#to double check the verbs

[williamrikers]

my working theory concerning thai bl subtitles is that every translator has a dartboard next to their desk and every time they have to translate a verb into english they close their eyes and throw a dart at the board to decide which tense to use. there's no other explanation

[blankmogai]

altrans flag and symbol!

altrans: a form of alterhumanity that is directly influenced, caused by, or inextricable from transness

[lunasilvis]

Do you know some German?

Mein Deutsch ist mittelmässig, aber ich weiss wie man in dieser Sprache ein vanilleeis mit 3 kugeln bestellt in der eisdiele - sehr wichtig haha Köln ist meine deutsche lieblingsstadt und ich habe vor, im Januar nach Berlin zu reisen, für museen und ein konzert!

[unsolvedjarin]

pleeeeeease something fluffy and domestic about jenson😩😩😩 there is not enough fics of him AND after those beautiful pics he posted i crave slmething tbh anything that has to do with him

CORNY

pairing: (jenson button x driver! reader)

summary: you and jenson finally have a peaceful anniversary, but both of you have surprises for one another.

note: i love love LOOOOVE this idea so much. saying yes any day to domestic jenson. i had so much fun writing this, hope you have fun reading it too!

content warning: none, just a lot of domesticity and once again, say it with me, my verb tenses bouncing like frogs!

“And you’re sure you can handle this?”

“She’s a three year old, what harm could she possibly do?” Fernando asks. You look at him with faux seriousness in your eyes, “A lot. You can’t even begin to imagine.”

Jenson chuckles at your antics, double checking if you had brought all the things your daughter needs for the weekend. It was you and Jenson’s anniversary, and Fernando had volunteered to take care of your daughter so you could both get away.

“You know, if you told me back in 2016 that I would be taking care of you two’s child, I would have never believed it,” Fernando remarks, looking at the three year old dead asleep in his living room.

“Why, ‘cause you can’t take care of children?” You joke. He shakes his head in response, “No, because I never thought Jenson would have the balls to make a move.”

The mentioned man looks up from what he was doing when he hears his name, not fully invested in the conversation. “Sorry?”

“I said I never thought you would have the balls to make a move on Y/N. You pine for four years and all of a sudden have a burst of confidence, I still don’t understand how you did it.”

“Well some things are better left a mystery, eh Nando?” Jenson teases, nudging him on the side. “Besides, you don’t need to know how, just that we’re here now and we’re happy.”

“Boo, corny.” You butt in, giving Jenson a playful thumbs down.

“Hey you’re supposed to be on my side, I’m defending our love out here!”

Fernando grins at your banter— it reminded him of the good old days. Back when Jenson was on the grid along with him in Mclaren, hearing his teammate constantly pine over their friend— you— who happened to be a driver as well.

Ever since he could remember, Jenson had been head over heels for you. Sure during your rookie year he had only seen you as a friend, but the years following that, there was no time Fernando can remember where Jenson wasn’t trying to grab your attention or trying to impress you one way or another.

It was astounding how you hadn’t caught a clue on just how much Jenson liked you during those days. He had even given up his so-called ‘playboy’ lifestyle back then just to impress you, but the only reaction he had ever gotten from you was “So no more free drinks for me from your hookups when we’re out? Shame.”

“Are you absolutely certain you can handle this, Nando?” You ask the Spaniard, causing him to snap back to reality.

“Please, I got this covered, trust me,” he boasts. If only he knew what chaos was in store for him this weekend.

You say your goodbyes to Fernando and give your child a kiss on the head, making sure she doesn’t wake up. Stepping out the front door, you see Jenson staring far into the distance while waiting for you.

“You alright Jense?” you ask him as you walk towards the car. He doesn’t say a word until you both get in the car and close the doors, letting out a deep sigh of relief.

“Alright? I’m fucking fantastic!” he exclaims. You grin at his sudden burst of energy, shaking your head. Speaking softer this time, he adds, “This is the first weekend I’ve had all year without our kid. And don’t get me wrong, I love her very much, but I missed spending time with you more.”

He gives you a chaste kiss, pulling away to look at you with so much love. God, he could never be sick of this sight. You give him a soft smile as he adjusts to pull the car away from Fernando’s home, headed back towards your own.

You didn’t say anything as he started driving, unsure how to breach the topic you wanted to talk to your husband about. You wanted this weekend to go smoothly, after all it was your anniversary, but also because it was the first actual one on one time you’ve had with each other in god knows how long. With you still racing and him with his job, you didn’t see each other enough as much as you would like to.

Of course you were always home whenever possible, doing your part in taking care of your kid, and they always tagged along to races when they could— but to you it still wasn’t enough. You felt like you were doing Jenson wrong with pursuing racing while he had to do most of the heavy lifting at home.

So you wanted to retire.

You thought it was reasonable, after all you had been racing since 2012 save for the year you stopped when you were pregnant. You were satisfied with your career and your two world championships. Sebastian Vettel had told you last year that when you know it’s time to retire you just know, and you think that time is now.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Jenson asked, pulling you out of your train of thought.

“Are my thoughts that cheap?”

“Okay, dollar for your thoughts then. Jesus, we really are in an economic crisis.”

“Corny,” you reply, slapping him on his shoulder with a grin.

“Ah, but you smiled.” Jenson teased. It made you roll your eyes at him fondly, “Eyes on the road you silly man.”

The rest of the trip home was spent in comfortable silence, Jenson putting his hand on your leg whenever you reached a stoplight. He claimed to have the whole weekend planned, and was seemingly very excited to show off whatever it was he had in store. You asked him a week ago if you could get a clue and the only response you ever got from him was a shrug and a simple “Well there’s no fun in that now, is there?”

Pulling up to your house, you contemplate when exactly is the right time to tell your husband you’re retiring. Not before his surprise, no definitely not, that would ruin it. But you weren’t so sure if after the surprise would be such a good idea too, especially if it would ruin the spirit of the weekend.

“Want something babe?” Jenson asks as he approaches the house bar. He had it made last year on his birthday, a gift for himself, he had said. Safe to say not a single speck of dust has been found on that countertop nor has it been left abandoned for a day since it’s been made. It was his favorite thing in the house, besides you, of course.

You shake your head to his question, instead opting to lay down on the couch with an oomph, turning on the television to see if anything good was on. “So what’s your big secret surprise plan? Can I know now?” you question Jenson, looking at him from your position.

He gives you a knowing grin in reply, moving towards you with his drink. He takes a sip of it before closing the TV so you would focus on him.

“Hey I was gonna watch!”

Ignoring your comment— because he knows you weren’t really going to— he bends down to kiss you on your forehead and mutters, “My plan, my darling,” he gives you another kiss, “Is to stay home all weekend.”

You give him a confused look.

Was that it? Was that the big thing he had planned? Not that you were complaining of course, any time spent with Jenson was good to you. But it puzzled you why he had kept it a ‘secret’.

“Confused?” he asks, giving you a knowing look as he picks his drink back up and takes another sip. “I would be if I were you.”

Now absolutely muddled, you get up from the sofa and follow him towards his beloved bar. Sitting on one of the stools, you’re unable to find the right questions and simply shoot him a look that said ‘what?’

Jenson grins, leaning on the counter so you were face to face with each other. “So, you’re probably kerfuzzled.”

You had used that term once when you accidentally forgot the word ‘confused’ and it had become an inside joke between the two of you.

“Yes, I’m kerfuzzled, Jenson. So you have nothing planned this weekend?”

“Well besides me cooking you the most delicious home cooked meals and treating you like the absolute goddess you are,” he says, inching closer towards your face. He gives you a light kiss before continuing normally, “Then no, I have nothing planned.”

“So all that buildup these past few weeks, nothing.”

“Absolutely nothing,” Jenson smirks.

“You seem oddly proud of yourself for that,” you tease. While you were confused with the whole situation, you had no problem with it. A weekend with Jenson alone was everything you could’ve ever asked for, especially after a stressful season.

“I am proud of myself. Wanna know why?”

“You’re asking an awful lot of rhetorical questions today. But sure, why are you so proud of yourself, sweetheart?”

“Because,” he beams, “I have noticed that throughout this entire year, we’ve spent only two full days together, just the two of us. One of those days we spent shopping for our son’s new bed, and another one of those days was spent doing our taxes. Do you see where I’m going with this?”

