#my creative non fiction prof:

[orangerainforest]

x

[writingwithfolklore]

When to Reject Feedback

              Last post I talked about taking suggestions from editors, so today I'm talking about when not to take their (or other readers') suggestions. While your readers may have a lot of experience and wisdom, ultimately you know your story best and you know what you want it to be.

This is also the first step, know your work, know exactly what you want it to be before you reach out for feedback. This way, you know what suggestions are helpful, and which are leading your story to a place you don't like.

                I’ll start with a story. I wrote a short creative non-fiction in one of my creative writing classes about grappling with my family dynamic before and after my Grandma (and our matriarch) was hospitalized. I intentionally left parts of it vague—how was I supposed to distill all my thoughts and feelings and the history of my family in a simple enough way for others outside of my family to understand, when I was in my family and hardly understood it? I thought the vagueness gave room for a conflict of love and rejection. Alienation and belonging. I didn’t want to force the reader to feel anything concrete or specific about my grandma, I hardly knew how I felt about her.

                I took this piece to my prof, and she advised me that it would benefit from more specific details. Some things she suggested adding were histories I wasn’t privy to—either I hadn’t been born yet, or I hinted to knowing but only really from context; I wasn’t in the room.

                I took her advice and rewrote it with these more specific details. I had to make up some stuff, which I didn’t really like, but she loved it.

                Next semester, I took the same (edited) piece to a different creative writing prof in a different class. She read it, told me she liked it, but that it could benefit from a bit more room for interpretation—from some vagueness.

                I laughed and told her that I agreed, and pulled up my original draft. She was in far favour of the original.

                TL;DR, this is all to say that I don’t believe in taking all advice as gospel. Some people will absolutely love the way you’ve written it, others will think it needs changing. These two profs were both incredibly experienced, published authors who had won awards, gone through masters degrees, etc. etc. They were both very credible people to go to for advice.

                But they had slightly different sensibilities when it came to writing, and while I didn’t agree with everything my second prof said, I did err more towards her way of writing than the first. Emphasis on the ‘not agreeing on everything’, that little part of me that disagreed is my unique writing sensibility.

                So seriously, reach out to people for feedback and advice, but that by no stretch means you have to take all of it. If there’s a part of your writing that you really love, that you did intentionally, and that you feel is integral to your work you’re allowed to keep it. There will be readers who like it as it is.

[fortunesfavours]

time travel in ten - sequential narrative collage piece done for my class, Artifact.

ramblings below the cut for those interested in the process/life update for friends who have noticed i've been gone

right lmao. i had two weeks to do this project and had a completely different idea that i just could not get myself to be excited about. emailed my prof in desperation, but it being like 10 pm meant that she was not about to respond. within 30 minutes, as it goes, i got struck with divine inspiration by whatever force of nature governs procrastination-induced genius, and i promptly spent the next 12 waking hours non-stop working on this.

my class, artifact, is a requirement for the foundation year at the college i attend. it centers around time-based media, ranging from the sequential illustration here to video later in the semester, and a bunch of other projects designed to get us thinking in 4d. artifact is the theme of the class - my peers are doing the same projects under a variety of different themes (tragically, haunting filled up too quickly and i missed out on enrollment in that one).

our first project was designing an artifact and doing a write-up of the story behind it. the girl to my left made beaded spiders members of a fictional cult carried. the guy across from me made an amulet of a long-dead god. you get the vibes. mine, which I still need to take professional photos of, is a pocketwatch that lets you time travel. cause, yknow. i'm me. it was gonna be about time travel.

i had originally intended to do a bunch of drawings of the watch's owner, building out her backstory and the world she lives in, and explaining why the watch exists,,,, then i couldn't bring myself to pick up the stylus. I just can't seem to find the energy for my usual digital art (sorry friends i miss yall i'm still here i swear).

here's the bit about my life so feel free to stop reading if you just care about the art 👍

I haven't drawn fanart or my ocs in months now, since last semester, and I miss it a whole bunch but right now that creative energy just. is not happening. i don't plan on abandoning it forever by any means, but p much everything i have is going towards school right now. sad as that is, i'm having so much fun, and i'm so proud of the technical improvements i've made. I've got so many things i want to create, mostly for my ocs. i still love crit role, but i've fallen of campaign three. i don't have the time, and the story hasn't been engaging me for a bit.

