I just started on my first zine a few days ago! I wanted to make it physically but found I was lacking in materials I wanted to use so I’ve been making it digitally and collage like and I must say, I’m having such a good time making it. However, sometimes I worry im not making it right. And I know there’s no right or wrong way to make a zine but for whatever reason I feel like mine is wrong. I feel like mine doesn’t have enough drawings or sentences or something and I think part of me feels kinda like a cheat for doing it online as I’m not very good at drawing etc. I was wondering if you’ve ever felt doubt in your zines and how you overcame that or deal with it. Zine making is a very new hobby for me but I think I want it to stick around, I just worry I’ll run out of things or inspiration for making them like I’m not creative enough 😞 I’m sorry for just coming in here and dumping all this on you. I appreciate you taking the time to read it and whatever answer you may give ❤️
sorry for taking a hot minute to get to this! i know i only addressed physical zines, but i don't think digital ones are any less or a cheat at all. it's just another way of making them. there are lots of people who do it, and we did that in college! especially in your case where you're lacking in materials, i'd say that you're making good use of what you can :]
honestly i am nearly always doubting my zines in one way or another, but i just... kind of ignore it because i know that i feel worse if i don't make something. doing zinetober helped me with this because i didn't have to like what i made, it just had to exist. but also, there are some zines that i really didn't like at the time that i started to appreciate after like, a week. it's the fresh eyes. i know ignoring it is easier said than done, so i suppose it's more about trying to reframe it: you're learning what works and what doesn't, what you can experiment with next, etc. and you can always try again if you want.
as for running out of inspiration/not feeling creative enough... yeah, they don't call it the creative cycle for nothing! seek out sources of inspiration. save the art you like in a folder. take pictures of things that catch your eye. watch things. read things. try something an artist has done. revisit things you've made before and make them again. you can do that as many times as you want. you just have to push through it, i promise you won't be stuck there forever!
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Crystal Springs: The Call
Mother Gaia's intervention had been the last straw for the Goddess.
When the other deities had agreed to help her make this world for all their people, they agreed on one thing: minimal interference once their people had established themselves. The Goddess's people had adapted very fast; she'd been hands-off for centuries. So of course that's when the Fae War had started.
She had given her people this fresh, new world; away from the darkness that had claimed all their planets, away from the death and destruction, and it had followed them here.
With the darkness at risk of returning, encroaching upon them all again, and her dear Gaia a sobbing mess below the source of all the magic she had gifted to her people, The Goddess decides that enough is enough. For too long her people had lived and lived and lived. It was time they knew what that meant.
It was time they knew death.
Part I: Lost (read it on ao3 | tumblr)
After months of planning, Mother Gaia brings Tara to Roseterra to trigger The Call. Magibeans scramble to say their final goodbyes before being forcibly removed from this plane of existence. Life is about to take a startling, powerful turn for four very young sprites...
Preview and musings below the cut!
"Tara, come here dear. This is the place."
With a sigh, Tara picked herself up and made her way to what looked to be the centre of the valley. A pile of stones that looked remarkably plinth like for something that purported to be natural stood in front of Gaia. The space on the top of which was shaped exactly like the stone she had tucked away in the boughs of her skirt.
Gaia had refused to carry it; she didn’t want to tarnish it. Tara didn’t think she would. She hadn’t argued, though, and had grown a little alcove in her skirts to hold the stone. Gently, she lifted her hand; the branches around her legs creaked. One bough slowly poked out between the branches. In it, the stone sat.
“It’s glowing,” Tara realized.
“Then it is finally time. Place it on the plinth please, dear.”
The branch didn’t move. Deep in her chest, Tara felt a horrible warmth. Her hands seemed to drift up of their own accord to cover her mouth; her vision blurred.
“Tara?” Gaia turned away from the plinth. “Oh. Dearest."
She was trembling. Her cheeks were wet. She choked down a sob.
Gaia reached up to cradle her daughter’s face. She wiped the tears off of her dark, sparkling cheeks, rubbing her thumb against her warm skin gently. Tenderly. “It’s going to be okay. You’re going to be okay.”
“How do you know?” she managed to choke out, her voice heavy. “What if it doesn’t—what if I don’t—I’m not ready!”
“You’ve had my mantle for centuries now, Tara. You’re ready.”
“I’m not ready to lose you!” she yelled through her tears, inhaling heavily through her nose. “I know I’m ready to take over for you. Please. I’m gonna rock being Mother Gaia. I just. I don’t want to lose my mom. I don’t want to lose you,” she admitted, wrapping her arms around the frail woman who had been there from the moment the elements that made her began to stick together. The woman who had made sure everything was in tip top shape before she gifted her a life light, giving her humanoid form. Who had shown her the ropes; helped her master all of the elements, all of the parts of every season. Had slowly given her the reins, guiding her through her first few judgment calls before she became an expert at it herself, mastering balance alongside her as they tried their best to keep their home safe.
