Miss Raquel's 2nd Novel- Part 5

[formergothardite]

She got lyrics from a song sung by a band she has just recently become obsessed with tattooed on her arm.She has been desperately trying to get their attention on Twitter. 

I had to stare at LAER for  a few seconds before I understood. 

[ladyamylynn]

13 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

She got lyrics from a song sung by a band she has just recently become obsessed with tattooed on her arm.She has been desperately trying to get their attention on Twitter. 

I had to stare at LAER for  a few seconds before I understood. 

Oof, I just tried to listen to some of his music. Tried. Picture a marginally-talented Eminem wannabe rappin' about super-deep jebus stuff and how hard it is to be like, so famous and deep and stuff. If this was the 90s she would have gotten a DC Talk tattoo.

[xRoo]

Oof, I just tried to listen to some of his music. Tried. Picture a marginally-talented Eminem wannabe rappin' about super-deep jebus stuff and how hard it is to be like, so famous and deep and stuff. If this was the 90s she would have gotten a DC Talk tattoo.

DC talk, I am laughing hysterically. You are 100% right.

[Terrie]

Had to look up the line she got tattooed, because the font is super funky and hard to read (and Raquel is obsessed with making Ts into crosses). "If God isn't real, real isn't" which just sounds like nonsense. From her Instagram, on how she got into rap and this guy in particular,

Quote

In 2015, a best friend at the time, slowly started introducing me to rap artists. I listened because I knew it was something they loved and I'm kind of a good friend, you know?

She's going to strain something patting herself on the back like that.

[ladyamylynn]

In 2015, a best friend at the time, slowly started introducing me to rap artists.

What do you want to bet this "rap" was less Wu Tang Clan and more Macklemore? 

[December]

I don't understand the rush to tattoo on recently discovered song lyrics of all things. Kids drew on similar "tattoos" in permanent marker in school but that was fine because by the time they washed off they probably didn't like the song/band anymore...

On 4/6/2017 at 11:34 AM, AmazonGrace said:

Wow, color me so shocked,  Maya Angelou plagiarized Raquel. Unthinkable... 

Good catch! Some of it seemed familiar to me. 

On 4/6/2017 at 1:41 PM, formergothardite said:

Wow, that is why her "poem" sounded so familiar. I thought it was just because copying Pinterest quotes, but no, she copied that pretty much word for word. 

 

My guess was Pinterest, too. If someone's going to mimic the format of another work, especially one that's from such a prominent author... just say so! It would make it look less like plagiarism and more like someone read a poem by an important writer, and found it meaningful to their own life enough they were inspired to write a similar thing. No shame in that. 

[formergothardite]

I'm embarrassed for her when reading her desperate attempts to get this band to notice her. 

 

[formergothardite]

I tend to doubt Raquel's stories of men constantly finding her attractive. Things like men harassing women on the street do happen, but with Raquel, her stories just never ring true. She is always looking for any opportunity to tell the world than men find her irresistible. 

[clueliss]

Good grief.  When fundie life doesn't prepare you for the fact that you're being catcalled and sexually harassed.  

[AmazonGrace]

I have no trouble believing men find her attractive, she's a beautiful girl.  But  she seems to get so giddy about contacts with loudmouthed sexists.  I dunno maybe I'm an old flowerhat lady but  I find guys shouting sex-object stuff to women on the street a bit gross, sometimes scary, not validating...

But hey gurlll you like your new Calvin Kleins and that's the main thing. Money well spent. (?)

[Terrie]

I can't tell if it fails to ring true because she made it up, or because her thinking and boundaries are so distorted and self-centered that she thinks being catcalled is a compliment.

[formergothardite]

Oh Raquel.

You aren't painting brilliant pictures in

black and white. You plagiarize a good bit

And then 

You just write sentences in an 

Odd format. 

What I just wrote isn't poetry

There is more to writing free verse

Than just making spaces

between

sentences. 

 

Quote

Because of its hidden discipline, free verse often surprises those who expect a verbal free-for-all. While line and stanza counts, syllables, and rhyme schemes may seem random, the beat of the poem is not; it’s a variation of natural speech patterns. Free verse maintains a metrical and rhythmic precision, exemplified by its first universally recognized master, Walt Whitman.

http://www.webexhibits.org/poetry/explore_famous_free_examples.html

 

[clueliss]

Her not understanding the beats stuff despite her repeated attempts at appearing SO musical befuddles me.

[formergothardite]

I think the problem with Raquel and poetry is that she was never really taught about it, but she is under the illusion she is extremely knowledgeable. I had to write and study lots of different types of poetry in the homeschool literature courses my mom used. Writing free verse is hard and because of studying poetry I learned that. And I bet most people learn that at some point. 

Raquel never had a literature or real writing course. At one point on her blog she bragged about how she never had to do something as useless as study literature because she just read books. That was the extent of her high school literature education, reading whatever books and poems she wanted to read. I doubt she has any idea that free verse is supposed to have a beat to it. 

Hopefully she is reading here and learns a tiny bit. Free verse is hard work and isn't just writing sentences. 

[Terrie]

She's pinned her attention seeking "Look, I put your lyrics on me!" tweet at the top. Typical. She needs a shirt that says "Pay attention to me."

And yet another tweet from last night, sobbing over lost love. 

[formergothardite]

She just now discovered the book of Deuteronomy? Hasn't she claimed to have read the entire Bible? I feel like her comment is like Trump saying "Who knew insurance was so complicated?

