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laurafaritos · 3 months ago

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HDMS023. How to Stand Out in a Crowded Market—Without Changing Who You Are

I swear, Harvard is out to break me. At this point, I’m pretty sure this course is designed to separate the weak from the strong, and I’m clinging to survival mode. I just wrapped Module 2, and while most of my classmates have already moved on to Module 4, I’m here—still processing, still behind, still figuring out how to apply all this marketing knowledge to a career that isn’t selling footwear, skincare, or tech, but selling me.

But that’s the thing: selling yourself as a creative is HARD!!!!!

The second you put yourself out there, the world has opinions. You should be more relatable. You should cater to a general audience. You should play it safe. You should look a certain way, act a certain way, become more like what’s already working—because that’s how you "succeed."

But as this module has taught me: playing it safe is the fastest way to disappear!!!!!!!

This post is about standing out in a crowded market, whether that market is comedy, content creation, or literally any other creative field. It’s about understanding the power of differentiation and why the best brands (and comedians) don’t just chase trends—they create their own lane.

This module focused on competition and what it really means to position yourself against other brands. But for me, this topic hit differently—because if you swap "brands" with "comedians," it becomes a conversation about finding your voice, owning what makes you different, and rejecting the pressure to fit in.

And I learned this lesson the hard way.

I. The Harvard Module Recap: How Brands Differentiate Themselves

This module was all about competition—but not in the way we usually think about it. When most people hear "competition," they think of winning vs. losing or being better than everyone else. But this lesson flipped that idea on its head. It’s not about being better than everyone—it’s about being different in a way that makes you the only real option for your audience.

To make this clear, Harvard introduced The 3 Cs Model of Brand Positioning—which breaks down three major things a brand needs to analyze in order to stand out and stay competitive:

Consumers – Who are they? What do they need? Does your product (or brand) actually solve a problem for them in a way that resonates?

Competition – Who else is out there? How do people view them? What makes them successful? And more importantly, how can you be different in a way that matters?

Company – What do you bring to the table that no one else does? Is your advantage distinctive, defensible, and durable?

Understanding the Power of Differentiation

At the heart of this module was a key idea: If you try to be everything for everyone, you end up being nothing for anyone.

A great example of this was e.l.f. Cosmetics. Before e.l.f. came onto the scene, the beauty industry had a clear divide: luxury brands (high quality, expensive) vs. drugstore brands (affordable, but low quality). There wasn’t a strong middle ground—until e.l.f. disrupted the market by offering prestige-quality makeup at drugstore prices. They didn’t just compete with existing brands; they created their own lane.

OOFOS, the shoe company Harvard has been using as a case study, is facing a similar challenge. They started as a "recovery footwear" brand, making shoes that help with foot pain and post-workout recovery. But most people don’t even know what recovery footwear is. Instead, consumers lump OOFOS in with Crocs, Birkenstocks, and other “comfy shoe” brands.

So, OOFOS has to decide:

Do they compete in the comfort market, even though it's crowded?

Or do they push the idea of "recovery shoes" and try to create a whole new category?

If they go with comfort, they’ll be up against huge brands like Nike, Adidas, and Crocs, and they'll struggle to stand out. But if they double down on recovery, they’ll have to spend time and money educating people about why they need recovery shoes in the first place.

It's a classic branding dilemma: compete where people already are, or create a space where you're the only real option.

The 3 D’s of Differentiation: How to Stand Out in a Crowded Market

Once a brand figures out its positioning, it needs to make sure that its value proposition is:

Distinctive – Does it make you unique? If another brand can copy you easily, you’re not distinctive enough.

Defensible – Can you prove you’re different? Do you have a unique process, technology, or approach that competitors can’t steal?

Durable – Will this advantage still matter 5-10 years from now? Or is it just a temporary trend?

For OOFOS, their distinctive advantage is their foam technology that absorbs impact better than other shoes. Their defensible advantage is the scientific research that proves their shoes actually help with recovery. And their durable advantage is the fact that people will always need pain relief and foot support, especially as they get older.

This framework can be applied to any industry, including comedy. Which brings me to...

II. The Saga of Finding My Voice: What Comedy Taught Me About Branding

If this Harvard module has taught me anything, it’s that I have spent so much of my career letting other people define what I should be. What I should talk about. How I should structure my jokes. What my comedy is allowed to be. And what’s wild is—I didn’t even realize I was doing it. I didn’t realize that instead of following my gut, I was blindly following rules I was never supposed to follow in the first place.

I’ve been doing comedy since 2016. And if I had to break down my journey so far, I’d say:

I sucked for the first three years.

I was okay for the next three.

And for the last two years, I’ve been finding my way back to myself.

This year? This is the first time I can say with my whole chest: I know who I am as a comedian. I know my strengths. I know what makes me different. And I know, with complete certainty, that every “rule” I let shape me in the past wasn’t a rule at all. Just someone else’s opinion—one that I should have rejected instead of letting it rewire my entire brain.

But I didn’t reject it. Because I didn’t know I could.

Autism, Rules, and Taking Things Too Literally

For years, I thought I was just a person who was “really good at listening to advice.” I thought I was being smart by taking notes, following what my professors and fellow comedians told me, and trusting that they knew better than I did. But what I know now—what I didn’t know then—is that I’m autistic. And the thing about being autistic as hell is that my brain doesn’t just take advice. It takes instruction. It takes absolutes.

So when someone in comedy told me, “You can’t do X,” my brain didn’t process it as their opinion.

It processed it as:

🚨 X IS BANNED. NEVER DO X. IF YOU DO X, YOU WILL GO TO COMEDY JAIL. 🚨

Which, in hindsight, is so dumb. But it’s exactly what happened.

When I started comedy, I already had a strong voice. I had killer stories—the kind of stories that actually made me funny. Like:

The man with the milk bag story.

The time I fought a raccoon for a bag of Doritos.

The stupidest questions Canadians have asked me about Brazil.

These were real, lived experiences that I told in a way that only I could. My natural humor was rooted in longform storytelling.

But then I went to comedy school.

And the professors told me: "That’s not stand-up. That’s storytelling. You need to start from scratch."

And I believed them. I thought, oh. Okay. Well, I guess I have to throw everything away and learn how to do “real” comedy from the ground up.

And that? That was the beginning of a three-year identity crisis.

Losing My Voice in an Attempt to “Fit” the Mold

For three years, I tried to force myself into a comedy mold that did not fit.

I was told that “real” stand-up comics tell one-liners or tight, 2-3 minute jokes. I don’t naturally think in one-liners. My jokes unfold as stories. But instead of fighting for what made me different, I thought, Welp, I guess I have to figure out how to be a one-liner comic now.

I was told that my set should be entirely about the fact that I’m Brazilian but don’t “look” or “sound” Brazilian. Because that’s what the general audience (read: racist Canadians from Alberta) would notice first.

And for three years, I tried to force myself into that perspective. I got on stage night after night with jokes that boiled down to:

"Ahaha! I’m Brazilian, but I’m white! Who would’ve thought!"

And it never worked.

Not because the jokes were “bad,” but because they weren’t me. They weren’t rooted in my real personality, my real perspective, or what actually makes me funny. And the audience? They could feel that. They could feel the disconnection.

Then, two years ago, something shifted.

I got on stage and told one single story. The man with the milk bag. No forced one-liners. No pandering. No “general audience” nonsense. Just me, telling a story the way my brain naturally tells stories.

And I killed.

People still remember that set. It was the moment I realized, Wait. Maybe they were wrong. Maybe I didn’t need to force myself into a structure that wasn’t mine. Maybe my professors and fellow comedians weren’t handing down comedy law—they were just projecting their own experiences onto me.

And speaking of projection.

The Lie That Comedians Can’t Be Pretty

Another thing I was told? That if I wanted to be taken seriously, I couldn’t be pretty.

If I looked too good on stage, it would be distracting. People wouldn’t focus on my jokes. They wouldn’t think I was funny.

So for five years, I:

Never recorded my sets.

Never posted clips online.

Never dressed up for shows.

Because I thought I had to dull myself down to be taken seriously.

At first, I resented comedians for making me feel this way. But then I learned about autism and thought—wait. What if… JUST MAYBE… these comedians were just projecting?

And then Matt Rife blew up.

And suddenly, it all clicked.

Of course comedians believe you have to pick between “funny” or “pretty.” For most of them, being funny is the only choice they’ve ever had.

It’s not a rule. It’s just all they’ve ever known.

I realized this wasn’t about gatekeeping. It wasn’t some big industry secret. It was just… their lived experience. The reason Matt Rife blew up was because a hot comedian is a phenomenon. We get hot actors every other day. But hot stand-ups? That’s still rare.

So when other comedians told me, “You have to pick one,” what they really meant was “I’ve never seen a comedian successfully do both.”

Which is not my problem.

So if I had to pick between being pretty or funny?

I’d pick pretty.

Because pretty pays.

Coming Full Circle: Trusting My Instincts Over “Rules”

For years, I let other people’s opinions dictate my entire career. I let other comedians tell me who I should be, what I should joke about, and how I should present myself.

But now? I finally know better.

Every time someone tries to enforce some “rule” onto me, I remind myself:

They cannot enforce that upon me.

