#writers ressource

[fanficocean]

Monthly Prompt

It's May! and because i am lazy i'm reusing moodboard and theme from last year!!

Theme of the month: Royalty

As always, feel free to tag us in your work and we'll be sure to reblog it!!!

Admin Marie

[thatfrenchacademic]

OK so about this "34, unmarried and childless" article about Taylor Swift. Let me tell you about Scam Academia.

TL;DR: some mediocre dude had a half baked opinio nabout Taylor Swift that everyone hated, but like Mother Nature I let nothing go to waste.

Here is the take you have not heard yet, about this opinion: this guy is actually a good case study on how to develop your academic literacy, aka how to recognize a true academic from a scammer who presents themselves as an academic, but is just a crook. In a world of pseudoscience and pretend experts that have enough resources to organize their flat earth conference, let me walk you through the world of Scam Academic, where for a few thousand dollars, you too can claim to be a researcher with a doctorate! Follow me down a rabbit hole that I hate with my whole heart!

Preamble: I have zero skin in the TS game. I don't get the hype, the lore, the obsession with those 2000s bracelet or dissecting every single line or every single song.

But then. Some guy had to write an op-ed stating Taylor Swift was not a good role model for girls ("in the US and beyond"), and it is a terrible take on so many level, but here is the thing. Whiny conservative think-pieces about highly successful women who should get back to the kitchen and think of the children are nothing new. But this one is different.

This one is fucking terribly written. It's just an abysmally written blog post. Genuinely one of the worst thing I have ever read, and I read hundreds of undergrad essays every year for a living. It contradicts its own arguments in every paragraph. It over-explains concepts like it's a high school essay and he's trying to meet the word count. It says "this is a valid question worth asking" but does not actually explain why it is worth asking. It is so, so, so bad.

Conservative writers are usually more the "high brow, drowning you in grandstanding" kind of writers. They are, usually, good technical writers - it's the one thing that helps make their talking point sound legit and palatable. So an abysmally bad conservative writer? Ok, I am intrigued.

The author is one John Mac Ghlionn. I look up the guy on Google and...

Oh.

Oh no, John.

Spewing conservative bullshit at women AND a researcher? You're in my turf now, John. You could have continued to cover UFC Pillow Fight Championships, or alien technology and other riveting subjects, but you had try to connect two brain cells to argue a thing, and slap "researcher" on top of it. Now I'm offended, as a researcher.

1. I am sorry, researcher WHERE?

Ok so if one is a "researcher", it means one conduct "research". and contrary to what backyard conspiracy theorists think, "researcher" is an actual job. It is an actual professional occupation. You get an actual contract, and you are paid actual money. By an actual employer: public (University), private (Think tank, private company), or a mix of both (at Unviersity, but on a privately funded project, for example).

So where does our John Mc Ghlionn work?

Well. Nowhere, as far as I can tell.

John does not list any affiliation. Usually, when they write, academics will state their exact position (Researcher, Doctoral Researcher, Associate Professor, Chief Engineer, Head of Department, Research Director...) and where they work. For example:

That's what it is supposed to look like.

But John? Nope, no affiliation anywhere, on anything he ever published. That's a pretty massive read flag. Research takes ressources: at the very least, time and access to database and documentation, even in social sciences in humanities. You may not need a lab, but you sure as hell need money and full access to JStore at least.

So I thought he was just one of these "I google therefore I research" kind of dude. But then, out of nowhere:

I am sorry. He has a WHAT.

2. I am sorry, a Doctorate from WHERE?

So. One thing to claim to be a researcher when you are just a professional yapper. Another to claim a DIPLOMA.

And not any diploma. A doctorate.

Let's pause. "Doctorate" is actually a really broad umbrella term of all doctoral-level degrees. The most famous (and most prestigious, for better and worse) is the PhD, but a PhD is technically just one of many Research Doctorate of, theoretically, the same level (cue this helpful reddit post). A second category of doctorates are the Applied Doctorates, and while there is Discourse on where they sit vis-a-vis PhD, the easiest is to consider that they are not research-oriented. They are hands-on, practice-oriented degrees. For example: you can practice medicine with an MD. You don't need a PhD. You can still call yourself a doctor, though.

Alright, so which of these does our friend Johnnie has? Or is currently enrolled in? And in which University?

You will notice that John does not go by "John Mac Ghlionn PhD" or even "Dr John Mac Ghlionn", when you just KNOW he is the sort of person that would but that shit everywhere. And no shade here, because I, for one, do put that shit everywhere. Maybe he is just currently enrolled in a program and has not graduated. Fair.

Since John does not list affiliation, I had to switch from academic to internet sleuth, and dig out this article:

But we learn that in 2021, John was a "PhD Scholar" in "Parkmore Institute". "PhD Scholar" is not a title I am sued to, but it's also not raising any red flag: ongoing PhD researchers can be "PhD students", "PhD fellows", "PhD researchers"... It varies from country to country and from institution to institution, so why not "PhD Scholar".

Let's check out the Parkmore Institute.

Ok, they are not a traditional university, but they appear to be more of a postgraduate institution: offering only higher level degrees, not undergrad courses. Once again, not necessarily a red flag. They are usually very heavily research focused, and embrace the "research" side of academia more than the "teaching" side. In Germany, the Max Planck Institutes are research-only institutions who deliver PhDs. They conduct cutting edge research, in part because their researchers rarely have to spend time teaching.

But that is NOT the Parkmore Institute. First of all, let's see what programs they offer:

None of them are legit.

And I mean, none of them are recognize as even Applied/Professional Doctorate by the National Science Foundation (US based). And while a PhD in Human sexuality would be perfectly valid, but I'm going to on a limb and say I have some serious doubts about "Bodymind Healing" as an academic field.

These are not legit academic degrees.

What they are, is an excellent money-making opportunity for anyone working at the Parkmore institute. Students will pay, at the very least:

And 60% of this goes to their " faculty mentor". The Parkmore institute provides no research fund, no desk or office space (they are entirely digital), no access to any resources or library, not even a Zoom account. There is also no mention of any timeline: how long a PhD take to complete? Who knows. 6 months ? A year ? 5 years? What are the requirements to graduate ? Who knows ! And I would need to pay $200 to get in touch with them, so I sure as fuck won't know any time soon!

But let's get back to our friend John. Remember that he stated, in that 2021 publication, he was a "PhD Scholar" at Parkmore ? Well that's a shame because Parkmore does not deliver PhDs. Ain't that a bitch.

ALSO. Parkmore helpfully has page with all their Doctoral Recipients! And guess who is NOT HERE ! That's right, our Johnnie !

How can this be ? Well, three possibilities:

John is still not done with a PhD. After 4 years ? In a crank university where I am pretty sure I can submit the first draft of a litt review and graduate ? Nah

John never completed the thing. Boo, that would mean that John is lying, when he says he has a doctorate. Bad, bad.

John did graduate, and obtained his doctorate in [scrolls back to check] psychosocial studies, and then was not put on the website or was withdrawn some time before today, as Parkmore institute ended their affiliation with him, as per this bit in their application form

A shame, really. If John had been affiliated with the Parkmore Institute, it would give a shred of legitimacy to anything he writes to anyone just skimming.

Now, I would love to get in touch with the Parkmore Institute and ask to see John's doctoral work, which they DO have, since the application for also has this very interesting section:

(definitely very legit, very normal).

But I am not sure how I would even phrase that request without transparently going

"hey, would love to see what bullshit research is being done over there, since one of your graduate decided to go all Handmaid's tale for the last 2 years".

If anyone feels like sending that email, I am begging you to keep me in the loop.

3. Back up, back up, what's up with that article?

Remember the article where he was listed as a "PhD Fellow"?

Well, about that... No. Welcome to the world of predatory publishing, one more cog in the Bullshit Academic ecosystem.

First: not at article. It's a "commentary". Could be worth something ia good journal, but still would not be a piece of research. But that is the least of its sins.

Its sins are being published in a journal called "Sociology and Criminology-Open Access", by a publisher called "Longdom". Longdom publishing has a bunch of journals on a lot o different fields, with the particularly of being predatory; they will publish absolutely anything you send them, as long as you pay their Article Processing Charges:

There are entire lists of Predatory journals on the web, you can find on here and another here , Longdom Publishing is in both.

