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@flickering-identities
Please read the FAQ and Guidelines before sending in anything!
Hello! Welcoming to flickering-identities! This is a blog dedicated to answering questions about fictionflickers and otherflickers, since there's not a lot of info on them all in one place. My hope is to educate and perhaps help some folks find a label to call their own. Glad to see you here!
hey ,, ive looked into fictionflickers for a while now but ive been looking at it and it seems as if ( as far as im aware ) its something which whilst someone is a flicker it doesnt like appear and dissapear through the period someone is one happens ,, whereas i go through days where i will identify as the character for about half a day then i will feel like myself again , do u know what this is called ? sorry if any of the way i put this was disrespectful , i am still learning terms etc .
This sounds like it could be an mshift or something, but I'm not quite sure! Flickers can last for any length of time I'd imagine, and if it's recurring during that interest then I'd say it counts! It might also be worth looking into cameotypes/cameoshifts.
Hello hello! I'm fictionflicker and I've recently found your blog! I was wondering if you'd ever do a post about fictionflicker terms! I've been looking everywhere for the correct terms for certain things but so far I haven't found anything ~Funky Anon
Perhaps! What type of terms are you looking for? In general, there aren't a lot of overarching terms from what I've seen, but if anyone would like to add some then feel free! I might end up making a post for the ideas I've had over time for terms myself.
I'm a little confused about a part of my identity. I've been calling it a flicker but I'm not sure if that actually fits? Best way I can describe it is that I only identify as a dog or an alicorn when I'm shifted to that creature. Calling myself either of those at any other time isn't right. But a cameotype is a shift you don't identify as, so that doesn't work either. Do you know what I should call this?
Hmm... Well, a flicker tends to be an identity you feel when you're thinking about it. The way I personally like to describe it is somewhat like a 'hyperfixation identity', in a way. Identifying only when shifted isn't something I've actually fully heard of before! If you consider it a flicker though, you're always free to use the label. Whatever works for you. You could also make your own term, if you wanted. I'd be interested to see if anyone else also experiences something like this and would like to add to it.
Things they don’t tell you about fictionflickering: as you age, your flickers get more and more obscure and weird, until eventually, you’ve gone from fictionflickering popular video game protagonists and modern cartoon villains to flickering from 3 minute long animated music videos, Ray Bradbury novels, experimental 1980s CGI shorts, and the hellish imaginings of your own mind.
What is it with me and flickering characters from early-to-mid-20th century classic literature? Is this just what happens when a fictionflickerer decides to major in English?
alterhuman flags: otherflicker & fictionflicker
fictionflicker
[Image ID: A flag with 7 horizontal stripes and a circle in the middle. Top to bottom, the stripes are dark magenta, medium magenta, light pink, light yellow, light red, medium red, and dark red. The circle is the same light yellow as the center stripe, and has a large black image of a candle's flame in the center.]
Fictionflickering is a term for an identity where one takes on the identity of a fictional character or creature for a temporary amount of time. These flickers, which can feel identical to kintypes, typically fade out a short time after the consumption of relevant media ends, although they may last longer.
Fictionflickers may or may not include past life memories or feelings, and may exist for spiritual, psychological, or any other reason. It is somewhat of a grey area of kintypes, and the two can share many experiences such as shifts and identifying as rather than with. The main difference between fictionkin and fictionflickers is that fictionflickers are transient and not permanent.
Some experiences that a user might call flickering may have are small differences between the above description, but flickering is meant to be a nebulous term that doesn't have to be as strict as fictionkin is considered to be in terms of experiences.
The equivalent of kintype for flickering is flicker or flicktype. Fictionflickering is under the otherflicker umbrella.
It is believed that this term originated in 2006. Some resources about flickering are here:
- https://archive.ph/2h5Ob
- https://fictionflickers.livejournal.com/profile
- https://archive.ph/GPprB
otherflicker
[Image ID: A flag with 7 horizontal stripes and a circle in the middle. Top to bottom, the stripes are dark purple, medium purple, light purple, light yellow, light blue, medium teal, and dark teal. The circle is the same light yellow as the center stripe, and has a large black image of a candle's flame in the center.]
Otherflicker is a term that was originally based on fictionflicker, but broader, including animals and other things that may not necessarily be fictional. The above information about fictionflickers is accurate to otherflickers, except that otherflickers do not have to source their flickers from media (although they might).