I am allowed to reject it.

I will keep doing what I’m doing.

Because I finally know who I am. And I’m not about to change that for anyone.

III. The Second C of Brand Positioning: Competition & Why It Took Me Years to Realize I Had None

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this Harvard module, it’s that most brands—and most people, for that matter—spend way too much time comparing themselves to others.

Every business class, every case study, every entrepreneur will tell you that you need to analyze your competition. You need to know who else is out there, what they’re doing, what their strengths are, and how to differentiate yourself. It makes sense, right? But what if your biggest strength is the fact that you actually don’t have real competition?

That’s something OOFOS is struggling with in this module. They’re trying to decide if they should fight for space in the already crowded “comfort” shoe market, or if they should double down on their “recovery” niche—even though most people don’t know what “recovery footwear” even means.

And this? This is where I see myself. Because for years, I was stuck trying to fit into the “stand-up comedy” category when I was actually building something completely different.

Who Was I Competing With? Nobody. And That Was the Problem.

For years, I thought my competition was other comedians.

I watched how they structured their jokes.

I studied what was working for them.

I tried to figure out how to compete with their styles.

And I failed. Miserably.

Because what I didn’t realize was that I was never actually competing with them. I was doing something entirely different, but instead of owning that difference, I kept trying to be like everyone else.

My natural style? It was storytelling-based. It was longform. It didn’t fit the traditional stand-up mold, and instead of leaning into that uniqueness, I tried to force myself into the structure of other comics.

That was my biggest mistake.

Learning From OOFOS: When You’re Different, Own It.

The reason OOFOS is struggling in this module is the same reason I struggled for so long.

They don’t fit into a traditional category.

They’re not just another shoe brand. If they try to compete with Nike, Adidas, or Crocs on “comfort,” they’ll lose. But if they own their niche as the only true recovery footwear brand, they have no direct competition.

And that’s a good thing.

That’s exactly where I was as a comedian. I was never meant to be a one-liner comic or a tight five kind of comedian. My style was closer to Mike Birbiglia or Hannah Gadsby—comedians who tell full, immersive stories. The difference was that I didn’t realize I was allowed to do that.

I thought I had to fit into the existing mold or I wasn’t a “real” comedian.

But what I should have done—what I’ve finally learned to do now—is own what makes me different.

Because the best way to stand out isn’t to compete harder.

It’s to play a different game entirely.

V. The Pretty vs. Funny Dilemma: Why I Stopped Listening to Bro Comedians

Let’s talk about another thing I wasted way too much time worrying about:

👀 “If you’re too pretty, people won’t take your comedy seriously.”

For years, I let other comedians convince me that I had to pick one lane:

1️⃣ Be funny. 2️⃣ Be pretty.

But never both.

And like a fool, I believed them.

For the first five years of my career, I never posted clips online because I looked ugly on stage. I avoided recording my sets. I dressed down for shows. I genuinely thought that if I looked too “put together,” the audience wouldn’t find me funny.

At first, I resented the people who told me this.

Then, I learned I was autistic.

And I realized—maybe, JUST MAYBE, the comedians who told me this weren’t actually handing down comedy wisdom.

Maybe they were just… projecting?

The Matt Rife Epiphany: It Was Never About Me.

The moment I knew I’d been scammed was when Matt Rife blew up.

Suddenly, every male comedian I knew was frothing at the mouth about how this “hot guy” was selling out shows. They acted like he was some freak of nature because… he was hot and funny???

And that’s when it hit me.

Of course comedians thought you had to pick between being pretty and funny. Because for most of them, being funny was their only choice.

They weren’t gatekeeping beauty. They weren’t consciously trying to keep me down. They just couldn’t fathom a world where someone could successfully be both.

So when they told me, “People won’t take you seriously if you’re hot,” what they really meant was:

🗣️ “I have never personally witnessed a hot comedian be taken seriously, therefore I assume it is impossible.”

That’s not a fact. That’s just their own lived experience.

Pretty Pays. And I Am Done Pretending It Doesn’t.

So if I had to pick between being funny or pretty?

I’d pick pretty.

Because pretty pays.

And I refuse to keep dulling myself down for the comfort of other comedians when my actual audience couldn’t care less.

My audience? They’re not sitting there taking notes on whether my eyeliner is distracting. They just want to laugh and connect with a performer who is bringing something real to the stage.

And that’s what I plan to do.

IV. Own Your Category & Stop Listening to People Who Can’t See Your Vision

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from both this module and the last decade of my life, it’s this:

👉 If you’re different, own it. 👉 If people don’t get it, they’re not your audience. 👉 If someone tells you what you “can’t” do, question why they think that.

Most of the “rules” I followed were never actually rules.

I didn’t have to fit into traditional stand-up.

I didn’t have to choose between funny or pretty.

I didn’t have to listen to comedians who were just projecting their own limitations onto me.

And neither do you.

OOFOS is in the same boat right now. If they play by the existing rules, they’ll fail. If they try to compete directly with Nike, they’ll lose.

But if they double down on their real, unique edge?

They’ll own their own lane—one that no one else can touch.

That’s exactly what I’m doing now.

And I’ve never felt more confident about it.

V. The AudHD Experience: How Autism & ADHD Shaped My Journey Without Me Realizing It

Looking back, so much of my struggle to find my voice in comedy wasn’t just about bad advice or industry expectations. It was about how my brain is wired.

For the longest time, I couldn’t understand why I took other people’s opinions so seriously. A comedian would casually say, “Oh, you can’t do that in stand-up,” and I’d take it as a literal rule. A professor would tell me, “This isn’t stand-up, it’s storytelling,” and I’d decide my entire comedic identity was wrong. Someone would mention, “People don’t find hot comedians funny,” and I’d spend years actively trying to look worse to be taken seriously.

And I never questioned it. Because my autistic brain heard those statements and assumed they were laws rather than just… opinions.

Autism & The Curse of Taking Everything Literally

One of the biggest struggles I’ve had with autism is that I tend to default to authority. Not because I’m obedient or blindly trusting, but because I assume that if someone says something confidently, it must be true. I don’t have that natural skepticism that some people seem to be born with. When I was younger, I had no concept of subjective opinions. If a teacher told me, “This is how things are done,” I just… believed them. If someone older or more experienced in comedy said, “That won’t work,” I assumed they knew better.

I never stopped to think, “Wait… is this just their personal experience?” Instead, I let every passing comment completely rewire my brain. I erased parts of my identity because I thought I had to.

ADHD & The Curse of Immediate Identity Crises

Then you throw in ADHD, and suddenly I have no internal compass at all. One of the most frustrating parts of being AudHD is how easy it is for me to abandon my own instincts. I get hyper-fixated on doing things “right.” I seek external validation to confirm I’m on the right path. I struggle to hold onto my own sense of self when someone confidently tells me I should be doing things differently.

For years, that meant every time someone critiqued my comedy, I took it as a sign to overhaul everything. I was like a boat without an anchor. Every new wave of advice sent me in a different direction. But the problem with that? You can’t build something real if you keep scrapping everything and starting over. That’s what I spent my first three years in comedy doing. I wasn’t growing—I was erasing. I wasn’t refining my voice—I was losing it. And I had no idea it was because of how my brain naturally processes information.

The Moment I Realized I Didn’t Have to Listen Anymore

Everything changed for me two years ago. I was tired of trying to fit into some perfect mold. I had spent years writing jokes that didn’t feel like me. I was forcing myself to play by rules that were never mine to follow.

One night, I finally said, screw it. I went on stage and told one long story instead of forcing myself to fit a traditional joke structure. It was the Man with the Milk Bag story.

I killed it. People loved it. And the best part? I finally felt like myself.

For the first time in years, I wasn’t performing the version of comedy I thought I was supposed to do. I was just… doing my comedy.

What I’ve Learned About AudHD & Creativity

Now that I understand how my brain works, I approach things completely differently. I don’t take advice as law. I take it as input, but I decide what actually works for me. I trust my instincts. If something feels right, I go with it—even if it doesn’t fit the traditional mold. I remind myself that most rules aren’t real. They’re just things people made up based on their own experiences.

Comedy isn’t a one-size-fits-all industry. There’s no single way to be a comedian. And I wasted so much time trying to be something I wasn’t, just because I didn’t realize I had the power to choose.

VI. The Takeaway: Knowing Yourself is the Ultimate Competitive Advantage

At the end of the day, the biggest lesson I took from this module wasn’t about brand positioning—it was about personal positioning. If you’re constantly comparing yourself to others, trying to fit into their boxes, you’ll never find your own space.

OOFOS is struggling because they’re trying to decide if they should fight for space in the comfort shoe category, or own their uniqueness as the only real recovery footwear brand.

For years, I had the same struggle. I could either try to fit into stand-up’s traditional mold, or own the fact that I’m doing something different.

And once I finally chose the second option? Everything changed.

I stopped listening to people who didn’t see my vision. I started creating in a way that actually felt natural to me. I realized that being different isn’t a weakness—it’s my biggest advantage.

So if you’re out there trying to build something—whether it’s a brand, a career, or an audience—stop looking at what everyone else is doing. Look at what you’re doing. Look at what makes you different.

