#novel research things

[inkcurlsandknives]

I have a bottle of tequila covered vanilla beans I've been saving for something special. I'm making a vanilla tequila flan. My hands smell like heaven after scraping the vanilla seeds.

Kinda amazing to think about the cross pollination of cultures, the sharing of indigenous knowledge and technology that made this possible.

Filipino immigrants and sailors brought distillation techniques used to turn tuba (palm wine) into labanog (coconut palm liquor) to Mexico where the technique was used on agave to create mezcal and tequila.

Vanilla beans which are each individually hand pollinated by a method invented by Edmond Albius born a slave on the tiny island of Réunion off the coast of Madagascar this making Madagascar vanilla the one exported today around the world.

I love when my novel research lets me learn about these forgotten moments of knowledge sharing. Really makes you think about how western learning and the legacy of colonization wants us to believe they created the vast wealth they plundered, rather than just stealing the knowledge and credit and profits from others

[thepedanticbohemian]

Don't just look online or read/listen to books. Interview professionals. Call their office, hospital, police station, etc. Tell them you're writing a novel and you need to do a ride-along or interviews.

Deputy Robert Mirabal is the technical advisor for THE OUDERKIRK HOUSE. I did a ride-along and interviewed him as we raced to a break-in, then patrolled all night. Island County Sheriff's Department features heavily in OUDERKIRK. I wanted them to be shown as the small island heroes they are. I'm including him in my acknowledgments and dedication for the novel.

Interviews are easy. Just have your questions in mind, or even written down, then take copious notes of everything they say. You never know what you might need to use in your novel. Enjoy it. Talking to people was the best part of my job as a journalist and foreign correspondent. You'll just be doing your job, after all!

[burinazar]

Oh, wait, wait, ok, I can tell tumblr my news now.

I was accepted into the JET Program and will be moving to Japan for one year starting in late summer to teach English. : )

I don't know how many other applicants have ever had either of my specific application 'angles'. I think they were both pretty weird, but also very, very me, and I'm pleasantly surprised that they seemed to have worked, going off both by the acceptance and the very positive and warm reactions I got during the interview I had. These were:

Science/scicomm/museum background + implying mutual interest in and love of like insects and sea life could be an avenue of intercultural connection and exchange

India and Japan have always struck me as weirdly similar in ways nobody seems to discuss, especially in both being simultaneously hurtling into modernity and deeply traditional/conservative in many ways and places

So. Is this a silly idea considering most people in this program are fresh college grads, and people my age are expected to maybe be getting more settled rather than hopping continents? Is this a scary idea, considering I'll have to uproot all my shit and go exist in a foreign country whose language I really don't know beyond miniscule smatterings? I mean, hmm, yes on both counts, but I'm very excited. On count one, I'd only get older in the future and demonstrably *don't* already have a settled life and career here to disrupt (lol), and on count two...guys, I'm so so tired of letting fear and inertia make my life decisions.

Time to pack up and store most of my shit and end my lease and. Yeah. Also I haven't actually been to India in five years and will probably try to visit my relatives there in the coming months since idk if i'd had an opportunity for a prolonged visit in the future during the one year (at least) in jp. I'll also be probably selling, trading, or giving away a lot more of my hobby shit (that was sort of an ongoing project already but since I'll be unable to use most of it for a year plus it's another reason to do so), so uh, if you've ever wished I would sell any of my dolls now might be time to commit BJD Hobby Taboo and ask me lol. And, obviously, I'll be studying more Japanese, because mine is incredibly へたくそ at the moment. So much to do. But I'm really excited. And thank you to all of y'all that have been encouraging to me about anything related to this matter <3

[cienie-isengardu]

Jango Fett' childhood on Concord Dawn

One of the things that I think bothers me the most about Jango Fett: Open Seasons comics series is how a 8 (or 10) years old Jango was told by his dad to repair a harvester

and then… left alone for who knows how long in the middle of a crop field?

I was born in the city so obviously I don’t know how life on a farm goes and all so forgive me my ignorance but:

A) Jango was introduced with a weapon in his hand, while he walked through his own family’s property

and was taught by father how to use a blaster at the age of 8 - 10.

At this point in the story, I think it is safe to assume Jango’s dad knew Mandalorians were in his field, as he brought food to Jaster and his men. So I assume he was contacted by comlink or he already talked in person with Jaster and he probably had some idea of what was going on - unless Jaster didn’t warn him about Death Watch on his trail, but I think this is pretty unlikely, as the Mandalorians stayed hidden in the field, instead of coming to Fett’s house.  

So there is a reason to think that leaving a kid alone in the middle of the field was not the smartest idea.

B) Jango has never been any technology genius or even that good with it in sources? His jetpack was repaired by a droid whose main job was to take care of little Boba on Kamino. I’m pretty sure Jango as a Mandalorian Merc was capable of maintaining his armor, weapons and ship but if the harvester was so important to put back into use - and I assume this is the case, as Fett’s parents were usually described as simple farmers and the first part of comics clearly represents the season of summer (childhood) and this was very likely grain harvest time  - then I would not pick a kid to do the job, unless the kid was Anakin Skywalker who could fix all kind of machinery, as it was his specific gift. Jango though? I’m not so sure about his 8-10 year old self’ skills.

