Cause pain is for pleasure, and nothing is better…

Well, technically, it’s bliss. Pain is bliss.

Or, to put simply:

 

Because that’s what Jouissance is.

It’s a death-drive; a pain is bliss type of deal.

So, in terms of this picture–it’s not quite death itself, but the pain surrounding death.

And that’s exactly what I haven’t achieved yet. In actual Jouissance terms, I haven’t reached orgasm with my paper.

So, you could

 

 

 

 

 

But not as achieving orgasm.

(Also, side-note: I love how this is so innuendo it’s past actual innuendo. Reading is sex. Brilliant).

…

Anyway, I met with Amanda today.

And just like I predicted, I thought I had all my ducks in a row but she came in and removed some, tossed some aside, re-arranged others, and introduced new ones and said, “now, put them in a row again!”.

But, I actually understood a little more of which types of ducks she was introducing, thanks to my new friend (who might very well become my new enemy), Roland Barthes.

He’s the person I’m using for my Plaisir and Jouissance argument! He’s also French (they’re all French)! And he’s got a lot of books! Plus he’s more comp writing, so WHOOPEE, I GET TO TALK COMPOSISION WITH PEOPLE!

I say that because he’s done work on semiotics, which is (as Amanda put it) taking this stigma we have as a collective and digging underneath what the stigma is saying to discover what it’s really doing. In other words, removing the make-up to see what it actually looks like.

It also deals with this idea of a signifier and signified.
So, for example, if someone says “House”, Person A might picture a square with a triangle on top, some windows, and a chimney while Person B imagines the White House and Person C pictures Hugh Laurie. The root of the word is one thing, but what people imagine can be different. Because everyone has a different Repertoire.

And that’s what I’m also covering within my project.

Also, I should ask her for that comic book she showed me, it might help.
I should also order Barthes book Mythologies so I can highlight and write in it as well, instead of just getting it from the library, because that’s where a lot of the semiotics he talks about comes from.

But, back to the signified/signified and how my project fits.

So, what I’m doing is presenting these Magical Creatures as the signifier. So, for example, when I say “Fairies”, Person A thinks Disney’s Tinkerbell, Person B thinks of a fairy godmother from some Cinderella story, and Person C thinks of Cosmo and Wanda from The Fairly Oddparents. It’s then my job to take all of those signified things show how they line up in my project.

And that’s a rough outline of how that works for my proposal. I would explain more, but I talked with Amanda over 6 hours ago, so the lesson is starting to fade, but it’s still viable and useful to me!

I just hope this fits in with the CHL department as well (which is why, in the draft that I showed Amanda, I included Percy Jackson as an example. Even if it didn’t go well…

 

 

 

 

 

).

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANYWAY,

On to good news!

My ducks about the interactive narrative didn’t move! Their duck tape worked! Amanda even said that the part about Impositional and Expressive texts and finding balance in them made sense to her! I was so unbelievably happy that I didn’t have to rework that aspect of it, you have no idea! I mean, I still have to link those back to Jouissance and Plaisir (which will probably be hard), but to know that I’m on the right track with the “Book as Object” phase of my project is GREAT!
(And FYI, they lead back to J&P by the sense that people are familiar with a regular book with a straight forward front-to-back, typical narrative where they don’t have to do anything but read with it. But they gain Jouissance with this notion that it’s being messed with because suddenly they’re thrown into interactivity where they have to physically create a narrative for themselves. The “Pain is Bliss” in this sense is that they have to play detective, sort of, to get the full narrative. They don’t know what’s going to happen next or how it fits in and they must educate themselves; they have to work for the answer; for the bliss of the text. Freedom can be nice, but too much freedom in a story is painful. It’s confusing and discomforting. To not have a linear narration in a book can be incredibly painful and yet, because it is new, blissful. It also isn’t all text–some of it is disrupted by a picture; a physical object that they must decipher and determine how it fits in with the story. So, it can be physically painful and mental painful, but ultimately it brings on bliss because it is new and exciting and gives the reader control over what is happening. I hope that makes sense).

The other piece of good news is that my “deadline” of April 15th got moved, thank God! I’m not meeting with Amanda until 4/20 (at 4:20 p.m., because reasons),  so I have more time to work on what I’m thinking. The only catch is that by then I do need to have not just a bullet-pointed outline of my proposal. I need to have an actual paper with my ideas clearly expressed in it. So:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now, for the middle stuff:

My ideas for it being transmedia and multimodal were green-lit (which, incidentally, are also more composition based) but a little foggy on how they fit in with my over-all theme/lens of Jouissance.

I think it’s safe to say, in gif language, this is where I am with almost every part of my thesis and proposal:

We didn’t talk into too much detail about the T/M thing, but I made sure to touch on it. As with everything, she said, “but how Jouissance?”.
I have a feeling I’m going to hate Jouissance by December. Even if it’s bae right now.
But, yes. I have to think of how they exactly fit in my paper/piece as well, as even though the content works, does the context? (At least, it was something like that. A little fuzzy, but I do remember her saying that it was good, but not all there. Like, “is it really? How exactly does it fit in, specifically multimodal?” And I was all, “well, it is bringing together different mediums into one specific place, so there’s that, but as far as Jouissance goes, I need time”. And boy do I ever. I might have to email her about this again and ask her the details-which hopefully she remembers better, because my brain is grad-school fried).

I also got green-lit to which magical creatures I’m going to be talking about: Fairies and Spirits (Her and I both agreed not to do A) Witches because HUGE, B) Dragons because HUGE, C) Windegos because specific and can get into a bad multicultural interpretation, and D) Big Foot because how reliable is the information?). Don’t get me wrong, I’m still going to be touching on whatever the flip-flop I want to in my project, I just won’t be able to go into very much detail or specifics. Which is A-OK by me.

And when I say “Fairies” I actually mean “little people” of all sorts, not just the ones with wings (so, sprites, pixies, brownies, “The Borrowers”, etc. in addition to the winged creatures known as fairies) and when I say “Spirits” I actually mean those beings that are associated with childhood (like Father Christmas, the Easter Bunny, The Boogeyman, The Sandman, and to a lesser extent, Jack Frost, Mother Nature, Father Time, the Tooth fairy, etc.).

SO, yes. Get that squared away.

And now, onto what I actually wrote this post for:

My ideas for how I think Jouissance would work for the magical creatures part
AKA: reaching orgasm!

So, and I don’t know if this is what she’s looking for, I was thinking in the shower (cause let’s be honest, all bright ideas come from the shower. There’s actually evidence that proves this… maybe not scholarly evidence, but good practical theory evidence) and I came with this:

“Jouissance in a way from fairytales [magical creatures] as a way to pick ourselves up when we feel down; because they reflect an ideal life and escapism for when life gets bad. So, pain is life but the bliss is the creation of the modern fairytale [magical creature].