[December]

On 4/18/2017 at 10:28 AM, formergothardite said:

There is more to writing free verse

Than just making spaces

between

sentences.

 Agree with everything you pointed out about the pomes. 

Thinking critically about literature adds everything to the experience! Poetry's not just some disorganized, simple way to sound deep. When people talk about great free verse poetry, they're talking about carefully chosen words and spaces that are meticulously arranged. Not just a paragraph split up with random line breaks. If someone wants to write and they're not being a critical reader first, they're missing out! 

[xRoo]

She wrote a poem about writing free verse poetry to explain to everyone that she is doing it right.

[Flossie]

Raquel is so... Clueless?  Narcissistic?  Not quite on the ASD, I don't think, but something's going on there.

I know I should read all the past threads on her, but I'd appreciate it if someone would give me the Cliff's Notes version.

I think she was homeschooled, and thinks very highly of herself, but maybe her parents have changed their views because they made her move out of their house?  

At some point she was given a horse that she thought she'd prance around fields with and take naps with but in the end she found that didn't work out because the horse needed her to actually feed it and care for it and that turned out to be too boring?

A backstory would be appreciated here.

[formergothardite]

Backstory:

Someone on Yuku found Raquel when she was 14 and wrote an anti-choice story called "Life's Choices". It was a truly terrible story that showed Raquel had no clue, but, of course, viewed herself as an expert. The story had women having abortions every month and the main person could recognize a good Christian guy because he wore khaki pants and a polo shirt. 

She was presenting herself as a super modest, courtship only teen, but even then would admit her parents weren't making her do this, it was her own choice. Her parents seemed to have indulged her a great bit. 

"God"(but really a person) gave her a horse that she neglected, got bored with and then gave away. 

Her goal was to start courting at 16, get married at 18 and have a child at 19. 

At 16/17 she threw a massive fit because a fellow homeschooler said she had a crush. She demanded her parents meet with the girls parents to talk about how this girl lied about Raquel(at this point Raquel was still blogging about how she was so pure she wouldn't even think of having a crush) and have the girl apologize. Her parents went along with this. Raquel has later admitted she did have a crush on a guy at that point and was sexting three different guys. 

Education wise her parents never appeared to make her do anything she didn't want to do. I'm not sure she got any high school math. 

She was convinced she would get her first Christian romance published as a teenager, it didn't happened. She then fancied herself a model, that didn't happen. She was going to be a photographer, but didn't think she needed any training. She was going to be a musician, but again, refused to take any formal lesson because she thought she could teach herself to play the guitar, She wanted to dance, but back out of auditioning for anything. She wanted parts just handed to her. Her bands failed.

I think her parents finally realized they had created a monster when Raquel was 19ish and was not really wanting to work, go to college or do anything but post pictures of herself while pursuing any man who glanced at her. Kicking her out did force Raquel to keep a steady job. 

Then there is her whole obsession with the teen boys in the boy's home in Peru. That was extremely inappropriate and I did contact the organization to let them know the things she was posting. It appears I wasn't the only one and I'm not sure if they took it seriously, but so far she hasn't gone back.  

IMO she is just spoiled, self-absorbed and very much a Lori Alexander type person. 

[Terrie]

Also, she has long claimed to be a writer and want to do it professionally. She got an internship at a small local paper, but it quickly faded. I think it just required more work and discipline than she had in her. She even started a novel for nanowrimo where the main character was a columnist who had 100% freedom on their column, and uses that freedom to publish a novel that someone else is writing and sending to her chapter by chapter. 

Her writing tends to plagiarize "deep thoughts" from Pinterest. 

In the past, she was working two part time jobs as a barista at two different places, but rumor has it she just stopped showing up to one. She now works for some local coffee chain and does seems to be sticking to it, which is progress.

This last winter, she started a program for adult students offered by a local Christian college, where you do a single class at a time over six week spans. She was planning to get a psychology degree and talked about wanting to be a musical therapist working with teens (she should not be working with teens, and a Bachelor's does not qualify her for that). She got 100% of her first assignment, a super basic "Tell me about yourself" writing sample piece, and that was the last anyone heard about her classes. We have no clue if she's still a student.

She is "convicted" that tattoos are okay for Christians and has several, all of which are small and B&W. Those that are text tends to have the T's as fancy crosses. She gets another one every time she has a little extra money. They are not cohesive at all, and her latest one is a pretty blatant attempt to get the attention of her current music obsession. Oh, she also likes to waste money on concert tickets.

[December]

3 hours ago, Terrie said:

She even started a novel for nanowrimo where the main character was a columnist who had 100% freedom on their column

I think that qualifies it as a fantasy novel.  

[formergothardite]

We are NEVER going to find out what happened to Xaquerie! 

That almost month of writing showed how much time Raquel spends on social media. It sounded like her parents made her go to counseling at her church and her pastor told her to give up all social media for a period of time. During that period she blogged constantly and actually wrote a good bit. The second she could get back on social media she stopped blogging as much and completely dropped her book. 

 

[clueliss]

She did not, to anyone's knowledge complete said novel, and was not a nanowrimo winner that year.  She made progress while on a twitter break.  But partway through that a November returned to twitter.  Which seemed to be when writing stopped.

[Georgiana]

Raquel is like the human embodiment of Pinterest.