i love how your posts make me THINK, even if i'm gonna keep my self-reflections on this topic to myself this time... ;D
i am SO EXCITED you've reached the "midpoint" (fuhgheddaboutit "real" numbers & %s!!) of your novel and are in that race-to-the-end that essentially WRITES ITSELF!
we (collective fandom who shall go to our shallow graves believing you ARE a cool kid because style and achievements and reinvention totally count) canNOT waiT for The Book to be announced and celebrate that pivot with you!!!
cheering you on for those "new" (last) 13 metaphorical miles.
have some healthy juice and a whiff of fresh air for the rest of us pining introverts who don't have tay-tay's makeover budget... ;D
omg my friend Anna and I (we’re both named Anna haha) would LOVE to be focus readers 😭 genuinely praying you see this. i’m such a massive fan of SGE, which Anna introduced me too and i soon got obsessed with (both currently rereading them because why not) and seeing a new type of writing in the works would be so cool!! i’ve also been in a bit of a reading draught, so having new things to read that i’m genuinely interested in is a must. we love your writing!!!
This is so fascinating! I went to a tiny private school where there were only 20 people in my graduating class. In some sense that made it sort of impossible to have groups, because there just weren't enough of us? So that meant the "cool" kids were also the ones with good grades, obsessing over Lord of the Rings, and sharing around Il Divo songs. But now in the adult world I'm realizing that I think this is why I feel so much more comfortable around nerds, and am just not quite sure what to do around people who value their image above all. I end up feeling like I'm just throwing off their groove with my awkward self! Hahaha maybe this is all just to say that I have never been nor probably will I ever be a cool kid hehe.
Oh also what you said about YA writers made me chuckle, because us MG writers often talk about feeling like we're doing arts and crafts at the kids table while the YA writers are the cool kids hehe.
My comment magically vanished... I think it goes to show that we all think the cool kids are always the 'other' kids. Your school sounds amazing. Where's my time travel machine? I want to go there!
(for the record, at art school, we awkward nerds totally judged the fashion majors and athletes for "caring." bahahaha. i mean, yeah, it was shallow of us to call them shallow, but we creative types have always played by different "cool" rules.) ;)
Back in my middle school days I remember my scary greek teacher (Mrs. Gofonopoulos - even her name was scary) going on and on about foils in Shakespeare. And either it was her intimating aura or just that the idea intrigued me, but I havn’t been able to get through a book since without thinking about the concept lol. So needless to say this post was right up my alley! This took me back to when i was trying to assign who was who’s foil in sge and having so much fun coming up with all the possibilities hahaha
I love this substack because it gets me thinking even if I’ve spent the last few days couch rotting and not touching a single book!!! lmaooo
Foils! I feel like my whole life and creative unconscious is obsessed with foils. Your Greek teacher does indeed have the scariest name but I would have liked to be in that class. Thank you for reading the diary every week!
Hi! I'm a big fan of your writing. As a student, I'm definitely still figuring out this whole cool kid thing. It seems like I have to do a lot of figuring out in real life before I can even project a recurring theme on paper. Nonetheless, it's cool to read about your experience with that resurfacing dynamic--I definitely notice it in your books and it's one of my favorite parts. It's pretty cool that writers can do that: figuring the puzzle of a completely different setting and characters and yet having it naturally retain a similar theme.
Thank goodness you've joined the Chappell Roan hype train! She has the perfect combination of style, vocals, and writing that have made her my new fave singer
You put this into words so well! I think Chappell Roan is a perfect example of the good kid/cool kid divide. She's said she views Chappell as more of a drag persona/her 'cool kid' side and if songs like California and her EP School Nights are any indication, she hasn't always been a cool kid. Maybe there is hope for the rest of us. I can't wait to read about Sophie at the Pink Pony Pub in the SGE adult books somewhere down the line!
This is SO true! I was just reflecting the other day on how back in middle school I wanted SO desperately to be part of the popular group. Especially because I was friends with a lot of them individually, so I thought I could just integrate myself into their group. Of course I came to my senses in high school because I realized being popular was not the most important thing in life, but its so interesting to look back at my writing at that time. Every character I wrote about was so cool and perfect and exactly who I wished I could be. Actually they were all perfect mirrors of my one friend who I admired and envied a lot.
Now I look at my writing and all my characters are absolute disasters. But I guess that's what makes them cool and interesting because they have so much more depth.
