Journal - Page 199 of 209

For once I’m starting early!

A photo of my dressform will do as a costuming icon until I think of something I like more.

For once, I’m getting started on a costume in good time. The Regency game isn’t until April 1st, and I’ve already got the vest and pants already (mostly) sewn, leaving me with the coat.

The coat, and a million and twelve buttons. I should have thought of that before I said I wanted to play a nineteenth-century naval officer.

Assorted thoughts: I really don’t have the body silhouette to pass for a man, what with my hips being bigger than my shoulders. (Caused more by lack of shoulders than pelvic endowment.) Which leads to trouble when the only measurement they give on a men’s pattern is the chest; I basically had to cut different sizes for the top and the bottom, and only figured that out halfway into the cutting. I am, however, getting more confident at modifying patterns. Someday this may lead to me sewing without a pattern, but that day is not today, nor tomorrow. True to form, I’ve made several mistakes so far that required ripping out one or more seams, but I must be getting used to it; I’ve hardly sworn at all so far. Then again, the project is still young, and holds a million and twelve buttons in store for me.

Also? The Horatio Hornblower series is pretty good, though I still think I like Aubrey and Maturin more. Ioan Gruffudd makes me appreciate Hornblower more in the movies than in the books. But I do get a little tired of somebody constatly taking a dislike to him for no good reason, when We the Audience can clearly see that he is noble, clever, loyal, and kind. It is not, however, a flaw that gets all that much in the way of my enjoyment.

naming woes, part two

So here’s the problem, really. I keep embarking on projects (short stories, novels, games) where the people — the guys in particular — need to have relatively mainstream English names, the sort that have been used historically. And when you get down to it, there aren’t a lot of those. And the more of these projects I build up, the more of the mainstream names I’ve used for major characters, such that I would feel weird then applying them to someone else.

But at this point, it means I’m hesitant to name anybody Julian, Robert, Leonard, Roger, Luke, James, Gregory, Edward, or Jacob, just to choose the most major ones. If I let Memento get in there, I have to add in Thomas, William, Simon, Francis, Stephen, Philip, Jacob again, Christopher, Archibald, and Nicholas. “Nine Sketches” also used Nathaniel, Francis again, Charles, Richard, and Jonathan. I could keep going, but you get the point; a lot of the common names have strong associations for me already.

This doesn’t mean there’s nothing left. I haven’t had anybody important named Henry (except oops, there will hopefully be the thing about Henry Welton someday) — okay, George (wait, that’s Caroline’s husband) — how about Samuel (Eleanor’s father) — crap. And some of my remaining choices, I don’t like very much; Andrew isn’t one I’m particularly fond of. Some of the names are currently reserved by future projects; others are bound up in old projects, and I face the question of whether I think I’ll ever resurrect them, or whether I should just go ahead, cut The Kestori Hawks loose as unusable, and free up half a dozen names for other people to have. (Assuming I can. Assuming my subconscious will let go of the idea that “Leonard” means that guy, the one over there, with all the angst.)

Oh yeah. And then, because I’m not having issues enough, there’s the problem that if I name a character in the Elizabethan period Gabriel, most of you will roll your eyes at the slightly flashy name, and a few will run screaming and waving your copies of the Lymond Chronicles. My own work isn’t the only association I have to watch out for.

I should name the guy John and be done with it, but it just doesn’t work. And I’m not yet to the point where my subconscious is ready to reuse things. For secondary characters, sure. But not the main ones.

Which is how I end up with ideas like Peregrine Thorne. But that isn’t his name — though whoever’s name it is, he looks interesting — so I keep working.

naming woes

Few writing blocks frustrate me more than a character I can’t name. I can’t do jack if I don’t know a character’s name. Without that, how do I know who he is? How can I guess what she’ll do? The name is everything, and sometimes it takes forever to find; I think Saoran eluded me for three years.

Right now, I’m trying to figure out if this guy’s name really is going to be Sir Peregrine Thorne. If so, I’m going to have to work a damn good reason into his backstory; you can’t go parading around with a name like that and pretend it happened by accident.

Even if that is his name, it still only gives me half of what I need. I’m trying to explain to the female character that “Malkin,” while a genuine British diminutive (of Maud, actually), also has a variety of slang meanings ranging from “slattern” to “female genitalia.” Neither of which are meanings she wants to be carrying around with her.

I don’t want to admit how much of tonight I’ve spent on this task. But since I can’t go anywhere until I get over this hurdle, I’ll keep plugging away at it.

Edited to add: Christ. This is apparently trying to be a story full of People With Inexcusable Names, since now the female character is pondering options like Amaranth, Celandine, and Chrysanthe.

Edit #2: No, dear, you can’t be Britomart. I dislike authors who use names from other things but don’t know what they’re referencing, and I refuse to read The Faerie Queene for you.

Edit #3: Maybe Sylfaen? Or Ailis? She’s allowed to have a weird name; she isn’t human. Unlike Mr. Sir Peregrine Thorne up there, who is supposed to be quite human. I don’t know. At this point, I think I’ve been beating my head against it too long. Time to go to sleep, and see if any of my possibilities still look good in the morning.

How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways.