And lean into it.

VII. TL;DR: The Rules Were Never Real—And Neither is Your Competition

Aaaand that was the post!! You've made it to the end!! Let's recap:

OOFOS is struggling to define itself in a crowded comfort shoe market, but their biggest advantage is that they aren’t just another comfort brand. They’re a recovery brand—something no one else is doing.

For years, I struggled with the same thing. I tried to fit into the mold of what a “real” comedian should be instead of owning what made me unique.

My AudHD brain made me take advice too literally, constantly erasing myself instead of refining my voice.

Once I realized the rules were never real, everything changed.

The biggest takeaway? Knowing yourself is the ultimate competitive advantage. Your uniqueness isn’t a flaw—it’s your brand.

Thanks for reading!! I hope this lesson was as life-changing for you as it was for me!! See you in the next one. Tchau, tchau!!

#HarvardDMS #MarketingStrategy #Comedians #StandupComedy #ComedyLife #NeurodivergentCreators #AudHD #AutismAndADHD #BrandPositioning #ContentMarketing #PersonalBranding #FindingYourVoice #Storytelling #CreativeEntrepreneurs #ComedyIndustry #MarketingForArtists

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reversedout-blog · 8 months ago

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What Are The Best Keyword Clustering Tools?

Keyword clustering is a trending subject matter. Keyword clustering is the process of clustering keywords into themes that are relevant to your website pages.

If done properly, this technique can help your website develop tremendously. Let’s dive into our guide and find out how:

The Strengths of Keyword Clustering

Keyword clustering offers you several advantages in your content formation. These are as follows:

Better understanding of your audience: Topic-targeted search engine optimization gives a greater thorough reaction to users. While you integrate all comparable phrases, you keep in mind what your audience is searching for instead of using basic keywords.

Amplify the count of key phrases to rank for: With clusters, you can rank for numerous associated key phrases as opposed to each separate query.

Delete inessential key phrases: Clustering makes a massive listing of key phrases feasible and comprehensive. This allows you to leave out irrelevant queries.

Acknowledge the potential of segments: Clusters you obtain as a result will assist you to recognize how distinct portions of content material are or need to be associated his technique will allow you to see your web page from the perspective of a search engine and compare the categories you have or should have.

Create a powerful web page shape or look into the prevailing one: Clustering allows you to study the semantic relationships between your pages and design the architecture of your web page.

Increase the visibility and authority of your web page: By grouping keywords, you may be able to better understand the semantics and increase the subject matter of your content. Potent, which, in its turn, will make your internet site authoritative in the eyes of search engines.

Save time and do away with errors: If executed automatically, keyword clustering offers you all of the above-noted advantages fast and efficiently.

Besides those advantages, keyword clustering not directly enables you in coping with your internet site. As you could hyperlink one institution to many others, you could create a plethora of internal link building, making the technique of seek engine bots slinking your internet site.

A lot of you are not prepared to begin keyword clustering, the technique is easy, and you could do it manually. You just have to pass statistics from your favoured search engine optimization and keyword research tools inclusive of Ahrefs and SEMRush to excel, Then institution the with the reputedly identical seek content material collectively.

However, I will now no longer advise you to try this manually because the work may be monotonous. Instead, I will suggest you operate keyword clustering tools. This gear could make your work automatic so you can lay out a while elsewhere.

Within a few time, your keyword might be grouped and prepared to apply. The final results might be that those keyword clustering tools will save a lot of time.

So, without losing time now we will be speaking keyword clustering tools, we have executed entire studies concerning all of the tools.

Serpstat

Serpstat is a high search engine optimization device that gives functions that help to construct keyword businesses and clusters to improvise your web page’s content material shape.

Separate clusters might be shaped from a given set of key phrases which include short-tail and long-tail key phrases. This platform considers each conceptual and keyword purpose and as many as 30 pinnacles seek listings all through the introduction technique so that the final result is correct.

You also can adjust the settings in keyword clustering. For instance, you could pick the clustering stage from weak, medium, and hard. The diploma of customization isn’t as excessive as ranking, you continue to have the privilege to amend modifications to view the numerous final results.

The exceptional component is that Serpstat can inspect your posted posts and create keyword businesses applicable to that page. Hence, You can without any issues keep away from the disassemble troubles, and construct a sturdy web page shape.

Pricing

Currently, Serpstat gives 4 plans for clients to assume as follows:

Lite – $69 monthly

Standard – $149 monthly

Advanced – $299 monthly

Enterprise – $499 monthly

You can group as many as 1500 key phrases in the lite plan. This number will surge consequently as you improve your plan. All plans will additionally produce other search engine optimization functions inclusive of keyword studies, back-link analysis, web page audit, rank tracking, etc.

According to my experience, 1500 key phrases consistent with a month are ways too low, mainly if you have a massive listing of key phrases(one short-tail, widespread keyword seek as a bicycle ought to create heaps of keyword variations).

So, it might be higher in case you select at the least a trendy plan which incorporates 6000 key phrases consistent with the month. Otherwise, ensure you operate your quota of phrases handiest to people who outline your niche.

In case you want to search volume data then you need to pay an extra amount. You can contact them for further pricing issues.

Pros:

Collect statistics as many as 30 pinnacles seek queries

Examine any posted posts and generate topical clusters applicable to that page.

Can alter keyword grouping

Take each linguistic and personal purpose into account

Keyword Clustering consists of everyday search engine optimization plans(no more payment).

Cons:

You need to spend greater on seeking quantity statistics.

Serpstat’s person interface isn’t person-friendly.

SE Ranking’s Keyword Grouper

This is a remarkable search engine optimization device that offers keyword clustering amongst its a couple of options. If you’re looking for an authentic tool to work this task for you, SE Ranking is certainly the exception.

SE Ranking’s keyword grouper is likely one of the superior keyword clustering tools and is likewise correct.

In the clustering technique, SE Ranking will collate the primary ten seek results. If they’ve comparable seek listings, SE Ranking will group them beneath the same subject matter, then repeat the identical technique for all of the left key phrases.

This device additionally mentions the count on identical search listings to enhance clustering accuracy.

For instance, you could set the minimal quantity of matching URLs to four, so the handiest key phrases that display greater than four comparable URLs belong to the group.

The exciting component is SE Ranking permits specifying the grouping. Therefore, you could select the search engine you need, country, location, and the language for keyword clustering.

You also can create key phrases for non-English key phrases so it’s far the exceptional clustering device for multilingual websites.

You can without problems import statistics from any source, which includes search console, Google keyword planner, Google, and different search engine optimization gear inclusive of Ahrefs and SEMRush.

Pricing

There is a paid plan to apply the SE Ranking keyword grouper. The most inexpensive viable pricing begins at $18.60 month-to-month. Further, you’ll additionally need to pay separately $0.004 consistent with the keyword to apply for the keyword grouper.

For example, If you’ve got got a listing of a thousand key phrases, clustering they all might value you four dollars which aren’t very low and now no longer very excessive. If you need to go looking for quantity on all character key phrases you need to pay extra money $0.005 which is greater than grouping key phrases.

For me, this upload isn’t obligatory, mainly while you add your keyword listing( from different search engine optimization gear inclusive of SEMRush) which already has a few search quantity statistics.

Pros:

User-friendly

Can institution non-English key phrases

Authentic keyword clustering gears

Fully correct the clustering to suit the location, language, etc.

Cons:

The statistics of search quantity are expensive

Users need to pay greater to apply the device as a few characteristics are not protected in everyday plans.

Surfer search engine optimization’s Content Planner

Surfer search engine optimization is a search engine optimization content material optimization device. Its makers have brought new capabilities, which permit customers to do a completely automatic method to generate subject matter clusters. As a surfer search engine optimization customer, I use this keyword clustering device the maximum in actual life.

The work is simple. Firstly, You want to position the principle keyword. This keyword needs to be standard and broad. According to me, it can be a first-rate subject matter of class which you suggest covering on your website.

In my case, it is “Guest Hosting” Within a minute or so, your content material planner can be ready. The surfer search engine optimization created a hundred and sixty clusters surrounding the keyword “Guest Hosting”. It has taken care of those subjects with connections through default. However, you could additionally kind through the quest quantity.

You can be crushed through the sheer matter of subjects. This will now no longer be a trouble due to the fact you could clear out them through search intent.

Every keyword can have month-to-month search quantity statistics together with it. You want now no longer must pay more like SE Ranking or Serpstat. On the turn side, it does now no longer provide data on how they group key phrases. Nevertheless, the final results seem to be applicable. The maximum famous keyword ( with the most sought quantity) for the subject will act as the subject name.

You can then shape a content material editor to enhance it together with different key phrases on the subject. The simplest demerit is that you can not import outside statistics. It is necessary to use the statistics derived from the device of internet search engine optimization keywords, it is genuine. Other gears like Ahrefs provide you with numerous key phrases.

Pricing

The plan begins at $29 according to the month. You can gain access to too many different features of surfer search engine optimization, inclusive of the content material editor, SERP Analyzer, and lots greater.

There aren’t any hidden charges. This is all you need to pay. In case you’re simplest inquisitive about keyword clustering then the plan fits you properly. Surfer search engine optimization does now no longer offer a loose trial however offers a 7-day money-returned guarantee.

