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[imaginerdygirl]

Trying to find something to motivate myself and I found this little line from Van Gogh

[imaginerdygirl]

Things To Remember This Coming Year:

1. Organization and discipline are two totally different things. Being organized, in whatever aspect of your life, takes discipline and drive. Organization is a daily routine, and developing the discipline to keep yourself in that routine and thrive in it will carry you well in the coming year. Get a journal/notebook/calendar. Decorate it as you wish or not at all–it IS for you after all, so do what you think works best. Set a reminder in your phone or something within view that reminds you to check your planner if need be, and set aside 5+ minutes to do so. This will help you get in the swing of things :)

2. Eat as healthy as you possibly can, but let’s be real, chocolate, candy, chips, etc. gets the best of ANYONE. I say this because I feel it’s best to stress, especially in the coming year, that we’re not perfect. Feed your brain fruit, healthy grains, vegetables, calcium and iron-rich foods, etc., but it’s more than okay to go for that chocolate bar every now and then.

3. Sleep. Netflix will save where you last left off on Stranger Things. Hulu will remember where you were at on your movie. Sleep will not. You will NEVER be able to make up for lost sleep, no matter how hard you try. So set yourself a set bedtime that will get you the best amount of sleep that you’ll need to function optimally the next day. Shoot for 7+ hours. Your body needs rest. Put the laptop and phone away, meditate, count sheep, or whatever it is that will help you sleep…and do so. I can’t stress how much sleep affects mental and physical health, and overall function. Don’t take it for granted.

4. There’s a difference between challenging yourself and overwhelming yourself. I am throwing this phrase at you guys in the form of glitter and positive energy as we speak. This is SOOOOOO!!!! IMPORTANT!!!! Challenging yourself is great, but it has its limits. If you want to take an AP class, by all means do so. If you’re planning on taking 4 at one time, check yourself and ask yourself, “Combined with my other commitments, will this overwhelm me?” It’s a simple question, but it’s a very important one. In college, keep in mind the classes you need to take and how many credit hours you think you can feasibly take on. Your mental health is so important, please don’t wear your pretty selves down ✨🌸

5. Give yourself something to look forward to everyday. It can be big, or small. But I’ve found that finding something to look forward to the next day, whether it’d be cracking open a new book, watching a new video your favorite youtuber put out, making a nice breakfast, etc. can really go a long way. We all need a little motivation to get through the day. It’s in the little things, trust me.

6. Find a hobby. Hobbies are so important. They’re great coping mechanisms and ease the stress of work, school, etc. Take some time to find what you’re interested in and start small. Try scrapbooking, or maybe join a fun club on campus. If you’re into cooking, look up some recipes you wouldn’t normally try and try it! Get funky! Take a dance class or go to they gym. Find what suits you. It will help you in the long run.

7. Love yourself. This is easier said and done, obviously, but promoting a positive mental image of yourself is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Cut yourself some slack. It sounds so cheesy, but go look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself one thing you love about yourself. Do it every morning. Or, write it down in a journal or something. Say it to yourself on the bus. Hang with people that make you feel good about yourself and add value to your life. Do things that make you happy. Listen to new music, reward yourself with a new outfit. You guys are all gorgeous ass human beings and I want nothing but the greatest of self-love for you guys ❤️❤️

8. ...and love others, too. Remember your family, and your friends. They can be your greatest support system. Spend as much time with them as possible. Check in with your friends, hang out with them, be there for them. Be attentive at the dinner table with your family, engage in discussion. Take time to check in on your siblings. If you find yourself liking someone and it turns into a budding relationship, assess if the person will add to your happiness and that it is healthy. Also determine if you’ll be able to provide the time, energy, and care that goes into a relationship among the other commitments in your life. If check, check, and check, by all means go ahead. Have a blast 😎😇

Add more ideas below and keep it going!!! I love you all xoxo

[imaginerdygirl]

@juicebabies

i’ve seen people object to the petname “babe” because it’s in that vein of weird pet names that sorta belittle the person youre calling them but for me it’s not like i mean to compare someone to a baby. i mean to compare you to the best and bravest pig who ever lived. a true hero. if i had words to make a day for you, i’d sing a morning golden and true

[imaginerdygirl]

I came here to shitpost, and shitpost I will.

