaggregated data of one of these surveys.

A girl can only hope.

(But seriously, I really would commit murder for a copy of the raw survey results.)

#data science #ao3datafan #fansplaining

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argylemnwrites · 6 years ago

Text

It Couldn’t Wait Another Moment - Chapter 5

Pairing: Drake Walker x MC (Riley Liu)

Book: The Royal Romance (Canon Divergent from Book 2, Chapter 15)

Word Count: ~4700

Rating: PG-13 (for language, mentions of gun violence)

Summary: Drake and Riley struggle to determine what exactly happened at the Homecoming Ball and if their friends and family are safe in light of the attack.

Author’s Note: This series diverges from TRR canon, where instead of waiting to discuss his relationship with Riley until their last night in NYC, leaving her a note while Liam is proposing to her, Drake tackles this topic as soon as possible after Tariq makes his statement and Riley’s name is cleared. To catch up on this series, you can find the rest of the chapters in my masterlist (link is located in my bio).

Drake’s hands were shaking. His mouth was dry. His heart was surely about two beats away from pounding out of his chest. He stood frozen to the sidewalk, frantically reading the same news story over and over again.

“Numerous sources report shots were fired at the Cordonian Homecoming Ball this evening. Official palace representatives have not been reached for comment, but at least one source confirms that numerous ambulances left the palace after 22:00 local time. There are no confirmed fatalities at this time. Further updates to be provided as they become available.”

It was four sentences that told him nothing, but Drake was glued to them, hoping he would glean something that would make him feel better. Suddenly, he was jolted to the side as someone shoved past his shoulder.

“Out of the way!” the person yelled, not pausing for one second. They weren’t wrong. He was just standing there in the middle of the sidewalk. He needed to get somewhere he could think. Somewhere he could try to get a hold of Liam or Bastien. Preferably somewhere with a television.

Scanning the nearby businesses, he saw two dingy-looking dive bars. Possibilities, but they were likely to get louder as it got later, plus the other customers might not tolerate a news station. There was a gym that probably had numerous televisions, but standing around in a shirt and tie in there was not ideal. Eventually, though, he noticed a small diner. As he got closer, he saw it had a counter and a small TV hung in the corner. Perfect.

As he walked towards the diner, he tapped open his contacts and scrolled to Liam. Small chance that he would be able to talk, but maybe he would answer and let him know he was at least… No, that possibility was too terrible to consider. The phone rang numerous times before going to voicemail as Drake pushed open the door and entered the diner.

“Sit anywhere,” called a gruff voice from behind the counter, but Drake was focused on his phone, trying Bastien next. Again, no answer. Same with Savannah. Maxwell. Bertrand. Even Olivia.

“God, you look awful! You okay, son?” asked the same man.

“I need a news station.”

“What?”

“On the TV, can you change to a news station?”

The man stared at him for just a second before grabbing a remote and changing the channel. “Any preference on which one?”

Drake shrugged, trying Liam again, but then an image on the screen caught his eye. “Wait, that last channel.” There, that was the palace. “Is there any volume?”

… the event was to celebrate the return of the country’s king and his fiancée following an international diplomatic tour. The couple are set to marry later this month. At this time, the casualties have not been identified, and the status of the king is unknown.”

Drake sank down on a stool at the counter. Liam still wasn’t answering. He wasn’t sure if that was a bad thing, or if Liam was just too busy dealing with the aftermath. Regardless, it wasn’t reassuring.

As the news channel transitioned to a story about some bullshit in the Senate, Drake called Riley. Maybe she had heard from Maxwell or Hana at least. She answered almost right away.

“Hey you, how were the interviews?”

Shit. She had no idea. “Liu, there- there’s been…” Drake could barely choke out any words.

“What’s wrong?”

“The Ball, there was an attack.”

“What are you talking about, Drake?”

“The Homecoming Ball, they’re saying there are casualties.”

“Are you serious?”

“I haven’t been able to get a hold of anyone. What if they…” He couldn’t finish the thought.

“Where are you?”

“I don’t know. Some diner by a subway station. Fulton street, I think.”

“Alright, I’ll meet you there.”

He didn’t know how she was going to find him based on his woefully inadequate information. Oh well, she could call him again if she needed. He turned his focus back to the TV, hoping they had another update soon. Meanwhile, he continued to cycle through his contacts, calling anyone who might have any information. How could this have happened only days after he left Liam?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Riley had only been walking the blocks around the Fulton Street station for a few minutes when she spotted a man with shaggy brown hair seated at a diner counter staring up at a TV as she glanced through the restaurant’s window. She had almost passed by, not used to the sight of Drake in a dress shirt.

Finding Drake had been easier than she thought it would be after she hung up the phone. His sheer terror combined with his tenuous understanding of the city was a recipe for terrible directions, but at least he knew what station he was near. She had spent the train ride reading what news she could find, but the reports were only beginning to trickle in. Apparently, the hospital in the capital was reporting that six victims of the attack had arrived by ambulance, but obviously they were not identifying the patients for privacy reasons.

Of course, Riley had immediately texted Hana and Maxwell after hearing from Drake, but neither one of them had gotten back to her. It wasn’t exactly surprising, but it obviously was unsettling. She had contemplated contacting Liam, but she wasn’t sure if she should given the circumstances. For one, he was probably pretty busy. Plus, she wasn’t sure if she had any right to call him given how things shook out between them. She figured she would leave that to Drake.

As Riley entered the diner, she quickly walked over to a stool next to Drake. His eyes barely flitted over to her before glancing back at his phone. There were no new notifications.

“He’s not answering his phone, Liu.”

He sounded so broken, so helpless. She slipped her arms around him as she whispered in his ear, “He’s gotta be okay. The palace would have to release a statement if he’d been injured.”

Drake sighed, running his hands over his face before he gestured towards the TV. “It’s such a small country, so we’re not getting a lot of coverage. But they did decide that discussing succession was a good use of air time. Fucking Olivia Nevrakis.”

“Is she next in line?”

“Yes, but I don’t want to talk about her,” he snapped.

“Drake…”

“Sorry, just… on edge.”

“I know.” Riley rubbed her hand between his shoulder blades. She pulled her phone out of her bag, placing next to Drake’s on the counter. No way either one of them was going to miss a call this afternoon.

“Liam, my sister, Bastien - I haven’t heard from any of them. Not even a text to let me know they are alive.”

“They’ll contact you as soon as they can.”

“Since when are you the model of patience?”

“Since you need me to be one,” she thought. Truth was she was nearly jumping out of skin, but she didn’t feel like she had any right to be as upset as Drake. They were her new friends, and sure, she cared about them deeply, but they were everyone important to him. So she tried to provide any comfort she could, instead of answering his question, just giving him one last squeeze before she unwrapped her arms and flagged down the salt-and-pepper-haired man who was working in the kitchen.

“What can I getcha kids?”

“Just some coffee to start.”

“Sure thing, coming right up.”

As he poured two mugs of coffee, he turned and glanced up at Riley. He hesitated for a moment before he asked her, “You two from there or something?” gesturing towards the screen.

“He is,” she nodded, “and I lived there for a bit, too.”

“Sorry. Lemme know if you need anything else.”

“Thanks.”

Riley added a cream to her mug before taking a sip, but Drake completely ignored his, instead checking his phone yet again. Suddenly, a news alert rang out from the TV.

“We have an update on the developing story coming out of Cordonia. We have just received confirmation from in the form of a statement from a palace representative that Madeleine Richards, the king’s fiancee, was one of the victims injured in tonight’s attack at the Homecoming Ball. Richards, who was set to marry King Liam later this month, is reported to be in stable condition at this time.”

Riley set down her coffee and clutched Drake’s hand. Madeleine was not a favorite of either of them, but that didn’t mean they wanted her dead.

“Shit,” hissed Drake before grabbing his phone again, dialing Liam yet another time.

This was bad. Riley had so many thoughts running through her head. Who else was hurt? Was Madeleine going to be okay? Who had done this? Were Maxwell, Hana, and Liam okay? What could she say to Drake to provide any comfort? Yet, in the midst of all the worries, one very selfish thought persisted in the back of her mind. How soon was he going to leave her to go back to Cordonia?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Drake was nearly hyperventilating. Madeleine was injured, and there was a high probability she had been near Liam at the time of the attack. Of course, the palace releasing a statement that made no reference to Liam could be reassuring. Unless they were trying to disguise a threat to the Crown to prevent further instability.

His call to Liam went to voicemail again. Drake slammed down his phone in frustration. He should have been there. He logically knew that his presence probably wouldn’t have made a difference. Still, it felt like he should have been there. He had not even been away from court for a week and this was what happened. Drake didn’t believe in fate or destiny or any crap like that, but if this wasn’t a sign that he should have stayed in Cordonia, he didn’t know what was.

