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Those of you in the romper room…er…spoiler space for speculation…should probably know that all the comments show up in my email and also–when I come here to answer comments in other threads–the main comments display as viewed by the Admin (the hat I was given by having this place.)
So, although I try not to pay any attention to that thread’s comments (and mostly I don’t) sometimes a phrase catches my eye. And so, without any intent to peek, I’ve peeked here and there (by no means the whole thing.) My only real concern, folks, is that something might happen to make people unhappy with not just that playroom but the whole space and (worst case) Paksworld itself. On other threads, we’ve hit on some serious topics as well as fun ones, and occasionally it’s seemed (to me, but being a writer I may be hypersensitive to this) that one or another person is getting upset. Feelings hurt. Anger roused. That sort of thing.
Here, where I’m not reading every comment every day, that could happen and turn into a storm before I’m aware there’s a cloud in the sky. Was there a cloud in one of the comments that flashed a phrase in my eye before I turned away? I’m not sure. I hope not. Among other things I have a long hard rehearsal for which I should be leaving two minutes ago, to sing music I don’t like, and I really don’t want to deal with other problems. So I would ask you all to refrain from painting the playroom walls with…any bodily fluids. No name-calling, no hair-pulling, no kicking of shins. Take deep breaths. Recognize potential friends, not enemies. If it’s not being fun for you, take a break outside in some fresh air.
Given the music schedule and the work schedule for the next two weeks (extra rehearsals, long hours) I won’t be able to do any more than glance at this place, cross my fingers, and hope to find it all in order when I come back. However, if one of you has a complaint to file with Admin, please email me directly (link on my website, if you don’t have the email addy already) and I’ll try to resolve the situation. I value all of you, and your participation, and want it to be a good experience. And if I’m overreacting to that briefly seen phrase or two, my apologies for thinking, even for a moment, that you fine adult people might be experiencing any unpleasantness.
(I’m now 7 minutes behind schedule and still don’t have shoes and socks on. Bye, now.)
Comment by Moira — June 16, 2012 @ 9:30 am
Yes ma’am, heard and understood.
It’s Saturday, it’s going to be nice this afternoon, and I have a camera to play with. 🙂
Comment by Jenn — June 16, 2012 @ 11:48 am
May I use this to ask a question?
What happened to Gird son Pidi? He road into the forest and never came out. Was it brigands or iynisi? did he stumble across an elfhome and fall in love with a elvish maiden? was he just thrown from his horse or attacked by wild animals?
It is one of those itchy spots that is just wants to know.
Comment by Daniel Glover — June 17, 2012 @ 7:07 am
Elizabeth,
Do take care. You’ve had a lot (and continue to have a lot) to take care of. I will try to behave. Many prayers all around.
Comment by Elizabeth D. — June 17, 2012 @ 11:47 pm
There were several things that got in the way of reading paksworld blog for a while, but I’m kind of glad I didn’t around my birthday. In my childhood, my father rode the train to work, and I used to ride my bicycle to the train station to meet him after work. At that time, in America, there were actual commuter trains that were not just in the big cities. Anyway, once the train was rather late, and I looked down the tracks. It was still rather far away, but somehow something told me to get back on the platform, and whoosh… I never saw a whiter color on the face of the engineer. Anyway, for your writer mind, there is something very strange about very large objects that is a mirage: if they are big, they look much farther away than they actually are. This could also work for large dangerous creatures; they are upon the characters before one knows it.
Or, it could work for register: the larger and more important the character, the more they seem far away in a kind of mirage. Or it could work for how Elvenhome works. Or anything else that a character thinks (as a child does) must be far away because it is outside of one’s own normal sphere of understanding.
As far as choir directors go: one group I was in worked on so much superficial music that I finally left; I might have stayed if I didn’t have to pay annual dues. The worst thing is that I tend to memorize music, whether meaning to or not, and nothing ticks me off more than having some banal (Howard Hanson) piece rattling through my brain when I least want it.
I confess: I didn’t play much in spoiler spaces because at a certain point I know that I’m spoiled enough already.
And everybody on the register thread missed what I consider the most obvious character’s use of register: Arvid. Is he a simple peasant, or a lord? Is he a stupid merchant, or born in an alley? Can he somehow talk his way out of being killed and receive a pass from the High Marshal, or is he somehow plotting revenge? The change of register that he practices so artfully ends up fooling him; he is truly surprised that, facing possibly his own child, he can’t play the vengeful enforcer and still somehow rescue the child, without offending Gird. And I think that Gird somehow understands at least Arvid’s candid gruffness and lack of dutiful respect shown to him, but it is Arvid’s breakdown in register that finally makes him admit that he must surrender.
I am sorry about your friend and also the person who was hit by the train; my husband has been dealing with bad numbers on blood tests lately, and that kind of thing just has no category that I could name of fear and other emotions. I liked the emotional change of register that you achieved in your books: where a character faces something much too difficult for them and somehow finds their way through; the approach to the world that Paks has in the end of Divided Allegiance is an example of a person who cowers from others, and it is mostly a communication problem she has with herself and her understanding, that Master Oakhollow straightens out.
