self-distraction: rambling
Oct. 18th, 2023 06:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nnozomiI’m traveling and worrying as usual about the flight etc. and I should be working and/or doing other useful things, but as per usual for stress relief purposes here I am posting various bits and pieces. I owe a bunch of DW and other comments/replies, which…may not happen yet for a little while…
Making glacially slow progress with my revisions, as usual. Maybe I will be more efficient while traveling…? (oh yeah sure). I’ve been very fortunate to have multiple beta readers, and I love hearing their various different opinions and perspectives, but man, no two of them agree on most things! That said, at least two of them have agreed on the fact that, of all things, my romance subplot could use to be more romance-y, which I am finding difficult. With original characters in general, I never feel comfortable getting into the details of romance, whether it’s feelings or physical actions; I feel like it’s private to them and I don’t have any business sticking my nose in. This makes literally no sense, I made them up, they only exist in my imagination! Any privacy they have is inside MY HEAD! Plus in fanfic, while I still tend toward the gen side, I have enjoyed writing romance (and, for the last-named below, occasionally sex) for couples as disparate as Harriet and Peter, F’lar and Lessa, and Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan. So why the hell not for original characters?
I suppose partly, in this case, I’m writing from the perspective of the person who eventually realizes he’s having a slow burn as opposed to the one who essentially fell in love (much to his horror in terms of his ideological beliefs) at first sight, so there’s less consciously going on in his head to write about; and while their attraction is not asexual per se, it seems to tend more to I-need-you-to-be-part-of-me than I-need-you-to-be-fucking-me (or vice versa), so the details of physical attraction don’t quite seem to fit. Still, there should be something I can do.
Zhu Yilong promoting his latest movie and looking, as always, dazzlingly beautiful, in Meng Yinan’s photos in particular (oh dear) as well as various videos. In one of his better examples of duality (or I guess he’s well into multiple facets by now), we also get to see him 15 kg heavier, wearing glasses, and passing the time between filming scenes by learning to knit. (I don’t know what he’s currently filming, but it seems to call for a kind of hyper-Wu Xie look, by which I mean his hair is grown well out (not quite ponytail-length yet) and he’s so thin his cheekbones go beyond beautiful all the way to ow. Someone please give him a role (in a drama, if I’m wishing anyway) for which he can keep his natural weight?) (Also it will never cease to be relatable that at his degree of experience and fame he’s still so shy that he can appear in front of people and be nervous enough to say not 大家好，非常开心 (hello everyone, very happy to…), but 非常大家 (very everyone…)).
There are a couple of longer interviews with him and the other associated movie people available—I imagine the blessed Wenella will provide a translation of them in good time, but I’ve been watching them on B站 and as always feeling very frustrated with my lack of listening skills. Oh well, I suppose that makes it the more satisfying when I can actually follow something—“I don’t choose scripts by their genre, I choose them for the story and the characters.” I’m always interested in how the way Z1L talks about his work overlaps with (from my amateur perspective) the work of writing, especially with regard to thinking about backstories, evoking character through small moments, etc. (As an actor he only has to create one character at a time, but he has to do it in three dimensions, or rather four, I guess, since the character has to change over time as well, not to mention reacting and interacting with those created by other people; us (would-be) writers have to handle all the characters at once, but we get to do it all through text on the page… and other obvious considerations.)
A machining term new to me which turned up in a technical translation, and struck me as the new and improved way to get hold of utility actors: centrifugal casting.
Someone among the Yuletide letters has requested a BL manga I’ve translated a few chapters of, not named here because I’m not especially proud of it, but it cracks me up to find the streams crossed this way.
Re my last post’s mention of Angela Brazil, cyphomandra suggested Dorita Fairlie Bruce, who proves to be harder to find online but quite entertaining. Two passages I enjoyed: one which strikes me as a very faithful rendition of dialogue among English schoolgirls required to speak French in their dorms, one a discussion of the fledgling writer’s troubles by someone who has clearly been there.
“And, Jean, est-il true que vous faites choses comme ça? Parce que vous savez bien c’est entirely against les regles, and must be stopped. Comprenez-vous?” / “Oh, oui, je comprends all right, mais c’est tout-a-fait fair, parce que je suis much slower to apprendre que le rest de vous.” / “Nonsense! Besides, ce n’est pas le point.” (Dimsie Moves Up Again)
“Well,” said Pam thoughtfully, “it seems to me simply putting temptation in their way to enclose the customary self-addressed envelope. Stamps you must send, but think how easy it is for a harassed editor to put your MS. straight into the enclosed envelope and post it back if he hasn’t got time to read it at the moment. Whereas he might think twice if he had to find an envelope and address it.” / “Oh, Pamela!” exclaimed Jean, shocked at such cynicism. “They always say they are panting for fresh talent.” / “I know,” said Pamela, “but they get such a lot of it.”(Dimsie Grows Up)
Photos: The hair salon cat, awake and asleep, plus another less pampered cat; the long, long, long flight of steps up to a serene café at the top of a very small urban mountain, in company with a DW friend I won’t name unless they’d like me to, but it was a very nice time; autumn persimmons, not quite ready to eat; and a drunk-hibiscus plant (white in the morning, pink at night).