Of course, the harvester’s problem could be a simple matter but then why not send Arla, Jango’s older sister (14 years old) to either do the job, or help Jango to speed up the repairs? Not saying Arla did not have her own share of duties and all (unless the kids were treated unfair, as Arla did not hold/use a gun against the invaders

but that could be just matter of her being too terrified or there could be not enough guns which is why only the mother was armed), but considering how the comics implies that Jango’s dad, mother and Arla were at home when he was working during sunny (if not hot) day, in the middle of a field, no shadow, repairing a vehicle bothers me a lot. 

And sure, on Concord Dawn living on farm could be just that tough even for kids, but looking at AotC novel (that admittedly does not mention Jango’s time with Mandalorians at all) 

Other than that, though, this was just a  job,  well  paying  and  easy enough. Financially, he couldn't have asked for more,  but  more  important, only the Kaminoans could have given him Boba - not just a son,  but  an  exact replica. Boba would give Jango the pleasure of seeing all that he might have become had he grown up with a loving and caring father, a mentor  who  cared enough to criticize, to force him to perfection.

or

This, then, was Jango Fett's greatest reward, right here, sitting  with his son, his young replica, sharing quiet moments.   Quiet moments within the tumult that had been Jango Fett's entire life, surviving the trials of the Outer Rim alone  practically  from  the  day  he learned to walk. Each trial  had  made  him  stronger,  had  made  him  more perfect, had honed the skills that he would now pass along  to  Boba.  

and old source material like outdated starwars.com’s databank entry:

Fett all but disappeared from bounty hunting circles as he took time to raise his son. He sought to experience what his life might have been like had he been raised by a caring guardian.

I can’t help but wonder about Jango’s childhood before the Mandalorians showed up.

So far my research showed, only Fact Files v.3 #14 mentioned he had "as idyllic a life as could be while making a living off the land, in close family unit with his mother, father and sister, Arla"

which gives some hope Jango's childhood although tough, was a relative happy one.

[Just to be clear here: I don’t think Jango’s biological family was by any means pathological, I just think Concord Dawn is a pathological place as this planet's record is not the best when it comes to people's backstories.]

[tc-doherty]

I'm reading through an Old English dictionary looking for words that I might not be able to think of on my own (ones that have been completely lost such as words related to food and cooking, plant names, that sort of thing) and I am of course going to double check all of these things I'm making notes on the see whether or not I can use them however

Good for her

[tragedykery]

​getting tired of the amount of elaboration on fire nation citizens/culture in comparison to the other nations (especially the water tribes and air nomads) tbh.

[mythcaels]

slides ezra at the dash

[smolalienbee]

sooo if anyone was wondering why punk au is gone from my ao3, it's because i've decided to take the whole concept and turn it into an og piece of fiction. the opening scenes of it will likely be fairly different from what was already posted but just to be safe i took down the whole thing. to the ppl who were waiting for updates on that one: sorry! but... keep an eye out for new guys and hopefully eventually maybe a full og novel??

[otomehonyaku]

Are u also going to translate the novel of season 2?

if there is (and if you can send me a link to it digitally or an eBay listing or sth) then I’d love to!

as far as I’m aware, the Haunted Dark Bridal novelization is the only one of its kind (there are some short stories/light novels related to the other games, I think) but if you can find any novel or light novel related to More,Blood then someone please let me know! I’m more of a Mukami girly anyway so I’d eat that shit right up (*´꒳`*)

[hqmillioncorn]

The Forecast calls for an 100% chance of Love!!!!

"Wait a minute!!" Tilika stopped Babycorn just short of going out the door. "Let me take a look at you." She turned Babycorn around to face her. A pair of oversized pink glasses covered her face. They were oversized because they were Tilika's glasses. "That's your disguise?!" Babycorn nodded, "Yuppers!" she winked. "Yup-yup!" Cherrypit tried to wink but he just closed both his eyes. Ever since last year, Babycorn had to attend Valentiones in disguise just to avoid being surronded by potential suitors. Or 'pesky bugs' as Pupusa liked to call them. Tilika sighed, maybe covering her eyes would be enough? She hoped.

i wanted to write Butter Moontide belongs to @windupnamazu

It was a sunny day in Gridania, on a very busy day. 

And on that very busy day, a lone Vierafell walked forward, on a mission. 

A mission of love!

With a heart full of determination, Butter placed his hand on the city’s aetheryte and let himself be carried over to the center of Gridania’s Valentione’s celebrations. In his hands was the most important thing of all. A metal cookie tin. That rumbled with every wary step that Butter took forward. 

The cookie tin was filled to the brim with hand baked sugar cookies.

They weren’t just any regular sugar cookies baked by Butter however, oh no. These sugar cookies were special, they had been baked exactly a week ago to the day. Then they had been left outside to continue to bake in the sun for almost a whole day before being brought back in.

