echo and survey
I forget what the phrase is, but you know how one might meander along, mulling over something in a vague-ish way and then someone on LJ neatly articulates it?
What matociquala said:
...people expect characters to act in accordance with stereotypes, not with actuality--and if they break those stereotypes, the writer often has to find ways to defend or shore up their behavior. I run into this fairly frequently with first-readers in the Eddas, actually, because one of my base assumptions is a modern (sort of steampunk, actually, or post-Cyberpunk, maybe) world without Christian influence. So the mores--social, political, and sexual--are those that have developed from a Norse ethical system rather than a Christian one.
Not so much, this world, with the forgiveness and redemption as privileged values.
You know how hard it is to explain that stuff to a reader when none of your characters have any idea that forgiveness and redemption "ought" to be privileged values?
Word.
Gacked from swooop:
1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
“Good thing I clean up well...”
2. How much cash do you have on you?
$35 and change.
3. What word rhymes with "DOOR"
Snore.
4. Favorite Planet:
This one. I’m habitability-biased, what can I say.
5. Who is the 4th person on the missed call list on your cell phone?
Either my husband or my best friend from college.
6. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone?
Tallis’s Canon. (“Calm Soul of All Things” to most UUs.)
7. What shirt are you wearing?
My husband’s old robe.
8. Do you "label" yourself?
I want “makar and macher” as my epitaph ( maker = Scots for “maker”; macher = Yiddish for “woman who makes things happen”).
9. Name the brand of shoes you are currently wearing?
Barefoot at the moment. *checks the high heels I’m planning to wear* Hm, the only proper noun on these is “Payless”...
10. Bright or dark room?
Moderation is a lovesome thing. But I do love a single bright lamp right at twilight...
11. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you?
Smart and snarky and supportive. *hugs her*
12. What does your watch look like?
Gold rim around the face, silver band. It belonged to my husband’s grandmother.
13. What were you doing at midnight last night?
Erm... Mmmm...
14. What did your last text message you received on your cell phone say?
Something from my husband while he was away at a conference.
15. Where is your nearest 7-11?
No idea. There’s a “stop-and-rob” a few blocks away, though...
16. What's a word you say a lot?
“Saints...”
17. Who told you s/he loved you last?
The BYM.
18. Last furry thing you touched?
The dog.
19. How many drugs have you done in the last three days?
Coffee, Claritin, Trident...
20. How many rolls of film do you need developed?
One disposable camera, which I’ve kept hidden from the BYM because he’s a snob and doesn’t understand that his camera requires someone with an advanced engineering degree to operate.
21. Favorite age you have been so far?
Thirty-six hasn’t been bad. Not sane, but not bad.
22. Your worst enemy?
Me. Definitely.
23. What is your current desktop picture?
At home, “Prairie Wind,” blue (some textured thingie that looks like crushed velvet). At the office, an eclipse. Detailed pictures = too hard to see my shortcut icons.
24. What was the last thing you said to someone?
I think I snorted at the BYM over something he said to the dog. (I haven’t had breakfast yet - not all the mental cylinders are engaged here, if you couldn’t tell.)
25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to fly what would it be?
The moola. Flying isn’t going to fix the sagging bathroom floor, and I don't have the arm strength to be a good schlepper-through-the-air anyhow.
26. Do you like someone?
Mais oui. (Somebody not yet out of grade school started this, right? *rolls eyes at them for the question and me for answering it anyway*)
27. The last song you listened to?
Kings Singers, track 6 on their newish CD.
28. What time of day were you born?
Sometime in the afternoon.
29. What is your favorite number?
13. It started out being an gesture of perversity, now it’s because “triskadeka” is still one of the coolest prefixes around.
30. Where did you live in 1987?
Berea (KY), and then Chicago.
31. Are you jealous of anyone?
Yes. Not with reason, but who's claiming jealousy's rational?
32. Is anyone jealous of you?
Yes.
33. Where were you when 9/11 happened?
Working for an import firm.