This is how John can publish this last minute, Redbull-and-weed-induced essay in an actual journal, with an abstract that, I kid you not, finishes with "Please find the paper attached." He slapped together a shitty essay about people in India are poorer and therefore more likely to exhibit psychopathic traits and therefore engage in corruption, purely base on vibes. It does not even deserve be given any consideration, not even to be debunked. There is nothing to be debunked. This would be a failing grade for a 1st year intro class.

CONCLUSION

On the surface, John Mac Ghlionn is the poster boy of failed edgelords who really wish they were Jordan Peterson, but unfortunately are just Doug, the guy for 10th grade who failed the Literature class and decided it was because litterature was too woke today anyway.

Beneath the surface, John is a case study in Scam Academia, and the proof that no matter how bad actual academia is, Scam Academia can always get worse.

A quick checklist to go through whenever someone claims be a researcher, an academic, a fellow, a doctor, a PhD or anything of the sort:

What is their affiliation? Is this a legitimate organization?

Do they have a PhD? Another doctorate degree? From where?

Have they published ? Where is it published?

[randomnameless]

I mean… fire emblem shouldn't be taking in consideration when making points about representing real world issues or using it as a crutch for sociopolitical arguments irl. One of the best examples in this franchise of "culture bias" and "covet bigotry" is Fates, where Hoshido is too pure, too good, and Nohr is the bad, bad, evil barbaric nation. And this goes so far as to make birthright's story a more watered down version of blue units vs red units story from shadow dragon.

In 3H now the good, pure nation is Fodlan, and those who surround it are either filler to make the worldmap look prettier, or barbarians that like to hunt the good guys for sport (Almyra and Sreng, and possibly Dagda), with Brigid being a repetition of the noble savage trope. Just bc there's a poc guy that wants to unite people and get rid of prejudice in story, doesn't mean that the developpers agree to that or support that.

(Also, let's not talk about Hopes and how Claude's altruistic dream turns out to be unifying two different nations and make the cohabit by force with him as sole leader of both. AKA the typical fire emblem trope of uniting different countries under one ruler, something that's not progressive in the slightest)

Mmh,

Speaking on eggshells here because Fates isn't really my area of expertise, but basically, iirc you can thank Pat for scrubbing the worst of Hoshido!

Fates' best route is Revelation (rip izana) where both countries accept to set aside their differences to work together, meaning that, obviously, Hoshido wasn't only "blue unit land" against Nohr's "red units".

Even through Birthrout, you can catch here'n'there, even in the Pat version!, how Hoshido isn't roses'n'daisies, it's the land where Mikoto takes her niece "hostage" ffs as a measure against Corn's kidnapping (you can't tell me she never guessed Azura was Arete's kid!), where Ryoma (idk if you were the same anon as back then?) as the crown prince ignores the plight of the nohrians and why they were attacking Hoshido because life in Nohr sucks and they're starving (idk if, much like the Leonster/Thracia conflict, Hoshido refused to trade with them and let them starve instead), the fuckery with Mokushu and Shura's backstory, or Hoshido being Misogyny Land (tm).

Heck Birthrout has you march on Nohr's capital city iirc, and fight in the streets - it's in Birthrout that Corn's obsession with taking revenge/defeating Garon leads to Elise' death - so it's not the the "blue unit waltz on red unit lands, routs the enemy and calls a day".

So I don't think the Fates writers really wanted to push the "pure unproblematic land" card with Hoshido compared to Nohr, but rather depict them as both flawed - in different ways - and needing to work together.

Now, I wouldn't say the nations of Fodlan are good compared to the rest of the filler nations that make up this verse's world - after all it's Adrestia who starts hostilities against Dagda'n'Brigid and Adrestia who most recently flattened Brigid and made it its vassal! - but in a sense you're right calling them filler, the FE series in general don't spend a lot of time to depict nations in general, they're just "the place character X is from" and for all of its, hm, reknown writting, Fodlan is following the trend, Albinea is no less different than Cheve (wait, we have one map set in Cheve! kill that) so bar flavor text, they're effectively just "filler".

I disagree about Sreng and Almyra being filler though, if Sreng could be seen as a ref to the Thracia situation or Norh/Hoshido fight for ressources, Almyra?

Is basically Verdane all over again - with the dubious honor of having a Verdanite Lord who, unlike Jamke has some relevance to the plot bar his introduction, but most important, seems to appreciate and want to emulate/import the values/methods of his country to the cast/main plot.

Can you imagine FE4 where Jamke suggests to kidnap Deevtar to seduce lure Andrei in a trap and rekt him?

Of course not.

Just bc there's a poc guy that wants to unite people and get rid of prejudice in story, doesn't mean that the developpers agree to that or support that.

I guess they agreed with the "get rid of prejudice without dealing with the dragon in the room" idea, but the main issue I mentionned and talked about in the other anon reply was the how, and what, doylist wise, it conveys.

"I'll unite people and get rid of prejudice by busting open your country to my people who are as prejudiced as you supposedly are, and I will bring you new values"

That's... not a good way to bring people together lol.

Even in FE16 I found Claude and Almyra's writing a bit odd : why asking Timmy first to stop shunning Bob when Timmy started to avoid Bob because Bob keeps on stealing his lunch money? Shouldn't you ask Bob first to, uh, not be an ass?

In Nopes?

Bob ruins Timmy's house, hits Timmy's toddler sister in the face and still steals his lunch money - but now, Bob has the nerve to tell Timmy that he's doing this to "help" him.

Also, let's not talk about Hopes and how Claude's altruistic dream turns out to be unifying two different nations and make the cohabit by force with him as sole leader of both. AKA the typical fire emblem trope of uniting different countries under one ruler, something that's not progressive in the slightest

Hmmm,

I don't know if you played the older games (FE1 to FE10), but as far as I remember, bar Archanea verse, we have different rulers for each countries and the world is never an unified entity -

And even then, Marth doesn't unify the world by making people "cohabit by force", as forced as it is, everyone gives him their crown.

Sanaki doesn't tell Elincia to suck it as she annexes Crimea in FE10, ditto with Innes and Joshua, or Ced and Ares in Jugdral... I can see Leif's unification of Thracia falling under that criteria, but even then, it's not so much by force than Travant making suicide by cop because he wanted the peninsula to be united and understood he couldn't be the one to do it.

Uniting the continent by force is, on the contrary, what red emperors do, and in traditional FE games, red emperors are defeated.

To return to your main point :

I mean… fire emblem shouldn't be taking in consideration when making points about representing real world issues or using it as a crutch for sociopolitical arguments irl.

Of course, and I totally agree!

The FE series has always been, as its core, a series where a "rightful ruler" returns home to rule "rightfuly" and better than its predecessors, by acknowledging what they did wrong and what they can do now.

That being said, a game is never written in a vacuum : that's the doylist side of various discussions : "What were the devs thinking, was what their reasoning when they decided to make the game this way?"

In 2004, real world persons believed that putting Devdan in their game was okay.

You can give them some flak because different cultural references between Japan and the US world (hell, western world at this rate because damn if Devdan hit "international" racist stereotypes boxes!) - and yet, can you really suppose the devs wouldn't have known, in 2004, that those stereotypes are harmful to real life people and Devdan was basically an insult?

But Devdan was just a living (as much as a fictional character can be alive, but you catch my drift lol) stereotype, the issue was just with Devdan existing.

It was 2004, 15 years later, we expect of IS - not your backwater company! - to never ever fall in the same pits, right?

(well, we had FE13 with the Feroxi main characters who love to fight being dark skinned... so the Devdan dev might still have been there :/ )

FE Fodlan, let it be for design or even names, took some inspiration from RL (it was funny upon release to catch all those links and nods!), and while i appreciated the aesthetic, it was bound to create another "Devdan" issue.

You have Almyra, designed with several RL inspirations (they weren't being subtle with Claude's battalion called the Immortals lol), from design (Claude's clothes and braids!) to units (mounted archers!) to, well, names.