The incredibly specific reason for why Butter did this exactly all came back to a certain day when he had forgotten his freshly baked plate of cookies outside on a picnic table. 

In his defense, Pancake had fallen down and scraped her knee while playing tag and that took priority over some cookies he had just made. Then after he had brought Pancake inside to bandage her knee up the cookies simply continued to slip his mind. 

Until Babycorn wandered in, carrying a familiar plate in her hands and eating an equally familiar looking cookie. Cherrypit walked beside her. He was munching on a cookie in his oversized sleeves, much like a hamster would snack on a sunflower seed.

There was a huge smile on Babycorn’s face as she continued to eat cookies after cookie. Seeing such an expression on Babycorn was a rarity, especially for someone as grumpy as her.

“These cookies are so yummy!” Butter overheard her talking with Cherrypit. “They’re so tasty…” She paused, “I wonder who made them…?”

As Babycorn walked away, Butter could feel a tightness in his chest. There was nothing he wanted to do more than to tell her that those were his cookies, he had been the one to bake them! But no matter how hard he wanted to, he remained silent.

…That was until today!!

Today-! After years of building up courage, Butter was finally going to tell Babycorn that he had been the one to make those cookies she loved so much so many years ago.

This sudden burst of bravery came as a result of his spontaneous confession a few months ago. 

Butter never could have imagined he could ever ever work up the courage to tell Babycorn how he felt but now here he was! Twirling in place, with a metal tin full of cookies ready to talk with his crush and ask her if she wanted to hang out later too. 

He was now more confident than ever! Especially with the super secret intel he received yesterday. His super secret special intel, also known as Lunya Lanya, had let him know that Babycorn had told her that she would be running around Gridania today.

Apparently looking for any chocolate hearts that came from the ground, as Babycorn still didn’t really understand that sometimes people dropped their chocolate and she shouldn’t be eating them. To which Lunya told her to quit it about five years ago already but if there was anything Babycorn Corn was famous for, it was not listening. 

Even amidst the sea of people crowding around the Amphitheater Butter could still spot Babycorn from a mile away. There was a certain way the pom-pom on her head bounced when she walked, Butter had no idea why so many people hadn’t noticed this about her.

As Butter gently maneuvered around so many people (because twelve forbid he bump into people!!!!!!!!!!! 🥺) he still audibly apologized to ever person and object he gently grazed. Until his eyes finally fell upon the cutest little pom-pom swaying back and forth in a sea of people. 

In an instant Butter felt the butterflies in his stomach start to do backflips and frontflips. 

As Butter walked closer and closer he started to wonder why he wasn’t running back home and hiding under the covers to write in his diary about his perfect wedding with Babycorn. So far he had the decorations all thought out and the flowers picked out too, and if he ran away now maybe he could even come up with invitation design ideas.

Then before Butter knew it he was standing right in front of her. When he realized he was, Butter let out a little squeak in surprise. 

Cherrypit was the first to notice Butter, “Butts!! Butts!” He was wearing a fluffy pink coat that dragged on the ground where he walked. It was all covered in mud and dirt but Butter had a feeling that neither he or Babycorn really cared about that. 

“It’s Butts! Bababababuuts!!” Cherrypit cheered. He stretched his arms up at him, trying his best to ask Butter if he could pick him up. 

Butter smiled and set his gift for Babycorn down, making sure to keep an eye on it as he picked Cherrypit up with a small bounce. Cherrypit giggled and pressed his hands on Butter’s face. They were a little covered with mud and dirt after he had tried to make a dirt castle but Butter didn’t mind too much.

“Hi Cherry! Happy Valentiones day!” 

“Butts!! Happy Valenntiooo day!” Cherrypit smiled and pointed over to where he had come running from. “Bebe! Bebe over there!” Sure enough Cherrypit was pointing right at where Butter had seen Babycorn standing earlier. 

Babycorn was sitting on a stack of wooden boxes and talking to someone much taller than all three of them. Judging from the clothes they were wearing they were someone that worked for House Valentione.

There was also something about his outfit that seemed strangely familiar. Like he’d seen it somewhere before.

Or at least, he’d seen the top half of the outfit somewhere before. Oh well.

This mysterious stranger was smiling, eyes closed and moving their head back and forth, looking at the people walking past him. On occasion he would back at people that waved at him, wishing them a good day and answering any questions they had. All while Babycorn kept talking to him and only him.

…She was really talking a lot and really fast too. 

Butter noticed the corner of his smile twitch. What was all that about?

Cherrypit wiggled in Butter’s arms as he called out to his sister. “Bebe! Bebe!” It looked like he got bored of being carried by Butter and wanted to go back to sitting by Babycorn. Being a small little baby meant that Cherrypit had a very short attention span and often changed his mind about things in a flash. This was something Butter and pretty much everyone else that lived with him were used to already. 

Then just as Butter was about to set Cherrypit down on the ground, he noticed that Babycorn stopped talking and looked right at him. 