And Andressat’s linguistic ability is believable; including finding out that he is from a noble family of brick-layers: he builds histories using vocabulary and grammar. Meeting gnomes, so lawful, so similar to him, he shows many changes in register.
Kieri is capable of formal speech in command, but it is he who is the least comfortable, it seems, with the way Lyonya works; but more and more he seems to be shifting into an ability to be formal while not gnomish. I think it has something to do with the Taig and the contemplation that goes with that.
My husband pointed out years ago that English change in register is usually accomplished by use of less Anglo-Saxon and more Latin, but I think it is more in rhythm. I sat in on a course in Welsh poetry once, and realized that I know almost nothing (internal rhymes or rhymes of middle syllables between lines). Those who are more formal are practiced in the art of oratory; which means that they are poetically correct when speaking. At least not politically correct…
Comment by Gareth — June 18, 2012 @ 7:44 am
Don’t worry – we’ll all be nice in the playroom – you might want to see if there are some participants who you trust as moderators if the playroom thread concept continues. It clearly taps a need as the response count is way up there.
I’m enjoying the speculation some tongue in cheek most serious ideas. I’m sure there are plenty of ‘regulars’ who would alert you to anything in bad taste. Enjoy (or endure) the music (if it isn’t your favourite).
Comment by Genko — June 18, 2012 @ 9:15 am
At my mom’s memorial service on Saturday, we got to pick the music, and just thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. My sisters and I sang a trio, and that hasn’t happened in a lot of years, and likely won’t happen again in several more. Our voices blend well — you’d think we were related (!). Ended with a rousing rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus that we all joined in on, even the men. Accompanied by an amazing old pipe organ and an organist who knows how to play it. Ahhhh!
One thing I miss in Zen is that we don’t have a lot of opportunity to actually sing and harmonize. We do a little bit here, but most of it is monotone chanting. Which has its charms, but …
Comment by Iphinome — June 18, 2012 @ 4:43 pm
Lady Moon, I think I know what phrase caught your eye. The person who typed it directed those words at Barrayni, not a fellow commenter.
Comment by elizabeth — June 18, 2012 @ 6:15 pm
Moira & Daniel: Thanks to both of you–reassurance and comfort v. welcome.
Jenn. Pidi disappeared in Gird’s war, and I believe was killed or he’d have shown up again later. I believe Gird heard fifth-or-sixth-hand that he’d been killed, but Pidi’s body wasn’t found or anything specific. As the iynisin’s curse said, Gird’s line died with him, since Rahel could not have more children.
Elizabeth D. I’m still up to my ears in alligators and don’t have time to fully reply to your thoughtful comments.
Gareth & Iphinome: Thanks for your reassurances. I’m glad to know my hasty glances led to the wrong possible conclusion and thus to unnecessary concern.
Genko: Condolences on your loss, but v. happy that you were able to sing and enjoyed the memorial service. Monotone chanting has one sort of power (the first 3 pages of the Britten we sang is one C after another. Everyone on C) but there are other joys in harmony and variations in tempo and volume.
We have the planning pretty well set for the memorial service & reception for our friend. His widow is arranging the actual formalities; I’m concentrating more on the reception end, though mowing the near meadow will have to be done ahead of time, of course. I’ve arranged to borrow a friend’s punchbowl; all the platters and serving tools are ready; and the menu is in my head, needing only a trip to the big grocery store to put all together.
Comment by Ginny W. — June 19, 2012 @ 7:28 am
I found the discussion of Barra interesting, but I must say that it inspired me to go back and read Elizabeth’s post about not writing the point of view of the ‘bad guys’. (Feb 28 under characters, I think).
May you find everything you need on sale at the big grocery store.
Comment by Ginny W. — June 19, 2012 @ 7:36 am
It was Feb 17, under craft.
Comment by elizabeth — June 19, 2012 @ 7:07 pm
Sometimes the writer wears out. I dropped out of the concert…the edits just weren’t getting done fast enough, and I couldn’t learn the music fast enough because of the edits (and couldn’t do the edits if I spent time at the piano with the scores.) So I have all day tomorrow, as well as having spent all day today, and progress on the edits has gone faster. Which it needed to.
I’m hoping to get to bed before midnight tonight (in summer, dawn wakes me, early, so midnight-to-dawn is not enough sleep.) At this point, the biggest problem is physical–sitting too long with manuscript here and computer screen straight ahead, and squinting from one to the other (neither setting of my bifocals is quite right for both things). So getting up every hour or two to walk the length of the house and back a couple of times and then knit for 15 minutes is a must.
Comment by Iphinome — June 19, 2012 @ 8:18 pm
Lady, several comments higher there was a note on the distinction between villein and villain. villein being a serf (farmhand) and a villain being one who is not chivalrous.