OR EVEN/IN ADDITION TO

“There is pain in not being able to physically immerse ourselves within a fictional world; we are not able to actively participate in it and change its outcomes. We can only learn with what we are provided–which is typically a unreliable narrator that doesn’t focus on the world itself, but rather with their own problems [within that world]. My project seeks to create bliss from this pain by providing interactive tools to dive into the world itself, rather than focus on a narrator that fleeting mentions the world around them. Instead, you become the narrator and you get to choose your own bliss from this pain; create your own Jouissance (from the aftermath of Harry Potter or Percy Jackson).”

And how this goes along with magical creatures is that, like HP or PJ, we see the creatures through different stories, but are not given an actual way to immerse ourselves within the magical world they come from. The pain is not being able to have complete Plaisir with it because it cannot be physically known, but with my project, I’m trying to create bliss from that by saying, “hey, what if they did exist in the real world and that all those stories you read where just a way to keep you from achieving the bliss of physically touching them?”  Of course I can’t actually produce a nature-made winged magical creature that’s living and breathing, but I can write about it. So, essentially, I’m trying to create bliss from this pain while sorta creating more pain? I’m taking the Jouissance from the Plaisir to create Jouissance while in-turn creating more Jouissance in the form of Plaisir (aka we think there is pleasure in the familiar of magical creatures but it’s actually pain, but in my work I’m presenting a way to create bliss from this pain while simultaneously creating more pain because you can’t physically create the bliss you need to absolve the pain from magical creatures, but you can suspend it. OR, to keep with the sex analogies, achieving orgasm through masturbation). Does that make sense?

 

I don’t know. I’ll read Barthes book and email Amanda and find out. And, as always, report back my findings here.

So, wish me luck! And I have to remember: if Amanda doesn’t reply back within, say, 36 hours, email her again until she does 🙂

Good Luck me! We can do this!

Until Next Time,

Sami

(P.s. I’ve also got Annette’s paper shrunk down as well–I’m doing it on “why we feel the need to change/update Snow White, specifically looking from Disney’s 1937 version to ABC’s Once Upon A Time version. And this will also help with my thesis. Somehow. I know it will, but I just don’t know how yet).

 

 

Queen’s “Under Pressure” should be my anthem

Because I work better under it?

Or maybe it’s just that I’ve finally managed to locate the circle hole for the circle peg?

At least, I hope. Who knows, after I meet with Amanda again tomorrow she might tell me I’ve got an oval peg, not a circle and I’ll have to start it all over again.

I’ve described this to my dad as “getting all of my ducks in a row and then having someone come and scare them and leave”. And I have to start all over again.

But hopefully that duck-tape I’m using on those ducks actually works 🙂

Anyway, here’s some information I’m going to edit to put together a rough-draft for my proposal for Amanda for tomorrow.

I just have to remember that:And that

And I’ll get through this thing.

So, without further ado, my notes:

 

Sami Weatherholt

Master’s Thesis

Proposal

2016

 

Fairies, Witches, and Spirits, Oh My!

 

Notes and the Like:

 

The three “magical creatures” that I have chosen to write about are:

 

1. Fairies (All)
2. Witches (All)
3. Spirits (Specifically those linked with childhood, such as “the Boogeyman” and “The Sandman”)

 

Back-up creatures, just in case, include:

 

1. Wendigo/Witico
2. Dragons
3. Big Foot/Sasquatch

 

Also, I have found that “convergence culture” is not what I’m looking at and instead have found that I’m leaning more towards transmedia/multimodal works.

 

Their definitions are as follows:

 

Transmedia: “Transmedia storytelling (also known as transmedia narrative or multiplatform storytelling, cross-media seriality) is the technique of telling a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and formats using current digital technologies; [it] involves creating content^[3] that engages an audience using various techniques to permeate their daily lives”.

 

Multimodal: “Multimodality describes communication practices in terms of the textual, aural, linguistic, spatial, and visual resources – or modes – used to compose messages.^[1] Where media are concerned, multimodality is the use of several modes (media) to create a single artifact. The collection of these modes, or elements, contributes to how multimodality affects different rhetorical situations, or opportunities for increasing an audience’s reception of an idea or concept. Everything from the placement of images to the organization of the content creates meaning”.

 

An example could be like the Scene It games J

 

So, yes. This helps by like 10,000% as now I can start to grasp the creation of my works and why I’m doing what I’m doing; how I’m creating my thesis.

 

The other thing I can work with as I learn more about transmedia and multimodal is how fairies, witches, and spirits have come in contact with them.

In other words, how all three of them have been placed in context to the definition?

 

I’m actually still a little fuzzy on how this works, but I have a feeling if I talk to Amanda she might be able to work it out a little better.

 

But, for my main three, I’ve got some examples I think will work:

 

1. Fairies
   1. Fairly Oddparents
   2. Disney Fairies (Aka Tinkerbell)
   3. Strange Magic (movie)
   4. The Blue Fairy (Pinocchio)
   5. The Green Fairy (Absenthe)
   6. Fairy Godmother
   7. Rainbow Fairies (book series)
   8. Titiania (AM-SND; Queen) and Oberon (King)
   9. SPN “Fight those Fairies”
   10. Tooth Fairy
2. Witches
   1. Wizard of Oz
   2. Dahl’s
   3. Harry Potter
   4. Hansel and Gretal
   5. Shakespeare
   6. Hocus Pocus
   7. W.I.T.C.H.
   8. Sabrina
   9. Bewitched
   10. Buffy
3. Spirits
   1. Jack Frost
      1. 2 movie adaptations
      2. Rise of the Guardians
   2. Father Christmas
      1. Narnia
      2. Santa Claus(e)
      3. Rise of the Guardians
   3. Mr. Sandman
      1. Neil Gaiman
      2. Powerpuff Girls
      3. Rise of the Guardians
   4. The Boogeyman
      1. Don’t look under then bed
      2. Powerpuff Girls
      3. Rise of the Guardians
      4. Scary movie adaptation?
   5. Easter Bunny
      1. Peter Cottontail
      2. Hop
      3. Rise of the Guardians
      4. Easter Beagle

 

And those are just some of the things that have been used in reference to pop culture and trans/multi stuff.

 

Again, I’m not too sure how it’s all going to work out, but I’m going to talk it over with Amanda and see just exactly what she thinks about how it’s all going to work out.

I mean, from a trans/multi point of view.