Okay, in itself, it's nothing as insulting as Devdan's existence. But taken with the context?

The devs wrote that Fodlan's aesthetic was supposed to be the Age of Discoveries (1500s and onwards?) so yes, during that Age, you had people who were prejudiced as fuck against people from other lands/different cultures.

But in 2019, we know that those prejudices were full of shit, and either fueled by ignorance, or just, the need to find a good "excuse" to get new lands/manpower/ressources.

Maybe the devs wanted to showcase this part of history : depict the characters being prejudiced against "foreigners" and have them later learn that their prejudice was unfounded !

But... they took the inverse path

Hilda's racist stereotypes? They're shown to be....

True through both games!

As you put it, Almyra are the "barbarians" who : attack the land the characters are from when they're at their weakest, for no reason than to get a good fight - even if it means dying which in turns create several orphans they don't give a fuck about - pillage and "rampage" in cities, let their allies die after accepting a "mutual support" alliance with them, and ultimately rave and scream at their "outdated" values and how you're going to bring them yours.

"You see those people who were derided as savages and barbarians back then in RL - and still are in some parts of the world because the early 2000s happened and in general because racism exists? - Well I'm going to base my fantasy "token barbarian country who is untrustworthy and backstabs everyone" based on them!"

:/

I know you can't compare tomatoes to watermelons, but the Baten Kaitos franchise also has a nation who's, more or less, full of assholes, racists and imperialist pieces of shit. But the devs in those games designed each island/country from scratch, there is no nation that immediately calls back to "RL country X or culture Y"!

you can make a farfetched point about the people wearing ceremonial masks and having totems being a mix of several RL inspirations or at least being a call back to them... but they're part of the most OP people of that universe!

So why? Why, doylist wise, FE Fodlan designed with care - you can't tell me those costumes and outfits were designed in 10 minutes! - Almyra and its characters... only to have them act out as what an english book from the 1780s depicted "oriental" people ?

Unlike Devdan, the racism doesn't ooze out from the way the characters/country was designed, but what role they fit in the story.

It's not a sociopolitical commentary or representing real world but more like another jab at IS for being as prejudiced against non western/japanese cultures and civilisations as they were when FE4 was released, which is problematic in 2019/2022.

(and then you have Square Enix giving us Hyzante in Triangle Strategy, which is even more in your face with the dubious parallels)

[the-moon-lullaby]

Hello! May I request Nath, Cas, Lys, Armin and maybe Kentin if you feel like it with Candy who was forced to do some "important ambitious" job (like lawyer or doctor) by her parents with high expectations even so she always dreamed about being book autohor? Thank you in advance! Also sorry if there are any errors in my english

 The HSL Boys reaction to Candy’s parents pressuring her to get a prestigious job

N/A : Okay so this post really took a while to write because I really struggle with it yet I tried something and I hope that you'll like it still !

info : it takes place at the end of UL except for Kentin where it's during HSL

𝙲𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚕 :

Castiel probably noticed that Candy wasn’t really enthusiastic about her degree but at the same time she was studying law/medicine so he thought this was normal 

(I mean from personal experiences and from what I’ve observed, at university it’s almost impossible to differentiate someone who doesn’t like their degree or someone that’s simply struggling with it. At some point everyone has their little burnout and mental breakdown era and it's almost part of the routine that it become ironically comical. And I don’t even want to imagine what it’s like when you’re studying medicine or law)

So when they all finally graduate from university (except if Candy’s studying medicine, then my girl still has a long way to go) he expected her to be happy about it because now she’ll be able to do her dream job 

At least he thought so but the he looks at her, she doesn't look happy at all 

It’s probably when Candy is a middle of a mental breakdown or an existential crisis (or both at the same time for more FUN) that she ends up telling him that this isn’t the job she wanted to do and it’s actually quite far from being her dream 

When she tells him she wants to be an author, he’s quite baffled because he really didn’t expect this 

I mean he knew Candy like to write and read, but she never really talked about making it her career 

He feels horrible because he wished he knew and it breaks his heart to see her so distressed 

He also angry at her parents because they’re the one that put her in this situation 

Afterwards he’ll try to find a solution at all cost 

Castiel is a very passionate person and it shows the best when it’s about his passion. Also, I think one of Castiel biggest fears is to live a life full of regret 

Therefore it really hurts him to see Candy so close to give up her dreams and he can see that it’s tormenting her

And he loves and cares about her a lot so he won’t let things get worse 

Giving up won’t be an option for Castiel (he’s a lot of things but certainly not a quitter) plus, since Crowstorm’s going pretty well, he has some ressources now

He’ll encourage her to take this year abroad with him to begin with and focus on her writing 

Since that he now knows that she wants to be an author and that he has some contacts, he might look up names in the book industry so he can share what he learned with Candy (and maybe give her some opportunities who knows ?) or he’ll tell her that he’d love to write what she reads if she allows him to (and that means a lot ‘cause as I said, he’s not much of a reader but for her, he can try to become a better one)

In the end, Castiel is very loyal and whatever’s her plans for the future, she can count on Castiel and is unfailing support

𝙻𝚢𝚜𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 :

Firstly, the long distance relationship makes it hard to communicate 

Also, when Candy comes to visit his at the farm or when he goes back in town occasionally, she seems to avoid talking about university 

He always thought it was because she didn’t want to think about stressful things

But one day, as graduation day was getting closer she couldn’t hold it in anymore and she ended up telling him about the situation 

Lysander listened to her diligently but he was very confused the whole time 

I think that if Candy’s a writer, it might have been one of the reason her and Lysander grew so close in the first place

Creative/Artistic interests really make people to connect with each other (and I think it’s beautiful) hence, I doubt that Candy and Lysander didn’t really talk about it together

Even before they started dating, Lysander probably asked her if he could read her works as he was curious and she let him 

And he liked it quite a lot (maybe a bit biased by love but that’s not gonna keep him from seeing talent)

But when she started university to study law/medicine, he thought that maybe it was because she didn’t see writing as something more than a hobby 

He’s can’t believe that her parents set her up like this 

Yes because for him, that’s clearly sabotage. How could they dismiss their daughter’s happiness like that ? 

However, Lysander can think of a few solutions already 

I mean what’s his is also Candy’s 

So he tell her that she’s more than welcome to come live on the farm as long as she wants to (even permanently) if she needs to get away from university 

He wouldn’t be the one to tell her « you should still finish that degree, it’ll open your doors for future jobs » because for him, there’s no point wasting time trying to « secure » a future for a job you have no interest in or no desire to pursue

To him, there’s no such thing as « prestigious » job and it’s nothing more than an superficial idea based on  traditional (and capitalistic) societal standards and that’s what he’ll tell Candy 

Overall, he’d encourage Candy to go after her dreams and with him by her side, he’ll certainly fill the lack of support from her parents because he’s determined to see her happy

𝙰𝚛𝚖𝚒𝚗 :

Armin doesn’t know much about being what it's like to be an author so when Candy tells him that’s the job she'd actually like to do he’d just be like « well do it then ? », not really making the connection between this dream and her actual studies 

Afterwards would have to tell her that she can’t because she’s studying to be a doctor or a lawyer and again he’d go « if you don’t want to do it, just don’t ? »

At this point Candy’s just « bitch be fucking for real »

However by saying that, he’s not trying to be a bitch or anything, I just think Armin has a very simple vision of things since he knows he’ll find support within in family for whatever he set his mind to (it may not included hacking governmental shit and then getting arrested in front of the whole high school, but I mean it’s not like Armin would do that, right ?)