Their eyes met and for a moment Butter could have sworn he heard a choir of angels singing around him. There was something about the pair of huge pink glasses on her face and the fluffy white coat she was wearing that was sending Butter’s heart fluttering. 

Babycorn blinked. “Butts?!” A wide smile crossed her face, “Butts!! It’s you!! You're heeeeere~!” Babycorn jumped off the boxes she was standing in and ran right towards him. The valentiones-dressed man that she had been sitting next to almost collapsed in relief now that Babycorn was busy not talking his ears off. 

Butter was so off guard at the sight of Babycorn smiling that he completely forgot about the part where he had to put Cherrypit down onto the ground.

Not that Cherry really minded, from the way that he was laughing and kicking his feet at supersonic speed it was pretty clear he was having fun. 

Babycorn stopped just short of running right into Butter’s face. “Hi Butts!!” she yelled directly into his face despite being right in front of him. She was just really excited to see him, you know???

Once Babycorn greeted him, that was all that Butter needed to snap him out of his daze. He shook his head and quickly put Cherrypit down, leaving him to run right next to Babycorn where he sat down on the muddy ground and looked up at her. 

Butter picked up the cookie tin and quickly placed it behind his back, “H-Hi Babycorn!!” he darted his eyes back and forth in the most unsuspicious way possible. A million questions began flying around his head. What was the best way to give Babycorn his present?! Was she even going to like it?! What was she reaching behind her back for?!

Wait-

“Happy Valentiones day Butts!!!” Babycorn had swiftly pulled out a giant heart shaped box and presented it to Butter. “I got this for you!!” 

“For you!” Cherrypit raised his hands and repeated after her. 

Butter was speechless, he could feel his face getting hotter and hotter. He yelled at himself to cut it out because that would just make Babycorn worry he had a fever again! “I-I-! Thank you!! Babycorn!” The present was a bright red color and had a dark red ribbon wrapping it shut. It looked so nice, almost a bit too nicely wrapped for Babycorn of all people to have done it. 

Babycorn giggled, “Are you surprised?!” The expression on her face switched, making her look a little more haughty than usual. Butter would be lying to himself if he wasn’t into it woah what who said that. 

“Heh-heh!” There was a twinkle in Babycorn’s eyes. "I’ll have you know that I ’ve actually been studying really hard for today!” She decided to hit pause on her unreasonable bragging to put down her gift and instead reach into her backpack to pull something completely different out. “Here! Here! Let me show you!” 

Butter watched as Babycorn continued to look through her backpack for a good long while. 

After a bit of staring he noticed the backpack was staring back up at him. It gave him a little wave with one of its loose straps. Butter happily waved back, hoping that Babycorn would be able to find what she was looking for.

“Ah-ha!” Babycorn shouted. 

“Ha-ha!!” Cherrypit cheered after her.

Out of her backpack Babycorn began pulling out book after book after book, until she was holding about six of them in her arms. Cherrypit decided he wanted to help too and began stacking a few of them on his head. 

“Look! See? See?!” Babycorn stepped towards Butter and tried her best to flip the books in her arms around so her good friend Butter could see their covers. 

Babycorn was actually holding most of the books upside down, but Butter could still tell that most of them were romance novels. What else could they be when one of them had two people kissing on it, while another on had people that somehow had less clothes on than B’ig Nunh usually did. 

That, speaking of, was also on the cover of one of the books. Weirdly enough. 

Butter still didn’t really know how he felt about the guy. But whatever, now wasn’t the time to think about that Limsa cat boy. 

Babycorn opened one of the books and flipped through some of the pages. The rest of the books she had been holding dropped to the ground where they were picked up by Cherrypit who quickly added them to the stack of them on his head. 

“I’m still not very good at reading so Airy still has to read some of them to me!” 

“Oh! If you want I can try to read some of them to you too!” 

Babycorn’s face lit up, “Really?! Do you mean it?!” Whenever she had asked anyone if they wanted to read these types of books with her no one except for Airy had ever wanted to!!

“Yeah! Of course!” Butter smiled. 

“Groovy! Then it’s a date!” 

“O-Oh?! Y–Yeah!! I guess it is…” Butter laughed, trying to cover up how much he wanted to roll back what he had agreed to. Back during the fair Babycorn had made it clear that she was giving Butter the chance to ‘woo’ her and if going on dates counted towards that, then he was way more than happy to go on them.

“Far out!!” Babycorn cheered, throwing her book into the air. Conveniently it happened to land right onto the stack that Cherrypit was creating on his head. 

“Yay!” Cherrypit yelled. Right before he jumped and threw all of the books back into their backpack using the several hands that sprouted from his back. 

With all that out of the way, Babycorn picked up Butter's present from the ground. She was kind of pleasantly surprised with herself that she hadn't forgotten about the present entirely. Then again this was an important present. It was for her good friend Butter!!

Of course she'd never forget.

Babycorn held the heart shaped box towards Butter, once again. "Here! This is for you! I hope you really really like it!" For some reason Babycorn found herself bashfully looking away. Though once she caught herself doing that she quickly corrected her little blunder.