 

I think, what I’m trying to imply, is how something like fairies, for example, have been updated and adapted into modern society and why. AKA Why have fairies been updated and adapted into modern society.

 

And actually, Zootopia kinda fits in with this ideology—the idea that animals are no longer “savage” or cute sidekicks and anthropomorphized them. I think that anthropomorphizing animals fits in perfectly as an example of what I’m going at.

Or, for Annette’s paper, why fairytales have been adapted and updated—like the case for Snow White.

 

And what I seek to do with this project is extend this ideology into hyper-realism. As a “pretend” educational tool. Of presenting “the other” as real and something that actually exists.

 

In other words, it’s Harry Potter-ing the world of magical creatures from fairytales, myths, and legends. But in the format of education presented towards everyone, not just a magical protagonist in a book.

 

I’m literally combining Harry Potter with the Ologies books. And making it interactive.

I’m commenting on how trans/multi can be used as an educational tool; to turn “instruction to delight”. To make education fun? A fake education that is.

 

Now I’m just confusing myself.

 

My purpose to writing this is to show-case the Jouissance and Plaisir of a trans/multi interactive text through the use of magical creatures.

 

I think.

 

I should probably throw in some fan-content related stuff too, just because I feel like it needs to be said, seeing as how that’s why I made up this thing in the first place.

How fans show-case their work through different mediums?

 

I’m so confused. I hope I don’t confuse Amanda with this. I feel like if I try to talk-explain it to her it’ll be more confusing, but if I write it down, it’ll come out clearer and she can physically see the confusion I’m running into.

 

Okay, time to move on and work on another part of my thesis that I’ve been doing research on!

 

That is, the exact definition of the Jouissance and Plaisir I want to use!

 

And that would be Roland Barthes’s Jouissance and Plaisir—which I’m pretty sure she skipped over in our last meeting for whatever reason.

 

So, in The Pleasures of Children’s Literature, Nodelman writes of Barthes’s Jouissance and Plaisir as “‘Texts of pleasure: the text that contents, fills, grants euphoria; the text that comes from culture and does not break with it, is linked to a comfortable practice of reading. Text of bliss: the text that imposes a state of loss, the text that discomforts (perhaps to the point of a certain boredom), unsettles the reader’s historical, cultural, psychological assumptions, the consistency of his tastes, values, memories, brings to a crisis his relation with language’ (14). The first of these offers the pleasures of the familiar. It gives readers what they expect and like. The second offers the pleasure of the strange. It upsets readers’ expectations in ways that free them from the familiar… ‘Texts of bliss’ tend to be noticeably anarchic, weird, innovative in structure and content” (23-24). In other words, Plaisir is one that the reader is used to. In my case, it is the sense of magical creatures they know from repertoire as well as this idea that they exist—thanks to the tales they come from. They’re also comfortable with the book format and to some extent, the idea of education. And, if we’re generating towards an audience with knowledge of something like Pottermore or Percy Jackson, they’ll be familiar with modern-day settings of magical creatures, etc. The Jouissance that I’m proposing is that of the format in which the book will rely upon—the pull-outs and extras and interactivity. It’s relatively new and slightly uncomfortable (which can lead to boredom; kind of like pulling the same prank to a bunch of people after they already know what’s coming. Think: Jack-in-the-Box). If they become accustom to “in order to view more, you have to pull this out/do this action”, the Jouissance will wear down (like writing a thesis and editing it. Over and over and over and over again). The ideology that magical creatures also have a home life; that they do ordinary things and keep ordinary, real-world workings is also a height of Jouissance that can result in boredom—because yeah, it’s cool to think that fairies walk among us, doing day-to-day things (or Lutins living in grocery stores), but to A) apply this notion to every creature and B) discover that their lives are no different than ours (with the exception of the fact that, hey, they’re mythical magical creatures) and it becomes boring. Which is why TV shows like Bewitched, The Fairly Oddparents, and even movies that feature the Santa Claus story lose their luster and become boring (this is also known as “beating a dead horse” in some cases). But when it first starts, it’s new, uncertain, and exciting! It brings bliss to those that read it! They’re not quite sure what it’s going to do, but they have a gut feeling that it’s going to be fun! It’s bodily pleasure they’re experiencing too—as it surges through them (think: Like a Virgin, Hey!)—just like when someone becomes a new fan of something. Or discovers Tumblr for the first time.

 

What I plan on doing is exploring this idea of Jouissance and Plaisir in my own writings to show-case…something. And here’s where I become foggy again. Like I’m missing the connectors. But at least I made sense of the Jouissance and Plaisir! Yay!

 

Now, for my last subject, “Book as Object”. I’ve narrowed that down to “Interactive text/narrative”—which I don’t know if that can be a thing; I’ll have to ask Amanda. Because that book she recommended has very little on what I want. Of course I haven’t read it all, but…it is what it is.

 

I did, however, find this really cool book on interactive narrative and how to write it (mental note, pack all these books), called Pause & Effect: The Art of Interactive Narrative by Mark Stephen Meadows. It talks a lot about the different kinds of interactive narratives (IN) and what one has to do to achieve the right balance in an IN. For example, a quote, “An author or designer has some control over the story. The story, however, because it’s interactive, needs to provide control to the reader as well. A heavily designed story, such as one of the 1980’s Choose Your Own Adventure books, conceived and invented by Ray Montgomery, is heavily impositional. It guides you with strict sets of individual rules that only allow the reader a narrow margin of decisions. Another example is Liquid Stage in which the viewer of the show has only particular moments of interaction available and the rest of the show is a dictated and sequential story. Expressive, in contrast to this, relies less on the series of events and behaves more like architecture: The visitor is allowed to roam freely, explore, investigate, and make changes in the environment. The specifics of a narrative plot are far less defined and, as a result, the breadth of interaction is much wider. Examples of this generally show up in 3-dimensional interfaces and narratives such as Ultima Online” (63). So, what he is saying is that there’s Impositional (the first) and Expressive (the second) and that one needs to find a balance between the two.

 

The book (particularly this point, not so much everything else) is really facisnating and I’m glad I serendipity’d my way to it!

Also, it reminds me of that game, “Gone Home”. So there’s that 🙂

 

So yes.

Now to turn this into a decent first draft.

Which on second thought I should change to “writing notes draft” instead. Because what I’ll be turning in on the 15th is essentially a first draft.

How lovely.

There’s no way I’m getting this proposal done by the end of the semester.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

In other news, I found the perfect reaction to how my writing process goes:

And I think I’ll end on that note.

Until Next Time,

Sami

Death of the Author

Someone once said, “Writing is Hard”.

They were unequivocally right.

But do you know what’s harder?