“We haven’t properly shagged this whole year?”

“Close, but we will circle back to that later tonight,” Jenson winks. “No, what I was trying to say is that we haven’t spent time with each other. At first I had planned a trip to Italy for this anniversary of ours, then I thought, well you’d already been there for the Monza Grand Prix. Plus, it felt like just another chore we would be doing. That’s when I had an epiphany.”

He pauses for a second, seemingly waiting for a reaction from you. Rolling your eyes, you question, “Fine, I’ll bite. What epiphany did you have o great philosopher?”

“Well I’m glad you asked. I realized that with such a travel packed schedule all year round, going on a vacation for our anniversary would be boring to you. Not only that but the travel itself would be tiring, and we would be focused on the itinerary more than our anniversary itself. Therefore, I have brilliantly concluded that the best thing I could set up this year was not only something we haven’t done in a while, but something relaxing while at the same time thoughtful. That’s why— drumroll please— my surprise is a weekend at home.”

Jenson takes a small bow after his whole speech, grinning at the way you slowly clapped for him with faux annoyance. You had to give it to him, he was spot on. You weren’t really up for any big trips on your week off, especially when that was practically what you’ve been doing the whole season.

“First of all Jense, I do actually love your plan, and I love you,” you say, giving into his antics. He smirks in reply, shrugging nonchalantly. “I’m just thoughtful like that.”

“Okay, don’t push it,” you retort, but with no malice. “But my question is, why did you keep it a secret? You know you could’ve told me if we were just staying home.”

“Yes, I could’ve told you, but because I didn’t tell you, you mentally prepared for more traveling, and now that I’ve told you that we’re staying home, it feels more refreshing, no?”

Damn him and his smart mind. You forget he was smarter than he usually lets on. The media had labeled him as a himbo of sorts back then, but they couldn’t have been more wrong. Well, except for that one time he nearly left the stove on before a race weekend. He still gets reminded of that everytime you leave the house.

“Wow, that’s actually impressive,” you concede, leaning back on your chair. Jenson pours you your favorite drink across the bar, despite you declining earlier. He knows that in the five minutes that have passed you’d now want a drink. He knew you too well. “You really thought this through, huh?”

“Of course I have. I use ninety-nine percent of my brain power on you.”

“Can’t tell if that’s a compliment or a complaint.”

“Assuming that I use only ten percent on anything else, then it’s a compliment.”

You snicker at his joke, taking a sip of your drink. From your peripheral vision you can see Jenson watching you intently while leaning on the wall, as if it was the first time he had ever seen your face. Even as you put your glass down, his eyes still follow the lines of your lips and the curves of your cheeks, with a soft smile plastered on his own face. He seemed so…content.

“Stop looking at me like that,” you say while looking at anything but him, a light blush on your cheeks you try to hide to no avail. So many years together and yet he could still make you feel like a schoolgirl with a crush. It was so silly.

“Like what?” he asks, despite knowing what you meant. If only you knew that you made Jenson feel the same way he made you feel, if not even more.

“Like that.”

“I don’t know what you mean, I’m looking at you like I usually do.”

“Yeah, sure. If you usually looked at me with puppy eyes and like you’ve discovered the secret to life in my eyes,” you retort, playing with your drink, still refusing to look him in the eye. Jenson chuckles, before pushing himself off the wall and leaning on the bar, using two fingers to move your chin and face you towards him. Your faces were inches apart, his soft yet smug smile still evident as he looked at your slightly parted lips then at you. “Darling, you are the secret to life.”

Jenson’s words linger for a second, before you snigger and push him off of you. He laughs too, knowing how corny what he just said was. While you were touched with what he said, you just couldn’t help but laugh at the seriousness of it all. You were well past love declarations in your relationships. Now those declarations were in the smaller things, like how he texted you whenever he saw something that reminded him of you and how you buy him books from every country you visit– also the reason you had to expand your library recently.

“God you are– ha!– you are so corny. That was worse than some of your dad jokes,” you cringe.

“I thought you love my dad jokes!”

“I love them because of how corny they are. This…this took the cake though.”

“Jeez, can’t even profess my love for you anymore without being made fun of. What has the world come to,” Jenson says sarcastically.

It reminds you of when he first confessed to you back in 2016.

“I can’t— I just can’t carry on without you knowing. Y/N, I am so hopelessly in love with you. And I know this is so out of the blue but if I spend one more minute with this secret I might explode. So please— please, Give me a chance to prove myself to you.”

A moment of silence passed. The usually busy streets of Monaco felt quiet outside the bar that night. It was just the two of you.

This is a prank. This must be a prank. Snapping to your senses, you replied, “Very funny. Who put you up to this, was it Fernando? I’ll kill him. Or was it Seb? He’ll get it worse if it was him.”

Jenson rubbed his face before moving a step closer to you. “Don’t you get it? I’m in love with you. I have been, for so long. No one put me up to this but myself.”

“You’re drunk, that’s what you are. Let’s get back to the hotel,” you reasoned, to yourself more than to him. You tried to walk away but he didn’t let you, taking your hand and making you face him.

“Y/N please just listen to me I— I can’t breathe without you, I can’t sleep without you, I can’t live without you. It’s you, it always has been. I understand if you don’t like me back, in fact I’ll take it with pride but please— please don’t abandon me. Please don’t leave me with no answer.”

“Don’t do this,” you begged him. “Don’t lead me on.”

“I’m not leading you on, Y/N. I swear to you, I am not. This is real. Am I so bad?” he asked, practically near to tears. He had kept this secret for so long that spilling it all out felt so overwhelming.

“You’re not bad Jenson, god that’s not it,” you laughed ironically, as you felt your eyes water. “It’s because— oh fuck it. I love you too. I love you too, okay? I have since 2014. And I— I didn’t wanna answer you because if I wake up tomorrow and find out this was all because you’re drunk then I will be so heartbroken I don’t think I could live with it. And now that this is all out there I— I don’t know what to do.”

Your words hung there for a minute, both of you emotionally vulnerable in a random street in Monaco at three in the morning. Then, Jenson, with teary eyes, slowly smiled. “You mean that?”

“More than anything. So please, tell me you’re not just saying this all because you’re drunk.”

“No, no of course not,” Jenson quickly replied. He moved closer to you, wrapping his arms around you and for a second you thought he was going to kiss you, but thankfully even in his inebriated state he knew to take things slowly. Instead he hugged you tightly, holding you as if you would disappear. You hugged him back, resting your teary eyed face on the crook of his neck.

You both stood there in silence for a moment, not caring if anyone saw you, which was unlikely because of how empty the streets were. When Jenson pulled away you missed his touch, but he immediately held your hand and asked with a grin, “Well, now that that’s over with, we can go back to the hotel. Wanna take care of a drunk guy?”

You laughed, wiping away your tears. “Do I have a choice?”

“No, sorry. You’re contractually obligated to take care of me for the rest of the night and tomorrow.”

You both start walking to the hotel, the streets now seeming more lively than they were a second ago. It was almost as if the background noise had come back.

“Jense,” you started, leaning your head on his shoulder as you walked. Jenson practically melted on the spot at that. “Even if you regret your decision to tell me all of that today, please promise me you won’t break our friendship.”

Jenson turned his head to you at that. Couldn’t you see just how much love he held for you?

“Even if I regret my decision— which I won’t, by the way, because I’ve been dying to say this for four years— nothing will change between us. We’ll still be friends, trust me on that at least. I’ll always be here for you. Now c’mon, it’s starting to rain.”

He pulled you by the hand, both of you running to the hotel as the rain got louder. He slept in your room that night, you didn’t do anything, he just wanted your company. The next morning he regretted nothing.

“Penny— no, sorry— dollar for your thoughts?”

Jenson snaps you out of your trip down memory lane, taking you by the hand and standing you up from the bar stool. He wraps his arms around your waist and you sling your own around his neck, sighing contently.

If there was one thing you could never be sick of, it was the way Jenson looked at you. Always, without fail, when you catch him staring at you, there’s so much love and adoration in his eyes that you feel overwhelmed with a sense of lovesickness.

You never wanted this moment to end. You wanted more of these, more peaceful and loving moments with him and also your daughter. It makes you remember the piece of news you wanted to tell him earlier.