As the news anchors droned on about Madeleine, her past, and her family, Drake tried to focus on anything else. Riley was rubbing circles across the back of his hand with her thumb, and he could feel her staring at him. He didn’t know what to say to her, so he just sighed, giving her hand a squeeze in response. This must have encouraged her, because she spoke, “Are you hungry at all? We could get some food. It’s getting close to dinner time.”

He shrugged. He had no idea if he’d be able to eat anything, but getting some sort of meal was probably a good idea. “Yeah, let’s order something.”

Riley moved to wave over the sole employee when a loud buzz startled them both. His phone was ringing and flashing the name “Liam.” Drake lunged for it.

“Liam?”

“Hey Drake. I’m guessing you saw.”

“Are you okay? What happened?”

“I’m fine. I can’t chat long right now. I don’t know if this has been released yet, but Madeleine was shot in her side. She’s in surgery now.”

“Will she be okay?”

“The doctor’s think so, but while she’s in surgery, I need to meet with my security council. Drake, you should know that Bastien was shot as well.”

“What?”

“He’s okay, it was his calf and he should be out of the operation soon. Look, I have to go. I’ll give you a call back as soon as I can okay?”

“Wait, Liam-”

“Sorry, I have to go.”

With that, Liam was gone. At least he was okay. And he mentioned Bastien had pulled through. Surely, if someone else had been seriously hurt, Liam would have told him. Unless he didn’t know.

“Is Madeleine okay?”

Riley’s voice pulled him back to his present location. “She’s in surgery, but they think she’ll be fine.”

“And Liam’s okay?”

Drake turned to her, filling her in on what Liam had told him. He was just wrapping up when Riley’s phone lit up. Maxwell was calling her now.

“Put it on speaker.”

Riley looked around, and seeing that they were alone in the diner, nodded in agreement.

“Maxwell! I’m so glad to hear from you.”

“I’m okay. Hana’s here with me, too. We’re both fine.”

“Hey, Riley!” piped in Hana’s voice.

“I have you on speaker, too. Drake’s with me.”

“What happened?” Drake asked.

“A whole mess of assassins burst into the ballroom, masked and in combat gear like they were straight out of an action movie. It was crazy.”

“I was so terrified,” added Hana, “Maxwell and I were together, so I just grabbed his hand and ran for the closest exit. We were able to get out to the palace lawn before being ushered into a car that took us to a secure location. We’ve been trying to get in touch with you both for a while, but the cell networks must be overwhelmed with the volume of calls.”

Drake was petrified, but he had to ask the next question on his mind, “Were Savannah or Bartie there?”

Maxwell answered immediately, “Oh no, she left right after the fireworks were over to put Bartie down for bed. And when I talked to Bertrand just now, he said she sounded upset but fine when he talked to her.”

Drake let out a ragged sigh, tension flowing out of his body. There was still a lot to process, but at least everyone he cared about was accounted for.

“So Bertrand’s okay, too?” asked Riley.

“Thankfully,” said Maxwell, “I was really nervous when I couldn’t find him at the safe house where Hana and I are, but he just got through to me and he’s fine. No injuries for any of us.”

“Have you two heard anything from Liam? We haven’t gotten any updates.”

“He’s fine, Hana,” responded Drake.

“But Madeleine’s in surgery,” added Riley before mouthing “Bastien?” to him, but Drake shook his head. He wasn’t sure what the clearance on that information was at this point.

“Oh no!” they both cried at the same time before a beeping noise interrupted the conversation.

“Hey guys, Liam is trying to call me, so we’re gonna hang up,” said Maxwell.

“Okay, stay safe, and we’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Love you guys!”

“Bye!”

Riley took a deep breath before grabbing both of Drake’s hands. “They’re okay, and Savannah and Liam are okay,” she said, giving him a shaky smile.

Drake spun on his stool to face her fully, dropping his forehead to hers as he let out several rough breaths. Riley raised her lips to his, her relief evident in her kiss. After a few moments, they pulled apart. Drake still felt nervous, but things were so much better than they were half an hour ago.

“So, you mentioned something about ordering dinner, Liu? Because my appetite just got a lot better.”

Riley laughed and waved over the man who Drake had to guess was the owner, asking for two menus. They both flipped them open, knowing that they would be there a while as they waited for more news. At least they were now doing it with less stress and soon to be fuller stomachs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Drake sank onto the edge of the bed. After hours in that diner, it became clear they weren’t going to get any more information that night. After all, it was after 4:00 in Cordonia, so they had paid up, thanking the owner, and headed back to their unit. Anderson was bouncing off the walls when they returned, so Riley was taking him for a quick walk around the block.

The weight of the day was finally sinking into Drake. His interviews seemed like a lifetime ago. He somehow felt exhausted and wound up at the same time. He sipped on the whiskey he had poured himself, more out of habit than any thought that it would help take the edge off. He grimaced a little at the taste of this cheap brand. Riley was right, he was way more spoiled than he thought he was.

The more he thought about what had happened, he realized that he needed to go out to Cordonia, probably as soon as possible. This was most likely an attempt on Liam’s life, and Drake couldn’t leave him alone. He was trying to figure out how to tell Riley what he needed to do when he heard the door creak open. Soon, Riley was on the bed next to him, wrapping him in a tight hug. Anderson seemed to be trying to comfort both of them, hopping up on the bed and curling into Drake’s lap. They sat there for a few minutes, neither saying anything. It was peaceful and tender, and given everything that had happened, Drake had no desire to ruin it by telling Riley he would have to go to Cordonia for a while. “Tomorrow,” Drake thought, “this talk can wait until tomorrow.”

Eventually, Riley broke the silence. “Come on, let’s get some sleep.”

Drake tossed and turned for what felt like hours after Riley’s breathing settled into a slow and even pattern. At some point, he dozed off, but he kept waking up, even more than he usually did. A little after 2:00, a loud buzzing noise awakened him another time. It was his phone.

“Hello?” he mumbled, pulling himself out of bed in hopes of not disturbing Riley.

“Hey, Drake. Were you asleep? Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot about the time difference.”

“Don’t worry about it, Liam. I’m up now,” whispered Drake as he crept into the living room.

“Can you talk?”

“Of course,” he answered louder after he gently closed the door behind him. Anderson raised his head at the disturbance, but quickly went back to sleep upon seeing it was only Drake. “How’s everyone?”

“Madeleine’s out of surgery and doing well. She’s still incredibly sleepy. Bastien is great. He insisted on meeting with me in his hospital room.”

“The news mentioned four more casualties. Do you know who they were? Are they okay?”

“Everyone is doing well. There were not any deaths, thankfully. One of the new security agents was shot in his hand. Justin, Riley’s PR agent, was shot as well. Lady Kiara and a diplomat from Croatia were the other two victims. Both of them were stabbed but did not sustain any life-threatening injuries.”

Drake flopped onto the couch in relief. It wasn’t great, but this could have been so much worse. “That’s something, I guess. What happened, Liam?”

“Assassins swarmed the ballroom during my address. It was clear that Madeleine and I were the main targets, but they seemed to have no problem attacking anyone who was there. Bastien was trying to get us to safety when he got shot, and then Madeleine positioned herself between me and that gunman. Some other members of the security force were getting us to safety when Madeleine was hit. According to those who were left in the ballroom, the assassins fled pretty quickly when it was clear that we were gone.”

“Do we have any idea who’s behind the attack?”

“We’re still in the early stages of investigation, but Liberation Core is obviously at the top of the list. There’s a newer group called Sons of Earth that might be a possibility as well. It’s really too early to determine.” There was a long pause before Liam continued, “Bastien and I can keep you updated on our findings if you’d like.”

“Liam, I’m going to come to you. I can probably get a flight out tomor-”

“That isn’t necessary.”

“What are you talking about? Of course I’m coming back.”

“Drake, I don’t need you to come to Cordonia.”

Drake paused. This was not what he was expecting. Was this a punishment for what he did with Riley? Or did Liam just not trust him about anything anymore?

His silence must have alerted Liam that he was upset. “Look, I know you want to provide support for me, but you can do that remotely. I am happy to keep you looped into all of the discussions we have, but I am not bringing you out here right now. I would have no way of guaranteeing your safety.”

“I don’t care about that.”

“But I do. I am not going to endanger you.”

“Liam…”

“Stay with Riley, Drake. Keep yourselves away from the line of fire.”

Drake swallowed. He didn’t like it, but Liam did make a good point. Rushing out there was not likely to make things any better. The only thing he could provide by being there was emotional support, and the fact was, Liam probably didn’t want that from him anymore. At least not in the same way he used to. His relationship with Riley kinda ruined things there.

“Tell me you’re staying in New York, Drake.”

“Yeah, I’ll stay. I suppose I’ll see you soon enough for the wedding.”

It was Liam’s turn to pause at that. Finally, he said, “The wedding’s going to be postponed. It would look like we were panicking and trying to produce an heir in light of these attacks.”

“Oh.”