Fictionflicker falls under the otherflicker category.
Hello! I've never looked into fictionkin/ fictionflicker terminology before as I'm a therian but lately I've been having reoccurring "cameo-shifts" of a considered problematic character (ticci toby) that through your blog I've learned is a fictionflicker.
First off thank you for creating such an easy to understand informational blog!
Now my question is if you'd have any tips on dealing with a fictionflicker of a problematic character? Or for a fictionflicker in general? I've never had one of these before.
Thank you kindly!
Thank *you* kindly! I'm glad that this blog has been helpful to you, and I'm glad the information is easy to understand! Dealing with a flicker of a problematic character is the same as dealing with any sort of ID relating to that. At the end of the day, it's your identity, and nobody has a right to tell you what you can and can't be, problematic or not. You have your reasons for it, and it's not particularly in your control, so you shouldn't fault yourself or let others fault you for it. In terms of handling flickers, honestly, you sorta just ride it out from my experiences. Take it as it comes, find things you like about it and focus on all the aspects you're given, since they tend to give pretty interesting insights about things for later down the line. If you're really not fond of it though, I could suggest trying to focus on a different media? Distracting yourself from the identity may help it fade faster, but it's really up to you.
It's so amazing to see a flicker blog here! It's nice to see the label get some attention, it took me a while to figure out I experience flickers which would have a been a quicker process if I was more familiar with the experiences of flickers lol
Yeah, there's not much about them around unfortunately! I think it would have been easier for me if I knew about their existence earlier too. That's the importance of normalizing terms! I'm glad that you enjoy the blog!
Tysm for answering my question (the one asking for whether or not my experience would fit under the fictionflicker label)! I'm glad that I may fit under the label, since it seems to be the only thing I've found so far that fits my experience decently enough. I have one more question though, if that's alright. Is it normal to have like... A list of characters like a kinlist sorta thing, but for flickers (unsure if that's the right term, I apologize if I got that wrong)? I have a few that have been coming and going for a few years and I'm thinking of listing them out somewhere on my blog, but I don't know if that's normal or if it's kind of like.. frowned upon for some reason. I don't wanna make a rookie mistake or anything and end up attracting unwanted attention lol. Sorry if that's an odd question, I have anxiety when it comes to this stuff and I don't wanna accidently cause problems in the community since I'm so new to all of this.
Many people have lists that display their flickers, hearttypes, kintypes, what have you. I don't think anyone will be particularly upset with you for doing it, especially if you find it easier or more accessible that way.
I just wanted to say that the term ‘fictionflicker’ has brought me so much joy and solace. I haven’t found a community around it and I don’t know if I would want to, but it’s a word that means so much to me. I really thought I was out of my mind with the way I’d internalize characters while hyperfixating and I never knew how to talk about it, and it’s been such a comfort to have a term that feels like it describes what I experience.
I'm glad that the term has brought that positivity into your life! It's always great to have a term to put to something after so long ^^
Hi! I have a question about fictionflickers, if that's alright. I'm very new to kin-related stuff in general, but after asking around a bit, I wonder if I may be a fictionflicker (not sure if you'd say "a fictionflicker" or just "fictionflicker", sorry if i got that wrong). The thing is, it's hard to tell if my "identities" come and go the same as they do for most. I have ADHD so I hyperfixate, and because of how long those can sometimes last, my identities can also last that long (sometimes months at a time), and idk if that's short enough to be considered fictionflicker. Also, they don't always like... Entirely go away? Like, they stop being a major aspect of myself, but they're still a minor aspect of myself even after the main fixation fades. The intensity fluctuates depending on if I consumed the media they're from recently or if I do something that reminds me of them, but they don't necessarily go away entirely all the time (some do, but it's not very often). Do you think that would be fictionflicker? Don't feel pressured to answer, I just wanted to ask :]
That does indeed sound like it could be flicker-related! I can't speak for everyone here, but that tends to be how my own flickers present themselves. Flickers last a short amount of time, but there's no overall cap to how long or short they have to be to count, the only main thing is that the 'I am' feeling is temporary, or fades out when one isn't actively thinking about the source or identity. Everyone experiences the fluctuation of their flickers differently. And, of course, at the end of the day it's up to you to decide if that label fits your experiences and if it's the one you want to use.
