#rewatching the movies and re-reading the books has made that fucking clear

[atlasshrugd]

katniss everdeen suffered more than jesus

[plenilune]

tagged by @ghstbird~

last song: it's one of those grey days in the almost-winter when I'm going back and forth between the Stranger's Watching Dead Empires in Decay and Cate Brooks' little EP Winterfest all day. have also been listening to a lot of Godspeed You! Black Emperor while reading and walking around.

last movie: not exactly intentionally but also following threads I just did in three days Stalker (1979), Fury Road (2015), and Angel's Egg (1985) and I am thinking Many Things about lone wanderers and water and the world after the end of the world and belief and unbelief and also, ambient music. don't know why I decided it was Waste Land Wnovember but honestly, based.

last book: oh god I'm reading like eight things right now... last one finished was Stephen King's The Gunslinger, which Corey has been trying to get me to read our entire relationship and idk why it took me this long, it's absolutely for me. (though maybe Not for the me of ten years ago? hmmm.) the library has like one copy apiece of all of the Dark Tower books for some reason so I have bought a beautiful battered 80s paperback of The Drawing of the Three secondhand and passionately await its arrival.

also I'm shouldering my way through Frederic Jameson's Postmodernism: The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism chapter by chapter. it is dense to absorb but actually very clear and it is making my brain shoot out little sparks whenever a passage finally settles. also Samuel Delaney's Dhalgren (again, lots of men with no names wandering waste lands and devastated cities for me lately, Who Could Have Predicted This).

last tv show: made a hellish pact with @endquestionmark and @weekenddracula which means I'm rewatching Firefly for the first time in like fifteen years. Analysis To Come,

last thing googled: "fluffy winter crows" shut the FUCK up did you know they grow little downy pantaloons to keep their legs warm DID YOU KNOW THAT

looking forward to: my next batch of library holds coming in. was going to be very bleak and say "next year, even though Things Will Get Worse, because at least my job at the grocery store will stop being turbo insane in that special holiday way" but it's not really like me to be that fucking bleak, I'm just very, very tired. hanging out with Corey's best coworker and her partner soon! going to see Hundreds of Beavers at the Esquire with a pal! I love Christmas really I just assume everything is going to be miserable and exhausting at the moment because retail has had a good crack at breaking my spirit. honestly, looking forward to my next proper morning off so I can re-bake the plum-pear linzer cookies I have from a favourite farmers market bakery in the freezer and do my proper tea service ritual with warm jammy linzer cookies for breakfast.

[cherryblossomshadow]

Not to be controversial, but if the only interesting thing in the book(movie/TV show etc.) is the plot twists, and the book(movie/TV show etc.) is ruined by knowing what happens, the book(movie/TV show etc.) is probably not that great to begin with. (comment courtesy of @black-rose-writings)

.

If you don't re-read books then how can you experience the joy of going "oh fuck" as you find every bit of foreshadowing, every dropped hint? How can you appreciate the work that went into setting up the big reveal if you don't view it all over again with foreknowledge? My favourite books are the ones better on the re-read. Plus like, sometimes I just enjoy a story, knowing the ending doesn't stop me enjoying the build up. And even if it's not that special joy of finding something in the first ten pages that sets up the ending, like, knowing what's going to happen can actually make it more exciting. (comment courtesy of @hedge-rambles)

.

Also sometimes you need the comfort of knowing what happens, the familiarity is the point. Or perhaps the first read meant that you retained the basic story but the re-read gave you insights that you just couldn't have had the first time. Or the book hasn't changed but you have and your take away from it is something so profoundly different that you can't believe you didn't see it before, but how could you without the context of your experiences? I love re-reading books. (comment courtesy of @bumblebeesofttoy)

I am a much different person that I was just, what, five years ago? So yeah, revisiting media and seeing how my interaction with it has changed is really fun. Something something viewing the self through the interaction with something else

.

YOU know what happens. I’VE already forgotten as soon as i close the book (comment courtesy of @wolphinmaybe)

relatable. mind like a sieve

.

me rereading that one fanfic that literally made me want to keep living lol (comment courtesy of @mylabyrinthworld)

I love rereading fanfic, and it feels extra special to reread the fics that have impacted my life or my self-perception in a major way

.