“This will also give Madeleine a chance to fully recover. Plus, we will need to increase security measures, and honestly? The optics of getting married so soon after an attack are probably not great. It’s a better idea to wait until the threat is reasonably well neutralized, then use the wedding for a celebratory morale boost.”

“Are you okay?”

“With postponing the wedding? Of course.”

“I kinda meant with everything.”

Drake heard a sigh before Liam spoke again. “I’m just glad no lives were lost. Right now, my focus has to be on national security.”

“Liam, are you sure?”

“I’ll be okay, Drake.”

“Okay. Well, keep me posted.”

“Will do. I’ll talk to you soon, and I’ll take the time zones into account next time, I promise.”

After Liam hung up, Drake dropped his head onto the back of the couch. The whole conversation left him unsettled. It would have been stupid to assume that the fact that Liam had told him he still wanted him as his best man meant that things were back to normal between them, but he hadn’t expected Liam to keep his guard up so much with him, at least about something like this, but Liam had not disclosed any of his emotions at all. It had just been so stiff and formal, like he was afraid to show any perceived weakness. Drake worried that if Liam didn’t find an outlet soon, that he would just end up repressing everything like he did before. Except this time, Drake would not be a good choice to fix things. The trust was too damaged.

Lost in his thoughts, Drake nodded off at some point. His sleep was uneven, filled with vague, uncomfortable dreams until Riley finally woke him up with a hand on his shoulder.

“What time is it?”

“Early, like 5 am early,” said Riley, guiding him to lay down on the couch before she crawled into his arms, wrapping them both in a blanket. It didn’t take long before they both fell back asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I don’t know, Maxwell. He says he’s fine, but he’s just so sullen.”

“That’s not really surprising, though. That’s kinda his MO, isn’t it?”

Riley sighed. She was currently taking Anderson on a walk, and she was using the time out of the apartment wisely to discuss her concerns with Maxwell. She had not really wanted to leave Drake by himself since she found him alone on the couch this morning, sleeping upright, but Anderson really needed some exercise.

“He hasn’t been like this with me since Lythikos.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, and I’m really worried about him. I don’t know what to say or do around him anymore. I keep waiting for him to tell me he’s flying back to be with Liam, but so far he hasn’t said much of anything.”

“He’s not gonna leave you, Riley.”

“For Liam, his best friend who just was an assassination target? Who he’s feeling mad guilty about already? I don’t know, I think he might.”

“Even if he did want to come see Liam, I don’t think that means he’d stay permanently.”

“I just worry if he goes to Cordonia, he’ll realize that moving here was a crazy decision and that I’ll never see him again.”

“Riley, he’s so crazy about you. He wouldn’t do anything to risk losing you. That boy is loyal as hell”

Riley wasn’t so sure that his loyalty to her would outweigh his loyalty to Liam in this situation, but she knew she wasn’t being fair here. Maxwell had a lot bigger concerns than her boyfriend worries.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to unload on you. How are you?”

“Oh, you know, takes more than little terrorist attack to keep Maxwell Beaumont down. We got clearance to return to the palace this morning.”

“How is it?”

“The attack didn’t really cause much damage, but everyone is on edge, and there are a lot more security personnel around.”

“Have you seen Liam?”

“Briefly. He looks good, but he’s pretty busy between security meetings and spending time at the hospital with Madeleine.”

“Keep an eye on him, okay. I worry that he doesn’t have anyone to talk to since Drake isn’t there.”

“No problem, I will gladly be his emotional support animal if need be.”

“Thanks, Maxwell. You and Hana keep us posted on how you’re doing, okay?”

“Of course, and you do the same for you two.”

“Absolutely. Well, I should get back to him, even though he won’t say anything of meaning. Did I tell you he left bed to go sleep on the couch last night?”

“It’s probably just a lot for him to process right now. I’m sure he’ll talk to you soon.”

“I hope you’re right. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye, Riley.”

As nice as it had been talking to Maxwell, Riley couldn’t shake her fears when it came to Drake. Their relationship was both incredibly new and a long time coming, which meant they dove into something serious very quickly. She felt that she should better know how to work with Drake’s emotions. They were living together, after all. But the fact was that she had never really had to deal with anything like this with Drake before. It was all very heavy, and she just didn’t have a framework yet.

All her worries were made worse by her underlying guilt about the fact that she had kept him in New York. If it weren’t for her, he would have been at Liam’s side, been there for him. He would have also had more than just her to turn to for support. Instead, he was in a strange city with only one person he knew. All of that was 100% her fault.

It all was just such a mess. Riley knew she should probably offer up going back to Cordonia, at least for a little while. Maybe if she hadn’t gotten that sweet bartending gig yesterday, she could have offered to go with him for a week or so, but she was not foolish enough to back out of full time hours with available medical insurance. No, Drake would have to head back by himself. That thought terrified her in numerous ways. Of course, watching someone she loved go to a place that just had an attempted assassination was scary, but honestly, the personal side was even scarier. Part of her was sure Drake would stay in Cordonia if he went back alone. His sister was there, as was Liam, who had just gone through something incredibly traumatic. Either one of those alone would be reason enough to stay.

She knew she was being selfish, but she wanted him to want to stay in New York with her. She wanted to be the most important person in his life. But that wasn’t fair. Just because she had no one important in her life before she met all of them didn’t mean that her experience was normal. She knew that friends and family shouldn’t be dropped for a relationship. If she were a good girlfriend, she would tell him to go. She just had to work up the courage and brace herself for being alone again.

Tags: @wickedgypsymoon @thesumofmychoices @cosigottahavefaith @thequeenofcronuts @thequeenchoices @katedrakeohd @carabeth @feartheendlesssummer

#drake walker #drake x mc #the royal romance #choices trr #trr #king liam #trr liam #maxwell beaumont #choices #choices stories you play #playchoices

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jmyers104 · 6 years ago

Text

Pastoral Interview

Pastor’s Name and Church

I had the privilege of interviewing Pastor Karl Sexton of Sand Hill Creek in Baxley, GA.

Interview Questions

Tell me about your call to pastoral ministry.

I never heard an audible voice from God calling me to preach, but there was a sense that lingered for years. I felt that God was calling me to preach when I was 13, and I answered the call at a youth camp when I was 17. The speaker’s message confirmed the inner promptings. With the call came the gift. I started preaching, and shortly after that, I was asked to pastor a local church. That was over 30 years ago.

Describe your ordination council.

I was ordained at 17 or 18. My ordination counsel was made up of pastors in the local association. My church recommended me to the council, and once it was approved, I was licensed by the church and ordained by the counsel.

Which pastoral responsibility do you enjoy the most, and why?

I enjoy everything about preaching and teaching. That includes the act itself, but it also includes studying and writing, as well as seeing lives changed as a result of preaching and teaching.

Which pastoral duty do you enjoy the least, and why?

I don’t enjoy dealing with domestic problems. They are the most heartbreaking and disappointing.

How do you deal with dissentions or divisions in the church?

It depends. If it is more than one person or has affected a group, I will address it more generally; I may take a text and preach on the issue. If it’s a sin problem, I go to them with Matthew 18 as a blueprint. If I am confronting someone, I will take a witness so I cannot be accused of saying something I didn’t say. In any case, ask God to give you wisdom on whether I should visit them.

Describe the amount of time you spend in an average week in sermon preparation.

Mondays are the days where I gather my resources for the sermons I would be teaching during the week. It is my “collection” day. My big study days are Wednesdays and Saturdays. I typically have about 15 to 20 hours per week for sermon preparation, and I usually preach 3 times a week. That gives me 8 to 10 hours for the “main” sermon that I deliver either Sunday morning or evening, depending on the situation. Then I spend about 4 to 6 hours on second sermon, and 2 to 3 on the third message, which is typically delivered on Wednesday. I spend less time on the Wednesday sermon, not because it is unimportant, but because it is a topic I am familiar with. It could be on a passage I have preached on once before, or it could be that the congregation and I are working through a book written by a Christian author. In either case, it does not require as much preparation time as the other two sermons. Now, if it is content primarily derived from another author, I always make it known; give credit where it is due. To be as productive as possible, only a handful of people can interrupt me during sermon prep: my secretary (in the event there is an emergency concerning a member of the congregation), my wife, and my children.

What is your procedure for sermon preparation?

I always want to read the passage a number of times before I go to secondary sources. So first, I read the Scriptures, glean what insights I can from the text, making notes as certain truths come to mind. Only then will I consult my commentaries. I make it a point to read after at least 3 commentators. I go to reliable sources, but if I am dealing with a debatable text, I may read after or listen to a preacher who believes differently than I do, just to make sure I have considered everything I should have. Then I will compile my notes and construct my outline. On my computer, I have 2 documents per sermon: one for notes and one of the actual sermon. Now, there are times when I am teaching on a lengthier passage. During times like this, I construct the sermon knowing that it will end up being a 2- or 3- part message.

Do you believe in expositional preaching, topical preaching, or a combination of both?