Like he wants to be a game developper ? ‘Okay let’s do it’. He changed his mind and wants to do something else ? It’s still, ‘Okay, let’s do it’

He didn’t know Candy’s parents actually forced her to study law/medicine in order to become a lawyer/doctor and he’s honestly in disbelief 

He doesn’t get what her parents means by « prestigious job » and why they’re so pressed about her wanting to be an author. Like bro, they were certainly not the ones spending 5 years going through the ups and downs (and a lot of downs in these sectors so I’ve heard) of university and they also won’t  be the ones having to work for this « prestigious » work as they says for their whole life ???(WHY ARE THEY EVEN TALKING ABOUT IT FFS)

I feel like Armin would encourage her to do what she wants to do  without giving a shit about what her parents say

He has this philosophy that can basically be resumed as « doing whatever the hell occurs to him in the bloody moment » (it’s a little reference from the Haunting of Bly Manor but it’s accurate because if there’s one thing about this show, it’s that it teaches us that what really matters is to live in the moment and not for others. I am getting out of topic so I’ll just leave it here lol)

Like if she wants to finish her degree still, he’ll be like « okay sure » but know that he knows about your dream, he’ll try to find different way for you to achieve it

He’d make some researches to find ways to become an author and would find some platform for Candy to write on (yesss tech-boy)

He’d try to support her the best he can and would share her works on social medias and all (he’d also try to learn a bit more about the book industry ‘cause he doesn’t know anything about it. But that won’t stop him from basically being Candy’s manager even if she says he doesn’t need to do that much. He’s really invested lol)

He’s really supportive but he also view this as a kind of mission : she has to be an author ‘cause he won’t stand there watching her while the thought of giving up her dream is tormenting her 

𝙽𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚎𝚕 :

Oh dear, he’s completely disarmed when Candy tells him about not wanting to be a lawyer since he really thought that it was her dreams (she was studying this for almost the past 5 years so he assumed that she liked it you know)

He’s a bit relieved though because if his girlfriend wanted to be a lawyer, he’d be worried that his little slid-ups in life (is that an understatement ? I don’t think so. Everyone make mistakes right ?) would discredit or impact her

However when Candy tells him that it’s her parents that wanted her to become a lawyer (or a doctor), he starts to connect the dots

All these times when Candy told him that she felt like she was wasting her time and that uni was hellishly hard (relatable haha) in opposition to how her eyes lit up when she was talking about this idea she just had and that she wanted to write down

Yeah, if he hadn’t been caught up in this whole situation with the drug-deal/gang (whatever beemoov calls this), he would have noticed and perhaps he’d have been able to support her earlier

He feels guilty because he can only imagine how alone she must have felt for these 5 years and also, she kinda save him from such a fate 

I mean, guys, his father, before Nathaniel got emancipated, wanted him to go business school to be a CEO or whatever 

And Nathaniel did not wanted that nor did he wanted his life to be planned by his father 

and damn he succeed in that ‘cause I don’t think Francis (stinky bitch. Sorry I just feel the need to insult this man) really planned Nathaniel becoming a drug dealer so slay Nath (a win is a win y’all. Glad he didn’t actually make a career of it lol)

So, she doesn’t have to explain herself or anything, Nath just gets it 

Yet, he’s a bit confused about why she lets her parents decide her future when she basically did everything she could back in the days to prevent him from getting such a life 

So he’s a bit confused but don’t get me wrong, he’s grateful for Candy to have open his eyes on who he was and that he had the right to choose his own path (which apparently was drug-deal related. Sorry for that) so be sure that he’s more than glad to return the favour 

He’d have long conversations with Candy about it 

I feel like Nathaniel, at some point, might have want to become a detective novel writer (maybe in middle school or in the beginning of high school when he was still allowed to have dreams) so he knows one things or two about being an author since he already made some researches on the topic. Therefore, he’d share them with Candy 

Also, he’d propose her to read her works if she wants some feedback 

If Candy is scared to let everything down to do something completely different, Nathaniel will be here to tell her that at least she’s not alone in this situation and that they can go on this journey together (just to remind that he did a whole post-graduate degree in Literature to become a police officer, this will never not be funny to me)

In the end, no matter what, Nathaniel would encourage Candy to become an author just as she supported him so many times and he’d reassure by telling her that he’ll be her number 1 fan (this man god)

N/A : Okay so for Kentin it’s a bit different because I imagine the situation better in HSL’s settings (idk why but it doesn’t really matter anyway) so in this case Candy is not currently following a degree to be a lawyer or a doctor (and is not one either) but it’s the end of high school and her parents wants her to go to uni in that perspective :

𝙺𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗 :

Kentin can relate with Candy ‘cause his dad kinda wants him to join the army like he did 

Kentin’s dad basically wants his son to become another version of him and no, leave this boy alone pls (he’s too good to be like that)

So in this case, Candy and Kentin kinda share the same situation therefore I think they would both feel kinda stuck 

Its give them something to bond about (trauma-bond because of the fact they’re being controlled by the parents whose role should remain at being their kids support and not prosecutor. I feel like everyone in this game is traumatised one way or the other. Pls beemoov give them a break)

They would talk a lot about their dreams : Candy wants to be an author and share with the world her stories, Kentin wants to travel and be surrounded by animals (dogs more specifically. He’s a dog-person and I love that for him), both listening to the other with utter trust and attention as they’ve become each other confidant 

At some point, (I am not sure which one it would be but I would say it was Kentin since he really seemed to gain some maturity, especially after the whole Evan arc), but one of them just start to think « what if we actually go for it ? Like what if we just do it ?»

I mean they’ve been each other’s support for so long now (at least a few months), they know they can rely on each other. Therefore the idea of risking it all to pursue the life they’ve kept talking and dreaming about seem less scary than the though of waking up at 50 and wonder what could have been (my biggest fear really)

So when it comes to confront their parents about it, it would be this « I do it if you do it » vibe (out of topic but Kentin and Candy’s relationship is too sweet, even if I didn’t play it, it certainly has a special place in my heart)

They would end up telling their parents about their projects but it’s nothing like asking for approval. It’s more like their explaining them what they’re going to do and take it or leave it, no matter what we’re doing it

And we're done !

*Also I just want to add that, obviously, I have nothing against people pursuing studies to become a lawyer or a doctor (and I knows how hard this is so if you're doing that you have all my love & support <3) but it has to be a personal choice. It's only problematic when it was pressed upon you by someone else (especially parents)

[dtfans-for-palestine]

How to donate to Gaza and which legit fundraisers to choose :

Remember show proof of donations and you can commissions the artists , writers , translators (Spanish, French) and editors of your liking in the threads/posts below ⚠️❗️❗️❗️

Additional post with where to donate ( family fundraisers, esims , org , ressources etc..)

Place and methods for donations (can be one made in the last three weeks/months) :

CARE FOR GAZA

@CareForGaza is a non profit organization that uses the donations to give coats, baby items, food packages, flour, and even cash to palestinian families in need or palestinian refugees.

To donate, go to their paypal

Log in, enter the amount and currency, pick how you want to pay, review your information and click send payment

__________________________________

PIOUS PROJECT (For hygiene kits)

Founded by Fahim Aref, Pious Project's has the mission to empower everyone to make a difference--one good deed at a time. They have created a way to take part in global humanitarian, charitable projects, including donating and volunteering.

Their official website:

Currently, they are raising funds to donate hygiene kits to menstruating people in Gaza. The value of each one is $20, which contains sanitary pads, tissues, wipes, a hairbrush, toothpaste, toothbrush and other items.

How can I donate?

The following is the link that will take you directly to the page, once there you will click on the button that says "Donate."

Link: https://piousprojects.org/campaign/2712

If you are not logged in, it will ask you to create an account. You should receive an email welcoming you, as well as a direct link to the website.

The next thing that will appear are three options:

You can enter the amount you want to donate (USD), or instead, donate a specific amount to pay for from 1 to 50 entire kits. If you choose the second option, don't worry, each option tells you how many kits you are donating for!

The most important thing is to keep in mind that you will have the option to only donate once or monthly.

Finally, you will only have to fill out the details of your card or bank and that's it! You will have donated to the cause

In addition to the donation of hygiene kits, Pious Projects have many more causes, here we leave you the following:

FOOD

Food Baskets for Gaza

POINT OF CARE

Point Of Care Ultrasound for Gaza piousprojects.org/campaign/2172

FAMILY

Gaza Family Support piousprojects.org/campaign/608

You can also go on your own to the official website and check out the different causes they are donating to.

