Same old, same old...

[wiseheart]

Utterly boring stuff behind the tag - read at your own peril. Or don't. It's up to you.

Real Life is eating up my time. Which means: either writing or doing research in whatever hour I can spare. Sadly enough, it means that no time for reading... at least no time for giving authors I haven't previously known a try. I do re-read some old favourites from time to time, but that's about all.

My reading habits have seriously deteriorated in the recent years. Since I rarely find the kind of stories I'd like to read, and since the people whose stuff I used to read and comment religiously rarely returned the favour, I've simply fallen out of the habit of reading. A shame, actually - I'm sure I'm missing some great tales. Well, perhaps when I'm retired - which is only a matter of oh, seven or eight years? If I live that long, that is.

Mum's going to have her next control CT at the end of the month, so she'll have another blood test tomorrow. Poor thing can't stop fretting. So far, all of her tests turned out negative - I hope it will stay so - but she's scared shitless all the same. I can't blame her. That thing last year was a shock, for both of us.

Am doing ungodly amounts of research for the Tosh/9th Doctor story, about 12th century Japan. Too bad that I suck at Internet research. Never really find the things I'm looking for. Must be the total lack of talent where finding the right search keywords is concerned. Ah, well, at least it's a real adventure this way. I never know what will turn up next. My head is humming from all those Japanese names like a beehive.


As I said: completely boring stuff. So, I think it's safe to allow comments, eh?

Comments

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I know. But I wanna more! 'Cos it's a great chapter, and I worked sooo hard to get it together! *pouts like a six-year-old*

And now I have to write the big naval battle, and I'm scared shitless, as I don't know a thing about 12th century sailing ships in Japan, and couldn't find a detailed description of the battle, and... and... and life is just being unfair! *sniffles*

Besides, someone on ff.net picked on my grammar again, and I'm really getting fed up with that. My grammar may not be perfect, and there may be a few typos, but it's still better than what a lot of native speakers have the cheek to post.

[artemis10002000]

*big hug*

Ugh, naval battles! Can't blame you for being scared! Writing a naval battle would be scary even if it weren't 12th century Japan, but this makes it all the more scary. Can't you skim the battle?

I would tell you not to let the grammar-picking reviewer bother you, but I know it's easier said than done, so lemme just give you another hug *hugs*

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

No, I can't skim the battle, unfortunately. Once you find the time to read this part, you'll understand why. I can't tell you now, it would spoil the surprise.

The problem is, I sick at research, when it becomes serious. What I'd need would be an online English translation of "The Tale of the Heike", but haven't been able to find one yet. Too bad, I'd like to actually read the scene where the Imperial Grandmother calls her son, the Taira general the son of an umbella salesman because he hesitates to kill himself rather than being captured. I'd like to use that scene, but until I know how it fits to the rest, I don't really dare. *sighs*

[artemis10002000]

That sounds difficult. I wouldn't know where to start, either. It sounds like a very obscure text (for Western audiences, that is).

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Actually, the two short excerpts I managed to find are rather charming - which is a strange thing to say, considering that one of them describes the death of a 17-year-old Taira prince! Wikipedia says, ToH had been told orally for a couple of centuries before it got written down, so it still has some of the naive charme of folk tales, I guess.

In any case, I would love to read the whole thing. There is an English translation in printed form (aka: a book), but I don't think I'll have a rat's chance to ever find it. And I haven't managed to hunt down more parts online.

[artemis10002000]

*laughs* Well, it does seem like a strange thing to say, that the death of the prince would be charmingly written, but I think I get what you mean.

Your research frenzy actually motivated me to get started on some research for Grimoireverse world building I'd been delaying for years - well, the pre-research phase, I got the books from the library. They're renovating, so I wouldn't be able to get them till January. I signed them out with a machine, but bringing them back will mean handing them over to a person. I reckon I'll earn some very odd looks for returning a stack of books about satanism! *lol*

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Why would you need such books for your story? It's an original one, right?

[artemis10002000]

Yeah, it's original. I need to understand the medieaval or post-medieaval view (especially the peasant's folklore) on heaven and hell, the occult and the devil and all that jazz better since the character who ended up my main narrrator is up to his eyeballs in something similar. It's not a medieval story, actually in the future, but it's the era that comes closest to the mindset of my world's people.