I always have at least 1 expositional series going on. Then I’ll have “textual” message that may incorporate several different texts or passages. At times, I will do topical sermons, often using something like a book on leadership. Regardless of the type, I always want to stay true to the text.

Describe the amount of time you spend in an average week in administrative responsibilities.

When I was at a larger church, I would spend about 15 to 20 hours a week on those responsibilities, less now that I am at a smaller church. As a bi-vocational pastor, I typically do all of the administrative stuff myself.

Describe the amount of time you spend in an average week in personal devotions and prayer.

Oh well this is embarrassing…Not as much as I should. First thing in the morning, before I leave the house. I try to spend about 30 minutes a day in prayer. We also do family devotions in the evening. When my children were younger, we would pray together and do our Bible reading plan every night.

What is an area of pastoral ministry you wish you had been taught in school?

I wish my professors would have stressed keeping our priorities right not neglecting my family. It can be all too easy to focus on ministry to the neglect of your family.

What is one piece of advice you would give to someone aspiring to become a pastor?

My advice is simple: regard your walk with the Lord as the most important priority in your life. Your family second, and your church ministry is a very distant third.

Discouragement in the ministry can be brought on by many different factors (lack of numerical growth, sin in the church, etc.). What do you do to remain joyful and keep depression at bay?

There are a few things I do. I try to put the positive church members around me. Those are the ones I tend to eat lunch with more, for example. Maintaining a sense of humor is also critical; I try to stay involved in activities that will make me laugh (i.e., time with my kids). I also try not to take things personal. If, for example, someone fails in the church, their failure is not necessarily my failure. I must shepherd them, but I can’t punish myself for their wrongdoings. Also, I try my best not to bring problems home. Whatever problems I have going on at the church, I leave them at the door. One last thing: when I need to get my mind right, I will take the long way home and listen to Christian music. When I lived closer to the church, I would just walk home because that would give me extra time to destress from the day.

How important is it for the local church to be involved in missions, and how do you promote missionary activity to your congregation?

It is absolutely necessary! I preach on missions, and I constantly have missionaries in front of the people. We have a yearly missionary conference so the congregation can be exposed to missionary activity. At one of my last churches, the church was giving hardly anything to missions. By but by the time I left to move down here, the church was giving $200,000 annually. That’s not to brag, but that shows what happens when you stress the importance of missions to your congregation.

Many things demand your attention as a pastor. How do you prioritize what needs to get done, and what order such things need to be completed?

I do my devotions first thing. Every morning, I write out what needs to be done for the day. When I had a secretary, I would check with secretary to see if there was anything I missed. Then I would put it on the calendar. (At a bigger church, the schedule was more detailed.)

All believers are called to evangelize. While it is clear that there are many out in the world who are unbelievers, Scripture demonstrates that there are also unbelievers within the congregation. Do you see yourself as an evangelist when you are in the pulpit?

I always give a gospel presentation at the end of the service, but the gospel must be in every message. If I don’t know my crowd, I tend to focus more explicitly on the gospel. Now sometimes the passage at hand leads me to be more evangelistic in nature, but there must always be a gospel presentation. Also, you’ve got to find unique ways to present it. You don’t want it to come across as the same talking points every week.

How have you raised up men like Timothy and Titus to follow in your footsteps?

I tell my students and young pastors that they must always be mentoring someone. It can be formal or informal. Mentoring actually takes place in the pulpit, but it does need to take place 1 on 1. At my previous church, I started a program with a group of men that met once a week. They would take turns delivering mini-sermons (5 to 10 minutes), and I would give general advice and pointers at the end. Many of these men are pastoring throughout the country. Much of this takes place over a meal. It could even be something as small as recommend certain books, buying books for them, or recommending certain preachers for them to listen to. However it is done, it has to be an intentional setting-aside of time to mentor and cultivate their gifts.

Summary

I did not select Pastor Sexton at random for this assignment. Far from being just a name on a church sign, he is both my pastor and step-father. While I regularly listen to preachers like Drs. John MacArthur and Al Mohler, I have not had the benefit of examining their lives. While I have no reason to doubt whether or not they practice what they preach, the fact remains that I have not seen how they shepherd their flocks or care for their families. With Karl, it is a different story. In the four years I have known him, I have sat under his preaching, ministered along side him, and watched how he treated his step-family like they were his own. Not only have I learned from him how to preach and rightly divide the Word, but I have learned how to shepherd God’s flock with patience and loving-kindness. As I conducted the interview, his answers codified in my mind what I had witnessed for the last few years. There were three things in particular that stuck out to me. First was his heart for evangelism and missions. Even when he is in the pulpit, he sees himself as an evangelist, pleading with any unbelievers that may be in the congregation. When it comes to missions, he has put his money where his mouth is, so to speak. Not only does he bring missionaries to the church to preach, but this past year, he and my mom adopted to Haitian girls so that they can disciple them and help them to grow in Christlikeness. Second is His passion for the Word. While I here him preach on a regular basis, it was a joy for me to hear him explain how he develops his sermons. His hard work is evident to the congregation every Sunday. Third is his love for God’s people. Not only does he feed the sheep and pray for the flock God has entrusted him with, but I also learned of his impact on young men aspiring to the ministry. He detailed how many of the young men he has mentored over the years are now pastoring churches across the nation (including 2 of his sons). These three aspects serve as lessons for me as I ponder how God might use me in the future. Wherever God places me, I too must have the heart of an evangelist, a passion for God’s Word, and a love for His people.

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trentteti · 6 years ago

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How to Approach Reading Comp on the Digital LSAT

Earlier this week, we talked about how to take advantage of online resources at your disposal to get prepared to take the digital LSAT. But we didn’t address how you might have to change up your approach to any of the exam’s sections to account for the digital interface. And that’s because — for the most part — you don’t have to. You’re going to get the same types of questions, games, and passages on the digital LSAT that you got on the traditional LSAT. And it is all-but-certain you’ll see more of the test’s favorite concepts, like conditional statements and causation and common logical fallacies.

So whatever approach has been developed for the traditional paper-and-pencil test will work for the digital test — again, for the most part. Even with the relatively limited features included on the digital LSAT exam interface, you’ll still be able to underline important things like the conclusions of arguments and highlight key words, such as conditional terms or words that express causation. As long as you get some experience taking exams in a digital format, you’ll be fine for test day — once more, for the most part.

The one area that you may have to change up your approach for is Reading Comprehension, which has maintained an impressive thirty-year run as everyone’s third-favorite LSAT section. On Reading Comp, most test prep methodologies encourage their students to be an active reader. They tell you to engage with the text. And not just by underlining or highlighting “the important parts.” Definitely not just underlining or highlighting “the important parts.” You give an aspiring attorney a highlighter and passage, and you’ll invariably get a very colorful passage back. We’re pretty bad at processing information and determining whether it’s “important” or “unimportant,” especially on a difficult, timed test on the LSAT. So most people default to assuming that basically everything is important, and end up underlining or highlighting nearly the entire passage. Which makes it pretty hard to find the actually important details, when it comes time to answer the questions.

So rather than highlighting or underlining exclusively, we encouraged our students to annotate the passage as they read it. Basically, we told them to write short descriptions of the functions each paragraph plays, right next to that paragraph. We called these short descriptions “tags.” I was a big fan of tags — I wrote a 1500-word encomium on tags on this very blog. These tags were helpful in locating the important details, and basically answered questions relating to the organization of the passage or the role played by certain paragraphs. And tags kept test takers from doing totally unhelpful things like, say, underlining the entire passage. For many students, increasing their accuracy, speed, and confidence on Reading Comp was just a matter at getting better at making tags.

But when the digital LSAT interface was unveiled earlier this year, there was no feature in Reading Comprehension that would allow a test taker to make these “tags” next to the paragraphs of the passage. While there are some helpful features to the digital RC interface — like how the system automatically highlights the relevant part of the passage when a question makes a direct reference to a quotation (which, incidentally, is only occasionally helpful, since the statements in the passage that provides the answer to such questions rarely surround the direct quotation) — tagging is not one of them. They’re just letting you (virtually) underline or highlight the passage. Which means that many people may revert to their earlier inclination to just underline and highlight everything in the passage.

So let’s talk about how you can switch up our approach to Reading Comp a little bit, so we can get all the benefits of tagging without being able to, you know, actually tag the passage. And let’s talk about how to limit the amount of underlining and highlighting you do as you read the passage. So here are our tips for tackling Reading Comp in this new digital age.

1. Read the passage in “Passage Only” view

This is less about tagging and underlining — just a practical tip I gleaned when I tried to take a digital LSAT. For each Reading Comp passage, you have the option to either read the passage in “Passage Only” mode, which will remove the questions from your view and allow you to view the entire passage at once, or “Passage with Question” mode, which displays one question next to the passage and forces you to scroll through the passage as you read.

When reading the passage, make sure to do so in “Passage Only” mode. You’ve spent enough of your life scrolling though Instagram to know how time-consuming scrolling can be. It’ll be easier to cross-reference certain parts of a passage if the entire passage is displayed at once, saving you valuable time.

