#it's fiction and if someone likes reading it who gaf??

[buckera]

could people posting 'kinky' fics not kinkshame the characters and the readers please? I'm tired

[ceo-mochee]

Right I'm gonna say it cus I've seen and heard enough.

If you ship something toxic, Do NOT complain when people hate it.

(NOTE : Do NOT send me hate asks/comments if you choose to read this, cus I really do not gaf if you hate me for this. It's just my opinion and I wanted to get it off my chest.)

If the ship your shipping is a healthy pairing and people are hating you for it, then sure you have a reason to be upset. However if you're shipping something like Romesse, Aidesse or I don't know...... AXDEN.... (which are pretty toxic ships in general (my opinion)) then yeah people have a right to hate the ship.

I will agree on some part that attacking people is not a good thing, and this goes to both sides. People who don't like your ships shouldn't have to force you to change that, but at the same time if people hate on the SHIP itself (and are NOT namedropping people), then why should you be so worried? I literally watched one of my moots get attacked by someone because they wrote about not liking Axden.

Hell I'm even gonna take a quick minute to slander this ship now. Why? Cus it's pretty toxic- Aiden bullied Axel and tried killing his friends, do you reaaaaally think Axel would be friends with someone like Aiden, let alone get in a romantic relationship with him?? Yeah I don't think so either.

Here's the thing tho, this is just MY OPINION. If you disagree, COOL! But making a huge fuss about it and attacking others who disagree is only fueling that belief that "its not the ship itself, it's the shippers that are the problem." Getting pissy cus you CHOOSE to read someone's opinions and decide that because you disagree, and believing that you should go send anonymous asks attacking said person is also just making yourself look real pathetic.

I'm sorry, but if you're gonna get sensitive over a fictional pairing getting hate, then I don't know what to tell ya. s

I, of course, may or may not be the one to talk. I've shipped Axel and Lukas together for a long while and I may or may not have been hurt by some people's opinions myself, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna go off with my pitchfork and torch and bombard someone with hate asks/comments, you know how much easier life is when ya just silently disagree with one's opinions and move on? It's amazing lemme tell ya.

So far I've only seen this happening with the ship Axden (Axel x Aiden), which is pretty damn bonkers if you ask me. Why can't y'all just accept the fact that no matter how much you preach, self project onto characters, or fuss about your own opinions, not every single person is gonna agree with you. My ass already got turned into a damn PTSD trigger to one person (who I'm of course choosing NOT to namedrop) cus I disliked that ship.

"I know Aiden bullied Axel but... but I made it to where he redeemed himself!!!"

Okay??? Still doesn't change the fact that you're getting upset that people are understandably uncomfortable with that ship mate... do you understand how happier we would all be if you'd just BLOCK people who disagree instead of burning an innocent user at the stake because they dislike a toxic ship.

Like seriously if you're gonna get upset and attack someone for not liking a (pretty toxic) ship that you like and not just like- Idk- BLOCK them... then you're probably already a lost cause my friend.

[butmakeitgayblog]

Do you have any advice for fan fiction writers who aren't getting many readers etc? I feel like giving up some days but I love writing and find fan fiction my personal therapy if that makes sense. I'd love any advice you can give or any suggestions. 💕

Well, honestly I'm not any kind of authority so take whatever I say with a grain of salt. Because honestly, I never really thought I'd get any kind of following to begin with 😕 this surprised me, and still does to this day, more than anyone. When I started posting my first fic (very nervously and through the feeling like I was going to throw up) I thought "well, I'll just write a few chapters and probably no one will ever read it and I'll get bored and it'll be out of my system." And now here we are, and I have no idea how that happened 😳

What advice I can give is, you can't write for the sake of other people. I know that sounds cheap as hell because the whole point of sharing fic is to get feedback and interact with others in the fandom, but really at the heart of it you have to just write stories that you like and you want to read above everything else. Keep writing. Keep growing. Keep refining your work and your style so no matter what the view count is, you know you're becoming a better writer regardless. And truth be told, you never know what idea or fic will hit with readers and what won't. You may write something and think oh no one is gonna gaf about this and then out of nowhere, that's what people love. It happens more than you know.

Another thing is - and this is going to sound harsh at first but bear with me please - in this day and age sadly you have to manage your expectations. Not because you don't deserve more readers or comments or because your work isn't good, but because the culture of fandom and fanfic/fanart is changing, and not for the better. There's dozens of posts that make the rounds on here passively warning people about how a lot of writers and artists are getting burned out and fed up with the lack of reciprocal community from their audience. Tiktok and IG and all that shit has kind of ruined the landscape of fandom because now everything is seen as just consumption based. More and more people read a fic and move on, binge a show and move on, burn through a fandom's entire AO3 content in 3 months and move on, and it sucks. I mean when you look at fandoms of old, the days of Xena and Buffy for example, a lot of those fans are still around and still participating and still creating work even though the show/fandom/ships are long gone. You don't really see that loyalty much anymore, and it becomes a cycle of the fandom shrinking and then the feedback and comments and support grinds to a halt, and then creators stop feeling like wasting hours of their life to pour themselves into work that gets maybe a handful of comments even though they see hundreds or thousands of people have read it. It just sucks all around. So expecting to see the numbers that a fic did even 3-5 years ago, sadly, just isn't going to happen.

BUT

I do also know this, the Clexa fandom has been one of the best fandoms I've ever been in, both as just a fan on the outskirts and someone who tries to contribute. I've found Clexas to be funny and welcoming and we have a core group of fucking awesome and loyal, supportive readers, but the thing is you have to keep going. Sometimes building an audience and a regular group of readers takes time. Name recognition matters. Yes there are writers out there that are just synonymous with the fandom, but there's other writers (hi yes hello me, I mean me lol) who came late to the party and it's taken some time to get people to see their work. Tagging things and reblogging, talking in tags, reaching out to other people in the fandom and making friends who want to help you with your work because you help support theirs. All that stuff. It makes a difference. Damn near every week or so I get a new reader saying "wow idk how I hadn't heard of you before/read your stuff before but I'm glad I found it, keep going!" And that 100% will never have even the possibility of happening if you stop writing!