i've been really into dr who lately, and am eagerly waiting for the spare time to sit and watch all of candela obscura. i'm in a new dnd game. i've got friends! real life friends! irl friends who called me the wizard friend within a few hours of knowing me before i even opened my mouth about dnd lmao. i've discovered a new love of collage, and i've just declared my major in something unique to my school, a program called Studio for Interrelated Media. i'll be learning about illustration still through the extra electives i'll have room for, but i also get to explore printmaking in more depth, as well as event planning, installation, curation, and theatre work as well.

i miss being on here a whole bunch and want to be more active when i get more time. don't plan on abandoning this blog by any means. boston has been kind to me, and though i have had some Real Low Points, i've also been living the life i've hoped for since i was a kid. i'm good, really really good.

to my friends, ily, i miss you, and i hope you're well. can't wait to catch up on all yalls art and fic. sending all my love. <3

[hobidreams]

hiya miss rain!!!!! it’s been a hot minute, i missed you🥹 i just applied for my first ever job!!! i had the interview two days ago and it went really well; the interviewer was really kind to me because i was the youngest in the group of applicants. i think it’s also because i was the only undergraduate there, but i’m not complaining lol. (also i got in!! my orientation is tomorrow, so i’m really anxious about it but at the same time i feel like i’m ready to take the next step y’know?) soon i’ll be working from home as an english tutor🫶

i don’t think i’ve ever mentioned that i’m actually a creative writing major!! so yeah, i am now a workshop veteran🤣 my cnf prof had us workshop every essay we made, so i really bonded with my group. nothing brings people together like opening up abt trauma, that’s for sure💀 it’s def my fave genre so far though, since i’ve already taken realist and non-realist fiction hehe. i’ve heard of the crane wife, but i haven’t read it yet! i’ll give it a shot one of these days, since it’s already vacation for me🫶 def not taking summer classes this time around, lord knows i am Drained💀💀

i’m so glad to hear you did well though!! you’re a Certified Girlboss, and i love to see you thrive🫡 how is law school? any fun anecdotes?👀 are you on vacation as well? if so, i hope you’re resting lots!! you deserve it hehe🫶 that’s all from me hehe i hope ur well!!

-🌿

babie!!!! huge congrats on the new job. how has it been going so far? <3 <3 <3 i hope its everything you dreamed of 💗

how many years do you have left?? omg i can't believe its been so long,,, i feel like you just told me you were in first year LOL 😭 time is passing by so fast and im on such a rollercoaster. but i hope youre enjoying your major <3 i miss my crwr classes so fucking much omg.... yes LMFAO cnf was rly "ive never met you but here is my deepest scar i guess" such a wild time

not many fun anecdotes from law school unfortunately but the trauma bonding is real...... oh i do have a really handsome professor that's my supervisor for a thesis-like project this term. every time we have a meeting im like 😍😍😍 LOL. hes so kind and smart and im rly lucky to be working w him!!!! i cannot wait for this entire term to be over though ugh.

i hope youve been well 🥺🥺 im rly sorry i havent been replying or on here as much as i'd like. im trying to plan so many things that my brain is just jumbled aljdsfkj

[liesonthefloordramatically]

A wild 2022 recap post appears!

Stuff I made this year:

Fiction: The only fic I wrote this year was the surprisingly underrated put a blue ribbon on my brain.  Not sure why more folks weren’t into it other than all the obvious reasons www.

Playlists: Apparently the only two playlists I remembered to share this year were Camp Fireside Lagoon (a soundtrack for our Sleepaway game) and ExU: Calamity (what is says on the tin).  I wish I could say that I have a bunch of secret playlists that I didn’t share but I mostly don’t.  Creativity really flagged this year, partially because of exhaustion.

RPGs: Wrote two Sleepaway supplements: The Emissary and The Phoenix.  Got to see The Emissary played live, which was cool!

Knitting: Finished baby’s first sweater and knit two shawls and three hats???  Maybe someday I will remember to upload pictures of stuff I knit.