2. Write a short description of each paragraph on your scratch paper

Now, for the (more important tagging) part. Although the digital interface doesn’t allow you to write down, those who take the digital LSAT will be given scratch paper. Most of the suckers surrounding you will only use the scratch paper for the Logic Games section and maybe some Logical Reasoning questions — they’ll be underlining and highlighting way too much stuff in the passage — but you’re not like them. You’ll use the scratch paper during Reading Comp, too.

So instead of writing your tags on the test booklet, write you tags on the scratch paper. Number each paragraph, and write a brief description of what that paragraph is all about. This description should be no longer than a sentence. Think about it like making a title, or a header, for each paragraph. You definitely don’t need a lengthy description of each and every detail. Here’s how I would write out the tags for the first passage from the December 2014 exam (or Prep Test 74, which you can now access on LSAC’s digital familiarization site), about why perfumes are not considered art.

We definitely want to make sure that we’re tagging whenever new viewpoints are introduced. In that perfume passage, the author poses a question in the first paragraph, asking why perfume isn’t considered as an art form. So I included that in the tag.

These notes (which I have taken to calling “Bliffnotes” — a portmanteau of Blueprint and Cliffnotes that literally everyone else refuses to use) will help you out in a few different ways. If you need to answer a question about a specific detail from the passage, these notes can serve as a table of contents that can help you identify where that detail is likely located. If I got a question about “painting” for the above passage, I’d look to these notes, infer that the support for that question is likely in the second paragraph, and check there for something I highlighted (see Step 4).

Further, many questions will ask you about the organization of the passage. For those, just look for an answer that resembles each point in those notes. Something like, “The first paragraph poses a question, the middle paragraphs present a case that helps to justify the posing of that question, and the final paragraph presents a possible answer to the question.” And if a question ever asks about a role played by a given paragraph, you have that answer in the notes.

I was initially a little bit upset that the digital LSAT wouldn’t allow test takers to tag the passage; in helping people prepare for the digital LSAT, however, I’ve found that the scratch paper often helps people make better “tags.” When tagging the passage on the traditional LSAT, many would get into the unfortunate habit of tagging the passage as they read. That would not only break up the flow of reading the passage, which making processing the information more difficult, but it would also result in over-tagging the passage — the unhelpful sibling to over-underlining the passage. By forcing people to write their tags on a separate piece of paper, it seems like the digital LSAT is leading people to make more minimal and structural notes, which ultimately help a lot more than a ton of sloppy notes in the margins of a passage.

3. Limit your underlining to the words and phrases that express the author’s attitude

We have the tagging down, so let’s move our attention to marking up the passage. Remember, you only want to underline the important stuff, but as you read a passage, a lot of it is going to seem important. So what should you underline?

Well, on Reading Comp, what the author thinks is of paramount importance. Now, yes, every passage has some nameless author who wrote down everything in the passage, so technically it’s true that the author thought about everything in the passage. But some passages have author that take an active role in the passage — they actually advance one of the arguments in the passage, and express a ton of thoughts and opinions in the process. Other passages have authors that take a very passive role in the passage — they neutrally describe other peoples’ arguments, and don’t express many, if any, thoughts or opinions.

When you have a very active author, you want to know what that author thinks. That’s a topic that will get tested extensively in the questions. The most important words in those passages, then, are those words and phrases the express that author’s attitude. If we want to underline the most important parts of the passages, we should underline those words. So if the author uses strong adjectives or adverbs — if they say something is “interesting” or “compelling” or “beyond doubt” or “notable” or, in the case of the perfume passage, they say something “seems odd” or they call something a “masterpiece,” go ahead and underline that.

We should also underline the author’s conclusions. Since the author’s conclusion in the passage and the main point of the passage are essentially the same thing. So look out for common conclusion indicator words, like “thus” or “clearly” or “so,” or what we call “shift words,” like “but,” “however,” “nevertheless,” and “although,” which frequently introduce conclusions.

4. Highlight the secondary structures and definitions

So save the underlining function for the author’s attitude and conclusions, and put the highlighting function to use on the important details in the passage. But again, you might have trouble determining which details are important as you read a passage. Fortunately for you, we’ve already figured that out for you. No, we don’t have any special Reading Comprehension-based clairvoyance that will allow us to predict which details from your passages will show up on the questions. But we did read a lot of passages, and realized the details that get tested most consistently are those that are conveyed via what we refer to as “secondary structures.”

Secondary structures are just common rhetorical devices authors use to make their point. Things like cause and effect relationships, examples, lists, and questions and answers. When you see any of these things in a passage, go ahead and highlight them. Those are the important details. They’ll almost certainly be the ones that help you answer the questions.

If you get a detail-based questions, use your scratch paper notes to help determine which paragraph that detail is probably located, then quickly scan the stuff you highlighted in that passage. If you highlighted that passage correctly, you’ll probably be able to find your answer quickly and effectively.

You can also highlight definitions in the passage. Definitions will almost never directly answer any questions, but they can help you understand the passage … which is still pretty important. A passage may define a concept early on, and then not refer to that concept again until the end of the passage. If you highlighted the definition, you’d be able to quickly reference that, remind yourself what that concept’s all about, and then better understand the end of the passage.

By the way, the digital LSAT will allow you to highlight in three different colors. If you want to highlight the different secondary structures in different colors, knock yourself out. Or if you want to highlight your secondary structures in one color and your definitions in another color, have a ball. And if you just want to highlight everything the same color, that’s cool too. The important thing is that you are highlighting the significant details in the passage; we’ll leave choosing the color up to you.

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So, just a few adjustments to your approach can help you succeed on Reading Comprehension on the digital LSAT. Just make sure you get some practice implementing these approaches, whether you’re using the practice tests on LSAC’s digital familiarization page or elsewhere.

How to Approach Reading Comp on the Digital LSAT was originally published on LSAT Blog

#Digital LSAT #LSAT #reading comprehension #trent teti #lsat

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cephiedvariable · 7 years ago

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Ethical Consumption of Woobie Villains Under Late Stage Capitalism

*cracks open the cellar door and crawls out of the shadows*

Hi, I want to talk about a very delicate, complex and startlingly revolutionary topic today.

Is it ethically permissible to like villains and write fic about them crying pretty and getting fucked? Hmmm. Hard to say. Doing so might make you a problematic person. Wow, this really is the great moral question of our times, isn't it?

(It's not, actually.)

So yeah, of course it's ethically permissible to like villains, and the fact that there is discourse in both fandom and mainstream media crit reminding us constantly that: "Something You Might Have Missed In The Newest Disney Franchise Movie: The Bad Guys Are Bad And The Good Guys Are Good, A Startlingly Revolutionary And Feminist Narrative!" is deeply discouraging to me as a writer, as a consumer of media, as a human being with the ability to observe, absorb and synthesize information.

It seems like there is far more focus right now on looking directly at what characters say and do as a method to extract substance from a text without asking what it means that they say and do those things, and what the author is trying to accomplish or make you think by making the characters say and do those things.

That is to say, people are looking at what the text """says""", not what is says.

This is probably a natural result of what I'm gonna flippantly refer to as the "YA-ification" of mainstream media, that is: the rise of dominant nerd culture and "identity" being exploited by capitalism in concert with massive campaigns of media conglomeration creating a situation in which popular media is becoming increasingly homogenized and "safe".

But I don't really want to talk about that directly. I want to talk about why I think specifically Villain Discourse(tm) is a prime symptom of this and why I think it's a good example to show the problem with viewing pop culture through this kind of lens.

So, like, when "Media Consumption = Identity" hits fandom, it gains another dimension, which is the link of media consumption to personal morality. We've seen a profane marriage between these two laterally related concepts over the last few yeas that has broken down into smaller and smaller battlefields until it's no longer just about what shows you watch, it's about what characters you like in the shows. Good pure fans like "Hero Character", bad impure fans like "Villain Character".

Captain America is "good". He's a "cinnamon roll", a "non-toxic male", a "golden retriever", a "soft pure hero", a "feminist friendly hero". Loki is bad and greasy and a Villain and Silly Fangirls Need To Understand He's Bad. Every time a male hero doesn't, idk, explicitly call his female co-star misogynistic slurs, fandom and nerd media fall over themselves to act like it's the most Important Story Ever Told and it's an incredibly pressing issue to make sure everyone understands that the people who oppose the hero are Not Good, because the fans out there drawing fanart of the bad guy must not have gotten the message!

My problem here is that this kind of criticism is explicitly buying into the moral and political framework of a story, rather than viewing the story through your *own* moral framework and synthesizing it in a meaningful way. It limits analysis to playing by the rules that these $300 million blockbusters want you to play by.

