That may mean something to a few of you, if you saw the picture going around last month about the xmas tree made from books and hung with lights. I seem to be collecting again. I mean, really, I bought another copy of The Hobbit, because I left my other two in Canada and it'll take the next 12 months to get a copy from the public library. Of course, I refuse to read it for the next 18 months, so I still have very little idea why I bought it. Except that it's the movie copy, so...excuses? I also purchased Anna Karenina in the theory that, if I own it, I will be more likely to read it.
[Once I finish the never-ending books that are Cloud Atlas and Battle Royale, that is.]
Nearly 2000 pages of words to read. However, the xmas tree would be made of only research-related books, which should freighten anyone who has been a student. The MAs keep recalling them to the library, which is annoying me, since it means I have to get what I need from them before they disappear again. Interestingly enough, most of the books in my current posession in Leicester seem to be history related or technology related and not museum related. Hum.
You remember how, in August, I said I was giving up writing? Well, Things Happened and that is no longer the case. I am currently allowing it because [I have no choice] it's a pleasant distraction from my field work and I have the time. Ish. And I'm not exactly ashamed of these fandoms right now (though possibly the fics themselves). There are also people to blame and you know how I love to justify my writing by blaming others for the plot bunnies! Names beginning with P, K and...PJ...are currently on the 'bad influence' list. Funny, how they've been the culprits for several years (*cough*10*cough*) now. I need to find new people, clearly. At least there is no sign of another 50k story in the works. I can't deal with that this year.
It's winter again and so, naturally, Spain feels like a long way away. It's less than three months now (I need to do my Spanish lesson today...) and I think I'm slowly getting ready. The legs don't hurt quite as much after a round at the gym, so that's a good sign! Also, I've been walking a great deal around Leicester these days, and will continue too and next week I'll be standing a great deal. All of this should be good exericse. Of course, nice weather would be better exercise...
I am contemplating house moving. I don't want to, really, because that's a huge hassle and will involve renting a van to get everything moved. Also, anywhere I go is going to be much more money than I currently pay and that's a hassle. And, lastly, I can't find anywhere with an 18 month contract, so I'd have to move *again* next year. Choices, choices. I think I'm too tired to deal with it, really. So many other things going on and trying to decide if I'd rather be warm next winter or broke is about more than I can handle right now. Adult problems, world, adult problems. Also, possibly, First World problems, but there you go.
Right: book, lunch, [Spooks], gym. The order is still up for grabs.
Showing posts with label fanfiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fanfiction. Show all posts
Friday, February 8, 2013
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Ignorance
Meaning the ignoring of part.
That thing wherein, despite checking your Blogger home page every day, you forget that you have TWO blogs to look after. Though I've not been doing much on the other one either. Slow news month!
I haven't written much. I haven't, in fact, written much of anything (that I'm willing to admit) to. Because I've finished writing fic. Yes, that's right. Mostly, I am too tired to be creative. Mostly, I have no plot bunnies for fandoms. And mostly? I'm spending a lot of money a year to get a PhD. I'd rather spend my time doing that then writing fanfiction. I'll save up my writing and work on that book idea after I graduate. And publish my thesis. So, about five years or so from now. Which is fine, actually. I've only ever written because I enjoyed it, not for other people or to get me something. I'm not enjoying it any more because I'm too tired to spend hours at a computer writing fic. I spend hours at a computer writing thesis stuff. That's enough. More than enough, judging by how much my eyes hate me these days! I'd really like to not go blind before I finish this thesis.
So today was my first day in a museum for field research. I was only there for observation and spent most of the 4 hours feeling more than a little overwhelmed. How the hell am I going to get the information I need from the public? Seriously! But I have a month to figure that out, and pilot studies are done for a reason. Still, more than a little stressed right now and I was more than a little stressed, already, yesterday. I'm just pretty much stressed. Period. Not helping that I'm back to being an insomniac and my back is killing me. Both of which would be helped by going to the gym, but I'm too tired to go to the gym! I hate vicious cycles!
But right now it's foggy, dreary, and wet outside and I want tea. And cake. And the telly.
That thing wherein, despite checking your Blogger home page every day, you forget that you have TWO blogs to look after. Though I've not been doing much on the other one either. Slow news month!
