#somewherewefell

[thebibliosphere]

Quick question. What about those of us who, for some reason, can't do complete rewrites? Like, is there another way to edit that you'd suggest? Just wondering because lately I've been having trouble juat reading for long stretches.

As someone who suffers from chronic fatigue and brain fog as part of my illness...I’ve not found another way, other than to take it slowly and do what I can as and when I have the energy and brain function. There were entire months last year where I was too sick to sit up, let alone work coherently. 

You might, like me, find dictation helpful for doing those first drafts, before sitting down to edit or rewrite. If it’s fanfic? Find good beta readers to help you hash things out and work in small edits if you have to.But unfortunately, if you are aiming for professional publication, well, if you go the traditional route with agents and publishers and editors, you’re still going to be expected to do rewrites. It’s an inescapable part of publishing. Very few manuscripts are ever taken and sold on as they are.

[thatsjustsupergirl]

So, we didn't really talk about this in the discord, but can we address the Kyrptonian elitist comment and how much it means in terms of Kara and privilege? Like, how much of a culture shock must her initial years on earth have been, given the position of her family as one of the ruling council members on Krypton?

I apparently missed that line?? But I mean, I’ve been pointing out since S1 that Kara absolutely still has a superiority complex that pokes its head out from time to time. You see that very early on in the show, and it’s consistently there when she gets frustrated or loses her temper over the pace at which humans operate when they problem-solve. Kara frequently thinks she knows better than everybody else, and she also 100% feels entitled to make decisions that affect other people’s lives, even when you take the superhero stuff out of the equation.

[volando-voy]

Not to mention that the whole favouring Alex over Elena thing started to feel grating from 2x01 go down and the way Elena went through the whole not feeling that connection to her heritage thing made me pause and go what? Like, I'm not Latino but it feels weird to me that she wouldn't wven know Spanish, to pull that one example, when she lives in a family that speaks it at home.

ohhh, that part’s not weird at all. my SIL did the itty-bitty’s baptism service in spanish, and BOTH HER SIBLING AND MINE spent the whole thing staring in mute horror and praying nobody would ask them to speak.

one thing that I get re: Elena and I hope they follow up on eventually is that … sometimes you don’t realize how much you care about your heritage until you move to a new environment where nobody shares it. or like, you take a class where you really have to think about how you behave and what you value. or you start dating someone and discover their family is full of lowkey racists. you know, little things like that.

but one thing they didn’t do, and they really should have, was delve further into how her appearance affects her concern for her identity. she doesn’t feel constantly reminded that she’s different in the same way as Alex, so she doesn’t have to reconcile with her heritage in the same ways. (and there are negatives to being written off as not belonging, too, which again were totally glossed over at the expense of making a joke about how Elena didn’t feel sufficiently oppressed.)

[thatsjustsupergirl]

somewherewefell ha respondido a tu publicación “Gentle reminder that rushing to find reasons to prioritize the pretty...”

Wait, what now?

There were at least four separate posts about how J’onn was “mean” and “disrespectful.” Most of them contained a whole bunch of contrived bullshit about how he demeaned women and everyone made a joke at the expense of Lena’s feelings and ... you know. The kind of crybaby stuff white girls say while completely oblivious about how racist it comes across to literally anyone else not obsessed with their fave. Double points for the “but I’m an oppressed minority too bc gay, so I’m allowed to say it” excuse.

Meanwhile I laughed my ass off at that scene, because it captured what it feels like to be trapped in that kind of moment as a parent to perfection. There are indeed times when you have to have a conversation that makes you wish for death or perhaps a lobotomy or for an otherworldly portal to open and swallow you whole. Also, like, you want to talk about adopting strays: CONGRATS, PAPA BEAR. Poor Lena needs an adult.

[thatsjustsupergirl]

I mean, the book was a bit subtexty but sexuality didn't really come into play until book 2 anyway. Will you be sharing your thoughts soon or are you gonna wait until the episode airs?

I’m working on it. ;)

I can give you a starting point, which is: there are technically four witches in the story of Oz – any version of the story – not two.

We have Dorothy – Dorothy who has no idea why she’s even here, Dorothy who didn’t mean to hurt anyone but somehow manages to kill several people anyway, Dorothy who just wants to find somebody who can help her get the hell out of this mess and go home.

