Alex

#yappasaurwrites- Excerpts of fiction writing

hello everyone, I wanted to introduce my fantasy book. I'm writing a freaky-friday esque book, where three kids are playing in the woods when they fall through a fairy ring and swap bodies with themselves as fae. I'll be posting character descriptions on here and some details of the story :)

I think it's kind of wild how many people simply don't believe there's other intelligent life out there. You mean to tell me in the vast expanse of our universe, over hundreds of galaxies, that not one of them has a planet like ours with life on it? How idiotic. I'm not one of those people that believes aliens built the pyramids, or that they're little green creatures living in area 51. I simply think that it's egotistical not to believe in other intelligent life out there. Plus, when you factor in the fact that When we look at other planets, we're really seeing them from thousands or millions of years ago, we can't really verify that they haven't developed life. Hopefully one day we will discover that we're not alone in this vast universe. But until then, I'll keep dreaming of a life on another planet, or a Star-Trek esque future of harmony.

This is not to say that I'm against it. I think it's beautiful that Tumblr is a blogging site where people can vent their frustrations, they can tell their stories, and they can know what others feel and know they're not alone. It's awe-inspiring. Reaching out, even one finger, can be enough to pull someone from a very dark place. Never think you're alone. Someone is always there.

Of course, that takes away the fun of self-exploration. Taking the time to soul-search, to truly sit with oneself and learn how your body yearns, how it reacts, how your soul ebbs and flows. It's amazing. Taking that away would take away your human-ness. Where's the fun in that? I don't know. Sometimes I wish that life had a little video game screen. You have narrowly escaped death 12 times. You are allergic to 3 fruits. Stuff like that. Everyone wants things to be a little easier, right?

I think that the wide range of human behavior is fascinating. Even from the beginning we specialized with roles, dividing tasks and specializing in our own areas. Now there's an even wider area of opportunity, with hundreds of college degrees or apprenticeships that every budding adult gets to select from. It's fascinating. In just one of my college classes there are majors ranging from construction management, to finance and business, to humanities degrees like sociology. Everyone gets their own little box to fill with their interests and specialties. In our modern world, the average teen has millions of different lives they can live. Sure, there are limiting factors such as cost and location, but the possibilities are sure to excite. A richer teen has the whole world at their feet. When cost isn't prohibitive, we see many people drawn to art. Why is that? W have art saved from every era of human life, from the very beginning. We love art so much, we train animals like elephants to do it! Humans love art. Countless museums across the globe are filled with centuries of art. I love visiting old art pieces, seeing how creative ancient humans are. My favorite is to compare depictions of the human figure. Analyzing how the ideal self has changed is fascinating. Once, when I was in a museum in Greece, I found a statue of Aphrodite that was shaped exactly like me. I almost cried. The goddess of beauty, looking like me? What an honor.

I can't imagine what my life would be without that book series. Far duller, I'm sure. It broke my heart to learn that Erin Hunter wasn't a real person, but a collection of ghostwriters under a pen name. The books and comics continue to be released to this day, fueling another generation of cat lovers. It's been a long time since I picked up one of those books, but I can still recount the story of that first book as if I wrote it myself. It may be far out of my reading level now, but I would still pick it up and tear through it in a day, given a chance. It was a big part of my childhood, and I wouldn't want it any other way. It helped me learn about community, life, and even learn how to handle death. It's a series built for children to learn how to manage conflict, build community, and learn the basics of life, all from the perspective of an orange cat. 

Growing up as a young undiagnosed but decidedly mentally ill teen, I was surrounded by a wide variety of opinions on mental health treatment. I had friends on a wide variety of psychiatric medication, or none at all. I knew friends with horror stories of the local psych wards, which only further put me off being upfront about my issues. The era was rife with jokes about how meds make you “lose your sparkle”, further stigmatizing those who sought psychiatric treatment. I have a vivid memory of being 14, and after tearfully confessing to my mother that I thought I had ADHD, she told me that all I needed to do was ‘find ways to work with my brain’, and that if she could live life without meds, so could I. Well, I tried that for my first 18 years. Now I’m on an ADHD medication, Focalin. And you know what? I don’t need brain cheat codes! I can simply sit down and be productive without arguing with my brain for hours. I can get my laundry done before it becomes a towering pile. I don’t have to fight through layers of executive dysfunction to get things done. The main argument I hear against psychiatric medication is that you won’t be yourself anymore. On the contrary, antidepressants have made me who I am. I don’t have the fight through depressive episodes or bouts of low energy to participate in my own life. I’m happy, I’m free, I’m uninhibited by my depression.

