daytheweirdwriter

[daytheweirdwriter]

A retrospective and discussion: The Butterfly Club by Jacqueline Wilson

TW: Implied @buse

Have you ever revisited a book from your childhood and thought: “Oh. Wow.”

This is a long post but after looking at the glowing reviews for this book I feel it’s necessary to critique the response of the characters in this story and the message it sends to the readers.

The main events in the book:

- Tina Maynard is a seven-year-old identical triplet, but she is much smaller than her sisters. She also underwent heart surgery when she was a baby and due to this she can’t participate in strenuous activity.

- Tina always relied on her sisters to protect her but this changes when the three girls are split up by their Year 3 teacher, Miss Lovejoy. Tina is placed next to a notorious bully named Selma Johnson and is, predictably, bullied. Notably, Selma flushes Tina's small porcelain doll down a toilet.

- Tina's love for butterflies is referenced throughout the story but it blossoms when she falls sick with pneumonia. During her recovery, Tina draws butterflies in a sketchbook along with facts about each one. After Tina's mum attempts to talk to Selma's mum about the bullying, it is quickly established that Selma does not have a good home life.

- After she recovers, Tina shows her butterfly book to Miss Lovejoy, and this prompts Miss Lovejoy to enlist Tina and Selma's help in creating a butterfly garden for the school. Tina and Selma gradually become friendly due to this.

- Selma invites Tina to her house, and we learn that Selma didn’t actually flush the doll down a toilet, but instead kept the doll for herself. It’s made clear that her stepfather is @bu$ive.

- The class has a bake sale to pay for the butterfly garden and Tina gets 100% on a sponsored spelling test to raise money.

- At the end of the book, Selma gives Tina her doll back and the two girls talk about their butterfly garden on a show called Ruby Red (a cameo of Ruby and Garnet from the book ‘Double Act’)

If you experienced some whiplash from that, I don’t blame you. As I reread this book, I saw many glaring issues that go completely unresolved.

From personal experience, I do agree with Miss Lovejoy's decision to split the triplets up and in the story Tina does develop because of that. My issue is with Miss Lovejoy's lack of response to the bullying Tina faced. I understand that it is a complicated situation, but the most that she does is move Tina to a different seat at the same table. Although in this story the situation worked out well, for many kids this isn’t always the case! The reminder that you never know what someone else is going through is clear, but that should not excuse Selma's behaviour.

Speaking of Selma, it is very clearly established that she is in an @bu$ive household, but at no point in this story does anyone try to intervene. Tina's mum actually tells her that she doesn’t have to go to Selma's house again (though I must note that Tina isn’t completely open about what happened) but it was established earlier that Mrs Maynard was aware of some mistreatment. Miss Lovejoy is clearly also aware of this, as at one point she reminds Tina that she is lucky to have a loving family.

I know it’s a children’s book and I know that there are children in these situations. To those who have read the book: what are your thoughts?

[daytheweirdwriter]

A retrospective and discussion: The Butterfly Club by Jacqueline Wilson

TW: Implied @buse

Have you ever revisited a book from your childhood and thought: “Oh. Wow.”

This is a long post but after looking at the glowing reviews for this book I feel it’s necessary to critique the response of the characters in this story and the message it sends to the readers.

The main events in the book:

- Tina Maynard is a seven-year-old identical triplet, but she is much smaller than her sisters. She also underwent heart surgery when she was a baby and due to this she can’t participate in strenuous activity.

- Tina always relied on her sisters to protect her but this changes when the three girls are split up by their Year 3 teacher, Miss Lovejoy. Tina is placed next to a notorious bully named Selma Johnson and is, predictably, bullied. Notably, Selma flushes Tina's small porcelain doll down a toilet.

- Tina's love for butterflies is referenced throughout the story but it blossoms when she falls sick with pneumonia. During her recovery, Tina draws butterflies in a sketchbook along with facts about each one. After Tina's mum attempts to talk to Selma's mum about the bullying, it is quickly established that Selma does not have a good home life.

- After she recovers, Tina shows her butterfly book to Miss Lovejoy, and this prompts Miss Lovejoy to enlist Tina and Selma's help in creating a butterfly garden for the school. Tina and Selma gradually become friendly due to this.

- Selma invites Tina to her house, and we learn that Selma didn’t actually flush the doll down a toilet, but instead kept the doll for herself. It’s made clear that her stepfather is @bu$ive.

- The class has a bake sale to pay for the butterfly garden and Tina gets 100% on a sponsored spelling test to raise money.

- At the end of the book, Selma gives Tina her doll back and the two girls talk about their butterfly garden on a show called Ruby Red (a cameo of Ruby and Garnet from the book ‘Double Act’)

If you experienced some whiplash from that, I don’t blame you. As I reread this book, I saw many glaring issues that go completely unresolved.

From personal experience, I do agree with Miss Lovejoy's decision to split the triplets up and in the story Tina does develop because of that. My issue is with Miss Lovejoy's lack of response to the bullying Tina faced. I understand that it is a complicated situation, but the most that she does is move Tina to a different seat at the same table. Although in this story the situation worked out well, for many kids this isn’t always the case! The reminder that you never know what someone else is going through is clear, but that should not excuse Selma's behaviour.

Speaking of Selma, it is very clearly established that she is in an @bu$ive household, but at no point in this story does anyone try to intervene. Tina's mum actually tells her that she doesn’t have to go to Selma's house again (though I must note that Tina isn’t completely open about what happened) but it was established earlier that Mrs Maynard was aware of some mistreatment. Miss Lovejoy is clearly also aware of this, as at one point she reminds Tina that she is lucky to have a loving family.