[imaginerdygirl]

@downthedirtroads I’m dying

[imaginerdygirl]

push yourself to get up before the rest of the world - start with 7am, then 6am, then 5:30am. go to the nearest hill with a big coat and a scarf and watch the sun rise.

push yourself to fall asleep earlier - start with 11pm, then 10pm, then 9pm. wake up in the morning feeling re-energized and comfortable.

get into the habit of cooking yourself a beautiful breakfast. fry tomatoes and mushrooms in real butter and garlic, fry an egg, slice up a fresh avocado and squirt way too much lemon on it. sit and eat it and do nothing else.

stretch. start by reaching for the sky as hard as you can, then trying to touch your toes. roll your head. stretch your fingers. stretch everything.

buy a 1L water bottle. start with pushing yourself to drink the whole thing in a day, then try drinking it twice.

buy a beautiful diary and a beautiful black pen. write down everything you do, including dinner dates, appointments, assignments, coffees, what you need to do that day. no detail is too small.

strip your bed of your sheets and empty your underwear draw into the washing machine. put a massive scoop of scented fabric softener in there and wash. make your bed in full.

organise your room. fold all your clothes (and bag what you don’t want), clean your mirror, your laptop, vacuum the floor. light a beautiful candle.

have a luxurious shower with your favourite music playing. wash your hair, scrub your body, brush your teeth. lather your whole body in moisturiser, get familiar with the part between your toes, your inner thighs, the back of your neck.

push yourself to go for a walk. take your headphones, go to the beach and walk. smile at strangers walking the other way and be surprised how many smile back. bring your dog and observe the dog’s behaviour. realise you can learn from your dog.

message old friends with personal jokes. reminisce. suggest a catch up soon, even if you don’t follow through. push yourself to follow through.

think long and hard about what interests you. crime? sex? boarding school? long-forgotten romance etiquette? find a book about it and read it. there is a book about literally everything.

become the person you would ideally fall in love with. let cars merge into your lane when driving. pay double for parking tickets and leave a second one in the machine. stick your tongue out at babies. compliment people on their cute clothes. challenge yourself to not ridicule anyone for a whole day. then two. then a week. walk with a straight posture. look people in the eye. ask people about their story. talk to acquaintances so they become friends.

lie in the sunshine. daydream about the life you would lead if failure wasn’t a thing. open your eyes. take small steps to make it happen for you.

[imaginerdygirl]

FANFICTION SPEECH FEEDBACK

Hi! I’ve written a speech about fanfiction for my collegiate forensics event this year. I would appreciate any feedback that the community could provide on my portrayal of fanfiction and how i am communicating it to audiences with little/no knowledge of fanfiction. If you could share this that would help as well. Thanks in advance!!

THE SPEECH IS AS FOLLOWS:

Rose Christio was separated from her younger brother in New York’s foster care system in the early 2000s. But time and time again, the system failed her, she was unable to find any trace of him. For help she turned to an unconventional place: the online community of Fanfiction. What resulted, was a 44 chapter typo-filled, hyperbole laden Harry Potter fanfic dubbed “the worst fanfiction ever.” but has become one of the most infamous fanfictions to grace the internet: My Immortal. Fanfiction has been pushed to the back corners of the internet and viewed simply as poorly written pornography; when in reality, it’s home to marginalized communities and transformative fiction and some poorly written porn.

Because an anonymous young woman was flamed online for over a decade about her fanwork with no real attempt to understand it, Christio’s forthcoming memoir from MacMillan publishing, encourages us to dive into the inner workings of fanfiction.

We will take an in-depth look at what fanfiction is, how fanfiction communities function, and limitations behind communicating about fanfiction.

While Christio’s memoir won’t be published until May 29, 2018, we have the chance to be ready to accept it as we weren’t ready to accept My Immortal a decade ago

Fanfiction, noun: fiction written by a fan rather than a professional author, esp. that based on already-existing characters from a television series, book, film. Often abbreviated to fanfic

Consider this your fanfiction orientation as we look first at fanfiction history and second at the transformative nature of fanfiction.

Fanfiction has existed as long as literature. Let's be real Virgil’s Aeneid is complete fanfiction for Homer’s Illiad and Odyssey. According to the 2013 book Fic: Why Fanfiction is Taking Over The World, J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, wrote Sherlock Holmes fanfiction. What we consider modern fanfiction got its start in the 60s with Star Trek. Because who wouldn’t want to write about Kirk and Spock boning, Nuff said.

