beccastareyes

I miss doing NaNoWriMo. I'd like to do it again, even if I'm supposed to be writing my $@)&%( thesis. So I'm going to brainstorm story ideas. Because I'm a lot better at worldbuilding than plotting sometimes.

( This is Long )

Okay, so I just reviewed Ōoku, but noted the virology bothered me. Yes, I know the Redface Pox was just a plot contrivance to get a population in Japan that was 80% female. And I'm willing to accept that a disease can selectively kill men. But some other things bothered me.

( I totally blame my Math Models in Biology course for this )

Music choice was intentional.

I spent last night -- well, Sunday night, now -- thinking about NaNoWriMo, and I don't really remember much, except for some short story ideas, and stuff that I didn't feel competent enough to write.

( Read more... )

This post is mostly for padparadscha who asked to pick my brains about a planet with an 80°+ axial tilt. On the other hand, it means I can write about something that came up at work recently, so I thought I'd combine things.

So, I recommend What if the Moon Didn't Exist: Voyages to Earths that Might Have Been (by Neil Comins), since one of the chapters features a variant-Earth with a tilt like Uranus. On the other hand, I just realized that chapter got one of the details wrong: the status of our moon.

( More than You Ever Wanted to Know About the Phase of the Moon )

Yesterday I went to the fabric store for Halloween supplies and figured out how to thread the bottom needle of my sewing machine. I also started a discussion on third gender pronouns on NaNoWriMo's board that has yet to turn into a fight.

( Sie and se and s/he and xe and ey~// and we can't forget singular they~ )

INspired by comments from limyaael's latest rant, on arranged marriages.

The play Romeo and Juliet (or a translation of it) actually became quite popular on Daryn. Instead of a tragedy, however, it is usually played as a morality play -- 'See, kids, when you let your hormones decide your marriage prospects instead of your common sense, Bad Things Happen.' Daryn really doesn't have arranged marriages (at least now), but they don't really marry for love -- basically you pick someone you know well, know you can live with without being driven batshit, who would make a good spouse/parent, and of good enough character to get your family's blessing. Some things don't translate well -- for one thing, Montegue and Capulet's parts would usually be rewritten as female ones, as it would be unusual to have a male head of the family, even in modern Darynese culture -- family is one of the areas Darynese culture is most conservative about, and they were a matriarchy.

And, hell, now I need to figure out what pressures brought the Equalist movement into play on their planet. Which means finding out more about the women's rights movement (and aspects thereof) on Earth. AND get their damn government fixed in my mind.

My worldbuilding muse is a harsh mistress.