Trying to write something you don’t 100% understand or are sure of.

It also doesn’t help if you aren’t exactly 100% clear in the head department either.
I’ve just become so numb to everything I can’t focus properly to get what I need to get done.

And to make matters worse, I’ve discovered to things I have to change in terms of my thesis because I’M NOT USING THE RIGHT DEFINITIONS TO EXPLAIN MYSELF BECAUSE GOD FORBID ANYONE SIT DOWN AND EXPLAIN THINGS TO ME.

And I know that if I never ask I shall never receive, but at this point, I feel like someone should have told me, “hey, you know this isn’t quite right” when I fucking explained it the first time around.

I just…

It’s hard. It’s upsetting, and I want to die.

Actually, I want to bring “death to the author”, go into a witness protection program, and live life like Willy Wonka. That seems like the best goal.
It reminds me of an episode of Castle I caught a bit of last night–Castle had to finish a book but was called away to help investigate a murder with Beckett. This was like, season 3, pre-them hooking up.

That’s how I feel. I need to get this done, but I don’t have all of the clues yet. I’m still finding out more, better, relevant information that will ultimately lead me back to what I started with in the first place. And when I get there, everyone will say, “ohh, why didn’t you just do that in the first place?” and I will be, “well, I did, but you said it was this other guy that did it so I went down that path”. And then they’ll feel stupid because I am Beckett and Castle and they are… they’re not even Ryan and Esposito. At least Ryan and Esposito get. shit. Done. Right.

Anyway, I should probably stop ranting so much and get to the point of this post.

And that is:

I am no longer working with Convergence Culture or “The Book as Object”.

Instead, it’s more Transgenre/media and Transmodal as well as Interactive books.

I really really REALLY wish I had found this shit out earlier, but whatever. It is what it is.
And I know it’s going to bite me in the ass, HARD, but what can I do now? Yeah, I can cry. I probably need to cry. But afterwards I need to pick up the pieces and glue them together. Sometimes it helps. You build up tension and you just need to cry before you can fix something.

And boy, do I have a lot of tension built up.

But, anyway…

How did I come to this conclusion, you ask?

Well, it started with my meeting with Annette today. In which she told me, once again, that I need to “simmer down” what I’m writing.

And I know this is a terrible habit of mine, I really do. I half wanted to cry in her office about it, but I am a brick wall and nothing gets past me.

So, yes. She calmly, but effectively, told me that I can’t take on the world as what I’m looking at could cover thousands of books.

But, here’s the thing: I want to take on the world and make it simple for others. That’s what I want to do. I’m condensing it into understandable chunks because that’s what I as a person and scholar, actively want. That’s how I was taught to write, so that’s how I want to work out my own scholarly work.

Which doesn’t exactly fit in with scholarly writing. Which I fucking hate now; I can see why people dislike writing. Because it’s not like what I’m writing now–or even like writing a piece of fiction. No, it’s different and it’s hard.

But, luckily she [metaphorically] took off the bits I didn’t need, cleaned it up, and sent me on my way with what I did need and could use. So I’m grateful.

Not looking forward to scraping basically everything that I have, and taking out my passion of bigger, better, but I guess I just have to do what needs to get done to please them.

Then conquer the world.

ANYWAY, so, back to my thesis.

So, like I said, getting rid of CC and BaO, and moving on to:

Transgenre–which is what it originally was
SLASH
Transmodal

And

Interactive narrative.

 

Ugh. This is so fucking frustrating.

BUT:

Now that I have a better grasp of it, it should be a little easier for me.

For instance,

My 3 parts are:

1. Magical Creatures
2. Transgenre/media/modal and Jouissance
3. Interactive Narrative (Book as Object)

I hope that makes more sense that it looks right now.

I’ve also found out that the Jouissance I’m using it Roland Barthes’s Jouissance–who also came up with “Death of the Author”. So, super excited that I’ve narrowed that down.

I think I’ve also come to terms with the 3 creatures I’m going to be writing about as well:

1. Fairies
2. Witches
3. Windegos

Well, that 3rd one is up for debate, but the other two are solid.

I really want to do Windegos mostly because of the fact that they are directly North American, but I feel like I need to pick something more like the Jersey Devil or Big Foot or Aliens, you know? I guess I’ll have to talk to Amanda about it.

Speaking of, I’ve got a meeting with her on Wednesday where I said I’d have a rough draft of my paper ready.

A hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

No.

I think the best I’m going to get to her is bullet points.

Lots of bullet points.

Of mainly quotes.

So, like an annotated bib.

But I am glad that I got that copy of Carol’s proposal–even if it is 17 pages long. It’s a good way to see how things are going to look for my paper.

I just have to remember that my paper can and will look like that when I’m finished with it.

I’m also going to ask Amanda if there’s a possibility I can extend when my proposal is due as well, given the fact that I’ve had to change what I’m writing about AND because of Annette’s paper as well. And by extend, I mean at least another week. End. Weekend.

Here’s hoping.

Well, I should probably post this by now; I just needed to vent and clear my head.

It also helped that I could watch Castle, so 🙂

Until Next Time,

Sami

 

 

 

The Innermost Workings of My Mind are an Enigma

Okay, so, I know I just wrote an entry earlier today already, but after talking with Amanda I feel much better about how to begin my proposal and over-all project.

Okay, that last part was a bit of a lie. I’m still fuzzy on the project as a whole, but I’m better on my proposal.

So, essential, my proposal has three main parts.

1. Magical Creatures
2. Jouissance; Convergence Culture
3. Book as Object

And I have to have #1 and #3 lead back to #2.

So, in other words, I start off talking about magical creatures–specifically the ones that I’m going to be working on for my creative part. Amanda said to try and narrow it down to about 3, so I’m going to work on it.
(p.s. the only reason it’s not Fairytales, Myth, and Lore is because–like with everything–I needed to narrow it down. So I did, to Fairytales. Then I explained it’s more like the creatures from the fairytales–like Unicorns, Fairies, etc.–that I’m focusing on, so we changed it over to magical creatures in general.)

I have no idea (okay, somewhat) of what 3 I want to do, but my top 10 include:

• Little people (Lutins)
• Fairies
• The Boogeyman
• Mermaids
• Windegos
• Aliens
• Dragons
• Ghosts

SO, yeah.

Anyway, I have to find these three and talk about how they fit in with Jouissance and Convergence Culture–to be specific, about their different forms, world-building, and fan created centers.

I also have to narrow down which definition of Jouissance that I’m using, since there are a couple of them, and work with that (I didn’t know there was more than one meaning of Jouissance, but hey. That’s what college is for, I guess). After that, I can start to relate the Magical Creatures (MC) into Jouissance and then how that works into Convergence Culture (which luckily I have a book for).