In the end, you just have to decide what's best for you. If this feels incredibly unhelpful I truly am sorry, I wish I had better advice to give you but I'm as clueless to this all as you are. But 2 things I do know for sure without a doubt? One, there is a place for you in any fandom, and your work does matter. There is an audience out there who want to read what you have to write and they'll love it. And two, in the end just be kind to yourself. Love yourself and be proud of yourself for trying, and for being creative and growing your work. Fanfic is supposed to be fun, writing about your favorite blorbos is meant to be fun, even if more often than not it feels like the equivalent of just dancing alone in your kitchen. Ya get what I mean?

[cieric-of-chaos]

Links: Spotify-account - Art account - DeviantArt Account - My art (all of the post in the tags are my acc) - Time-lapse - IG - Letterboxd - Scarlet witch comics reading guide (in the works) | Sideblog | Pinterest | w.maximoff - blog | [I don't "stan", real people]

Icon and Header: Tom Ripley played by Alain delon in Purple noon (1960)

-- about me | Notes ↓

To many freaking links I know idk I feel like my brain is itchy if I didn't make a link for my things

an annoying Bisexual /18/ any pronounce (call me whatever you want it's fine idc really) /rant and complain alot, I am a self-taught artist I use my phone and fingers to draw digital so it's a bit wonky...papansin minsan

I am a girl or boy sometimes an alien

I have special interests in history (ancient civilizations, Prehistoric stuff, Philippines history: (Spanish colonial period) etc.)

I really like Guillermo del Toro and his films/shows and I watch all of the things he directed and read and watch a lot of stuff about him/related to him you can ask me about that if you want

I watched a lot of shows, films, Documentaries or Whatever Videos I find interesting...also I love listening to music

brain rotting | Multifandom | comics/films/shows/games/manga/anime

If I follow you it's because I like the stuff you post and I like the same stuff as you,..not really want to list all the stuff that I like.. it's a lot

Too lazy and anxious to answer ask/DMS sometimes and will probably answer it 2 weeks or months later or probably will forget about it...sorry

I like a lot of characters but NEVER romantically more like... finding a stray cat and petting it type of thing??Hyperfixation goes brr

I am obsessed with the Scarlet Witch....(films, comics, cartoon... anything about her...),

I am not normal about jujutsu kaisen

You can talk to me about true crime in my side blog idk..I like reading, listening, watching and knowing stuff and documentaries about the cases ( I don't "Stan")

I am kinda corny maybe a bit cringe...

my English is not very good

I don't like arguing with people so please if I post something you don't like just block me

I don't "stan" celebrities or any real people if my fav fictional characters is played by someone "problematic" i don't care because idgaf about who they are or what they do,I only care bout my silly guys who happens to share the same face as them...and I pirate most of the stuff I watch and read...because I am poor as fuck, I Occasionally reblog gif set and pics of Actors, movies and character that I like...so please stop sending 'ask' ..

Sorry for yapping too much but I don't get why people cares so much about Celebrities or famous people...most of them don't really gaf about you and it's weird when people got angry when their 'fav' celeb didn't do what they want or agree with what they believe.. I hate people that treat celebs like fictional characters that they can make Headcanons...most of them are going to just disappoint you Anyway so why do you care so much about them? Why do you keep defending them? Liking them it's fine but defending and talking about them like they gave birth to you it's weird and creepy especially if the celeb is clearly a horrible person ...ehhh I know you don't care what I think...but god I hate 'celebrity' "stans" so much...they make me wanna throw myself of a moving fast vehicle.. like losing your mind over fictional characters is normal and understandable... at least...but god I hate celebrity dick riders so much...I hate celebrity haters too that make it their entire personality too...like idc if you hate that person don't bother me because I like a character they play... sometimes I wish really really famous celebs that have many fans because they are 'good' people 🙄 do sometimes really bad or got exposed for something horrible just to see celeb fandom meltdowns...why? Because it's hilarious...I mean famous celebs that the weirdos from internet always praise and makes meme about... it's so fucking annoying rahhh yeah I get I am pathetic....the amount of famous actors and actresses that are in my acc muted list is insane..I mean yeah I like a few celebs but mostly because I like their performance from a film or show other r than that i don't care or think about them and will never care if they did something bad or whatever celeb stuff people cares so much I don't care about award shows and idc who won or lost and idc if this show or movie that I like have a problematic celeb I am gonna watch it anyway I am not doing it for them so shut up....and please if you're gonna one of those weirdos that are gonna bombard my DMS and 'ask' about your stupid fav celeb please just don't...I am just gonna ignore and block you because I hate arguing with morons...I am getting too much already

[y'all are probably are not even reading this ...idc really]

-i talk too much I know Anyway my username is a reference to Havik -Cleric of Chaos- (mortal Kombat deception)

[terriblegam2r]

Idk why you went on this long ass tirade but I don't gaf about the ring either and I want Rick to give her one. All I was saying was that she didn't wear it as a sign of their love, she wore it because it's a small keepsake that she can CARRY with her everywhere. And she'll definitely have it before entering the CRM, for continuity reasons.

- So my answer to your uninvited comment of my opinion where you obviously wanted to know what I personally had to say was too long~ for your liking that it’s automatically a “tirade”? Alright. You clearly wanted me to respond how you wanted so I don’t know why you even bothered asking me a question in the first place.

-You gave a fuck enough about the ring to come into my inbox bringing it up to me.

-If you actually read my response to you you would have read where I typed that she would probably “loose it in the first episode”. I’m aware of continuity.

-No shit she didn’t wear it as a “sign of love”, but you do realize that this is a fictional show where these fake people do whatever the writing makes them do, right? Kang made her wear it. Michonne wouldn’t have worn it otherwise because why tf would she do that? It’s the ring of Rick’s previous wife and romantic relationship. It would just remind her of his love and devotion for another woman. And remind her that he never proposed to her. Kang could have easily made it so where Rick gave Michonne her own ring to wear before he fake dies. That simple.