Pros:

Easy to apply

Precise effects with accurate seek a motive and seek quantity

Group more than one key phrase a lot fast than different gear

No hidden charges

Integrate properly with its content material optimization device.

Cons:

Cannot personalize keyword clustering method

Cannot add very own listing of key phrases

WriterZen’s Keyword Explorer

WriterZen is a newcomer in an exceedingly aggressive content material optimization industry. The device’s consciousness is to assist content material authors to optimize their content material, and also offers a remarkable keyword grouping device with extraordinarily sumptuous sources.

The utilization is straightforward; you simply want to apply it as a conventional device. After a few times, your subject matter organizations can be ready. Similar to different keyword clustering tools, WriterZen contrasts results on Google SERPs, so I am now no longer amazed to peer that the effects are accurate.

The high-quality component is that every individual key phrase in each subject matter includes wealthy statistics, inclusive of trends, PPC competition, Monthly seek quantity, CPC, and Title ratio.

On the opposite hand, the device has the identical downside as that of Surfer search engine optimization so that you can not import your key phrases for WriterZen to cluster them for you. Thus, the matter of subjects may be constrained as WrirterZen’s keyword statistics are perhaps a bit smaller than different search engine optimization gear.

Pricing

They have paid plans that are:

Premium -Forty-nine dollars per month

Platinum- Seventy dollars per month

You can group as many as 250000 key phrases according to a month in a top rate plan and one million platinum plan. In my opinion, they’re ways greater than enough for content material marketers.

All plans consist of content material quick introduction and subject matter discovery, which might be beneficial in developing high-rating content material.

Pros:

Accurate and speedy effects

Clean consumer interface

User-friendly and economical

Each key-word is prepared with wealth statistics

Cons:

Unable to import the set of keywords to the institution on the site.

Final Thought

Keyword grouping lets you prepare your content material, make its experience greater applicable to your audience, and enhance your seek engine rating. And whilst you may undergo a listing of masses or lots of associated key phrases to prepare them yourself, having a device do it for you — and perhaps even cope with different search engine optimization(SEO) tasks — is a far savvier option. Keyword grouping is all part of a site-extensive search engine optimization audit.

Before choosing the keyword clustering tools, ensure to do your homework, this means evaluating all of the plans, and your organization’s necessities and checking all of the technical problems and ease to apply the device. GIve a test at the variety of results and the matter of key phrases which you get in a plan you choose.

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Content source: https://reversedout.com/what-are-the-best-keyword-clustering-tools/

#Best Keyword Clustering Tools #Search Engine Optimization Services #SEO Company In Cincinnati #Digital Marketing Agency Cincinnati

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chrenvs3000w24 · 1 year ago

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Who am I to Interpret Nature?

It is a profound question for any topic, what makes me the ideal fit for anything. What makes a person suitable for interpreting nature? I believe the question answers itself, any person can interpret nature. It is a key part of life itself, we have all at some point in our life felt at awe with our world. There are many different experiences that could elicit such a reaction. However, reaching that same feeling through art is much more difficult. I believe that with enough care, a talented artist can accurately depict these feelings, and bring nature to life in artistic means.

Beck et al., (2018) mentions many ways that an interpreter can use art to convey nature, such as in the lyrics of songs, the movements of dance, or the story of a theatre drama. I believe that in each of these categories it is important to maintain the essentials of interpretation discussed in previous blog posts, by understanding your audience and conveying the bigger picture. This helps to mitigate effects proposed by Beck et al., (2018) where audiences can be excluded if they lack the proper background to appreciate what they are viewing. These methods make great tools for teaching important environmental topics as well, such as the US army promoting safe water drinking through posters and artistic events (Beck et al., 2018). This example shows an interpretation being used as a tool, and stresses the importance of the job interpreters have.

But returning to who I am to interpret art through nature, it is clear that everyone has differing definition and interpretations of what good art is. That is why it is so hard for me to put on a scale, art is subjective. However, if there was one way to quantify it, I believe that good art would always have some sense of the "gift of beauty". The gift of beauty to me is the ability an interpretation has to create the same feeling beauty in the real world creates in you. However, I feel that while this definition fits the original intention of Beck and Cable (2011), it is missing an important distinction. Natural interpretation through art has been used to convey many other messages without beauty just as successfully. Images depicting political messages and ancient battles may not elicit a beautiful response from viewers, but they tell an important story at the same time. In Cable and Beck's exact words, the gift of beauty "provide spiritual uplift and encourages resource preservation." I argue that political messages can encourage resource preservation, and ancient battles tell a story as to which we can be taught not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

To conclude my thoughts on artistic nature interpretation, I must remind that everyones interpretations are different. As discussed previously our invisible backpack is full of different things for everyone, and this contributes to the art we make as well. So while my thoughts on the gift of beauty are correct to me, they do not accurately represent everyone else's. It's an important reminder of the differences in privilege and experience we each have.

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: For A Better World. Sagamore Publishing.

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outofangband · 3 years ago

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Hadorian World Building Part One

Hadorian here refers not just to the family and extended family of Hador but the people of Marach and those that followed him, creating a distinct culture and identity

World Building Masterlist

This is largely focused on Dor-Lómin pre Nírnaeth. As always please feel free to ask more, I love world building like this

Please feel free to ask more!! General posts are hard because I didn’t have specific categories to cover so feel free to send categories! You can also see my world building prompt list for inspiration I always take requests

Clothes among the Hadorians are relatively simple. Tunics and breeches are worn by men and children regardless of gender. Adult women typically wear plain dresses. Most wear working aprons as well.

Dress like robes inspired by the Noldor elves are occasionally worn for ceremonial occasions, typically court ones like the formal vows of a wedding or a memorial ceremony rather than festive ones.

These robes are Cotton or occasionally traded silk and have far more elaborate embroidery than most Hadorian clothing. Flax is also used

Eagle feathers, marsh marigold, yellow iris, reeds, the distinctive roofs of many houses, and shields with the Hadorian Emblem are among a variety of designs featured on clothing

On that note most houses are wood and stone. Flint and materials from iron ore are rare but not unheard of especially in roofing and foundations. Most houses have a cellar separate from the main building.

There are five communal wells within the main area of Dor-lómin and a number of smaller private ones.

Sheep are kept for wool which is a primary source of clothing materials however there are some fiber crops such as flax and nettle. Trade with other regions during more prosperous times allowed for esparto like plants to be used in production of fabric too.

Dyes for coloring clothing, wax and other materials are collected from flowers and certain berries.

It’s mentioned that Húrin’s family and presumably other Hadorians keep cows. I headcanon that these are primarily used for dairy. (I won’t get too into this part of the text itself here but some people who DM me probably know my preoccupation with this)

The cows are typically kept in semi communal pastures with care and maintenance covered by one or two members of each household who keeps their cows there, switching every week

There are small vegetable gardens though a lot of food is gotten from foraging/gathering seeds, nuts, mushrooms, berries and more, and hunting as well, sometimes deer but usually birds and rabbits.

Please feel free to request Dor-lómin as a topic for my garden posts :)

I headcanon there is a tradition of beekeeping for both honey and wax though animal fat is also used for the latter. Like clothing, the wax is dyed with plant materials.

Pottery is also a common practical craft with clay being both collected and traded for. Containers used for storing food and water safely are usually clay. Most clay is collected from the riverbanks in the mountains.

Paints are made from both plant and mineral pigments. Cloth and clay are used for canvases.

Metal working is rare though highly valued. There are a few who have learned the trade, mostly originally from the Noldor and then passed down Post Nirnaeth this became even less utilized

Dor-lómin has one steel bloomery, one armory and two small smithies, one of which is shared with the elves who originally built it.

Most writing is done with quills made from duck and goose feathers 🪶. Quills made with metal are rare and valued

Dor-lómin is under the rule of the House of Hador (at least until the Nirnaeth) and so a lot of the traditions are from the Hadorians and many were influenced by the House of Fingolfin. However Húrin's mother, Hareth, was of the House of Haleth and of course after Dagor Bragollach, Morwen and other refugees from the House of Bëor also arrived so traditions fuse and combine and more are brought in

The Hadorians are horsemen and there are two large celebrations, one in Spring and one in Autumn, that center around the two main routes horses are taken on for better grazing. There is feasting and dance and competition like races and scavenger hunts or obstacle courses done both on foot or on horseback

I talked about the summer festival here!

Jumping competitions with points based on speed, agility and communication with the horse! Obstacle courses and jumping games are common at Hadorian festivals but are essential to the summer and autumn harvest ones. The spring festival has a more elegant competition involving a complex but low to the ground course and almost dressage like movements. There is the largest horse race in late autumn.

I headcanon that there are areas over the creek with rope swings made from various braided materials. I mentioned in the climate post but while the summers aren’t scorching hot, they do get very humid and playing in the water is a welcome relief from the heat.