Second, the Transformative nature of fanfiction hinges around canon divergence. Canon, noun: the basic premise of the work from which a fanfic is derived. Anything that strays from the information set forth is considered to be canon-divergence. Canon divergence can consist of changing the sexual or gender orientation of characters, or writing specific sexualities for secondary-characters whose sexuality is unknown in the canon. One example of character divergence comes in the Harry Potter fanfiction “Of Leaves and Stars,” Remus Lupin is written as a transgender character.

Canon divergence also comes through Alternate Universes. Alternate Universe, noun: a descriptor applied to fanfiction which alters the setting or plot of a story. For example, the classic coffee shop AU takes the characters of a story and places them into a coffee shop scenario. The AU solidifies fanfiction as character driven fiction. Tumblr user soldierjhwatson explains “I’ll read the same character in a hundred different ships, in all of the different fic genres and tropes, AUs or what have you, because I like to see how they adapt to those changes.” Fanfiction provides a opportunity to play with familiar texts in a unique way.

Now that you’ve gotten a crash course in fanfic, the texts alone don't describe how powerful fanfic can be, understanding the people who are responsible for the texts is crucial.

Fanfiction communities are composed of marginalized communities who have found a place to create their own stories. Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden said in a 2017 interview with TIME, “Books can be mirrors and windows” and results of a 2013 survey of the users of popular fanfiction site Archive of Our Own, shows that fanfiction achieves the same effect. The survey provides specific breakdowns but to put it simply a majority of fanfiction users are non-straight women. In fact, more genderqueer individuals interact with fanfiction than men. The diversity of these communities makes their fiction more diverse as well.

Because the fanfiction community exists on the margins, fanfiction is often a personal experience. Unfortunately, the misconception exists that fanfiction writers are simply in search of publishing deals. Forbes sums it up with just the title their February 10, 2017 article “Fifty Shades Of Green: How Fanfiction Went From Dirty Little Secret To Money Machine.” Contrary to that belief fanfiction writers write for personal reasons, or for others within the community. Archive of our own lists 438 tags that are all some form of authors projecting onto fictional characters. Fanfiction writers also write for others within the community by filling prompts, writing birthday fictions, or participating in Christmas secret santa exchanges. The goal of fanfiction is not to achieve traditional publishing, instead it becomes cathartic.

Here are a couple of questions you might have as we move into our final point: 1) why are we not approaching fanfiction through a critical lens? And 2) Where the hell are the sources? We will be addressing the limitation of communication about fanfiction by answering these 2 questions.

First: Why are we not approaching fanfiction through a critical lens? I’ll admit, that was my goal at the beginning, because the critical conversation surrounding fanfiction right now is hopping. Francesca Coppa, an English professor at Muhlenberg university recently published The Fanfiction Reader, designed to be a textbook for courses covering fanfiction, a copyright case featuring a Star Trek fanfiction just closed this January, and a recent piece from the New York Times looked into the implications of RPF. RPF, noun: abbreviation of Real Person fic; fanfiction written about real people. These critical conversations cannot happen without base level knowledge of fanfiction, which you've just acquired. It is imperative this knowledge be gained, so future speeches can be given about the critical conversation surrounding fanfiction. This is simply the start, to a larger conversation.

Second: sources? I do have a couple of what are considered to be "canon" sources, but for the most part; I am the source. As a member of the fanfiction community, I contain the knowledge of the niche vocabulary and practices of the community. In my previous subpoint I just solidified that there are sources available about fanfiction, but the sources I need to teach you about fanfiction are non-existent. So, to validate my information, since all sources do is provide validity, I’ve posted the text of this speech on fanfiction forums and other popular fan websites to garner feedback from the very communities I’m discussing I then am editing my speech as that feedback is received to properly represent fanfiction, thus providing my speech with credibility, because I, like the fanfiction community I read within, understand that credibility on the margins is different than it is IRL. IRL, abbreviation: In Real Life.

I read more fanfiction than I do actual fiction, and I read a lot of real fiction. You don’t have to be like me, but you can at least take the base understanding of fanfiction, fanfiction communities, and the limitations of communicating about fanfiction and begin to understand these transformative works. If you want to find a place to start reading fanfiction, check out The Rec Center newsletter or ask your local nerd, hint that’s me, for recommendations. If you can accept this fanfiction of a speech, then you can accept Christio’s May 2018 memoir, and maybe even accept the fanfiction My Immortal.