- Even if Kang didn’t write 9x05 she is still the showrunner. Every single decision that happens on the show has to get her approval first. She controls every character journey and major decision on the show for the entire season even before the season begins filming. I love how you bring that up while ignoring what she tried to do to Michonne in 6x11 that would have made her ooc.

- I’m not going to argue with someone who’s too much of a pussy to not even show their face. If you want to continue to argue with me about this fill free to come into my inbox further.

[bitletsanddrabbles]

Theater vs. Books

One thing that has routinely shocked me in the Downton Abbey fandom is how little people seem to know about how TV works, particularly when compared to written fiction.

Examined logically, this should probably not be surprising. I’ve been involved off and on in school plays, church plays, acting camps, etc. for as long as I can remember. I actually went into university on an acting ticket, only to switch when I realized I’d get ulcers if I tried to make a living at it. Between writing classes and Dad going “Honey! The Vacation Bible School skit scripts are terrible again this year! Can you fix them?” I have way more scripting know how than I realize, not to mention directing since I then directed all the skits. I took a few combined study classes in college that involved film and, of course, my BA is creative writing, which does not make me the be all and end all of writing knowledge (there are people who haven’t taken a writing class in their lives who can out write me), but does mean that I have more idea what the different parts of a story are and how they fit together than someone who just took high school English.

However, one of my personal neurosis is that I know the education system I went through is substandard and that I am bad at research, therefore I expect the entire world to know more than I do. From a logical stand point this is rubbish, but try telling my psyche that when someone talks about how bad an actor is and then holds up a badly directed piece with a lousy script. (Guy in high school who insisted Nicole Kidman couldn’t act because Batman Forever, I am so looking at you.)

I mean, really. It doesn’t matter how much I’ve done or how much I know. If I am the only person on the planet who did not, at age five, win an academy award for my first screen play, which I also produced, directed, and starred it, everyone else should know more than me.

Don’t think I can’t see that trophy you’re hiding behind your back.

So for the sake of spreading awareness of what education I do have and helping my neurotic little mind cope with the reality that I’m not the least education person on earth, I’d like to make a few points on theater - both stage and film - versus the written word.

- Theater is an incredibly limited art form. Unlike prose where your narrator can spend pages taking you deep into a character’s psyche, most theater is restricted to communicating entirely thorough what can be seen and said in dialogue or monologue. Some theatrical pieces do use a narrator, but a lot of disadvantages to this in an acted piece (it creates pacing issues, people find it off putting, etc.), so it’s not common.  Now, since people perceive emotions differently based on their personal experience, getting an entire audience on board with a nuanced performance is basically impossible. Take sarcastic characters, for example. In a book, you can say that a character made a sarcastic joke that wasn’t meant to be malicious, but that people got offended anyway. Different people will read it different ways - some people will insist it was malicious despite the explicit statement it wasn’t, etc. - but the story has told you the impression you’re intended to get. In theater, your actor has to be sarcastic, the other actors react poorly, and even if you write in, “I was only joking, geeze”, it’s up to the audience to decide whether that was true or not.

So no matter how good your actors, directors, and writers are, it will always be tricky to nail down the intended authorial intent of any one scene or character.

- Theater requires a large budget. Writing does not. Seriously, these days technology is all about multitasking. It’s pretty much gotten to the point that you can buy a toaster and write a story on it. The most expensive books to write I know of are the early Harry Potter novels because JKR wrote in notebooks with pens. Oh yeah, and she bought coffee to drink while she did it. Now, you can argue that computers still cost a fair amount of money, but they’re pretty much a one time expenditure (unless you insist on upgrading or you break it or something basically not-inherent to computer owning).

Every time an actor walks on a stage or screen, they earn money. Every time a character changes clothes, that costs money. Every time there’s a scene (mostly stage) or location (mostly film) change, that costs money. Every time something catches fire, that costs money. Every rehearsal costs money. Theater is one, big shopping list.

- Theater has time limits. Books do not. One of the things in the budget for a theatrical production is space for that production to be seen. It’s a stage or a park or a movie theater or TV air time. All of that costs money and how much you can buy depends not only on how much money you have, but how much time the owners of the theater, park, TV station, etc. are willing to give you.

This means unlike book editors and publishers who can look at a work so stinking long no one would pay for it or want to hold it up long enough to read and go “Sorry, Mr. Tolkien, but we’re going to have to break this into three parts,” the people writing scripts need to try and meet a strict time limit - not shorter, not longer  - and if they go over, the editors have to actually take stuff out.

The closest thing writing really has to this is things like drabble challenges where you have to tell a story in an exact number of words. When these first hit Live Journal they were popular because they were a challenge. When they started losing favor, it was because 90% of the time you wound up sacrificing good writing for word count.

Theater, thankfully, is generally a bit more forgiving, but still. Telling a segment of story in a one hour time slot - or a full story in two hours - is not a walk in the park.

- Theater is not a one pony show. There are so many times I have seen people criticize an actor or director or script writer for something that is blatantly not their fault (see above), that I can’t even begin to count them. Theater is a group effort. If someone blows their lines, it’s not the script writer’s fault. If a director insists that an actor ham it up, that is not a reflection of the actor’s skills. There are times when directors actively screw up the action and the script writer doesn’t get a chance to fix it. An example of this is Downton Abbey, season two, where Anna and Ethel were supposed to be fluffing the couch cushions - the part you sit on - by dropping them. This was filmed as them dropping the throw pillows, which made no sense, and by the time Julian Fellows got to see the rushes, there wasn’t time (or money) to redo the scene. So we’re stuck with two maids who apparently don’t know how to fluff pillows and, if you do know how to fluff pillows and have not read the scripts with authors commentary, an audience who assumes that the writer was the person who got it wrong.

- In theater, especially film, mistakes are forever. This is more or less true in traditionally published writing as well, but it’s amendable. If an author makes a typo or gets off in their timeline or forgets where Dr. Watson’s war wound was in the last story, it’s set in stone for the already printed edition, but can, if the author so chooses, be corrected in later printings. Similarly, in stage theater a gaffed line is gaffed and there’s no un-gaffing it, but you can get it right in the next show.