Be safe and well.
Making glacially slow progress with my revisions, as usual. Maybe I will be more efficient while traveling…? (oh yeah sure). I’ve been very fortunate to have multiple beta readers, and I love hearing their various different opinions and perspectives, but man, no two of them agree on most things! That said, at least two of them have agreed on the fact that, of all things, my romance subplot could use to be more romance-y, which I am finding difficult. With original characters in general, I never feel comfortable getting into the details of romance, whether it’s feelings or physical actions; I feel like it’s private to them and I don’t have any business sticking my nose in. This makes literally no sense, I made them up, they only exist in my imagination! Any privacy they have is inside MY HEAD! Plus in fanfic, while I still tend toward the gen side, I have enjoyed writing romance (and, for the last-named below, occasionally sex) for couples as disparate as Harriet and Peter, F’lar and Lessa, and Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan. So why the hell not for original characters?
I suppose partly, in this case, I’m writing from the perspective of the person who eventually realizes he’s having a slow burn as opposed to the one who essentially fell in love (much to his horror in terms of his ideological beliefs) at first sight, so there’s less consciously going on in his head to write about; and while their attraction is not asexual per se, it seems to tend more to I-need-you-to-be-part-of-me than I-need-you-to-be-fucking-me (or vice versa), so the details of physical attraction don’t quite seem to fit. Still, there should be something I can do.
Zhu Yilong promoting his latest movie and looking, as always, dazzlingly beautiful, in Meng Yinan’s photos in particular (oh dear) as well as various videos. In one of his better examples of duality (or I guess he’s well into multiple facets by now), we also get to see him 15 kg heavier, wearing glasses, and passing the time between filming scenes by learning to knit. (I don’t know what he’s currently filming, but it seems to call for a kind of hyper-Wu Xie look, by which I mean his hair is grown well out (not quite ponytail-length yet) and he’s so thin his cheekbones go beyond beautiful all the way to ow. Someone please give him a role (in a drama, if I’m wishing anyway) for which he can keep his natural weight?) (Also it will never cease to be relatable that at his degree of experience and fame he’s still so shy that he can appear in front of people and be nervous enough to say not 大家好，非常开心 (hello everyone, very happy to…), but 非常大家 (very everyone…)).
There are a couple of longer interviews with him and the other associated movie people available—I imagine the blessed Wenella will provide a translation of them in good time, but I’ve been watching them on B站 and as always feeling very frustrated with my lack of listening skills. Oh well, I suppose that makes it the more satisfying when I can actually follow something—“I don’t choose scripts by their genre, I choose them for the story and the characters.” I’m always interested in how the way Z1L talks about his work overlaps with (from my amateur perspective) the work of writing, especially with regard to thinking about backstories, evoking character through small moments, etc. (As an actor he only has to create one character at a time, but he has to do it in three dimensions, or rather four, I guess, since the character has to change over time as well, not to mention reacting and interacting with those created by other people; us (would-be) writers have to handle all the characters at once, but we get to do it all through text on the page… and other obvious considerations.)
A machining term new to me which turned up in a technical translation, and struck me as the new and improved way to get hold of utility actors: centrifugal casting.
Someone among the Yuletide letters has requested a BL manga I’ve translated a few chapters of, not named here because I’m not especially proud of it, but it cracks me up to find the streams crossed this way.
Re my last post’s mention of Angela Brazil, cyphomandra suggested Dorita Fairlie Bruce, who proves to be harder to find online but quite entertaining. Two passages I enjoyed: one which strikes me as a very faithful rendition of dialogue among English schoolgirls required to speak French in their dorms, one a discussion of the fledgling writer’s troubles by someone who has clearly been there.
“And, Jean, est-il true que vous faites choses comme ça? Parce que vous savez bien c’est entirely against les regles, and must be stopped. Comprenez-vous?” / “Oh, oui, je comprends all right, mais c’est tout-a-fait fair, parce que je suis much slower to apprendre que le rest de vous.” / “Nonsense! Besides, ce n’est pas le point.” (Dimsie Moves Up Again)
“Well,” said Pam thoughtfully, “it seems to me simply putting temptation in their way to enclose the customary self-addressed envelope. Stamps you must send, but think how easy it is for a harassed editor to put your MS. straight into the enclosed envelope and post it back if he hasn’t got time to read it at the moment. Whereas he might think twice if he had to find an envelope and address it.” / “Oh, Pamela!” exclaimed Jean, shocked at such cynicism. “They always say they are panting for fresh talent.” / “I know,” said Pamela, “but they get such a lot of it.”(Dimsie Grows Up)
Photos: The hair salon cat, awake and asleep, plus another less pampered cat; the long, long, long flight of steps up to a serene café at the top of a very small urban mountain, in company with a DW friend I won’t name unless they’d like me to, but it was a very nice time; autumn persimmons, not quite ready to eat; and a drunk-hibiscus plant (white in the morning, pink at night).
