cry havoc

DONE!

2016-10-13T02:36:10Z

That was about two years of rewriting (though admittedly, with a new job that's taken a lot more of my time, in the middle). And then some more rewriting, and some tearing apart, and another chunk of rewriting. But it's done. Total count: 120,180 words. I finally mastered the art of the scalpel, and got the story down from a high of about 145K, which is just bonkers.

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question for fandom

2015-03-01T18:44:10Z

This is not entirely out of only curiosity, but in the wake of LJ dying its ongoing slow death, the rise of tumblr & instagram, the spammy desert of delicious, and the domination of pinterest, where does fandom mostly reside, now? Outside of behemoths like fanfiction.net and deviantart, there doesn't seem to be a central gathering place (application/site) for major active communities. Or is there, and I'm just not seeing/hearing about it?

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kana & translation?

2015-02-24T05:45:52Z

Can anyone help me figure out the actual meaning & the likely kana (kanji not required unless it's really obvious)? I asked CP, but he's not sure he's getting all of it, so I was hoping someone else could tell me what's being said, and how it'd be written.

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slight delay

2015-02-08T01:39:59Z

while I a) get an app architected for a start-up, b) wonder if annotated_em missed the last scene or is also buried in work, and c) figure out the best balance of characters to kill off in the next scene.

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furuba flashbacks!

2015-01-04T17:59:27Z

Not sure if this will work, but it's definitely one for umadoshi: sheep riding!

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useful info

2014-11-04T03:26:43Z

I wish I'd had this mental framework years ago. Welp, at least I have it now.

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find me

2014-09-28T15:06:54Z

Alright, I'm now on Ello as afishtrap. If you're there, come find me.

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ello

2014-09-27T15:18:53Z

Alright, I've heard enough about Ello that I figure, wth. Is there someone I can bribe with appropriately over-the-top flattery enough to get an invite, or do I just sit and wait on their waiting list, or what? Suggestions, thoughts, arguments that I should stick with twitter?

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capitalization style question

2014-09-21T14:55:49Z

This summer I attended a writing retreat, and the critique I got back from the instructor made a number of corrections in capitalization. I was kinda like, hunh? because no one else has ever noted an issue with the same, until nagasvoice's comment in another post.

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onward, revisions

2014-09-16T23:49:09Z

For those of you who'd read before and were sitting on the urge to critique, you can get your chance now. I'm working my way through revising the first story. Formerly known as Tsiu 1, now (working title, at least) Weaving Girl's Orchard.

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the weaving girl's orchard, ch1 (rev)

2014-09-14T15:45:34Z

Welp, I took a break and read/listened to some really good advice about structuring and pacing things, and realized that tackling the first story changed things so much that the impact would filter down. So, rather than continue on with the 3rd story, I'm going back to the beginning and doing a major revision on the 1st story.

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well.

2014-08-11T21:37:14Z

You know it's been awhile since you've posted, when you totally forget to do a cut on a really long post.

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Argh, I hate picking titles.

2014-06-28T20:30:36Z

Was thinking I'd go with titles based on constellations*, which in turn have legends (in the story's world) that relate to a story's themes. So far I've got the following + the constellation's basic theme. Some of these have also already been referenced in drafts, though I was still solidifying what was where and the references/uses.

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a little bit of the past week

2014-06-16T23:42:12Z

Back from the writing retreat, and did get a bunch written (but did a lot more talking than writing, which was fine and very informative and whatnot). Here's one snippet written as 'homework', because our crit-leader was ~~mean~~ teacherly like that.

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I cannot find this book.

2014-06-07T03:19:14Z

I thought I'd bookmarked the review, to buy the book later, but apparently not. I've been through my browsing history for the past two months and ugh, maybe I'm looking right past it. I am left with no choice but to throw myself on the intarweebs and hope one of you might recognize this.

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kuroshitsuji news: oh, crap

2014-05-27T22:52:57Z

From PsGels' summer preview post:

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a case of really not thinking this through

2014-05-13T03:11:42Z

Two stories now that I really would've liked to like, but the more I read of each, the harder a time I had with them. Here's the relevant parts from each teaser. From The Lascar's Dagger:

Saker appears to be a simple priest, but in truth he's a spy for the head of his faith. Wounded in the line of duty by a Lascar sailor's blade, the weapon seems to follow him home. Unable to discard it, nor the sense of responsibility it brings, Saker can only follow its lead.

And from The Alchemist of Souls:

When Tudor explorers returned from the New World, they brought back a name out of half-forgotten Viking legend: skraylings. Red-sailed ships followed in the explorers’ wake, bringing Native American goods--and a skrayling ambassador--to London. But what do these seemingly magical beings really want in Elizabeth I’s capital?

The problem is that in both cases, these seemingly magical beings are real people.

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what else I've been reading

2014-05-05T02:58:14Z

The Coffee Trader, Whitefire Crossing, Arcanum. I really think the The Lascar's Dagger deserves its own post, for reasons that will become clear.

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just-finished books, pt 1

2014-05-04T22:42:02Z

Went through a storm of book-reading: The Goblin Emporer, The Coffee Trader, The Thief/The Queen of Attolia/The King of Attolia/A Conspiracy of Kings, Whitefire Crossing, The Spirit Thief, Arcanum, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, The Lascar's Dagger.

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three books at once, sort of.

2014-04-06T23:56:06Z

Reading several of the books I got in Philly (among them, currently, Berry's Hideyoshi and Borschberg/Roy's The Memoirs and Memorials of Jacques de Coutre), but also just yesterday got a hankering for fiction and picked up three more, although The Goblin Emporer has been set aside as an award for later.

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using academic processes at a tech conference

2014-04-03T23:49:05Z

Okay, this is for brainwane. The idea is to take some facets of the AAS conference and apply them to tech, as a way to incorporate people who might not normally present on their own.

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food for thought gives me too many ideas.

2014-04-03T03:22:07Z

Over on Dribble of Ink, there's an essay that had me pondering the way we write fantasy, in the modern world. “Broader Fantasy Foundations Pt IV: The Tale of Genji, and Building the World of the Shining Prince”, in which Gladstone comments:

[Demonic possession and ghosts in Tale of Genji] are unexplained, but they’re not treated as explicitly supernatural within the narrative, since we’re talking about a time before Enlightenment nature-supernature distinctions arose. Ghosts and demons and gods are edge cases of Genji’s reality, but they’re not any less real than the people he encounters on a day to day basis.

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AAS 2014 conference notes

2014-03-31T19:01:24Z

Sidenote: I think I got a stress fracture in my foot last monday. Foot's definitely reacting like it. I've been getting these off/on (in either foot) since 4th grade, so I'm pretty blase about it. It was a little more complicated by the fact that on Tues/Wed, my team at work had a major offsite team-building/innovation thing that I absolutely could not miss -- followed by four days in Philly for the Association of Asian Studies (AAS) conference that I absolutely refused to miss. I tried to minimize the walking on Tues/Wed, with minimal success, but there was no minimizing any walking between airports, hotel, going from panel to panel, and then going out to find things to eat. Only got to go to Chinatown once. If I hadn't been limping so much by that point, probably would've spent a lot more time in Philly's more-than-a-block Chinatown.

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aaaaaugh

2014-03-29T12:27:40Z

Isn't there a responsive layout on dw? This non-responsive crap is almost impossible to read on my phone.

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