An error in film is set in stone until someone decides to do a remake.

- In no institutionalized story telling medium is the audience comprised of one person. Unless someone is telling you a bedtime story, the story is not meant to cater solely to you. In fanfiction, which is amateur by definition, you can appeal to as niche a group as you like. In professional story telling, you need to appeal to as broad an audience as possible if you want to be successful. In theater, with it’s time constraints, this means every time spent on one plot line is time that can’t be spent on another plot line. In order to please the fans of character A, you have to take story time away from the fans of character B and vice versa. It’s a balancing act where you try to please everyone, and pleasing everyone is impossible. And everyone I’ve seen say “We really didn’t see enough of (x) in this show! We were robbed!” has a plot (y) that “served no purpose” that could have been sacrificed for their satisfaction, but guess what? Someone loved plot (y), wanted to see more of it, and thinks (x) could have been cut out to make that happen. The reason the creator gave us a little bit of both instead of a lot of one and nothing of the other is not because the don’t care about the fans of (x) or (y), but because they care equally about both of them.

They have to.

It’s their job.

[janiedean]

I feel that the sudden explosion of discourse is (partly) j*hn boyega's fault. Did he really needed to go on a rampage against sw fans? Really??? And not against the racism in the fandom (which would have been completely fair) but a /ship/???

… honestly, I kept my mouth shut about this until now bc I was out and I didn’t wanna get into discourse, but… as someone who does like the guy I’m incredibly disappointed in his behavior and in how people are reacting to it. like. first of all the entire drama could have been solved by him saying ‘I was joking but I understand why you think it’s crass sorry about it’ and leaving it there and instead he kept on… harping on fans specifically and not as a general declaration, then he went and diverted the attention going after the r/eylo crowd which whether he likes it or not has actually supported him and his attitude has opened the floodgates and like… it’s been three days, I’ve seen people wishing a minor who also brought KMT her fanbook to kill herself and tweet to her father that they hope he finds her corpse in the bathroom (???) and various other amenities and like… that’s not okay. period. he should say something already to at least distance himself from this bullshit and I’m very disappointed he’s not doing that, because whatever the fuck he was thinking, justifying going after any fans is wrong and opening the floodgates for the antis to do that because hey he did it so who cares let’s be even worse people is……. just…… yikes. very much yikes.

on top of that…. I can’t with people comparing what oscar said to what he did because oscar went off at disney during press releases and voiced his dissatisfaction with his arc and the story decisions (CONSIDERING THAT THEY MADE POE A FORMER SPACE DRUG RUNNER HE SHOULD DAMN WELL BE PISSED OFF) but he hasn’t once went off at the fans or dismissed part of the fanbase or attack specific people, while john basically… went off at single fans who were saying perfectly worded/polite criticism which means they’re put on target too, never mind again opening the floodgates re bullying a part of the fandom that has been bullied since 2015 guys let’s be fucking real, never mind that 90% of the criticism he got was from fanboys who couldn’t handle having a black lead, not from freaking rey/kylo shippers. and that’s another thing.

but the rest… I mean. people are cheering for that? going like ‘oh wow he’s such a king baby go ahead end them’?? guys that’s not being a king, he’s not even going after actual racist idiots, that’s being wildly unprofessional and making sure to piss people off. like. as much as people like it or not, re/ylo shippers paid money to see his movies and a lot of them actually like his character/support his work. the moment you sign on to sw who has one of the most toxic fandoms in existence - I mean not touching the luke vs han shit in the eighties, people basically bullied that poor kid who played anakin in episode one to the point that he quit acting and he ended up in a psychiatric facility and surely the fan reaction to that movie didn’t help not ruining his life completely and that’s not even the beginning - you know you’re in for being roasted by a bunch of assholes. and like… sorry but you sign on for that, you actually handle it pretty nicely for four years which I 100% commended him for and now he goes off on a part of fandom that wasn’t behind most of his harassing like this and I have to buy that hey bullying fans is fine? like I had to read ‘john started the year bullying assholes in this fandom how great I hope he keeps on doing it’? do we all realize what the fuck does this mean? like ffs people tore martin freeman to shreds for having been vocally angry about john/lock fans sending death threats to his wife and kids and he hadn’t exactly put the single people on spot nor made the names (and tbh he was 100% right, at that point you have all the rights to be crass) but now this behavior is okay because… it’s people shipping something you don’t like…?

sorry but a fucking fictional ship is no basis to bully anyone. idc what fucking fictional ship is it because the nature of r/eylo is not the point nor its canon status. and people cheering like this on someone for behaving unprofessionally af is… really… concerning me. because he basically went off on fans. singularly. who had… like…. done nothing specific to him because those people criticized his not exactly stellar joke on instagram, they didn’t go off on him out of nothing.

like. sorry but if you’re a public figure you should be able to handle this shit better than that. and the fact that he made… those… really bad taste comments about KMT deleting herself from social media (AND IT WAS BOTH FANBOYS AND ANTIS MAKING HER DO IT not r/eylos let’s get that straight) while KMT got the shaft in tros more than he did and got the shaft by disney as much as him if not worse is really not looking well. the fact that KMT has been dealing with this entire mess way more graciously and professionally than he’s doing also says a lot about what’s happening.

tldr: yes I agree and if he wanted to complain about racist assholes (which is 100% his right to) he had a thousand better and more professional ways to do it than this. he’s a public figure in one of the biggest franchises in existence known for its toxic fandom. this behavior is 100% not okay. and like he could have gone off on any faction in this fandom I’d stick with my opinion, it’s not just bc I like r/eylo. creators/actors should never advocate for this behavior ever and if they have issues with some fans they should just have the studio backing them up for suing which is a thing I 100% would endorse, but they shouldn’t… do this. like… sorry, but he fucked up. I like his acting, I like(d) him until three days ago, I love his character, but this was fucked up and he needs to own up to it because if we actually normalize this behavior from media creators and actors we’re fucked. like, 100% fucked. it’s nowhere near acceptable to insult like that people who don’t have your influence, who aren’t famous and who didn’t do shit to you except criticizing you for a thing that wasn’t exactly the most refined joke in existence.

