06.14.10
Posted in Writing tagged fanfiction at 11:54 pm by kyrias
I heard about the Clan Mitchell fandom_wank from Thene and just had to go wade around in the glorious, beautiful dramaz.
Couple of things that I thought:
What is wrong with a family that pushes each and every single one of their members to be the best they can possibly be?
Well, I didn’t find that triggering until someone pointed it out because that idea is so ingrained into us, but once I realized what that entailed, I immediately felt as if someone had lit a match under me. Most of the worst mental issues I’ve ever had have come from that concept of “being your best possible self”. In fact, I still routinely get my parents sighing over me and lamenting that “you’re such an intelligent person”!
Yes, well, maybe I can be a rocket scientist if I wanted to be — but isn’t part of the point of it being my life that I get to decide what is fulfilling for me? That maybe I should be allowed the decision to not push myself to the outer limits of my ability because I personally don’t find that necessary for my gratification? That I get to decide if my mind is wasted on what I choose to use it on?
So to answer that question: Yes, there is everything wrong with such a family. In fact, I’m surprised that someone hasn’t stepped up before this and asked for a prompt with someone not being able to take that particular family with its particular set of problems in stride.
Then there’s Synecdochic’s reaction to the “Mitchell-bashing”.
She claims to be gutted by people’s interpretations of her work, that apparently she either hasn’t been writing the story she thought she was or people haven’t been reading the story she was writing, and if so many people agree with that viewpoint, clearly she has failed in communicating the core essential nature of her story and she both doesn’t see any point in trying to correct it and doesn’t know how to.
I’ve read the filling for the prompt. So can you, it’s the first post on this page of screen caps. Personally, I don’t see a problem with that filling. I thought that the writing wasn’t anti-Mitchell, per se, but it brought up issues that probably should have been raised earlier, and that it was a bit of a criticism, but it never went into “bashing” territory. I suppose I can see how she’d be hurt by that interpretation of what she saw as a big happy family, but I can’t see the intense amounts of drama that resulted from it.
After all, I see how my friends relate to my relationship with my parents. I see how I personally relate to their relationships with their parents. It’s pretty clear that what is an optimal parent-child relationship for someone wouldn’t work for someone else, and on the darker side of the scale, what one person can tolerate might just drive someone else running for the hills. Especially when that other person doesn’t have love as a tempering force for the madness.
Fun times all around, I guess.
I’d have to say though, it should probably be taken as a compliment when someone spends enough time in the heads of the people in your universe to be able to write something that well-considered for it.
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06.12.10
Posted in Crafts tagged Alternative income, cottage industries, Etsy, income generating at 11:29 pm by kyrias
In order to support this endeavour, we are asking any and all friends who play with string to donate scraps of yarn one foot and up to the cause. We will take any and all colors, weights, and compositions from synthetics to wool to bamboo.
At some point in the future, if this cottage industry takes off, we may be trading petty cash for scrap yarn. Please do not throw out your yarn and keep us in mind.
We have decided to knit sundries out of scrap yarn and sell them on Etsy. This will not only use up the store of random bits of yarn from finished projects, therefore being environmentally friendly and de-clutterfying, but will create income out of what was previously conundrums to be worked into new projects.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I will be designing said sundries, Azora will be making them, and I get 10% of the profits.
Right now, we are looking at bags.
So ladies! Or women, or womyn, or current noun of PC choice…
What do you like to see in a bag? Cell phone pockets? Digital camera pockets? A separate pocket to secure chopsticks/fork for the environmentally friendly?
Lastly! Spread the word — we are taking in all yarn, all spare strands that may be arousing the ire of spouses, family and friends who want to know “just what are you going to do with that last two feet of yarn anyways?!”, all string that is too lovely to just toss and too short for even that oh-so-useful book of one skein wonders.
Hrm, who knows — if we actually start getting donations of yarn or buying yarn, then I might actually be compelled to start learning to knit. In fact, tomorrow sounds like a good time to start.
Hey Nora! You and your many female family members have scrap yarn, right? Also, you wants that you should join in this endeavour?
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12.24.09
Posted in Writing tagged writing, writing woes at 2:25 am by kyrias
I was reading a blog post about writing. It stated that the problem with a lot of writing is simply that the writers don’t know when to stop.
Right. I started thinking about that sentence when I was writing today and started second guessing myself. So I have a character in a fantasy setting. Often, one of my pet peeves regarding time travel, fantasy settings, and such is that I so rarely see authors address the question of bathrooms/kitchens/food. It seems to be implied that all worlds regardless of technological progress and background must needs have toilets/chicken/beef/etc.
But then I wondered: am I falling into the trap of writing too much? Perhaps my idiosyncracy for knowing what’s different in a world is simply that and most people prefer to ignore the nitty-grittiness of world-building in favor of moving the plot along.
Ergh. Caesura is in favor of not putting in descriptors of bathrooms fixtures. I am torn.
Thoughts?
