Stargate Viewing Party @stargatevp - Tumblr Blog

Reblog if you write fic and people can inbox you random-ass questions about your stories, itemized number lists be damned.

pgwodewose

My stance is that before you embark upon writing your own mythology retelling, you should actually read the source literature you're basing your retelling on as opposed to simply relying on other retellings.

queer-ragnelle

And this is NOT gatekeeping. Not when I’ve got all the material at @arthurianpreservationproject at least for Arthurian Legend. Many translations of Greek myth are available on the Internet Archive as well.

Everyone has bias so basing your stuff on retellings is not only taking someone else’s interpretation at face value, it’s in poor taste. Read the myths and form your own opinions and ideas. Wikipedia and blog posts are not sufficient if you intend to adapt for yourself.

pgwodewose

To add to this, not only is this not gatekeeping, this is pushing the gate wide open. This is telling artists to go explore and frolic in the pastures and ancient woods beyond the fences.

As ever, I'd like to direct people to this quote by Michael Moorcock:

To this day I advise people who want to write fantastic fiction for a living to stop reading generic fantasy and to go back to the roots of the genre as deeply as possible, the way anyone might who takes his craft seriously. One avoids becoming a Tolkien clone precisely by returning to the same roots that inspired The Lord of the Rings.

The same applies to retellings (and adaptations, for that matter, since one user brought it up in the tags). For example, you are less likely to write a TH White clone if you go and read Malory for yourself, or for that matter go further back to Malory's own sources such as the Vulgate Cycle. Another example, you are less likely to become a Madeline Miller clone by reading Homer's Iliad and Odyssey for yourself.

And for heaven's sake, don't do what I did as well for years which was rely on summaries and articles. Try and go as in depth as you can, and face the work on its own terms (but don't be intimidated by its age, either).

Because as Ragnelle said above, by approaching these works by yourself, you will likely come to your own conclusions and not just parrot someone else's. Ideally as well, you will be less likely to end up parroting tired and terrible tropes (particularly racist and misogynist tropes) that have their origins in other people's retellings, as well as flanderisations of the characters and misinterpretations and generalisations of the stories themselves brought about by pop culture.

transformativeworks

The OTW is Recruiting for Open Doors Technical Volunteers, Tag Wrangling Volunteers, and Translation Translators

Do you know programming languages like SQL or Python and want to help rescue at-risk fan archives? Want to wrangle AO3 tags or translate them into English? Are you fluent in other languages? The OTW is recruiting: https://otw-news.org/2p94jnbf

transformativeworks

Applications for Translators are still open, check out our volunteering page for more information: otw.org/volunteer!

uptownthots

“it isnt something you have to read critically” well 😭

uptownthots

this technically is true but I think this also perfectly encapsulates why I am inherently distrustful of like. “”cozy”” “turn your brain off” fiction lmfao. like okay WHO gets to turn their brain off and who has to suffer through bigoted caricatures of themselves while everyone else is having cozy silly no brain time 😐

station18908

The small voice in your head that says: "I don't need to write down every small detail of this plot idea, I love it so much, I'll remember this."

That's the devil speaking.

becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys

Tossing a signal boost out into the world, but AO3 is currently seeking Welsh speaking volunteers for translating the website itself and also support emails. Applications close 22 July

I have zero time myself but this is very cool

stargatevp

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smithsonianlibrariesarchives

A diagram comparing a human hand to the equivalent limb in other mammals from Henry Fairfield Osborn's The age of mammals in Europe, Asia and North America (1910).

Full text here.

xalatath

IMPORTANT

sga-mcshep-4ever

be nice to him!

transformativeworks

The OTW is Recruiting for Open Doors Technical Volunteers, Tag Wrangling Volunteers, and Translation Translators

Do you know programming languages like SQL or Python and want to help rescue at-risk fan archives? Want to wrangle AO3 tags or translate them into English? Are you fluent in other languages? The OTW is recruiting: https://otw-news.org/2p94jnbf

stargatevp

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sg1

Favourite Stargate SG-1 Episodes ↳ Wormhole X-Treme! (Season 05, Episode 12)

limbel

we have to thank our brave soldiers in fandom who write gen fics. we have to thank our brave soldiers in fandom who write character studies and stories with no focus on romance or sex. we have to get on our knees and thank the brave soldiers in fandom who write about minor characters and friendship and family with no focus on romance or sex. i know it’s hard to care about characters in a world that seems to only revolve around ships but i see you. and i love you