(that said, if he hadn’t said it specifically re that character or if he said it with his friends messing around I wouldn’t gaf, but the way he did it was just… bad pr. very bad pr.)

ADDENDUM: as stated, i don’t agree with actors taking fans’ abuse on social media - they should absolutely feel free to block someone or press charges if it becomes bad and as stated the studio SHOULD back them up (I mean… if I had been the voltron actors/writers I’d have sued 80% of that fandom long before S5) but they shouldn’t downright go and do… this. it’s unprofessional. and if you’re a public figure you should like….. have some damned responsibility for your actions. he’s an actor in a multi-million dollars franchise, those people are no one or sure as hell they don’t have his influence or fame. it’s just nowhere near okay to do that and I’m dying on this hill. peace.

[debsdoesntknow]

MASTERPOST: how to organize old notes and readings (digital and paper)

hello, I did this post and some people were interested in a post on how to organize past notes, texts, and notebooks.

Some background on me so you guys can understand my system better and adapt: high school was very traumatic study-wise so I just got rid of everything regarding that time (threw in the recycling trash). I graduated in arts administration, so lots of readings and notes. I’m currently in grad school, so more readings and more notes.

In academia, we’re always circling around some authors who are kind like a canon for our field, so I had to keep my notes and texts for future reference so I can freshen up on the theory when I face it in another class.

notebooks

My notebooks are used to take notes at class, and even though I write every word my professors say and I’ve done something around six classes every term, I was able to keep it all in a notebook per term. They’re from a Moleskine inspired Brazilian brand that I love, 180 p. each, some lined and some blank.

When the semester is over, I take a piece of paper and clear tape and write the term and tape it on the side (our school year matches the actual year, so we name the term per semester, so the first term of 2019 is the first semester of 2019, which we call 2019.1, the second is 2019.2). I also have a notes notebook for every big research I’ve done (like the undergrad thesis) and I use the same system with them.

They’re very cute notebooks so I keep them in my bookcase like an exhibition, and they’re very useful because sometimes I have ideas and observations on my class notes that don’t make my final and neat notes.

I have used those unitary Muji notebooks at my abroad semester but they’re so slim and tiny that I just keep them in the designated folder of the class, along with the readings and notes.

readings and notes

So, we barely use books for my classes, all readings are either Xerox or pdf of books (no one here gaf to copyright when it comes to learning). I kinda like this way better because it is easier to highlight and take notes, also I don’t have to buy 8 different books if I’m only using a chapter or two of each. 

So, my notes outside from class are usually taken on loose pages, cause this way it’s easier to take them to an exam or find what I need, instead of looking for it in the middle of a notebook. 

When my semester starts I take a folder for each class and keep all my readings and notes on that folder. I don’t take the entire folder with me to class, just the readings, and notes for the day. 

the folders

So, I use a file organizing box. I think you can find them online and in stores by the names of “archive box”, “suspension files box”, “file box”. Mine are made of plastic but there are also ones made of cardboard, the only important thing is that you’re able to keep all your folders in one place so it’s easier. 

All my folders are named on these little tabs, I write the name/code of class and date of term and they go in the box, which are currently two for undergrad and one for grad school. The max capacity of folders per box depends on how large is each folder (one of mine fits 20 and the other only 14). 

This system allows me to find all readings and notes regarding one class in less than a minute, and store them in a way that doesn’t take much space. Considering I have folders on over 30 classes, two boxes of 14cmx39cm is a great deal.

books

My academics book sit in my bookcase, alongside some fiction ones that I plan on reading. I’ve grown from an overstuffed bookcase and have very few books, so I’ve decided to display them in a rainbow organization just bc aesthetics. 

When I’m writing something that needs certain books, I take them from the “rainbow” and let them sit in another shelf, this way they’re easier to take and I don’t take a risk at forgetting one of them when it comes to citing sources.

digital notes, readings, and papers

One word when it comes to organizing digital: folders. At least the digital ones are free and easier to handle! I have a folder for each university I went, folders for each term and for each class. My organization goes like this NAME OF UNIVERSITY > DATE OF TERM > NAME OF CLASS.

Then, I do my best to name each file in a way I can know what is about without having to open it (trust me, it’s way easier than clicking in five different “asdijaji” files before finding the one). My texts are named “AUTHOR. Title of Text” and my exams/papers are like “Evaluation 1 - Response on AUTHOR”, “Final Exam - PAPER THEME”.

Also another word for digital storage: CLOUD. Please do a backup on everything. Dropbox and Google Drive have desktop versions which synchronize automatically with the websites, so you save yourself the work, and if your computer dies on you, you already have everything important saved. Idk if it’s like this for everyone, but Google Drive lets some students have infinite storage if they sign in with a university email. I don’t have anything regarding my first term in undergrad because I didn’t use the cloud back then, and when my computer broke I didn’t have a way to get the files back.

list of all texts (paper and digital)

This one I haven’t done yet, it’s more like an idea I have yet to put in practice. So, I must have something in the hundreds when it comes to readings, both in xerox and pdf, my organization dream is to have a list with all the texts, and if I have them in paper or digital, and where they are. I though on doing it on excel because columns make it easier. So it would be something like

NAME OF AUTHOR / TITLE OF TEXT / PAPER (Y/N) / DIGITAL (Y/N) / NAME OF FOLDER WHERE THEY ARE

Unfortunately, I haven’t had the time yet, cause I went straight from undergrad to grad, but I really think this makes it easier. This way, if someone tells me, let’s say Bordieu, it’s a good source for what I’m writing on, I can go to this list, see everything I have on Bordieu (and if it’s there I’ve probably studied in some class already) and can go looking for it in my notes, past exams, etc.