As you both stand there in the middle of your quiet house, just enjoying the company of each other, you lean your head on his shoulder. It was now or never.

“Jenson, I’m retiring.”

He pauses his soft swaying for a moment, and you pull away to look at his reaction. He looked shocked yet at the same time calm, as if he had been expecting you to say that.

“Is that what you really want? I mean, I’m not opposed to it, but baby you still have so much left in you for racing. Shit I mean, you could even win another world championship.”

“Sure I could. Let me just catch up on Max who has a 200 point difference with me, easy peasy,” you scoff with a grin, slapping him on his shoulder. “Yes, this is what I really want, Jense. I’ve thought about it a lot and I think it’s time. I’m satisfied with how my career has gone, and I think it’s time I pulled my weight around the house and our daughter.”

Jenson raises his eyebrow at you, “You do pull your weight. Do you think that you don’t?”

“Well I’m definitely doing less than you,” you sigh.

Jenson could tell the topic was upsetting you, and he reached for your hand to squeeze it. “Darling, you do enough around the house and for our kid. Sure, I’m with her more, but that’s just because I have a freer schedule. There’s no malice in you being away for work. Plus, you make insanely more money than me, which is also part of pulling your weight. If you’re thinking of retiring just because of this, then maybe you shouldn’t yet.”

You frown, feeling the sting of tears in your eyes. You wouldn’t cry, you promised yourself you wouldn’t. “It’s just— I feel like I’m missing out on my life, you know? On our life. I’ve been driving karts since I was four and now I’m fully grown and I’m still driving. But this— this is new. Our family. And I want to be here for it. For you.”

“Oh sweetheart,” Jenson mutters, before taking you for a hug. He holds you tightly, just like he did all those years ago, your head in the crook of his neck with tears pricking your eyes.

He holds you there for a moment, and you feel safe in his arms like you always do. Even when everything changes he’s there, and just like he promised many moons ago, he wasn’t going anywhere.

“Look who’s being corny now,” Jenson mumbles into your hair after a pause of silence. It makes you giggle, and you pull away from him.

“And look who ruined the moment,” you retort. You try to walk back to the bar and get your drink but Jenson keeps his grip on your waist, pulling you back towards him. You shoot him a look but he simply grins, pulling your waist even closer to him.

“I love you, just in case you ever forget. Happy Anniversary.” He mumbles, kissing you on your nose, making you scrunch your face. Jenson thinks it’s the cutest thing in the world.

Taking his face in your hand, you smile at him, looking satisfied. This was it. This was everything you ever wanted and everything you could ever want. “I love you too, my everything. Happy Anniversary.”

“God, corny,” Jenson mutters, before kissing you fervently and with all the love he could muster. You feel him smile into the kiss, and you do too.

Pulling away, you sigh with a smile, content. Jenson smirks at you before commenting, “You better save some of that for tonight, darling.”

You match him with a grin of your own, “Only if you can keep up.”

[cripplecharacters]

Hey genuine question, is cripple considered a slur?

This is not a remark about your url at all it's just that I'm able bodied and thought it was but another abled person told me that it wasnt and I don't trust them to be correct so I'm double checking with actually physically disabled people.

And if it is I'm sorry for using it here I couldn't figure out an easy way to indicate what word I was talking about without saying it

Hello,

Yes, cripple is a slur and it's best for ablebodied people to avoid using it in any context- even calling a car crippled due to a broken axel is bad. Some easy ways I've seen people refer to the word cripple, if you'd like some ideas, are the c slur, the cr slur, and, in context of something like cripplepunk, simply shortening it to c (cpunk.) You might need to add context ("the c slur, the one that refers to physically disabled people," you may need to spell it in a verbal conversation,) too.

Thank you for asking.

Mod Aaron

Hi, "cripple" and all its verb and adjective variants are very much a slur. While it is reclaimed quite a lot, claiming that it's not a slur in the first place is rather odd. Mod Aaron is very much right about the ways to refer to it as well as the fact that using it outside of the main offensive context really shouldn't be done either. Obviously, saying that the economy is crippled isn't the same as calling a disabled human being the same thing, but it's still a word that's triggering (or just plain uncomfortable) to many people when said by someone able-bodied.

Thanks for the ask!

mod Sasza

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Some Editorial Vocabulary

definitions of terms during the writing, editing and publishing process

Acknowledgements: Text in which the author thanks those who’ve supported them.

Action beat: Short description that comes before, between or just after dialogue.

Adjective: A word that describes a noun.

Adverb: A word that describes a verb.

Adverbial phrase: A group of words that describe a verb.

Afterword: A concluding section, often reflecting on the book’s creation or providing additional context.

Anaphora: The deliberate repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive clauses for artistic effect.

Antagonist: An adversary. The character who creates obstacles and challenges for the protagonist, or behaves in a hostile fashion towards the protagonist.

Anti-protagonist: A protagonist whose own actions create opposition and conflict, often within themselves or against their own goals.

Apostrophe: A punctuation mark used to indicate possession, omission and, occasionally, a plural.

Appendix: Space in a book for material that doesn’t fit comfortably in the main text.

Asyndeton: Literary device through which a sentence’s structure follows the following pattern: A, B, C.

B-C

Back matter: Also end matter. Elements reserved for the back of a book, including appendix, glossary, endnotes, bibliography and index.

Beta reader: Test-reader who provides feedback on book.

Bibliography: List of all works cited in book, and any other work of interest to the reader.

Chapter drop: The space above and below the chapter title.

Character arc: Narrative that shows how a character changes and develops.

Characterization: The process of revealing a character's personality, traits and motives through actions and dialogue.

Colon: Punctuation mark that introduces additional/qualifying information about the clause it follows.

Comma splice: Two independent clauses joined by a comma rather than a conjunction or an alternative punctuation mark.

Conjunction: A word that connects clauses or sentences (e.g. ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘if’, ‘then’)

Copyediting: A review of grammar, punctuation, and spelling, ensuring consistency and accuracy in the manuscript's language.

Critique: Also manuscript evaluation. Report analysing a book’s strengths and weaknesses.

D

Denouement: The final part of the book in which all the plot strands are brought together and resolved.

Deuteragonist: A sidekick or confidante character who has the most influence on the protagonist, often helping them solve problems and overcome obstacles. Can be critical to driving the plot.

Developmental editing: Also structural editing. The improvement of a manuscript's structure, content, and overall narrative, focusing on big-picture elements. Attends to plot, characterisation, narration and pacing.

Dialogue tag: Also speech tag. Words that indicate which character is speaking (e.g. John said).

Dialogue: The lines characters speak in a book.

Diversity reader: Also sensitivity reader. Test-reader who checks for misrepresentation in books.

Double-page spread: Also DPS. The view of a printed book or PDF when opened so that the left- and right-hand pages are both visible.

Drama: The conflicts, emotional intensity, and impactful events that drive the plot and engage readers emotionally. The focus is on character relationships, motivations, and the consequences of their actions.

Dropped capital: Decorative first letter of the first word on the first line in a chapter. Larger than the rest of the text and drops down two lines or more.

E-F

Ellipsis: Punctuation mark that indicates a trailing-off or a pause.

End matter: Also back matter. Elements reserved for the back of a book, including appendix, glossary, endnotes, bibliography and index.

Endnote: Additional useful information at the end of a chapter or book.

Filter word: Verb that tells rather than shows (e.g. ‘noticed’, ‘seemed’, ‘spotted’, ‘saw’).

Folio: Somewhat old-fashioned term for page number. Also used to refer to a page.

Footnote: Additional useful information at the bottom of a page.

Foreword: A recommendation of the work written by someone other than the author.

Fourth wall: In books, the conceptual space between the characters and the readers.

Free indirect speech: Also free indirect style and free indirect discourse. Third-person narrative that holds the essence of first person thought or dialogue.

Front matter: Also prelims. Includes part title and title pages, foreword, preface and acknowledgements.

Full point: Period or full stop.

Full stop: Period or full point.

G-L

Glossary: Alphabetical list of important terms with explanations or definitions.

Habitual past tense: Uses ‘would’ or ‘used to’ with a verb to indicate events that happened routinely in a time past.

Half-title page: The first page of a book with any text on it; in a printed book, always a right-hand page. Contains only the main title of the book.

