if all the published fiction you’re reading feels boring and slow then maybe you’re reading the wrong books.
tropes did not originate in fanfiction, and fanfiction is not the first medium to explore them. yes, fanfiction can work through them on a much broader scale than published fiction, but all that means is for every good fic you have a thousand mediocre ones, instead of a hundred mediocre books per one good one.
and that’s not a knock against fanfiction, far from it. that’s exactly why it’s good, because everyone has the opportunity to write and be read, regardless of skill level. but to act like authors who work so hard to be published, who spend years working on manuscripts and submitting and editing and resubmitting and re-editing, are somehow behind the world of fanfiction in a way that’s outdated and cliche? get out of here.
idk, i’m just really tired of this attitude that “fanfic is SO much better than published fiction because WE HAVE NO RULES” like… i understand where it comes from, we instinctually want to push back against a society that doesn’t respect fanfic, but you don’t need to put down one to uphold the other! there is value to both kinds of writing. there’s a lot of authors out there who do both.
and again, i say to you, if you find published fiction to be awful and boring, you’re reading the wrong books. i have read some wonderful fanfiction. i have read some equally wonderful published works. i have read fanfiction and published works both that were bland and mediocre.
it has nothing to do with the genre, and everything to do with the skill of the writer (and in some cases, the editor). that’s all it ever comes down to. and that won’t change with the medium.
this. thank you! i needed the reminder.
to be perfectly honest, i am guilty of growing really complacent when it comes to reading purely fanfiction. i’m also very bad at finding new books. these two things are not unrelated. because i’ve grown comfortable with fanfiction, i’m not even actively looking for books, which in turn does not serve to help me find them.
we have to remember that when it comes to fanfiction, years in fandom have given us three things:
1) a very high level of accessibility. yes, there are books that are free, but virtually all fanfiction is. you can pick up a story and put it down far beyond what you would get out of a sample of a book. there is no risk of money wasted. and the incentive to pick up fic in the first place is already high, due to…
2) a great deal of recommendations in fandom. in many cases, when you began reading your favorite works, you’d already heard great things about them. fans create rec lists for the express purpose of getting other people to read fic. it’s the coolest example of free advertising i’ve ever seen, honestly—and it works because fic is free.
you’ll bump into rec lists just browsing tumblr. how many recommendations for books are you exposed to in comparison? that’s without considering the fact that if you do see a mention of a novel, it might not even be in a genre you enjoy reading. which brings me to item #3; consuming a large amount of fanfiction gives us…
3) the opportunity to refine our tastes. fanfiction hasn’t reinvented the wheel, you’ve just gotten better at spotting the trends that turn you away faster. you might even have a system for finding what you’re likely to enjoy: you’ve found the rec lists, your favorite authors, your favorite author’s bookmarks, etc. the stories you do get through are archived in your mind as masterpieces, while the ones you hit the back button on are quickly forgotten.
additionally, books are long.it’s easy to pick up a one-shot on ao3 you end up loving midway through, develop trust with an author, and begin picking your way through the rest of their works. many of us buy books from authors we don’t know and don’t open them, simply because they scream of Commitment sitting on a shelf (or in your e-reader).
let’s not forget that fanfiction plays with a cast of characters you already know, so you’re invested going in. a published book that is not part of a series has to introduce you to brand new OCs—and convince you to care about them.
most important of all: in a lot of cases, our favorite fic writers are aspiring (or actual!) published authors themselves. some start with fanfiction to get their feet wet; some do it purely for pleasure. it’s not good form to praise authors’ fandom-related works while putting down the ones an actual living is made off of—and that in some cases, much more work goes into.
Happy Birthday, Keanu Reeves (September 2nd, 1964 - ∞ ) “He’s very humorous, he’s very intelligent, he’s very gentle, he’s very sweet, and he’s just one of the most generous people that I know.”
“Sephora will start selling entry-level witch kits in October.”
All right witches, listen up.
