Machi

Just some thoughts and writings. Probably not as well-written and insightful as Niccolò Machiavelli. A tarot journey too. also books

[ehvenniser]

How your Moon deals with emotions

Air moons can’t express their feelings, kinda can’t accept love and restrain their emotions. They feel a lot but don’t know how to deal with it, can’t talk about it… so just ignore it? It takes them time to learn how to tell people how they feel. The last time they opened up to someone, they probably didn’t even listen nor care.

Earth moons are also really good at hiding their emotions to the point that people think they’re emotionless. These people rather deal with things by themselves. They don’t even consider telling others bout their struggles. However, this doesn’t mean they’re any less sensitive and emotional than other moons.

Water moons don’t have control over their feelings. It’s just that simple, you can’t lock up an ocean. Often times their emotions are the ones controlling them, they just let their feels take over. In a way, they fear their emotions?

Fire moons, just like water moons, have really strong emotions but they usually pile things in then snap when they can’t take any more. Fire moons tend to think that being sad is literally wrong because they’re used to being identified as happy, easygoing people. They prefer to not share about their private interests issues. You might be their friend for years but you can’t remember a time they really opened up about their emotions. (unless they have water in their chart)

//these are my thoughts based on observations

[loretellerwrites]

Introducing Loreteller

Allow me to introduce this project titled "Loreteller".

I have been curating writing tools, nuggets of psychology wisdom, mental models, and story bits for the past decade. I have a background in information systems and creative writing, and have worked in branding and design for a ton of companies.

Corporate marketing psychologist by day, but a creative writer by night: I'm building an expansive world for my novels and curating these tools along the way. In fact, there's a ton of knowledge gatekept by marketers and designers regarding character psychology, compelling writing, and narrative hooks that deserves to be shared.

Loreteller is the synthesis of years of piecing together mental models, plot structures, and narrative systems. Built for brand designers, dungeon masters, marketers, novelists, and storytellers of all kinds - and I'm exciting to share it.

What if you had an encyclopedic list of every aspect of character, plot, personality, and brand?

When I first started my career as a writer, that certainly didn't exist. I hope these tools inspire your own creativity and stories.

Whether you’re a marketer by day, novelist by night, dungeon master by weekend, or all three, these tools are designed to give you the express route to making smart narrative decisions. Or at least, to think outside of the box!

Charactercrafting, storysmithing, themeweaving, worldbuilding, gameforging - there's a ton of info to benefit from, and I'll be sharing bits of it on Tumblr.

See the full list of tools and guides here: https://free.loreteller.com

Let me know if you have any questions!

[lipsticklesbia]

i will never stop thinking about this poem my greek professor showed us

[only-tiktoks]

Theme Music: A Novel Book by T. Marie Vandelly

Hell Followed with Us Book by Andrew Joseph White

Below Book by Laurel Hightower

Last Days Novel by Brian Evenson

Exquisite Corpse Novel by Poppy Z. Brite

Brother Book by Ania Ahlborn

Off Season Novel by Jack Ketchum

A God in the Shed Book by J-F Dubeau

Your Mind Is a Terrible Thing Book by Hailey Piper

The Shuddering Book by Ania Ahlborn

The Book of Accidents Book by Chuck Wendig

The Deep Book by Nick Cutter

The Laws of the Skies Book by Gregoire Courtois

The Summer The Summer I Died Book by Ryan C. Thomas

[historicity-was-already-taken]

k-12 education and Holocaust literature

If any of you are educators, or parents struggling to determine which Holocaust books are appropriate for 9-13 year olds, I recommend Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr, and One Eye Laughing, The Other Eye Weeping: The Diary of Julie Weiss (Dear America Series) by Barry Denenberg.

Night and Maus are phenomenally important and powerful books, but I don’t think kids under ~13-15 are equipped to deal with that content. And I’m speaking as a Jewish woman and a Holocaust historian who, at the age of 10, was assigned to read Night by a Hebrew School teacher (tl;dr I was crying hysterically 5 pages in, and my mom tore several assholes). 

[oneshortdamnfuse]

To add - and I’m not Jewish so I don’t want to overstep but I would like to share something that was shared with me…

I took a literacy course in graduate school on this exact topic. My professor was Jewish and she was doing research on how educators teach difficult topics. We worked with her that year on how to find appropriate materials for different age groups, but we also talked about which stories were the best to center.

Books like Boy in the Striped Pajamas (for example) weren’t accurate and centered someone who wasn’t Jewish. It’s good to read about people doing heroic things during the Holocaust but valuing non-Jewish “saviors” over Jewish survivors does not help learners understand what they went through and it “romanticizes” the Holocaust.

A big resource for me, though, that I continue to use today is this list of Guidelines for Teaching the Holocaust that can be applied to children’s books and YA books at any grade level. It includes avoiding material that is too graphic, too romanticized, not precise language, quantitative rather than qualitative, et cetera.