I haven't written much. I haven't, in fact, written much of anything (that I'm willing to admit) to. Because I've finished writing fic. Yes, that's right. Mostly, I am too tired to be creative. Mostly, I have no plot bunnies for fandoms. And mostly? I'm spending a lot of money a year to get a PhD. I'd rather spend my time doing that then writing fanfiction. I'll save up my writing and work on that book idea after I graduate. And publish my thesis. So, about five years or so from now. Which is fine, actually. I've only ever written because I enjoyed it, not for other people or to get me something. I'm not enjoying it any more because I'm too tired to spend hours at a computer writing fic. I spend hours at a computer writing thesis stuff. That's enough. More than enough, judging by how much my eyes hate me these days! I'd really like to not go blind before I finish this thesis.
So today was my first day in a museum for field research. I was only there for observation and spent most of the 4 hours feeling more than a little overwhelmed. How the hell am I going to get the information I need from the public? Seriously! But I have a month to figure that out, and pilot studies are done for a reason. Still, more than a little stressed right now and I was more than a little stressed, already, yesterday. I'm just pretty much stressed. Period. Not helping that I'm back to being an insomniac and my back is killing me. Both of which would be helped by going to the gym, but I'm too tired to go to the gym! I hate vicious cycles!
But right now it's foggy, dreary, and wet outside and I want tea. And cake. And the telly.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Unfortunate Accomplishments
So, the Olympics happened. Looking back, I should be rather proud of what I accomplished between July 27th and August 12th. I mean really.
Except what I accomplished was 26k of a fic I hate, for a fandom I am ashamed to admit exists much less that I write for it, and will forever pretend I never wrote. It may also, single-handedly, be the worst fic I've ever written. It's so awful I can't even reread it and have had to find a beta to do it for me. I also know it will be my last chapter fic for a while, if not forever. I have not only no interest in writing another, I have no ideas. And right now, that's a blessing.
In other news, I am currently sitting in a hotel room in Denver, a city I have not been to for 30 years. I don't remember it ;) It makes for a nice five-day weekend away, except that Denver is 10 hours away from London, so it makes for a lovely five-day-twenty-hour-flight weekend away. I do it out of love for family and my cousin's kind words and his new wife's thanks makes it worth the trip. The weekend has been a perfect organisational masterpiece that looked effortless. I know, literally, that it was not effortless and that there's been more than one near-disaster, but as far as it seems, no one outside the family is aware of that. Thankfully. My family is no fun unless there's drama and politics. We'd be bored otherwise. It was picture perfect from start to finish. I can't wait to see the photographs.
Tomorrow I'm off to Boulder and out somewhere east of Denver to find an airfield. Should be an interesting day. Can add Colorado as another State I've driven in. Considerably less terrifying than California, from the looks of things. Though apparently every single member of my family has gotten lost in Denver sometime in the last four days, except for me. I just memorise maps. It's a useful skill to have. I also have a pretty good sense of direction, which helps too.
Two more days and then a mini-break in London on the way home.
Except what I accomplished was 26k of a fic I hate, for a fandom I am ashamed to admit exists much less that I write for it, and will forever pretend I never wrote. It may also, single-handedly, be the worst fic I've ever written. It's so awful I can't even reread it and have had to find a beta to do it for me. I also know it will be my last chapter fic for a while, if not forever. I have not only no interest in writing another, I have no ideas. And right now, that's a blessing.
In other news, I am currently sitting in a hotel room in Denver, a city I have not been to for 30 years. I don't remember it ;) It makes for a nice five-day weekend away, except that Denver is 10 hours away from London, so it makes for a lovely five-day-twenty-hour-flight weekend away. I do it out of love for family and my cousin's kind words and his new wife's thanks makes it worth the trip. The weekend has been a perfect organisational masterpiece that looked effortless. I know, literally, that it was not effortless and that there's been more than one near-disaster, but as far as it seems, no one outside the family is aware of that. Thankfully. My family is no fun unless there's drama and politics. We'd be bored otherwise. It was picture perfect from start to finish. I can't wait to see the photographs.
Tomorrow I'm off to Boulder and out somewhere east of Denver to find an airfield. Should be an interesting day. Can add Colorado as another State I've driven in. Considerably less terrifying than California, from the looks of things. Though apparently every single member of my family has gotten lost in Denver sometime in the last four days, except for me. I just memorise maps. It's a useful skill to have. I also have a pretty good sense of direction, which helps too.
Two more days and then a mini-break in London on the way home.