Sephora is to begin selling a “witch kit” next month featuring a tarot deck, fragrances, a sage bundle, and a rose quartz crystal for $42.
I think it’s wonderful that witchcraft is making a resurgence, but what I don’t think is wonderful, is that a huge corporation like Sephora is trying to tap into this market.
Why don’t I like it?
Because Sephora has their fingers in enough pies and generates over $4 billion in revenue per year.
Because witchcraft produce and supplies should be provided by people with knowledge on the practise(s) and who care enough to make sure their products are ethical, of a high quality, and non-appropriative.
Because Sephora will be stealing business from actual witchcraft and occult centric shops who likely don’t make huge sums of money anyway due to the niche nature of the market.
Because Sephora doesn’t need the fucking money!
So, I urge you to share this post and refrain from purchasing this “entry-level” witch kit (and any future witchcraft related product) from Sephora. Instead, support small, witch-owned businesses. We need you and we’ve got your backs.
Also they’re selling the sage for “smudging” which, as we all should know, is a Native American specific practice. Seeing sage (white sage at that considering it’s fucking endangered) marketed by a big corporation is especially unsettling.
If you’re looking you get intro witchcraft, don’t buy from a huge money mongerer looking to be “trendy.” Support a small witchy business! Check out the many shops here on witchblr. Especially consider buying from witches of color!
As a witch and cosmetician, this post needs more attention because every point made here is 100% accurate and important.
this is one of the cutest most fucking delightful things i’ve ever seen.
Nothing about the niqab is cute. That it’s being normalized by the CBC is horrific.
Hey um, maybe, go fuck yourself? Plenty of women wear the niqab by choice, especially here in Canada. So yea, CBC is openly displaying people the way they exist here in our country. You need to take your prejudice and shove it as far up your ass as you can (which I assume won’t be very far with your head already being up there.)
“Plenty of women wear the niqab by choice” AHAHAHAHAHA. Ok hun tell yourself whatever you want to feel better. You’re so progressive!
You’re right, nothing exists in a vacuum. Niqabs are super conservative and can be used to oppress the women who wear them … in Muslim majority countries.
If @kaleighbytheway’s statement doesn’t get to exist in a vacuum neither does yours.
This show is based and filmed in Toronto, a place where it is neither illegal or mandatory to wear a niqab. So by virtue of that, yes it is their choice.
We know nothing of their home life. Not their father or mother or siblings. Nothing. So, you can’t come to the conclusion that they are being forced to wear those.
You can say that they are being forced by their religion but Islam is a religion they choose to follow. Seeing as they’re most likely adults.
This is not Muslim propaganda. It’s not rattling off all the great things about wearing niqabs! It doesn’t even portray them in a positive light. It’s more neutral than anything.
It’s literally a show just making a joke that could only work if two niqab-wearing women came into this store regularly. Nothing more, nothing less.
Oh, okay. I’m glad that the brutal misogyny that the niqab represents is so funny to you guys.
Yeah, that’s about as well as I thought it would go. Seeing as you’re an ex Muslim, we were never going to see eye to eye anyways.
There’s not a lot I can do to make you lessen your stance on the subject of the moral/ethical implications of showing niqabs in positive/neutral situations.
I’m not going to sit here and explain a to you a religion that you’ve first hand experience with.
So, I’m going to leave this convo as a sort of agree to disagree thing because this is the internet. And neither you or I owe the other any more time and energy.
adults, while forcing all children above the age of 5 to sit still, be silent, and obey orders for 7-8 hours a day with minimal breaks, reducing their exposure to fresh air and sunlight to almost nothing, forcing them to alter their natural sleeping patterns to increase productivity, and repeatedly telling them their self worth depends on their being able to follow these instructions perfectly for 13 or more years: kids these days are so lazy! they never go outside! they never want to do anything! clearly it’s not because of us!