*also nitpicky*
Comment by elizabeth — June 19, 2012 @ 9:11 pm
I suspected you knew, but…given my present circumstances…I don’t read all the comments right now. (O Lord, give me the strength to do 14 more pages before I hit the sack…)
Comment by elizabeth — June 19, 2012 @ 9:36 pm
Finished C-11. All this would be faster if I cared less. Editor is catching things I’m glad to have caught, and the structural suggestions all made sense. One of the slow things about the line edit part is hunting for the exact place, since I’d already made changes that invalidated page and line numbers. Some of the things Editor wanted changed do not even exist anymore. Others do.
Some of those are obviously better the way Editor suggests. Some are…maybe…maybe not. Those take time. Read a paragraph or two silently, then aloud, then consider. What was Editor reacting to that prompted the change? Could another wording be better? Is Editor’s wording the best? Can I come up with something better? Or–in some cases–is the original exactly the flavor, the sound, the effect I wanted? Sometimes it’s one, sometimes it’s two, sometimes it’s three. But it takes thought and time for each one. And though Editor isn’t at all heavy-handed, in this many pages there are a lot of things to ponder anew. (Keep the semi-colon or insert a connective like “and” or “but”? Link those two short sentences–and if so, how?–or keep them separate? Change that word? Keep that repeat for emphasis–in dialogue–or delete it? How would that character speak in this place, at this time, to this other person?)
The easy way out is to accept everything or stet everything, but that’s not the best way out, in my opinion. So…I’m slow. Faster than I was last week, though.
Comment by Moira — June 19, 2012 @ 11:39 pm
Elizabeth, please don’t care less – but please do get enough sleep!
(Keeping my fingers crossed for you.)
Comment by Mary E Cowart — June 20, 2012 @ 12:34 am
Elizabeth, keep up the good work, but do take care of yourself, enough to eat, enough sleep, some recreation. We enjoy your posts, but the editing is more important. We will wait for the posts, and more important for the finished product. This editing process is necessary, but not necessary pleasant to the mind.
Mary
Comment by Daniel Glover — June 20, 2012 @ 6:25 am
Elizabeth,
Having had bifocals since kindergarten I can relate. Got trifocals a few years back but kept them as bifocals and a separate computer pair which made work like you are doing a real pain. Have lineless ones now, same cost as the pair of the other that I do not like at all. Will be switching back shortly. So I know that simply trying new/different glasses might not help.
May things continue to work out for you and yours.
Comment by Ginny W. — June 20, 2012 @ 1:29 pm
Some things just take time. Judging from past results, I would say that it is worth it.
And some things, like eyesight, are only marginally curable. The human eye was not designed to work with the computer screen. I have continuous variation bifocals, but my neck gets stiff from the limited range of motion that allows me to focus.
Comment by Genko — June 20, 2012 @ 2:55 pm
I like my progressive lenses. But I have to say that my vision isn’t really that bad (yet). I CAN sometimes read without glasses at all, though it continues to get harder, and these days I need a really good light. It’s more comfortable with glasses, and sometimes it’s only possible with glasses. The kind of work you are doing is why I got bifocals in the first place — that was in a classroom where I was looking from my desk to the blackboard in the front of the room. And I started wearing them more often when I was trying to read a bus schedule at night under a street light, and just couldn’t make out those numbers (6 or 9?).
Regardless of how good your glasses are (or are not), the hourly getting up, walking a bit, knitting a bit, break is essential. I learned that when working as a typesetter. I was pretty good at plugging into the computer, but found that if I spent too much time at it, I needed to get up and remember how to walk and breathe.
Comment by Karen H — June 21, 2012 @ 2:09 am
I was a programmer, so I needed to look back and forth from paper to screen a lot. I had cataracts young (40 years old), so I didn’t have the slow transition to bifocals that most people have. I had always needed glasses, though. What worked for me was a pair of bifocals with lines, with the larger area set at the distance to my computer and the reading area like normal. It worked for me, but I had to take them off when I got up and moved around. I do like the progressive, unlined, bifocals. Before I got them, I was that strange lady in the bookstore who was on her knees in order to read the titles on the bottom shelves.
I don’t know if the lenses have changed, but when I glad the cataracts removed, I lost all ability to change focal length because the plastic replacement lenses couldn’t be manipulated by the muscles in the eye like normal lenses.
Comment by pjm — June 23, 2012 @ 3:45 am
I like my progressive lenses too – mostly. It took me a while to remember to really look down when going down stairs (up was not quite so bad) and I got a pair of single vision glasses for watching concerts and the footy from above the action.
Without glasses one eye is much more short-sighted than the other so I use one eye more for reading and the other more for distance work. I heard of somebody who got their optometrist to set up their glasses this way – I gather this worked OK.
Elizabeth, if you need special glasses, find an optometrist who will meet your needs. You certainly do not need extra eye strain to add to your problems.
– Peter