Immediacy. Small gap between thought to action. Low barrier to making.
Limited/controlled distribution. I do not feel obliged to market myself.
I like books and booklets as objects in themselves and as repositories for content be it art, poetry, stories, or other.
Zines feel more intimate like there’s very little distance between the maker and the reader.
I like zines that are personal, that don’t pretend to be authorities on something.
I like stories/contexts behind how zines are created, like zines that were created parallel to a thesis, or at the end of a conference, or a road trip/travel experience, or in answer to a class assignment, or something you and your friends decided to make on a whim one friday afternoon.
I like zines created from someone’s old journals.
I like making zines with my hands. I like zines where you can see the handwriting, the smudges, the crossed out words.
I am drawn to witchy perzines, art and comics, divination-related, illustrated poetry, and so on.
There are some posts on Tumblr about how to make your home or room more "witchy" like dried plants, crystals and things like that........but perhaps, add nothing witchy to your room or house and change nothing. Just discover how all the energies are flowing in your home/room. How are the corners, the doorways, the different rooms, the floors, the ceilings? Does it need opening windows for making things better? Contact with every energy in your home. Some people see it, others feel it. Both equals the other. Some people need to meditate on different places in their house to experience things. Or ground on different places in their house to compare things with each other. Do what works for you.
Is there energy that resonates with you or with your house/roommates? Is the energy heavy and cluttered or just airy and light? Can you add more light energy to heavy parts of your house or can you ground places the more light places?->->-> just sit down at those places and think of the energy you want there... Is it helpful to clean up the cupboards to declutter energies? Do you need to move furniture or stuff to make things better? Balance is the key. Do this in all seasons, winter energy is different from summer energy.
You don't need stuff or things to make things more witchy. The witchcraft you search is in yourself, it is in your mind. Thinking that you need stuff is a trap. Yes, you can use correspondences but the very basis is in your mind.
Some knot-knickered traditionalist shrieking in my inbox: YOU CAN'T JUST THROW SPELLS TOGETHER OUT OF NOTHING, YOU HAVE TO MAKE SURE YOUR COMPONENTS ARE CLEANSED AND PREPARED PROPERLY, YOU HAVE TO PREPARE A RITUAL SPACE AND TIME IT JUST RIGHT AND USE VERY SPECIFIC HERBS TO-....
Me: -emptying the contents of storebought teabags into a recycled jam jar- Fascinating.
I’m reading this design book about prototypes and also Stuart Semple’s book Make Art or Die Trying. I think art is one of those things I am drawn to but intimidated by.
And one reason I got into zines is because I can just mess around and be amateurish at both art and writing and still come out with a finished product at the end of it.
But now I’m thinking that I can also approach zine-making as prototype-making and I can explore how to hone/revise drafted zines to improve them as experiences. Because there’s this drive to be better than I was, and the only way I can feel that is to keep making, and to improve upon previous iterations of a thing.
Semple’s book also talks about how concepts/ideas can be art already. And I like that. One of the exercises was to write ideas for art in the span of 10 minutes. One of the things I came up with was woven poetry. And well, the drive to try it out—to make a prototype—led to these:
It felt a bit like mad libs. Of course this is very rough and I want to try improving upon it. But I like it too. The process is as interesting as the product.
Im always looking at my art being like "this isn't good, is it?" And then i look at other paintings very closely, looking at brushstrokes and everything and im like "wait, we both did the same things here in our paintings, they also got bored of painting water and just fucked around. We're the same." And i feel better.
You know what I want out of a Buffy reboot? I want a trans slayer. I want someone assigned male at birth but pre-transition to show up with all the slayer abilities and everyone to be like “a boy slayer wtf???!!!” and then she’s like “oh I’m a trans woman” and everyone is like “ohhhhh.” I want the slayer line to transcend biology and genetics. I want slayer powers to be something so innate that it’s tied into one’s own gender identity. Please. Give me a trans slayer.
Today on my podcast “I’ll Follow You,” I am delighted to be in conversation with two organizers from the Critical Thinking Witch Collective, Alex Wrekk (@upthewitchypunx) and Maya Amatvult. Alex and Maya were kind enough to join me in my digital studio to talk about the work they’re doing with the Crit Witches, specifically in the lead-up to the annual Con that’ll be happening this September 27th, 28th, and 29th. The upcoming Con is entitled “Perception (and Perspective) Check! Life Through a Seeker's Lens,” and tickets for that are on sale now. Click here for show notes and more info. Hope you enjoy!
i don’t know about you guys but the main reason i am still on tumblr in 2024 is BECAUSE it is the most cloutless least influential social media app out there and that is the experience i am after. absolutely none of this will ever translate into significant attention or real success in my life and that is so beautiful.
An extraordinary Acheulean handaxe knapped around a fossil shell circa 500,000-300,000 years ago.
The maker appears to have deliberately flaked around the shell to preserve and place it in a central position. As a result this handaxe has been described as an early example of artistic thought.
From West Tofts, Norfolk.
