That's interesting! When you say you had a shift, what did the shift itself feel like? I'm curious what changed for you in that moment—mindset, sensory impressions, self-image, phantom limb sensations, etc. What type of shift was it?
Try to keep your journaling practice consistent. The more consistent it is, the more the habit will take root.
Write even when you don't think you have anything to say. Use writing prompts if you genuinely can't think of anything on your own. I'm also a big fan of the list of nouns Ray Bradbury advocates for in his essay "Run Fast, Stand Still, or, The Thing at the Top of the Stairs, or, New Ghosts from Old Minds" in Zen in the Art of Writing. It's geared toward speculative fiction, but I think it's easily adapted to personal journaling.
Keep a record of everything, no matter how much you feel you couldn't possibly forget your latest experience, memory, shift, noemata, etc. Time erases and blurs together more than you might think when you're first making such records.
You don't have to prove your identity through bodily harm, and nobody here is going to ridicule you for describing this experience. But because you're describing actually believing that you've died in this life and that your organs are failing/decomposing, please consider talking to a qualified professional about what you're experiencing. There is a medical condition I'm aware of that can exhibit these symptoms, and it may be worth ruling it out rather than concluding they are an aspect of nonhuman identity. Nonhuman identity does not typically come with physical symptoms like weight loss, constant hunger, feeling cold, etc.
I'm not sure if it helps, but from a fae perspective all human bodies are constantly decomposing. Just somewhat slowly, at least relative to the ones already dead. Horrifyingly fast for those of us sharing them.
That's funny, in many ways it feels the opposite on this side, COVID killed off a lot of real-world meetups and they've largely been replaced by virtual meetups and gathers that persist to this day. Physical meetups are much fewer and further between than they once were. I'm thinking about trying to start one up again locally, but so far I haven't gotten much interest from the feelers I've been putting out. May do it anyway. "If you build it, they will come."
Feline solidarity! pawbumps You just sent us down a long rabbit-hole looking up the Lyran stuff, though it doesn't really overlap with my own experience. Still definitely interesting. Welcome! 😸
I guess the first question would be what are you actually experiencing and why do you think it might be a kintype?
Has there been anything recent that might have triggered it? Exposure to new media, etc?
Have you ever previously felt drawn to this thing in any way? When and how?
Does it stay somewhat constant over time? I'm not saying no variation, but as Philip K Dick put it, "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." I think that's a reasonable standard to apply to something we accept as a core feature of our identity, of who and what we are. Does it actually persist in any real sense?
There are those among my people on Yyl'Nector, including my adoptive mother, who could broadly be described in elemental terms. However, "nature spirit" feels reductive and does not broadly apply to us. Overall, I would say we are more broadly connected with time or possibly fate than with "Nature". Angels, no definitely not, and "fallen" doubly so. We neither serve, nor were cast down. Human souls after death? Only to the extent that reincarnation is real, and many of us have lived before, though not necessarily as humans in particular. Gods, no, neither diminished nor otherwise, though undoubtedly some of my kind have been worshipped. I would say extraterrestrial, or possibly "ultraterrestrial", is the origin explanation that best fits my own experience.
The groups section might give something closer to the old forum feel, though overall this site takes more inspiration from Livejournal/Dreamwidth (and to some extent, Tumblr) than it does from the forum era. I hope that you enjoy it as you process it all and get used to it!
Thank you! 😄 I really wanted it to be a site that everyone could use, and I put a lot of effort into trying to make it accessible for everyone. I'm not sure how well I've hit the mark in every category, some of them are not easy for me to verify myself, so hearing from people actually using the features and liking them is great feedback!
Greetings, Lem, welcome! Please let us know if you have any questions about how the site works, we're happy to help! We tried to make it as intuitive as possible, but we realize what's intuitive for us isn't for everyone.
Hi Sunny, welcome to the site! I'm glad you like the accessibility settings we have so far, please let us know if there are any others that would be useful for you - I can't guarantee we'll implement everything, but we try to be responsive to our users' needs.
For me, most of the fictionkin lives that I remember I would not describe myself as a "fan" of the surrounding media. Largely the opposite, especially involving the specific individuals I have memory of being. I think there's actually only one media that I have a fictionkin connection with where I would call myself a fan of the media: The Dark Crystal (and Age of Resistance).
Same here, I actually recently downloaded new personal wiki software (SilverBullet) to help me compile older records of memories spread across emails, IRC and Discord logs, older instant messaging logs, livejournal and dreamwidth entries, wordpress articles, wordpress drafts, offline journals etc.
I'm not an artist, but the best resource I ever saw for this is sadly not online anymore. It is, however, captured by the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20070820173107/http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/farp/art.html
That's interesting! When you say you had a shift, what did the shift itself feel like? I'm curious what changed for you in that moment—mindset, sensory impressions, self-image, phantom limb sensations, etc. What type of shift was it?