34. What do you do when vending machines steal your money?
Gauge the odds of tilting the beast in my direction without it crushing me.
35. Do you consider yourself kind?
I’m told I am, but I’m not naturally inclined that way.
36. If you had to get a tattoo where would it be?
Bicep? Might motivate me to work out more.
37. If you could be fluent in any other language what would it be?
Taiwanese.
38. Would you move for the person you loved?
That would be why I’m here in Nashville.
39. Are you touchy feely?
Yes, with people I like who don't mind it.
40. What's your life motto?
Ars longa, FACAGOWI. (Flip A Coin And Get On With It)
41. Name three things you have on at all times?
Eyeglasses. Wedding band. And usually a scrunchie.
42. What is your favorite city/town?
Nashville for some reasons, Chicago for others.
43. What was the last thing you paid for with cash?
Tuna and yogurt at the Turnip Truck. (And then forgot the yogurt was in my tote bag until it was liquid. *facepalm*)
44. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?
*looks at dining room table and sighs* I do send cards and postcards randomishly and often, though.
45. Can you change the oil on a car?
No.
46. Your first love: What is the last thing you heard about him/her?
I believe he’s now a horse lawyer...
47. How far back do you know about your ancestry?
Specifics-wise, as far back as one of my great-grandfathers, who was a court poet of some sort (talent not hereditary, though - grandfather was adopted). In a general way: my family emigrated from China to Taiwan around 600 years ago and ran an apothecary business for many, many generations.
48. The last time you dressed fancy, what did you wear and why did you dress fancy?
Does decorating myself with metallic stars to impersonate Professor Sinistra count? (For my church’s Halloween Ball.) And I’ll be in full corporate garb tonight (tailored blue jacket, black slacks or skirt, hose, and heels). . .
49. Does anything hurt on your body right now?
Not right this moment (she says in a tone of surprise), but my sinuses have not been happy lately, and I’m trying to ditch a low-grade bronchial infection.
50. Have you been burned by love?
Yes. But according to mutual acquaintances, he’s now married to a minister “even more obnoxious than he is.” *evil smile*
What matociquala said:
...people expect characters to act in accordance with stereotypes, not with actuality--and if they break those stereotypes, the writer often has to find ways to defend or shore up their behavior. I run into this fairly frequently with first-readers in the Eddas, actually, because one of my base assumptions is a modern (sort of steampunk, actually, or post-Cyberpunk, maybe) world without Christian influence. So the mores--social, political, and sexual--are those that have developed from a Norse ethical system rather than a Christian one.
Not so much, this world, with the forgiveness and redemption as privileged values.
You know how hard it is to explain that stuff to a reader when none of your characters have any idea that forgiveness and redemption "ought" to be privileged values?
Word.
Gacked from swooop:
1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
“Good thing I clean up well...”
2. How much cash do you have on you?
$35 and change.
3. What word rhymes with "DOOR"
Snore.
4. Favorite Planet:
This one. I’m habitability-biased, what can I say.
5. Who is the 4th person on the missed call list on your cell phone?
Either my husband or my best friend from college.
6. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone?
Tallis’s Canon. (“Calm Soul of All Things” to most UUs.)
7. What shirt are you wearing?
My husband’s old robe.
8. Do you "label" yourself?
I want “makar and macher” as my epitaph ( maker = Scots for “maker”; macher = Yiddish for “woman who makes things happen”).
9. Name the brand of shoes you are currently wearing?
Barefoot at the moment. *checks the high heels I’m planning to wear* Hm, the only proper noun on these is “Payless”...
10. Bright or dark room?
Moderation is a lovesome thing. But I do love a single bright lamp right at twilight...
11. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you?
Smart and snarky and supportive. *hugs her*
12. What does your watch look like?
Gold rim around the face, silver band. It belonged to my husband’s grandmother.
13. What were you doing at midnight last night?
Erm... Mmmm...
14. What did your last text message you received on your cell phone say?
Something from my husband while he was away at a conference.