Monday, July 30, 2012
If Things Can Always Get Worse
Thank, in theory, things can always get better. At least, I like to think so. That's horribly opimistic of me, perhaps, but it does occasionally work in practice.
In case you can't figure out the 'read between the lines' of that last sentence, I've had a good day. Or, maybe, rather a very good day. An excellent day. A...okay, I'll stop now.
Normally Mondays for me are rather a day I can forget about. I'd sleep through them if I could. Today, however, I made nearly a grand in unexpected (but very welcome) income for hardly any work (comparative to how much I normally have to do for that much money, that is), I tracked down and scheduled meetings with two very important people, I was handed a project case study on my lap (almost literally), and I bought healthy!groceries. And now it's sunny outside. So, really, a very good day indeed.
In other news, I passed the minimum for the writing challenge I'm participating in, which would be something to celebrate if it didn't mean I was only half way through the story (maybe less than that, actually). I have also failed to return to researching the current paper I'm supposed to be working on (stack of books is five inches away) and as of 3pm this afternoon I've got yet another thing to write which is due Wednesday. Thursday I'm in London. Friday is supposed to be some Grand Meeting of PhDs thing or something. I was only told on Saturday, and then in passing and no one actually seems to know what's happening, but I'm leaving it open anyways. In other words, my Week of Work is turning into my Week of Other Things, yet again. I really need a WoW before I leave for Denver. Like...really.
Tomorrow I get to have a grand adventure in the Attenborough Tower, which for anyone who has not been a student at Leicester will seem rather sad. For anyone who has, you know how awesome the AT is. Needless to say there will be the 18th floor and an elevator ride like no other. I have never been up the tower that high before, though I know some people just ride the lift for shits and giggles (a bit of both are needed to survive it). And then I get tea. And a chat with a person I've known for nine years. But before that, I really need to do work.
At least I'm not wasting my days watching Olympics coverage, since Canada AND GB are doing horribly and I get bored watching the Yanks and Chinese beat everyone else.
In case you can't figure out the 'read between the lines' of that last sentence, I've had a good day. Or, maybe, rather a very good day. An excellent day. A...okay, I'll stop now.
Normally Mondays for me are rather a day I can forget about. I'd sleep through them if I could. Today, however, I made nearly a grand in unexpected (but very welcome) income for hardly any work (comparative to how much I normally have to do for that much money, that is), I tracked down and scheduled meetings with two very important people, I was handed a project case study on my lap (almost literally), and I bought healthy!groceries. And now it's sunny outside. So, really, a very good day indeed.
In other news, I passed the minimum for the writing challenge I'm participating in, which would be something to celebrate if it didn't mean I was only half way through the story (maybe less than that, actually). I have also failed to return to researching the current paper I'm supposed to be working on (stack of books is five inches away) and as of 3pm this afternoon I've got yet another thing to write which is due Wednesday. Thursday I'm in London. Friday is supposed to be some Grand Meeting of PhDs thing or something. I was only told on Saturday, and then in passing and no one actually seems to know what's happening, but I'm leaving it open anyways. In other words, my Week of Work is turning into my Week of Other Things, yet again. I really need a WoW before I leave for Denver. Like...really.
Tomorrow I get to have a grand adventure in the Attenborough Tower, which for anyone who has not been a student at Leicester will seem rather sad. For anyone who has, you know how awesome the AT is. Needless to say there will be the 18th floor and an elevator ride like no other. I have never been up the tower that high before, though I know some people just ride the lift for shits and giggles (a bit of both are needed to survive it). And then I get tea. And a chat with a person I've known for nine years. But before that, I really need to do work.
At least I'm not wasting my days watching Olympics coverage, since Canada AND GB are doing horribly and I get bored watching the Yanks and Chinese beat everyone else.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Language
I watched an interesting segment on the morning news. For one, it was Good Morning America, which I normally avoid for obvious reasons, but happened to catch this while channel flipping.
The segment was about the made up language of Avatar. I find this incredibly interesting for many reasons. It's not the first movie universe to create it's own language or the first literary one either. Today, it's quite popular for fans to 'learn a new fantasy language'. I've done it myself with Tolkien's languages before (I have a basic ability to understand both Quenya and Sindarin, which is useful...you know for fanfiction writing). What I find interesting is how quickly this Avatar language developed. It's only been around, as a language with grammar and vocab, for about three months, and the news station managed to find half a dozen people who could sit down and have a conversation.