I really hope this explanation on how I keep everything can help you guys! I did my best to explain it but if you have some doubt or want ideas on how to adapt or on completely new ways to store and organize something, send me an ask! I’d love to help you! Have a nice day x

[janiedean]

I was just wondering what do you think about posts that excuse Cersei's behaviour because she's mentally ill, or that if you critique its because your ableist and hate mentally ill people? Or some variation/combination of the two? Like it just bugs me in general when people automatically excuse and even justify horrible, violent and abusive behaviour just because someone's mentally ill, particularly as someone whose been on the receiving end of that behaviour from mentally ill people.

... I think I’ve made my opinion clear, but very briefly and hoping that I don’t unleash the kraken:

c.’s issues could have been solved if someone had sent her to a child psychologist before the age of then in modern au. period. because someone who grows up not having a shred of regret over having thrown a supposed friend in a well when they were twelve over a menial thing either should have had a completely different upbringing or should have gotten therapy. which doesn’t exist in westeros, but anyway, when discussing c’s issues that’s the crux of the matter;

c’s issues also hurt other people and I’m not talking about j., I’m talking about everyone around her or mostly, and the point is that the moment someone’s issues also mean hurting others... your freedom ends where others’s starts. assuming that her MH issues mean that she’s justified in behaving the way she does means that having MH issues is a free out of jail card for hurting others, which... it’s not;

spoilers: all three lannister siblings have mental health issues. same as like, 90% of the characters in these books. I’m 99% sure that the only two POV characters who doesn’t have issues that would require immediate therapy are davos (and he’s lost four kids, he has his problems) and asha, probably, and asha is just... very functional but it’s a miracle she came out like that considering her background. everyone else has issues over issues to different degrees, so... at this point disliking anyone in these books with this reasoning would mean hating mentally illy people while at the same time 85% of the characters you like most likely also have mental health issues and I’m talking just that, because I mean... if someone likes bran and not doran or viceversa I’m not going to assume that they’re ableist since both characters are disabled and both can’t walk, but most likely it’s just a personality preference, so saying that if you don’t like c. it’s because you hate mentally ill people or are ableist to me is ridiculous because like... I don’t like c. and my top five has three pov characters who have obviously mental health issues up the wazoo and one who most likely had plenty (and two out of those five also have become physically disabled as well during the series), I have gone to therapy for a damned long time myself and I hate mentally ill people now just because I don’t like a character who has MH issues? sorry but that’s like... ridiculous. you’re allowed to not like some characters because their personality is not your thing regardless of the issues they have;

also: again, c.’s issues hurt other people. those other people have no obligation to stick by if they feel like it’s detrimental to their health, same as no one has an obligation to stick by someone who is detrimental to their MH or well-being and also has no intention of changing/is aware of that. like, I can get behind wanting to support someone you love whose behavior hurts you who has realized it and is getting help/is actively trying to get better, but if that person doesn’t care or isn’t aware then no one has an obligation to stick by if it hurts them, so assuming that people who don’t like c. or whoever else or that characters in the books should stick by c. because of her issues if it hurts them is imvho not a thing people should even bring up because it implies that people have an obligation to excuse actions that are hurtful when the person who commits them has no interest in getting better, so... nah;

also there’s critique and critique and disliking a disabled character doesn’t automatically make you ableist same as disliking a woman doesn’t make you a misogynist, but like, going outside cersei: people can dislike tyrion just because they don’t gaf about him or because they don’t like the character or because they don’t find his personality that charming, but the moment the criticism turns into calling him a monster or joking about his height or basically sounding like tywin when he talks about tyrion then it’s definitely ableism and to be quite honest when it comes to tumblr there’s a lot more ableist critique thrown at tyrion than at cersei, because the ten of us who dislike her openly do it because she’s terrible while recognizing that she has issues which explain why she’s like that but don’t justify what she does at pretty much almost any point ever, the army of people who meta about tyrion as if he’s these books’s ultimate villain when 90% it’s because he could be in the way of their ship or say that he has male privilege over c. who therefore couldn’t have abused him (YES I had to read that with mine own eyes) and the likes most likely should check their priorities because that’s not hating him bc he’s a character you don’t like, that reeks of ableism 101 and of having skimmed his chapters (also tyrion has MH issues up the wazoo too but I don’t see people on here mentioning it). same way, one thing is disliking cat because she’s not your type of character, another is the fact that this entire fandom seems to have decided that blaming catelyn for every horrid thing that happened in these books that would not have happened had she just stayed home with the kids which imvho shows exactly the level of not-so-hidden misogyny rampant around here/directed at her specifically. but I don’t think that everyone who hates cat is misogynist or does it because of misogyny, I just think that a lot of fandom bias against her is... very misogynistic;

to sum up the above thing, considering that c. is also straight up written as a negative character and grrm has said time and time again that it’s her point in the narrative, assuming that someone would dislike her just because she’s MH is pretty much fried air as we say here because given what she’s pulled up until now, I think that she has enough of a CV that people have more than enough reasons to dislike her without bringing her mental health into account. because her issues might explain why she’s like that, but they don’t justify for shit anything she does, and if that’s valid for knowing why theon was the way he was in wf but doesn’t justify him killing the miller’s kids, knowing why jaime pushed bran but doesn’t justify it, knowing why sandor doesn’t disobey ethically horrid orders but doesn’t mean he hasn’t done pretty fucked up shit etc., then it’s also valid for c. and I really would like for characters to be judged evenly, thanks.

also: everyone has their limits when it comes to understanding/explaining where a person committing wrong actions comes from. if people can relate to c. and/or see themselves in her issues and have compassion for her, that’s their prerogative and I won’t go bitch at them for it same as I appreciate if people don’t bitch at me for having compassion for theon or sandor or jaime or whoever else. but at the same time assuming that everyone has your standards is ridiculous. for me c. was irredeemable after she basically went and laughed about the red wedding/thought she was so much better than cat because cat went insane after seeing robb die because to me people finding the red wedding funny or hilarious or well-deserved is the ultimate thing that will make me stop caring about them. if for someone jaime having pushed bran out of the window is irredeemable as long as they don’t come to me complaining about why I don’t think it is, it’s their prerogative.