Other stuff: Look, I was complaining about how little I wrote this year and then I remembered that I also finished my dissertation which was like 115k, so.  Yeah.  That was a thing.  Also defended my dissertation, so I’m now Dr. Queenie!  Went to Europe for the first time???  Moved across the country!  Started a new job, so now I’m Prof. Queenie!  Got diagnosed with new, exciting medical conditions!  Somehow made it through year three of the pandemic!  Have been mildly depressed since July and exhausted basically non-stop since September which might explain why my creative output has been miserable. 

Media I enjoyed this year:

Books: I read...A LOT this year (like 40 books, which is not a lot for me pre-grad school but is a lot post-quals).  Have really been taking advantage of the library’s ebook lending program.  Some favorites: The Murderbot Diaries (genuinely shocked it took me so long to read this because it’s painfully up my alley), The Stormlight Archive (absolutely understand how it took me so long to read this; you could kill a man with the length of these books), Dead Collections (meditations on memory and archives and gender, heck yeah), Several People Are Typing (the howling!!! the howling!!!), Spear (this book was written for Queenie age roughly eight), The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (highly recommend reading this one without knowing anything about it; it’s a delight, especially if you know anything about Hollywood history).

TTRPG: Winner for new TTRPG I played this year was The Price of Coal!  Also finished a campaign of Sleepaway and am currently running an extremely fun campaign of Blades in the Dark, but those are both in the Ol’ Faithful pile of TTRPGs. 

Video games: Top game was Disco Elysium!  Honorable mentions to Scarlet Nexus (deeply underrated--the monster design and soundtrack are both out of control and the characters are SO fun) and Fire Emblem: Three Houses.  Baffling honorable mention to Stranger of Paradise, which I honestly expected to hate and then wound up weirdly emotional about?

Manga/comics: Finally finished reading The Wicked + The Divine which was extremely good and made me feel emotions.  My inability to read things in hardcopy for fun is really cramping my style, though.

Fanfic: I actually didn’t read a whole lot this year--partially because I read a lot more published novels, which means that I have had a bunch of fics languishing on my Kindle for uhhhhh months.  Some fics I liked this year include (in no particular order) a man by any other face (CR C2--this might be my favorite fic I read this year), path of the traveled sun (CR C2), displacement (CR C2), Familiar (CR C2), you’ve haunted me all my life (Tales of Berseria), at the violet hour (CR C2), From the Mixed-Up Files of The J. Lavorre Catalogue Raisonné (CR C2), a sort of beacon where there used to be a dull roar (CR C2), separating salt from water (Our Flag Means Death), dreamers to come (ExU: Calamity), Man of Nothing (JJBA: JJL), and after the scripture (your mother beside me) (CR C2).  Special category for this year is “AU concepts that verge on crack but 100% work”: More Things in Heaven and Earth (CR C2) and the fire kept closest (burns most of all) (CR C2). Extra special nod to and from our own/live to ourselves (MDZS), a fanfic with a plot and setting so simultaneously unique, unhinged, and well-executed that it seized me by the throat for like a month.

Films: Everything Everywhere All At Once!  Which I watched...3 1/2 times this year.  Honorable mentions to Cyrano and Encanto.  Wow, I watched a film this year???  Shocking.

TV: Our Flag Means Death and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean.  Although we’re not done with the latter yet because we’ve been watching an episode a week (we are like...16 episodes from the end, I think? It’s been slow going).  I really need to figure out how to get myself to watch things on my own because there are things I want to watch.

Podcasts:  Continuing to listen to a lot, especially since I have an hour commute each way, plus I live alone so...need to hear human voices sometimes.  Top picks: Trice Forgotten, Second Star to the Left, The Silt Verses, and Exandria Unlimited: Calamity.  “Isn’t that just Critical Role?” Arguably, yes, but specifically naming that mini-campaign because it destroyed me (straight up made me cry on a plane in Sweden).  Honorable mentions to Enthusigasm, Keep It Steady, Within the Wires, Keeping It 101: A Killjoy’s Introduction to Religion, and The Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity, and Mortality.  I think Within the Wires has made it onto my podcasts list almost every year that I’ve done this which is really a testament to how consistently good it has been across 7 (!!!!) years.  If this seems like a lot of podcasts, please know that this is only a fraction of what I listened to this year--to give you a sense, I tore through the entirety of Meiji at 150 (which is 150 episodes) in like...the first three weeks of term...while listening to all my other podcasts...