I’ve always known that I don’t like grading. But this is the first time I’ve been able to put it in such appalling terms:

I procrastinated from grading tonight by doing my federal and state taxes.

Doing my taxes was preferable to grading.

Ye gods.

it’s back!

“Once a Goddess”

1,266 / 4,000
(30.0%)

I celebrate the return of the Zokutou meter (which was down for a while) by showing the progress I made after last night’s post.

The 4000 total is just an estimate. I have the beginning of the story, now. I’m formulating the middle, and I’ve got a vague niggling that might turn out to be the end. This is farther than I’ve ever gotten with this story (remember, this is attempt #5), and I’m pretty sure it’s got the legs to make it to the end.

next!

Man, I miss the Zokutou word meter. I’ve embarked on my fifth attempt to write “Once a Goddess” and I’m 472 words in, but I don’t have a visual way to show it.

(Yes, I know there are other word meters. I don’t like them as much.)

Hey, if I do well enough with this story, do you think they’ll put me on the Nebula ballot like ksumnersmith?

Dude, how cool is it that a writer I know personally — not “hey, I’ve had conversations with her” but “hey, she’s about my age and we’ve been in an anthology together and shared a room at a con” — is on the freaking Nebula ballot? And not just on it; her story got the slot reserved for the Nebula jury’s hand-picked choice.

Go, Karina!!! When you’re a Big Name Author, I’ll be able to tell other people I once shared a migratory sun patch with you. 🙂

explanations, seen and unseen

A few days ago, I had an brief exchange with Frank Wu on the topic of explanations and how they differ between genres. The comment that started it was anent my own story in Talebones, but the part I found myself in disagreement with was a broader issue than the instance in question:

We had some interesting discussions at Radcon about science fiction and fantasy; one idea that fell out was that in science fiction, things are explained (perhaps poorly, but at least there is an attempt), and in fantasy, we just accept the hand-waving (oh, it’s magic).

I’d like to expand on the thoughts I started in the comments over there.

(more…)

dangit

The irritating thing about having finished “Kingspeaker” is, now that I’ve done so, I think I might be wrong about what story it is. Originally it was supposed to be one of a set I’d love to publish as a collection someday, under the title Blood and Flowers. In shorthand terms (that won’t spoil the stories), I have the GR, FW, and BG stories for that set done, and this was supposed to be the GT story, which would give me one hemisphere of the set.

But then I finished it, and I thought maybe it ought to be the GR story. Which would be irritating, since I already have a GR story, but that one isn’t great, so I wouldn’t mind replacing it (except that I still only have three of the eight, then). The more I think about it, though, the less I’m sure that works. Maybe it isn’t a Blood and Flowers story at all. Which would be really irritating. Unfortunately, that seems more and more likely to me. (There’s a thematic link to the eight, and thematically, this one doesn’t seem to want to be a part of that. Mind you, it would explain why I had a hard time putting in there the thing that was supposed to be in there. It wasn’t supposed to be in there at all.)

So now I have a Sahasraran story that maybe doesn’t belong in Blood and Flowers — grand. And if it isn’t the GT story, then it could have been a political story instead of a military one, though I suppose a war never hurt any story’s chances on the market.

But we’ll let it sit for a bitsy and age before I make any radical decisions.

two months down

Fortified by a variety of over-the-counter drugs, I have mustered the energy to finish “Kingspeaker,” my required story for the month. (“Schroedinger’s Crone” is officially disbarred, on the grounds that we’re pretty sure it’s supposed to be a poem instead.) I still feel like I kind of had to shoehorn in that one thing, but hey, that’s what revision is for: to make the shoehorning look natural. Right?

4600 words for this draft, more than half of them written today. So it often goes, with short stories.

I think next month’s story will be “Once a Goddess,” after a fruitful discussion earlier this week. The thing’s been cooling its heels for nearly six years; high time it went somewhere.

Protected: Oscar party reminder

What does one have to do to get a different result?

Which Lymond Character Are You?

Congratulations, you’re Francis Crawford of Lymond, for a time the Master of Culter. You’re the hero and the focal point of everything. You’re the quintessential romantic hero: brooding, mysterious, witty, informed, gentle, sensitive and all the rest. You should, perhaps, consider doing the dishes once in a while and speak in your native tongue when possible. In other words, show off a bit less. It won’t kill you.
Take this quiz!

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| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

If I remember what it displayed correctly, 42% of us end up as Lymond. And I really, really wasn’t trying to skew that way. (I’m not sure I would want to skew that way. Lymond is not someone you necessarily want to emulate.) Maybe he’s so multi-talented, he covers most of the spectrum?

I disagree with their casting choice for the picture, though.

In other news, wow, I’ve spent most of today sleeping. No exaggeration. I guess I needed the rest?

ugh.

Spent most of the day feeling like microwaved death. About the best thing I’ve managed to accomplish today is finishing one book and reading the entirety of two more — and two of those three are worthy of recommendations, so I’m set for a couple of months. (The Spy Who Came in from the Cold was also good, but not the kind of thing I include in the recommendations.)