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11.24.09
Posted in Writing tagged Mulan at 9:28 pm by kyrias
I was browsing through Amazon’s suggestions for me and I saw that an author I liked did a re-telling of Hua Mulan.
My first reaction was to wince: After all, the disaster that was the Disney reinterpretation is still fresh in my mind despite the years.
But then I thought that perhaps Cameron Dokey, being a better writer than some, might have done something worth reading.
A quick perusal of the reviews persuades me otherwise:
- A prince makes an appearance
- Romance! Love!
- Family dynamic where she didn’t grow up with her father around and he re-marries
- Mulan is once again portrayed as not very feminine
- Making a huge splash in the army
I realise that this is a re-telling and so there has to be artistic license taken with the original story. For some background reading, here’s a translation of the original ballad that inspired numerous re-tellings of Mulan’s story. Here’s another person’s compilation of the various versions of Mulan.
What bothers me is the insistence of writers that a woman who can fight cannot be feminine. In the original ballad, she’s weaving when at the begining. Later on, when she returns home, she turns back to her old clothing and puts on makeup.
I have my own issues with the kick-ass heroines who do it in *gasp* high heels. Or the internal monologue of a certain main character which never quite leaves fashion behind. However, I don’t think it’s particularly hard to imagine that a woman supposedly as intelligent and talented as Mulan is portrayed to be would also be just as good at the more feminine skills. I also don’t find it hard to imagine a woman, weary from war and of acting the part of a man with all the machismo that entails, finding some measure of comfort and joy in returning to her old clothing and feeling pretty again. What I don’t understand is why so many people have a hard time with that idea.
Then there’s the whole concept of Mulan drawing attention to herself. Really, just think about it. You’re a girl trying to fit in with all the guys in the army. The last thing that you want to do is to draw scrutiny to yourself: ergo no showing off and no hobnobbing with all the glamorous sort. So far as I think is reasonable is that she did a good job, enough to be awarded merits, but not enough that she would have particularly stood out. The fact that she was allowed back home is somewhat indicative of that. If she really was a superstar in the army, there would have been no way the emperor would have allowed her to leave. They just didn’t operate that way back then.
Then there’s the romance. *sigh* Alright, I can understand the desire for romance in everything. After all, who doesn’t like a good love story? However, first off, I can’t see her being great buddies with the boys. Secondly, I can’t really see how you can get a love story when the other men see her as a man. Thirdly, they’re in the middle of a war that goes on for at least 12 years according to the ballad. Really — I think survival trumps soft fuzzy feelings at that point. I’ll bet the men would have had more love for a bed and warm meal than their comrade in arms. On top of all that, I just don’t see the men of that era falling for another man. Just saying. But I can put all that aside because you never know.
What really gets my goat is the prince. Why does she have to fall in love with the prince? Who, by the way, never showed up during the original ballad. Right. Artistic license. Where did that prince come from? The princes of old didn’t lead armies themselves that frequently and when they did it’s unlikely that all three of them would have been in the same clump of men. More likely they would have each been a general and wouldn’t have been gadding about together. I think it would have made much more sense for Mulan to have fallen in love with a fellow soldier, if she absolutely had to. The possibility of getting in major trouble for lying to royalty back then probably would have held any warm fuzzy feelings at bay. You know, the type of trouble where everyone you know gets beheaded? It’s called lying to your emperor. Who usually takes a really dim view of such things.
Last but not least: Why have her father be estranged from her for that long? Why was that necessary? Yes. Artistic license again. I just thought that it would have been more true to the spirit of the story for her to have been on good terms with her parents. Personal preference. Right. I’ll shut up about that part then.
I might still pick this book up just to see how Dokey does. She is one of the authors I like, so I’m really willing to give her a sporting try. Maybe she’ll surprise me. I don’t want to buy it though — so we’ll see if the local library can get it. Then I’ll probably post a real review rather than just a rant. 
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07.15.09
Posted in Writing at 10:50 pm by kyrias
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Posted in Writing tagged character sketches at 10:33 pm by kyrias
Caesura
Sex: Male
Sexual orientation: Straight
Vice: Gluttony
Virtue:
Weapons of choice:
Elements of choice:
Appearance: 3
Average height, average build. Dark blond/brown hair with green eyes.
Charisma: 3. Apparently has a good effect on people with authority though.
Presence: 3
Manipulation: 3
Composure: 3
Intelligence: 4
Wits: 4. Clever and funny in conversation with incisive comments. Frequently entertaining. Sometimes crosses over into coming across as a troll though.
Perception: 3, but variable. Can pick up on social and emotional cues if paying attention, but either cannot with regards to people he doesn’t care about, or doesn’t care to. Often comes across as a troll as a result.
Resolve: 2 and somewhat variable. Often neglects duties, although usually has above-par performance at work. One assumes that he uses all willpower on completing his duties and thus fails at other areas.
Leadership: 3
Confidence: A low 3. Has improved since doing well at his job, but still doesn’t appear to be fully past his previous failures.
Self-perception: 2. Subject is not wont to examining his emotions to determine their true cause. Neither is he clear on his strengths.