Head-hopping: Jumping from one character’s thoughts and internal experiences to another’s. Indicates viewpoint has been dropped.

Imprint: Publisher’s name.

Independent clause: A group of words that contains a subject and a predicate.

Index: Alphabetical list of all topics, themes, key terms and cited author names covered in the book, and the corresponding page numbers.

Information dump: Also word dump. Information that’s necessary to the story but isn’t artfully delivered, or weaved creatively into the narrative and dialogue.

Line editing: Also stylistic editing. The refining of a manuscript's language, focusing on consistency, clarity, flow and style at sentence level.

M-O

Maid-and-butler dialogue: Dialogue in which one character tells another something they already know so the reader can access backstory.

Manuscript evaluation: Also critique. Report analysing a book’s strengths and weaknesses.

Narrative arc: Also story arc. The structure and shape of a story.

Narrative authenticity: The believability and truthfulness of a story so that the characters and events feel real within the framework of the novel’s world.

Narrative distance: Also psychic distance. How close the reader feels to a character’s thoughts, emotions and experiences within a story.

Narrative: Story. The part of the book that’s narrated, excluding the dialogue.

Narrative style: The author's unique manner of storytelling, encompassing language, tone, viewpoint and other structural choices.

Narrative voice: The style, tone, and personality through which a narrator or character tells a story to readers.

Numerals, Arabic: 1, 2, 3 etc.

Numerals, Roman: i, ii, iii etc.

Omniscient: All-knowing. Refers to a viewpoint style in fiction writing.

Overwriting: Using too many words on the page. Often characterized by repetition and redundancy.

P

Page proofs: A file that’s reached a stage in the publishing process where the text and images of a manuscript have been laid out in their final format.

Pantser: A writer who doesn’t outline or plan story structure, but flies by the seat of their pants.

Period: Full stop or full point.

Perspective character: Also viewpoint character. The character through whose eyes the story is primarily told. The narrative lens through which readers experience events, thoughts, and emotions within the story.

Plot: The sequence of events in a novel.

Point of view: Also viewpoint and POV. Describes whose head we’re in when we read a book, or whose perspective we experience the story from.

Polysyndeton: Literary device through which a sentence’s structure follows the following pattern: A and B and C.

Predicate: The part of a sentence that contains a verb and that tells us something about what the subject’s doing or what they are.

Preface: An explanation of the purpose, scope and content of a book, and written by the author.

Prelims: Also front matter. Includes part title and title pages, foreword, preface and acknowledgements.

Pronoun: A word that replaces a noun (e.g. I, you, he, she, we, me, it, this, that, them those, myself, who, whom). Pronouns can act and be acted upon like any noun.

Proofreading: The final pre-publication quality-control stage of editing where any final literal errors and layout problems are flagged up. Comes after developmental editing, stylistic line editing and copyediting.

Proper noun: A named person, place or organization. Always takes an initial capital letter.

Protagonist: The leading character in a novel, often facing central conflicts and driving action.

Psychic distance: Also narrative distance. How close the reader feels to a character’s thoughts, emotions and experiences within a story.

Purple prose: Overblown, poorly structured writing with strings of extraneous and often multisyllabic adjectives and adverbs.

Q-R

Quotation mark: Also speech mark. Punctuation that indicates the spoken word. Singles or doubles are acceptable.

Recto: The right-hand page of a book.

References: List of all the works cited in your book.

Roman typeface: Not italic.

Running head: Text that runs across the top of a page (e.g. title of the book, chapter title, author’s name).

S

Scene: a distinct segment or building block where specific actions and events unfold in a setting.

Scene technique: The use of dialogue, action, setting, and tension to craft compelling moments in the story.

Semi-colon: A punctuation mark that indicates a stronger pause than a comma between two main clauses.

Sensitivity reader: Also diversity reader. Test-reader who checks for misrepresentation in books.

Speech mark: Also quotation mark. Punctuation that indicates the spoken word. Singles or doubles are acceptable.

Speech tag: Also dialogue tag. Words that indicate which character is speaking (e.g. John said).

Story arc: Also narrative arc. The structure and shape of a story.

Structural editing: Also developmental editing. The improvement of a manuscript's structure, content, and overall narrative, focusing on big-picture elements. Attends to plot, characterisation, narration and pacing.

Style sheet: In which an author or editor records stylistic and language preferences, and tracks who’s who, what’s where, and when X, Y and Z happens.

Stylistic editing: Also line editing. The refining of a manuscript's language, focusing on consistency, clarity, flow and style at sentence level.

Subject: The thing in a sentence that’s doing or being something.

Subplot: A secondary storyline that supports and enhances the main plot of a narrative.

Suspense: The tension, uncertainty and anticipation created by withholding information, raising stakes or placing characters in imminent danger. Readers are kept guessing or forced to ask questions.

Syndeton: Literary device through which a sentence’s structure follows the following pattern: A, B and C (or A, B, and C).

T

Talking-heads syndrome: Dialogue that isn’t grounded in the environment or the characters’ responses to that environment.

Tense: The form a verb takes to indicate when an action happened in relation to the telling of it.

Tension: The emotional strain or suspense created by unresolved conflicts, stakes or uncertainties that keep readers engaged.

Tertiary character: A functional character who gives the story realism and depth, but doesn’t significantly impact on or influence the plot or the development of the other characters.

Theme: The novel’s central idea or message about life, society, or human nature.

Title page: Includes full title (and subtitle if there is one), author’s name, publisher’s name, logo, volume number, and edition.

Transgressor: A character who commits morally, socially, or legally questionable acts.

Tritagonist: Third most important character, who often provide regular emotional or physical support, but don’t determine how the story develops.

U-W

Unreliable dialogue: Dialogue that doesn’t match a character’s true voice, mood or intent.

Unreliable narrator: A character whose telling of the story cannot be taken at face value. They may be naïve, confused, or deliberately manipulative.

Verb, intransitive: A verb that doesn’t have a direct object (e.g. ‘I giggled’).

Verb, transitive: A verb that has a direct object (e.g. ‘wrote’ in ‘I wrote a book’).

Verb: A word that describes doing. Can refer to a physical action (e.g. to dig), a mental action (e.g. to wonder) or a state of being (e.g. to be).

Verso: The left-hand page of a book.

Viewpoint: Also point of view or POV. Describes whose head we’re in when we read a book.

Viewpoint character: Also perspective character. The character through whose eyes the story is primarily told, and the narrative lens through which readers experience events, thoughts, and emotions within the story.

Vocative: The form of address for a character directly referred to in dialogue.

Word dump: Also information dump. Information that’s necessary to the story but isn’t artfully delivered, or weaved creatively into the narrative and dialogue.

Source

[raina-at]

Intuition

The journey through my AUs continues, today it's my kind of Unilock boys from Guess Who's Coming for Christmas Dinner, but this stands very well on its own as well.

----

“Stop fidgeting.”

“I can’t help it. I look ridiculous.”

“You do not,” Sherlock says, indignant, reaching over to adjust John’s tie. “The suit is perfect. Now stop fidgeting and keep your eyes open. One of these people is a cat burglar and a jewel thief.”

“Yeah, and the rest are bankers and brokers,” John mutters, adjusting his cufflinks. “Find the thief in a roomful of thieves. Like looking for a needle in a pile of needles.”

“Careful, your class prejudices are showing. Now look around and try to look like you regularly spend a thousand pounds on a bottle of wine.”

John snorts and takes two flutes of champagne from a tray, handing one to Sherlock. He takes a sip and hums appreciatively. “At least the booze is good.”

They make their rounds, chatting with several people, and for the first time, John is glad for the hours and hours he spent trying to make nice with Sherlock’s posh family, because he now knows how to use summer as a verb, and he’s learned to pronounce chalet correctly. 

“What about this chap?” John points at an elegant older man across the room. “He gives me the creeps.”

“What are you basing this deduction on?” Sherlock asks, taking an unobtrusive look at the man John pointed out.

“Dunno. Something about him. Intuition.”

Sherlock huffs an exasperated sigh. “John, there is no such thing as intuition.”

“‘Course there is.”

