human-still-developing

[human-still-developing]

For @human-still-developing

[human-still-developing]

Last chance to order this print or anything else from me: my shop closes for the holidays tomorrow. http://tomgauld.com/shop

[human-still-developing]

Suppliant my children's murderer to implore, And kiss those hands yet reeking with their gore

(2/2)

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subjective perspective =/= unreliable narration

like. i am holding you gently by the face. listen to me. all narration will reflect a subjective experience. this is not the same as an unreliable narrator. the unreliable narrator lacks credibility for a specific reason - they’re an exaggerator, they’re insane, they’re a joker, they’re an outright liar. a character whose view of things is merely coloured by their backstory and experiences is not inherently unreliable, simply subjective. an unreliable narrator is intentionally or significantly altering the truth, to position the audience deliberately. it’s a specific literary device, not a default in POV storytelling.

[human-still-developing]

when did tumblr collectively decide not to use punctuation like when did this happen why is this a thing

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Death of the author: Treating the author’s stated interpretation of their own work as merely one opinion among many, rather than the authoritative Word of God.

Disappearance of the author: Treating the context and circumstances of the work’s authorship as entirely irrelevant with respect to its interpretation, as though the work had popped into existence fully formed just moments ago.

Taxidermy of the author: Working backwards from a particular interpretation of the work to draw conclusions about what the context and circumstances of its authorship must have been.

Undeath of the author: Holding the author personally responsible for every possible reading of their work, even ones they could not reasonably have anticipated at the time of its authorship.

Frankenstein’s Monster of the author: Drawing conclusions about authorial intent based on elements that are present only in subsequent adaptations by other authors.

Weekend at Bernie’s of the author: Insisting that the author would personally endorse your interpretation of the work if they happened to be present.

[human-still-developing]

Just thought I’d reflect on something tonight:

Before I graduated undergrad in spring 2020, my creative writing professor/mentor, who passed away last fall, “gave” me a poem, as she did with all her graduating seniors.

My poem was “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver.

For a long time, the last two lines haunted me. They made me think that she (my mentor) expected me to do something wild and precious with my life before she passed. And by not doing so, I was letting her down.

It wasn’t until I finally forced myself to respond to her letters (because the guilt of struggling with depression when she was quite literally dying had been consuming me) that I realized I didn’t have to do anything to make my wild and precious life wild and precious.

Because regardless of what I did or didn’t do, my life was already that. It was wild and precious, and it always would be. And that was one of the last things I ever wrote to her.

So if you’re looking for a sign that life is worth living, that the world is lucky to have you, and that you don’t need to do things to prove/defend your worth, then let this be it.

You were wild and precious the moment you were born.

[human-still-developing]

one of my favorite things in fiction will always be characters who are thematic parallels for each other. narrative foils. two sides of the same coin. exact opposite outcomes of the same situation. they look at each other and see their own souls reflected back at them

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“you make my heart beat in iambic pentameter.”

no you don’t understand shakespeare literally writes to the beat of your heart

that’s why shakespearean actors will sometimes pound their chests in time to the words during readings

that’s why you use fluctuations in the rhythm to track your character’s emotional state - any irregularities in the scansion are like the character’s heart stuttering or jumping or skipping a beat

that’s why when characters share the rhythm - switching off in the middle of a foot - those characters inevitably have an extraordinarily intimate connection

shakespeare fucking writes viscerally, he is literally in your body, and that, my friend, that is why the best shakespearean actors don’t posture and emote

you have to be fucking alive and passionate and electric - it can’t be intellectual, in the end, it has to be about connection and the sweating, cheering, jeering, bleeding masses you’re performing to, because make no mistake, shakespeare may go to lofty heights, but he only works if you’re just as grounded in the earth. he has to be in your body. he has to be in your body.

holy motherfucking shit i love shakespeare so much, get him in your bones, breathe him in, stomp and rage and pine, dadum dadum dadum dadum dadum, it is literally to the beat of your heart

[human-still-developing]

staying close w people long distance really is about the mundane stuff. i get texts like "made quesadillas" "spilled mop water all over the floor :(" "lady on the bus has not one not two but three tiny dogs in her purse" andits like wow. i love you more than words can express

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Happy birthday!! I’m so grateful to have met you and I hope your birthday was full of joyful moments :)) love youuu <3

Thank you thank you thank you <3333333 You are the sweetest, most wonderful person!!! I haven't been on here much but I'll be back on during the holiday season!!!!!!! love u toooo <333

#ask hics #itsliterallysophie #soph #<333 #ily

[human-still-developing]

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong

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ocean vuong really put the lines ’dont worry. your father is only your father until one of you forgets’ and ’the most beautiful part of your body is wherever your mother’s shadow falls’ and ’dont be afraid, the gunfire is only the sound of people trying to live a little longer / and failing’ and ’the most beautiful part of your body is where it’s headed. & remember, loneliness is still time spent / with the world’ and ’your dead friends pass through you like wind / through a wind chime’ all in ONE POEM and expected me to move on as if i ever stood a chance

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I want you to write for pleasure—to play. Just listen to the sounds and rhythms of the sentences you write and play with them, like a kid with a kazoo. This isn’t “free writing,” but it’s similar in that you’re relaxing control: you’re encouraging the words themselves—the sounds of them, the beats and echoes—to lead you on. For the moment, forget all the good advice that says good style is invisible, good art conceals art. Show off! Use the whole orchestra our wonderful language offers us! Write it for children, if that’s the way you can give yourself permission to do it. Write it for your ancestors. Use any narrating voice you like. If you’re familiar with a dialect or accent, use it instead of vanilla English. Be very noisy, or be hushed. Try to reproduce the action in the jerky or flowing movement of the words. Make what happens happen in the sounds of the words, the rhythms of the sentences. Have fun, cut loose, play around, repeat, invent, feel free.

Ursula K. Le Guin, Steering The Craft

[human-still-developing]

it's rotten work, but without the rot nothing can grow

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“None of them really wanted to listen to someone else’s story anyway; they only wanted to tell their own.”

— Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life

[human-still-developing]

here’s a list of spoiler free a little life findings & anecdotes

• JB’s grandmother sang to him in French.

•During their sophomore year of college, Malcolm, Jude, and Willem visited JB everyday while he was in the hospital with a broken wrist.

•Jude is compared to the sea, for his everlasting presence.

•Willem can speak two languages.

•Jude was the first to arrive in their dorm, Malcolm was the second.

•Harold never imagined he would have a child.

•Jude learned to drive in Harold’s car.

•Andy has a twin brother who is also in the medical field.

•Late October is Willem’s favorite time in the city.

•Malcolm’s gaze is described as a lighthouse’s beam, when inspecting spaces.

•JB once carried Jude into the hospital following one of his episodes.

•There are 3 books that Jude read that are mentioned, Emma, On Narcissism, and The Hobbit (which is read to him).

•Willem is an avid coffee lover.

•Malcolm gifted Jude one of his miniature houses for his seventeenth birthday.

•Willem once moved Jude out of the way of an oncoming bike.

•Both Jude and Willem are characterized as optimists.

•One of Jude’s favorite streets is also a street in which Harold lives.

•Willem retaught Jude how to shave in college.

•Jude’s smile is compared to the moon.