but assuming that all of us need to find c. redeemable or understandable or relatable because people who like her do is ridiculous because you can’t expect anyone to relate to your favorites just because you do, and calling out the social justice card is ridiculous because fictional preferences are what they are and you can’t force yourself to like someone you despise just because they belong to X category - I wouldn’t tell people they have to like jaime because he has ptsd nor I’d expect them to be automatically ableist if they don’t gaf about jaime either way and don’t make jokes about him losing his guts with his hand or about how he’s the stupidest lannister, I’d expect people wouldn’t tell me I have to like c. because she has MH issues or whatnot. because there’s plenty of reasons to dislike c. and none of them have to do with her MH and most of her have to do with her abusive behavior.

also, last thing: the one time I actually met someone who was a self-proclaimed ‘I empathize with cersei on a personal level’ person, after three days in which they were an asshole to everyone in the group we were, the moment I called her out on it after she had been even more of an asshole when someone else tried to discuss it reasonably, I got backhanded in the face twice for it. now, I handled it and tbqh I didn’t mind it half as much as I could have because I didn’t gaf about this person and barely knew them. I also know that this person had issues (and later went to therapy so good for them), but as much as I could sympathize with her issues, forgive me if I don’t really think I want to see again someone who barely knew me and saw fit to hit me in the face twice. now, am I ableist for that? I really don’t think so. it’s the exact same principle. someone else might have had another reaction to it, but I’m not obliged to give them a second chance since they hurt me first and no one would say I’m ableist for it. it’s the exact same argument just brought to fictional level. one thing is disliking a character because of their issues only (ie theon and the castration jokes), another is disliking them because you think they’re boring and/or they’re not your kind of character.

and people need to realize that their favorite character can’t be everyone’s favorite character statistically. like. none of our faves are automatically everyone’s faves and that’s fine because that’s how the world works. *shrug*

[janiedean]

After joining tumblr, my dream of becoming a published writer is forever broken and ruined. It may be drastic but I cannot imagine a future in which I'm a happy writer, knowing that what a large amount of people think is that you can't write about a gay character if you're not gay yourself, you cannot have a poc character if you're not poc yourself etc. It's frustrating and sad. That's what tumblr taught, along with simultaneously complaining all the day about the lack of rep

anon, let me tell you something first and foremost: tumblr is not a good audience when it comes to original fiction and if that’s what you want to do, delete tumblr from your perspectives.

now, I’ll go and say a lot of unpopular things before addressing your concerns, but here we go:

people on tumblr don’t read. or better: either they read fanfic which then they decide to consider the same thing as published writing, and like... while there’s a lot of fic that’s better than some published writing technically, the fact that they say it about classics or stuff they’re supposed to study in school shows that they have no idea of the basic difference in between the two media... or they read YA that gets hailed as the Next Best Thing In Literature when at most it’s a good YA and at worst it’s mediocre stuff that looks revolutionary because they haven’t read the fifteen other things that YA has taken inspiration from. at most they read harry potter when they were kids and never moved on from it, as showed by the fact that it’s 2019 and I still have to see people arguing about sn/ape being BAD OR GOOD when he’s the standard gray archetype, and if you can only think of sn/ape when you think about a gray character and you still haven’t made sense of his moralities or lack thereof, then you haven’t read anything else; (never mind that once I read writing advice like SORT YOUR CHARACTERS INTO HOGWARTS HOUSES LIKE FFS SOME OF US HAVEN’T READ HP THAT’S NOT A UNIVERSAL ADVICE FOR CREATING A CHARACTER’S BACKGROUND)

as people on tumblr don’t read, their understanding of how you write or anything else related to the craft is pretty much useless - like, the only thing each single writing manual agrees on is that if you want to be a writer you have to read a lot, because how are you going to deconstruct tropes (to say one) if you don’t know how those tropes work? or how are you going to play into them if you don’t know how they work regardless? I can’t write a tolkien deconstruction if I haven’t read all of tolkien’s writings back to back ten times at least, I can’t write a good novel about vietnam veterans in the early eighties if I don’t read all the history books on the topic I can find and at least ten tomes about how war-related ptsd in veterans works and possibly a lot of books written by vets themselves. I can’t write a stephen king deconstruction if I haven’t read stephen king back to back ten times either. which shows they think original novels are like fanfic - like, I personally have researched the shit out of things for fanfic, but I wouldn’t ask anyone to do it for a thing they do for free. like, if I see badly researched italian reinassance AU fic I won’t gaf if the author just wrote it based on the anglosaxon tv shows about the borgias around because I can’t expect them to read ten books about the topic to write a thing they don’t get paid for and that just people in fandom most likely will touch, but if it’s a published author that gets paid for it I’ll expect that at least they’ll do some research if they want to write stuff somewhat realistically. people on tumblr think that writing a novel requires the same effort as fanfic, as in, not much when it comes to background work, which is ridiculous, because that’s the difference - with fanfic, unless I write a detailed AU or smth, the author already did that work for me. I just have to expand on it and trying to understand the characters. like, it’s nowhere near the same thing;

which means that people have gone with this concept that ‘you can’t write X if you’re not X’, which is honestly ridiculous and counter-productive because it shoots down any chance that you, as an author, might actually understand what people who aren’t from your background feel like. also, I personally think that if you want to do that and you want to be good at it you need to a) find a way to relate to your characters that goes beyond your differences, b) talk to people from the category you don’t belong to. now, if I had to write a 50k short romance novel about two guys falling for each other at a record shop without too much drama happening, I’d probably just write it myself, some people who are actually guys into guys, ask them to read it, tell me if I fucked it up, get them to explain me how I fucked it up and run it by them until I’m done, but admittedly I don’t need research to find out how people run a record shop. if I had to write a story set in europe but idk there’s a zombie plague and one of the protagonists is a black american tourist I’d go ask someone who is black and american and possibly from the area I decided that person is from to give me background info on how I could write this person etc. and then run it by them after I’m done. if another of the protagonists is idk polish (because there’s not many polish people in mainstream european fiction outside of polish authors), I’d find a polish person to do the same thing and run it by them etc., because I’m not a black american nor a polish person but I still want to write those characters etc. but I mean, let’s say it’s the zombie apocalypse - can I make sure people connect with both of them because they’re surrounded by zombies and as all human beings in existence they don’t want to die? most likely I can. meanwhile I’ll have learned a lot of things about both categories because I talked to people belonging to them;