Some things are intuitive to human nature. For as long as humans have been a species, we’ve carried traditions with us. Stories told around a campfire, a drawing painted on a wall. Humans yearn for creativity. It’s been long observed in our increasingly capitalistic, money-driven society that in the absence of need, we turn to art. Children of the well-to-do often forsake the family business in favor of art or music. They aren’t constrained by the obligation to provide for themselves, concerned about salary or security, because they have a safety net. They’re then free to pursue personal freedom. Schoolchildren with a free minute to spare, or an ever-wandering mind, fill the margins of their notebooks with doodles. Art is the way of society. The soul of a community lies in their stories. Folk tales, legends, superstitions, they hold the very spirit of society. Art is an integral part of life. 

Birthdays are different for everyone. Lots of people are very happy, basking in the shower of attention. Others see it as a sad marker of time passed unwisely. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to look at your birthday. Even if it is sad, it’s a good time to stop and reflect on your life, and check in with yourself. What are you doing? How has your life changed over the past year? How do you plan on continuing or reversing that change? Are you on the path you want to be? If not, is there a way to switch tracks? Maybe your life didn’t change much. Maybe you’re content with that. Maybe you aren’t. Ups and downs are inevitable over the course of a year. That’s life. But, if you spend your life worrying about your failures, it’s hard to see the good. There can be bad in the good and good in the bad. You’ve got to find a balance. Being able to see the whole picture puts things into perspective. Are you blowing a little flaw in your life into a big problem? We always do at some point. It’s helpful for me to get a second opinion. Even just voicing my concerns out loud, putting them into written or spoken words, helps me see the true scale of the issue. When you get too far into your own head, you don’t think rationally. You spiral. You panic. Externalizing that emotion helps you cope. It feels like you’re not in it alone. It’s not solely your issue to bear. We hear a lot, often told to mothers, that it “takes a village”. I don’t think that village should disappear the moment the clock strikes midnight on your 18th birthday. Having a good support system is crucial for quality of life. A friend to lean on, someone who will lend a truck when you’re moving or a couch to crash on for the night, is so much more important than a fancy friendship you slap a filter on to impress Instagram followers. If it’s not benefiting you, it’s not worth the energy it’s draining from you.

Growing up in the early 2000s and 2010s, I was surrounded by an ever-changing world of tolerance. Gay marriage wasn’t legalized until I was 10. Religious judgement was at an all-time high after the attacks on 9/11. Body image, clothing modesty, and body positivity were ever-evolving in a world where technology and social media kept everyone on their toes. Even in a time proclaimed by many to be tolerant and free, judgement and restrictions continue to rise. The 2000s were spent shaming a woman for being anything more than stick-thin, and now those sentiments hide under layers of protests that plus-size fashion is so much more expensive to make and arguments about the healthiness of being overweight. Fat isn’t a dirty word, but plus-size celebrities are constantly put down for not being thin, rather than judged for their talent. When someone wants to argue that someone is a bad person, negative physical characteristics are a go-to, rather than the person’s actions. Dress code fights flooding the news in the 2010s, body positivity warring for the spotlight with fad diets and the latest weight loss drug. Men who took care of themselves were labeled as “metrosexual”, men who didn’t give girls the “ick”. If women follow social fashion trends they’re shallow, basic, and materialistic, but if you don’t you’re a pick-me who’s just trying to stand out and get attention. Alternative dress is demonic, just a phase, or labels someone a suicide risk. People who wear old and secondhand clothes are poor and dirty, but thrifting is chic and a great side hustle! Sell your old clothes on the latest marketplace app for far more than it’s worth! Wearing your clothes until they’re tattered is sustainable and good for the environment, you’re fighting against fast fashion! But your clothes are old and out of trend? How cringe… Fast fashion is cheap and good for if you’re on a budget, but if you buy it you support child labor and the destruction of the environment. Buy from big-label, more expensive brands who hide their exploitation of poor countries a little better.