I know it’s a children’s book and I know that there are children in these situations. To those who have read the book: what are your thoughts?

[daytheweirdwriter]

Character Development Inspo ✨

For this prompt, we'll be developing a character. This can be an existing character or you can make a new one!

Think of a main trait this character has and equate it to an animal. For this example, I’ll say my character is as cunning as a fox.

The next step is simple and may lead you down a rabbit hole: look up traits of that animal and find one that diverts your expectations.

Did you know foxes are shy and try to avoid interactions?

These quirks don’t have to be as obvious, though. Maybe your character and this animal share a favourite food? Maybe their sleep patterns are similar (or your character wishes they were). Your character could have great hearing or prefer community over solitude.

Ideally, you should mix up traits. For my example character, I’ll say my character is as cunning and shy as a fox but as loyal and friendly as a dog.

Happy Writing!

[daytheweirdwriter]

Sorry for infodumping about my special interest out of nowhere, you said a keyword and it activated my unskippable dialogue

[daytheweirdwriter]

The book that changed my life. (Neurodivergent book rec)

I am autistic and I have always been autistic. Growing up, I knew something was different about me but I had no idea what it was. Having been diagnosed quite recently, I'm still learning to listen to myself and accept my needs.

‘A kind of spark’ by Elle McNicoll has changed my life.

It is a middle grade book, but I encourage any neurodivergent readers to give it a try. The story revolves around Addie, an eleven-year-old autistic girl, and her goal of creating a memorial for the wrongly accused ‘witches’ of her town's past. I've never related to a book so deeply in my life. It’s given me insight into my own mind and for that reason I want to share it with you.

[daytheweirdwriter]

WRITING PROMPT #3: The fool

Your character will try. They will work and cry and bleed for their goals, and every small success will make them work harder. They will fight for what they believe in with everything they have. They will have faith, but faith can only do so much…

“I admire your perseverance, but a fighting fool is still just that.”

[daytheweirdwriter]

WRITING PROMPT #2: Aftermath

Write about a character coping with the aftermath of their story.

“Resilience will keep you alive, but you will not leave unscathed. You are tethered to your story, and it doesn’t end in ‘happily ever after.’ You are alive, of course, but now you must learn to live.”

[daytheweirdwriter]

The Writing Rut (Writing Vent/Motivation)

When I was younger, I used to love the writing process. It came naturally to me, and I thought everything I wrote was a masterpiece.

Now, I’ve started to despise it. I’m in a rut—nothing I write has the same flow as it used to. My vocabulary is mediocre, my sentence structure is repetitive and every paragraph I write reads worse than the last.

I know I can improve, but I don’t know how. My practice pieces make me cringe. I want to enjoy writing again. So, I’m going to try be more active. I’ll probably post some extracts on here, and any and all critique is welcome.

But mark my words, I will learn to love writing again. I will make my younger self proud.

[daytheweirdwriter]

Y’ALL I’M ALIVE! More prompts coming soon ✨

[daytheweirdwriter]

Daydreaming is an important part of writing. Even without words pouring out onto paper, you're still the author of stories.

[daytheweirdwriter]

Currently in the ‘am I a good writer or was just good for my age’ phase 😍

[daytheweirdwriter]

Guilty as charged 🧍‍♀️

how it feels to enjoy storytelling but can't physically put the words down

[daytheweirdwriter]

Write it.

Even if it’s angsty, even if the words sound stiff and out of place—write it. Get it on paper, on a word doc, wherever.

Write that overly-descriptive introduction. Write a page full of dialogue. You can always edit it later.

If you're striving for instant perfection, you are bound to fail.

You are the only one who can do your story justice, so write it.

[daytheweirdwriter]

What made you start writing?

I owe my love of writing to the author Holly Webb. The first series she published was about a set of identical triplets named Katie, Annabel and Becky and it inspired me to write a story about my own triplet sisters and I.

So what made you start writing?

[daytheweirdwriter]

Writer things

I decided I wanted to set my story near a bay. Cool. Then I decided it should have an estuary; I've learned about them in Biology so I've got some background. So I look up if that's geographically possible and, dear reader...

My dumbass LIVES ON A BAY WITH AN ESTUARY.

[daytheweirdwriter]

“I can’t change the world…” (worldbuilding inspo)

My MC is an autistic teen who lives in a small town on the coast of a country I made up, and even after six years of world building I’m still so amazed that I can do whatever I want.

At one point, I was really into the idea of skateboarding (but I can’t myself due to multiple reasons) so I decided my MC has a skateboard that she rides everywhere—just like that, my town became walkable. I thought it would be a cool idea to have a rooftop garden at my MC’s school and BOOM! Now most buildings have some type of garden or greenery incorporated into their design.

I’ve slowly realised that this world feels so alive to me because in my head, it’s a world I want to live in. As an autistic girl with multiple leg problems, I knew I wanted this town to be disability-friendly, so it is. I wanted the town’s people to be accepting and patient—and now those values are ingrained into their culture. They have their flaws, of course, but the fact that I recognise that means I can portray it as such.

I know the world seems quite scary these days and worldbuilding is an escape for me. If there’s one thing you take away from this post, let it be this:

Right now I can’t change the world but someday, when I’m ready, I hope my world will change people.

[daytheweirdwriter]

Writers are scary because we’ll take personal trauma and think, "Hmm… what if this happened to my fictional characters but worse?"