So, even if there is an age appropriate book re: the Holocaust… It might not fit this criteria and as a result children may be desensitized to it or they may romanticize the “heroes” of the Holocaust and so on

[historicity-was-already-taken]

You are not overstepping at all! This is a wonderful addition and I really appreciate your inclusion of that title!! I’d love a list of other readings/resources/etc from/related to that course, if possible.

[oneshortdamnfuse]

Sure! I’d love to share some titles we reviewed. A good starting point when choosing books for kids is to look up the “lexile” level of a book and the typical corresponding grade level that goes with it.

Hub.lexile.com is one resource you can use. You can search books by ISBN, if it doesn’t come up with the correct book by title or author. If I search Refugee by Alan Gratz, for example, it gives me a lexile of 800L with an age range of 10-14.

Now that I know the typical age range, I would then go through the USHMM criteria to determine if it’s a good book to talk about the Holocaust. In this case, Refugee compares the narratives of three different refugees during three different crises including the Holocaust. While it is not exclusively about the Holocaust, it does help children understand the experiences of refugees without “comparing pain.”

Please note, though, that lexile levels don’t always translate to appropriate age range. Certain books may be easier to access language wise, but the content may be more mature. (e.g. Night by Elie Wiesel has a lexile level of 590L, but it’s considered appropriate for ages 14+)

I can’t remember all of them, but here are a few other titles we reviewed:

Hidden by Loïc Dauvillier (530L)

Four Perfect Pebbles by Marion Blumenthal Lazan (1080L)

Survivors of the Holocaust by Kate Shackleton (750L)

The Whispering Town by Jennifer Elvgren (530L)

Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story by Ken Mochizuki (610L)

Some good websites for teaching specifically are:

Facing History and Ourselves

IWitness Testimony - includes hundreds of interviews from survivors of the Holocaust and other crises; interviews include transcripts and they can be sorted by demographics and topics discussed

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

[unlikemachiavelli]

Where is my art going, as a career?

8 Pentacles

Working hard to master the craft,

8 Swords

But tied down by my own shackles.

[modern-austen]

GUYS I JUST SAW THIS ON TWITTER AND I AM DYING

[rockboci]

[no-terfs-no-swerfs-no-fascists]

Add the author’s reply, cowards!

[thewhiskeykitteh]

I scrolled through the notes on this post and my favorite has to be one mockingly accusing Madeline Miller (a Latin and Greek teacher with a Masters in Classics) of needing to do research and she wasn’t a real writer like them.

Anyway when I read that line I immediately understood what she was trying to say.

[what-even-is-thiss]

I'm volunteering for a literary journal right now and there's two things I think you all should know.

1. Most people that submit to literary journals are cis white men. We know this because our journal has an anonymous survey about demographics for people that submit.

2. Most things that get submitted to the creative non fiction section are on the level of middle school "What I did over the summer" essays.

I cannot see the demographics of the people whose essays I'm reading, but guys, if you are wondering if you should submit your work to a literary journal or not, I promise you that just in terms of statistics there are a lot of mediocre cis white men and people in general confidently submitting weird crap that isn't literature to literature magazines. Do it. Submit your work. Please. If you want there to be more diversity in literature, be the diversity. Do it. Do it do it do it.

[what-even-is-thiss]

In general literary magazines want to include more diversity, but if poc, queer people, disabled people, etc. don't submit their work then they aren't gonna get more diverse because we just won't have the material necessary to get more diverse. Submit your work. Do it. Do it. Do it do it do it.

[what-even-is-thiss]

Here's a list of university run literary journals. Do it. Get published.

[what-even-is-thiss]

[wilthered-dreams]

Many indie lit mags also welcome works from BIPOC and LGBTQIA creatives because the editorial staff themselves are in that demographic. Quarantine brought on the start of the SO many indie lit mags - it’s almost a golden age. Don’t be afraid to submit — there will always be so many niches and aesthetics that one will bound to be the one that fits your style. 

There is so much work from marginalized narratives in litmags these days — people lament there is no representation in media, but that disregards the progress and diversity of the works of editors and writers who help make these litmags possible. 

There is representation, and it is flourishing. They are waiting to be read. 

The Lumiere Review compiles a list of submission opportunities every month, and it are always very useful: 

https://lumierereview.com/sub-sep-oct-2021

List of Litmags that Specifically Look for Work from Marginalized Creators or is Run by Marginalized Creators:

Warning Lines: https://warninglines.com/

With Confetti: https://with-confetti.com/

Giving Room Magazine: http://www.givingroommag.com/

The Bitchin’ Kitsch: https://www.talbot-heindl.com/

Tealight Press: https://www.tealightpress.com/

Tipping the Scales: https://www.tippingthescalesjournal.co.uk/

The Winnow Magazine: https://www.thewinnowmagazine.com/

perhappened: https://www.perhappened.com/

AZE Journal: https://azejournal.com/

Honeyfire Lit: https://honeyfirelit.com/

and so much more!!

(And even if some litmags’ mission statement isn’t specifically for marginalized creators, they will always welcome these narratives.)

So please, please submit!