"Babycorn..."

Thankfully for Butter, he didn’t have to come up with a way to take the present from Babycorn, not while his present for her was still in his hands. Because just after a few seconds of holding it out for him-Babycorn opened the heart shaped box herself. “Here let me show you what’s in it!!” Babycorn grabbed the top of the box and pulled as hard as she could on it, which evidently still wasn’t enough to open it. 

“Um.” She looked at Butter, then back at the box. “Give me a second.” With a nervous laugh, she turned around to face Cherrypit with a pleading smile. She bent down and placed the box underneath one of his sharp teeth and pulled it towards her. The box finally opened with a pop and a giggle from Cherrypit, who always found it really fun to be used as a bottle opener.

Or in this case a box opener. 

Babycorn laughed maniacally to herself and stomped her feet in place, “Okay! Okay! Okay! It’s open! Ehehehehe!” Though she had full intention of showing her gift to Butter, she was ironically just way too excited to concentrate on actually doing it.

Instead Babycorn was just giggling to herself and thinking about how much Butter would love his gift. 

Butter thought it was really cute.

Suddenly Babycorn’s eyes snapped open. “OH! RIGHT!!!” Babycorn twirled around and ran right up to Butter (again) almost crashing right into him (again.) “Peep this!! I picked all of them myself!” She smiled, the corners of her cheeks were pushing her glasses up slightly. A small detail that Butter couldn’t help but notice.

Butter looked down at Babycorn’s gift, it looked just like any box of chocolates would have. Except that there were no chocolates. 

Instead the box was full of completely random and assorted things. “I ate all the chocolates inside and put a bunch of super hip things inside!!” Babycorn beamed, she pointed at the first of many things she had stuffed inside. “This is a leaf I thought looked pretty and that’s a dead bug I tried to make a bed for but I kinda killed it oopsie! And that’s some dust that fell on my nose and made me sneeze and that’s a rock I found on the ground when I tripped and chipped my tooth a few days ago!” 

Babycorn suddenly stopped short of finishing her explanation. 

“Huh?” Butter looked up at Babycorn, “Is there something wrong?” 

Then without warning Babycorn grabbed something from the box and stuffed it into her mouth. Still chewing, she looked back at Butter, “Sorry! I saw a chocolate I didn’t eat so I had to eat it before I gave it to you!” She smiled, bits of chocolate were all over her face. 

Butter smiled, “It's a good thing you saw it when you did then! Thank you!” Then he decided that now was as good a chance as ever. He held out his hands, holding the cookie tin out towards Babycorn. “I also got you something! I really hope you like it!” Butter closed his eyes. For what reason? He couldn’t possibly come up with a reason. 

He was just nervous, despite everything that had happened since last year. 

“Ah?” Babycorn looked at Butter and then at the box he was holding. “Is that…Is all that really for me?” 

Butter nodded, his eyes were still closed. “I-I made it for you! For today! Because I…” All of a sudden, a wave of confidence surged through Butter. 

He felt as if-he could really do this! Well. He was currently doing it already but like-he was really gonna make it happen!! “I made these because…I really like you! So I hope you like them!” 

Butter looked up at Babycorn, try as he might and even if he wanted to, he couldn’t stop looking at her. There was just something about the way her eyes were sparkling while she was looking at him. 

And there was something about the way Butter looked that Babycorn couldn’t stop staring at. 

“T-Thank…you?” It surprised her that she had so much trouble saying that. Normally when people rushed up to her to give her gifts and declare their love towards her she had no trouble thanking them for their troubles. Then she would just move on and eat whatever goodies they had given her.

But then why…?

ba-bump ba-bump

Babycorn felt her face get warm. 

ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump 

Butter carefully opened the tin of cookies and the smell of stale sugar cookies filled the air around them. “Um…Do you remember those sugar cookies you ate a really long time ago? Well…I was actually the one that made them! So I decided to make them again for you!” 

“That was you…?!” 

ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump

“Yeah!” Butter nodded, “I’m sorry I never told you but I was a little scared to! N-Not scared of you! But just scared of you finding out I liked y-you…” His voice was getting smaller with every word he said. Butter didn’t even notice that Cherrypit had jumped up to grab a handful of cookies out of the tin to eat them.

“Like…me…?” Babycorn’s hands gripped the edges of her present to Butter. “You…You were really telling the…” 

ba-bump

Suddenly Babycorn hands let go of the chocolate box, as her hands flew to cover her flushed cheeks instead. Then with a single “EEEEHHHHHH????” Babycorn fainted and fell back onto the ground.

“Babycorn?!” Butter quickly handed over the cookies to a very eager Cherrypit. “Are you okay?!” He noticed that Babycorn’s face was unusually warm when he reached out to touch it with his hand. 

“Woaahh..aababhhwauaubbwah…” Was all that Babycorn managed to mumble out. 

As Babycorn’s eyes continued to swirl around, her thoughts were filled with the passage that Airy read to her yesterday. Though it was kind of foggy in her head, Babycorn did recall how in the book the heroine had received a gift from the hero who would turn out to be her true love. Who loved her, above all else. 