I'm sure I still need to balance it somewhat, and find a middle ground. But there is something so freeing in self-indulgent writing, so for now I will just enjoy the ride! I love looking back and seeing how my writing reflects myself and my life. It is so fascinating.
I love that your reflecting yourself through your own writing. My journey is very similar. I feel like the first 10 things I wrote, just for myself, were about trying to understand the popular kids.
I LOVE this post. I can relate to your wanting to be the Cool Kid, or someone other than I am now, and how I write two different versions of myself. It's the one who is still introverted but they are somehow admired by everyone, mainly because of intelligent they sound and they are the staple, the standard. Perfect and they probably don't struggle. People tell them they are intelligent by even watching a post or something. That's versus who I really am-- anxious, emotional, and struggling a lot just to get an A even with activities in school I enjoy. So the conflict is the stronger, cool intellect and admirability vs the curious, awkward and daydreamy character.
I think that's the thing -- these versions create conflict and conflict is where the good stuff is at! Rhian and Rafal certainly had that and archetypally too. I'd pick them as the strongest pair. Meaning the older versions, ha ha.
Oh and for locking onto a cool kid-- I do tend to have crushes on people I admire greatly and hom I talk to, but they are more popular or well-articulated than I am. Actually, i remember that one part from Rise where Rafal discusses one tends to gravitate towards those that have something they don't but are attracted to and want.
Also I love the mention of Anadil/Hester and Dot and the main twins (Rhian and Rafal) showing the uptight vs laid back and bold contrast. I can see it actually in all the characters you mentioned. In which pair would you see it the strongest and why? Or where in each of them is the contrast shown the strongest?
i love how your posts make me THINK, even if i'm gonna keep my self-reflections on this topic to myself this time... ;D
i am SO EXCITED you've reached the "midpoint" (fuhgheddaboutit "real" numbers & %s!!) of your novel and are in that race-to-the-end that essentially WRITES ITSELF!
we (collective fandom who shall go to our shallow graves believing you ARE a cool kid because style and achievements and reinvention totally count) canNOT waiT for The Book to be announced and celebrate that pivot with you!!!
cheering you on for those "new" (last) 13 metaphorical miles.
have some healthy juice and a whiff of fresh air for the rest of us pining introverts who don't have tay-tay's makeover budget... ;D
xo,
*hallie :)
You always keep my spirits up!
🥳🥳🥳🥳🥰🥹💪🏽 here for you, soman! 😄📝🙌🏽👏🏽
omg my friend Anna and I (we’re both named Anna haha) would LOVE to be focus readers 😭 genuinely praying you see this. i’m such a massive fan of SGE, which Anna introduced me too and i soon got obsessed with (both currently rereading them because why not) and seeing a new type of writing in the works would be so cool!! i’ve also been in a bit of a reading draught, so having new things to read that i’m genuinely interested in is a must. we love your writing!!!
p.s. love chappell roan too
I will remember you when the time comes if we do a full focus group! Thank you so much for being on the Stack with the rest of us Evers & Nevers :)
This is so fascinating! I went to a tiny private school where there were only 20 people in my graduating class. In some sense that made it sort of impossible to have groups, because there just weren't enough of us? So that meant the "cool" kids were also the ones with good grades, obsessing over Lord of the Rings, and sharing around Il Divo songs. But now in the adult world I'm realizing that I think this is why I feel so much more comfortable around nerds, and am just not quite sure what to do around people who value their image above all. I end up feeling like I'm just throwing off their groove with my awkward self! Hahaha maybe this is all just to say that I have never been nor probably will I ever be a cool kid hehe.
Oh also what you said about YA writers made me chuckle, because us MG writers often talk about feeling like we're doing arts and crafts at the kids table while the YA writers are the cool kids hehe.
My comment magically vanished... I think it goes to show that we all think the cool kids are always the 'other' kids. Your school sounds amazing. Where's my time travel machine? I want to go there!
Haha totally, grass always greener and all that. And yeah, my butt is lucky I went to that school, pretty sure it woulda got thrashed in another one.