[what-even-is-thiss]

Independent magazines are great too! I’m more familiar with the university journal scene so I appreciate this addition.

[martabat]

hello, this is a list of asian literary journals!! it emphasizes south-east asian journals, but there’s a few from other regions as well

[glossynympheteyes]

this movie is so fucking creepy jesus fuck

[dumpster-king]

It’s by Tim Burton, what did you honestly expect?

[porcelainandgold]

Actually, it’s Henry Selick, who was the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas. The book was written by Neil Gaiman, though, and is far…far….worse.

[whatpunkin]

Sorry, I’m about to geek the hell out.

The movie is captivating, but the book is twenty kinds of terrifying, even now, ten years after I first read it. As disturbing as the movie may have been to some, the things Selick added really serve to cushion just how horrific the story really is.

First of all, the character of Wybie does not exist in the book. Coraline is facing all of this nearly alone, with her only help coming from the sly comments of the cat, a warning from the circus mice, and the stone given to her by her neighbor, presented with no comment but that it “makes the unseen seen.”

Second, the Other Parents are never quite as warm (and, dare I say, normal) as they are in the gifs above. They’re described as having paper-white skin and the Other Mother’s hair is said to move on its own, and her long, red, claw-like nails don’t ease any uncertainty that she is absolutely, positively up to no good. The first time Coraline meets them, they (and the rest of the Others) seem to be playing roles (for whatever reason, Coraline does not seem to pick up on this), like they all know what to say and what to do and are simply waiting for Coraline to make her move in their terrifying play world. This is shown to be partly true when the Other Parents tell her they know she’ll be back soon after she refuses the buttons - this time, to stay.

Third, the Other Mother commits atrocities that really should not have been in a book for anyone not fully grown up. She physically deforms the world around Coraline to slow her progress in their game beyond any mild traps the movie portrays, and, instead of turning the Other Father into the wandering pumpkin-thing seen in the film, she simply ceases to use him and throws his body away in the cellar, leaving him to rot with whatever bit of sentience he has left. She begins to lose her touch, as Coraline gains the upper hand. Her world doesn’t just become a nightmare - it falls apart completely. No creepy but oddly cool bug furniture here, just the house that now appears to be a child’s drawing. Whatever the Other Mother is (a beldame, but something tells me she’s much more ancient and powerful than that), she does not give half a hump about what she has to do to ensnare Coraline. Destroy the supporting characters of her twisted creation? Done. Allow herself to be dismembered to ruin Coraline’s life in the normal world? Not even gonna bat an eyelash.

On a final, personal note, imagine eight year-old me, ignored by my parents, absorbed in the story and identifying with Coraline from the start. Imagine me finishing this bloodcurdling book and immediately thinking of my basement, where there is still a locked door that my grandmother swears up and down is nothing more than a storage room, but has not once in my (or my mother’s) lifetime unlocked.

Can you see why this book still scares me?

[hematite2]

Fun fact I learned from seeing neil gaiman speak: when he first wanted the book published, his editor said it was too scary. He suggested she read it to her young daughter, and then decide. So she did, and her daughter wasn’t afraid, and it was published. Years later, Gaiman was sitting next to that daughter at an event and told her this story, and she said “oh I was terrified I just didn’t want to tell my mom”.

Coraline WAS too scary to be published, but exists anyway because a girl lied to her mother.

[petrichormeraki]

[feyariel]

@neil-gaiman, is this true about the publisher’s daughter?

[neil-gaiman]

It was my literary agent, Merrilee Heifetz who read it and said “you can’t seriously expect this to be published as a children’s book.” So I suggested she read it to her daughters. And she called me back a week later and said “They love it and they weren’t scared at all. I’ll take it to Harper Children’s.”

A decade later, at the Opening Night of the Coraline musical, I was sitting next to Morgan, Merilee’s youngest daughter, and told her how her not being scared had made the book happen. And she said “I was terrified. But I needed to find out what happened next. So nobody knew.”

So, yes.

[space-trash-princess]

This website can be toxic at times, but the fact that people can just tag Neil Gaiman to get his input, like a sorcerer invoking a benevolent spirit, is definitely a bright spot.

[unlikemachiavelli]

Non nobis solum nati sumus. (Not for ourselves alone are we born.)

Marcus Tullius Cicero

[unlikemachiavelli]

Frozen in time, frozen yet not, alive yet not quite; that is how I felt. 

My body wasn’t complete: parts of it worked and others were stuck in a limbo, waiting. 

My hair was long, but I knew if I cut it, it would not grow back. My body was also young, never growing even as I rose every morning. 

My body was indefinitely somewhere between sixteen and seventeen. I didn’t know when I’d start to grow older again. 

That all depended on my twin brother. 

Or perhaps, we couldn’t consider ourselves twins any longer. He was frozen in time at the age of twelve, I lived on until several years later. My body, surely, was older than his. 

The spirits had told me so, at the very least. I had thought he was dead until past fifteen, dreading that I had lived and he had not.

From an Avatar: The Last Airbender WIP that I’ve been working on for like, 5 years.