Also, as a side-note for Jouissance: since it’s basic definition means “pleasure of the unknown”, I’m still creating that by my project. ‘Cept mine is more:

Unknown–> Known–> Known Unknown
AKA
Not real–> Actually real–> Slice of Life
OR
MC’s are not real–> but they actually are real–> And they do regular slice-of-life things

So, it’s the Jouissance (pleasure) of finding out that MC’s live regular lives too, they’re not all powerful and magical. I guess the best way to describe it is like in Percy Jackson when you find out what modern things the Greek Gods do. Like how Hermes owns and runs UPS.

So, that’s how that works in my head, I just have to find what definition of Jouissance fits that idea. Which includes (from Wikipedia, which I know is not the best, but it works for now):

1. Lacan: “there is a jouissance beyond the pleasure principle”^[5] linked to the partial drive; a jouissance which compels the subject to constantly attempt to transgress the prohibitions imposed on his enjoyment, to go beyond the pleasure principle. Yet the result of transgressing the pleasure principle is not more pleasure but pain, since there is only a certain amount of pleasure that the subject can bear. Beyond this limit, pleasure becomes pain, and this “painful principle” is what Lacan calls jouissance.^[6] Thus jouissance is suffering (ethics). Lacan also linked jouissance to the castration complex,^[8] and to the aggression of the death drive.”
   AKA: Like the Milner Pleasure Center experiment, where the rat pressed the button to deliver pleasure into his brain so much that he killed himself.
2. Barthes: “literary theory book The Pleasure of the Text, Barthes divides the effects of texts into two: plaisir (translated as “pleasure”) and jouissance. The distinction corresponds to a further distinction Barthes makes between “readerly” and “writerly” texts. The pleasure of the text corresponds to the readerly text, which does not challenge the reader’s position as a subject. The writerly text provides bliss, which explodes literary codes and allows the reader to break out of his or her subject position. For Barthes plaisir is, “a pleasure… linked to cultural enjoyment and identity, to the cultural enjoyment of identity, to a homogenising movement of the ego.” “Plaisir results, then, from the operation of the structures of signification through which the subject knows himself or herself; jouissance fractures these structures.”
   AKA: What I learned about from Annette (and what I was trying to explain to Amanda. (I might have to email her about this one and see if I can use this one in particular, as this is what I was referring to).
3. Cixous: “describe a form of women’s pleasure or sexual rapture that combines mental, physical and spiritual aspects of female experience, bordering on mystical communion: “explosion, diffusion, effervescence, abundance…takes pleasure (jouit) in being limitless”. Cixous maintains that jouissance is the source of a woman’s creative power and that the suppression of jouissance prevents women from finding their own fully empowered voice. Other feminists have argued that Freudian “hysteria” is jouissance distorted by patriarchal culture and say that jouissance is a transcendent state that represents freedom from oppressive linearities.”to escape hierarchical bonds and thereby come closer to what Cixous calls jouissance, which can be defined as a virtually metaphysical fulfillment of desire that goes far beyond [mere] satisfaction… [It is a] fusion of the erotic, the mystical, and the political.”

 

And those are my choices. #2 looks the best in the terms of what I know, but #3 can also work… sort of. Maybe. I think I will email Amanda about #2 and get her opinion on the matter.

NOTE TO SELF: Email Amanda about theory #2. Also, while you’re at it, email Carol from class about her proposal to get a visual on what to do.

Moving on…

So, after I find my definition, I have to work it around Convergence Culture, which is (if I’m remembering correctly), how something has transcended originality and created this world with fans and things. Multiple meanings and such. Essentially:

•  A new era of transition where ‘new and old media collide’. Jenkins’ understanding of convergence is primarily a cultural process, where convergent cultural practices include both the consumption and creation of media. Jenkins specifically focuses on the effects of “media convergence” and the combination of various media that offer new forms of communication and understanding between different media sources. It especially refers to how media consumers understand and make use of the new forms of media and it’s content. This convergence has created such things as Web 2.0, transmedia phenomena, and subsequently a new definition of American popular culture.

I do this by talking about how Convergence culture and Jouissance go hand in hand, and in return, take magical creatures along for the ride.

For example,

How fairies are found in different mediums for different purposes.

• Harry Potter
• Once Upon a Time
• Tinkerbell
• Supernatural
• Fairy Godmother
• Fairly Oddparents
• Spyro the Dragon
• Renaissance Festival

And how they’re good or bad and how people enjoy them.
The best example would be how the Fairly Oddparents work. Where lonely children get their own Fairy Godparents. And how there are rules, and how they can fall in love, and how they live in their own separate houses, etc. And that show brought MANY A KID Jouissance.

And that’s why I’m doing this project. Is to show how Jouissance and Convergence culture go hand-in-hand and why it will continue to march forward.*

And then finally, after I’ve tied #1 & #2 together, I bring in #3, Book as Object.

Which my argument is essentially how the physical book brings pleasure and how my formatting will help enhance and create more Jouissance for the magical things I’m talking about. So, basically, I’m talking up how great physical books are and how interactivity through books highlights pleasure even more in the reader.

So, cool, right?

Amanda’s awesome, I’m glad she helped me think through this process. It’s a tough one.

She went off of my thought of “to create something like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson without a main protagonist; so that everyone can be their own main protagonist (a “choose your own adventure”)” and helped me narrow it down to academic things in three parts that I have to put together.

Ahhhhh, it’s so much easier to handle!

I also got a deadline too, to have a rough draft to her by, as well as my personal deadline (which she’s endorsing) to have it completed by:

Rough Draft: Wednesday, April 6th @4:15 p.m.
Final Draft, Pt. 1: Friday, April 15th (emailed)
Final Draft, Pt. 2: Monday, April 18th (hard-copy)
COMPLETED DRAFT: Wednesday, April 20th (just in case I need to tweak it at all)

So, here’s hoping!

I know I also have Annette’s paper and project due around that time, so hopefully I can get this all done! Luckily for me, I’m also working on convergence culture for fairytales for that class, so I’ll already have some information squared away that I can copy & paste from. Yay for killing 2 birds with 1 stone!