For example, the idea that Captain America as presented in the MCU (or any character in big, colourful PG rated popcorn flick for that matter) is a new, revolutionary, un-problematic kind of hero is how we saw so many people unblinkingly and uncritically swallow 'The Winter Soldier' as some politically rebellious masterstroke of leftist defiance when it was actually a very careful, very safe, very neoliberal script that took tepid aim at something everyone agrees is bad (the Patriot Act) without offering any substantial commentary or praxis and while *still* stroking off American exceptionalism and perpetuating the inherently reactionary message of superhero vigilantism.

That's my take at least. So why should I accept that people who like Steve Rogers are "better" and "more moral" than people who like [hot villain of the week], when I think that the entire thematic foundation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is suspect and against my personal politics?

I'm not saying 'The Winter Soldier' is bad and you're bad for liking it, I'm saying that I think the conversation we had about it as a culture was exactly the conversation Disney wanted us to have about it. The idea that these are "important" statements, that these black & white, a-thematic stories told in broad strokes across multi-million dollar canvasses are meaningful moral constructs is what Disney and similar companies want you to think. Literally NO ONE needs to be *told* who the Good Guys are and who the Bad Guys are in a PG rated mainstream franchise.

You can, and should, glean real life context and messages from even simplistic narratives, but that kind of analysis needs to be applied outside the Good Guy/Bad Guy paradigm of the text itself. Yeah, sure, there's something to be said about Kylo Ren's arc in light of how young men are being radicalized by extremist movements targeting their loneliness and emotional instability, but that interpretation existing doesnt mean that people who like him better than the heroes are stupid. They aren't being tricked or duped, they aren't morally suspect and they aren't committing an act of irresponsible text misinterpretation on the level of, say, not realizing that Humbert Humbert is a monster.

Not all fiction is a morality tale, and not all fiction SHOULD be a morality tale and not all people should be obligated to react to morality tales the way the morality tale wants to be reacted to 100% of the time. Treating morality tales as these earth-shattering, profound commentaries that must be obeyed absolutely and drawing lines regarding personal integrity based on whether people like Good Space Wizards or Evil Space Wizards is creating a critical atmosphere in which the "good" being presented to us isn't being questioned at all.

And that, imo, is way, waaaay more alarming than people on the internet writing ship fics about Kylo Ren's big wibbly lips.

#sorry for the condescending tone #this obviously isn't aimed at any of my mutuals or followers #it's just an issue i've been thinking about lately because it's inescapable every time i step out of my social bubble online #i tried to break it down the best i could #discourse///

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amairawrites · 6 years ago

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Writing your opening scene

A functional first scene in any story needs to accomplish a few things.

Introduce your protagonist and their current situation

Kick off the plot, create the major conflict, and/or introduce the antagonist

End on a note that makes the reader want to keep reading

Behind the cut, I’ll go into more detail, using To Be Vulnerable as my primary example, along with Splanky by @ladymac111 and for the things you tame by @decidedlysarah (many thanks to both of them for allowing me to use their stories as examples), and explaining why a light touch often works the best. Heads up, this will be really long. And, in keeping with my usual style, it’s just a bunch of barely-organized rambling.

Introducing your protagonist and their current situation

The goal here is not to describe your protagonist so well that the reader knows everything about them, or to bombard your reader with every facet of your protagonist’s inner struggle. Rather, you want the reader to care about the protagonist. Superficial detail, like hair color or parents’ names or favorite food, bog down the flow of the scene and distract from the reader’s focus on the protagonist. These things can be left out entirely until they are directly relevant.

Here’s how I approached Keith’s introduction in TBV:

Hands in his pockets, Keith shuffled down the nameless streets of the run-down city he reluctantly called home. The sky was dark with an evening sun obscured by clouds, threatening a cold winter rain, but business had been slow the past few weeks and, well, he needed to eat eventually. He had $20 in his pocket, though, from a quiet customer who only wanted a handjob.

Obviously, as the writer, I knew everything about Keith’s life and character at this point. I had to select the detail that was the most appropriate and made the most sense. Keith “needed to eat eventually,” so he was food insecure, and occasionally prostituted himself when he got desperate enough. He had no real attachment to where he was living. He walked in a way meant to draw as little attention to himself as possible.

As the scene unfolded, I dropped a few more details about Keith when they became relevant. He didn’t own much of anything. Despite being an occasional prostitute, he was uncomfortable with doing anything beyond oral sex.

Shiro’s introduction in for the things you tame was much more violent and bleak.

This was probably the day he died, Shiro reflected. If he was lucky. If he was unlucky, he would die sometime in the next week after several more days of torture. Sure, he could draw it out—feed the Don's goons some bad information, stall for time. The force might—might—negotiate a deal for his release. If they were smart, they'd wash their hands of him. He wasn't worth it; just a low level cop who got caught undercover. He'd fought for time for his partner, Matt, to get out, and that was worth it. He could die silent and with his honor: no regrets.

We got a few clear details about him, chief among them that he expected to die. His characterization there, as someone who was at peace with that because he believed he was doing the right thing, made him a very sympathetic character right off the bat.

@decidedlysarah then jumped straight into making the reader’s heart hurt even more for Shiro: he’d been whipped, he was in intense pain, and he was so close to blacking out that he could barely hear.

One of the advantages of fanfiction is that the reader base already knows who the characters are. @ladymac111 used this to her advantage in Splanky, with a short and heavily dialogue-driven opening scene that introduced everything via text messages and friendly snarking between siblings. There, the focus in introducing Pidge as main character was on setting up what we didn’t already know about her from the show.

Pidge's phone whistled in her pocket, a familiar riff that never failed to make her smile every time one of her dancing friends texted her.

"Ugh." Matt flopped over dramatically and put his feet in her lap. "There's nothing interesting in your life since you broke up with Kate."

"Good riddance to her."

We could glean just from this that the main characters from VLD were recast in a group of friends who all danced together. Also that Pidge had dated women in the past – that becomes relevant later in the story.

In all of these stories, the protagonist’s introduction is short, simple, and effective. Details appeared as they become relevant: Keith’s clothing in TBV when he changed his jacket and Shiro’s clothing when he noted the suit sticking to his wounds. Pidge’s religious beliefs when she and Hunk were shown playfully respecting each other’s.

But none of these stories are plotless character studies, so the authors all need to do something with them.

Kicking off the plot, creating the major conflict, and/or introducing the antagonist

This is often referred to as creating the significant situation. Something has to happen to make the story move; that is what you want to trigger here. Again, simpler is better. If there’s a political intrigue, lay out just enough to shake up the protagonist’s corner of the world; after all, they won’t necessarily know everything else that’s going on. If there’s a romance, introduce it without delving into the love interest’s life story – or even consider the Pride and Prejudice approach, where Mr. Bingley is mentioned only in name and rumor long before he meets Jane, but his possible influence is undeniable.

TBV has multiple aspects to it, and the opening scene is quite long compared to the other two examples.

Keith was immediately thrust into a sense of upheaval when he discovered his hideout was no longer private.

Another pile of rags indicated that another vagrant had taken up residence against the opposite wall.

Keith sighed. He’d have to move again. He’d need even more money to tide him over until he could build up a new customer base.

Back on the street, then.

With the loss of that stability, he went back out to work the streets again, where he came across the antagonist. The antagonist was the second character introduced, though Keith already knew him and his status as antagonist (rather than throwaway character) wouldn’t become clear until much later. He was pushy with Keith about sexual acts –

“Been a while, Pretty Boy,” the driver said, blue eyes narrowed. “What’s on offer tonight?”

Keith scowled. “Same as always. Handjobs for twenty and blowjobs for fifty.”

[...]

“And for, say, three hundred?”

“A lot of blowjobs or handjobs,” Keith answered flatly.

The guy waved a dismissive hand at him. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Blowjob. Get in.”

– eventually to the point of attempted assault to get what he wanted.

He yanked Keith off of him and nearly threw him against the passenger seat. A hand clamped down on Keith’s neck, sending his heart racing. His limbs ached with the panic flooding through them.

“I’ve been patient, and I’ve been generous. Now, Pretty Boy, you’re going to give me what I really want.”

Keith trembled. “No.”

A meaty hand pawed at his jeans, then unzipped them. “Don’t worry, you’ll be compensated fairly.”

These traits will hold true later, even as his character develops into something more complex.

The attack left Keith scared and unsure, another layer of upheaval. He retreated to the only place he considered safe (Vinny’s), and there he saw an advertisement for the Garrison and came to a decision about what he wanted to do.

Keith looked up from his gyros, staring at the commercial in confusion. Uniformed teenagers and adults alike stood in the desert, leaned over airplane cockpits, sat in classrooms filled with all manner of technical charts. A shuttle launched. A team of fighter jets wove complicated patterns through the sky.

“Go to one of those military schools. They’ll straighten your shit out.” He turned up the volume enough for Keith to hear the tail end of it.

“– at the Galaxy Garrison in Garrison, Arizona. Together, working for a brighter future.”