“I will always be with you, dear. I won’t be very far. I’ll be here,” she said, gesturing to the rocky, dead, expanse around them.
“What terrible curb appeal,” Tara choked out.
Gaia looked stunned for the briefest of seconds. Then she laughed. Then she snorted, which only made her laugh harder through the tears that had started to slip out. She snorted again; now Tara found herself laughing, too.
The two women stood at the end of the world and laughed their guts out.
The preview was longer, but for some odd reason, tumblr was very mad about saving the longer version? So we went with the first half after a VERY HARD decision!
You can check it out HERE on ao3 and HERE on our lovely HELLSITE (tm)
Some musings for you:
I tagged it as original work instead of The Santa Clause bc let's be real here. The only character from the franchise here is Mother Nature and even then, she is fairly far removed from movie events/how we see her in the series.
SHE IS. BUT A BABY. DURING THE CALL. (not actually a baby. metaphorically)
I posted it on hellsite as a private post because this settled my internal AI trawling distrust vs want to post on tumblr
I've opted out, obvi. But who says that corporations are actually going to listen and take that into consideration?
And sure, maybe a private post can still be read by an AI trawler. But given that only I can see it and share links for people to see it?
IT GIVES ME SOME MEASURE OF PEACE, OK!
Okay so PROPER musings now:
AGES!
While all four Season Sisters came to being around the same time, they were given different forms when they got leggies, as Summer says.
The only age I know for certain is Winter. She's about ~400ish when The Call happens. She's LITTLE. So we can assume all the seasons have existed for around the same time. That is, these personifications of them, lol.
Winter is toddler sized
Summer is pre-teen sized
Spring is child-sized
Autumn is awkward child-to-pre-teen sized
The Twin Princes are about ~700ish when The Call happens
So Blinter age difference, for those interested, is about 300 years (equating to about 3 years for ordibeings/magibeans who DON'T age at the exceptionally slow rate sprites do!)
PARENTAGE! I think it's fairly clear what magibeans helped create each season, but for what it's worth (and also reference):
Mother Gaia created Mother Nature/Tara; that's her MOMMY.
Winter's parents are the Snow Queen (Bianca) and the Winter Warlock (Winter sr.).
(He's actually based on a LOT of wintry beings I have seen, lol. Primarily the Winter Warlock from Rankin Bass's Santa Claus is Coming to Town. He also gives Merlin from Sword in the Stone vibes, generic wizard posting vibes, and sometimes ice king adventure time vibes, lol)
Summer's parent was Sol, the sprite in charge of the sun/sunshine/sunlight. THAT'S HER DAD!
Autumn's parents were Harvest, the personification of the harvest, and Hollow Eve.
Hollow's are charged with ferrying souls; they can traverse planes very easily and this is why the goddess enlists their help when she creates Rosehaven. "Hollow" is their title; they place it in front of their names always.
Hollow Eve is how Autumn named Halloween >:)
Spring doesn't have a parent or two parents. She has multiple sprites who helped to create her. She's collecting parents the way Steven Universe collects Moms, lol. Her parents include: Gaia, Tara, the sprites in charge of flowers, the sprites who did rain, and the winds.
All of these sprites, and probably more actually! Frequented the Garden and offered wisdom and advice to Spring, some of them without even knowing!
She ✨🌞 PHOTOSYNTHESIZED 🌞✨ to gather all the bits that made her spritely self, and sealed the deal when Mother Nature finds her and gives her the light life Gaia gave her at the end of part 1 :)
UPON REREADING BEFORE POSTING IT: Winter obvi freezes. We be knowing that for forever thanks to Meet the Frosts, I think.
But did you know that Summer also freezes? Well, her heart hardens, and for summer sprites that means it's stony. Or maybe ashy? and stony would be if a spring sprite's heart was hardened? I've yet to pick a term for spring sprites, lol.
I THINK that covers all my musings that AREN'T covered in Part 2. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this piece! It's not, per se, a DETOUR from my usual stuff? It's just. You know. Pretty much original work? It feels different--which I suppose checks out, given that it's a whole other era in CS History that is about 2 eras removed from where they are now :)
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The radio show of the evening was about to begin, the stag making sure that all frequencies had been accessed. It was no secret that he often sang on his shows. That he could conjure up the music he needed at will. Tonight was no different.
Except for the tunes, maybe.
He cleared his throat, slender fingers closing around the microphone. Sometimes, he didn’t mind modern music so much, if he connected to the lyrics.
“Stay with me
A little longer
I will wait for you
Shadows creep
And want grows stronger
Deeper than the truth
Ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh
I can't help but love you
Even though I try not to
I can't help but want you
I know that I'd die without you
I can't help but be wrong in the dark
'Cause I'm overcome in this war of hearts
I can't help but want oceans to part
'Cause I'm overcome in this war of hearts..”
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