And double yay for keeping this blog, which will no doubt
A) help keep my sanity
B) help keep me [somewhat] organized
and
C) Allow me wiggle room to write down and work through my thought process as I write. Which is always a plus since I can’t always talk to people about it. 🙂

Okay. Now that I’ve managed to write all this information down, I think it’s a good time to publish the post, take a shower, tumblr it up, and hit the hay. It’s been a long day and it’s going to be a long tomorrow (and weekend, since I’ve got my 9-10 page paper “rough draft” to work on for Annette’s class. That I need to really get on, as I have barely anything for. Thank god it’s just a rough draft, because I’ve discovered I need to re-write a paper at least 3 times to get it to sound good. With this, I’m going to do at most 2 re-writes. Maybe 3 if I can squeeze it in, but I won’t sweat too much over it, since she’s giving us feedback herself and considers it a “rough draft… that’s like the finished paper”. Which is really nice. It’s also part of the reason why I love Annette). OH! I’ll also email those people too, as I’ve also discovered that if I don’t do something now; in the moment I think of it, it probably won’t get done. I’m weird like that. But hey! At least I’m getting to know myself better!

Until next time,

Sami

P.s. I also got a rough page estimate for how long the rational part of my project will be!
Amanda said it would be up to me how long it was. She’s thinking, like, 40 pages (“but that may be a bit much…” probably because I made a face).
I said I was thinking like, 25-30 pages.
She said that was a happy medium.
I said “oh, no big deal, 40 pages.” With a face that was a big deal.
She puzzled.
I said, “I’ve never wrote a paper that long. The longest was 15 pages.”
She was like, “Oh thank God I’m not the worst, cause I thought I gave out long papers!”
Her paper was like, 12-14 pages. Not bad. Pretty flexible.
She suggested that I could think of it as writing 3 small papers. 10 pages each.
I said that was better. Still scary though.
She laughed and was like, “but you’ll probably write over”
I laughed. “Probably? I know I will, I’m known for biggering things. (I felt like the Once-let). I’m always told to make it smaller; narrow it down! ALWAYS! Come on Amanda! It’s my thing! Everybody tells me that–I don’t wanna sometimes!”
We both laughed.
And then I was almost last for my class with Annette at Toys-R-Us (which was epically fun).
The End.

*This is why I think I’m doing. I think this is my thesis statement for my proposal. Again, I’ll have to include it in with my email to Amanda

 

 

 

 

Down the rabbit hole she goes…when she’ll stop, nobody knows.

Okay, so, I’ve done more research and even managed to buy a few books (which should be coming in from Amazon any day now. Roughly $70 later and I have two books that will actually help me and one book that might help me, but mostly is extremely cool looking and sounding–Alice in Tumblr-land. Cool, right?) to help me along in my process.

I even emailed Amanda (my… adviser? I think that’s right? I don’t know, I’ll have to ask her) and found out that:

A) my [8-page] proposal (that I don’t know how to format because I forgot to ask Carol–who is in my class and I know and she’s doing a creative thesis too-in class last week and she won’t be here this week for me to ask her) is due by the end of the semester, which is technically the last week in April. But my goal is to finish it by April 15th. I’m going to hate myself in April with all the papers I have to do IN ADDITION to this proposal

B) I’ll have basically all of the summer to actually work on the project. Which means I’ll have to 1) pay my brother serious dough (or just the PS4?) to insure I have an illustrator, 2) begin narrowing down exactly what my plans are for expanding this universe, 3) get all my lesson plans for the school kids done before the summer so I’m not dying, 4) RESEARCH THE HELL OUT OF THE THINGS NEEDED FOR THE RATIONAL PORTION soon, and 5) find a way to bind everything. That last one’s going to be the trickiest.

C) I’m going to a meeting to discuss how much I’ve done (not done) in regards to my proposal… the day I’m writing this, actually. I’ve done minimal research so far on things like Book as Object and Convergence Culture and Fairytales (in Convergence Culture) and created a small start to my bibliography of things I can use, but I haven’t even begun to form a coherent thought as to how to write these things.

D) I’m completely clueless to doing this crap and there’s no guidebook to read to understand it better. Or YouTube video. AND AND AND trying to talk to someone about beginning a thesis (let alone one I’m pioneering) when most of them are finishing up their own thesises (sp?) is EVEN HARDER because they’re all tired and probably sick of thesising and the last thing I know I would want to talk about while finishing my thesis is how to begin a thesis. But I would still do it. I just wish there was someone I could talk to about what I want to do that has done it before. And yes, I know I’ve got 80 pages of it completed already in the form of my Capstone, BUT that one didn’t include a rational and proposal and all that jazz AND ALSO IT WAS A CLASS I TOOK SO I FELT MORE URGENCY FOR IT. I hate this and also love it. It sucks. I don’t wike it.

 

Ugh. Just ugh.
Send help I want off.

Can’ t they just be like, “create your project and we’ll judge it from there, yo” so I can be done? I don’t mind the research and all–it’ putting it into academic writing that kills me. I hate it. I’d rather it’d be as causal as a Facebook post. But damn. Not every part of something fun can be fun. Actual work must go into it.

For instance, here’s a sample of a (non-MLA style) Bibliography I’m working on:

Foley, John Miles. Oral Tradition and the Internet (book)
Bacchilega, Cristina. Fairytales Transformed (book)
YouTube. Cinderella 2.0: Transmedia Storytelling (video)
Waugh, Patricia. Metafiction (book)
Manley, Tim. Alice in Tumblr-land: And Other Fairy Tales for a New Generation (book)
Finkelstein, David and Alistair McCleery. The Book History Reader (book)
Stewart, Kristy Gilbert. Blogs, Books, & Breadcrumbs: A Case Study of Transmedial Fairy Tales (PDF/Thesis)
Adema, Janneke. Bookfuturism: Visions of the Future Book (Blog post)

 

And I’ve only spear-read most of them. I feel like a disappointment sometimes with myself.
Mostly because I want to do this, but my drive; my ambition is lacking. Terribly.

So, my advice for people who aren’t naturally inclined to be ambitious or productive everyday without weakening that want to further their education beyond a Bachelors?

WAIT. TAKE SOME TIME OFF.
OR ELSE YOU’LL BURN OUT.

Especially if your Bachelor college experience completely killed the passion you once had for things. Like writing.

Dead. It’s dead. I had a funeral for it and everything.

More poor, poor enthusiasm died my third year of undergrad. RIP, enthusiasm.

…

Okay, enough ranting. I should probably do something else productive, like post the questions I need to ask within this proposal (I think I’m suppose to be doing this, I’m not sure). And I think I’ll do it as a Q&A with myself. And my alter-ego reporter. Here goes.

AEQ: So, Sami. You’re starting your creative thesis soon. The first on in the CHL department in over 6 years! How does that feel?
ME: Thrilling and exciting! I’m really happy on how much control I’m going to have over this thing! I know I probably won’t be able to do a creative thesis again for my dissertation (which is okay, I want to write about Meg Cabot and the YA “chick lit” scene anyway. Maybe Captain Underpants and why there aren’t more girl things like it) so I’m really grateful that I get to do it!