_______________________________________

SALAM ANIMAL CARE

Salam Animal Care is Abdallah's Twitter account. He is a man who rescues injured animals in Gaza and provides them with medical assistance. His @ is @RescueCare. To donate, you need to click on this link to go to his PayPal

Log in, enter the amount and currency, choose your preferred payment method, review your information, and click send payment.

Then just send us a screenshot that you actually made the donation!

________________________________________

DIRECT AID TO GAZA

Direct aid for gaza

Account : https://x.com/GazaDirectAid?t=sWfYhS-uKaxETizI4Avpkw&s=09

Paypal : https://twitter.com/GazaDirectAid/status/1757813936940876185?t=2KqHPkJHcLGPYi9jOPoWZQ&s=19

Trust wallet : https://twitter.com/GazaDirectAid/status/1760456373173620981?t=68DI1E0Ko3HNxIJULn8wDA&s=19

________________________________________

MEDICAL AID

Medical Aid for Palestine is a nonprofit organization that is located in the uk. their aid goes toward west bank, gaza, and lebanon. they help both palestinians living under occupation and those that have refuge status. they give medical, mental, and disability support

their twitter account also gives updates on attacks and deaths as a result of said attacks. @MedicalAidPal

To donate, you go to map.org.uk , select your currency and amount, and who you are giving your money as. then, select a title, fill out the contact and address information, and finally after doing that, you can fill out your card information and hit pay now.

________________________________________

E SIMS

eSims for Gaza is an initiative led by @Mirna_elhelbawi, a writer who demonstrates solidarity with the cause and ensures that aid reaches those in need. Mirna's efforts keep doctors, journalists, and the entire population of Gaza connected with the world, preventing their silence

By donating to eSims for Gaza, you can comission our collaborators.

Visit their website: [gazaesims.com]

★ How to Donate? | Below 👇

To donate, you can use two apps: Simly and Airalo. Download either app.

Follow these tutorials for both:

1. Search for "Palestine."

2. Choose one of the available plans.

3. Click on "Buy Now."

4. Proceed to payment.

After purchasing your eSIM, DO NOT ACTIVATE IT. Once you complete the payment, you will receive a QR code in your email. We strongly urge you not to activate it, as the QR code received is the SIM card. Instead, take a screenshot of the QR code and send it to Gazaesims@gmail.com.

That's all it takes to donate. Then just send us a screenshot confirming that you've sent the QR to their email to commission us.

________________________________________

OPERATION OLIVE BRANCH

They have links for several Gazan families in need of help, and even if you can’t donate, helping spread the word can go a long way 🍉

Any donations to the ressources and fundraisers and charity reunited by @operationolivebranch on Instagram and tiktok will count as well as payments for the commissions Just go through the ones in the doc below 👇 :

choose and donate to one and send us the proof to commission someone !

________________________________________

EMERGENCY

Yasmeen Ouda is a Palestinian woman living in Canada who is seeking assistance to rescue her family from the genocide in Palestine and bring them safely to her residence in Canada.

Their twitter account is: @hosam_ouda

To donate, please visit their GoFundMe page:

Choose the amount you would like to donate, select the portion you will leave as a commission for the GoFundMe platform, pick your payment method,

fill in the necessary information, and finally, make your donation!

Afterward, please provide us with a screenshot confirming that you have indeed made your donation to be able to commission!

_____________________________

ALL DONATIONS TO CONGO AND SUDAN WILL ALSO COUNT AS WELL SO DON'T HESITATE TO DONATE THERE AND COMMISSION US IN EXCHANGE !!!!

[highlordofkrypton]

writing tips // beta readers

The topic of beta readers has come up pretty often ever since I joined Tumblr and is very prominent on AO3, especially in the notes. I wanted to add my two cents on the topic of beta readers and how I work with them to get the best I can out of my work.

My beta reader(s) are the only reason my work ever saw the light of day and I will say it again and again. Without them dragging my ass through some chapters and smothering me with hype and affection, I don't think I would have ever finished a project or gained confidence to share.

What is a beta reader?

A beta reader is someone who looks over your work before you publish it. Commonly, the beta reader is used to check for consistency along with grammar, proofreading, etc.

The important thing is to determine what do you want out of your beta reader?

For me, I use a beta reader for:

Vibe check

Consistency / Lore check

Flow - the rises and falls in the story

Smut check

Grammar, punctuation & spelling

Clarity

Keep in mind, at the end of the day this is your fic, so any feedback given is up to you to implement or ignore.

Where do you find a beta reader?

Anyone can be a beta reader, be it friends or family (depending on your comfort level). It can be other writers in the community, or a reader who has been a longtime fan of your work. Again, it depends on your needs. You'll see that I emphasize this a lot throughout this post.

A good beta reader can work miracles, as long as you know your expectations and set them.

Make sure that:

Your beta reader is someone you feel comfortable with, especially if you're a writer who feels especially vulnerable when sharing early stage writing

You trust the person to be timely (if you have a timeline) and communicate well their thoughts, especially if you want to learn from the feedback

Most important of all, your beta is someone you have fun with.

Does a beta reader need to in the same fandom as your writing?

Not necessarily, no.

Personally, I prefer beta readers who are not as familiar with the fandom because I take responsibility for the 'canon lore' and decision for the changes, but what I do want is to see if the chemistry of the characters (towards each other and the reader) is strong. That's more important to me than lore accuracy. I also prefer to beta fics that aren't in my fandom or my pairings because I feel like I can do a better job in giving feedback! Probably because I'm not great with canon.

Alternatively, if there is a good writer in your fandom who's writing you enjoy and would like to learn from, definitely reach out to see if they'd be willing to beta! You never know.

Who can I ask if I don't know anyone to beta read for me?

I found this really cool ressource the other day: @needabeta! They have a whole masterlist with people who are willing to beta read along with their fandoms, so check them out.

How does beta reading and beta feedback work?

There is no wrong answer; it works the way you and your beta reader want it to! I'll outline the way I do it, but what works for me, may not work for you!

I'll be using the same steps as my drafting process.

DRAFT 0: OUTLINE

I usually finish my outline before mentioning anything to my beta. If i outline a full story, and it looks like I'm actually going to write it, I'll give her a heads up that she'll have a fic coming. I don't let her see the outline, but I will:

Ask her questions about hyper specific elements (i.e. I was struggling with reconciling the problematic age gap between Faeries and Humans in my fic and wanted her opinion) -- this didn't really need characters to discuss the topic.

Give her an outline of where I want to go or what vibes I'm aiming for so she can keep it in mind: this is where you set your expectations.

For example, I'm writing a prequel for the parents of a character in my fandom -- the relationship needs to have love, but it also needs to be cold and broken. It needs to break, but not so much that it can't be repaired (multiple times). I need this to be a balancing act, more than a full fledged story because it's a side story to give background.

DRAFT 1: SKELETON / JUST WRITE

I'm gonna out myself here, but I'm a writer that needs my hand held 😂 Even through I'm just writing, I'll call my beta in multiple times to:

Do an interest check. "Is this story interesting? Do you want to know more?"

HYPE ME UP (and by GOD my beta is so good at this)

I get bogged down a lot in my impostor syndrome and will often re-write the first chapter of a fic 5-7 times. Having her be my conscience and my sanity really helps. She's so good at hyping me up, but she communicates so well that even when I'm not hitting the right notes, she'll know how to ask without making me feel that I need to restart.

A good example would be, "This section is good, will you be adding more for x and x?" I'll know that's my cue to gauge if I'm doing enough or not enough.

But honestly, at this point, she just drags me to the finish line.

DRAFT 2: FLESH OUT THE STORY

Now that the first draft is done, I will ask my beta reader to go back to the beginning and we will both read and take notes. She likes to comment directly in the doc while I take my notes by hand.

@ellipsus-writes also has a cool feature where you can have multiple drafts of your doc IN THE SAME DOC AND THEN MERGE THEM!! HOW COOL IS THAT!! Anyways, that's a software I've recently transitioned to and I'll eventually make a post about that... eventually.

At this point, these are the questions I ask:

Are there any scenes missing?

How does the story flow? Too fast or too slow?

Do the characters have enough depth? What about their relationships?

Do you have any unanswered questions about the story?