“L-Love…?”

Butter’s ears twitched. “Huh? What was that?”

Babycorn’s mouth formed a faint smile. “W-Woo…”

[thepedanticbohemian]

I studied Isshyn Ryu Karate and Filipino fight sticks for many years. Trust me when I tell you, fights are short. Perhaps only a couple of minutes at most. It is exhausting work. It also hurts. Don't pay attention to the shit television and movies pump out. I'm telling you, getting punched in the nose or eye hurts like an MFer. A kick to the groin is horrible. Even blocking, especially if it happens bone-on-bone, again hurts like an MFer.

If you get hit with a weapon on bare skin, your eyes will water and you'll jerk back. (I got the pinky finger on my right/dominant hand broken by a Filipino fighting stick--a 2-foot long solid piece of bamboo--by my years-long sparring partner. My first reaction was to hit him as hard as I could in his temple. It hurt that bad.)

If you're adding fight scenes to your work, don't patronize your readers. Show how tiring and painful it really is. Need inspiration? Interview the Sensei of your local martial arts dojo/dojang.

[miirshroom]

Miquella Thoughts

Seems to have been a lot of Elden Ring discussion lately about Miquella as a Griffith reference from Berserk. I have not read Berserk, and rather than make half-formed guesses about that I'd rather tackle the question of Miquella's motives from other perspectives.

I've been reading one of my old favourite fantasy trilogies recently - the Mage Winds by Mercedes Lackey. It occurred to me that this is probably one of the sources of my strong negative feelings towards blood magic. Blood magic appears in at least 3 other storylines in the same setting, in one way or another. But the villain of this trilogy is a blood-path mage named Mornelithe Falconsbane.

Blood sacrifices, violence, enslavement and compulsion are the typical traits of a blood mage - pain and energy from cutting a life short are what fuel this power. And one of the main interests of this particular blood mage is in experimenting with creating twisted creatures to use as weapons - combining animals in unnatural and tormented ways. Also Falconsbane made cosmetic changes to himself to become a sexy cat man. Like a lynx. After testing them on his unwilling and abused daughter. Unanimous agreement among protagonists that he's a beast with no redeeming qualities. 

A twist is that this villain is also a body snatcher. He set a spell a few thousand years ago powered by the energy of his own death that would let him survive in the void until a blood descendant is born with a sufficient level of mage power. Remember how I mentioned that 3 other storylines involve blood magic? Turns out the same guy is responsible for 2 of them. The spell is keyed to activate the first time the mage attempts a basic fire-lighting spell, which is typically the first spell learned by an untrained person. Blood magic spell activates and he takes possession of the body and destroys the original personality. But in this particular case he slipped up and the original person that he stole his current body from has been a prisoner in his own mind for decades. So the nature of the conflict shifts towards the climax of the trilogy. There is an absolute evil monster to be destroyed, but there's also an innocent person worth saving underneath all that. And the stakes are raised because killing one guy won't solve the problem - they need to break the immortality spell so that this ancient evil will never return.

Back to Elden Ring. In general it seems that Radagon's lineage is cursed in a way that involves blood magic. There's a connection hinted between Radagon and the Leonine Misbegotten - which are twisted and tormented manufactured chimera. There's a connection between Radagon and the Thorn Sorcerers who wear red cloth around their heads mimicking flowing red hair (or Messmer, but it's all the same lineage so I see little difference). There are also the cessblooded Omens, who should of course be counted as well because Radagon is Marika.

And there's Miquella who practices blood magic in watering the Haligtree and is capable of feats of craftsmanship beyond his years, as if perhaps he is working from the memories and abilities of something far older than his physical form suggests. The Bewitching Branch seems to pretty explicitly reference a compulsion spell (as well as using the sacramental bud as a component - more blood magic), which in my experience is never a thing used by protagonists in any story. Unless maybe your protagonist is a vampire. So, never used by protagonists who are good people and don't see human beings as sheep for slaughter. As a side note, I recently watched the 3 hour-long ContaPoints video on Twilight and I am...connecting some dots about the roles of Mohg and Varre in the story (I have also never read Twilight).

I dislike trying to make guesses about whatever exactly Miquella is up to. He's associated with dreams, which do not necessarily need to follow the same metaphysical logic as the rest of the Lands Between. But still, there are these vibes that I keep in mind until further information arises. From one perspective I suspect that Miquella thought to enter the Shadowlands and conquer this Land, so that he could manipulate the Lands Between from the shadows. This is the Jungian perspective of animus, which has recently become my favourite pseudo-psychology to dismantle.

From another perspective, it is possible that the Shadowlands is something like the void in that story I mentioned. There is an immortal lich who was fled to lurk in the shadows and waits for a chance to be reborn, and Miquella has chased him here to stop that from happening. This thought also dovetails with some planting that I've noticed that combines the King in Yellow with Koschei the Deathless. It starts back in Demon's Souls, I think - where the yellow monk cloth takes the shape of a tornado when it possesses a victim (The Koschei travels with tornados).