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Courtesy Alison Fisk
Yeah if you don't have the energy to do spells all at once you can do the steps throughout numerous days btw. Day 1 gather ingredients. Couple days later put them together, couple days later finish spell. Its fine to do that
got started talking about Zines in the Letters server and realized an alarming number of people don't know about the True Nature of Zines, namely that they are Cheap and Have No Artistic Requirements
So I decided to Illustrate My Point with: A Very Quick Zine
FIRST the Tools of my Masterpiece:
ID: a piece of used printer paper, cheap pens, and my kitchen scissors
2)Behold An Cover
Cover reads: ZINE TIME , Zines R veRy Romantic (like this : skull and dagger image ) (not like Hallmark)
P1-2:
P 1&2 read: Spontaneous Unplanned Personal Expression , in this case my deep conviction that ZINES ARE CHEAP AND AWESOME
(a scratched out area says "SEE I messed up , don't worry about iiiiiit" )
p3&4
p3 and 4 read: Bouzingo parties would have concerts where no one would play an instrument UNLESS they DIDN'T KNOW HOW
(this is illustrated with a VERY bad drawing of a drum and a horn)
p5&6
p 5&6 read : these were NOT popular with the neighbors but that wasn't the point (this is illustrated with a frankly amazing depiction of an eviction notice)
Zines can be JUST AS BAD! EVEN WORSE! and the neighbors won't care
p 7&8
p 7& 8 read: LOOK @ THIS NONSENSE ! I don't even got a STAPLER
(illustrated by a hand pointing at my UNSTAPLED zine center, a stapler, and a staple remover) (Every staple remover is tortoiseshell, why)
p 9&10
p 9& 10 read: But I got Soul (to sell in Fallen London) and I'm not afraid to be REAL BAD at something (the first step to being Kinda OK at something!)
EMBRACE THE GROTESQUE (yr own bad art) (a person is hugging a skeleton,in a work that rivals Gustave Doré, probably)
p 11&12
p 11 & 12 read
Like a skeleton , Bad Art is FOUNDATIONAL and (nearly) FREE (Audobonesque birds illustrate the concept of Freedom, and also say Cheep Cheep) And we all face our own some day, even in only internally
p 13 & 14
p 13 & 14 read: NO art is worse than BAD art (like NO skeleton is...worse than...a bad skeleton...this metaphor is escaping)
IN CONCLUSION a zine should never cost more than a taco AND to hell with the Academie thenk you thenk you
( a gravestone clearly tells us this is THE END )
Back cover:
Back cover reads: ... gonna pin this with a dang chip clip
(final shot: the zine is indeed pinned with a chip clip.)
SEE a 15 page zine made and posted about in less than an hour! this is how it goes! do not even worry about it!!! make zines! make joy!!
There should be a fanfic writing game called the showrunners challenge where someone writes a story and partway through someone else can play things like "actor leaves after 4000 more words" or "topic now too politically sensitive due to unforeseen world events" or "lost rights to that reference"
I do not have the energy do do a full layout right now b/c it is kickstarter season and I am under water, but here's a prototype that can be solo-played (you can also have a friend just pick from the lists if you want that pvp feeling.)
Showrunner's Challenge
By Runawaymarbles
(also sorta by sprintingowl)
Begin writing a fanfic. It is a feature length television program being watched every week by thousands. There is no plan. The industry is in shambles. The writer's room is barely hanging on.
At the end of each chapter, roll a d12.
1 Everything at once. Roll twice, use both. If you get this again, keep rolling. Your only way out is to stop getting 1s.
2 Product placement! The next chapter must center (and subtly promote the features of) a product belonging to the most recent brand you've seen.
3 Fan favorite. Your most recently mentioned character (or named object) is now beloved by the audience. You must give it a bigger part in the story, a special destiny, or an important new romance or friendship. If you get this twice for the same character or object, the adoration cools and you must go back to treating the character or object normally.
4 Executive meddling. You must change to a different genre. You cannot go back to a genre until you have changed genres three times since then.
5 Audiences are craving more coziness. The next chapter must be completely low stakes and set you at ease.
6 Audiences are craving more suspense. The next chapter must take place entirely in a single location, ideally just a single room, and build tension with every exchange of dialog.
7 Audiences are craving more action. The next chapter needs to involve at least one extended fight scene, and the weapons must be the last three objects mentioned.
8 Audiences are craving more romance. The next chapter needs to involve a deep, sappy confession of either love or admiration between two characters that have not previously been romantically involved.
9 Go to the most recent line in your fic that references a brand. Due to ongoing legal action, that brand cannot be mentioned again, but you score 1 audience point every time you allude to it in a way that paints it in a negative light.
10 The two most recently mentioned characters' actors have, IRL, gone through a VERY messy divorce or friend breakup. You cannot put them in the same scene, but they must both remain relevant parts of the show. If you get this with the same two characters again, they reconcile.
11 The most recent negative event (stabbing, poisoning, banishment to jupiter) is now the center of a very real IRL news story. You must immediately pivot away from all plotlines involving it and, if possible, also find away to apologize for even thinking to include it without breaking character.
12 The most recently mentioned character's actor has decided to leave the show. You must write them out in the next chapter. If you are brave, also roll a d12. 1--6, they were well loved and their sendoff must be as flowery as possible. 7--12, they were despised by the cast and crew. Mulch them.
You win if you can complete the fic in a state of relative coherency.
Alternate Game Mode: TV Digest Version
Don't write full chapters, just summaries of what happens in each chapter.
Alternate Game Mode: Realism Edition
Start your fanfic with your own telling of the first episode of an existing show, then proceed from there.