Cleary, made up languages are popular. But why? Is it the ability to say to the geek sitting next to you 'Well I speek such-and-such, don't you?'. Is it really just bragging rights, or is it something more? I think it is.
The greatest books of the past 1000 years have been those that have created a complete universe. By this I mean books written by the likes of Tolkien and Lewis and even Rowling; not your run of the mill fantasy series. People love these books for a lot of reasons. Some of the simple ones are because it's a good story and they're well written. Some of the more complex reasons are because these books are entire worlds so unlike our own. People read fantasy to get lost in it; to have a break from the real world. The more complete that fantasy world is, the more they can get into it. I've done it myself on more than one occasion. It's the only reason I re-read LOTR every single year.
But what makes a fantasy world complete? Is it the fact that it's set on it's own planet? Is it a whole range of people that fulfill all the appropriate roles and leave no gaps? Is it a world where you can write your own gap-fillers? Is it a universe with it's own politics, religion, language, social customes? I think it's closest to that last sentence. The best fantasy worlds are the ones that are entirely complete. We fall into them because everything is there for us for the believing and we only have to enjoy.
Which brings me back to language. It's part of our world. It's part of what makes us who we are. It's just as important to most people as their political views and their religion. So, to have a fantasy language makes a fantasy world complete. It allows the reader to immerse themselves completely in that world and then bring that world back into our own, for a little while. You see this at fan conventions where people go around dressed in character, speaking in language. I've done it myself. (Yes, I have). Language allows for that extra little step, which explains why it's so popular.
And it's becoming more and more common. Tolkien was not the first to create languages; though he's definitely the most well known, having more than four languages that contain vocab lists and grammar in his books (though some are more developed than others). But is it becoming easier? How do you create a language from scratch? I tried one; I gave up. It's so hard to be original these days. So my congratulations to the people who spent the time and effort to create Na'vi, specially as it already contains 1000 words after only 3 months.
The segment was about the made up language of Avatar. I find this incredibly interesting for many reasons. It's not the first movie universe to create it's own language or the first literary one either. Today, it's quite popular for fans to 'learn a new fantasy language'. I've done it myself with Tolkien's languages before (I have a basic ability to understand both Quenya and Sindarin, which is useful...you know for fanfiction writing). What I find interesting is how quickly this Avatar language developed. It's only been around, as a language with grammar and vocab, for about three months, and the news station managed to find half a dozen people who could sit down and have a conversation.
Cleary, made up languages are popular. But why? Is it the ability to say to the geek sitting next to you 'Well I speek such-and-such, don't you?'. Is it really just bragging rights, or is it something more? I think it is.
The greatest books of the past 1000 years have been those that have created a complete universe. By this I mean books written by the likes of Tolkien and Lewis and even Rowling; not your run of the mill fantasy series. People love these books for a lot of reasons. Some of the simple ones are because it's a good story and they're well written. Some of the more complex reasons are because these books are entire worlds so unlike our own. People read fantasy to get lost in it; to have a break from the real world. The more complete that fantasy world is, the more they can get into it. I've done it myself on more than one occasion. It's the only reason I re-read LOTR every single year.
But what makes a fantasy world complete? Is it the fact that it's set on it's own planet? Is it a whole range of people that fulfill all the appropriate roles and leave no gaps? Is it a world where you can write your own gap-fillers? Is it a universe with it's own politics, religion, language, social customes? I think it's closest to that last sentence. The best fantasy worlds are the ones that are entirely complete. We fall into them because everything is there for us for the believing and we only have to enjoy.
Which brings me back to language. It's part of our world. It's part of what makes us who we are. It's just as important to most people as their political views and their religion. So, to have a fantasy language makes a fantasy world complete. It allows the reader to immerse themselves completely in that world and then bring that world back into our own, for a little while. You see this at fan conventions where people go around dressed in character, speaking in language. I've done it myself. (Yes, I have). Language allows for that extra little step, which explains why it's so popular.
And it's becoming more and more common. Tolkien was not the first to create languages; though he's definitely the most well known, having more than four languages that contain vocab lists and grammar in his books (though some are more developed than others). But is it becoming easier? How do you create a language from scratch? I tried one; I gave up. It's so hard to be original these days. So my congratulations to the people who spent the time and effort to create Na'vi, specially as it already contains 1000 words after only 3 months.
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