The Hadorians have both nomadic and non nomadic sections. The nomadic ones travel with large portions of their horses through two different grazing routes. Many families will have one or two members travel with their horses while the rest stay home and then switch after several months. The first longer journey taken with the horses is an important part of coming of age for both boys and girls

The Hadorians often utilize birds to deliver messages, both a species like a passenger pigeon and hunting birds. Methods of training these birds are not very well developed (simply because it’s a practice that takes more time than most Hadorians have even been settled in Hithlum) and most effective messengers are gifts from elven allies though often raised from hatching by their companions.

Clothing can rarely be hung to dry outside given the frequent humidity in warmer months and snowfall and winds in the winter. It is not uncommon for families who live in close proximity to share makeshift shelters where a line for clothes is hung.

Please feel free to ask more!! General posts are hard because I didn’t have specific categories to cover so feel free to send categories!

#the silmarillion #the children of húrin #dor-lómin #Hithlum #Beleriand #musing and meta

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worldismyne · 3 years ago

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The fandom culture in the past was a time and we're still learning...

This is 100% my opinion based on my internet experience growing up.

A common take I see coming up is that late 00s early 10s fan culture was cringe and problematic. It's usually to do with things like Yaoi fan-girls and genderbend. (there's probably others that fall in this category, but these were the main ones that came to mind.) I just think there's something to be gained by asking why these online phenomena happened rather than writing it off as bad and don't look back.

This is a something I've been thinking about a lot lately as someone who grew up with the internet.

Which is that, at that time, a lot of us were kids/teens seeking representation. We were growing up in a time where trans/queer characters weren't readily on TV. We didn't have the language to describe the dysphoria or ostracization we felt; or a jumping off point to explore things like gender expression safely.

So we took to the wild west that was the internet, we came across fetishized examples of what we were searching for and latched onto it without critically analyzing why.

It led to people regurgitating foreign vocabulary we didn't fully comprehend and while others tried to co-opt it into what they found into actually were looking for. And yes, I mean regurgitate, whole and unanalyzed, fiercely defended without an alternative readily available.

Because the truth is sometimes Stacy, age 13; was looking for a role model on how to live as a queer man; and now is a married 20-something that really doesn't want to think about the years they latched onto uke/seme junk when really they were looking for gender expectations for cis/queer adult life.

That genderbend is very appealing to a young person that didn't realize they were gender fluid themselves; and liked the idea of their favorite characters living in both spaces simultaneously but was forced to share the same spaces with shippers that just wanted to 'no-homo' certain ships.

It was hard to look for stuff without getting bombarded by overly fetishized stuff made by straight creators for straight consumers. And adults were reinforcing that it was all part and parcel irl. (Legit wasn't allowed to say lesbian at the dinner table growing up, because the very idea of a queer relationship was assumed to be inherently sexual in nature by my parents' generation; we see this still argued about at Disney all the time)

Fandom was and, in some ways, still is one of the easiest 'safe' (as is safe from family) places to explore those topics of identity and idealized futures.

I think as my generation's gotten older, we've realized that we need to create safe places in fandom explore queerness. That it's important to divorce queer stories from fetish (though they aren't always mutually exclusive. I's the distinction that matters). And there's been more of a push for genuine queer rep on tv (especially kid's media)

I've found tumblr to be relatively kind compared to other platforms like tiktok, or amino; but some fandom tags are still a homogenous mix of nsfw, sfw, and fetish.

I 100% agree it's on creators to properly tag their stuff. To help people filter out things they don't want to see. Things like safe-search only work if human beings cooperate.

But I also sincerely urge people to not to mindlessly consume fandom content. It's a sure-fire way to accidently absorb notions/vocabulary you don't fully identify with or understand. Normalization is a passive action, not a conscious decision.

Those bad habits in art/writing/etc, they're hard to shake unless you look back and critically analyze why you like/hate the things you do. And it's still really easy to pick up flawed ideas wandering around anywhere on the internet. It's a constant process, and everyone goes through it regardless of age or orientation. Internet culture is always changing

Also, look back at what you make. The commonalities between your OCs and yourself. What about those ideas actually appeal to you? What ideas are you recycling out of habit because that's the way every other thing like it was made? It's the only way to make new spaces/tags/etc for what you want, versus settling for what's already there.

#myne talks #long post #none of this takes into account 2010's 'shock humor' that's it's own beast #long story short if you cringe and walk away you're doomed to keep making cringe-worthy stuff it's the cycle of cringe

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justanothersyscourse · 4 years ago

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Today’s Hot Take

I want to be very gentle with this one. There’s a lot of misunderstandings and misinformation going around, and in this case, there is a very distinct overlap.

Be very, very careful that you’re not mistaking MADD (Maladaptive Daydreaming) for DID/OSDD.

MADD is a behaviour. It’s not recognized currently by any diagnostic manuals, but it currently being looked at as a type of behavioural addiction. There’s a lot of claims going around that it’s a dissociative disorder, and it’s not, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to be included in that category at any point in the future.

There is a very high comorbid relationship between MADD and dissociative disorders (you can absolutely experience both, I’ve seen it claimed that you can only have one or the other, but MADD isn’t something you can “have” and yes, you can experience both together), but people with dissociative disorders also experienced the childhood trauma that would link them to DID/OSDD (in other words, MADD systems aren’t real-- DID/OSDD systems are what they would be called). As well, dissociation is only one symptom of DID/OSDD and is linked to many, many other disorders. In other words, just because you have MADD and dissociation, it does not automatically make you a system.

MADD is shown to be one of the best indicators of a child’s capacity to dissociate, but unless it’s combined with childhood trauma and disorganized attachment, it is not capable of creating alters on its own.

MADD is a very rewarding, addictive experience, and it can really, truly feel like the characters in your head are real, but they’re not. People that can dissociate to such a high degree can have a hard time telling the difference between alters and “paras”, as they’re called, but at the end of the day, these “paras” are fully under your control. Paras in MADD are not people, they’re characters. Alters in DID/OSDD are not characters, they’re independent people/parts (the distinction in that respect is an entirely different topic for another time).

#syscourse #MADD #maladaptive daydreaming #actuallytraumagenic #actuallydid #actuallyosdd #actuallymultiple #endogenic #plural gang #pluralgang #anti endo #madd system

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woman-loving · 4 years ago

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“The SAM” and its critics

I guess I won’t make it a whole thing, but here are my thoughts on the “split attraction model.” (NB: This perspective is based on my own recollections and interpretations, but I don’t know all things. Different versions of the story may exist.)

To begin with, the term “split attraction model” was coined circa May 2015 by critics who were trying to name a phenomenon they took issue with. Going forward, “critics” will refer to this group who first coined the term, but they are not the only ones who criticize the language, components, or universalism of the “split attraction model.” (Example from theacetheist with lots of links.) The particular criticisms I’m concerned with developed around the time that monosexism discourse was dying down, and a group that had been critical of “monosexism” was exploring new topics to complain about. (I was one of the complainers, to be clear; that is not a disavowal.) Here are a couple sample posts from May-July 2015: one, two, three, four. Note the anons mentioning they can’t find anything about the “split attraction model”--that’s because there was nothing else written using that language!

Grumblings were eventually arranged into the sequence of words, “split attraction model,” and that term took off among critics who used it as a vague gesture toward a set of grievances. As I remember it, one of the primary targets was the paired sexual-romantic identity format, e.g. naming one’s orientation as --sexual --romantic. Also as I remember it, criticisms were primarily concerned with its use beyond ace/aro people, focusing on what might be considered bi-range “mixed orientations” like “bisexual heteromantic” or “homosexual biromantic.” It wasn’t too uncommon to see people say that these paired identities could work for ace or aro people, but didn’t otherwise make sense.

I believe connections were also made between these identities and the creation and cataloguing of specialized identities that detailed to whom/what and how/whether one experienced attraction. The people who advanced or approved of these projects, and the approach to sexuality/gender that seemed to motivate them, were scorned as “mogai.” Although I too scorned “mogais,” I never looked too closely at any “mogai” blogs; “mogai” was a category based mostly on impressions. The use of other subtypes of attraction (e.g. sensual, aesthetic, platonic, which may have been previously popularized among ace/aro people) as the basis for orientation-like labels such as “heteroaesthetic” or “homosensual” also provoked consternation, although I couldn’t tell you if these labels were ever seriously adopted by a significant number of people. As I understand it, “romantic orientation” was also popularized among aces, although this and other concepts that took inspiration from it were being used on tumblr by a mixed and overlapping group of ace/aro/lgbtq people.

Sometimes when critics invoked the “split attraction model,” they were imagining all of this as a single model of orientation, in which (they presumed) a “complete” orientation (as they were used to thinking of it) would entail listing out --sexual --romantic --sensual --aesthetic and whatever other dimensions people created. But I think that often times critics would be thinking mainly of the paired sexual-romantic identity format, which was more commonly used.

The objections were many. A lot of these revolved around the way “sexual orientation” and --sexual terms were defined by people who also used “romantic orientation,” --romantic terms, and other parallel dimensions of orientation and identity.