[imaginerdygirl]

I just came to a 2 a.m. realization.

Gryffindor: I want to be.

Slytherin: I will be.

Ravenclaw: I could be.

Hufflepuff: I try to be.

[imaginerdygirl]

Spider-Man: Homecoming + text posts (pt 4)

[imaginerdygirl]

My aesthetic: when you take off your glasses on a highway and all the lights go soft and smudged, a trail of amber behind you like a quiet afterthought

[imaginerdygirl]

on fanfic & emotional continuity

Writing and reading fanfic is a masterclass in characterisation. 

Consider: in order to successfully write two different “versions” of the same character - let alone ten, or fifty, or a hundred - you have to make an informed judgement about their core personality traits, distinguishing between the results of nature and nurture, and decide how best to replicate those conditions in a new narrative context. The character you produce has to be recognisably congruent with the canonical version, yet distinct enough to fit within a different - perhaps wildly so - story. And you physically can’t accomplish this if the character in question is poorly understood, or viewed as a stereotype, or one-dimensional. Yes, you can still produce the fic, but chances are, if your interest in or knowledge of the character(s) is that shallow, you’re not going to bother in the first place. 

Because ficwriters care about nuance, and they especially care about continuity - not just literal continuity, in the sense of corroborating established facts, but the far more important (and yet more frequently neglected) emotional continuity. Too often in film and TV canons in particular, emotional continuity is mistakenly viewed as a synonym for static characterisation, and therefore held anathema: if the character(s) don’t change, then where’s the story? But emotional continuity isn’t anti-change; it’s pro-context. It means showing how the character gets from Point A to Point B as an actual journey, not just dumping them in a new location and yelling Because Reasons! while moving on to the next development. Emotional continuity requires a close reading, not just of the letter of the canon, but its spirit - the beats between the dialogue; the implications never overtly stated, but which must logically occur off-screen. As such, emotional continuity is often the first casualty of canonical forward momentum: when each new TV season demands the creation of a new challenge for the protagonists, regardless of where and how we left them last, then dealing with the consequences of what’s already happened is automatically put on the backburner.

Fanfic does not do this. 

Fanfic embraces the gaps in the narrative, the gracenotes in characterisation that the original story glosses, forgets or simply doesn’t find time for. That’s not all it does, of course, but in the context of learning how to write characters, it’s vital, because it teaches ficwriters - and fic readers - the difference between rich and cardboard characters. A rich character is one whose original incarnation is detailed enough that, in order to put them in fanfic, the writer has to consider which elements of their personality are integral to their existence, which clash irreparably with the new setting, and which can be modified to fit, to say nothing of how this adapted version works with other similarly adapted characters. A cardboard character, by contrast, boasts so few original or distinct attributes that the ficwriter has to invent them almost out of whole cloth. Note, please, that attributes are not necessarily synonymous with details in this context: we might know a character’s favourite song and their number of siblings, but if this information gives us no actual insight into them as a person, then it’s only window-dressing. By the same token, we might know very few concrete facts about a character, but still have an incredibly well-developed sense of their personhood on the basis of their actions. 

The fact that ficwriters en masse - or even the same ficwriter in different AUs - can produce multiple contradictory yet still fundamentally believable incarnations of the same person is a testament to their understanding of characterisation, emotional continuity and narrative. 

[imaginerdygirl]

ummm also @downthedirtroads have you seen this yet??

[imaginerdygirl]

@downthedirtroads How could I not love him??

[imaginerdygirl]

[imaginerdygirl]

So can we like…start normalizing the idea that not everyone dates or has their first boyfriend/girlfriend in junior high or high school?

There are plenty of people who go into college with little to no dating experience. There are tons of people who go into college having not had their first kiss yet. It’s not wrong; everyone experiences things at a different pace, and that’s okay. Don’t feel pressured into doing things you’re not comfortable with at the time just because you feel like you have to fill some sort of “quota.”

[imaginerdygirl]

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s introduction to Auli’i Cravalho’s performance at the 89th Academy Awards. 

[imaginerdygirl]

@downthedirtroads

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Lin-Manuel Miranda & Auli'i Cravalho perform ‘How Far I’ll Go’ at the 2017 Academy Awards