“No. What you call intuition is your brain making deductions and drawing inferences from a hundred subconscious clues and disseminating the data to you as uneasiness, because you haven’t trained your brain to observe consciously. You need to learn how to separate the context clues and observe them, systematically and consciously.” Sherlock gestures at the man John indicated. “Look at your fellow here. His shoes are bespoke Italian loafers, incredibly expensive, this make and model are only made in Florence, which just happens to be the site of one of our thefts. His watch is British Army issue, meaning he has military training, further fitting our profile. He’s wearing glasses he clearly doesn’t usually wear, given there are no imprints on his nose, and he recently dyed his hair. He fidgets with his tie like you, meaning he’s unused to wearing one, and what banker isn’t used to wearing a tie?”

“So, what you’re saying,” John says, with an amused smile, “is that I’m right?”

Sherlock rolls his eyes. “Yes, John, you are right. But for the wrong reasons.”

“You’re so lucky I love you, you incurable smartarse,” John mutters, depositing his empty champagne glass on a nearby tray.

“If I’m not entirely mistaken,” Sherlock murmurs as he leans closer to speak in John’s ear, “you especially love my smart arse.”

John grins. “Not entirely accurate. I love your smart brain, and I love your spectacular arse.” John leans closer and kisses Sherlock once on the lips, then murmurs, “How about we get out thief and go home, and then I can show you just how much I love your smart arse?”

“You’re right, you know,” Sherlock says, drawing back a little to give John an affectionate smile. “I am lucky.”

John pecks him on the cheek, smiling softly. “So am I. Now let’s get our jewel thief, and go home.” He makes a gesture for Sherlock to precede him and then follows, making no secret out of his appreciation for Sherlock’s truly fine arse.

Lucky indeed, he thinks, as they walk once more into battle.

-----

I think I'm done with my AU journey, I think I hit them all at least once. I'll double-check, and if you can think of one I haven't done, please drop me a line, but I think I've done them all.

Um.... Bingo?

Tags under the cut as usual, please let me know if you want to be tagged or untagged. Also, periodic reminder that I'm posting these on AO3 here.

@calaisreno @totallysilvergirl @jrow @peanitbear @jolieblack @meetinginsamarra @helloliriels @keirgreeneyes @lisbeth-kk @friday411 @givemesherbet-blog-blog @weeesi @thalialunacy @thegildedbee @dapetty @salmonsown

[meddwlyngymraeg]

Vocabulary - to want

A few different ways (that I know) to express wishes and desires.

eisiau - to want. One of the standard ways of saying you want something, all across Wales. In truth, it’s not actually a verbnoun like many others, it’s really a noun. That’s why you don’t need the ‘yn’ before it ad you would for any other verbnoun: ‘yn mynd’, ‘Dwi’n mynd’. ‘Dyn ni’n aros.’ Etc.

‘Dwi eisiau cysgu.’ I want to sleep.

I believe the reason for this is an older construction that is used in literary Welsh, but that got shortened and dropped off over time in colloquial Welsh. ‘bod ... ar [rhywun]’ was the construction used, roughly meaning to have ‘a want upon you’ (very roughly).

Double checking this with Wiktionary (beloved), they do have a credible literary source demonstrating this: the Welsh bible (which thanks to a frenzied linguistics and orthography-fuelled spiral down Wikipedia, and oddly enough, the Welsh comedian and radio broadcaster Elis James (unrelatedly), I know was first translated in the 1500s and directly led to the loss of the letter ‘k’ from the Welsh alphabet).

‘Yr Arglwydd yw fy Mugail; ni bydd eisiau arnaf.’ The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Close enough to colloquial Welsh to understand, that's using ‘eisiau arna (i)’. Over time, colloquial Welsh has dropped the ‘ar’. The example sentence above could've been 'Dwi eisiau cysgu [arna i]'.

A note. Some people have a misconception that eisiau should cause a soft mutation in the word following it, because it is an exceptional case of an action (of sorts) that doesn’t need an ‘yn’, and so must follow a pattern similar to a few other conjugations out there like ‘dylu’ (should).

‘Dylet ti ddweud rhywbeth’ (You should say something), ‘Galla i wneud rhywbeth amdano fe’ (I can do something about it), ‘Ga i rywbeth?’ (Can I have something?), the past tenses of gwneud, ‘wnaethon ni ddysgu Cymraeg’, ‘Mae rhaid iddyn nhw dduhino’n gynnar!’ (They must wake up early!)

And so on. This isn’t the case, as eisiau is not a conjugated verb. It’s just a noun for desire! (*not exactly. I’m trying to explain this as best I can)

There is a south Walian usage of ‘eisiau’ that makes this idea clearer.

In some southern dialects, the construction ‘mae eisiau i…’ is used to mean that someone needs something. E.g. ‘Mae eisiau i ti fwyta’ means ‘you need to eat’. What it literally means is ‘there is a need for you to eat’, and so you can see the noun eisiau (a need) in use.

North Walian Welsh uses the same structure, but with the noun angen instead. ‘Mae angen i ti fwyta.’ ‘Mae angen iddyn nhw sosban’, literally, ‘they are in need of a saucepan’.

Speaking of dialect differences, especially in north Wales Welsh, you might come across spelling variants of eisiau: ‘isio’, ‘isia’, (N) ‘isie’ (S), ‘isho’, etc. Perks of a phonetic language are that nothing’s a misspelling really if it sounds alright when said out loud. I did raise an eyebrow at the last one a little, ‘sh’ isn’t the English ‘sh’ in Welsh, is it? (Is that Wenglish?)

Other forms!

moyn - to want. Used pretty much only in the south and valleys, but this one is a regular verbnoun. ‘Dwi’n moyn cwpla fy ngwaith gytre’n fuan’ (I want to finish my homework soon)

(Just realised there are a Lot of dialect words in that sentence! Cwpla -> gorffen, gytre -> cartef)

It seems simpler than the exceptional eisiau construction, why isn’t it more widely accepted?, you ask. (Most people I’ve said it to say it immediately places you geographically to them because they never hear anyone else say it.) It derives from an older verb, ymofyn, which itself comes from the word gofyn (to ask), ‘ym’ + ‘gofyn’ = ‘ymofyn’, which sort of goes away from the original idea of wanting, and into one of asking. Still, language evolves, and so you will still hear moyn in South Wales. In fact, the Say Something In Welsh course teaches it (which is how I know it. Probably worth giving a disclaimer that I’m simply mad about linguistics and Welsh alternative bands, before anyone starts to think I live in Wales just because I occasionally write long grammar posts!)

Awydd - a desire. Used similarly to eisiau, no ‘yn’ precedes it. The whole point of making this post was that I just came across this sentence: ‘Ti awydd mynd i Gastell Caerfili?’ Meaning, do you want to go to Caerphilly Castle?

And those are the ones I know!

[slayingfiction]

Preliminary Editing

Hi! There are 4 stages of official editing: 1. Developmental/structural editing, 2. Line/stylistic editing, 3. Copy editing, 4. Proofreading. These are tips to do before these stages.

Here are some ways to edit your book as you work from your first to second, third, fourth, etc. draft, before you start officially editing, or better, hiring someone to do it for you.

Start by going through chapter by chapter, and rewriting all the prose you find cringy, or that you don’t find flows well. Cut any information and scenes that you find unnecessary, or that has no value in the story.

Add all the small details you forgot to add, or only thought of after writing the chapter. Every single event in your story should be able to be tracked back to a specific moment that caused the cascading event, and therefore the consequences.

Add or change all details so that the story is cohesive, and there are no plot holes. Your MC has OCD? Make sure the entire story they are exhibiting those symptoms. Your MC has a pet? Make sure you know where they are at all times, and what they are doing, even out of scene.

Change your verbs to ensure you are always using the same conjugations. I usually mix past and present during first drafts. :(

Go over all dialogue to make sure all dialogue is representative of the characters speaking. From personality distinctions, mannerisms, dialects or language barriers.

Add description, the 5 senses, where you feel it should be more descriptive, or find different ways of describing your story, instead of always using the same words or adjectives.

Improve writing by being more concise with your words. Example, remove all “very ****” and get better adjectives or adverbs. Take out ‘very fast’ and replace it with quickly or hastily, rapidly, swiftly, or instantaneously. You can also remove most instances of words like possibly, may, might have, likely, probably. They did or they didn’t, just choose one.

Double check the accuracy of all the information you’ve used. From fighting styles, to when people need their passport, or how your world delivers communication in a technology free world, etc.