Critics were used to “sexual orientation” and “sexuality” naming something that encompassed erotic/sexual, emotional/romantic (e.g. being “in love”), and social/kinship (e.g. dating, marriage) elements. Likewise, they understood terms like “bisexual,” “homosexual,” and “heterosexual,” as well as “gay” and “lesbian,” as inclusive of all these elements. And, in fact, this is the typical way in which these terms are used by gay/bi people and activists and by almost anyone writing about these subjects in a serious way. Gay/bi people have often had to demand recognition for the emotional and social aspects of their relationships and desires, or (alternately) for the sexual aspects, and so there was some significance attached to affirmation of their integration. Critics didn’t believe that all elements always occurred together, however. There's general recognition that sexual interest can occur apart from being “in love.” And while there’s more social skepticism over this possibility, many of these critics would have also agreed that you could be “in love” without sexual interest. (Some critics identified as ace and/or sex-repulsed.)

Critics sensed that when “sexual orientation” and --sexual terms were being paired/contrasted with “romantic orientation” and --romantic terms (and others), the meaning of the former were narrowed to only refer to specifically sexual and not emotional/social components. And I think you can, in fact, see that reflected in how "sexual orientation” is explained by some people who use both orientations (and others). A while back I compiled a sample of definitions of “sexual orientation” from a few college LGBTQ groups and compared them with a few definitions from AVEN and AVENwiki, and the difference is apparent. (Some of those entries have sense been edited in response to my post.)

So I think there was a real difference in how people were using “sexual orientation” and --sexual identity terms. The critics were using them in the broader, mainstream sense, while others were using them more narrowly. For record, I don’t think the narrower version is objectively “incorrect” or anything like that, and I can understand why some people would like to use it. But it is different from how the terms are usually used, and how a lot of gay/bi people and others would like to see them used. And reading “sexual orientation” in the narrower sense when it was intended to be used in the broader sense can result in a very loaded misunderstanding. The same is true for words like “bisexual” and “homosexual.” There was a lot of concern that calling oneself “bisexual” would be interpreted as exclusively sexual-related information.

The use of “homosexual” itself was also criticized. This was (with reason) identified as a stigmatizing term that a lot of gay people didn’t want to be called. But within the “split attraction model,” this term, in its narrower re-sexualized sense, seemed to be the “correct” term for gay people.

There was also concern about who was adopting “homosexual.” Critics who were coming from anti-monosexism circles tended to value solidarity between lesbians and bisexual women and didn’t see either group as privileged over the other. But they also accepted that there was a fairly clean boundary between these groups, and that keeping this boundary unambiguous was important. The “mixed” sexual-romantic identities such as “homosexual biromantic” blurred the distinction between gay and bi, and were thus unintelligible until they were translated as “just a gay person” or “just a bi person.” This translation could go either way. When translated as “just a bi person,” “homosexual biromantic” was perceived as bi people appropriating a gay identity, and a disrespectful one at that.

A clear division between “oppressed” gay/bi people and “privileged” straight people was also a key point in critics’ social-political worldview, and this mixed identities also blurred this divide, resulting in potential “just a (homophobic) straight person” readings. A “heteromantic bisexual” could be a straight person who just used gay/bi people for sex, and was further obscuring their privilege and homophobic by presenting themselves as non-straight.

Unprocessed internalized homophobia and biphobia were seen as explanations for the adoption of these identities (for either “just gay” or “just bi” translations). The use and promotion of these terms (among advice blogs or through LGBTQ glossaries, for example) was also seen as limiting the ability for young gay/bi people to work through internalized homophobia and biphobia. Having doubts about whether one could have a sexual or emotional relationship with someone of the same gender were seen as common uncertainties among young and newly-out gay/bi people, resulting from the suppression of same-gender possibilities by a heterosexist society. There was a perception that questioning people were being actively encouraged to accept these uncertainties at face value as natural, enduring aspects of their orientation. Even simple exposure to these identities could set people back in their self coming out process, and some people reported how adopting these identities had been a roadblock on their own journeys.

In conjunction with all this, there was a perception that these models of orientation were gaining ground and displacing the models they favored. It seemed easy for current and past broader uses of “sexual orientation” to be overwritten with the narrower version, and thus have the speaker’s meaning completely distorted. I think part of this sense of threat was due to the paired sexual-romantic identities--and other specialized identities that were being developed--following a very empirical-sounding format. It seemed easy to read these terms as a cutting-edge classification of newly observed patterns of human “attraction” and “orientation.” Models that didn’t include them could easily be read as lagging behind and incomplete, their omissions attributed to ignorance rather than an alternate vision of what was meaningful and important to name. This all seemed to lean hard on on a “scientific,” essentialist model of sexuality. And actually, critics themselves sometimes drew on a similar model of sexuality to justify the divisions they saw as important (e.g. between gay and bi). Unfortunately, although critics saw these paired and specialized identities as a clear folly of “going too far,” I think they found it difficult to explain why these terms that sounded even more “sciencey” and comprehensive (= authoritative), were actually wrong.

Anyway, I guess that’s about all I have to say on it for now. Feel free to let me know if you think this story is accurate or inaccurate.

#split attraction model

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tlbodine · 4 years ago

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Literary vs Genre Fiction

The divide between literary and genre fiction is one of those topics that gets endlessly debated in writer circles. You’ll see it making the rounds on social media every time a book gets some buzz for busting out of its category. You’ll hear it in MFA programs across the country. But what even is literary fiction? How is it actually different from genre fiction? Is one better than the other? Why does anybody care?

A lot of smart people before me have thrown their hat in this particular ring, but I’m going to try tackling this one anyway.

First Off: What Do We Mean When We Say “Literary Fiction”?

Defining the thing is almost the hardest part of this whole discussion, and that may be part of the reason why people argue so endlessly about the literary vs genre divide -- if you don’t have a clear definition of the categories, that divide can be drawn up just about anywhere.

So before we dig into characteristics of literary fiction, let’s look at some clear examples. The Booker Prize is a literary award specifically given to works of literary fiction, so it stands to reason that winners of that award would be the best examples of the category, right? Here are some recent Booker Prize winners (as pulled from Powell’s bookstore):

Margaret Atwood - The Testaments The sequel to A Handmaid's Tale, told as testaments from three female narrators in Gilead, a dystopian setting where women have been stripped of their rights.

Bernardine Evaristo - Girl, Woman, Other Twelve central characters, mostly black British women, lead intersecting lives with struggles of identity, race, sexuality, class, etc.

Anna Burns - Milkman A girl identified as "middle sister" catches the unwanted attention of "the milkman," a local paramilitary, and has to deal with the threat of violence and spread of rumors.

George Saunders - Lincoln in the Bardo A father-and-son story about Abraham Lincoln and the 11-year-old son who died of illness in the midst of the civil war, leading to them both struggling in a type of purgatory.

Paul Beatty - The Sellout A satire about an isolated young man who ends up at a Supreme Court race trial after trying to reinstate slavery and segregate the local high school in an attempt to put his town back on the map.

One thing becomes immediately clear about literary fiction when skimming through the titles and summaries of these award-winning books: These novels are well-nigh impossible to summarize in a way that actually sounds enticing.

So okay. What are some genre fiction books, for comparison? There are genre fiction awards, like for example the Hugo award for Sci-Fi/Fantasy:

Mary Robinette Kowal - The Calculating Stars A cataclysmic meteor collision in 1952 causes an accelerated effort to colonize space, leading to a woman fighting to join the astronaut team in this alternate-history book.

N. K. Jemisin - The Stone Sky The third in a trilogy of post-apocalyptic novels about two women with the power to avert destruction of mankind.

Cixin Liu - The Three-Body Problem Against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project makes contact with aliens whose civilization is on the brink of destruction, leading them to plan a takeover of earth.

There’s also the Edgar Award, which is given to mystery fiction (it’s named after Edgar Allan Poe):

James A McLaughlin - Bearskin A man on the run takes a job as a park ranger, but runs the risk of being found by the men he's hiding from when he tries to expose some poachers.

Walter Mosley - Down the River Unto the Sea After spending a decade in prison for a crime he was framed for, former-detective King works as a private investigator whose investigation of his own frame-up leads him to cross paths of a journalist with a similar story.

Sujata Massey - Widows of Malabar Hill In 1920s India, Bombay's only female lawyer investigates a suspicious will on behalf of three Muslim widows, a case that takes a murderous turn.

These aren’t the best summaries in the world, but there does seem to be a stronger sense of both plot and character in the story concepts. At least, when someone asks, “What’s that book you’re reading about?” the genre fiction ones will have a somewhat easier time explaining it.

So What REALLY Separates Literary From Genre Fiction?

There are a lot of battle lines drawn between genre and literary fiction. I’ve heard it argued that literary is about character while genre is about plot; that literary is about the quality of the prose while genre is about the story; that literary is about experimenting while genre is about adhering to formulas. That literary is about expanding horizons while genre is about escapism and comfort. That literary is about realism and genre fiction is about fabulism.

I think there’s a nugget of truth in all of these, but I’m not really happy with any of them.

So I’m going to toss out my own hypothesis: I think the difference between literary and genre fiction is the way tropes are employed.

“Okay, great, but what are tropes?”