Common sense: 3
Strength/athleticism: 4
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Posted in Writing tagged character sketches at 10:20 pm by kyrias
Mr. P
Sex: Male
Sexual orientation: Straight
Vice: Sloth
Virtue:
Weapons of choice:
Elements of choice:
Appearance: 3
Dark blond, almost brown, slightly curly hair. Slightly less than average height, although may appear so because subject is slightly overweight. Fuzzy, straggly facial hair.
Charisma: 3. Apparently has a good effect on professors though.
Presence: 3
Manipulation: A low 3 if not outright 2. Subject’s attempts at manipulation often fail and sometimes backfires spectacularly.
Composure: 3
Intelligence: 4
Wits: 3
Perception: 2. Does not always realize when people are mad at him or when he is being obnoxious, although subject has improved on this front massively since first meeting.
Resolve: 2
Leadership: 2. Has low chance of having others follow his lead, although this may be because subject is often oblivious to outside factors that would serve as obstacles to his plans. In short, doesn’t know his constituency as well as he should.
Confidence: 3
Self-perception: 3. Subject does do a good amount of navel-gazing, which actually might have raised this attribute.
Common sense: 3
Strength/athleticism: 3
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Posted in Writing tagged character sketches at 9:14 pm by kyrias
Xyfania
Sex: Female
Sexual orientation: Straight
Vice: Wrath
Virtue: Justice
Weapons of choice: Bow and throwing knives
Elements of choice: Wind and water
Appearance: 3
Of Asian descent and petite. Long black hair, dark brown eyes, and slightly on the plump side.
Charisma: 4. Seems to be a either love or hate effect.
Presence: 3, arguably 4 when Wrath is in effect.
Manipulation: 4.
Composure: 2, although this may be a by-product of low confidence rather than purely low by itself. Composure seems to be something that can be raised once problems with confidence has been solved.
Intelligence: 3, perhaps 4, but might have atrophied from lack of use.
Wits: 3
Perception: 4
Resolve: 3
Leadership: 3, perhaps 2. Lack of confidence and composure results in inability or unwillingness to take charge.
Confidence: 2 – lack of self-esteem brings this stat down. Possibly also affected by lack of composure.
Self-perception: 3, perhaps 4, although one could argue that excessive navel-gazing doesn’t necessarily raise this particular attribute.
Common sense: 4 – although this number is based on the idea that common sense isn’t common.
Strength/athleticism: 2
Note: Using 1 - 6 rating system with 3 being average.
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Posted in Writing tagged character sketches at 8:52 pm by kyrias
Dochola
Sex: Male
Sexual orientation: Straight
Weapon of choice: Information
Element of choice:
Appearance: 3
Brown hair, light blue eyes, bit on the skinny side. Of average height.
Charisma: 4.
Presence: 3 perhaps 2. Tends to fade into background, whether through intent or natural inclination is unknown.
Manipulation: 4. Tends to get his way, but perhaps a by-product of charisma rather than intent. Observer wonders if subject deliberately cultivates air of detachment and occasionally acts infantile to boost his charisma?
Composure: 5
Intelligence: 4
Wits: 4
Perception: 4
Resolve: 3 Have not actually had reason to shift this attribute from normal. Needs further observation.
Leadership: 3 Observations indicate that perhaps 4 may be in order in situation where subject excels, but have currently decided that World of Warcraft is not the most convincing medium.
Confidence: 3 Might have problems with self-esteem – but nothing seems to point to anything too major. This may, however, simply be a result of subject’s high composure, which would limit outside observations. Past choice of girlfriends, however, hint at interesting ideas.
Self-perception: 3
Common sense: 4 – although this number is based on the idea that common sense isn’t common.
Strength/athleticism: 3
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07.13.09
Posted in Blog admin, Crafts at 12:01 am by kyrias
I really hate it when bloggers don’t take the time to clean up their comments section. When I’m willing to take the time to read the comments on your site, it’s a real turn-off when I see spam or random asdfsdlkfjasl;kdfj as comments. I usually end up closing out of the site because it irks me to see that.
For one, it makes you look unprofessional. If you want people to take you and your information seriously, then presentation is a huge thing. I will lose confidence in your abilities and knowledge if you can’t even keep your own house clean. If you’re using Wordpress, then Akismet is amazing. I don’t know if there are similar applications for other platforms, but there should be and if there aren’t similar applications, then that’s just another reason to sign up for Wordpress. I’ve used multiple blog hosting sites, and Wordpress just comes out on top in all the ways that count.
For two, it’s irritating to have to surf through spam in order to read comments, period. If I remember correctly, apparently most people just Google for answers, attempt to find an answer within one minute or less, and then closes the site unless the site seems to be of potential further use or very interesting. I assume this is true, since that seems emblematic of how most people I know use the Internet. This means that if you’re allowing anything to detract from the usefulness of your site, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.
For three, similar to the first point about keeping your house clean — if you can’t even be arsed to install a spam catcher, I can’t be arsed to listen to you.
Bloggers, just get rid of them spam!
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