Giveaway Contest: We’re Giving Away Fifteen miniature-sized, Vintage Paperback Classics By Fyodor

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?

This is me tossing a vague shrug in the direction of “fanfic isn’t real writing” argument because it’s based on a misunderstanding of genre.

Fanfic is its own genre with its own conventions from how fics are sorted: have you ever seen a lit magazine categorize a short story as ‘fluff’? Because I haven’t and you never see fics categorized by bookshop genres either.

Fic has its own rules around the expectation of conflict. You can write a 70 000 word fic in which there is no conflict. I never have but it could be done. I have a 40 000 word smut fic where NOTHING happens but it flies as fic because the rules for fic are different. 

Fic has its own rules around interacting and commenting: “I hate you and I want to die” is pretty nearly the highest compliment that you can receive on a fic but is not something I could see myself writing in a letter to my favourite author.  

Fic is writing in its own culture.

If someone says “fanfic isn’t real writing” to you then they’re telling you that they don’t understand fanfic and no amount of meticulously researched writing is going to change their mind. Your writing being perfect won’t change their mind.

When “those people” talk about fic, they will forever be talking about stuff like My Immortal and never about stuff like Speranza or dirgewithoutmusic or (for an in-fandom writer) metawohoo. They don’t care about the best that fic has to offer. They’re looking for a reason to reduce the entire thing down to “teenage girls are weird - look at the weird thing they’re doing” 

So why bother appeasing them?

when you sitting there staring at a fic wondering what happens next and then you’re like oh shit i’m the writer

Some Basic Friendship Skills

Dos

1. Talk about things that interest others, and not just things that interest you.

2. Share the conversation. Don’t talk over others, interrupt others, or seek to be the centre of attention.

3. Be interested in what other people have to say. Ask open questions, and try to find out more.

4. Notice when people do well, and make the effort to praise them for it. Try to be an affirming, and encouraging, friend.

5. Be respectful, considerate and polite. Be sensitive to the feelings of others.

6. Think before you speak. (Sometimes it’s better to say nothing than to speak your mind and upset or offend).

7. Learn how to ask for what you want and need in a non-threatening, and non-defensive way. Don’t react; and don’t pick needless arguments.

8. Try to understand the perspective of others – and don’t just assume that you are right and they are wrong.

9. Look out for others – and be a trusted friend

10. Back off, don’t dominate, and give your friends some space.

Don’ts

1. Don’t brag about what you’ve done or what you’ve got.

2. Don’t put others down.

3. Don’t judge and stereotype people.

4. Don’t take over the conversation. Let others tell their jokes, and have their say.

5. Don’t try to control other people, or to make them do what you want them to do.

6. Don’t talk, or gossip, about others.

7. Don’t make jokes at others’ expense.

8. Don’t demand perfection – allow your friends to be human, and to sometimes make mistakes.

9. Don’t be sensitive and quick to take offense.

10. Don’t be mean or stab others in the back.

We were destined for this golden love.

APH | Portugal & Nyotalia England

Hard Times, Charles Dickens

This is 1 of 15 Evergreens editions by Alma Books you can vote on with your likes/reblogs. The five Alma Classics that receive the most notes will comprise our next giveaway, generously sponsored by Alma Classics! (Here’s our current giveaway.)

hey so it’s march now aka the beginning of endometriosis awareness month and i feel obligated to remind you that debilitatingly painful periods are not normal. if you or someone you know is ending up sick or bedridden every month, you are not crazy and deserve medical attention from someone who will take you seriously

Victorian Language of Flowers - Floriography

Flurs , Wirt( 1831), Shoberl( 1839), Waterman( 1840), Edgarton Mayo( 1843), The Flowers Personified( 1847), Dumont( 1853), Language and Sentiment( 1866?), Tyas( 1869), Greenaway( 1884), Diffenbaugh( 2011), Victorian Bazaar, aka, season, Sci. name?, origin( on Earth) abatina, fickleness abeceda...

Behold! The grand chart for flower language compiled by @hasty-touch & @halonic. After being introduced to it, a number of folks have taken to using bouquets, delivered within Ishgard (and perhaps without) to convey messages. Can confirm that House Pepin delivers discretely and provides excellent service.

Giveaway Contest: We’re giving away ten vintage paperback classics by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jane Austen, Harper Lee, Walt Whitman, George Orwell, 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 April 22, at which time we’ll start a new giveaway. And yes, we’ll ship to any country. Easy, right? Good luck!

Mental Space