What's also up to interpretation is how literally or symbolically this is all being handled. Like, Mohg emerging from Miquella's blood is a very literal way to depict cursed blood full of demons. And it seems confirmed as of the DLC trailer that Miquella has deliberately left behind his empyrean flesh (same as Ranni, who also has sleep powers and travels in dreams. Coincidentally.).

It was to this land that Miquella departed. Divesting himself of his flesh, his strength, his lineage. Of all things Golden.

As tempting as it is to speculate further on what exactly Miquella has planned for the DLC, all I'd say now is that I am dubious about his former intentions in the "waking world" of the Lands Between - not just of whether they were good intentions, but of whether they were ever realistic to achieve. But regardless of the past, there remains a possibility that the decision to abandon his metamorphosis plan coincided with a change of heart that resulted from the new perspective offered by the Shadowlands.

[thesorcerersapprentice]

4 and 5 for the Tolkien ask game?

- @kingkendrick7

Hi @kingkendrick7! Thanks for the asks. I'm really looking forward to answering these! If you aren't following Kendrick yet, go check out his Writeblr Intro and About Me post! He's got demons and vampires and a writing club, oh my! P.S. If you want to participate in this ask game, take a look at the full list of questions here: Tolkien Ask Game

I had a hard time distinguishing between these two questions, so I answered No. 4 for the research/expertise that went into creating characters for The Sorcerer's Apprentice and No. 5 for the research/expertise that went into worldbuilding. I hope this division keeps with the spirit of the original asks! Also, I apologize in advance for the enormous info dump you are about to receive lol You have summoned my inner nerd. Sorry, not sorry ;)

4. What are your elves and dwarves? As in: something you studied or know a lot about, something you can geek out about, etc.

✦ Cucufate: (pronounced: Coo-coo-fah-teh)This is a secondary character I haven't spoken about much because I keep going back and forth on some of the minor details. Generally speaking, he's a monkey (a Colombian Night Monkey or Aotus Lemurinus) who lives in Valeriano's mansion and befriends Altaluna. His character is based on two figures: the ancient philosopher Socrates and Bartleby from the short story Bartleby, The Scrivener by Herman Melville. What I wanted to do with Cucufate is find a way to have an animal speak without necessarily resorting to a 'human' voice (a voice that furthers our aims, mimics and thus elevates our culture, clarifies and informs etc.). This is where Socrates and Bartleby enter the picture. They both provide a language model that subverts standard communication. For instance, despite being the primary character in Plato's Dialogues and one of the most famous philosophers of all time, Socrates makes no positive or prescriptive claims (thou shalt not blah, this is that etc.). Instead, he talks in (flattery &) questions, undermining any certainty his interlocutors might feel by prodding and probing their knowledge of x, y & z until they are forced to reveal their ignorance (this is known as Socratic irony). Socrates' speech is thus a kind of anti-speech. If it spotlights a topic, it does so only to reveal the immensity of the darkness that sustains it, its lack of substance. Indeed, whenever Socrates opens his mouth, he widens the abyss that will eventually swallow his interlocutor's thoughts and beliefs whole, and terminate the discussion (silence). Hence, Socratic dialogue successfully humiliates and confuses us. It strips us of that very human arrogance, our intellectual bravado, so that we too can become wise: so that we too can share in the wisdom of knowing that we don't know. Doesn't the natural world do the same? Isn't that precisely the horror of climate change? The root of the unease we feel before our uncanny valley primate cousins? Bartleby, on the other hand, taps into the ambiguity of certain language formulas. His signature phrase "I would prefer not to," which he repeats whenever he's asked to do his job, expresses a hypothetical that... never seems to go anywhere? It's the Schrodinger's Cat of phrases, simultaneously dead and alive; he'd prefer not to, but... will he or won't he? Yes. The ambiguity, the inaction of it, dumfounds and incapacitates his employer. Bartleby's speech thus provides an example of a language that resists, confounds rather than clarifies, and complicates rather than simplifies. Like Socratic irony, Bartleby's masterful use of the conditional and modal auxiliary verb "would," disrupts the status quo. Because Cucufate's speech pattern draws from both of them, he becomes an effective helper to Altaluna; by engaging with her, he counteracts the temptation to think along the lines of a simplistic, "heroic" fascism (good vs. evil, light vs. darkness, us vs. them), and forces her instead to adopt a more nuanced stance, capable of aptly handing contradiction and ambiguity.

✦ The Secret to Altaluna's Success: I can't really explain this one without explaining the magic system. Since I don't want to give anything away before the big reveal, all I'll say for now is that Altaluna's strength as an individual and as a magic-weilder (although that's the wrong word, really) can be understood in reference to "La Conciencia de la Mestiza" (Chapter 7 within Borderlands) by Gloria Anzaldúa.