AEQ: Cool! You’re extending your undergrad Capstone project, correct?
ME: Yes! The Scholarly Corps of Myth, Tales, and Lore (SCMTL)! It’s a thing that basically says any myth, fairytale, and lore/legend you’ve ever heard of is real! It’s like a cross between Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, except more inclusionary?

AEQ: How?
ME: Well, I began this project as a way to combine what I’d learned in both Children’s Lit and Creative Writing. Then I expanded it to include the idea of how there’s really nothing that encompasses people completely within something where they could be included without being magical or a demigod or “the chosen one”… or, you know, the protag of a book. Literally anyone can be apart of this thing. You don’t have to have a certain type of blood to join. You just have to have an open world view and then BAM! Letter sent. You can accept or deny to learn (and those who deny, which are many, get their mind erased, MIB style). Sort of like college. Except for ages like, 10-100.

AEQ: That’s pretty exciting! So, what do you think you’ll change by doing this creative work?
ME: Well, the dream is to get it published. And then my actual goal will be set in motion: that is to create a world where something could actually be plausible to achieve outside of a book of fiction. Where you can physically get books and “take classes” and learn about this… school. I mean, the section on internships would be hard, but that’s where I could combine the best of both HP and PJ. In layman’s terms, I want to make my own Hogwarts and Camp Halfblood. Except with fairytales, etc. HP deals with Fairytales, PJ with myths. I’m going with Lore/Legend.
In academic terms, I’m hoping to both open up the doors for creative projects in the CHL department, create a world in which I explained the above, and to make an interactive book fun and exciting–combine a story with puzzle pieces. I hope… that’s a good/correct answer.

AEQ: I’m sure after some discussion you’ll be able to get around by it! Now, what exactly are you trying to do? Why?
ME: Make an interactive book. Because kids like to interact with things. And it creates this love of computer-like technology with books, essentially. You can feel like you’re apart of the story; that what you’ll do will actually matter. That you’re the protag in this story and you matter. To show how cool books are. That stories are more than just words on a page and that you can help to create this story you’re reading. So, essentially, a Captain Underpants for everyone.

AEQ: Captain Underpants?
ME: Jouissance and Plaisiar. I’m doing Convergence Culture, Metafiction, Book as Object, and Jouissance and Plaisiar. I think I’ve got it. I do. I think I’ve got it. Thanks, AEQ! I think I’m getting ready to have something to talk about with Amanda! I just hope I don’t loose this spark!

AEQ: I hope you don’t either! I hope this blog helps you! Good Luck!
ME: Thanks! I knew this was a good idea!

 

Well, I hope that idea(s) are sufficient. I hope it gets Amanda’s approval! Wish me luck!

I hope I can get through this!

Until next time,

Sami

 

 

It’s Been A Long Time, Without You My Blog…But Now That I’m Thesising I’ll Pick Up Where I Let Off…

While this blog is no long dedicated to writing things down for classroom concerns, it does house most of my thought process for creating what is now the SCMTL–or “The Scholarly Corps of Myth, Tales, and Lore”.

And since I have been granted permission to do a creative thesis to obtain my Master’s, I figured this is the best place to write down and keep track of my [on-going] creation of the project!

Basically, my goal for this thesis is to actually expand the entire world of the SCMTL. The project’s going to be a bear, but I hope it’ll be worth it. I hope the committee that reviews it think’s it’s awesome. Awesome enough for me to try and get it published. Maybe.

Who knows.

All I know is that I’m opening up a gateway for the Children’s Lit department by doing a creative thesis. Because apparently one hasn’t been done in a long time (I think Ramona said something like, 6 years or so). So, if anything, I’m testing the waters to see how it goes. Which is a curse and a blessing. A blessing because there’s nothing for the committee to really based it around (and therefore giving me a bit of the upper hand in the grading department) and a curse because I literally have to make things up as I go and hope that they’re not all “Herr DeBurr what is this I don’t know it’s weird I don’t wike it”.

So, ugh.

But, anyway…

In addition to actually creating the SCMTL, I have to do a rational, proposal, and research.

The proposal is 8 pages long and I have a rough outline of what needs to go in it, I just have to get back to Amanda (my “mentor”? No idea what the proper name is) about something… that I forgot. Clearing my schedule or something. I should probably email her this week.

Then there’s my rational, which explains why I’m doing these things and all the research that’s going into them.
In other words,

• Metafiction
• Convergence Culture
• The Book as Object
• Modern re-tellings of Myths, Fairy Tales, and Folklore (aka legends. I liked using “Lore” in the title better because RYHMES).

So, yey (because “yay” looks weird) me! I get to research old myths, tales, and lore of my choosing and then explain how metafiction and convergence culture works in modern-day settings! AND THEN the Book as Object–which settles around the format I want to use.
Which is essentially the argument of paper books vs. online “Kindle” books and why people like the feeling of books.

DOUBLE YAY!

Alright. I think that’s good for an intro paragraph about why I’m kick-starting this blog back up. I doubt it will be read by anyone but me, so yes. Which is good.

Now I’m off to post on Facebook to get a reading of things people would like to know more about so I can begin the elimination process for what myths, tales, and lore I should choose to write about.

WISH ME LUCK!

 

Until Next Time,
Sami

 

 

 

A Beginning

In the beginning, there was hope.

In the end, hope had been vanquished by pressure, instruction, and opaqueness.

In the afterlife, hope decided it was time. Time for a change.

So hope left. And hope never looked back.

 

This blog is dedicated to document everything that I encounter during my time in the CRTW 550 Community Outreach class.
A couple “rules” I should post now:

1. This will not be poetic. I am not a poetic person (despite my little story in the beginning).
2. I write with the mind of a sleep-deprived person on their 5th cup of coffee at three in the morning with the faint hum of late-night infomercials in the background and the feel of stress pulsing through their veins.
3. I write for me, not for anyone else. I will follow what I need to, but for the most part, I write what I sound like in my head (which is often crazy).
4. I will document what I can, when I can, where I can. What I need to, not necessarily what I want.
5. I’m a very happy person. Usually.

In any case, let the documenting begin!

Until next time,

Sami

A New Class; A New School Year (aka Grad School and the Community Outreach Program)

Just as a starter, hopefully I can continue to use this blog for my CRTW 550, community outreach class! In which case, this blog will document pretty much everything I do for that class.

Since this particular blog post is just a simple starting point to announce that this blog is for the 550 class, it won’t include my thoughts on my community outreach project or the readings, etc. quite yet. That will, however, be the next post!