We have Glinda – poor, sweet Glinda, the one with the greatest social standing and, unfortunately, the greatest tendency to be duped by other people. A wonderful friend, but not an especially wonderful leader.

We have Elphaba – the witch whose title was chosen for her. The girl who couldn’t bear watching others suffer while she sat on the sidelines. Elphie who is, as the book puts it, “neither this nor that … or shall we say, both this and that? Both of Oz and of the other world.” Different, always, and always aware of it.

And we have Nessa – reputed for her “unflappable” faith, underestimated for her physical limitations, and yet still the most formidable of the bunch. She’s also the catalyst for the entire chain of events that unfold ... the story can’t happen without her.

Step two: how are these people connected to each other? ;)

[thatsjustsupergirl]

somewherewefell ha respondido a tu publicación “Do you think it ever bothers Eliza that Kara doesn't call her mom?...”

@karakryptonzorel and I have a lot of feelings about this because she's on a man of steel kick right now and the contrast is so obvious and delightful

I have so many feelings about how this parallels Alex and J'onn because it's the same thing but on a different level because these kids need such different things. It's the point of found family and I think it's significant because Kara's influences are so heavily maternal that naturally she'd come to regard Eliza in that way as well. Like, this show takes the "I had five older brothers" trope and turns it on its head until it's I have three mothers and a murder aunt and their influence makes me stronger. Like, Alura and Astra gave her the heart of the hero stuff but Eliza is the one who ends up building that foundation of compassion and empathy that underlines the mesaage of hope and help that Kara represents and we see that in every interaction she has with her girls. Like, this isn't a knock against Alura, but Kara was very much a product of Krypton's hierarchy when she landed and we see traces of it in 3x06 that linger

OH MAN, don’t distract me with SpaceDad feels like this. But yeah, I get what you mean re: Alura. She definitely was a huge influence as well-- but I think the contrast we saw between Kara and Overgirl interacting with each other made it very clear just how much Kara’s ethics as Supergirl are built on the influences of her human family. Alura certainly played a role in giving Kara a foundational moral code and an appreciation for justice, but ... I keep thinking about how much it bothered Kara to hear the stories of some of the Fort Rozz prisoners and I wonder what Alura would have thought about Kara’s decision to let Livewire go at the end of S2, or her willingness to sit down with Rhea.

Part of what makes Kara such a great hero isn’t just that she wants to help people: she also wants to help people help themselves, and she genuinely believes that they can do it. And that’s such a refreshing mentality, especially in contrast to the tumblr culture of “you did one thing I don’t like so I will loathe you forever!!!”

[thatsjustsupergirl]

I may actually be starting to doubt my own intelligence on this hellsite, but wasn't Rhea, ultimately, Kara's enemy in the back third of s2? I saw someone attribute her to Mon El but what I remember of her points more to 1. She hates Kryptonians, Els and especially Kara. 2. Only cares about her family so far as she can manipulate them and since Mon el took Kara's side he's only so useful and 3. Wants world domination. Correct me if I'm wrong because I saw someone say she was his villain.

No, you are correct. Rhea’s character motivations were scattered and illogical, but she was ultimately supposed to be the Big Bad for the end of S2. After Mon-El refused to leave, Rhea blamed that on Kara (because Kryptonian) and decided to revise her plans specifically to wipe out and conquer the new planet Kara had decided to call home. The problem with the storyline was that Kara largely just reacted to all of these things. Her personal stakes in the conflict weren’t developed well, even though she certainly had some, and then other characters who also had a stake in the outcome did very little to help while still getting substantial narrative focus.

[thatsjustsupergirl]

With the introduction of Brainy, how does the voting of Vice President of the Kara Danvers Admirers club go? I mean, we all know Alex is her sister's biggest fans but who comes second? The man who's been a fan of her since they met? The CEO trying to do goos ans reclaim her name? The pretty Saturnian? The better Lane? Or the cute, weird newcomer with a 12th level intellect?

Oh, maaaaaaaaan, this is a hard question.

We might just have to put them all in the training room together to duke it out.

(This is giving me Ideas, though. Because I just built a giant house in The Sims and I need 16 same-ish age characters to fill it, so I mean... get me an even number of girls and guys and I will happily undertake this virtual contest. For science.)