I have read a lot of fanfiction. There are some really promising authors out there that are writing full length novels and trilogies on some of their favorite works and I commend you all. That kind of work is just insane to comprehend- insane to do. The creativity is awesome.
One pet peeve though: RESEARCH-specifically about one thing this time: Starvation
I read a fanfic recently that reminded me of this and how often I see it. Starvation- the concept of someone not having enough food for a long enough period of time that they are weak and or dying from it.
The scene was a really intense emotional one, in fact I would say it was the climax. However I kept being distracted by the fact that the character was essentially dying after being without food for 7 days. (nope)
Actually- they had eaten occasionally,(nope nope) not much but some in the 7 days. And in that period of time they were drawn and thin, their cheeks were sunken in their skin was yellow. (nope nope nope)
No. No. Nopers.
We can survive without WATER for 7 days. Without FOOD though- that’s another ball game.
I’ve done fasts for 14, 18, and 23 days respectively on nothing but water. NOTHING BUT WATER.
It’s not pleasant the first three days, but after that you’re mostly just a little tired and the pangs of hunger actually subside.
You don’t have a lot of energy, for sure. You lose a good chunk of muscle mass.(and it can affect your heart, mineral levels lower rapidly. The fasts I did were supervised. Quitting eating is never a good idea without some back up. Seriously.) You get headaches if you don’t rest enough or drink enough water.
I have met people who start looking starved after doing 40 day fasts. They were originally rather slim so I think that’s why they looked so skeletal. But they were still moving around, talking, going to things. (these fasts are done for religious reasons so it’s possible that they are being sustained by something greater than themselves at this point, but let’s not go there that’s not the point of this post.)
40 days though, guys.
So, if you’re going to starve a character, if you want them to look on the brink of death consider a some things:
a)have they had access to water and would they have drank it? (if they are depressed and therefore shutting down, maybe not. Maybe 7 days is a real time frame for their decline because it’s an emotional starvation as well as a water and food one. 7 days is long enough for a person to start looking pretty close to kicking the bucket without any water)
b) has someone been forcing them to eat a little here and there? (example: someone depressed has a caretaker forcing them to eat occasionally, and drink often enough. 7 days is NOT long enough for them to be gaunt, yellow or dying. These people can likely stand on their own, walk on their own, and argue with some energy if angered.)
c)is this person trying to survive, actively searching for a way to remedy their starvation and thirst? (this person could potentially over tax their body if they have not had water or have had water and no food for an extended period of time while they search for food. but they can last pretty well with water only and rest for a period of over 2 weeks, easy. If they are for instance fasting in protest to something and are relatively relaxed then longer.)
There’s a lot of info on starvation. It’s not a new concept. A quick google search will help remedy issues with time frames. If you wanna starve a character though- remember it takes longer than a week with water.
If you really want to speed it up- take their water away. You evil god of your universe. Strike them with drought!
Somewhere along the way fanart become worth more than fanfic to fandom.
Artists have Patreon accounts where people pay real money to view their art early or to access special pictures like scraps or tutorials.
Whereas writers are expected to produce more and more, faster, for nothing in return. No one wants to see our “scraps” and writers who do provide Tips and Tricks often get crap for “policing” how people write.
And it falls into the prevailing notion that somehow writing is something easy, something anyone can do.
This isn’t an attack on fanartists. You deserve to receive some sort of compensation and accolades for your work. And so do fanauthors.
Writing fic is hard work. Yes, anyone can type out a story, same as anyone can pick up a pencil to draw, but what makes the difference, what makes a good piece is the experience and talent of an author. It’s all the stories no one saw, it’s all the writing books we’ve read, it’s the classes we have attended, all rolled into a package that works weeks, months, years to bring the fandom their fic. Yes we write for ourselves but we also write to contribute to fandom – just like artists do.
We’re just the same – artists and authors – and we deserve the same respect for our work.
Y’all seriously need to learn to fact check things you see on here.
1.) it wasn’t Disney who turned down Coco but DREAMWORKS.
and to those who STILL erroneously insist that Disney/Pixar turned down The Book of Life
2.) People getting mad at this:
Marigolds are traditional to our culture as well as to the holiday, ESPECIALLY in petal form. Not the best example but that’s like getting mad at different Christmas movies for using mistletoe.