Music: Another weird year--Spotify refuses to give me Wrapped because I won’t download their wretched app, but apparently “Pepper” by Death Cab for Cutie was my top track for this year?  What happened here?  All I can really think is that I probably put it on loop for the 2-3 weeks of midterm grading when I was in a fugue state.  My other top tracks--literally my top 11--are similarly songs I listened to on loop while in a fugue state.  What does that say about my taste in music this year?  Unclear!  What does that say about my mental health?  Nothing good!  Anyway, you should listen to “We Have It All” which was #6 on my top tracks but does genuinely slap.  Also did a bunch of grading while listening to Foley Artist which was A Choice (it’s a great album, but there are sections that are stressful to grade to).

Anyway, あけおめ！！！ 良いお年をお迎えください (this is a threat)！！！

[sunset-a-story]

hi hi, happy STS!! what advice do you wish you were given as a beginner writer? was there any that has stuck with you until now?

Thank you so much for the ask! As far as advice I wish I was given--

Write for yourself.

When I was in undergrad for creative writing, they all but beat that out of us. We were supposed to write for lit journals, for publishers, for grad school admissions. And it was soul-crushing to the point that I gave up fiction halfway through college and switched to non-fiction. I kept what little fiction I wrote to myself. Fiction is my passion and I wasn't about to shred the life out of it just to shove it into their pre-made molds. I stopped writing for years after I graduated.

Write what brings you to life, even if it never goes anywhere. It's still a beautiful thing. Advice that has stuck with me that I am grateful for comes from my non-fiction nature writing prof:

Write the shitty first draft. Write shit. Write word vomit. Commit to writing badly. Be okay with that. You can fix it later.

This is some of the best advice I've ever internalized. When I feel like I can't write this scene well, I write it badly. Highly recommend.

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

hi rachel!! i’m trying to figure out my schedule for next semester as a creative writing student and i was wondering what CW: fiction and CW: poetry classes are like? would it be a bad idea to take a fiction and a poetry class during the same semester? thank you xx

hello!! :)) for a second I thought your CW meant content warning and not creative writing and I'm now having a needed laugh because RELATABLE so thank you! happy to answer this!

I did fiction & poetry simultaneously my whole degree and I think it's relatively manageable (sort of...). So how my program worked is that in second year, we did a part A class that was an intro to workshopping, so I took that separately for fiction & poetry. Those classes were pretty rudimentary, just typical intro stuff with a small workshop element, and we wrote 3 poems I think. Fiction I wrote 2 stories for. Workshop for fiction was three other people and workshop for poetry was about 10 I think. We weren't critiquing much every week, though, as most of the class was lectured based.

In the second term, we actually had a workshop where for fiction I again wrote 2 stories, and poetry I wrote 4 poems. Workshops were bigger here, so it was about 3-4 critiques for fiction a week and I believe 8 every week for poetry. Fiction critiques killed me in second year, tbh, they'd take me the full weekend of non-stop work, but that's because I didn't understand boundaries lol. So don't do what I did & it shouldn't be as bad! Poetry also would take me hours but not as long, but again, I didn't really know how to critique.

Third year was........ oof. Two workshops a term (so 1 fiction 1 poetry in first sem, then the same thing in second sem). I had to write 2 stories and wrote 5 poems I think in first term and 6 for second term I believe. Four stories a week to critique and had to critique ten poems a week (on top of writing a poem every other week). Getting ahead on the critiques early was SUPER important. Again, I didn't have great boundary skills (which I can give tips for too if anyone's curious, since writing programs can be so self-directed). This was the absolute hardest year.

Fourth year isn't as bad because it's only 1 fiction workshop and 1 poetry workshop (both happen in the same term, but my fiction workshop is half the size than it was in third year--used to be 15). Only had to write 2 fiction stories again (I actually did 3 to hit the word count, but only actually drafted 2, 1 was an old story), but poetry was a bit killer this sem (wrote a poem every week and had to critique 10 poems/week lol, so I wrote 8 poems).