(for the record, at art school, we awkward nerds totally judged the fashion majors and athletes for "caring." bahahaha. i mean, yeah, it was shallow of us to call them shallow, but we creative types have always played by different "cool" rules.) ;)
Back in my middle school days I remember my scary greek teacher (Mrs. Gofonopoulos - even her name was scary) going on and on about foils in Shakespeare. And either it was her intimating aura or just that the idea intrigued me, but I havn’t been able to get through a book since without thinking about the concept lol. So needless to say this post was right up my alley! This took me back to when i was trying to assign who was who’s foil in sge and having so much fun coming up with all the possibilities hahaha
I love this substack because it gets me thinking even if I’ve spent the last few days couch rotting and not touching a single book!!! lmaooo
Foils! I feel like my whole life and creative unconscious is obsessed with foils. Your Greek teacher does indeed have the scariest name but I would have liked to be in that class. Thank you for reading the diary every week!
Hi! I'm a big fan of your writing. As a student, I'm definitely still figuring out this whole cool kid thing. It seems like I have to do a lot of figuring out in real life before I can even project a recurring theme on paper. Nonetheless, it's cool to read about your experience with that resurfacing dynamic--I definitely notice it in your books and it's one of my favorite parts. It's pretty cool that writers can do that: figuring the puzzle of a completely different setting and characters and yet having it naturally retain a similar theme.
We all have our obsessions that come out in our unconscious expression it seems...
Thank goodness you've joined the Chappell Roan hype train! She has the perfect combination of style, vocals, and writing that have made her my new fave singer
I love the contrast between her and Taylor. But who's the Sophie and who's the Agatha???
I'm so in agreement as a YA writer that I have never been cool and most likely never will be!
I feel like everyone in YA thinks you're very cool, lmao
I've been going to acting classes lately so that must be what's convincing everyone 😂
OMG. Waiting for your debut...
You put this into words so well! I think Chappell Roan is a perfect example of the good kid/cool kid divide. She's said she views Chappell as more of a drag persona/her 'cool kid' side and if songs like California and her EP School Nights are any indication, she hasn't always been a cool kid. Maybe there is hope for the rest of us. I can't wait to read about Sophie at the Pink Pony Pub in the SGE adult books somewhere down the line!
That's what's also fascinating -- she might be Cool Kid and Good Kid all in one... I really do need to write those adult books ha ha.
This is SO true! I was just reflecting the other day on how back in middle school I wanted SO desperately to be part of the popular group. Especially because I was friends with a lot of them individually, so I thought I could just integrate myself into their group. Of course I came to my senses in high school because I realized being popular was not the most important thing in life, but its so interesting to look back at my writing at that time. Every character I wrote about was so cool and perfect and exactly who I wished I could be. Actually they were all perfect mirrors of my one friend who I admired and envied a lot.
Now I look at my writing and all my characters are absolute disasters. But I guess that's what makes them cool and interesting because they have so much more depth.
I'm sure I still need to balance it somewhat, and find a middle ground. But there is something so freeing in self-indulgent writing, so for now I will just enjoy the ride! I love looking back and seeing how my writing reflects myself and my life. It is so fascinating.
I love that your reflecting yourself through your own writing. My journey is very similar. I feel like the first 10 things I wrote, just for myself, were about trying to understand the popular kids.
I LOVE this post. I can relate to your wanting to be the Cool Kid, or someone other than I am now, and how I write two different versions of myself. It's the one who is still introverted but they are somehow admired by everyone, mainly because of intelligent they sound and they are the staple, the standard. Perfect and they probably don't struggle. People tell them they are intelligent by even watching a post or something. That's versus who I really am-- anxious, emotional, and struggling a lot just to get an A even with activities in school I enjoy. So the conflict is the stronger, cool intellect and admirability vs the curious, awkward and daydreamy character.
I think that's the thing -- these versions create conflict and conflict is where the good stuff is at! Rhian and Rafal certainly had that and archetypally too. I'd pick them as the strongest pair. Meaning the older versions, ha ha.
I can definitely see the strength in contrasts between Rafal and Rhian 1!!
Oh and for locking onto a cool kid-- I do tend to have crushes on people I admire greatly and hom I talk to, but they are more popular or well-articulated than I am. Actually, i remember that one part from Rise where Rafal discusses one tends to gravitate towards those that have something they don't but are attracted to and want.
Also I love the mention of Anadil/Hester and Dot and the main twins (Rhian and Rafal) showing the uptight vs laid back and bold contrast. I can see it actually in all the characters you mentioned. In which pair would you see it the strongest and why? Or where in each of them is the contrast shown the strongest?
Haven’t read it yet but I literally am listening to this song rn and I just got the notification 🤣
Great gym song
Great everything song!!!