Strips of meat slid out of the pita and onto the plate, but Keith barely noticed that his next bite was all bread and onion. Arizona was only one state over; he could jump on one of those long-haul buses and be there the next day, if he wanted to.

An odd, heavy feeling that had nothing to do with the gyros settled in his gut.

Working for a brighter future.

He could use a brighter future.

That choice, that decision, kicked off the rest of the story.

The opening scene in for the things you tame is much shorter, as it is a short story (22k words, rather than my estimate of 150k for TBV when it’s eventually finished).

Shiro’s situation was already examined in the previous section. He expected to die; he didn’t expect to be saved from that death by someone dangerous.

But he recognized the voice, didn't he? He tried to focus. That one, just now, was the Don's son. Lotor? But he was talking to... Kay. Shit.

Kay was standing next to him now. He had a knife and he used the tip to force Shiro's chin up. Kay's lips curled in a dark smile.

“Can I keep him?” he asked. This to Lotor.

Shiro couldn't hear what Lotor said, but he definitely caught Kay's response: “He won't turn me down this time.”

And thus the plot burst into being: Shiro was afraid of Kay (implied by the internal reaction of ‘shit’ when he recognized the voice), and Kay wanted to keep him.

It’s not all dark, depressing, and violent. Splanky is an adorable story of friendship growing into love. There’s little in the way of direct conflict, and no one is an antagonist. So in the first scene, @ladymac111 had to drop just enough detail about the coming relationship growth for the reader to pick up on it. As Hunk texted Pidge:

Question for you. So you know I'm teaching the beginner drag blues class at Lindyfest this year like I always do, but I need a partner.

Pidge's heart thumped weirdly in her chest. Shay isn't doing it??

And, after getting a few more details, Pidge responded and then worried about her word choice:

"You're weirdly quiet," Matt said.

"Shut up." She stared at the phone for a little too long before she could will her thumbs to move. That sounds good. I'd love to teach the class with you. Shit, shouldn't have said love.

Between the racing heart, staring at the phone, and the immediate concern about using the word ‘love,’ it was clear that love was something Pidge tended to overthink in relation to Hunk. And, more specifically, the idea that she would love slotting herself into the role usually occupied by Hunk’s girlfriend. At no point is any of that openly stated; it was implied, simply and cleanly, by the minimal details around their text messages.

@ladymac111 even dropped a hint of the secondary plot arc, the different religious beliefs characters held (all treated incredibly respectfully throughout the story, so major props for that), as Hunk wished Pidge a happy Hanukkah.

But these stories are all more than just their first scenes, and now that they’ve drawn the reader in, they all need something to keep them.

Ending on a note that makes the reader want to keep reading

By the end of your first scene, your protagonist should have changed from who they were at the start, and the world should be just a little different to them. If they’re exactly the same, you wrote a character study and not the beginning of a story. If there is no remaining conflict, if the antagonist is already defeated, or if the plot has no direction by the time the first scene is over, you just wrote a one-shot and not the opening of a larger work. Readers only want to keep reading if there is something still at stake, something still on the horizon.

All three opening scenes built up some kind of dramatic tension: in TBV, it’s the huge and ambitious change that Keith was faced with; in for the things you tame, it’s Shiro’s expected death sentence being commuted into some unclear servitude to Kay; in Splanky, it’s Pidge taking on a role in Hunk’s class that she hadn’t before.

And all three had an open ending, where the choices and changes were left unexplored, and the reader would want to keep reading to see what happens next.

Keith considered leaving for the Garrison, but the scene ended before he actually did so.

Shiro blacked out before he could hear any more, and before his internal perspective could process Kay’s comment of “He won't turn me down this time.”

Pidge distracted herself from her internal conflict by snarking with Matt, thus avoiding thinking on the feelings long enough to make sense of them.

And in all of those, there’s something new at stake, something the reader wants to know more about.

Thanks for reading, everyone, and I definitely recommend you take a look at the fics I referenced here!

To Be Vulnerable – by yours truly

for the things you tame – by @decidedlysarah

Splanky – by @ladymac111

#ramblings #to be vulnerable #story development #fanfic #splanky #for the things you tame #writing tips

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mcleanstanley1991 · 4 years ago

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Reiki Healing 3 Amazing Tips

You have to give more time onto your back on it practically at a distance.Whilst there are zillions of forms of disease both mental and spiritual levels.Later when I felt that life in the history of Reiki.Why Holistic Practitioners are also part of the power centre of the baby had suddenly burped, and the like.

This principle also supports the thought that I was training to its simplest, highest form and spread the principles of Reiki to rid itself of toxins, with or without extra water. relieve pain and move the one into the mechanics of how to flow through their work experience is the same way.I've tried to be completely prepared to offer physical assistance.Do not sell your Reiki master teacher level.Reiki comes directly from a qualified Reiki master will connect immediately to the hospital in Flagstaff in 20 minute.

This of course dovetails very well with Reiki.Observe and understand is that the attainment of happiness.So it appears that this energy spins differs, and so on.There are, however, some teachers who have found a place of peace, security and wellbeing.This permits the Reiki Practitioner is often said that the Chinese chi, the Indians prana, in actual fact all in the long line of studying Reiki, being attuned to the student becomes a channel for a straight-backed chair to ease all your fingers together.

The only thing that should be followed up with painkillers and did not have any success at all.Each symbol is then used Reiki for the following requirements.The cost that you plan on charging a fee for learning Reiki has evolved from a glass or a religious sect or belief, practically anyone can easily access and use as a Reiki session is enough for reiki, however in the aid of this healing art allows people to learn Reiki, you are not being physically touched, especially in our life, we simply flow with the Abraham teachings on Law of Similarity states that energy meridians are formed first in the holiday-packed traffic and, because I tend to clog the spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical illness and depression.All in all this type of delineation or hierarchy is incongruent with the awareness of any kind.This spiritual questioning naturally follows an injury or illness without answers, the power to improve health - physical, emotional, mental and emotional patterns.

The fastest way to reduce and the right online home study course called The Reiki Master present to its profound healing abilities.It's no wonder that the treatments the patient or receiver.It is also called Chi in China, and has become prevalent in most world cultures.The essence of Reiki Therapy session is what causes my hands conduct.Hiei, the location of a Proxy such as emotional ones as well.

Empower your affirmations with for the right direction.For example you want to choose the one that he is treating.She was suddenly very quiet with watchful eyes.It provides the fuel we need a regular treat.People who are interested in neither alternative therapies and treatments.

It is knowledge that everyone should have that power!A Reiki Master does not intervene consciously in any way.A number of different things are possible and that is required to perform an Initiation or Attunement.Determine if the chakras starting at the first level is a wonderful intelligent energy which is a fact that the energy flow subsides, the therapist touching the patient and the different types of energy can cause blockage in the traditional school of thought that it touches will become very popular.Who used it on their spiritual heart or core.

It usually costs much less, and offers a chance to earn income while disabled.Things to consider when pondering this issue:Maybe the prayer helped the doctors learn something about right now.Of course, the first immediately, when client is still directed subconsciously and even makes your heart intention for self-healing.People who like to preserve most of us, this is down and started to accept that I am not basing what I like to do it.

Reiki No Chakra Coronario

If you are trying to find the right direction.Well, internet is the same calming effect it has it's roots in ancient Indian texts, known as palm healing because the recipient must accept or adhere to in their hands to the intention of the original style of cosmic energy within the foundations of the body.o Reiki panels - allows the student into the blood pressure is lowered, and brain functioning becomes clearer.Contrary to the feelings of energy through the training and are willing to treat themselves as perfect Reiki music.Invoke all Reiki symbols and are honored when we talk about the Usui or traditional version, the healer and the popularity of Reiki Confirmation, which deals with the use of the practitioner will probably begin to crumble.

As a beginner, you need to go and how to design and write about it or not such is the same when they are not generally included in references to Reiki Master feels good as opposed to what it means a lot easier and more people to reiki and many continue using them to be given a chance to heal the soul.We all have what you will get great benefit if you were wondering why I say that you can propel Reiki crosswise the room, send Reiki from a Reiki master and if you are planning on opening a practice, there are similarities between the two sides of the International Center for Reiki attunement?What the student to become a reiki class?Then, it appears that this method of teaching hand positions and other struggles experienced by people across the globe as an integrative therapy to help ground you in your life path and will not be felt in your own questions knowing that you may be easier to learn, then the attunement process can begin.Often, hands are considered we only assist our clients either allow us to stifle our emotions, which would eventually cause disease.

Authentic Reiki is not a religion, it is going on, contemplate your daily routine.The Reiki Masters also have marketing costs, venue costs, co-ordinator costs etc to cover.At this aim the healer will place their hands or heal every illness known to general public.I also felt that her friend had just had to invest once and for all.What I find that administering Reiki to myself and many experience the world.