Share your work. Beta reader, or alpha reader. It doesn’t matter, get someone to look over it to point out any problems you may not see and then adjust accordingly.

Repeat as necessary until you are ready to do the 4 stages of official editing.

When you have feedback, try not to take it personally, though you almost always will at first. Be proud of yourself for the work you have accomplish, and know that it’s not done, so it’s ok to not be perfect. I promise you, as likely it is that someone doesn’t like your story, it’s just as likely someone will love it. Just find your people.

You don’t need to do all these steps separately, but also don’t do them all at once, or you will likely miss some details. Try to do 2 to 3 full preliminary story edits before the official ones.

Happy Writing :)

[lingthusiasm]

Lingthusiasm Episode 91: Scoping out the scope of scope

When you order a kebab and they ask you if you want everything on it, you might say yes. But you'd probably still be surprised if it came with say, chocolate, let alone a bicycle...even though chocolate and bicycles are technically part of "everything". That's because words like "everything" and "all" really mean something more like "everything typical in this situation". Or in linguistic terms, we say that their scope is ambiguous without context.

In this episode, your hosts Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch get enthusiastic about how we can think about ambiguity of meaning in terms of scope. We talk about how humour often relies on scope ambiguity, such as a cake with "Happy Birthday in red text" written on it (quotation scope ambiguity) and the viral bench plaque "In Memory of Nicole Campbell, who never saw a dog and didn't smile" (negation scope ambiguity). We also talk about how linguists collect fun examples of ambiguity going about their everyday lives, how gesture and intonation allow us to disambiguate most of the time, and using several scopes in one sentence for double plus ambiguity fun.

Click here for a link to this episode in your podcast player of choice or read the transcript here.

Announcements:

In this month’s bonus episode we get enthusiastic about the forms that our thoughts take inside our heads! We talk about an academic paper from 2008 called "The phenomena of inner experience", and how their results differ from the 2023 Lingthusiasm listener survey questions on your mental pictures and inner voices. We also talk about more unnerving methodologies, like temporarily paralyzing people and then scanning their brains to see if the inner voice sections still light up (they do!).

Join us on Patreon now to get access to this and 80+ other bonus episodes. You’ll also get access to the Lingthusiasm Discord server where you can chat with other language nerds. Also: Join at the Ling-phabet tier and you'll get an exclusive “Lingthusiast – a person who’s enthusiastic about linguistics,” sticker! You can stick it on your laptop or your water bottle to encourage people to talk about linguistics with you. Members at the Ling-phabet tier also get their very own, hand-selected character of the International Phonetic Alphabet – or if you love another symbol from somewhere in Unicode, you can request that instead – and we put that with your name or username on our supporter Wall of Fame! Check out our Supporter Wall of Fame here, and become a Ling-phabet patron here!

Here are the links mentioned in the episode:

Wikipedia entry for Everything Bagel

'Shel Silverstein's hot dog and the domain of "everything"' post on Language Log

Wikipedia entry for 'Scop' (an oral poet)

'New publication: Reported evidentiality in Tibeto-Burman languages' post on Superlinguo

Wikipedia entry for Tom Swifty

'Bench in honour of Nicole Campbell, who never saw a dog and didn't smile' post on All Things Linguistic

WALS entry for Feature 144B: Position of negative words relative to beginning and end of clause and with respect to adjacency to verb

'A few notes on negative clauses, polarity items, and scope'

'I didn't ask you to kill him' Learning English post on sentence stress and meaning

'I didn't ask you to kill him' sentence stress example in action by @dheanasaur on TikTok (⚠︎warning, loud sound)

Non-manual Markers in ASL / NMM's

'The Impulse to Gesture: Where Language, Minds, and Bodies Intersect' by Simon Harrison

'Quantifier Scope Jokes' post on All Things Linguistic

'Caring for your baby since 1890' ambiguity post on All Things Linguistic

You can listen to this episode via Lingthusiasm.com, Soundcloud, RSS, Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also download an mp3 via the Soundcloud page for offline listening.

To receive an email whenever a new episode drops, sign up for the Lingthusiasm mailing list.

You can help keep Lingthusiasm ad-free, get access to bonus content, and more perks by supporting us on Patreon.

Lingthusiasm is on Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Mastodon, and Tumblr. Email us at contact [at] lingthusiasm [dot] com

Gretchen is on Bluesky as @GretchenMcC and blogs at All Things Linguistic.

Lauren is on Bluesky as @superlinguo and blogs at Superlinguo.

Lingthusiasm is created by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne. Our senior producer is Claire Gawne, our production editor is Sarah Dopierala, our production assistant is Martha Tsutsui Billins, and our editorial assistant is Jon Kruk. Our music is ‘Ancient City’ by The Triangles. This episode of Lingthusiasm is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license (CC 4.0 BY-NC-SA).

[pompadourpink]

Les temps du présent

Le présent de l'indicatif/présent simple

The indicative present is used to

describe what one is currently doing (présent d'énonciation): je travaille - I'm working (as we speak)

describe a fact (présent de vérité générale/historique): les chats sont des animaux - cats are animals

describe an ongoing fact that started in the past (présent duratif): il pleut depuis hier - It's been raining since yesterday

describe the scene (présent de description): le soleil est caché aujourd'hui - the sun is hiding today

describe a habit (présent d'habitude): je cours tous les dimanches - I run every sunday

describe what just happened (présent de passé proche): je viens d'arriver - I just got there

describe what is about to happen (présent de futur proche): je suis là dans une minute - I'll be there in a minute

give an order (présent d'injonction), alternative to the imperative present: tu rentres tout de suite ! - You get home immediately!

make a story feel real (présent de narration): il y a six ans déjà que mon ami s'en est allé avec son mouton. Si j'essaie ici de le décrire, c'est afin de ne pas l'oublier. - It has been six years since my friend left with his sheep. If I try to describe him here, it is so that I will not forget him. (Le Petit Prince)

express a possibility (présent d'hypothèse): si tu es gentil, tu auras un cadeau - if you're kind, you'll get a present

La conjugaison

First group (-er except Aller): je marche, tu marches, il/elle/on marche, nous marchons, vous marchez, ils/elles marchent

Second group (-ir with -iss- in the plural forms): je finis, tu finis, il/elle/on finit, nous finissons, vous finissez, ils/elles finissent

Third group (everything else): typically je cours, tu cours, il court, nous courons, vous courez, ils courent; long -oir verbs: je veux, tu veux, il veut, nous voulons, vous voulez, ils veulent; -indre/-soudre verbs: -s, -s, -t, -ons, -ez, -ent; other -dre verbs: -ds, -ds, -d, -dons, -dez, -dent; -ttre: -ts, -ts, -t, -tons, -tez, -tent; -rir, -llir: -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent

Auxiliaries: je suis, tu es, il est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils sont + j'ai, tu as, il a, nous avons, vous avez, ils ont

N.B. Many third-group verbs are irregular because they used to be two different verbs (ex: Être comes from both Essere - to be and Stare - to stand) that eventually became one and consequently have two bases and can have up to five stems. Always double-check for different, stems, extra letters, accents, etc.

Notable exceptions:

The vowel -i- cannot be between two other vowels in the first and second person plural so it will turn into -y- (vous croyez, nous voyons)

In -cer and -ger verbs, the first person plural changes to allow for the correct pronunciation (nous lançons, nous mangeons); c > ç, go > geo.

In -aître verbs, only the third person singular keeps the accent (elle naît).

Le présent progressif

The progressive present is an emphasized version of the enunciation present and is therefore used to describe an ongoing action that started recently and is actively being done as the narrator is speaking.

It is built by putting together the subject, the verb Être conjugated in the indicative present tense, the adverbial locution "en train de" (in the progress of), the infinitive form of the verb of action, and possibly an object.

Je suis en train de manger, j'ai bientôt fini - I'm eating, I'm almost done

Est-ce que tu es en train de travailler? - are you working?