I feel exactly the same! My favorite thing to do is to pick one of my favorite characters and then re-read a bunch of the canon and a bunch of fanfiction. I especially like re-reading the canon out of order, so it's like I'm time traveling through canon with my favorite character! .... is that just me? ... I also enjoy re-reading my own fanfiction. Especially if it's something I wrote, say, ten years ago. It feels like time travel. (comment courtesy of @andtheny)

I also think its really fun to read my own fanfiction! Like, wow, I sure said a thing back then

.

#I cannot reread or rewatch anything unless I have someone with me to share the experience with. I just can't do it otherwise, I get annoyed, my brain really doesn't like it, no matter how much I like a book it just always gets annoyed, so usually I have to forget first as no one I know would like to be read to. (comment courtesy of @sleet-cat)

.

i personally can't reread a book until I've sufficiently forgotten the details of the plot. if I know exactly what happens next, I'll never finish the book because I'm bored while reading it. I don't know if this is normal but when I'm bored, I don't push through, I avoid the source of boredom by finding something more entertaining to fill my time. for example, if I'm bored in class, I'll end up shutting down and losing more instruction because my attention must be kept without losing it or I can't restart paying attention. (comment courtesy of @calechipconecrimes)

Relatable. For better or for worse, tho, my memory is substantially worse than it used to be so, uh, that's no longer a high bar to clear 😅

People who don't re-read books are so funny to me. "I know what happens"..?? Gurl I know what pizza tastes like, still gonna eat another one. I know what a rainbow looks like, you think that'll stop me running outside, camera in hand, to see the next one?

[bughead-fic-request]

I would like to thank @leaalda for making these amazing banners.

This is an effort to spread the word about all fan fiction writers in our little fandom. If you would like to be featured or nominate a writer, please contact me. Please reblog this post if you can and check out some of @cooperjones2020 work!

1. First things first, if someone wanted to read your stories where can they find them.

I post all of them on AO3 as well as on tumblr @cooperjones2020 under the tag #mine and on my master list. (also fyi it’s a sideblog, so if you ever get a reply from @acitrusmoon, that’s also me!)

2. Tell us a little about yourself.

I’ve tipped the scale into second half of my 20’s. I’m currently doing my master’s in English lit, focusing on early modern drama and cultural studies. Canada is the third country I’ve lived in. I’ve been in four separate countries within a 24-hour timespan on two separate occasions. I prefer children’s toothbrushes to adult ones. I made my parents let me drop out of preschool when I was four because they wouldn’t give me orange juice.

3. What do you never leave home without?

Nothing. I leave with the absolute bare minimum I can get away with. So 99% of the time I have my phone, but even that’s not a sure thing. If I can stick a card or some cash in my bra so I don’t have to carry a purse or wallet, I’m doing it. If I do have a bag, I definitely have my giant reusable water bottle and a book with me.

4. Are you an early bird or a night owl?

Early bird. I’ve hit the level of adulthood where I wake up at like 6:30 sans alarm. And I have no excuse. I don’t have to be at work til 10.

5. If you could live in any fictional world which one would you choose and why?

I’ve been thinking about this question and I can’t come up with anything other than HP. I basically learned to read off those books and grew up alongside them. That fictional world is so embedded with my real one, it would be a disservice to pick something else.

6. Who is the most famous person you’ve ever met.

In general, I have no interest in meeting famous people, so I think the most famous person I’ve ever actually met was Roger Ebert at an ice cream shop in Michigan when I was 8. But I’ve been adjacent to famous people. I saw Josh Radnor in my college bookstore, I’ve emailed with John Green, and Chicago Fire used to film in my old apartment in Chicago before it became my apartment. They would still shut our street down to do external shots, and NBC paid my landlord not to gut the apartment when he rehabbed it, in case they needed to use it again.

Does Walk the Moon count as famous now? I’ve met Nick Petricca at parties (figure out what Josh Radnor, John Green, and Nick Petricca have in common, and you’ll learn something else about me).

7. What are some of your favorite movies/TV?

I’m the worst with “favorite” type questions because I change my mind all the time when my attention wanders. So TV shows I’ve loved a long time and will continue to rewatch ad infinitum: Gilmore Girls, Charmed, Boy Meets World. I don’t really re-watch movies, which is my general bar for loving something. I recently saw The Third Man and it blew my mind, so much so that it made it into chapter 5 of “Nobodies Nobody Knows.”