Is there anything that is unclear or inconsisent?

Once I have her feedback, time to write all the additional scenes. Notice how all the questions are focused on content and not polishing.

DRAFT 3: SELECTIVE READ

Once the additional scenes have been inserted, I bring in my beta reader again. If it's my main beta reader, I know she'll re-read the story entirely, but I have additional beta readers to whom I'll provide the 'new' chapters and they'll just read that.

If you remember in my drafting process, this step is where I'll want to do a selective read of specific elements. So, I'll make sure to do that first and send her my questions for each element.

Here are some examples:

Character descriptions (i.e. Are there any details that jump out to you as inconsistent? Am I too repetitive with eye colour, hair colour, etc.? Can you check for x's hair colour, I struggled to keep that in check so I might have forgotten things.)

Lore elements (i.e Is the world magical enough? In x and x part, I feel like the magic has died, but does it make sense to reflect what's happening in the story? Are there too many magical bargains?)

Dialogue (i.e. Is x sassy enough throughout the story? I feel like y doesn't talk enough.)

Smut (i.e. Does this need lube? More foreplay? Does the scene need to be longer? Do they finish too fast?)

Show vs. Tell (Do you feel the magic? The pain? The love?)

Tense (past vs. present)

Relationship depth (especially for side characters) (i.e. does it make sense that they fell in love? or that they became enemies? Do his brothers feel like family??)

This also requires self-awareness about your own writing and the points where you struggled in the process. I know writing smut is really difficult for me, which is why I always ask if it's enough.

The best way to get the information you need is to guide your beta as well. Of course, I welcome any additional feedback she might have.

DRAFT 4: FINAL EDIT

GIRL, IF YOU SEE THIS BC I KNOW YOU CHECK MY BLOG ONCE EVERY FULL MOON 🙏 THANK 🛐 YOU 🫵 fOR 🌈 EVERYTHING 💃 YOU 🥳 DO 💗

The reason I'm giving her a shout out at this stage is because I never ask her to proofread more than she feels like because I think it's very boring and tedious, esp if your fic ends up being long AND YET, HER ASS PROVIDES ME WITH AN IN-DEPTH FULLY REVIEWED DRAFT FOR 100+ PAGES. I am blessed, i am bLESSED.

I don't even proofread that diligently.

Anyway, for anyone else, I would normally just ask them to read over a final time to see if the vibe is right. You could even combine steps 3 and 4, and just have your beta read when you're done editing completely. It's up to you and your beta reader!

That's it!

When I post, I always make sure to thank my beta reader even if it was a partial read.

I realized that I didn't say where I found my beta reader, but she's my longtime friend, soul-sister, owner of the main shared braincell most of the time. We used to work in marketing & content writing together, which is why we have a formalized process just from years of being on the same team. A lot of the reviewing process is second nature, but I really do hope it helps someone out there!

We also overlap on almost all our fandoms, but enjoy them in different ways, so I love that she understands the vision and at the same time, brings her own perspective. She also gets my inside jokes in the fic, which is why I say have fun with your beta. You're building worlds together! Make the best of it because if it's not fun, what's the point?

[a-room-of-my-own]

Honestly I have no idea where people that are saying how no one cared few years back when the roles were reversed and it was Palestine that was attacked by Israel, and how no one was talking about it, are coming from...I mean I remember plenty posts across all social media, and I remember plenty sympathy for them(for a good reason of course). So where'd people get the idea that no one cared like they do now.

Hell every once in a while, before these recent attacks on Israel, I'd see talks about Gaza(and Palestine as a whole), and I don't remember a time in my whole life when I didn't read or watch something on Gaza and all the horrible things that have been happening there for so many years.

Side note but, USAmericans and Germans should have no say beyond having sympathy for all the civilians, they come of as big hypocrites for obvious reasons.

I think many people simply want to find a reason to hate Israel. I remember when I was young, colleges in France being massively left wing I believed many things about the region’s history that proved to be inexact or simply fallacious when I started documenting myself about it.

To put it simply, Jews have always been scapegoats, it’s easy to use them to personify something society or a dominant group wants to reject. They’re a minority who keeps to its own culture while being perfectly integrated, they have a history of oppression but always find a way to succeed, they’re few but they’ve given the world amazing writers, artists, scientists and keep doing so. People want minorities to be like endangered species, they want them helpless and in need of their assistance. They want them pliant enough to be instrumentalized.

Beyond Israel’s history and we could talk about it, what enrages people in my opinion is that Israelis managed to build a developed country, a successful democracy, on a speck of dust with barely any natural ressource. The fact that it’s possible in Israel means it’s possible anywhere, and it doesn’t fit many people’s narrative, so they have to believe there is some conspiracy at the source of Israel’s development.

Thing is, none of the great defenders of Palestine want to open their borders to potential refugees. Their support has nothing to do with the plight of innocent civilians but mostly about their hatred of Jews.

[schnuckiputz]

look, hear me out: mr & mrs smith/john wick au

the harringtons have been managers of the continental since its establishment in the 1800s. they've kept their status thanks to strategicly placed alliances and a certain level of ruthlessness. evey heir to the dynasty works in the business to hone their craft and to get contacts.

as the current heir, steve has been working as a contract killer for years already. he is good at it, has a knack for infiltration, knows how to manipulate, and give people a false sense of security. but he also hates the job, is too kind, too soft-hearted. when a job with shitty intel gives him the chance to go out in a blaze of glory, he takes it and fakes his death. still, the job leaves him with near complete hearing loss in one ear and migraines.

he has used the last years to stash away money and equipment, so he spends the first months of his newfound freedom to track down stashes, establish a new identity, and just...be. on his travels, he stumbles across an old box club that's falling apart and thinks "yes, this."

steve tracks down the owner, agrees to a considerable payment, and gets to work. he focuses on building community, gives teenagers a healthy outlet, and teaches self-defense classes. that's how he meets robin, who got thrown out by her parents when she was outed. he gives her a room in the apartment above the club and lets her man the front desk. and that's also how he meets the party because lucas takes an interest in boxing and can not be separated from his friends. so while steve teaches lucas how to fight, the other kids hang around, doing homework and shittalking.

one day, steve agrees to take the kids to a book signing for the newest instalment in a fantasy book series they obsess over. there, he meets eccentric author eddie munson, and it's lust on first sight for both of them. lust becomes infatuation, becomes love. they move in together, get engaged.

eddie travels a lot for work: book signings, research, etc... and steve is fine with that, appreciates the time he gets to spend on his club and the little family he has built.

but then, one day, he comes home, and their place is trashed. furniture is overturned and broken, there is blood everywhere, in the kitchen he finds two dead operatives. operatives in uniforms he knows like the back of his hand: his parents have found him, have found eddie, and taken him.

in the bedroom is a third operative, alive enough for some little mild torture to find out where they took his boy.

when the kids started hanging around, he got rid of most of his gear. so he calls up two old contacts/friends: jonathan and argyle, who live on a massive range and keep his biggest stash in one of their barns. (unbeknownst to all of them, steve has been spending quite a few hours every week with jonathan's little brother will.) they both worked as killers for years until they decided to retire. now they mostly deal in information and ressources.

he gears up and goes on the hunt.

what he doesn't know: eddie is not, in fact, a writer or, at least, not entirely. he's a thief, one of the best in the business. eddie has been doing this kind of work long enough to know about the assassin guild, to know the major players, but he never met the harrington's and has no idea that his sweet fiance is in fact heir to one of the most influential families. eddie's so-called research trips were for jobs, not for research. but unfortunately for eddie, one of his jobs took him too close to the harrington's, and they took out a contract on him. they tracked him down and took him back to new york to get him to cough up the location of the stolen goods. unfortunately, eddie already unloaded the goods to the buyers, a powerful chrime syndicate. and he knows: the moment the harringtons find out, he is dead.

eddie doesn't make it easy for them, talks circles around them for days, until harrington sr looses his patience and is about to cut his losses, when the lights go out and half the place goes up in flames. for the first time in years, harrington sr comes face to face with his son. the son that supposedly died.

steve makes a deal with the devil: the stolen goods for eddies live. he will get disowned but he will get to keep the life he built for himself.

it's a suicide mission, but steve is motivated. he succeeds, with help from jonathan and argyle who come in guns ablazing at the end and get him out.

after, they go back to their place. they clean up. rebuilt. and they relearn each other, this time with no secrets between them. and they are happy.

