Hey everyone! It’s been a while! I had to take a break to deal with health issues and to focus on school, but this blog means a lot to me, and I really want to get it off of its tiny little feets. Anyway, I don’t see a need to stall any longer so let’s get on with the blog!

History of Fanfiction

Okay, I totally understand that I’m making an outrageous claim here, but bear with me! Fanfiction has been around since just about forever. The first fanzine dates back to the 1960’s, and the FanFiction.Net website first launched back in 1998, but fiction made by fans has been around way before that. RPF (real person fiction) is fanfiction’s—slightly more legal yet triple more controversial—older cousin. RPF has been dated back to 1623 with Shakespeare’s first Folio. For the sake of simplicity, I will use fanfiction as the umbrella term that encompasses RPF. Fanfiction is well incorporated into our modern-day society. While nearly everyone knows that Fifty Shades of Grey is a fanfiction, some other notable works include Wicked, Clueless, and She’s the Man. The latter two are, in fact, fanfiction. An ‘adaption’ of a someone else’s work in this sense is still a fanfiction; it’s an AU (alternate universe) fanfic.

History lesson aside, we all know what fanfiction is and how long it’s been around, but what’s kept it thriving for all these years despite political and ethical backlash? Why does fanfiction have such a strong and growing community? If I told you it’s because it’s beneficial to society, would you believe me?

Meet New People

My first premise is a no-brainer. Sharing fanfiction helps improve interpersonal skills. Fandoms are little social groups. People can connect with other people because they share a common interest. This opens up opportunities for people to socialize, especially for those who feel like they are an outcast in their local social scene. Posting a fanfiction is a great way to become involved in a fandom and meet new people. Or, alternatively, reading and commenting on someone else’s fanfiction can also strike up a new connection. I know I definitely made long term friends through fanfiction. Creating friends allows for collaboration to occur between fans. Sharing ideas with another person builds teamworking skills.

Make a Name For Yourself

Piggybacking off of that, I would like to introduce my next point: fanfiction is a wonderful—if not the best—creative outlet of our time. I make this steep claim because fanfiction uses characters that everyone in the community knows about and are interested in. Fanfiction is more likely to be read by others because people are more likely to read something if they are already interested in the characters. Fanfiction is more likely to be seen by others as compared to original works of fiction because people search for things that they are familiar with and love. People who are active in a fandom—any fandom—search for works that have to do with their fandom. Therefore, by writing fanfiction, an amateur author would generate a larger audience than if they were to write an original work of fiction on the internet.

Improve Your Mental Health

And this wouldn’t be a blog post by Kelsey if we didn’t talk about mental health. That’s right, I’m going to convince you that writing fanfiction is beneficial to mental health. When people are feeling intense emotions, they often seek out a way to cope. A popular coping skill is called “projection”. Projection is the act of attributing feelings onto someone else. It could be argued that projection could be performed among original characters and doesn’t have to be exclusively through fanfiction, but original works of fiction require character and world development. It’s much easier to project feelings onto a character that the author already has a connection with. And, with fanfiction generating a larger audience (as stated in the previous paragraph) the author is more likely to find emotional support from other members of the community.

Creating a Better World

From improving interpersonal skills, to providing a creative outlet, to benefiting mental health, I do believe that the growth of fanfiction should be seen as a good thing. Not only are people finding a social circle they can thrive in, they have a way to share their artistic talent as well as a way to cope with their hardships while receiving support from the community. Fanfiction has a positive impact on those participate in it. It grants people friends, recognition, and support that they may not have otherwise. And I think we can all agree that anything that generates these things are beneficial to society.

At the end of the day, fanfiction is just as harmless as any other work of fiction. However, these benefits that come with fanfiction are not as easy to find in original works of fiction. To say that fanfiction is more important than original fiction just wouldn’t make any sense—we need a world to deviate from after all—but the rapidly growing fanfiction subculture is beneficial to society.

Welcome back to The Forest everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful summer! Now that my summer internship is over, we can get back to regular posting! Also, stay on the lookout for a post summarizing my summer with an amazing kawaii haul included! If you don’t want to miss that post or any others, be sure to follow me on Instagram to stay updated about when I post new blogs!

Time for the unsponsored review! My ita bag is from a company called Menghuo. I was able to snag it on eBay for $26.59 with free shipping by seller us-enjoy. You can find this bag easily by searching “Harajuku transparent backpack”. Here’s a few stock image photos:

The bag came exactly as described! See the little thing inside the pocket on the bottom image? It’s a scented silica gel packet! Mine was apple scented! It was a nice touch, but in all honesty, the inside of the bag still has a strong “factory” scent. A second comment I’d like to add is that the bag arrived in a very thin mailing package rather than a box. It also did not come with stuffing paper inside the bag. This means that the bag came very flat. It may have been crushed during shipping.