(but also I haven’t had consistent access to a television since 2006 because I went to boarding school for nerds, so I’m out of touch with a lot what’s been on unless I’ve been able to find it on the internet and binge watch it)

8. What are some of your favorite bands/musicians?

Again, I don’t know if I have anyone I would say is a favorite above all the music I like. I cycle through songs I get obsessed with for a week or two. The Spotify playlist I’m currently listening to on repeat includes Halsey, Imagine Dragons, Walk the Moon, Regina Spektor, Lorde, Cigarettes After Sex, Ed Sheeran, Adele, X Embassadors, and Sia. But it’s also my Bughead writing playlist. I’d really like to see Maren Morris in concert.

9. Favorite Books?

I could fill a library with my favorite books. The books that have been most foundational to me as a person were probably HP and the Anne of Green Gables series. The books/authors I loved enough to ship to Canada, which really just means I like rereading them, include Emily Dickinson, Raymond Carver, Louise Erdrich, Junot Diaz, Harper Lee, Milan Kundera, Diana Gabaldon, Deborah Harkness, and a little bit of Nora Roberts and Andrew Greeley for variety. But actually the hardest part of moving back to America will be having to round up all my books and get them to my new place of residence.

10. Favorite Food?

Soup. Which is really a non-answer because there’s infinite varieties.

11. Biggest pet peeve?

People who are passive aggressive and manipulative.

12. What did you want to be when you were little? What do you want to be now?

I went through an intense phase of wanting to be a flight attendant for a while. I was pretty sure I wanted to do a PhD, but the first year of my masters has taught me that I do not want to do that. So now, I have no idea. Something that involving writing and editing as part of its daily tasks. I did some freelancing for SparkNotes earlier this summer and they had a full-time opening that would have been perfect for me if it were a year from now. Before coming back to school, I worked for a tutoring company creating curriculum materials and overseeing/developing tutors.

13. What are your biggest fears? Do you have any strange fears?

The stereotypical things I’m afraid of are heights and clowns. I’m also afraid of bridges and really uncomfortable on escalators, though that’s gotten better. I’m a big believer in facing your fears, so one time I forced myself to do a high ropes course at a team-building retreat and I literally had a panic attack forty feet up in the air.

14. When you are on your deathbed what would be the one you’d regret not doing?

I think I’ll regret the times I’ve said no to things because I was afraid.

Okay… lets talk about your writing!

15. Which is your favorite of the fics you've written for the Bughead fandom?

The one I’m enjoying writing the most/is coming the easiest is ”Second City.” I also really love ”Marked” because it’s the one that got me into the fandom and because it challenged me to go out of my comfort zone.

16. Which was the hardest to write, in terms of plot?

“What’s Past is Prologue” because the plot structure is so weird, so I wind up feeling like I’m just hitting the same note over and over.

17. How do you come up with the ideas for you fic(s)? Do you people watch? Listen to music? Get inspired by TV/movies?

I haven’t written enough fics to have a developed answer to this. “Marked” and “WPIP” came about because of a conversation @jandjsalmon was having that I lurked on. “Second City” came about because I love post-break up/the characters are now in their 20s fics, and I was homesick (hence the setting). Also, with all the discourse around how healthy and communicative Betty and Jug are, I was wondering what would be a convincing enough circumstance to cause them to break up, and how would they find their way back to each other. As far as individual ideas within the fics themselves, I do, as mentioned, have a writing playlist, but I don’t listen to it while actually writing. Just while I’m doing things around the house or walking to school, which is when I brainstorm. I often have to stop walking and move out of the way so I can type ideas into the notes on my phone. A lot of times, I’ll just get a half a line or sentence that sounds nice and then I’ll have to figure out how to work it in later.

18. Idea that you always wanted to write but could never make work?

I haven’t been doing this long enough to be able to answer this question with any level of confidence. I don’t think there’s anything I’ve really wanted to write and been unable to, at least as far as fic goes. I have a lot of half-planned ideas for original stories that refuse to come out how I want them to.

19. Least favorite plot point/chapter/moment you’ve written?

The next chapter of WPIP because I don’t think it’s doing anything beyond serving as a vehicle to the chapter after it. But I recently had an idea of something to add to it which might help.