The way we treat children is extremely inhumane, but so many adults want to dismiss it because it’s so normalized
You… You do realize that’s what it’s like to be a working adult…? And our days are even longer.
thats because an 8 hour work day is extortion and should be illegal. next question.
Either you’ve never had a job or you’re just lazy af. There’s nothing wrong with 9 to 5 jobs. Nobody is forcing people to work them and people need the hours to make more money. People get breaks too.
Please take a biology class & get some help. People shouldnt have to do work 80% of the day to survive.
2. capitalism is forcing people to work. i could just quit my job and hang out at home - but then i would lose my house and most likely starve to death, because of the way our economy works.
3. breaks for most establishments are a mere 30 minutes for an 8-hour shift; at my first job, for a 6-hour shift, your break would only be 15 minutes and any longer shift would only get 30. studies say people are more productive if for every hour you work, you get a 15-minute break - meaning, for an 8-hour shift, you’d need an hour-long break, and so on and so forth.
the way modern society views work is unhealthy for loads of reasons, not just what i mentioned here. the fact that we’re preparing children for such a torturous lifestyle is horrific.
Also like…. small children are not adults. Small children should not be held to the same standards as adults. Even if the 8 hour work day WAS healthy, it would be inhumane to hold a small child to the same standard.
The school system was literally designed to train people for factory work back when child labour was legal so that should tell you how fucked that is
Hey guys! This was my school-given animation project. The theme was ‘educational video about a strange animal’, so of course I chose Naked Mole Rats. I had about two weeks and *insert excuses*, so it’s not, you know, top notch. I didn’t have enough time.
Anyways, thank you so so so much, @bunjywunjyfor providing the heavily-edited… script? Please check them out, y’all, they’re a super cool fish!
So I’m reading “Medieval and Renaissance Medicine” by Benjamin L. Gordon and I just note that for the vast stretch of human history, it was considered a doctor’s duty to treat the poor for free, to the point where royal decrees were issued saying that doctors had to treat the poor free of charge.
(Fredrick II of Sicily, in particular, set the following forth as the code of physicians and surgeons, along with some bits on how a doctor must have attended lectures in logic for 3 years and lectures in medicine and surgery for 5 years, and spent a year practicing under the direction of an experienced doctor.)
“Fees of the Physician According to the Code
A. The poor must be treated without charge.”
Also, unrelated but I found it interesting; a doctor was ordered by law to do house calls, and could charge half a tarenus in travel fees for patients in his city.
I imagine this has something to do with the church’s beliefs about chariety? They used to believe a lot should be done for the poor
Partly, but it goes back further than that.
The Greeks would often have doctors paid by the city who were ‘public doctors’; they earned an annual wage and then would treat anyone who came to them. If a rich man wished to retain a private doctor, he of course could, but the poor had access to doctors for free. This was considered a basic service.
Later on, of course, Christian ideas of charity towards the poor entered into it as well, but the idea that poor people should be treated without cost is very, very old. The idea that poor people should be charged tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for treatment is very, very new, and runs counter to basic human morality going back a couple thousand years.
Given how hard western culture sucks the dick of Classical Greece, it’s amazing that having the gov. fund health care for the common citizens, something the Greeks were doing 2,000 years ago, is considered so controversial in the USA.
The medical field today requires so much funding to find working cures for diseases, though. Sure, medieval doctors would do stuff for free, but most medieval cures were based on superstition or assumptions and would either do nothing, make you worse, or just straight up kill you.
1. The poor were treated for free. People who could afford it paid.
2. The doctors were still paid. Just by the wealthy patients and/or the city/state, rather than poor patients.
2. Research was conducted, usually by colleges or schools supported by tuition money and gifts from various wealthy benefactors and governments.
3. Charging poor people for needed medical care has been considered unethical in most societies for several thousand years, and yet in the richest nation in the world we still charge poor people incredible and inflated prices for necessary medical treatment.
4. Seriously, the Greek system was an echo of single-payer health care 2,000 years before that was a thing, how is this so difficult for people to figure out.
