Mabel never thought, when she found Ford's third Journal, that the Pines would search so urgently for the other two. Nor could she have imagined that their success in finding the Journals would mean life or death for her family. Between old enemies...
~The fifth anniversary of the debut of Gravity Falls, AKA the show that stole our hearts forever and pretended to pay us back for them with Stan Bucks
~The 67th (or so) birthday of Stanley and Stanford Pines, AKA my precious sons
Oh man.
I doubt there's anything I could say that really captures how I feel, or any of us feels, about Gravity Falls. I've been in the fandom for almost two years now, and it's been the best two years of my fandom life. Not only did Gravity Falls teach me that family love is important, that being paranoid is okay, and that growing up doesn't have to be scary, but it also has changed my writing forever. And considering that writing is what I want to do with the rest of my life, well - that's a pretty big accomplishment.
Before Gravity Falls, I was writing sci-fi biopunk about teenagers (16). Now I'm writing paranormal mystery fanfiction about tweens (12/13) with a side of demon possession. Before Gravity Falls, I thought I'd never ever want to write about/for middle schoolers. Who needs that? Now, I've seen what middle schoolers can do, and how important it is to have fiction about them - fiction about figuring things out, about not worrying about romance so soon, about being good friends and siblings and people. Now, as a jaded 16-yr-old, I'm not writing about 16-yr-olds. I'm basically just writing about 13-yr-olds and 60-yr-olds.
And I don't regret it at all.
Gravity Falls also made me appreciate Summer Camp stories. Or any type of going-out-to-the-woods stories. I love the woods so much, and the small-town vibe of Gravity Falls is so great - and it takes me back to my childhood watching Cars and other small-town movies. Gravity Falls taught me if Eastern Oregon can be beautiful, so can Eastern Idaho. And even though it's not pretty where I live, I'm maybe half an hour away from beautiful forests. Gravity Falls taught me to appreciate those.
Gravity Falls taught me how to plot. Which is HUGE. I'm terrible at plotting, guys. But writing Gravity Rises has been the best thing for helping me learn. I get to take the rich, complex, and engaging plot that is Gravity Falls and mix-and-match it until I have something of my own. It's been so fun playing around with the plot, and relieving too, because there's no way I could've come up with any of this without Gravity Falls as my baseline.
And without Gravity Falls, I'd never have made my little claim to Internet fame! Oh, maybe I would've someday, but writing fanfiction is just a really great way to get yourself out there and noticed (and, of course, a great way to improve). Writing Gravity Falls fanfiction doesn't feel like writing fanfiction, it feels like writing stories using characters that are my children, even if I didn't create them, and using a world that I didn't create but that was made for all of us to share.
And finally, Gravity Falls led me to making friends. Oh, of course I had friends beforehand, but 97% of the people I talk to on the Internet these days are people I'd probably never have met if not for Gravity Falls. Hannah, Rainbow, Disney, Warriors, Emerald, Roe, Bloop, Sikke, Cea, Dani, EZ, Sky, Bri, Cath, Gwen, Dreamer, Thia, Tori, Amelyn, Bee. . . the list is long, and I probably missed some people. But man, that's a LOT of people! All because a red-head wanted to make a TV show about being a twin and how paranoid he was when he was little.
Thank you, Alex. I can never, ever thank you enough.
(Though if I could give you a hug someday that would maybe help.)
Hopefully that wasn't too long and sappy for you guys. But to celebrate, I wrote the first chapter of an original story idea - one closely related to the Anti-Gravity AU, and one that I never would've thought of if I hadn't watched Gravity Falls. I'm going to post it here as a little example of how many ripples the show has created in my life and my writing. Hopefully you'll read and enjoy it, even if the only thing similar to Gravity Rises is that they both take place in a forest.
Today has been super sentimental. I feel like a part of the huge, loving family that is the Gravity Falls fandom <3
Five years ago, a beautiful creation appeared on TV. And two years ago, that beautiful creation touched a teenager's heart and became a part of her life forever.
Thank you, Gravity Falls.
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