20. Favorite plot point/chapter/moment you’ve written?

I love chapter 5 of “Second City.” I’m genuinely happy about every scene in it, especially the flashback. I also really like the end of chapter 8, parts of chapter 10 and pretty much all of chapter 11. More than plot points/chapters, I tend to love little details or turns of phrase, like the crown scar from “Marked,” or Jughead in a “this is what a feminist looks like” t shirt, or lines like “It hurts. She knows it shouldn’t. She knows it makes sense. But it does. Because it sounds like ‘I don’t think about you’” from “Second City.”

21.Favorite character to write?

Betty because I overly identify with her. In “Second City,” I’ve found Alice and Veronica particularly easy to write in the little they’ve appeared thus far. Like, their voices have been very clear. But watch, I’ve probably just jinxed myself.

22. Favorite line or lines of dialogue that you've written?

I don’t know if I have a favorite, and I use too much dialogue to go back through it all. I try really hard to make it sound realistic. I’m particularly proud of the ending dialogue of chapter 9 of “Second City,” basically everything from after they go back into the spare bedroom.

Also, spoiler: “You harassed Sheriff Keller. You questioned FP. What’s next, Betty? Were you going to interrogate Jellybean?” Betty feels heat suffuse her face. “Oh, you thought I wouldn’t know about that, huh?”

“I did see JB,” she mumbles.

“Fuck, I knew she was lying.”

23. Best comment/review you’ve ever received?

I don’t want to call out anyone in particular because I love and appreciate every single one and I spend way too much time staring at my email waiting for comment notifications. I particularly enjoy when people point out a specific line or plot point that resonated with them, or when they say something rung particularly true to character. I also love when people will talk to me in the comments, because I reply to everyone and literary analysis is my jam.

24. How do you handle bad reviews or comments?

I’ve never had any! I’m not a big enough deal for that.

25. If you could change anything in any of your stories, what would it be?

I would have written more of “WPIP” before posting it because that was my first attempt at anything multi-chapter and I didn’t know what I was doing. I still don’t, but I’ve gotten slightly better at masking it.

26. What is your favorite story you’ve ever written? Any fandom?

Fandom-wise, I’ve only written for Bughead. “Second City”/the “Who Sings Heartache to Sleep” universe is (clearly) my favorite. I actually enjoy rereading old chapters, which is not a place I’ve been with my own writing in ages and ages.

27. What are you reading right now? Both fan fiction and general fiction?

I’m working on my master’s thesis proposal, so I’m doing a lot of reading about early modern theatre, seventeenth century midwifery manuals, and feminist theory. I’m also running a reading group on film noir, so I’ve read several of those this summer. I reread The Unbearable Lightness of Being for the sixth time, but it was for a student I tutor. I’m looking forward to reading a romance novel, probably Nora Roberts, when I visit my parents in a few weeks.

For fic, I’m subscribed to so so many and am behind on most of them. The ones I’ll drop everything to read as soon as I see the notification include anything by @lessoleilscouchants or @sylwrites, Summer Storm by @lazydaizies, Interbellum by @wolfofansbach, Serpent and the Swan by @jugandbettsdetectiveagency, Hearts in Velvet by @raptorlily, Carry On by @soulsofstarsliveinyourveins, Wicked Games by @ariquitecontrary, He Was Gone by @bettyluvsjuggie, What Fools These Mortals Be by @gellbellshead …gah, I know there are more. Those are ones that have either updated recently or that I’ve thought about recently for some reason or another.

28. Do you have an advice for writers that want to get into this fandom but might be scared?

Please please do it. I cannot emphasize enough how welcoming people are. I literally inserted myself in someone else’s conversation like a total creep and it’s the best thing I’ve done in months. I’ve never done anything like that before and definitely wouldn’t be able to in non-internet life. Think about if positions were reversed and you were the one already established in the fandom, how would you react to someone wanting to be your friend? You’d be pretty darn excited. That’s how I feel every day with all of you and I just want to spread the love.

And for writing specifically, and this is cliché advice but, you won’t get better unless you let other people read your work. And letting other people in and letting them be excited (because they will be) will make you so much more confident and motivated.

For real, though, while the last year of my life has been super rewarding personally and I’m happy, it’s also been one of the hardest and loneliest years of my life. And the hits just keep on coming. And you all have made the last month, at least, a lot easier.