Okay so I know this doesn't look manageable at all, lol, so maybe I should revise my prior statement. Really, if your workshop doesn't do THIS much a term, you'll be okay. Also, I had a very different way of working during my degree because I had a scholarship to keep (so that could adjust things too). It's also very possible to do all of this if you're taking a lighter course load (I was taking 5 classes a term while doing this). If you have a choice, it might be less stressful to not do them together, but this is how my program works!

If you can/are allowed, prep work before! Most of my work was pre-prepped if the prof allowed that.

happy to answer other q's!

[westeroswisdom]

George R.R. Martin has endowed a chair at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism – his alma mater. He was at Northwestern in late February for the investiture of Prof. Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan as the inaugural holder of the George R.R. Martin Chair in Storytelling.

He wrote at Not a Blog...

I attended Medill back in what they now like to call “the turbulent 60s”  (and no kidding, they were pretty turbulent), and departed with a couple of degrees, BSJ ’70, MSJ ’71.  I did not get back often  in the half-century that followed, alas. Life got in the way, as it has a habit of doing. But I always looked back fondly on my years in Evanston, and the courses and teachers that helped shape me as a writer. I had been writing long before I arrived in Illinois, of course. Monster stories for other kids in the projects in grade school (got a nickle each for them, enough for a Milky Way, and if I sold two I could buy a comic book) and amateur superhero stories for comic fanzines when I got to high school (Powerman, Dr. Weird, the White Raider, and Garizan the Mechanical Warrior), but it was during my years at Northwestern that I began to submit to professional magazines. It was while I was in Evanston that I got my first professional rejection slip (from AMERICAN SCANDINAVIAN REVIEW, for “The Fortress,” a story I wrote for a history class at Northwestern) and made my first professional sale (from GALAXY, for “The Hero,” a story I wrote for a creative writing class at Northwestern). So it seemed only fitting for me to “pay forward” to Medill for all I learned there, by endowing a chair in storytelling. The investiture was my first opportunity to meet Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, who was chosen over thirty other highly qualified applicants to be the first “GRRM Professor.”  It seemed only fitting that I give her an actual chair, as well, as the title… so I did.

If you're a student at Medill, take a peek inside Prof. Tan's office to see the miniature Iron Throne which GRRM presented her.

Cheryl has written both fiction and non-fiction. She has been a news and fashion reporter for the Wall Street Journal, InStyle, the Baltimore Sun, and other major news outlets.  Her books include the bestselling novel SARONG PARTY GIRLS, set in her native Singapore. She will teach both undergraduate and graduate students, organize panels and conferences, and conduct an intensive writing workshop every summer,  to help professional journalists cross over into creative writing.

[tyepwriter]

Today was good! I got to see Katelyn and we had lunch at a chilis 💀 and went to half price. I think it’s so funny how you fall back into old patterns with people without meaning to. Sometimes it a good thing; comforting.

I went to Nads and I baked some cookies and challah. Although, the cookies came out so weird. I used this recipe for chewy snickerdoodles and they tasted great but I think the it was off Bc they came out a whole mess 😎

But the challah, even though the recipe I used was condemned by Maddie, came out decent. I really like baking and I know I should do it more and not just around the HH days but o whale. I’d love to take some culinary classes though.

Got a 100 on my cute little quiz last night and prof signed off her feedback with “keep rocking!” Which I thought was HILARIOUS. Much better than last week. I feel more on top of my shit.

Wrote a little poem, finished my creative non-fiction essay. My “style” when writing poetry is very scene based so I tried to limit that in this one and I think it worked. I might submit it for publication along w/ the one I had in mind. I want to workshop them a little bit more.

I think next weekend I just need a breather and to stay home. I’ve been going out and doing things with friends to distract me from what’s going on and maybe I need to slow down - just a little. And it’s RH so 👀 good excuse. Then it’s YK after. There are so many things coming up and I am tired and busy. And I still have another service to go tonight 😪.

I’m just tired and busy. I lowkey want to stay home.