[fanficocean]

Fishing For Treasure: February - Smut

What is happening? It’s “Smut” weekend at the Ocean and at the Pond! Send us your smutty fics! We’ll be more than happy to reblog them.

When? At the Ocean - During the first weekend of February. February 3rd and 4th. At the Pond - During the third Weekend of February. February 17th and 18th.

What are we going to do? We are going to be reblogging all of your fics and fic recs that contain smut or are mostly smut!

What do you have to do? Send us a link to wherever your submission is posted! (Tumblr posts are preferred, since we would have to create a Tumblr post for your link, otherwise, and then you don’t get OP credit.) Each group will have a specific room in their discord server for you to drop the links! And for those of you who are not in the discord server, just submit the links via submission on the blogs and please specify that it is for the fishing for treasure weekend! 

Deadline: You have until Midnight February 2ndto drop your fanfic for the Ocean and Midnight February 16th to drop your fics! 

[justforbooks]

Laurent Cantet

French film director who won the Palme D’Or at the Cannes film festival with his improvisatory education drama The Class

The social-realist boom in 1990s French cinema produced compelling new voices such as Jacques Audiard, Bruno Dumont and Érick Zonca. The most humane and rigorous of that group was Laurent Cantet, who has died aged 63 after suffering from cancer.

Cantet, who often worked in an improvisatory mode with non-professional actors, won the Cannes film festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or, for his education drama The Class (Entre les Murs, 2008). Sean Penn, president of that year’s Cannes jury, called the film “a miracle, a perfect movie, just so exciting to see. We walked into the jury room afterward and it was like we had swept up the floor and our work was done.”

A kind of Parisian Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, it was arrived at by cross-pollinating drama and documentary to create what Cantet called “documented fiction”. François Bégaudeau, author of the autobiographical novel Entre les Murs (Between the Walls, 2006), on which the film is based, plays a version of himself: an enthusiastic inner-city teacher who inspires his adolescent pupils but also crosses swords with them.

In one scene, François is taken to task over his use of anglicised names in his mathematical exercises: Bill has 12 apples, Bob has three, but what about, say, Rachid or Aïssata? This playful scene plants the seed for one of the film’s main themes – the use of language to gain leverage, and to reshape the world.

The movie’s sharp-eyed visual style lends these semantic wrangles a strong cinematic dimension. Shooting on location with three high-definition cameras, Cantet achieved an omniscient documentary effect. “This gave us a lot of freedom, allowing us to improvise, to capture the energy of the pupils rather than interrupt them when we wanted a different angle,” he explained. The students and staff in the film, who were all drawn from Françoise Dolto junior high in the 20th arrondisement of Paris, generated many of the scenes in collaboration with Bégaudeau and Cantet.

The movie’s overall tone is one of bruised idealism. “It shows the richness of multiculturalism rather than its weaknesses,” said Cantet. “The film is utopian about the possibilities this kind of setting offers, but pessimistic about the school system in general.”

The Class received an Oscar nomination and became Cantet’s most successful film. But the three features that preceded it were more impressive, withholding even the smallest spoonful of sugar to help their messages go down.

He made his debut in 1999 with Human Resources (Ressources Humaines), in which a business-school graduate starts a management job at the factory where his father is a welder. The newcomer clashes with the union at first, then has a change of heart when he learns of planned redundancies.

That film, which the critic Ginette Vincendeau called “generous, sensitive and innovative”, addresses with Loachian fastidiousness the challenge of reconciling principles and productivity. Both Human Resources and Cantet’s 2001 follow-up, Time Out (L’emploi du Temps), explore how work defines us even in our most interior moments.

Time Out concerns the middle-aged, middle-class Vincent (Aurélien Recoing), who conceals his unemployment from his wife and children, and instead lets his days drip by in service stations and motel lobbies. To retain his role as breadwinner, he cheats cash out of gullible investors he meets on the road.

The film was inspired by the case of Jean-Claude Romand, who lied about his non-existent job, and finally slaughtered his family. Cantet and his regular co-writer and editor Robin Campillo (who later became a director in his own right) stopped short of such horror. “We wanted him to have a disconcerting banality,” Cantet said. “He’s just someone who slips and trips down a certain pathway.”

Some audiences found a note of hope in the final scene, in which Vincent attends a job interview. Cantet was quick to scotch that reading. “The notion of work is so full of wealth and worthiness that the prospect of Vincent finding employment again is obviously a winner,” he said. “But not having a job can be of a certain wealth, too. For people like him, work can only be slavery, so to see the last scene as a happy ending is a denial.”

Heading South (Vers le Sud, 2005) applied Cantet’s usual scrutiny to a different milieu, albeit one still steeped in exploitation and commodification. Charlotte Rampling and Karen Young play sex tourists at a Haitian beach resort in the late 1970s who find themselves competing for the same 18-year-old gigolo (Ménothy Cesar). Neither woman is interested in the young man’s plight under the corrupt regime of President “Baby Doc” Duvalier, though eventually the country’s political strife eclipses their feud. The film has a starkly Fassbinderesque view of the intersection between sex, money and power.

Cantet was born in Melle, a town in western France, and raised in nearby Niort. His parents were both teachers. He attended university in Marseilles, then studied at the Paris film school IDHEC (L’Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques), where he met Campillo. Their first full-length collaboration, Les Sanguinaires (1997), was made for French television as part of a project looking ahead to the new millennium. (Human Resources was also made for TV, but earned an international cinema release.) Asked about the 13-year gap between graduating and directing Les Sanguinaires, he said: “I spent a long time trying to discover what I wanted to say in a film.”

Reactions to the movies he made after The Class were mixed. An adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates’s 1950-set novel Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang (2012) met with muted acclaim. Return to Ithaca (2014), about a reunion of five friends in Havana, made few waves. It was Cantet’s second project in the city: he was one of seven directors who contributed to the portmanteau project 7 Days in Havana (2012). It was part-funded by Havana Club rum, which features prominently on screen.

His 2017 drama The Workshop (L’Atelier), about the relationship between a female teacher at a summer writing school and a male teenage student radicalised by the far right, revived the simmering tensions of Heading South, and represented a real return to form, though in fact the film had been gestating for more than 15 years. Cantet’s final picture, Arthur Rambo (2021), was inspired by the real-life case of Mehdi Meklat, and follows a young writer from the banlieues whose career is wrecked by offensive social media posts that predate his fame. He was working on a new film, The Apprentice, at the time of his death.

“My characters are never heroes,” Cantet said in 2008. “They always have weaknesses. That’s what motivates me to write them. They are people looking for their place in society: a place which is much harder to find when you don’t march in step with the rest of society. It’s something I can recognise in myself: keeping the world at arm’s length. Perhaps making films is a way of making up that distance.”

🔔 Laurent Cantet, film director, born 11 April 1961; died 25 April 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[shieldagentnatasharomanoff]

Careful - negativity/ rant below

What I don't get is why people rely so much on icons and incredibly aesthetic blogs and then judge people for not having the time, skill or ressources to make fancy icons, promos or a detailed blog.

It doesn't reflect on the writers love for their muse or their skill in writing. This is a hobby and for the first time in two years I genuinely don't know if I still want to be a part of this community anymore. Just because it feels like people keep rejecting other just because their blogs aren't as 'pretty' and that's just not right in my opinion.

I know that I have made amazing friends and found great writing writing partners and I love you all so much. It just got me very frustrated tonight.

[unwilling-souls-if]

i've been having an itch to write an if game, do you have any tips? i feel like its a very bad idea to jump straight in head first yk?

Ooh 👀 Well, I don't think I'm the most qualified but I can share my experience! I discovered choicescript a few years ago and that's the only coding format I know (Twine makes me cry), but I've only started writing with it like ~2 years ago, and I did jump straight in.

It was, in fact, a bad idea lol 😭 This will be quite rambly so I'll put in under a cut!