✦ Valeriano's Cruelty: Partially inspired by The Imp of the Perverse by Edgar Allan Poe (and he would know, wouldn't he, what with his cousin being 13 and a literal child when he married her). If you haven't read it yet, I couldn't recommend it more highly. It's very disturbing. To summarize, it tells the tale of a man gripped by the so-called "imp of the perverse," a self-destructive tendency to do exactly what he shouldn't precisely because he knows he shouldn't do it. A large number of Poe's characters take this tendency to the extreme. Valeriano does so to a lesser degree. Like Poe's characters, he enjoys doing the wrong thing because it's wrong but, unlike them, he won't put his life or his career at risk to satisfy this urge. So, who ends up suffering from Valeriano's perversity? Easy. Only those people who have the misfortune of being beneath him on the socio-economic ladder i.e. only those incapable of defending themselves against him. In this way, I've also written Valeriano as a critique of Western philosophy's stance towards 'evil.' From Plato to Kant to Arendt, philosophers have been adamant that people do not commit heinous acts because they derive pleasure from them, but rather because they lack 'the good' (respectively: knowledge of the 'idea of good' for Plato, a correct understanding of the moral law -the categorical imperative- for Kant, and, finally, the activity of thought for Arendt). 'Evil,' in most of Western philosophy, is always an absence of 'the good'. It is not a thing-in-itself. It has no positive, independent existence (the same goes for ugliness, but that's another discussion). Like Poe with The Imp of The Perverse (and Dostoyevsky in Crime and Punishment), I'm using Valeriano to disagree (and to show JUST HOW MUCH I disagree lol).

✦ Valeriano's Attitude Towards Truth: Partially inspired by contemporary French philosopher Michel Foucault's account of parrhesia in his lecture series, The Courage of Truth. Basically, parrhesia is a type of ancient Greek truth-telling that implies courage because by participating in this speech act both the truth-speaker and the truth-listener risk their lives; the speaker by possibly incurring the all-powerful wrath of the listener, the listener by risking the possibility of being made profoundly vulnerable by the speaker. Valeriano's exchanges with Altaluna's father, Peregrino, are an example of a failed attempt at this form of communication since Valeriano rejects any attempt at truth-telling from him. Indeed, he exiles and punishes Peregrino and, by extension, Peregrino's family for daring to confront him with his own monstrosity, which he refuses to acknowledge. By the time The Sorcerer's Apprentice commences, Altaluna has been thoroughly warned of Valeriano's inability to be a truth listener, and so, although she offers him opportunities for parrhesia, neither he nor she fully engages in this act as Altaluna is unwilling to risk her family's well-being a second time. This has two further consequences for the narrative. First, it means that while Peregrino is 'free' because he was able to define himself within the speech-act, namely to autonomously determine himself as a subject of a certain kind in relation to the truth, his truth, and to act accordingly; Altaluna's sense of self and her field-of-possible-actions are entirely dominated by Valeriano. She is who he says she is, what he allows her to be. She exists only between the limits of what he's willing to tolerate. This gives us an idea of where the plot has to go in order for Altaluna to reach the peak of her arc, aka. a moment where she wrestles free from underneath Valeriano's power and participates in a fully successful act of parrhesia. However, since we've established that Valeriano is incapable of being a truth listener, then it's clear that in order for this moment of liberation to finally come Valeriano and Altaluna's relationship needs to be turned on its head; Valeriano needs to become the truth speaker and Altaluna the truth listener. Furthermore, that the parrhesia has to be successful implies that Altaluna is going to have to hear something very hurtful from Valeriano and not abuse the power she has over him to punish him for it (as he abused the power he had over her father, Peregrino). Finally, and this is the second point I wanted to make, this reversal between Valeriano and Altaluna provides a commentary and critique on the efficacy of parrhesia in undermining (certain degrees of) domination.

5. What are your Middle Earth languages? As in: something you have expertise in due to a career, a hobby, something you love, etc.

✦ The Magic System: I'm actually not going to say too much about the magic system because I don't want to give anything away before the big reveal. For now, just know that the mechanics are equally inspired by contemporary French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty's 'Ontology of the Flesh' as contained in his article Eye And Mind and his unfinished manuscript (published posthumously), The Visible and the Invisible, which I wrote my BA dissertation on; and Philosophy as a Way of Life by Pierre Hadot, where he argues that the true product of philosophy is the philosopher themself. It is also heavily influenced by Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society by Marcel Detienne and Jean-Pierre Vernant, which just so happens to be one of my favourite academic texts of all time (and a fantastic read if you like Greek mythology).

[heartofstanding]

Sometimes writing historical fiction is like... you just want to know. You know you can't know, that no one knows and the evidence isn't there and barring some miraculous rediscovery, won't ever be, or you know if it's possible to know, it's buried in unpublished records or in publications you don't have the ability to access and might even need a postgrad degree to access or understand. But you just want to know. And you can't.

[gryffindork394]

Writing Update #5:

Loooong day at work today! Only wrote for about an hour. Much of that time was spent coming up with names or doing a bit of research!

Words written today: 720

Total words: 16,752

Favorite line: I make my move as soon as the moon reaches its apex in the sky above.

[thelaststarfalling]

just once i'd like to complete one (1) bigger project that i can actually be proud of