Be safe and well.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-18 10:17 am (UTC)This is interesting, because I can see where they're coming from, but I actually liked that; they were steady together in a way suggesting a longer relationship, true, but that's what works for me.
Oh that's so cool!
no subject
Date: 2023-10-30 01:46 am (UTC)This is so nice of you to say. And yeah, I think I tend to like that kind of established-relationship, built-into-each-other feeling better than the more obvious sparks of getting together...
no subject
Date: 2023-10-18 11:40 am (UTC)I can't help wondering if you're not proud of it because of the translation itself, or because the subject of the manga turned out to be something you'd rather not deal with.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-30 01:47 am (UTC)Mostly because my translation isn't _all_ that great--professionally adequate but not my best work, largely because it's eromanga and I have no experience with (or interest in) translating sex scenes, too much of it is variations on "squelch," "thrust" "gasp" and so on. So a bit of both, I guess. Nothing wrong with the manga itself or with the people requesting it, of course!
no subject
Date: 2023-10-18 11:54 am (UTC)I don’t know what he’s currently filming, but it seems to call for a kind of hyper-Wu Xie look, by which I mean his hair is grown well out (not quite ponytail-length yet) and he’s so thin his cheekbones go beyond beautiful all the way to ow. Someone please give him a role (in a drama, if I’m wishing anyway) for which he can keep his natural weight?)
100% agreed on the wish, but I'm so curious about what he's doing next!
“And, Jean, est-il true que vous faites choses comme ça? Parce que vous savez bien c’est entirely against les regles, and must be stopped. Comprenez-vous?” / “Oh, oui, je comprends all right, mais c’est tout-a-fait fair, parce que je suis much slower to apprendre que le rest de vous.” / “Nonsense! Besides, ce n’est pas le point.”
Haha, OMG, for some reason this sort of thing is hilarious to me. :D
Your pics are great as always, and I especially love those stairs!
no subject
Date: 2023-10-30 01:51 am (UTC)Same same!
OMG, for some reason this sort of thing is hilarious to me. :D
Me too! It's so relatable.
<3 <3 <3
no subject
Date: 2023-10-18 03:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-30 01:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-18 04:37 pm (UTC)Lots of good luck with your travel!
no subject
Date: 2023-10-30 01:54 am (UTC)Lol, doesn't it? Or maybe the other way around--no more casting monopolies? (It's apparently a method of casting metal pieces, as in cast iron. One of the many technical terms I can translate between Japanese and English without actually understanding the content...).
Lots of good luck with your travel!
Thank you! I had a good time with my mother and enjoyed the whole thing (saw ABT with her, doing Balanchine's ...Ballet Imperial? Tutus and Tchaikovsky 2nd piano concerto, anyway, and Ashton's Midsummer Night's Dream, with a fantastic Puck), but it's really good to be back home.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-30 06:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-11-01 10:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-11-01 06:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-11-02 02:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-18 05:25 pm (UTC)Hee, I can imagine. But what about your writing style--I have a hard time believing that most of your beta-readers don't like it?
no subject
Date: 2023-10-30 01:55 am (UTC)That is very kind of you to say <3 Well, I think the people beta reading for me are mostly predisposed to like the style, regardless of its fundamental quality! Disagreements mostly seem to involve characterization and plotting, sigh. Interesting for me to chew on, anyway.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-18 05:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-30 01:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-18 06:00 pm (UTC)Plus in fanfic, while I still tend toward the gen side, I have enjoyed writing romance (and, for the last-named below, occasionally sex) for couples as disparate as Harriet and Peter, F’lar and Lessa, and Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan. So why the hell not for original characters?
Is it those specific characters, or original characters in general? I think this actually makes sense to me, especially given how you described the relationship -- it feels like something that might benefit from a lighter touch, and exposing it too much -- especially if the character isn't consciously thinking about it -- changes it?
I always feel the temptation to keep some feelings of the characters private, because pinning it down in a description just changes the tone of it; I'd rather let it suffuse the actions, especially for a character who isn't that self-aware, or is avoiding the situation, or who has that feeling so deeply ingrained in them that they don't have to think about it. But that doesn't always work for me, and then I get the advice to add more explanations. xD
(And Shen Wei and ZYL struck me from your description of characters you're comfortable writing about, because they're so expressive in canon! It feels like it wuold be hard not to write romance and deeply engaging with feelings and in ZYL's case, openly expressiong them with them.)
