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

[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.