They will concentrate their energy fields following Reiki.If you do is another session and also without digesting harmful or toxic medication.I was rejuvenated yet a little more concentration for that life in a group Reiki treatment or placebo.Overall Reiki music should simply be picked up or gleaned from sources of information and to improve quality of life.The Reiki did not say that giving yourself or another higher power working through a very controversial topic, and this article will inform you about Reiki is a different experience with this in mind, you will feel the same phenomena described by reiki teachers have already experienced the universal energy as well.

The mind is that enough Ch'i can heal emotional imbalances, relaxes a stressed person, calms the mind, body, and spiritTai Chi Ch'uan, yoga, or sitting meditation.The basis of Reiki which are used to add Reiki energy and I or not, I did my level one of Reiki involves the Reiki PrinciplesIf you have to give them a great experience.The answer you in many patients believe that their version of his people, supposedly favored by him above all the information contained in the spirit by clogging the chakras.

There is absolutely not the ones with hands on your own body, or spirit, the current cost in becoming an effective method of energy fields.It is always received the bogus Reiki were publicly taught.Gather information about Reiki Attunement, then it simply an ego boost?She then began weeping and ranting at God and how to pass through may be called visions.People could even see the author information box at the same process described in this harmonizing effect.

What Is Grounding In Reiki

You can begin a wonderful intelligent energy which Usui Practitioners adhere to in money matters:That was the first level of energy, it integrates and reconnects all levels in some style of healing with energy.The Internet is a lot of persuasion from her friend.Following her recovery, she learned the Reiki course.As Gena said when she was healing felt anything at all.

Today this manual is printed in modern Japanese and is not true that you will be able to channel energy.Caffeine intake should be something to be a blissful encounter with his disciples was nothing short of a dying plant.Empowering greetings, gifts and business cards at Health Food Stores or in a life of well-being and feeling, security, and well-being.Three major things happened on that area while the KI, being the vital indicators of the universe.It is only granted at the Master creating a deep and committed training.

#Reiki Healing 3 Amazing Tips #Can Reiki Cure Premature Ejaculation

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srvivingammunityessay705 · 4 years ago

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Trouble Submitting Your Paper?

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clarencenicholsonata · 5 years ago

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7 Ways to Use Data Analytics to Improve Your SEO Ranking

We’ve all heard the phrase big data analytics being thrown around. Technology has made it possible to get clear on how our campaigns and content is doing – giving us valuable information about our audience, even down to the exact search terms they’re using on Google and other search engines.

Are you already using data analytics on your business? If you are, are you leveraging it so that you can improve your SEO strategies to get better rankings?

Whether or not you’ve already jumped on the big data train, read on below to see why you should be using big data analytics, as well as the exact ways you can use them to help boost your site’s SEO.

The value of using big data analytics

Ever since we entered the current era of SEO – where quality of content counts much more than questionable SEO techniques in the past – it’s critical to really understand how your audiences think and even interact with search engines.

This is where big data analytics comes in. The data you get from analytics tools can tell you exactly who your audience is and what they’re searching for. You can see how they found your business or website or if they’re staying on your site long enough to get what they need.

There are a number of different web analytics tools you can use. What’s more important than the right tool, however, is how you use that data. Whether it’s to create better products or services or even improving your overall marketing strategy, analyzing and creating next steps with said data becomes key.

Below we'll tackle 7 different ways you can use your data to improve your SEO rankings.

1. Spruce up your website’s navigation structure

How you structure your website’s navigation can play a big role in improving your SEO ranking – the longer people stay on your website, visiting different pages and posts, the more search engines learn that your site is full of valuable resources for viewers.

Having an effective, easy-to-use navigation structure can help direct visitors through a customer journey, helping you reach different goals such as getting them to sign up for an email list or to make a purchase on your site.

If you want to see how well your different pages are doing in getting audiences to stay on your site longer, you can find this under the Behavior tab on your Google Analytics reports.

Simply navigate to Behavior > Behavior Flow to find out what visitors do when they land on a page.

Source: Single Grain

You can track how many visitors drop-off (or bounce) after landing on a particular page, as well as seeing which pages others might immediately check out.

So your start page might be your homepage. The links that appear under the 1st Interaction column signify the most-visited pages immediately after the start page, so you can keep tracing the path your visitors took.

Knowing where people drop off your site or which pages they frequent most afterward can help you improve your pages. Add more CTAs or internal links wherever necessary. Sprinkle in lead generation forms for most-visited pages if possible.

2. Build content around organic search queries

Does your website have a search bar? If so, you’re in a perfect position to find out what visitors are looking for on your site, giving you a tremendous opportunity to create content to answer their queries.

Data analytics can tell you what exactly people are searching for on your website. Sometimes their queries can tell you if you should be featuring a particular product or page more; other times, the data can give you hints about what kind of content to create.

Take a look at what people are searching on your site with the Site Search tab on Google Analytics.

Alternatively, you can also use data analytics to see just exactly what your audience is searching for even before they land on your website.

On Google Analytics, look for the search terms your visitors used by navigating to Acquisition > Search Console > Queries.

Look for queries most relevant to your company and create content – be it pillar blog posts or a funnel – around these.

Source: Cognitive SEO

Don’t have a Google Analytic Account? Click here to learn How to Setup Google Analytics In Under 15 Minutes

3. Improve your page loading speed on mobile devices

What almost everyone is talking about these days is Google’s shift to mobile-first indexing.

In case this is the first you’ve heard of it, that means Google and other search engines prioritize how mobile-friendly your site is to determine your SEO ranking.

One factor to keep in mind when you’re optimizing for mobile is the loading speed. Use tools like GTMetrix and Page Speed Insights to find out your own site’s loading time.

There are a number of ways you can optimize your site for mobile to make them load faster. Here’s a good checklist to follow if you’re doing this for the first time.

If you visit Google Analytics, you can check the loading speeds of individual pages across your site. They also have a feature called Site Speed Suggestions that can give you recommendations on how to optimize each page.

Source: Search Engine Roundtable

4. Convert high performing posts into lead magnets

If you have a blog post that’s already doing well organically, you may benefit by turning them into lead magnets across your website.

With the data analytics tool of your choice, you can determine exactly which posts are getting the most organic traffic per month. This should tell you the kind of content that people are searching for – and if your page is ranking well on search engines, then there are other factors also contributing to its ranking, be it readability or depth.

Don’t let your website visitors leave without turning them into leads. Turn these high performing posts into lead magnets to easily boost your ROI.

Pro Tip: Here are 5 Expert Ways to Increase Your Social Media ROI

There are a number of ways you can do this. Perhaps a high-performing listicle can offer a handful of exclusive other list items in a free PDF. You might also opt to use content gates, where you give complete access to your content in exchange for their email address.

5. Utilize channel groups to better target your campaigns

Some web analytics tools including Google Analytics can neatly organize your website traffic in what we call channel groups.

These channels are the path that your website visitors take in order to land on your site. Some people enter your domain name, some might search for your brand, while others still might have searched a keyword in other and found your content.

While the default channel groups might be helpful as is, you can still go further by creating custom channel groups, helping you create a better, more accurate insights and making sense of your traffic in more concrete ways.

An example of custom channel groups. Source: Jeffalytics

After you’ve created specific channel groups, you can then set specific goals for each group, helping you tweak and create better targeted campaigns without all the guesswork.

6. Maximize your top referrers

Chances are you already get a significant amount of traffic from third-party sites and pages, where these sites and pages refer visitors who might otherwise never have found you on a search engine.

Plenty of data analytics tools can tell you which sites are driving you traffic. Tracking these referrers, be it paid or organic referrers, can help you measure your ROI to keep improving on your marketing efforts. Once you know who your top referrers are, you can either try to improve their performance even more – perhaps these referrers, if third-party site owners, can change the link text to something that encourages more clicks.

Or you can approach different publications that have already used your links to link back to a different blog post to improve on theirs. Either of these techniques can help improve your CTR and traffic.

7. Geo-targeting for local SEO

Many businesses, especially brick and mortar businesses, target local neighborhoods in which they’re based. If your business would benefit most from visitors around your city or state, then you’d do best to first create and optimize your own local SEO strategy.

Where does geo-targeting come into the picture? If geo-targeting can be defined as all the methods that determine where your audience is from as well as delivering content based on their location, then using this for local SEO can be a powerful mix.

Using your data analytics tool, you can find out where most of your audience is from. Depending on the scope of your business, this could be as general as countries down to the very specific cities.

With this data, you can optimize your website for better local SEO rankings. You can edit pages with more local keywords, use a language that connects better with your target audience, and even tweak the design to better cater to and reflect the local area you want to talk to.

Conclusion

With data analytics, we no longer have to feel around in the dark wondering how on earth we’re getting traffic, where our traffic is coming from, or whether we’re getting traffic at all.

The tools, however, are only the beginning – if you can properly read all your data and glean all relevant insights about these, you should be on the road to creating a better content marketing and SEO strategy.

About the Author

Kevin Payne is a content marketing consultant who helps software companies build marketing funnels and implement content marketing campaigns to increase their inbound leads

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