[wilberave]

truly what is wrong with my brain i have so much school work to do and finals to study for and yet i’m writing an essay that’s totally unrelated to any of my classes instead of one of the three papers i should be working on

[chronotopes]

if its not a bother, do you have suggestions as to where someone can start when it comes to "reading poetry and non-book prose"? it seems to me like theres so much out there and ive no clue where to start

HI! sorry for letting this sit in my inbox for a week, it's not a bother but i wanted to answer it semi-substantially and it's been a busy time for dr katia chronotopics (the doctorate is in foolishness and nonsense.) mind you: i am not super good about this! most of what progress i've made is things i've Gotten Assigned In School.

however: literary magazines are a great start, and using a specific genre or writer as a way into mags that you like is a pretty great approach. if you're interested in sf for instance googling "literary journals science fiction" might feel silly, but it can make a huge field feel less daunting. if you're familiar with and like a particular author, chances are they're listing publications on their website, so it's a fair call to click around the places that've published them – if they published one person you like, they're probably publishing more!

personally (i read more cnf most other things) i like waxwing and the normal school, both of which i found through them publishing my cnf professor.

if there's a writer you discover through that process, or are already a fan of or curious about, there's also chances that you can buy their collections! if you're in college there's probably a contemporary poetry lit studies expert, a poetry prof, or a nonfiction prof that you can ask for recommendations, which they'd be more than happy to give you. (my academic advisor, a contemporary poetry expert among other things, is the reason i own soft science by franny choi, night sky with exit wounds by ocean vuong*, and belfast confetti by ciaran carson, all of which are stellar.

* he's VERY famous but i think more people have read his novel than his poetry, and i'd highly recommend this collection)

if you don't exist near a college right now, i'd still keep an eye out for people recommending stuff - once you're looking, you'll find that Starting Somewhere You Like is the hard part, whereas a lot of Things You Like are connected to one another in some form! again: i am myself only recently restarting a connection to the contemporary creative writing world,

[iheardyourprayer]

So my creative non fiction class is reading in the dream house by carmen maria machado and like it has a lot of gay sex, and my prof is compiling a reading list. I think i should rec some destiel smut. Four letter word perhaps :)

[sukirichi]

Wow, Saeren, you FREAKING AMAZING GENIUS!!!!!!! WOOOOOOW! YOU HAVE A BIG BEAUTIFUL BRAIN! bbb lmao- triple B 😎 I knew Mari would try and mess things up (especially after the hickey thing), but THIS🤰 AND WHAT LUCY DID TO NAGISA !!!! 🤯 Oh man, oh man oh man, I’m so happy I waited till morning to read chapter 8, I wouldn’t of been able to sleep if I had read it before bed 😂 and ahhh, so many questions! Like first of all WHY DOES NAGISA NOT SEEM TO HAVE ANY ANGER TOWARDS HER DAD??? Like ok yes I get her being angry at Lucy and y/n… but umm yo daddy made the decision to leave girlie👀 Ah Mari, dang it. Even pregnant I still wanna just 👋 her ONE time in the face, just once🙂. WHY DIDNT SHE TELL HIM FROM THE START!?

But okay, forget them for now because Saeren… have you taken writing courses? Or do we call them literature classes? (My English, sorry😅 I don’t know if I’ve asked this already, sorry if I did!) Your writing is so beautiful. Like the story is 12/10 don’t get me wrong. But when you described love: “The butterflies are a myth, darling. Beautiful as they may be, butterflies are difficult to catch, and you shouldn’t ever liken your love for someone like that. They should feel like home, like a warm cup of coffee on a rainy day, or the first snowflake landing on your window after long, dreadful days of heat. If you find someone who makes you feel like that, then you’ve found your prince.” And the part with the red neon lights, how you describe Rin brushing away her tears and KDOWNALANDOWK8292020😩😭 it’s so beautiful! SAEREN YOU NEED TO WRITE ACTUAL BOOKS😭💛 I’d buy all of them! Ah, loved the chapter. Thank you for sharing your writing with us, it’s so much fun to read💛

hi vee, thank you for this but i’m no genius at all hehehehe 🤡 oooh it’s not that nagisa doesn’t feel anger towards her dad, it’s just that he’s never around for her to release her emotions to but YN is always there so she got the brunt of it by often visiting her sister 😔 mari didn’t tell suna from the start bcos YN was there and her first priority was to eliminate the threat by making YN think Suna likes Mari more like she really set herself up for this one, that will never happen mari girl 💀✋🏻