I’m so glad you asked. Fiction tropes are a type of shorthand. They are things that we the audience have seen before, so we know immediately what they mean. Tropes exist in characters, plot points, settings, concepts -- you name it. Here’s a sampling of tropes you might be familiar with:

The tough lady-cop whose dad was a police officer

Thanks to a mix-up, two people with hidden romantic feelings book the last available room at a hotel but there’s only one bed

A man goes on a quest for vengeance but destroys himself in the process

The wise old man who teaches the young hero valuable lessons but then dies before the pivotal battle

And so on, and so forth. Every genre has its own tropes -- a formula, if you will. In that sense, genre fiction is formulaic, but that doesn’t make it easier to write; actually, a big part of the challenge is in giving fresh twists to familiar tropes. Readers of genre stories demand certain tropes; the author has to deliver on those demands in a fresh way.

By comparison, I would argue that literary fiction does not rely upon tropes. There certainly are tropes and conventions that emerge in literary fiction -- a middle-aged academic struggling through divorce, for example -- but these tropes are more often than not met with irritation, not delight. Readers of literary fiction are looking for fresh insights and innovations, not familiarity.

Tropes are powerful tools. They are the mythic seed of storytelling. They are the archetypes that pass down through generations. They are a sacred backbone of mythology and folklore. Genre fiction, at the end of the day, carries the torch for storytelling in a long and (ha, ha) storied tradition from our prehistoric days huddled around a campfire.

Literary fiction, on the other hand, eschews tropes -- with their agreed-upon meanings -- in favor of assigning fresh meanings to things. Literary fiction is chock full of metaphors, but it’s the author, not convention, that determines what those metaphors mean and how they’re employed. Literary fiction reinvents the wheel. When it succeeds, it hits on depth and emotional resonance that can be life-changing for the reader. When it fails, it comes off like so much navel-gazing nonsense. So it goes.

Fiction Wars and Gatekeeping

The problem with the literary vs genre fiction divide is that it never stops with “This is how these categories are defined.” The problem is that people will insist on ascribing moral significance and hierarchy to them.

Literary fiction is viewed as being smarter, deeper, more meaningful or more valuable than genre fiction. If a genre fiction story manages to break out and gain wider appeal, suddenly people will start ascribing to it literary attributes (whether or not the book and many others in the genre had them all along). And that is all a bunch of nonsense.

It’s the exact same thing that happens in horror fiction -- when a horror story goes mainstream, suddenly it becomes a “psychological thriller” or a “dark drama” or anything other than horror, because “horror” is an inferior genre.

The fact of the matter is that literary fiction gets elevated over genre fiction for systemic reasons:

Most MFA programs focus on writing literary fiction, which means that a lot of lit-fic authors come out of those programs, which means that literary fiction is often the domain of upper-middle-class, frequently white, people who can afford to graduate from those programs

A focus on dense prose and “difficult” writing means lit-fic books must be analyzed and interpreted; it’s hard to read, making it exclusionist to people who lack formal education

Lit-fic dominates awards, gets pushed heavily onto book clubs, is talked about more often on daytime TV and so forth (because it is perceived as being better/more important, thus creating the ongoing cycle)

Basically, lit-fic gets held up as an example of Fine Culture. And any time something is designated as Fine Culture and High Art, it is subject to a completely arbitrary classist distinction meant primarily to keep out an undesirable element (women, BIPOC, poor people, you name it).

That’s not a problem endemic to lit-fic itself. It’s really a problem of the culture surrounding it, and attempts to hold it to a higher esteem than genre work.

Cross-Pollination Is Inevitable and Desirable

How do tropes get made?

Someone comes up with a new metaphor, concept, character, or idea that resonates so deeply that others who follow borrow that same thing and its meaning, and it gets repeated enough times that it becomes a stock trope.

In other words, every single piece of genre fiction exists because someone writing in some other established tradition decided to experiment and go off on a tangent to create something really fresh and new -- and knocked it so far out of the park that people were compelled to follow.

People like to pretend that the overlap and blurred lines between genre and literary fiction are somehow a new trend, but the fact is that this has been the trajectory of fiction-writing for the whole history of storytelling.

Literary agents have a term for this: Upmarket fiction. Books that “transcend” genre definitions to appeal to readers on either side of the aisle. And those are highly sought-after books, because they have the potential of bringing in double the readers.

So, snobby gatekeeping aside, is there any real reason to argue about the definition of literary vs genre fiction?

I’d say...no. Not even a little bit. I’ve got a mix of both on my shelves. I incorporate a mix of both in my writing. And I don’t see that changing any time soon.

A Final Note

I mentioned above that lit-fic tends to be written by people in MFA programs, and I wanted to touch on that again as an MFA drop-out and someone who was once warned by a teacher not to bring “any more of that genre nonsense” into the classroom.

I can understand, from a teaching perspective, why writer’s workshops would want to focus on lit-fic. From the perspective of learning how to write, forcing writers to derive stories from their experiences, to dig deep into themselves and ascribe unique meaning to things, to develop their own metaphors and hone their craft at the sentence level -- all of that makes a lot of sense. Banning genre tropes is a way to force writers to hone their craft without leaning on the work of generations of storytellers before them, and as a teaching tool I think that’s actually really valuable.

But I think it’s pretty important that we keep that in context. The lit-fic focus in writing classes should be a teaching tool first and foremost. It should not be the end-all and be-all of writing classes.

This post topic was voted on by my Patreon subscribers. If you would like to vote for future posts and get early access to posts before they go live on tumblr, you can become a patron here: https://www.patreon.com/tlbodine

#writing #literary fiction #genre fiction #on writing #long post

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twentiethcenturymoviesandtv · 5 years ago

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A Creepy Christmas Cultural Conundrum: The Lasting Legacy of The Nightmare Before Christmas

A request by @lcvcdbyhim.

If you traveled back in time to the year 1993 and told someone that Tim Burton’s new stop-motion animated film, The Nightmare Before Christmas, was going to be the biggest holiday movie in for the next twenty years, they wouldn’t believe me. They just wouldn’t.

Of all of the holiday films of the 90s, Christmas or Halloween, nothing comes close to the cultural giant that is The Nightmare Before Christmas. Even family favorites like The Santa Clause or Home Alone don’t get nearly the attention and praise that this film has. Every year, from Halloween through Christmas, stores are packed with shirts, wallets, keychains, sneakers, backpacks, banks, toys, clocks, jewelry, decorations and more, all covered with images of Jack Skellington, Sally, Oogie Boogie, Zero, and other characters and images from the film. Even outside of the holiday months, the more merchandise-driven stores still dedicate an entire section to The Nightmare Before Christmas, putting it on the same level as franchises like Star Wars or the various superhero films.

The question is, why?

Why has The Nightmare Before Christmas’s imagery become nearly as recognizable as images of classic monsters like Dracula and the Frankenstein monster? How is this oddball little movie fast approaching How The Grinch Stole Christmas and other classic Christmas specials in terms of popularity?

There has to be a larger reason that simply being available to be marketed for two holidays instead of one.

Today, we’re going to be taking a look at The Nightmare Before Christmas in an attempt to figure out where all the hype came from, and more specifically, why it’s still so popular.

But first, we need a little background.

When The Nightmare Before Christmas was first released in 1993, it received modest critical acclaim and a decent opening. Right in the middle of Disney’s Renaissance period, a throwback to stop-motion wasn’t really thought of as being quite on the same level as animated films like Aladdin and The Lion King. As a result, the movie did okay, but just….okay.

So what happened?

Very simply, The Nightmare Before Christmas gained a cult following. Very quickly.

In the years that followed, The Nightmare Before Christmas started being praised as one of the greats in the animated film category. People started watching it for part of their holiday tradition, around both Halloween and Christmas, and the further we are away from that mediocre opening, it seems the more people laud it as a work of art. Stores like Hot Topic started selling so much Nightmare merchandise that now the imagery from The Nightmare Before Christmas seems to be the face of a new goth/emo trend. In fact, since the film’s release, the movie has been put on a rather bizarre pedestal, with some fans lavishing enormous amounts of praise on this movie. In a way, it seems like disliking it is unheard of.

To return to our earlier question, why? It doesn’t seem like anything special. There have been other ‘weird’ stop-motion films, such as Corpse Bride or Coraline. The characters and story are simplistic, almost childish at times. The music is good, sure, but with all the hype around it, the movie can very much seem….overrated.

Once again: Why?

It all boils down to uniqueness.

In 1993, Tim Burton was still relatively new to audiences. Directing since 1985, his biggest hits had been the likes of horror-comedy Beetlejuice, superhero blockbuster Batman, and drama flick Edward Scissorhands. In other words, the world was still being introduced to the styles that we are currently familiar with: use of Johnny Depp, score by Danny Elfman, stripes, German Expressionism, and pale-skinned, dark haired, sunken-eyed outcast protagonists. Thanks to the sheer number of Signature Style Burton-esque films, The Nightmare Before Christmas no longer seems like anything all that special in terms of style of film, but at the time, it was something very new, distinct, and different.

The same goes for the stop-motion aspect.

The stop-motion ‘weird’ films that we are the most familiar with: (Corpse Bride, James and the Giant Peach, Frankenweenie, ParaNorman) have all come after The Nightmare Before Christmas. Before Nightmare, stop-motion’s biggest claim to fame were the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials. The Nightmare Before Christmas revolutionized and reawakened the style of filmmaking and started a new form of animation that is being used since. Once again, it all comes down to that uniqueness of the time, especially when it applies to the story.