But, it’s not hard to admit that the bag is very high quality. Despite the beatings it may have taken in the mail, it arrived to me unscathed. The bag is very beautiful. I took a few detail shots for you all to see.

Here’s a close up shot at how glittery the clear cover for the bag is. It’s very beautiful and adds a nice cutesy feel, but it’s not so sparkly or bright that it makes the items in your bag hard to see. Rather, I would say that the sparkles are not strongly visible. You can see the items in the bag very clearly. The sparkles are something someone may notice upon closer inspection of your bag.

One of my favorite elements of my bag are the little zipper pulls. I didn’t know this when I bought it, but they’re cute little flowers! Also, the ribbons add a wonderful dash of color to the side of the bag. I wish on the black bag, the ribbons were white, but they are as black as the bag itself. The straps are very sturdy. They are sewn down unto the back with two rows of stitches and they have metal adjusters.

The straps themselves are made out of a high quality faux leather and I don’t see them tearing. The straps have a tough burlap type material sewn down on the backside to make them more sturdy. Both the burlap and faux leather are held together with stitches rather than a glue that can peel off, so expect them to last for a long time!

Did you know that this is not the first ita bag I ever bought? While I was in Japan (again, follow me on Instagram to know when my Japan blog comes out!) I went to Thank You Mart and bought their infamous 390 yen ita bag. I bought two; one in black and one in white. I wore the black one once, and it was fine, but after wearing the white one for only a few days, it already started falling apart! The straps were only sewn down (weakly) with one stitch and I ended up with rouge strap and a giant hole on the top of my bag! I added an image so you all know which bag I’m talking about

One advantage to this bag is that it is a full-sized backpack. It’s quite roomy and it can hold a large number of items. I used it as one of my carry-ons on the way back from Japan. However, I don’t recommend you to put textbooks in this bag. Don’t stuff it too full either unless you want a hole in it! Keep it full of light items only. Of course, you could always sew it right back together, but it’s debatable as to whether that’s worth it or not. You could probably buy some clear vinyl and cute patterned burlap from your local JoAnn’s and sew one yourself if you’re willing to put in that much effort.

Now for the fun part! Let’s take a closer look at the inside of my ita bag!

Over 90% of the items in my bag were obtained in Japan with the most expensive item being the Eros plush at ¥22. The other plush was obtained from a claw machine! My favorite item has to be the gold metal! I actually got it for free! I was wearing my Yuri!!! On Ice shirt while shopping at an anime shop in the Kyoto shopping district, not too far from Nishiki Market and I was buying hella Yuuri merch to fill up my ita bag. Without even saying anything, the clerk wrapped something up and slipped it into my bag. When I returned to the hotel and went through my belongings, I saw the package. When I opened it, I found the heavy, high quality, metal Yuuri on ice pendant. She really made my trip! I’ll never forget that clerk! I guess she could tell how much I loved Yuuri!

And we can’t forget Victor! I got him from a gatcha machine. I played 3 times trying to get Yuuri (obviously) but I got Victor, Pichit, and Yurio. I used the Victor phone strap to tie the two zipper pulls together. I hightly doubt anyone can steal from this bag—I safety pined everything down directly unto the bag rather than using a removable insert—but it’s great to have that extra level of security. I can’t wait to make a coordinate centered around this bag and I especially can’t wait to take it to a con! Ichibon can’t come quickly enough!

My friend Asha asked how much I would sell this bag for. While the idea of selling my treasure doesn’t appeal to me, I would assume the actual value of this bag to be around $200-$250. This includes the value of the items, the bag, and finder’s value since some items are Japan exclusives. However, if you actually do want to try to buy this bag from me, expect me to sell it for upwards of $500! This baby is not leaving my side!

Thank you for reading this blog! I wish you luck on creating your own ita bag! In the comments section, please tell me what character or fandom you would make an ita bag for! Or if you already have one, tag me on Instagram @fawndearie so I can see it!

Much Love~!
Kelsey <3

Painting is one of those things that can take you out of your own head. Rather than having a plethora of thoughts running through your mind in an intangible matter, you can channel your thoughts to relaxing strokes of a brush to the paper.

Painting can help you release some of that built up mental tension by transferring things you can’t describe to something you can see. If you’re dealing with a strong feeling or an image lurking through your thoughts, you can put it down unto paper. The act of physically removing it from your head can be very therapeutic.

This means that not everything you draw has be some sort of avant-garde, French art school masterpiece. Maybe even close your eyes and let the brush glide through the paper. The goal here is to remove the tension in your mind.

