#developing academic writing

[bookshelf-in-progress]

You could make a really cool cottagecore fantasy novel using the structure of Little House in the Big Woods. Where the main characters live in a stable environment and go about their daily lives dealing with the domestic details of the world, but they meet characters who have gone on adventures. So a huge chunk of the book is made up of the stories that these characters tell. The main characters would face very little peril, but you'd still have a book full of thrilling stories.

I'd try for a middle-grade fantasy. Center it on a group of siblings whose parents went on save-the-world adventures, but have settled down to raise a family. Maybe they run an inn that caters to people from a ton of the nations and races of this fantasy world. Or maybe they're just frequently visited by old adventuring companions who always have cool stories to share about the adventures they've been on or the events or history of their homeland.

[agirlwithglam]

"Rome wasn't built in a day"

you can't change how they treat u in a day. but overtime as your actions match your words and as your actions slowly change, over time, yes your Rome will be built.

[snakes-of-the-undercity]

Vi is gifted kid burnout but in the english major way

[lorephobic]

literally nobody asked for it, but here's my list of saltburn essays that i've slowly been drafting over the course of the last week which WILL be required reading for anybody trying to engage with me about this movie. my very personal saltburn 101 syllabus just dropped

A Wolf in Deer's Clothing: Saltburn's Attempt at Innocence

an examination of party costumes and our character's last attempts to masquerade as something they're not: felix—an angel, all-forgiving and all-knowing, something to be worshiped; and oliver—a prey animal, prey to class-divide, prey to saltburn, prey to felix.

thoughts about oliver specifically are loosely organized in my #bambi tag

A Midsummer Night's Mare: Farleigh Start as the Ultimate Victim of Saltburn

a farleigh character study, about the ways he was mistreated and manipulated at saltburn, about fighting to stay alive and the scars left behind by knowing when to give in

alternatively titled "QuickStart", may be adapted into a conclusive essay specifically focusing on oliver and farleigh's relationship

The Eye of the Beholder: On Saltburn's Voyeurism & Violence [working title]

how wealth and class pushes the catton's toward the volatile reality of being able to look, but not touch. on desire and the lack thereof, and portraying yourself as an object to be desired

may end up as two separate essays on wealth and aestheticism but i'm pushing toward a conclusive essay about the intersection of the two, which i feel is at the heart of saltburn

alternatively titled "Poor Man's Pudding: A Melvillian Approach to Saltburn's Class", again, may be adapted into it's own essay

Gender-Fluid: A Study in Sexuality and Saltburn's Desire to be Dry

a deep dive into the bodily fluids of saltburn and how oliver upsets the standard of men who are just so lovely and dry. on the creative choice to lean into the messy wetness of sex and desire and the audience's instinct toward repulsion

a celebration of the grotesque and an examination of why we would label it as such

least developed of the four, heavily inspired by @charnelpit's lovely post about the fluids in saltburn

if anybody is actually interested in any of these, i can work toward something closer to a finished piece instead of just bullet points and quotes in a google doc, but mostly this is so i can share my very brief takes on a multitude of themes in saltburn that have been haunting me

edit for people seeing this in the future: all posts about my essays are being organized into my #saltburn 101 tag if you’re interested in following these through to development!

[vivsinkpot]

Writing Realistic University Settings: How Classes, Schedules, and Student Life Actually Work

(Because writing “college” as one big Hogwarts blur doesn’t quite cut it.)

If you’re writing fiction set in a university or college — especially in contemporary, dark academia, or literary settings — grounding it in how academic life actually functions can add a massive layer of realism. Here’s what you should know to get it right.

1. Class Schedules Are Loosely Structured — and Often Weird

Unlike high school, university students don’t have a full day of back-to-back classes. Their schedule might have gaps of hours — or entire days — between lectures.

A student might have:

A 10am lecture on Monday

A 3-hour lab on Tuesday

A 1-hour seminar Wednesday afternoon

Nothing at all on Friday

Schedules vary by subject. Creative writing majors might have 8 total hours a week. Engineering students might have 25+. That balance affects your characters’ free time, stress, and how they use (or waste) their days.

2. Courses Usually Have Multiple Components

One “class” might consist of several parts:

Lecture — Large group, led by professor. Not very interactive.

Seminar/Discussion — Smaller group, often student-led discussion.

Lab/Workshop — Practical work (for sciences, art, creative courses).

Tutorials — 1-on-1 or small group feedback, often with a TA or tutor.

Characters might attend all these under a single course name. It’s not just sitting in one room taking notes — it’s varied, and often chaotic.

3. Students Don’t Live at School All Day

Unless it’s a boarding-style campus (like Oxford), university students often:

Live in dorms (called “halls” or “residence” in the UK) for 1–2 years

Then move to cheap rented flats or houses with friends

Commute to campus on foot, by bike, or public transport

Have long, strange days (e.g. class at 9am and 5pm, nothing in between)

Where they live shapes their experience. A student still in halls might be isolated or living loud. A student in a shared flat might be poor, overworked, and hosting friends for pasta at midnight.

4. You’re Expected to Self-Manage

Professors don’t chase you for homework. Nobody reminds you about deadlines. You might have 1 or 2 essays for an entire term — and they’re 50% of your grade. It’s sink or swim.

“Doing well” = reading 5 articles a week, attending seminars, and prepping for exams…

“Barely scraping by” = skipping everything except the final essay.

Show your characters navigating this — panicking over procrastination, falling behind, or using clever tricks to make it work.

5. Every Subject Has Its Own Culture

A history student and a chemistry student live different lives. One may spend time in dusty libraries; the other might be in the lab from 9 to 5.