yes i’ve been trained for non fiction writing for about... six years now ?? but i didn’t enjoy it so i forgot everything i learned. and then i took up creative writing for fiction for about 2 years but tbh i didn’t enjoy them very much. literature classes are more about learning different types of lit and their influences, origins, types, etc while CW (creative writing) is about how to effectively and ‘creatively’ write fiction !! tho it wasn’t that much of a help to me since my professors limited my creativity a lot 😐 our main audience would be our peers / classmates and my prof’s often told me to not use big words or use complex concepts bcos ‘your peers won’t understand’ and that really damaged my writing abilities bcos i had to always tone myself down or cater to the limits of people’s perceptions 🙃

and ooh thank you so much, i’ve written novels before when i used to compete internationally in fiction writing but they had too much writing rules that limited me so i hopped over to fanfiction where i can just go wild hehehehee. and thank you so much for reading this and for the kind words 🥺💕

[willowfoot]

My creative writing prof told me that I should submit my term project to a major writing competition, which is absolutely wild to me because I really didn’t think that particular work was That Good, you know? But she seems to have a lot of faith in it, and the wild thing is that I’m actually considering it?? Maybe not to the the award she suggested specifically since that only accepts fiction and poetry and my piece is creative non-fiction, but maybe?? To the CBC Nonfiction Prize or something??? Their deadlines are around the same time either way, so I have like over half a year to polish this piece up before submitting it. But like, holy shit. Reading her feedback on it just staggers me.

[ID: A screenshot of my prof’s comments, written in double-spaced red text. Text reads, “(Name redacted), this is a very fine story and I am hoping that you might consider saving it for submission to a contest like the (name blanked out) Award. The word count is perfect for that and the quality just what I’ve seen in the past. It is such a strong piece that I think it deserves a wide readership. It has stayed with me overnight (since I initially read it) with revealing detail and an intimacy and strangeness that resonate and make me wonder further. From the title and opening line onwards the story gripped me. This is exactly the kind of fine work that I have come to expect from you from the start of our acquaintance, and it has been my pleasure to read your work all year.” End ID.]

How is she literally so nice I’m ;-; To think this all started when I submitted, of all things, an Avatar fanfiction to apply to her class ASDKGLHKFJSA

[hobidreams]

😤

[ot-hoe-me]

Student File (Sweet Elite)

BRYNN MCALLISTER

- Fine Arts - Concentration: Creative Writing (Poetry and Fiction)

General Information

Full name: Brynn Marie McAllister

DOB: September 3rd, 20XX

Nationality: Canadian

Citizenship: Dual Canadian/American citizenship; (technical) Non-Foreign Student

Height: 5′7″ / 169 cm

Weight: 135 lbs / 61 kg

Professional Affiliation: N/A

Academic Record

Strengths: Fine Arts, Performing Arts, Humanities

Weaknesses: Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics

Notes from teachers: We haven’t had her for long, but from what I’ve seen of Brynn’s work she can paint a clear picture with her words in her emotionally-charged, character-driven works. However, I urge her to reach out towards her peers to help her regain her footing in order to flourish in her new environment. I look forward to fostering further growth and creativity in Brynn, and am eager to see what she has to share. - Prof. Robert Boss

Disciplinary Actions

N/A

Awards & Honours

There is a list including every award and publication she has earned for her short fiction and poetry; some from her former high school, but most through professional contests or publications.