The story of The Nightmare Before Christmas, despite its aforementioned simplicity, is a rather unique one. The idea came to Burton while watching Halloween decorations come down at the same time Christmas decorations were being put up, and the movie is really all about the juxtaposition between the holidays. Jack Skellington, the king of Halloweentown, is dissatisfied with the ‘same old thing’ and decides to try something new. The ‘new thing’ that captivates his interest turns out to be another huge holiday: Christmas. Full of excitement at this strange new holiday, Jack decides to get the person in charge of Christmas out of the way (Santa Claus) and take Christmas for himself, assigning the denizens of Halloweentown the tasks necessary to bring about the festive holiday.

Being from Halloweentown, of course, Jack doesn’t fully understand Christmas, despite his frantic attempts to do so, and in the end, Christmas is a disaster, thanks to his botched interpretation of what makes the holiday. In the end, Jack learns not to meddle with things he doesn’t understand, and the movie ends at around 75 minutes.

As basic as it is, the idea of one holiday trying to do another is pretty creative, as is the way it is done. The concept of holiday worlds, based on the special day is extremely interesting, and it’s executed well. In fact, when looking at the film for what and when it was, The Nightmare Before Christmas was actually very creative in everything, characters, the visual look, the way it was done, story, even the music by Danny Elfman is very fitting to the story and characters, and it’s all very catchy.

When contextualized into the time period it was made in, The Nightmare Before Christmas, for all it may seem stale and overdone now, was fresh and unique, noteworthy for being something audiences haven’t seen before.

There’s more to the intense popularity of this film than quirkiness, though.

What I said earlier about the film being basic? That is actually a point in its favor.

One of the remarkable things about The Nightmare Before Christmas is that, for having a reasonably complex concept, it’s execution is very simple. The story never makes itself more complicated than it has to be. It’s very straightforward, with no plot twists or surprises for the audience. The direction the story takes is predictable, but that’s by no means bad. Not only is the story uncomplicated, but the meaning is as well.

It isn’t hard for people to understand Jack’s predicament, nor is it difficult for even the youngest kid to know that his endeavors to make Christmas are doomed to failure, because they pick up that Jack does not understand what he is trying to do. He has the feeling right, but he has no constructive direction to take it, and with a lack of understanding, ends up creating a mess.

Jack’s enthusiasm is for the holiday spirit, and it’s contagious, no matter which holiday you consider. By never trying to ‘explain’ the good feelings of the holidays and just letting them be, The Nightmare Before Christmas actually continues a trend that one wouldn’t think it has much to do with at all.

In my opinion, the hype behind The Nightmare Before Christmas, especially in the up-and-coming generations, is much the same reason that Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is still talked about by the older generations. The holiday feeling.

Jack experiences the joy of Christmas without knowing why. Despite his best efforts, he cannot decipher the whys and wherefores of it, he just accepts that ‘just because I cannot see it doesn’t mean I can’t believe it!’. This tone, this viewpoint towards the holiday of simply enjoying it, is reminiscent of Christmas specials like How the Grinch Stole Christmas or the Rankin/Bass stop-motion productions. It evokes nostalgic feelings for the holiday. The Nightmare Before Christmas is to the post 90s generation what the other animated Christmas specials were to the ones before it: the traditional, good-feelings, familiar celebration of the holiday.

Most importantly though, it’s a film that people enjoy watching.

With a unique concept, design, and execution, nostalgic feelings and holiday warmth, and it just being a generally fun, charming movie, it’s not really a true wonder why The Nightmare Before Christmas got as popular as it did.

Is it overhyped? Yes.

Does that make the movie itself any worse? No. It just means that audience expectations are affected by the culture around it, some for the better, some for the worse.

Of course, it’s not a movie for everybody. Some will like it more than others. Some might love it, some might hate it, and some might just be okay with it. But that goes for any film.

The Nightmare Before Christmas is a cultural juggernaut, that’s for certain, and I doubt we’ll be seeing any fewer Oogie Boogie coin banks in the near future, but that’s more a reflection on the commercialism of film since 1977 (Thanks, George Lucas!) and how much people are willing to buy to reflect their tastes in film. My point is, the movie is still popular enough that people buy stuff connected to it because they like it.

And that’s not a bad thing. It’s a good movie, remarkably simple, but smart enough to hold up years later and continue to emotionally resonate with audiences. It was something that no one had ever seen before at the time, and is packed full of enough distinctive style and imagery that it is still instantly recognizable as being from The Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s an immensely popular film for a reason, and it’s not going away anytime soon.

Thank you all so much for reading! If you have any thoughts, questions, comments, suggestions, or just want to say hi, feel free to leave them in the ask box, I’d love to hear from you. I hope you guys enjoyed this article, and I hope to see you in the next one.

#Movies #Film #Request #90s #1993 #The Nightmare Before Christmas #The Nightmare Before Christmas 1993

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soaringsearingphoenix · 5 years ago

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Top 5 bugs!

Bugs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Uhhhhhhgdhagfkfh ALL of them? I really love bugs but, okay, gotta say most of my favorites are gonna be hymenoptera, so like, bees, wasps, ants. Here's a handful that I like

1. Blue carpenter bee, xylocopa caerulea. I mean, it's my icon on this account right now. Honestly there is not a lot of research on this guy, or not that's available, but it's native to southeast Asia and its BLUE. So cool.

2. Hunt's bumblebee, bombus huntii. I met some of these friends when i was in Arizona, very pretty, very opinionated. One of the first bees i learned about and THEN identified in the wild. I walked up to a flowering tree, fragrant in the warm sunlight of early evening, where they and some other bumblebees were landing and just observed them for a while. They would occasionally decide i was getting too close (and i mean, i was right up against the tree) and zip past my face, wavering there sometimes, clearly telling me to back off. So i did... and then gently approached again, slower. I got some good pictures but i've gotten a new phone since then and didn't transfer them all over.

2.5 Side note, just assume all bees are up here. And also that i appreciate honeybees in a different way than I appreciate native and generally solitary bees.

3. Ants that grow fungus, and really any ants with a sense of agriculture, like the ones that herd aphids. Also ants that create "Devil's Gardens" in the Amazon, those little monoculture patches of forest that are like the ants' version of a big city. I don't know all their names by heart but i get so excited about ant technology and culture, the sort of ideal demonstration of emergent behaviors that they represent. I could spend a whole hours-long road trip just talking about ants, mostly parroting from youtube videos (and i have spent parts of drives talking about them but my mom's attention span for a fascinating-topic-but-not-her-field-of-interest is about the length of a ted talk or podcast episode, which is to say, significantly less than an hour.) I am just so proud of ants. They've accomplished so much.

4. Wasps have really grown on me in the past year. I don't know what species it is that I have been pulling out of my birdbath, but they have really helped me get over my fear and prejudice for wasps. I've only ever been stung by a wasp once in my life and it was because i'd accidentally carried it on my shirt into a math classroom where i was going to talk to the teacher because i thought i had failed the class so that was neither of our best moment. Anyways, specifically the two most prevalent species in my backyard take this slot, but like the ants this is as much a category as a specification. I also have a soft spot for tiny specialized parisitic wasps, as their recent discovery is part of the reason scientists now think hymenoptera species may rival or even outnumber beetle species so like. Go team?

5. Orchid mantises. Mantises are such chill dudes a lot of the time. Everyone wants to talk about the cannibalism, and it's like, calm down, a lot of species do that. Octopodes, lots of species of spiders, it's pretty common for more solitary species. I mean if you want someone to carry your kids the least you can do is give them a meal, it takes a lot of energy to bring new life into being. Anyways I love orchid mantises specifically because they are bright pink and they stand like they mean business. They're like the ballerinas of the insect world. They're poised, they're ornate, and they WILL kick your ass without breaking a sweat. Which is honestly goals. If i am observed and considered beautiful, I want it to be in an intimidating and vaguely unsettling way.

Honorable mentions:

-hoverflies. These little guys look like bees kind of if you don't know what you're looking for, and they tend to hang out in the same spots, and i respect their contribution to pollinating. Underappreciated friends.

-dragonflies also. Y'all test my patience, being fast and hard to photograph. Like your friend who brags about being hard to take candid photos of. Their flight control is a marvel of physics. I know little else about dragonflies

-butterflies and specifically painted lady butterflies because they migrate through here, so the first butterfly migration i ever saw was right over my elementary school

-ladybugs. There are so many kinds. We had a book on them when i was little, which had these transparent pages that would like overlay the pictures on the pages on either side, it was really cool. I used to catch them on the playground, just to hold them. They have a really distinct smell and when i tell people that it feels like no one knows what im talking about. Their larvae kept crawling on me in the park recently i do not know why but they were incredibly persistent about it

-crickets and grasshoppers. There were a lot of these guys in arizona too. Sorry i was such a menace. I didnt mean to startle you i swear

-stick bugs. Once again, saw these in Arizona, for the first time in the wild in person. I held one and it was absolutely magical.

Ok now i am just listing bugs i know. But i love them all!!! Anyways this list is constantly changing but that's it for now!

#thanks for asking!!

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