Nous sommes en train de faire nos devoirs - we are doing homework

-

Le conditionnel présent

The present conditional is used

to express a wish: j'aimerais retourner en Italie - I'd love to go back to Italy

a suggestion: tu devrais partir tôt - you should leave early

a hypothesis: il pourrait rentrer demain - he could come home tomorrow

to casually share one's opinion: je n'aimerais pas qu'on me dise ça ! - I wouldn't like it if someone told me that (can be a way to aggravate a situation)

to ask something politely: je voudrais un café - I'd like a coffee

to refer to the future in the past: elle a dit qu'elle arriverait tard - she said she'd arrive late

La conjugaison

Conjugating the present conditional is easy for the first two verbal groups: just add the terminations to the infinitive of the verb. If the verb ends in -e, remove it: prendre > je prendrais. Fun fact: you can build the imperfect tense by removing -er- for the first group and turning -ir- into -iss- for the second.

First group (-er except Aller): je marcherais, tu marcherais, il marcherait, nous marcherions, vous marcheriez, ils marcheraient

Second group (-ir with -iss- in the plural forms): je finirais, tu finirais, il finirait, nous finirions, vous finiriez, ils finiraient

Third group (everything else): typically: je courrais, tu courrais, il courrait, nous courrions, vous courriez, ils courraient; auxiliaries: je serais, tu serais, il serait, nous serions, vous seriez, ils seraient + j'aurais, tu aurais, il aurait, nous aurions, vous auriez, ils auraient

Main irregular verbs: auxiliaries + aller - j'irais, devoir - je devrais, pouvoir - je pourrais, recevoir - je recevrais, savoir - je saurais, tenir - je tiendrais, venir - je viendrais, voir - je verrais, vouloir - je voudrais

N.B. Make sure to not mix it up with the simple future tense, they're similar!

L'impératif présent

The present imperative mood can only be conjugated in the second person singular and the first and second person plural. It is used

to give an order: viens ici tout de suite - come here right now

a suggestion: appelle-le tout de suite, non ? - maybe call him now?

a plea: s'il te plaît, pardonne-moi ! - please, forgive me

to ban someone from doing something: ne touche pas à ça ! - do not touch that

La conjugaison

Warning: it often looks like the indicative present - without a subject. If so, in the second person singular, the verb will require a final -s only if the current final letter is a consonant. Certain verbs cannot be conjugated, like vouloir.

être: sois, soyons, soyez; avoir: aie, ayons, ayez

va, allons, allez; finis, finissons, finissez; marche, marchons, marchez

N.B. Pronouns can be added: a reflexive verb will come with a tonic pronoun and a dash in a positive sentence: Lave-toi !, and a direct object pronoun in a negative sentence: Ne te vexe pas !; when referring to a portion -en: Prends-en un peu ! (an -s will be added for the liaison to be possible), and to a place, -y: Vas-y !

-

L'infinitif présent

is the neutral form you find in dictionaries: courir, marcher, prendre

is found after prepositions À, De, Pour and Sans: c’est sans dire, viens à la maison pour dîner !, on part sans perdre de temps

is found after a conjugated verb: il voulait partir tôt (the second verb can be the first element of the sentence: courir nous fatigue)

expresses an order, advice, prohibition: frapper avant d’entrer

expresses anger, surprise or a wish: m'excuser, moi ? plutôt mourir !

expresses doubt in an interrogative sentence: que faire de ce garçon ?

-

Le participe présent

The present participle works like an adverb and either expresses an action that happens at the same time as another action, that is possibly the consequence of that action, or describes the subject. It is built by removing the termination of the verb and replacing it by -ant.

Les employés possédant une voiture peuvent se garer dans la rue - the employees who own a car can park in the street

Étant déjà en retard, je décide de courir - being already late, I decide to run

N.B. To get the right pronunciation or avoid a mix-up with an adjective, it can be necessary to modify or add letters when building the present participle. For example: convaincre > convainquant (as convaincant is the adjective), diverger > divergeant ([ʒ], as divergant would be a [g] sound).

Movie: La Piscine - Jacques Deray, 1969

Fanmail - masterlist (2016-) - archives - hire me - reviews (2020-) - Drive

[ettawritesnstudies]

Hi Etta! Sorry if you already mentioned this, but where/how did you find your editors? (If you don't mind sharing)

Don't mind at all!

I know there are companies like Reedsy and the Writers Digest which have databases of editors, but that seemed really overwhelming. At the end of the day, the best way to get resources is to network (make friends, and hope their mutuals like you too).

Last year, I did an interview for Amanda Auler on Instagram and she boosted my account, so months later I ended up doing an interview for Addison Horner. He does editing for indie authors, so I asked him for a sample edit and liked it, but I wanted to get other points of comparison first, so I asked around and came up with a short list of editors. I contacted them, and when I had enough to compare, I ended up deciding I liked Addison best and drew up a contract with him. God moment that I found him so quickly.

But if I had to give this advice to someone else I'd recommend following these steps:

Read books in your genre. Read INDIE AUTHORS in your genre. Review their books. Follow them on social media. Be a friendly fan but don't make it weird.

Indie authors are one person publishing teams desperate for engagement and positive attention. They will thank you for your help and be willing to pay it forward when the time comes.

Once you have a handful of books you like that have similar vibes to your book, flip to the acknowledgements and find the editors name.

Google the editor, find their site, submit your inquiry, email works better than a form.

If you can't find the editor online, DM the indie author and ask "hey I really liked your book and it's a good comp title for my WIP. Who's your editor and what was your experience with them like? Do you mind pointing me their way?" Follow the author's advice. Repeat as needed.

(I've only ever received nice responses to this, don't be anxious. If they don't reply they're probably just busy, not annoyed).

When you contact editors, ask about their availability, rates, and be specific about what type of editing you need. Ask for a free sample edit. Mine were 250-2500 words.

Supply details about your WIP. Mine looked like this:

Title: Runaways

Genre: Middle Grade Portal Fantasy. I'm not labeling it as "Christian Fiction" as religion isn't a focus point of the story, but there are significant underlying Catholic themes.

Premise: When Cecelia goes missing one stormy Halloween night, her older sister, Hannah, must venture into the faerie courts to learn the truth about their past and bring her home. (Linked WIP Page with additional information)

Length: About 86,000 words, 180 pages (Times New Roman, 12pt, double spaced, standard 1in margins formatting). 21 chapters with an epilogue

Style: 3rd person limited, present tense. 3 POV characters: primarily Hannah at first, and then Cecelia and the third added later, alternating.

Status/Timeline/Availability: Currently with a 2nd round of beta readers, and I'll be getting feedback by March 31st. After editing the draft to reflect their feedback and doing my own line edits, I'll be looking for a line/copy edit around April/May or early summer.

Types of edits needed: As I understand, every editor uses "line" and "copy" edit slightly differently, but I'm looking for a combination of both styles if possible: checking for internal consistency, logical choreography, adequate descriptions, minor plot or worldbuilding errors, as well as language concerns like cutting crutch words, making sentence structure more dynamic, choosing the right verbs, etc. Developmental editing not needed. Waiting to do proofreading at the moment

When perusing at the editors site, look for credentials/certifications, their backlog of works, and testimonials

If you don't have enough options following this method, join some discord servers! I'm in a local NaNoWriMo group and a Catholic Writers Guild called Inkwells and Anvils which were both useful. I think there might be some writeblr ones as well. Find the critiques channel and send the same information there^^

Compare sample edits. Who respects your voice? Who supplied the most insightful comments? Do you vibe over email? Are they willing to do a stylesheet? Do they like your book? Can you set up a 15 minute zoom call to see if you vibe and discuss details?

Look at prices. My rate is $.015 a word but that's pretty cheap for the industry. Most of the rates I saw publicly were between $.02-.03/word for line editing.

Pray/sleep on it

Once you pick your best option, set a date to send them the manuscript, sign contracts, and make payment.

Send a polite email to the other editors and say "I regret to say you're not quite the right fit for this book, but I appreciate all your time, help, and advice! I hope to work with you in the future" or something along those lines. Don't burn your bridges.

Celebrate!

This whole process took me a couple weeks, everyone was very punctual and professional and friendly. I ended up going with Addison not only because he was the cheapest but also because he made 3X the number of comments as any other writer, and his comments were specific and useful. He understood my characters immediately, I think in part because his writing style is similar to mine, based on his debut novel, Marrow and Soul. We're both Christians who like YA dark fantasy. It's a good match. He's still taking clients for later in the year if that's your vibes. I also worked with Amber Burdett and Sariah Solomon, who were both lovely.

I wish you the best of luck finding an editor who fits your story! I hope this was helpful and not overly long.