I put on a certain outfit that send me spinning into a new and fun shift, but I know as soon as I take it off and go to sleep I'll stop being shifted and I'll be sad to see it go :( the problems of being an otherflicker
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Out of curiosity, what are y'alls feelings around your fictionflickers? Negative? Positive? Depends on who it is?
I personally often don't enjoy being in a fictionflicker, just because something about the knowledge that it likely is a flicker and is just gonna be gone one day makes me uncomfortable, like I have to try to get the most of it while I'm in it, which in turn just stresses me out and makes me not enjoy it like I want to.
This can vary depending on who the flicker is though, for example, I enjoyed my Toothless flicker after HTTYD came out quite a bit because for me it came with a more relaxed and fun/playful mindset, but on the other hand the one I am in right now is stressing me out because I am just not equipped to deal with all the baggage that comes with the character, to put it lightly.
Overall I find being a fictionflicker to be a very interesting and important experience, its just that I sometimes feel very stressed about being in a flicker when I am in one.
What are your feelings about your flickers?
wait whats a fictionflicker
A fictionflicker is essentially a phenomenon where a person temporarily takes on the identity of a fictional character, usually after consuming a lot of media with that character. So you may feel that you are that character in much the same way that you feel you are your kintypes (ei. Experience mental and phantom shifts, seem to have possible memories, feel homesick towards that fictional world, etc), but those feelings tend to cease shortly after you stop consuming the media that started them. So for example, maybe you just started reading, say, the Warriors series, and now you feel like you have this big revalation: you ARE Firestar, and you have all the usual stuff to back it up, you feel like you have always had the experiences to back it up, you just never made the connection until now and suddenly its all clear. Then, one day, you find a different series you want to read more, so you take a break from Warriors, and suddenly all your identity with Firestar fades away. Maybe he's still a character that's very important to you, but you no longer are him. That is, for most people, I think a fairly normal fictionflicker experience (and one that I had when I was younger).
if an identity oscillates between identifying as and and not identifying as over time (regardless of media consumption), could that be a fictionflicker?
That’d probably depend on a couple of factors. If the identity fluctuates to a lesser degree, for example, slightly identifying versus intensely identifying, I’d say probably not. However, if it’s more of a full ‘I don’t identify as this at all currently, but I know it’s still there and may come back’ then it definitely could be. Identities are strange, and if that label feels comfortable then I don’t see why it couldn’t fit.
yeah it kinda feels like it changes between a kintype and a hearttype. ive been questioning for nearly a year now and it just keeps coming and going xD
Hmm. That's a pretty unique scenario. From my own personal experiences, flickers that aren't in effect sort of feel like what I'd imagine dropped linktypes to feel like. There's an emotional attatchment in the sense that you know you once (and may again) identified as that thing, but in the current moment it doesn't feel all that relevant. Though I have had some that sort of feel like faint hearttypes. Given how inherently nebulous flickers are, I can't deny the possibility of it, though unfortunately I can't confirm it either. If anyone else has anything to add, feel free!
if an identity oscillates between identifying as and and not identifying as over time (regardless of media consumption), could that be a fictionflicker?
That’d probably depend on a couple of factors. If the identity fluctuates to a lesser degree, for example, slightly identifying versus intensely identifying, I’d say probably not. However, if it’s more of a full ‘I don’t identify as this at all currently, but I know it’s still there and may come back’ then it definitely could be. Identities are strange, and if that label feels comfortable then I don’t see why it couldn’t fit.
Fictionflickering is such a unique experience that goes completely unacknowledged and unappreciated within the alterhuman community. I’ve had fictionflickers that at the time felt just as important as my permanent kintypes/fictotypes, and they continue to have a meaningful impact on me years later. It just feels clunky to talk about them or take any sort of moment to specify them because there’s so many of them, as I’ve been experiencing this my entire life. While I’m at it, “past fictionflicker” is such an unexplored category of label. Not quite comfort character, not quite synpath, not quite fictotype. It really is its own thing. And the association isn’t always positive.
Okay, everything should be good to go now. Tumblr is so weird... I tested out the links on desktop and mobile version and they both seem to be working. Sorry for all the inconvenience and trouble! Messages are now open, and the links should hopefully be working right.