15. Where is your nearest 7-11?
No idea. There’s a “stop-and-rob” a few blocks away, though...
16. What's a word you say a lot?
“Saints...”
17. Who told you s/he loved you last?
The BYM.
18. Last furry thing you touched?
The dog.
19. How many drugs have you done in the last three days?
Coffee, Claritin, Trident...
20. How many rolls of film do you need developed?
One disposable camera, which I’ve kept hidden from the BYM because he’s a snob and doesn’t understand that his camera requires someone with an advanced engineering degree to operate.
21. Favorite age you have been so far?
Thirty-six hasn’t been bad. Not sane, but not bad.
22. Your worst enemy?
Me. Definitely.
23. What is your current desktop picture?
At home, “Prairie Wind,” blue (some textured thingie that looks like crushed velvet). At the office, an eclipse. Detailed pictures = too hard to see my shortcut icons.
24. What was the last thing you said to someone?
I think I snorted at the BYM over something he said to the dog. (I haven’t had breakfast yet - not all the mental cylinders are engaged here, if you couldn’t tell.)
25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to fly what would it be?
The moola. Flying isn’t going to fix the sagging bathroom floor, and I don't have the arm strength to be a good schlepper-through-the-air anyhow.
26. Do you like someone?
Mais oui. (Somebody not yet out of grade school started this, right? *rolls eyes at them for the question and me for answering it anyway*)
27. The last song you listened to?
Kings Singers, track 6 on their newish CD.
28. What time of day were you born?
Sometime in the afternoon.
29. What is your favorite number?
13. It started out being an gesture of perversity, now it’s because “triskadeka” is still one of the coolest prefixes around.
30. Where did you live in 1987?
Berea (KY), and then Chicago.
31. Are you jealous of anyone?
Yes. Not with reason, but who's claiming jealousy's rational?
32. Is anyone jealous of you?
Yes.
33. Where were you when 9/11 happened?
Working for an import firm.
34. What do you do when vending machines steal your money?
Gauge the odds of tilting the beast in my direction without it crushing me.
35. Do you consider yourself kind?
I’m told I am, but I’m not naturally inclined that way.
36. If you had to get a tattoo where would it be?
Bicep? Might motivate me to work out more.
37. If you could be fluent in any other language what would it be?
Taiwanese.
38. Would you move for the person you loved?
That would be why I’m here in Nashville.
39. Are you touchy feely?
Yes, with people I like who don't mind it.
40. What's your life motto?
Ars longa, FACAGOWI. (Flip A Coin And Get On With It)
41. Name three things you have on at all times?
Eyeglasses. Wedding band. And usually a scrunchie.
42. What is your favorite city/town?
Nashville for some reasons, Chicago for others.
43. What was the last thing you paid for with cash?
Tuna and yogurt at the Turnip Truck. (And then forgot the yogurt was in my tote bag until it was liquid. *facepalm*)
44. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?
*looks at dining room table and sighs* I do send cards and postcards randomishly and often, though.
45. Can you change the oil on a car?
No.
46. Your first love: What is the last thing you heard about him/her?
I believe he’s now a horse lawyer...
47. How far back do you know about your ancestry?
Specifics-wise, as far back as one of my great-grandfathers, who was a court poet of some sort (talent not hereditary, though - grandfather was adopted). In a general way: my family emigrated from China to Taiwan around 600 years ago and ran an apothecary business for many, many generations.
48. The last time you dressed fancy, what did you wear and why did you dress fancy?
Does decorating myself with metallic stars to impersonate Professor Sinistra count? (For my church’s Halloween Ball.) And I’ll be in full corporate garb tonight (tailored blue jacket, black slacks or skirt, hose, and heels). . .
49. Does anything hurt on your body right now?
Not right this moment (she says in a tone of surprise), but my sinuses have not been happy lately, and I’m trying to ditch a low-grade bronchial infection.
50. Have you been burned by love?
Yes. But according to mutual acquaintances, he’s now married to a minister “even more obnoxious than he is.” *evil smile*