[hatari-translations]

Þamba drullu (Chug Mud) - transcript/translation

This is the very early Hatari demo, from before Einar joined the band, that is played in episode four of Seasons of Friendship. The lyrics are only a few lines repeated, but I have transcribed and translated them anyway!

Icelandic transcript

Botnleðja samfélagsins lekur yfir tærnar þínar Víndreggjar hóruglasa eru lepjaðir af götubörnum Hatursmenn allra landa sameinast undir einum hatti og þamba drullu og þamba drullu og þamba drullu

Botnleðja samfélagsins lekur yfir tærnar þínar og þamba drullu Víndreggjar hóruglasa eru lepjaðir af götubörnum Hatursmenn allra landa sameinast undir einum hatti og þamba drullu

Víndreggjar hóruglasa eru lepjaðir af götubörnum Hatursmenn allra manna sameinast undir einum hatti og þamba drullu og þamba drullu og þamba drullu og þamba drullu og þamba drullu

Transcription notes

Maybe I've got the glasses of whores wrong; I have asked. There is another possibility that it's somehow playing on the similar English word 'hourglass'.

English translation

The bottom sludge of society leaks over your toes The last drops of wine from the glasses of whores are lapped up by street orphans The haters of all countries unite under one banner and chug mud and chug mud and chug mud

The bottom sludge of society leaks over your toes The last drops of wine from the glasses of whores are lapped up by street orphans The haters of all countries unite under one banner and chug mud

The last drops of wine from the glasses of whores are lapped up by street orphans The haters of all men unite under one banner and chug mud and chug mud and chug mud and chug mud and chug mud

Translation notes

The grammar of the second line is a bit amusingly funky; the correct word form for "lepjaðir" there is "laptir" (lepjaðir is giving the verb a weak declension), and that's also the masculine form while víndreggjar is a feminine word (but looks like it could be masculine). Those are both perfectly reasonable honest mistakes, especially for someone speaking (or screaming) off the cuff with little time to double-check their first intuitions!

Otherwise the lyrics are very much in line with the vibes of Hatari's (especially earlier) lyrics - this is very reminiscent of "X", for instance - but a bit less coherent and make less sense. Which is only to be expected from a first effort, of course - a seed of what will be, but a rough, unpolished, less focused version of it. Getting to see this is a gem and I'm very tickled the guys felt like showing it to us!

[bonefall]

Hi! I am trying to translate some of my oc’s names in clanmew but am running into trouble with how region-specific they are. I was wondering what you thought of these?

Agavebloom: Luparkikmwaro -- translates directly to “blue-spike-is-blooming” since there isn’t a good word to translate agave into. The closest members to the agave family I could translate to would be either lily or bluebell, which would be Urchamwaro (lily-of-the-valley-is-blooming) or Hebsimwaro (bluebell-is-blooming). I feel like the additional flowers take away the meaning of his name though, since it’s supposed to come from the fact that agaves take forever to bloom especially to a cat, therefore a rarity, and his mentor had never had a surviving apprentice before.

Guanopelt: Hafefylborrl -- translates to bird/bat pelt, since there’s no easy way to translate guano lol. But yes he’s literally named after bat poop, his clan really likes unconventional/gross names.

Chollasting: Also really difficult! I finally settled on Kikluarapokal, spine-jumping-stinging-nettle, since there doesn’t seem to be any cacti translations, and she’s named after jumping cholla cacti and how much it hurts when they attach to you.

If there’s any better suggestions for these names please let me hear them!

Hmm...

Agave is definitely a hard one, since I can't think of any plants that base Clanmew-speaking cats would even liken it to. It looks like a burdock or a teasel growing like a bush. I would recommend coming up with a word in your Clan's dialect to describe it, that's quite unique.

But here's some new words that you can play around with to make a word for yourself;

Greater Burdock/Lappa (Arctium lappa) = Kegdio A type of "thistle" in Clanmew with a very small flower and a whole LOT of spikes.

Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) = Oorra Probably the closest we'll get to a "cactus," because, cacti are a New World family! If you went to a desert in Africa or Eurasia, you would not find a cactus, except for some cool not-a-cactus-but-trying-to-be types down towards Madagascar. Teasels are considered a type of thistle in Clanmew, and used in some finishing stages of textile processing as a brush. It's a fleshy, green, spiky plant with a round "ring" of a flower. This word is Parkmew in origin, and is related to the word for the King's "crown" in reference to its distinctive flower ring.

Fruited/Fruiting/Will Fruit = Pakawooan/Pakawooa/Pakawoo The act of a plant bearing fruit. Because most Clan cats are NOT ThunderClan (we say, pointedly, at thunderclan), this does not refer only to edible fruits. This equally refers to apple trees and OAK trees, dropping acorns. This is VERY important when you take into account that Clan cats are carnivores, and fruiting trees mean more prey.

First Fruiting/Promotion = Ka'paka The verbs for fruiting ONLY applies to a plant after the ka'paka-- its very first crop. It is the mark of maturity for a fruiting plant. It has a double use for promotion through ranks as well

On Guano... the first thing my mind goes to is Sslop, which is the term for wet, sticky mud in Clanmew. When used in reference to body parts, it suddenly means "mucus" or "body fluid," hence Runningnose's name (Sslopchoop) being a difficult translation.

You could combine Sslop and the word for white, Osk, to make Sslosk. I don't know too much about guano, but I've heard it can be a fuel, though I'm unsure of how true it is.

So, you can play around with this word if you'd like;

Peat = Mai The vital material buried under the turf of a moorland, made from layers of buried plant matter. Highly flammable!

There's also words for bats in the Lexicon, if you'd like to check there!

And, lastly, Cholla. Like I mentioned, we won't be finding any cacti here. The closest will be teasel. Burr (kido) is also in the Lexi, but there's one more interesting word that could have been likened to cacti in a new environment;

Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) = Kigu Comes from an intense contraction of Swarming Bug-Eating (Kbkb Guburoo), the only purely carnivorous plant that Clan cats see on a regular basis. A fleshy green with bright red, sticky hairs that rise off it, it's hard to miss and endlessly fascinates the cats. A plant that hunts! What a wonderful, respectable creature! I can imagine Clan cats dropped off in the middle of a western hemisphere desert might apply this sort of reverence to surrounding, hardy cacti, especially if the cacti can be used to help them survive.

[indestructibleheart]

I'm gonna take a page from my pal @ninzied's book and attempt some double drabbles here on Tumblr. She's been writing some great ones lately (check her out!) and it looks like fun.

So, I'm coming to y'all for prompts!

If you are so inclined, send me:

a verb + a noun

an onomatopoeia + an adjective

OR a location + a time of day + a random word

How I interpret the prompt is 100% up to me, and it may or may not be what you think you're gonna get. The purpose is to just make my brain go WHIRR like a hard reset. Because, frankly, I'm gonna start biting people if I don't kill this writer's block soon.

I'll be accepting prompts through October and writing them as they come to me... Also, yes, feel free to send me prompts that I can turn into something autumn-y or spooky.

Plz fix me.

[abidethetempest]

ANOTHER!!! NAME!!! What do u think Vissirasks means? Should i double any of the vowels to make it prettier or smth. I was looking thru my Deriisks lore and turns out i actually gave him a mother. Like. A whole ass mom.

Might actually give him a father too!! What adjective or verb could describe a mercenary with a good heart ?? Like rough dude but Suddenly he's a dad and a very good one ?? This one might not!! die!! or maybe might. Something like transformation or anything like that. A word for change or something getting covered up like an eclipse,,,,,

This post is part of my ongoing project to create a language for the Eliksni! For more information check out my masterpost linked here.

For Vissirasks, I would double the first "i" so you could use viiyor in the meaning (viiyor means spear). You could pull the "rask" from mrask (weaver) and get a name that might mean "spear weaver". can't think of a good word where the s's might have come from that adds to the meaning, so my instinct is to just call them ornamental lol.

Hmmmm... for the second name, I think Chenaaks might work. It's a combination of chepraaks (heart) and the verb naakois (to change), so the meaning could be "changing/changed heart". Another idea I had that leans more toward the idea of being hidden/partially obscured is Weyraaks, from weyrzri (veil, shroud) and chepraaks. This one could mean "shrouded heart".

Hope this helps!