Giveaway Contest: We’re Giving Away Ten Vintage Paperback Classics By Albert Camus, Franz Kafka, Kate

That was something that needed to be said.

some fanfics shouldn’t even be called fanfics that shit is classic ass literature

Welcome to little_details, a community that helps writers with their research and fact-checking. We have a large, diverse membership that can answer questions such as: “If I hit my character on the head like so, what will happen?” “Will this destroy the Earth?” “Can guys have freckles on their penises?” All types of fiction writers–professional, amateur, fanfiction, original–are welcome to post questions. Our focus is on factual accuracy rather than general writing advice. If you’re still not sure what we’re about, reading our recent entries page should give you a better idea. (The answer to the last question, by the way, is “yes.”) ANONYMOUS POSTING If you have a question but don’t have a LiveJournal account, or would like your identity to remain secret, you can submit it as a comment here. A moderator will post it to the community for you. The question will appear on the community’s main page.

Happy 12th Birthday, Little Details! ♥

So about 3 years ago, I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression in my final year of highschool. I got splitting headaches every day, blanked out in the middle of tests, broke down regularly, was extremely suspicious of people, tried to please everyone, the works. It didn't really help that I am really competitive about my studies.

In the short term, I would first recommend going to a doctor - there are medications that can actually reduce the immediate feeling of anxiety, lower your heart rate and calm you in stressful situations. Knowing you're on something that works can make you more confident in your ability to overcome it, too. My psychiatrist also recommended some breathing exercises in those moments - take deep slow breaths, and concentrate on how your tummy moves in and out with each. It takes your mind off the situation. Control your body language - if you have to, imagine you are your favourite cool character in your favourite show or book. No matter how you feel, force yourself to walk confidently into a situation. Tell yourself you can handle it. Trust me, it really works.

In the long run, you will have to work with yourself. Therapy is useful, but you don't really need to go. Figure out which thought processes are telling you that you should conform to other people's expectations, and challenge them every time you start to think that way. Tell yourself that you are amazing, every time. They should be glad they know you. I would say, set a goal for yourself, maybe talk to a new person every month, or join a club for you've never done before. Keep trying, and make an active note of your improvements.

Try to actively avoid things that depress you, even if you like them. Some of my favourite songs and books are depressing, and I have avoided them for a while. If you are going to go to them, focus on other things - how nice the voice sounds or the particular style of writing. Actively find things that pump you up, and pursue them. Listen to deep bass in your music, find books or shows that crack you up. Tell yourself you can and will be happy. Make stupid jokes and laugh at yourself. Try to challenge pessimistic thinking. Try to walk with a spring in your step, even when you're tired. Get excited about things you like.

Remember, it's all up to you. You can choose to wallow in your issues, or try to overcome them. It won't be quick, and it won't be easy, but it's the only real way you can do it. Remember, there are lots of people with the same problems who have gotten over them, who are happy and successful.

All the best. We're all here for you.

Hi i really need advice on how to overcome anxiety. Lately I've been really down because I've recently come to realization that life is moving way to fast and that I'm not really living it like a normal teenager should because I'm letting my anxiety and what other people think get in the way of what I want to do in life. Also because I tend to be skeptical a lot, it causes me to be pessimistic with really bothers be because I really just want to be a happy positive person. Plz help me plz!!!

anyone wanna tackle this one?

Giveaway Contest: We’ve partnered with Alma Books to give away five of their beautiful Alma Classics Evergreens editions (pictured above)! Won’t these look lovely on your shelf? :D To win these classics, you must: 1) be following macrolit on Tumblr (yes, we will check. :P), and 2) reblog this post. We will randomly choose a winner on June 4, at which time we’ll start a new giveaway. And yes, Alma Books has agreed to make this an International giveaway! Good luck!

I will say, thank you. I've been trying to get enough info to write a reasonably historical fic for a while, and now I have somewhere to start!

Some things England/Spain shippers (and the rest of the Hetalia fandom) get wrong

“Spain’s hegemony over the seas ended after the Armada’s defea-”

“The Anglo-spanish war (1585-1604) was a victory for Engl-”

“British Empire replaced Spanish Empire after 1588”

“Both Empires (Spanish and British) were even during X perio-”

“England and Spain have always been enemi-”

“England has always beaten the crap out of Spa-”

England/Spain is my OTP, and since I’ve read too many times things like the ones listed above I think some real historical stuff would be enlightening for everybody. So, shall we?

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Have you ever realized that people go crazy over sparkling vampires in Twilight, but there are vampires with epic nosebleeds in anime, and we're just totally fine with it?

We each pray that the other will wake to better days, and then, without looking back, we go our separate ways.

Grazia Curcuru (via prosebyday)

she raised an eye indeed to the beauty of Gilgamesh, or, Ishtar did nothing wrong

One of the canons I follow just introduced its version of the goddess Ishtar as a character. From what little I’ve been able to read translated so far, I like her a lot. But a lot of the fandom has been kind of losing its shit over what a horrible character she must be based partly on very limited and biased in-universe evidence but mostly on cherry-picked selections from the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Did I mention Gilgamesh in this canon is a huge fan favorite? Yeah.

Anyway, I’ve spent most of the past year researching the mythology surrounding star goddesses of love and sovereignty in the Ancient Near East, starting with Inanna and her near-counterpart Ishtar. So I am well-placed now to explain why, in fact, Ishtar did nothing wrong in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

I mean, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. She’s a goddess, and ancient deities are frequently assholes just in general. But it’s not entirely untrue either. See, you can’t divorce stories from their culture entirely; you need to know a little about the culture of ancient Babylon to understand the Epic of Gilgamesh. It turns out that in context, the whole matter of Ishtar’s advances on Gilgamesh and subsequent reaction to his rejection of her is way more complicated than it appears.

Under the cut: a brief lesson in ancient Sumerian and Babylonian religion and the explanation of why Ishtar did nothing wrong.

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Giveaway Contest: We’re giving away ten vintage paperback classics by Albert Camus, Franz Kafka, Kate Chopin, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ray Bradbury, and others. Won’t these look lovely on your shelf? :D To win these classics, you must: 1) be following macrolit on Tumblr (yes, we will check. :P), and 2) reblog this post. We will randomly choose a winner on March 5, at which time we’ll start a new giveaway. And yes, we’ll ship to any country. Easy, right? Good luck!