Arts/humanities = fewer contact hours, more reading

Sciences/engineering = heavy schedules, labs, practical exams

Medicine = placements, long hours, relentless stress

This changes how your characters talk, what they carry, how exhausted they are — and who they meet. It even affects the vibe of their friendships.

6. Terms, Semesters, and Burnout Cycles

Universities usually run on terms or semesters. Depending on the country:

UK = Autumn, Spring, Summer terms (with a big Easter break)

US = Fall and Spring semesters (often with a Summer term)

Weeks 1–3 = optimism

Weeks 4–6 = illness and existential dread

Week 10+ = deadlines, caffeine, and emotional collapse

Use that timeline to track your characters’ mental state. Time of year matters.

7. The Real Academic Struggles Are Personal

What you study becomes part of your identity — especially if your story is character-driven.

Are they passionate about their subject or just chasing a degree?

Is their academic confidence high — or secretly crumbling?

Do they argue with tutors? Compete with peers? Get crushed by pressure?

Academic life isn’t just “going to class.” It’s a pressure cooker of identity, intellect, and independence.

TL;DR:

Writing a university story? Don’t just focus on romance and dorm drama.

Layer in how classes are structured, how schedules shape social life, how students really live.

Because when it feels true, it sticks.

[dead-generations]

at a certain point marxists are going to have to confront one extremely overwhelming flaw with Marx and Engels works - everything they wrote about anthropology and prehistory was based on the extremely early and as we know now, extremely wrongheaded archeology/anthropology of the 18hundreds.

Most* of what they said on the subject was based on fundamental "knowledge" that now appears to be completely counterfactual

[afantasyoffiction]

maybe it’s all gonna be ok maybe ai will lead to more human-created art not less maybe humanity’s spirit will survive itself once again

[o2studies]

23:04 || ༻`` 3 Dec 24 — Tuesday

So the chemistry mock went 🦎 ok, we'll see how I did in 2 weeks maybe? It's definitely motivated me to try harder and push myself more now. I didn't do any further revision today but I did work on the TSJ website and have uploaded the next entry!

I have written about Sleep And The Sleep Cycle — the sleep stages within the cycle, some chemicals or parts of the brain involved in memory processes (particularly while asleep) and how our memory generally works. It was a lot of fun to research and I hope you enjoy reading it!

(also new member forms are being released on the 5th)

Day 0 I'm being more conscious about it tho!

Also..... thank you for the 400 of you that are following!! That number is insane.... That's too many of u.... 😊💕

Day 76 clean keeping the streak up 💪🌱 it's been hard

Floor time ☑️ // 🍊

[sailforvalinor]

Idk if this is controversial, but studying for a English/writing degree at university shouldn’t make you NOT want to engage with writing or literature. Just a thought.

[thetruearchmagos]

You know you're on the right track with your Worldbuilding when your thoughts about early atomic weapons are filed in your head under the title "Kill Them All: Proliferation, Altercation, And The Spectre of Annihilation In The Hangman's Half-Decade"

[recsspecs]

A good structure is something you can trust.

It relieves you from the burden of remembering and keeping track of everything. If you can trust the system, you can let go of the attempt to hold everything together in your head and you can start focusing on what is important: The content, the argument and the ideas. By breaking down the amorphous task of “writing a paper” into small and clearly separated tasks, you can focus on one thing at a time, complete each in one go and move on to the next one . A good structure enables flow, the state in which you get so completely immersed in your work that you lose track of time and can just keep on going as the work becomes effortless (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975). Something like that does not happen by chance.

- How to Take Smart Notes (Sönke Ahrens)

[tricksterlatte]

There was this post I saw awhile back that asked what was the one thing you would get pretentious about since everyone has at least one. I didn’t reblog it at the time, but my god if I have to see any more bad faith or media illiterate surface level take about Chainsaw Man, I’m going to become the literacy devil

[enchantingepics]

Story Prompt 99

As the sun peeked through the curtains, casting a soft glow on the messy bed, fingers gently traced through tousled hair. A look passed between sleepy eyes, a silent exchange that spoke volumes. It was a moment of quiet intimacy, where love whispered its presence in the gentle touch.

A chuckle broke the silence, memories of high school rivalry dancing in the air like dust caught in sunlight. The past seemed distant yet familiar, a backdrop to the present where affection bloomed despite old tensions.

In the classroom, seats were claimed with a casual indifference that belied hidden desires. Two souls collided in a dance of proximity, neither willing to yield ground. Words were exchanged with the sharpness of old wounds, a playful banter that masked deeper emotions.

The teacher's voice cut through the air, pulling attention away from the silent battle. Roll call was a reminder of shared space, of the inevitability of connection in a world that seemed determined to keep them apart.

"Time?" A simple question, laden with unspoken longing. A soft smile, a tender caress, and the world faded away, leaving only the two of them in the quiet sanctuary of morning light.

"It's early," came the gentle reply, accompanied by a kiss that spoke of promises yet to be fulfilled. In that fleeting moment, time stood still, and the future stretched out before them, a canvas waiting to be painted with the colors of their love.

[thebitchkingofangmar]

@sauronism tagged my main, for the WIP of the week show and tell. Since it’s Tolkien related, I’m posting it here.

(Also because my other WIP of the week is literally about the cultural significance of Artichokes for One Specific City in my original work. No, you don’t get more context than this)

Anyway, genderevil jeweller and she/her witch-king to be be upon ye.

Tagging @elvain @hobbitwrangler @imakemywings and @woodlandrealm

[thedeluxedoll]

Going to do my best to document my postgrad academic journey📖👩🏾‍🏫

[lith-myathar]

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