Writer's Notebook: Cool Bits

[daidoji_gisei]

A week or so ago yhlee put up a post on her cool bits as a reader (and writer). I thought it was an interesting idea at the time, but I was in the middle of Thanksgiving and deadlines and I let the idea slip by. But now it is Sunday morning, I'm sipping my way through my Jasmine Green Peony (so pretty) and I'm given to understand that helen_keeble is feeling bored, so here, in no particular order, is my list.

-loyalty among friends

-flowers
-- especially roses

-"...they say the sun is sometimes eclipsed by the moon, you know I can't see you when she walks into the room..."

-clothing and what it says about the wearer and their society

-making and consuming food and drink
--especially tea
--and bread

-swords

-gaining skill through discipline and work

-changing into what you are

-stories about Story

-moments of decision
--especially moral decisions

-ordinary people who pull through non-ordinary happenings

-courage, both moral and physical

-everyday life in different cultures, both real and imaginary

-mosaics of good and evil in human souls

-stars and starlight, and the chilly face of the moon

-haiku

-protectiveness
--especially towards children

-sacrifice

-guitar riffs

I'm tempted to add "the French Revolution" to the list, because it is a fact that one of my chief joys in reading the early Honor Harrington books was watching Weber match his imaginary revolution to the real one (oh, look! tennis courts!) and after the series got past that point I started to lose interest, but I don't feel particularly the need to write about the French Revolution so I didn't include it.

Comments

[helen-keeble.livejournal.com]

Obviously I will have to complain about being bored more often. ^__^

[daidoji-gisei.livejournal.com]

Well, you can always amuse yourself by going through and seeing how many items on my list show up in ACH. =)

[helen-keeble.livejournal.com]

Icon love!

(inspired by your recent posts (and my current boredom, which I think is stemming from an intense aversion to the chapter I'm supposed to be working on), I rewatched Princess Tutu last week. Sometime I will expound upon my theory that Fakir is a Marty Stu self-insert character...)

I enjoy going through the Cool Bits Lists and seeing how many item have turned up in my own stuff. And then I get inspired to write more stories, just to cover the items that I've missed. *grin*

[d-silverblade.livejournal.com]

Aversion for the chapter you're supposed to be working on?

But I want you to finish that book so I can go buy it and read it! (Said the man who is still tryin to unravel how to work out The Greater Evil, and going forward at a speed of 1 step forward, 2 backward).

;-)

[helen-keeble.livejournal.com]

I am at the first chapter wherein we see proper, normal family life. I am therefore lost in a maze of Venn diagrams of sexual relationships, desperately inventing terminology.

I think I nearly have it worked out... Moina is married to Raul and Tekal, which means that she can sleep with either one or both, and they can sleep either with her singularly or together, but they can't sleep with each other without her present as well... but they can sleep with Moina's brother Nial if they feel like it, though it would be mildly shocking for them both to sleep with him at the same time. Moina has four children by Raoul and one by Tekal; all the kids call both men "father" interchangeably. Nial is the kid's uncle, unless he marries, at which point he becomes no relation.

And this is one of the simpler family groups. *headdesk*

Now I just need to work out the name for the relationship between Nial and Tekal/Raul... because brother-in-law seems really wrong. :-)

[d-silverblade.livejournal.com]

Yes, I remember reading your depiction of families in your world back before Writer's Five became boring.

As for the name, I dunno. Brother-spouse? I'm not very good at names. I mean, my sort of half-parish, half-guild, half-clan organization in TGE is just called "Families". :-D

[ironhand.livejournal.com]

If they're nobility, you can fall back on Cousine (yes, that is not a misspelling, despite LJ's insistance otherwise).

[helen-keeble.livejournal.com]

Isn't that French for 'female cousin'? Google isn't helping me to get any further context... elucidate, please?

(they aren't nobility - this particular group are very low-caste mixed-race plebs - but a) this is secondary-world fantasy, so I can steal what words I like *grin*, and b) the poly family structure is ubiquitous in this region, so words for familiar relations are not linked to social status. I kinda like 'cousine' just because it starts with a c; I've already used 'clique' as the word for an extended family, 'Clowder' for an alliance of cliques, and 'clade' for the inhabitants of a particular geographical region, so I seem to have something of a theme going on...)