Health Record

N/A

General Comments & Forecasts

Brynn is a balanced student with a brilliant mind and a hard work-ethic, though it is clear that she thrives in and enjoys the arts and humanities rather than the sciences. Courteous, friendly, and always willing to lend a helping hand wherever she can; Brynn has a natural charm that draws others to her, however, she rarely if ever takes advantage of this. Watching her pursue her passion for writing has been a privilege, though at times this has caused her to become somewhat single-minded, pushing other parts of her life to the wayside. She must find a healthy balance between her studies, passions, and personal life in order to truly shine at her best. Overall, it has truly been a pleasure to have Brynn in my homeroom and I wish her the best in the rest of her high school career at Arlington Academy. - Ms. N. Deep

Skills

Creativity: 10/10

Academics: 9/10

Teamwork: 8/10

Extracurricular Activities: 6/10

Technique: 8.5/10

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MISCELLANEOUS 

Defining Trait: Kindness

Sexual Orientation: Biromantic Asexual

Crushes: Axel, Neha and Tegan 

Closest Friends: Ellie, Tegan, Tyler, Axel, and Neha

Likes and Hobbies: Brynn loves to read and write (and watch movies and cartoons and anime within) the fantasy, or supernatural genres in either historical or modern settings. She loves listening to many types of music, though rock, alternative, classical and new age tend to inspire her writing the most so by default, that’s what she ends up listening to the most. Though she also likes pop, j-pop, j-rock, metal, indie, game/movie/tv soundtracks, and musicals too, she’s always open to listening to new things! Cosplaying, playing story-driven RPGs or dance games, baking are all things she enjoys doing. Brynn also likes binge-watching fiction shows, but also things like Great British Bake-Off and other food shows as well. She also really enjoys photography and would love to travel the world one day.

Personality: She’s loyal, honest, patient, curious, and pretty openly affectionate even to her friends, though she’ll be sure to tailor it to each individual comfort-level. (Quick hugs, long hugs, is not afraid to shout ‘I love you’ from across the hall.) She’s also very receptive to many types of humour and is steadfast and reliable in standing up for herself, her friends, and her own beliefs. Be aware SHE IS A CUDDLE MONSTER, she loves hugs. Though she is an ambivert and is just as happy to go out and party as she is to stay in and have a quiet evening with a book or have a junk food and movie or video game night she is just the happiest and most relaxed bean when she and her partner have time for a long cuddle session. Best way to recharge her batteries. If they happen to fall asleep like that, even better because these kids don’t get enough sleep!!

In a Relationship: When she’s with someone she’ll go out of her way to try to spend extra time together whether it’s doing homework together, studying, or just being in the same room together while she’s working on her writing and is in her own little world, and they’re doing something else. They all have busy lives so even if they’re not on a date or relaxing she’s happy just being in the same room as them and having them near. Brynn will also send them things that remind her of them or something to make them laugh or smile whether it’s a meme, a cute animal video, or something relevant to her partner’s interests that she think they’d like. She’ll also love to write heartfelt love-letters or cheesy-and-cute poetry for her significant other, but wouldn’t show them right away. Instead, she’d save them for a time when her partner is having a bad day or feeling down on themselves and give/send/or read it out loud to them as a pick-me-up and to remind them why she loves them. And then they can keep them for later to look back on when they need a reminder and she’s not readily available to give it to them.

Trivia and Headcanons

- I’m not really sure if this needs saying, but Brynn loves mermaids and the mermaid aesthetic.

- She’s a cat person, but in the future will compromise and get a dog as long as her partner agrees to get a puppy and a kitten and raise them together. (Or an adult dog and cat that are already a bonded pair.)

- Her birthday is on the third day of school, so since she celebrated with her dad and friends at home the day before she left for Arlington, the others besides Tadashi don’t find out when her birthday is until halfway through the school year at LEAST. (Ellie and Raquel take it as a personal affront and begin to organize a party immediately ‘to make up for lost time’. The others are much more understanding of how awkward it would be to just announce your birthday to a bunch of strangers.)

- Hair-dyeing sessions with Axel and Ellie. Yes Axel may be subjected to professional touch-ups the next day anyway, so even if it’s partially moot it is a BONDING ACTIVITY therefore you can’t convince me otherwise.

- One day Karolina just. Hands her a bag with a stylish brunette wig the colour of her natural hair in it, when her roots start showing in a bad way. So Brynn doesn’t “disgrace the image of the academy if she has to make a public appearance again.” Aka she realizes how poor Brynn is that she can’t always get a touch up on her complicated dye-job when it starts looking bad asdfkadfshfklf.

- Some of her most treasured possessions are her sapphire blue instant print camera, her polaroid pictures, her album for them, and the hanging clips she has for her wall.

- Will add more as I think of them.