Until Next Time,
Here  I go again!

Sami

For the sake of my sanity

I have always been crazy. 

Unfortunately my crazy has been spiraling in with other crazies and I find myself in a series of panic attacks that leave me forgetting things. 

So, as just a quick reminder to me, should I forget because I have literally never been under so much stress in all my 22 years:

My project will include the following pages:

• Introduction page, a sort of disclaimer about the project and world you are entering. 
• double spread-sheet with a congratulatory letter of acceptance, Fill-out sheet of what classes to take as well as apprenticeship, an envelop, a letter “from” the reader, and a fold-out pamphlet/book with a sample of various classes that can be taken and apprenticeships. 
• double SS with A letter from the professor welcoming into the apprenticeship as well as biographical info on professor
• class schedule
• two-four pages of “hand written notes” from the classes
• Cover letter explaining apprenticeship guidelines
• Several pages explaining the Lutins
• Story of Legend behind Lutins
• Two-four pages of notes
• Letter from professor about field work with Lutins
• double SS with Final letter from Corps about next year and class selection list from before
• An afterword by me about the reason for this project
• The “process paper” (basically my blog posts, edited
• Updated bib??
• A “time of death” sheet, as I will mostly likely die of stress and exhaustion by the end of this project. 

So yes. Can I do it? Dare I say it?
…

(Oh HIMYM, how I love you. Your finale was crap, but you were a beautiful show and I thank you for creating the one phrase I always keep my word on). 

Wish me luck!
This project is going to be 

Until next time, 

pray I don’t die

Sami

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

In the syllabus for the course, we’re suppose to have some kind of  documentation of our process of creating our capstone. 

I’ve decided that my blog will hold a better purpose if I use it to write about my process than trying to keep a journal. This way it serves two purposes for the price of one!

HUZZAH FOR MULTITASKING! 

But, anyway, an update on my progress:

 

…is basically it in a nutshell. 

You’d think, that because Creative Writing is my major and because of my long love-affair with writing and story-telling that it wouldn’t be, BUT IT IS. 
IT IS SO VERY MUCH. 

It’s even harder to do when 
A) You’re sick because allergy season is happening 
B) You’re taking 3 other classes that require at least 25% (if not more) of your time and will-power
C) Those other 3 classes either have massive readings due or end-of-semester projects coming up
D) Your work is giving you unbelievable hours because people are bastard coated bastards with bastard fillings and just decide not to show up (we’re hiring in new staff-members. We depend on them to actually come because that’s how we steady-staffers get to leave at a decent time. They don’t show up? We’ve got to cover the shift they were suppose to work, which means I’ve had solid 9-10 hours a day PLUS the extra-time I put in to cover for the opener–6:30 a.m.–when I get out of class on Mondays and Wednesdays. I don’t know about you, but that makes a bloody long week with 0% motivation to do anything when I get home but park my ass in front of a TV for an hour before calling it a night, rinsing, and repeating). 
E) Your work is also taking on 4 night kids, two of whom are under the age of 1, that want to stay until 10 p.m. (we’re talking 11-12 hours at a daycare…for infants. Are you KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?) and you’re more or less going to have to cover a day or two on the night shift because everyone else “isn’t good enough”. 
F) You’ve got to worry about Grad school stuff
G) Your project is literally going to make you regret doing it because YOU JUST HAVE TO BE CRAFTY
H) Your cousin’s getting married, you’re in the wedding, and weddings are hard. 
I) Your friend’s mom’s getting re-married, you’re in the wedding, and weddings are hard. 
J) Your friend-coworker’s preggers, having a baby-shower, and you need to attend because reasons. 
K) Sleeping would be nice when it’s dark outside. 

So yes. Life sucks and then you die, right?

Soon, soon this will be done and all I’ll have to worry about it what to watch on Netflix. Hopefully. 

But, anyway, enough digression for one post. I’m here to update, not complain about my hectic life!

I’ve had very little physical time to work on my project (which sucks, since it’s due soon), but in between classes, during quiet time at work, and while I’m shampooing my hair, I’ve had time to think about it. And one thing I’ve thought about a lot is how to format this book. 

Well, I’ve decided. It’s going to take place in a fake-realm, kind of like how Harry Potter takes place in the Wizarding community. 
In this realm, Myths, fairy tales, and legends (etc.) are all real. They are only told as fairytales, etc. to throw-off the scent of people capturing the creatures and doing evil things to them. 
Yes, it’s kind of a trope in a way, but it’s working for me. Besides, I’m trying to be ironic here. Let me be ironic. 
There’s a society, one I’ve named (for now), “Scholarly Corps of Myth, Magic, and Legend (the SCMML for short)” in which a secret community observes, records, and discovers things about the creatures that are found in various myths, fairy tales, and legends (etc.). My main character, Dr. Zola Wincast (who has been given a unisex name), is taking on an apprentice (the person reading the book) and telling them about the “Lutins” or little people. In order for the apprentice to do any field work themselves, they must study under a department head and learn about all they can. Dr. Wincast is one of the best in the field and therefore almost always takes the new-recruits on first. Not to mention the Lutins are supposedly the easiest to learn about, since there’s not much folklore on them in the first place to scew a person’s understanding.
It’s a development in the making, and it’s a great direction for my book. It’s at least a much better idea than just making a field journal!

Anyway, here’s a sample letter from the book:

“

To whom it may concern,

 

            I hope that this finds you well. You know who you are. I trust that you’ve been keeping up on your studies and try your best not to get yourself worked up over small things, even though the entire reason I’m writing you this letter is because of “small things”.

            I must also inform you of code 773 and not let this book get into the hands of the wrong people. It is to stay within our community and kept a secret, less we want to spoil the lives of people living perfectly all on their own!

            As you know, the Scholarly Corps of Myth, Magic, and Legend (the SCMML for short) have recently been cataloging their findings to better preserve a sense of regiment. I, Dr. Zola Wincast, of the Myth and Magic department, first class, FT7364, have been placed in-charge of documenting the little people known as “Lutins”.  You, my friend, having recently joining the Corp, having recently becoming my apprentice, must learn everything I have written in the book before joining me out in the field. “

It’s only a part of it, but it’s coming along. This is the letter that will be in an envelope for the person to read. 
If you look back to my last post, the “letter about ‘Z’ will most likely be changed to a course list of sorts, or something. 

Like I said, this is a huge work in progress and I hope to get the template set this weekend, in between my dress fitting for my friend’s mom’s wedding and my friend-coworker’s baby shower. 
Oh, and in between doing all my other homework too. 
…
When will I ever find the time to sleep?

(actual representation me from now until the end of April)

Until next time, 
Sami