I think the plan for tomorrow will consist of more sacking out on the couch and reading. It’s about all I’m good for at the moment. You know you’re not doing well when you don’t feel lively enough to attempt Kingdom Hearts.

odds and ends

First of all, Cat Rambo has done an interview with me over at Suite 101. She asks several nifty questions, both about my novels and my writing in general.

Also, Talebones #34 is available, containing “But Who Shall Lead the Dance? I haven’t had a chance yet to read the rest of the issue, but Talebones is good folks.

Regarding my default icon: the people have spoken. A custom icon leads the pack, but the Summer Queen is in second place with as many votes as all the other options got together. I will look into possibilities for something custom, and keep the Summer Queen until I find something I like better.

Finally, do please contribute to my recent post looking for suggested readings. I wish I had the time to assemble the list on my own by reading all the YBFH and YBSF anthologies out there, or the entire ouevre of the Hugo Award, but alas, I don’t. I need specific titles to choose from.

stories needed

I could use some assistance from the internets in putting the finishing touches on a certain project. I’m planning to pitch a course proposal on writing speculative fiction (encompassing sf, fantasy, and supernatural horror), but I need readings! Most particularly I need suggestions of short fiction, but I’d also be interested in how-to texts that might be relevant to these topics.

UNIT ONE: INTRODUCTIONS
Week 1- Introduction to genre
Week 2- Language
Week 3- Outlining, critique, revision
[For these three weeks, I’d like one basic, accessible story from each of the genres I’m covering, just to get them warmed up.]

UNIT TWO: CRAFT
Week 4- Dialogue
Week 5- Point of view
Week 6- Description
Week 7- Exposition
Week 8- Style/Voice
Week 9- Character
Week 10- Setting
Week 11- Plot
[Here, of course, I want stories that particularly shine in the aspect du semaine.]

UNIT THREE: CONCEPTS
Week 12 – Gender
Week 13 – Race
Week 14- Morality
[I’m pretty sure Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” will be the story for week 14, but the others are up in the air. The general idea of this unit is, hey, spec fic can play interesting games with these topics.]

UNIT FOUR: WHERE NOW?
Week 15- How to submit stories
[Might or might not have a reading for this week. It’ll depend on whether I find a story I just really really love and want to end on.]

I would prefer short stories, though in a terrible pinch I might use a novel excerpt. Suggestions?

Schroedinger’s Story

Today in class I wrote something that may or may not be “Schroedinger’s Crone.” (Appropriate, no?) The reason for my uncertainty is that it’s 152 words long, and therefore consists entirely of “hey, look: idea.” I’m not sure if I want to try and come up with an actual plot to demonstrate the idea, or leave it as-is. My mistake may have been last night’s decision to observe the story, thus collapsing the wave form before I had come up with a plot.

Whether or not I count this as February’s story will depend on whether I can smack the second half of “Kingspeaker” into behaving itself.

the other half of Swan Tower

Oh, hell. It just occured to me that maybe this is what I should use as my icon for teaching my fairy-tale class next fall.

That doesn’t bode so well for my students. <g>

Anyway, I mustered enough energy to do some updates on the Bryn Neuenschwander half of Swan Tower, which have been sorely overdue for a long time. There’s nothing dramatic, but I finally got my C.V. posted in legible form and put a tiny bit more content into the areas about my research. The next big project for over there is a doozy: I want to gather up sources I’ve found useful on RPGs or fairy tales and make an online annotated bibliography. God only knows when that will happen, but I would like to do it someday. In the meantime, these minor updates will have to do.

And with that, I am done with my website for today.

oof.

A large amount of tinkering later, I think I have finally achieved something I’ve been aiming at for a while. You see, I didn’t just switch to a paid account so I could have more icons (though I admit that was icing on the decision); I did it so I could embed the journal on my website. Thanks to the inestimable sapphohestia, this is done. You can now read this journal at its LJ address, or at Swan Tower. I believe everything is working now, with a couple other minor fixes made to the site at the same time.

There’s other stuff I want to do over there, but I think I need a break from webpage coding.

However, I’ll try one more shiny new thing before I quit: a poll! It’s my first ever. The question at hand, dear readers, is what I should do about my default icon. At present, it is Michael Whelan’s Summer Queen, that woman in the gorgeous mask you can see on this post. This has been my default since I first got on LJ, in large part because at the time the default for my meaner half, kurayami_hime, is Whelan’s Snow Queen. But I am contemplating — though not decided on — a change. The options for switching are as follows:

My swan icon — the major selling point for this one is the whole Swan Tower/New Swan thing, it being a reasonably appropriate representation of me. Currently I don’t have a particular use for this one.

My Neuschwanstein icon — Schloss Neuschwanstein literally translates to “New Swan Stone Castle,” and I have a childhood love for the place (though I’ve never been). Currently this is my icon for the rare post about domestic events involving our domicile, Castle N.

My writing icon — the only real selling point for this one is that I use it all the bloody time, since more of my posts are about writing than any other topic. Otherwise, it has nothing to recommend it in particular.

Some Swan Tower icon created for me by tooth_and_claw — I’ve been toying with the idea of getting her to design a logo for the website as a whole, which would then be an appropriate default for my journal.

It’s your turn to vote!