Try to keep your journaling practice consistent. The more consistent it is, the more the habit will take root.
Write even when you don't think you have anything to say. Use writing prompts if you genuinely can't think of anything on your own. I'm also a big fan of the list of nouns Ray Bradbury advocates for in his essay "Run Fast, Stand Still, or, The Thing at the Top of the Stairs, or, New
Ghosts from Old Minds" in Zen in the Art of Writing. It's geared toward speculative fiction, but I think it's easily adapted to personal journaling.
Keep a record of everything, no matter how much you feel you couldn't possibly forget your latest experience, memory, shift, noemata, etc. Time erases and blurs together more than you might think when you're first making such records.
You don't have to prove your identity through bodily harm, and nobody here is going to ridicule you for describing this experience. But because you're describing actually believing that you've died in this life and that your organs are failing/decomposing, please consider talking to a qualified professional about what you're experiencing. There is a medical condition I'm aware of that can exhibit these symptoms, and it may be worth ruling it out rather than concluding they are an aspect of nonhuman identity. Nonhuman identity does not typically come with physical symptoms like weight loss, constant hunger, feeling cold, etc.
I'm not sure if it helps, but from a fae perspective all human bodies are constantly decomposing. Just somewhat slowly, at least relative to the ones already dead. Horrifyingly fast for those of us sharing them.
That's funny, in many ways it feels the opposite on this side, COVID killed off a lot of real-world meetups and they've largely been replaced by virtual meetups and gathers that persist to this day. Physical meetups are much fewer and further between than they once were. I'm thinking about trying to start one up again locally, but so far I haven't gotten much interest from the feelers I've been putting out. May do it anyway. "If you build it, they will come."
Feline solidarity! pawbumps You just sent us down a long rabbit-hole looking up the Lyran stuff, though it doesn't really overlap with my own experience. Still definitely interesting. Welcome! 😸
Hello, Lily, welcome! 😄
Wow it's been a while, I'm out of practice.
I guess the first question would be what are you actually experiencing and why do you think it might be a kintype?
Has there been anything recent that might have triggered it? Exposure to new media, etc?
Have you ever previously felt drawn to this thing in any way? When and how?
Does it stay somewhat constant over time? I'm not saying no variation, but as Philip K Dick put it, "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." I think that's a reasonable standard to apply to something we accept as a core feature of our identity, of who and what we are. Does it actually persist in any real sense?
I'll stop there for now.
There are those among my people on Yyl'Nector, including my adoptive mother, who could broadly be described in elemental terms. However, "nature spirit" feels reductive and does not broadly apply to us. Overall, I would say we are more broadly connected with time or possibly fate than with "Nature". Angels, no definitely not, and "fallen" doubly so. We neither serve, nor were cast down. Human souls after death? Only to the extent that reincarnation is real, and many of us have lived before, though not necessarily as humans in particular. Gods, no, neither diminished nor otherwise, though undoubtedly some of my kind have been worshipped. I would say extraterrestrial, or possibly "ultraterrestrial", is the origin explanation that best fits my own experience.
The groups section might give something closer to the old forum feel, though overall this site takes more inspiration from Livejournal/Dreamwidth (and to some extent, Tumblr) than it does from the forum era. I hope that you enjoy it as you process it all and get used to it!
Thank you! 😄 I really wanted it to be a site that everyone could use, and I put a lot of effort into trying to make it accessible for everyone. I'm not sure how well I've hit the mark in every category, some of them are not easy for me to verify myself, so hearing from people actually using the features and liking them is great feedback!
Greetings, Lem, welcome! Please let us know if you have any questions about how the site works, we're happy to help! We tried to make it as intuitive as possible, but we realize what's intuitive for us isn't for everyone.
Hi Icti, welcome to the site!
Hi Sunny, welcome to the site! I'm glad you like the accessibility settings we have so far, please let us know if there are any others that would be useful for you - I can't guarantee we'll implement everything, but we try to be responsive to our users' needs.
Hello Krin, welcome to the site!
Hi Elinox, welcome!
Click to unlock a secret.
Hiiii! 😸💘
For me, most of the fictionkin lives that I remember I would not describe myself as a "fan" of the surrounding media. Largely the opposite, especially involving the specific individuals I have memory of being. I think there's actually only one media that I have a fictionkin connection with where I would call myself a fan of the media: The Dark Crystal (and Age of Resistance).
Same here, I actually recently downloaded new personal wiki software (SilverBullet) to help me compile older records of memories spread across emails, IRC and Discord logs, older instant messaging logs, livejournal and dreamwidth entries, wordpress articles, wordpress drafts, offline journals etc.