(wow, Gisei, this is quite a thread hijack. Sorry!)

[d-silverblade.livejournal.com]

Cousine is indeed french for "Female cousin".

I'm not aware of any sort of other meaning to it, at least in French.

(also, using cousine for a family relation OTHER than cousin is going to have any hypothetical translators coming at you with pitchforks)

[daidoji-gisei.livejournal.com]

Well, I didn't really think that this would provoke a discussion of my writing and...I was right. Having it provoke a discussion of your writing is a little weird, though.

Also, there is a lamentable shortage of Fakir icons. I did find a Fakir/Ahiru mood theme, though--now all I need is the courage to tackle installing the thing.

[helen-keeble.livejournal.com]

Ahiru/Fakir mood theme? Wow, that's almost worth getting a paid account for. *grin*

[daidoji-gisei.livejournal.com]

http://www.livejournal.com/moodlist.bml?moodtheme=339564&ownerid=70805

They all look pretty good, I think. "Busy" strikes me as droll, and "Uncomfortable" is brilliant.

[ironhand.livejournal.com]

Could have sworn it was used in that capacity in the Dune books. Of course, my memory is not what it ought to be.

Bleh. Cher cousin, perhaps it was. Or perhaps the author simply used the term outside of its standard contexting. (e.g. incorrectly). Meh.

[helen-keeble.livejournal.com]

Ah, I think you're thinking of the two main Harkonnen (sp?) bad guys in the first book, who do call each other "cher cousin" (lit. "dear cousin") and seem to have a vaguely incestuous relationship. I think the random French was in there to make them seem even more decadent (shades of King Louis the whatever-number-it-was). Now I'm vaguely curious as to how the French publishers translated those scenes... *grin*

[(Anonymous)]

I would assume they translated it "cher cousin", in italics, with a little *, and a footnote that said "En français dans le texte" (trans. "In french in the text"). That seems to be the norm in handling random bits of (relatively properly used) french in english texts.

[d-silverblade.livejournal.com]

Argh. Sorry. Above was me ; I got logged out without noticing.

[helen-keeble.livejournal.com]

I can't think, off the top of my head, of any of your stories involving roses, guitar riffs, or unrequited love (which is what "...they say the sun is sometimes eclipsed by the moon, you know I can't see you when she walks into the room..." makes me think of - what's that a quote from?) Am I forgetting something obvious?

[helen-keeble.livejournal.com]

And in utterly bizarre coincidence, my iPod appears to have served me up the song with the lyrics you quoted that I didn't recognize, and I'm doubly amused because it's not a song I would ever have associated with you. Unless you're taking "... sometimes the sun is eclipsed by the moon/ You know I don't see you when she walks in the room" from something other than U2's 'The Fly'...

[daidoji-gisei.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's it--my second-favorite song from Auchung Baby.

it's not a song I would ever have associated with you.
You don't think you can say something like that and NOT EXPLAIN, do you? (There has to be some strange songtrack meme in this, don't you think?)

[helen-keeble.livejournal.com]

It probably says more about my extremely patchy knowledge of rock music than anything about you. *grin* (at the time when my contemporaries were either into pop or, for the rebellious, rock, I was professing my undying musical love for, er, Mike Oldman and Enya) In fact, I must admit that until just now, when I went and looked at the Wikipedia entry for U2, I had vague thoughts that they were some trendy Britrock thing (the only track of theirs I have is 'The Fly', and I only have that because it was in a random compilation someone - my brother? - made for me; hence only just listening to it today), and didn't even know that they were Bono's band. *wince*

Though, having now educated myself, I now think that they do sound like your sort of thing. *grin* And mine too, so I will be putting that album on my Christmas wishlist...

[helen-keeble.livejournal.com]

Also, 'The Fly' has gone straight onto my novel-writing playlist, though technically it's only a fitting song for the prequel. ;-)