#my prof sure will understand

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[compacflt]

do you have any book recs in general? i love your writing style and would love to know what inspires you! <3

four books that i can say really genuinely inspired me and my writing in terms of most to least favorite (of course these are all favorites but they can still be ranked)

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer — for masterful use of symbolism, epistles, the fact that every time i read it (over a dozen times at this point) i discover something new, and the fact that JSF was twenty when he wrote it—lends some belief that i might be able to do the same or similar. read this book when i was 15 and it is no joke the reason i am at the school I am at right now. long story but… this book makes up a sizable share of my soul

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque — for plot, character, and power of emotion. If you get a good translation, this book feels like a modern piece of war fiction akin to Kevin Powers’ The Yellow Birds or the first half of Full Metal Jacket. There’s a reason this book was one of the first to be burned by the NDSAP in the early 1930s. Absolutely superb & reading this book at 14 right after i had experienced my own sense of unparalleled loss and tragedy genuinely changed my life. A solid part of why i am interested in milhistory

American Pastoral by Philip Roth — for character, specificity of detail, and engagement with politics. I love every Roth piece I get my hands on. He’s gritty and gross and ahead of his time. This book was genuinely devastating to read. It’s so specific it HURTS. Proved to me that details are how you sell a story. There’s like a three-page monologue about how to make women’s gloves, and because of the context every word is more gripping than the last. One of the best ever American authors at the peak of his game imo. Which is not an unpopular opinion, this book is heavily lauded for a reason

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov — for plot, inventiveness of language, and character most especially. Lolita actually isn’t an all time fav for me because I didn’t particularly like the ending (i didn’t understand the role of quilty in the story) but I can definitely say it’s had a clear impact on the way i write and especially the way i narrate. Humbert humbert squeezes out the truth and is so ashamed of the truth that his shame and all his little lies bleed out through every word. He’s utterly absurd but he’s entirely believable. He’s just… I don’t know. He’s just human. In a way that all fictional characters have an imperative to be human, because fiction is a reflection of our own sick and shameful real lives… and that comes out in Nabokov’s diction and syntax. It’s less specificity of detail, like Roth—actually it’s barely specific with details at all because the details are so explicit and shameful—it’s more specificity of LANGUAGE. Beautiful writing for writing’s sake.

But pretty obviously what has affected my writing most is that i moooostly read only straight white men writing about straight white men problems. See above. So my reading list might not be applicable/enjoyable for everyone. i would like to think i write like a straight white man. that’s my goal. my strategy is not to follow in their footsteps or to break glass ceilings but to eventually beat them at their own game. we’ll see how that goes.

[dravenscroft]

Have to stumble to my Tort Law class today after getting off a transatlantic flight, fresh from visiting my critically ill seven year old son in hospital (who is now, thank god, doing really well and recovering fine), because my uni is being weirdly shit about authorising absences. No, I have not done my reading for this week - what a shocker.

Going to tap my student card while looking my professor dead in the eye and then leave and go home to sleep.

[eyrieofsynapses]

mmmf so tired. so eepy. so much to do. ugh

[callixton]

it actually sucks so fucking bad that one of my incompletes is in this theatre history class bc i actually love theatre history and learning about it. but these classes are so badly structured and taught that my brain now refuses to associate anything going on with them with actually learning abt a thing i like

[thegreatestheaver]

planning courses for the next semester is not for the weak

[thekittenkait]

i had the clearest realisation of "did you ever think we'd get this far" i ever had

i was putting on my suit and just thought "hm, it might still be a bit too cold for this to be comfortable, but it should be fine for my final exams in april"

you mean the final exams you're putting the suit on for rn?? the final exams of which you already did 3?? the final exams that you're gonna get your grades for today??

it's already April, get a grip

[antisisyphus]

i hate how my brain at any stress is like. well you could curl up in a ball forever and ignore things!! also go kill urself!!!

[ashfdhfgdsfk]

duality of college professors is having one that acts like submitting an assignment with a single typo in it is going to make you fail the entire class and then having another professor who cant even write out the assignment instructions without making 500 typos to the point where its literally indecipherable

[pallases]

okay well i don’t know what to do w myself now

[vonlipvig]

i have a final tomorrow and i DON'T ! WANT ! TO ! STUDY !

[mildew-dread-mold]

i think it’s funny that university professors all decide to give out homework at the same time. they wait 2 weeks before doing anything, lulling students into the false notion of having free time. and then you have 3 essays, a lab, 2 quizzes, and a miscellaneous assignment due during the same week you have midterms.

[dyslexicempress]

talkin to a prof earlier today about how its really difficult and mentally frustrating that i can’t get myself to write things like a normal person-- takes me literal hours to get started on writing even IF ITS THE ONLY THING I HAVE TO DO AND WOULD ONLY TAKE MAYBE AN HOUR OF APPLIED TIME 

she told me to drink about it. vent in tags

[thedarklyblue]

ughhhh

[yunnierights]

I'm like really against AI at workplaces taking people's jobs but when I say ChatGPT is the only thing keeping me from failing semesters. That thing is a better teacher than one would think.

[zipquips]

tbh i think i will always be extremely frustrated that one of my profs asks very open ended questions and then grades everyone exactly the same despite massive differences in effort