I'd say first thing to do is not start out with the project you have in mind if you're not familiar with the format, because it might burn you out or you won't necessarilly find it easy to put it together. Play around with things, write even only a few random scenes, just to taste the waters. I lost interest in my first WIP because i sucked at writing and coding it and it made me lose motivation!

Also, if you're using choicescript, there's the COG forum to help with some specifics code lines! I personnally don't like the forum but you don't need an account to read it and there's a search option. That's a nice resort if you struggle. Reading the wiki and their introduction first is what I did so I had a (very fragile and wonky) base, and then I added to it depending on what I needed.

Also I started writing by following the kinda old instructions of choicescript, aka in a note logiciel on my computer, where lines went on forever 😭It was a pain, so I use CS-IDE now, it makes coding and testing much easier. Basically play around and find what works the best for you. If something doesn't work even after you use it for a bit, it may be worth to find another app/editor/organisation. Personally I write scenes in another app, when's there's a choice to make I outline the possible options and then I copy and paste it in CS-IDE to code.

If you want to use Twine, there are a lot of very talented authors that put up lists of ressources and help! I think you can find them easily on Tumblr. And the IF community is pretty nice, and most people are okay to give out help if you ask for it. Lots of supports around here.

And also, there's the basic advice for all kind of writers. Don't give into pressure, it's okay if things aren't perfect. If a choice branching gives you trouble, you can always leave a placeholder and come back after. Bugs are really common, and most readers understand it.

Honestly it's easier when you have fun with it. I like putting choices that don't do much but give a little insight about characters. I like writing prompts on Tumblr because I can write characters that don't appear for a while. When I get unmotivated I go on Pinterest or Spotify to make boards or playlists. I have lists of fun facts. I think that's why it's best to have a sort of "test" project, so that the struggle can be contained at least a bit and then you can have fun with the story you like most and whose characters you know best.

It'll flow easier. And if doesn't work out, you can give it a rest, revive it later or start anew with another story.

Well, that was a lot of words for not much! i'm half-dead right now, but maybe I'll reblog it later with some links if someone wants to?

In any case, have a lovely day 🌼

[musing-and-music]

🍲 & 🥮 for the fic writer asks please!

Thank you for the ask!

🍲 When did you start writing and why?

I started writing when I was a kid. With a friend in primary school, we wanted to have written a book before we were 18 (spoilers, I haven't), and I created many plots and OCs back then, and began numerous stories that never went further than a few pages.

BUT!

That gave me some ressources and elements of storytelling, that I was happy to apply to fanfiction when I discovered its existence (though I now believe that my French teachers were the first ones to make me write fanfiction, with their writing exercises: write this missing scene, write this scene from another POV, write the next part of the story...). I was 14 when I discovered Fullmetal Alchemist and got hooked by Royai, and after finishing both animes and the manga (I read the scans by the end, bc the last volumes weren't released in France back then - I got vol. 26 for my birthday that year). And after that, I wanted more. I began reading fanfic of Roy and Riza around January, created my account in February, and finally, in April, in a bus going to Frankfurt, I wrote my first OS, because I wanted to write my version of the moment Roy regains his sight after Promised day.

I haven't stopped since, maybe slowed down some years, but never stopped.

🥮 Do you have any writing milestones you're working toward?

I don't really have goals set for writing, at least in terms of quantities. No set word count, no set number of works. My goals would be more like: finish that WIP!

Fic writer ask

[hongthoven]

hii bun <33!

🍓, 🥤, 🔪, 🧩, 🏜️?

sorry if i went overboard lol

Hiii ♥ Thank you for asking, darling!

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction? 

I was born a hopeless dreamer and as a child, no book, movie or tv show could ever cover all of my fantasies so I started writing my own little stories then — as for fanfiction, many years ago, I used to be Directioner and fell down the rabbit hole of fanfictions. Then came Kpop and I never left.

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

ʚɞ atarashi & paradise lost by @setsugekka are probably my two favorite hongjoong fics on tumblr — this author isn't on tumblr anymore but I re-read their works many, many times a month because some pieces are just mind-blowing and just tickle me in all the right ways. also highly recommend their ongoing woo x joong fic inertia on ao3 ♥ been hooked for months.

Fics that got me kicking my feet and screaming into a pillow : warning: all of those have smut content.

ʚɞ training wheels by @luvt0kki had me dying and craving for more ♥

ʚɞ plug & play by @bangtanintotheroom ♥

ʚɞ Ugh, As if - series by @ennysbookstore ♥

ʚɞ in vino veritas by @pirateprincessblog ♥ (wink wink)

And I would read anything my beloved, fellow crazy pyeongie @nateezfics ♥ and precious lover @ja3hwa ♥

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

I have yet to search for some very weird topic, I think? but one thing I do all the time is to write hand in hand with an online dictionary and some kind of thesaurus/ synonyms ressource website - as non native english speaker - so there will be times when I'm looking for a thousand different ways to describe a thing and I just have to take a moment to process and tell myself "what the HELL are you doing?"

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

I'm not an extremely sensitive audience as long as it doesn't involve anything non-consensual. I'm not too keen on extremely tooth-rooting fluff because I'm easily cringed but honestly, I'm quite a versatile reader.

🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

any sort of feedback honestly, as desperate as it sounds — I feel like us writers are seriously lacking some interaction, whether it's a comment, reblog or a message in our inbox and while I'm conscious most people are here to consume and call it a day, I wish I had more interaction with the people who actually read my stories.

Then again, I know that writing short OS/smut doesn't necesseraly inspire people some long heartfelt feedback about how they enjoyed reader being railed by <idol> but it's always motivating and exciting to know people are truly enjoying your works and want to see more ♥ I'm really not constant in my writing and can spend months in writer's block hell but to know people are expecting something is utterly motivating and warms up my heart ♥

Annnnd I rambled for way too long! Thank you again for asking, this was so much fun ! ♥

[enbyfallenfromthedeadstars]

@enbyfallenfromthedeadstars's map <3

| digital footprint - i have things to say - important links |

digital footprint

#deadstars reblog ; #deadstars answer anon

#deadstars autistic ; #deadstars bipolar

#deadstars transgender ; #deadstars aroace

#deadstars do memes ; #deadstars make art

some thoughtful reflections & analysis are grouped under those tags (especially the autistic one) so i didn't bother adding them in the following section - feel free to search

i have things to say

offering my help to writers in the marauders fandom translating in French

talking about the glamourisation and normalisation of murderers in fiction (with Barty and Evan from Marauders fandom as support)

why i hate "name-me-three-songs" type of guys

over-analyzing doesn't exist

talking about an eye-opening vegan post i saw

almost all are under under the #ted talks, easy to find on my account with the research option

important links

🍉 instagram account sharing a different fundraiser for palestinians each week (from a friend)

🍉 website grouping Palestinian GoFundMe (not mine)

🍉 post with some unfinished Palestinian GoFundMe 1 (not mine)

🍉 post with some unfinished Palestinian GoFundMe 2 (not mine)

🍉 post with some unfinished Palestinian GoFundMe 3 (not mine)

🍉 tumblr account documenting scammers (@azalea-alter)

🎨 multiple ressources for artists (not mine)

🖌️ differences between trope, theme, cliché, motif & archetypes (not mine)

🏳️‍⚧️ misgendering and malgendering (not mine)

♾️ list of things you can do to feel better as an autistic person (not mine)

💙 multiple links to help in dark moments (not mine)

💙 sweet message you need to read when you're sad (not mine)

💙 suicide hotlines numbers (not mine)

~~~~ i totally stole this idea from @fixing-bad-posts, you should go to see what they're doing it's fabulous

[istadris]

I was not kidding with my post about Bowuigi fic writers putting Luigi in the kitchen, I swear most of y’all are actually cooking books writers putting on a fanfiction hat, meanwhile I’m using every excuse available in the book to NOT have Luigi within 50 meters of a stove because I hate cooking and I don’t want to research recipes.

By the way if anyone has ressources on how to write actual plumbing stuff, I’m all ears because that’s something I actually want to include in my writing of the Bros.