Also, the ship sounds delightful. <3
非常大家 (very everyone…)).
Aww, that's so cute! Love the centrifugal casting, too.
Someone among the Yuletide letters has requested a BL manga I’ve translated a few chapters of, not named here because I’m not especially proud of it, but it cracks me up to find the streams crossed this way.
LOL. I think I remember you posting about this a while back!
no subject
Date: 2023-10-30 02:00 am (UTC)Original characters in general, I think! Maybe especially men, not being one myself, but women as well... .
I always feel the temptation to keep some feelings of the characters private, because pinning it down in a description just changes the tone of it; I'd rather let it suffuse the actions, especially for a character who isn't that self-aware, or is avoiding the situation, or who has that feeling so deeply ingrained in them that they don't have to think about it. But that doesn't always work for me, and then I get the advice to add more explanations. xD
Yes, this, what a good way of putting it. So hard to do, but so worth it when it works...
And Shen Wei and ZYL struck me from your description of characters you're comfortable writing about, because they're so expressive in canon!
Yes! They have such BIG feelings and they're so much fun to write that way.
and thank you for kind words <3
no subject
Date: 2023-10-18 06:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-19 03:40 am (UTC)Oh dear is right. And I may never recover from the knitting.
Lovely photos! The less pampered cat looks to be aware of being less pampered and not happy about it. I love the long flight of steps, and the drunk hibiscus is gorgeous.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-30 02:02 am (UTC)I know, tell me about it.
and glad you liked the photos! <3
no subject
Date: 2023-10-19 06:38 am (UTC)but man, no two of them agree on most things
Haha, oh no! I’m curious what the biggest points of disagreement were, I wonder if hearing a different perspective would make me think differently about any of them (not that you need to say, of course!).
and while their attraction is not asexual per se, it seems to tend more to I-need-you-to-be-part-of-me than I-need-you-to-be-fucking-me (or vice versa), so the details of physical attraction don’t quite seem to fit
Personally my approach to writing relationships of this type is that they’re all about the h/c! Not necessarily in a tropey way, just in the sense that the closeness and attachment grows out of the POV character/s discovering that they feel safe / at ease / understood when they’re with the other person, in a way they don’t with everyone else. Moments of vulnerability that have (perhaps unexpectedly) positive outcomes! Discovering that they can/do genuinely trust the other person, and reinforcement of that trust.
I’m always interested in how the way Z1L talks about his work overlaps with (from my amateur perspective) the work of writing, especially with regard to thinking about backstories, evoking character through small moments, etc.
I’ve been thinking about this recently too—my sister is in school for her BFA in theater, so she’s been telling me a bit about the kind of stuff they do in her script analysis and acting classes and it all sounds very related. (Which makes sense! As you say, an actor is creating one character at a time by embodying them, but as a writer you’re similarly occupying a character’s headspace while telling a story from their point of view, it’s still [vicarious experience]… Or it is for me, anyway; I totally lack plotting brain, the whole joy of the thing for me is in spending time in someone else’s head.)
And I love those Dimsie passages, they’re very real.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-30 02:07 am (UTC)I'd have to go back and look through for specifics, but on the whole characterization and plotting--one person will say "this (plot point/character arc) just didn't work for me" and somebody else "this was great!" and then reverse their opinions for something else, lol. I've been lucky to have very thoughtful, informed beta readers, so I don't think anybody is WRONG, but I have a lot to chew on...
the closeness and attachment grows out of the POV character/s discovering that they feel safe / at ease / understood when they’re with the other person, in a way they don’t with everyone else. Moments of vulnerability that have (perhaps unexpectedly) positive outcomes! Discovering that they can/do genuinely trust the other person, and reinforcement of that trust.
Oh, I really like this! Very useful, too.
the whole joy of the thing for me is in spending time in someone else’s head
The writers I used to study (prewar Japanese women) wrote a lot of very autobiographical stories and novels, and while I kind of understand why--they were having many new and shattering experiences, both personally and socially, and the material was certainly ripe for writing about--my own feeling is that I'm me all the time anyway, part of the point of writing is getting to be someone else too!
no subject
Date: 2023-10-22 12:56 pm (UTC)Oh man, I'm sorry. :D
in Meng Yinan’s photos in particular
Yeah! And Meng Yinan was in Kenia with him, too. <3
The white cat is soooo cute! I love the long wooden stairs, too! <3
no subject
Date: 2023-10-30 02:02 am (UTC)No apologies, it's interesting to chew on ;)
And Meng Yinan was in Kenya with him, too. <3
Yup! I love it that they're friends.