3.) “Oh it’s the same plot.” Has anyone looked up the plot for this movie other than outright bashing it from the trailer? “The footage, raw though it may be, spun a compelling story about Miguel, a sweet kid who loves music despite the fact that his abuelita banned music long ago, thanks to an ancient drama involving Miguel’s great-great-grandfather—a dashing musician—who walked out on the family. That musician, Miguel discovers at the start of the film, is his town’s most famous son: deceased film star and music supernova Ernesto de la Cruz. On the eve of Día de Muertos, Miguel breaks into de la Cruz’s mausoleum in order to borrow the famous skull guitar that hangs there so that he can enter a talent competition and convince his family to embrace music again. Once Miguel touches the guitar, he becomes something of a living ghost. His family can no longer see him, but Miguel can now see all of his dead ancestors—who look like fantastically decorative skeletons—crossing over a bright bridge made of marigold flower petals from the Land of the Dead. Looking for help and answers, Miguel travels to the Land of the Dead—a dazzlingly vibrant, stacked metropolis inspired by the Mexican city of Guanajuato—himself and sets off an adventure with trickster skeletal companion Hector to find the rest of his family, de la Cruz, and the answer to how he can fix this curse.” You know how insistent Pixar is on always making original films. So don’t you think that they would continue that?
4.) “But the white director who thinks he knows everything because he’s been to Mexico.” That’s right, a white person who is not of Mexican/Latinx culture can not truly KNOW our culture simply by visiting it. And Lee Unkrich knows this fact. Which why he assembled a group for the sake of making sure the movie is culturally accurate, rather than him taking on that role
you know, a team of actual latinx. Including someone who was a huge critic of Coco, and is a critic of Disney, Lalo Alcaraz. He is most famously known for his response to the action of Disney attempting to trademark Dia de los Meurtos (which will be our next point). It’s not Alcaraz selling out. It’s him working together with the movie so it’s not just Disney trying to bring in more Latinx fans but rather creating what Unkrich’s true mission: “a love letter to Mexico.” This team along with many other Latinx creatives (like Adrian Molina who was originally just a writer and then promoted to co-director) and a fully latinx cast (again, as insisted by Unkrich), are working together to make it a Latinx piece of media. ( http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/12/pixar-coco-gael-garcia-bernal-dia-de-los-muertos-miguel )
5.) We all know and got rightfully angry at Disney for attempting to trademark Dia de los Muertos. This was due to the similar original name the movie had. As expected, it received intense backlash to which Disney quickly revoked the request to trademark. Unkrich was the first to vocalize that this was a mistake. This even leading to that point most likely has to do with him being a white man not of our culture, but this humbling experience is what really knocked that message into him and he began recruiting people like the ones in the above point to make sure that the movie itself is true to the people, culture, and holiday, in ways he himself could never fully grasp.
6.) It’s about the Day of the Dead like The Book of Life. My response to this is easy: look at how many movies are there about Christmas, Halloween, Easter, Valentine’s day, Saint Patrick’s day, etc.
7.) Gutierrez himself doesn’t want it to be a competition but as two wonderful films about one aspect of Latinx that will hopefully lead to more in the future.
I love The Book of Life, and is one of my favorite movies if I’m being honest. When it first came out I was filled with such pride and joy for many reasons. One of course for it being a gorgeously rendered film, but for it being such a positive and beautiful representation and celebration of Mexico. As someone who grew up only seeing white main characters, with people like my family and I as only side characters, it brings me such joy to see more media being produced in which Mexicans are the focus along with our culture (which is agreeably much more diverse than what is being tapped into). We still got a long way to go as Mexico is still only one group of Latinx culture, but we are witnessing the stepping stones of Hollywood beginning to reach out and representing this community by working with people of those cultures. The Book of Life will always have a special place in my heart, but I’m not letting my love of that movie keep me from supporting Latinx creators that are putting out Coco. I’m finally getting the representation that I craved as a kid and loving it.
Ink Child Writing 