or, let’s say I want to write some story with a large cast where I decide that for the purposes of it straight character falls for a trans character and it ends well because fuck that I want people to be happy. I’m not trans, but I do know people who are. I’ll definitely talk to them running stuff and ask if thing X is offensive or not etc. because of course I’m not so I can’t know for sure, maybe I’ll stick with the straight POV or maybe not but I’ll definitely run it by them to make sure the thing is actually well-planned/not in poor taste, and meanwhile I’ll have learned a lot about the topic that I might not have known before, which is good because it means I know more about experiences I don’t have which is, guess what, how the entire point of writing stories is. you want people to empathize and feel for characters that might be not the same as them, that’s exactly your damned job, but if you don’t do it yourself first how do you assume others will?

all these people who think you can’t write a gay character if you’re not gay are the same people who think that if you’re a straight woman you can’t write about two men being in love/fucking but you should be able to do it about f/f pairings because since you’re a woman then you have to guess how that works out of that, which shows that they have no idea of how anything works - like I argued with half of tumblr on this topic so whatever, but as a straight woman I think I have more aesthetic tastes in common with a gay man since we both want to fuck men and we both are familiar with handling that equipment, so I’d find it easier to write about that rather than about the contrary as I don’t generally find women attractive in that sense except for like two very specific people who are not a very common aesthetic in general. but like, assuming that in virtue of being a woman then you have to know how it feels to be attracted to women while you can’t possibly do 2+2 about how gay men are into each other when technically you’re into men yourself shows exactly how these people have No Idea Whatsoever of how attraction works, never mind how empathizing with someone else works, never mind of how writing things with research behind it goes;

also, assuming that if you’re X then you can’t understand Y is extremely damaging because it means you can never understand other people’s struggles and that’s......... worrying? I mean, it’s an incredibly dangerous (and calvinist) position to say that if someone is X and so doesn’t know how it feels to have a specific kind of issue then they can’t get it not even intellectually. idk, I’m straight so I can’t possibly understand or relate to why would lgbt+ people want to marry and adopt kids/have their children recognized/have the same rights as I do? are we serious? so if idk I wanted to try and change some bigot’s mind about it when I see that they’re just parroting bullshit and they haven’t thought about it I shouldn’t even try because they’re a bigot and they’ll never understand or change their mind? so people who used to be bigots, then found out their kids or their kids’s friends were lgbt+, listened to them, realized they were bigots and are now allies/supporters couldn’t have done that because at some point they used to be bigots? how the hell do you want people to change or to be an activist or change the world if you don’t believe that people can change themselves or worse that you don’t believe that people coming from any background can’t understand people coming from another background? that’s not how it works. I mean guys ffs I read a bunch of nonfiction lately about endemic poverty in the center of the US out of personal interest and I’m as far from the US and any of those situations as it goes (I’m not a veteran, I never was not taught to read and write even if I finished high school, I never lost 90% of what I had after getting sick, I never needed to hop on a train illegally to go places, I never had to sell my own plasma to buy lunch, I never needed to live in a tent when I was going to middle school after my parents had to move to a totally different state and I never had to go live in a trailer after my house was sold by a bank before I couldn’t pay off my loan, I don’t have a five year old child that won’t be insured because she was born with a pre-existing medical condition), and like... I cried while reading some of them? because I could envision it and I felt like the system failed them and I hate reading about people being failed by a system that should support them, and I swear I’m not a US person who comes from that background whatsoever. I could probably write you a full novel about how immigrants in Italy have it like shit whether they’re legal or not because I worked in the field for two years and one of my oldest friends has immigrant parents and she was born here and she can’t use her ID to travel in europe only because she still doesn’t have a citizenship and she’s been waiting for years to get it. I’m not an immigrant in italy but I’ve known enough, seen enough and heard enough from them that I could most likely do it and it wouldn’t be badly researched. like, you can’t tell people to not tell stories if they want to do it with respect and not wanting to make it about themselves only. that’s bad writing. but if you care about the people you’re giving rep to then you should try imvho;

now: I suppose that you’re belonging to categories that are Not Minorities given how the ask is worded. (same as me more or less unless you consider atheists a minority but nvm that.) there’s a lot of writers around that are Not Minorities and most get published more than people who are actually minorities. people saying that you can’t write X if you’re not X and X = minority are pretty much telling you that you shouldn’t use your spotlight to give people rep when you could and you could do it reasonably well if you do your research and talk to those minorities. so they’re basically going against everyone’s interests because you could learn things and become a better person and make sure your readers empathize with your characters and more rep is always good esp. if well-done. I personally think that people should write about what they want - there’s topics I wouldn’t feel comfortable touching because idk if I could do that well and things I really wouldn’t want to write about so I most likely never will -, but that they should also go for what they want if it’s what they believe they can do. so if you feel like you want to write gay characters or whatever go for it and then find yourself a sensitivity reader or ten before you send your book around instead of worrying about what kids on tumblr who are still arguing about snape’s morality and think that writing the divine comedy is the same as self-insert fanfic think, because they will never create shit for anyone, you might. and you’ll have automatically done more than people who complain about everything but wouldn’t produce one single piece of fiction themselves and wouldn’t most likely waste ten minutes of their life researching the fiction they want to write.

tldr: if you want to write professionally, influence people and give the world good stories, don’t give a fuck about what tumblr says because it’s people who most likely will never read your books anyway unless you want to write the next YA saga that has the same six archetypes of characters in which then the only slightly problematic white cishet dude will be without further ado compared to sn/ape and everyone is going to get sorted into hogwarts houses and people will fight about that rather than giving a damn about whatever message you wanted to pass. don’t give a damn about tumblr and do your thing anon, no one deserves to have any perspective ruined because of this hellsite’s opinions on anything. ;)