But aside from just manifesting your thoughts, painting can help empty your mind in another way. Often times with anxiety, it can be difficult to practice the therapeutic meditation tactic. With anxiety, it’s important to meditate and clear you mind so you can cultivate this feeling during an attack. However, with thoughts constantly running through your head, how can you clear your mind?

This is where painting comes in! When you’re focusing on painting a certain image, it becomes all you focus on. This single concentration point forces all other thoughts out of your mind. So not only are you producing a work of art, you are clearing your head and relaxing at the same time!

But why painting? Why not sketch it out with graphite or shade it up with some colored pencils? Painting has a certain flow and glide to it that other mediums can’t match. Sure you can get the same thought manifestation and meditation effect with a crayon, but it ‘stubs’ around the paper and doesn’t slide as easily. Painting is also messier so when you go into it, you might not pressure yourself to make as constructed and structured work. You free yourself to just make a mess and really capture what’s in your mind.

I use watercolor for that very reason. I enjoy the fluidity of the medium. It’s also not expensive to start up either! You just need a basic pallet—you can mix your own colors to get ones that aren’t included. You really only need one brush, but sometimes packs are better values. And don’t forget the watercolor paper! You don’t need any premium art supplies. Remember, if your goal here is relaxation, the work you produce is for yourself only and there’s no need to worry about critique.

You can even show your artwork to your therapist and loved ones when you have a hard time explaining your feelings. Often times, visuals are helpful in explaining ideas.

Now after learning about the benefits of painting, are you willing to try it out? Or have you been painting already? Share your artwork with me to be featured on this blog! Either email me your favorite painting, or tag @fawndearie on Instagram with your most recent work!

Thank you so much for reading!
Much love! <3

One important thing to realize is that you are your own person. You do not have the same interests and desires or aspirations as people who feel content with wearing jeans and a t-shirt every day, so why suppress that part of who you are? People are not only willing, but happy to spend well over $100 on designer jeans because their aspirations include rocking the best pair of denim blues. But many of those living on the kawaii side of the fashion world prefer not to pay that much on something we do not consider to be as important.

If you enjoy something and consider it to be important to you (and it’s not hurting anybody) why would you deny yourself the right to indulge in something that makes you happy? If J-fashion is something that makes you feel at home, let yourself be covered in just that! You don’t need to “fit in” because that’s not who you are, and that’s great because you are unique. Don’t try to fit in when you’re just not meant to. Be you!

One of my favorite motivators—and the single post that got me out the door in my first full lolita coordinate—comes from an answered ask by the international lolita model, Lovely Lor.

[source]

Whether wear J-fashion or not, there will always be those rotten people who will put you down. In all you do. Don’t stop yourself from participating in something that will make you inexplicitly more at peace with yourself and your life because other people don’t agree with what you wish to do with yourself.

And from my experience, I’ve noticed that the more I wear kawaii fashion out, the more comfortable I feel wearing it.

Remember that life is short! Enjoy each moment that you are given. Isn’t it always better to look back and say “I can’t believe I did that!” rather than, “I wish I would have done that!”

For some people, it’s better to start small in a simple, cute outfit and work your way up. Others find it easier to dive in head first and live out those OTT dreams from the get-go. Whichever you decide is up to you, but make sure it’s an outfit that you absolutely love. Take some cute photos before you go out the door. Spend a lot of time perfecting this outfit. You must absolutely love it and feel comfortable in it, because you need to hold yourself up with confidence when you’re out in public.

The way you hold yourself will certainly change how people see you and the clothes you’re wearing. You don’t want to have hunched over shoulders or be skitting around, shying away from view. The “rotten people” we mentioned earlier will see this as an easy target. If you’re all square shoulders with your nose in the sky, people won’t want to mess with you. Think of it like the shy little emo kid verses the punk badass.

But the grand old takeaway message here is to live your life the way that makes you happy because it’s your life. Do not sacrifice your happiness because of the potential reactions of others.

Those aforementioned “rotten people” are certainly in the minority. While it does depend on the area you live in (and where you choose go to—people at Whole Foods will be friendly than people at Walmart) nearly all alternative fashion wearers, including myself, will report more positive feedback than negative. By a long shot. Many people, still including myself, have been wearing alternative fashion for a long time before even getting their first negative experience. That means that by the time something not so nice comes up, you’ll have the confidence to handle it.

So tell me, what was your first time wearing j-fashion in public like? Was it at a meet up? What substyle did you wear? Do you have any tips for first time frillies? If you want, go ahead and email me a picture of your first public coordinate for a chance to be featured on this blog!

As always, thank you so much for reading and for your support! This is the first of many “confidence” type posts, so subscribe to know when the next one will come out!

Much love!
Kelsey <3

Everyone over here at Fawns and Friends seem to believe so, and if you decide to stick around for a bit, you’ll start believing this too!