Writing

[elen_nare]

On the one hand, I'm trying to write an original fic in Spanish for a contest. It's organised by the Ministry of Science and Technology, so, of course, the story has to have a scientific and/or technological basis. I wrote one for this contest before, in 2006, using the Twin Paradox, and my story actually won a prize! Since then, they either haven't run it, or I haven't heard about it in time.
This year, I went with this as a basis, but it's driving me round the bend. Partly, because my brain seems determined to think it writes better in English than Spanish. Way to help, brain. Partly, I don't like certain conventions of Spanish formatting. In particular, I hate using an intial dash to mark speech, like this:

- Annoyed, don't you think this is a horrible way of marking speech? - asked Grumpy.
- Yes, I do! Especially because it's hard to distinguish when a dash is separating parts of speech - like this - and when it means the writer is adding a speech tag - sniffed Annoyed.
- By the way - said Grumpy pedantically - if this was Spanish, you should have an exclamation mark at the start.
- I don't care! Also, it makes Word attempt to format every single bloody dialougue bit as a bullet list! I hate it! - Annoyed complained.

...You get the point. Also, the fact that pronouns are gendered in Spanish is annoying me. I can't just have "the biologist", I must have "La bióloga" (f) or "El biólogo" (m). Which means I have to be careul about balancing genders on my team of scientists. I suppose that's a good thing to have to think about, but it's also hard not making it too heavy-handedly "See, there are equal numbers of male and female scientists on my team!", which isn't what the story's about.

I could go on about the dfferences between writing in Spanish and English for a while, but it's enough to merit a separate post (maybe sometime...)

There's a minimum 1200 word count. I've got a 1000 words, about 80% of which I don't like. And the deadline is Feb 18. Oh Joy.

And I have an exam on the 14th for which I've barely started revising. On Maths Analysis - differential equations, complex calculus, Fourier... Oh Greater Joy. (Yes, I can take it on the 3rd of March instead. Let me moan :P liebedance , I know you like calculus, but bear with me!)

Anyway... this was supposed to be about writing.

The second writing-related thing going on in my brain is a Swallows and Amazons plotbunny. It started out as a nice little missing moment scene from Great Northern? Then I started thinking abot the historical period (1934/5), got curious about a few things, and posted on little_details . The folk there were really helpful, and made me consider a lot of things I hadn't thought of, as well as coming up with some amazing research sources. This unortunately fed the bunny, which now wants me to write pretty much the whole lives of all the main characters in the canon. Not. Happening. Any. Time. Soon.
To appease the beast a little, I was thinking of doing one of those themed drabble challenges I've seen at times. I've found a few theme lists, but if you have any awesome ones, they're always welcome :) I will not do this until after the exam, though, I swear. Let's see how long that resolution lasts...

There's also my poor languishing nano effort, I still have half writen scenes floating around in my brain. I must get my laptop fixed, the original files are mainly on that (lucky I have an LJ  and GoogleDocs backup!).

Finally, there's a Luna Lovegood + Taylor Swift's Lucky You bunny that has being waiting remarkably patiently, so I suppose it should get written a some point.
 
I will not write fic instead of revising. I will not write fic instead of revising. I should not write fic instead of revising. I probably will write fic instead of revising...
I'm hopeless. And quite a bit bonkers. I'll stop wittering on about writing and actually do some writing instead, now there's a novel idea ;)

Comments

[liebedance.livejournal.com]

That calculus sounds difficult. More advanced than any I've taken, at any rate. Good luck!

Just speak in the plural all the time. Los biólogos hacen cosas.Or something... No scientist can work alone!

But, yes, the dashes bothered (read: confused) me when I was learning Spanish... because nobody explained it to me.

And 1K is almost at 1.2K :)

[elen_nare]

Thanks! <3

I try to do that, but it would look rather odd in dialogue, don't you think? Two or more people saying the same thing at the same time. And it annoys me in a different way - why must the default be masculine if you ahve people of both genders? I'm hard to please ;)

It would be confusing if nobody explained it! Silly people, I'm a native speaker and it still puzzled me when I was small (I did learn to read in english first, so that was part of it).

It'll get there eventually, I suppose. I'm at about 1.1k, but we've had powercuts that rather interrupted the writing. I'll try and get the first draft done tonight.

Did you decide anything about hp_canon_fest? I'm going to sign up tonight, if there's still time.

[liebedance.livejournal.com]

I think they're just at prompting, now. Claiming hasn't opened yet. So, I think I'll do it :)

[elen_nare]

Awesome! :) I'm going to post a prompt because I just thought of one, I might do more tomorrow, and I think I will claim a prompt - and immediately panic about it. Hey, it's part of the fun ;)

[bluealoe]

I like the word "wittering" :)

The weird bacteria! I heard about that on the radio...it seems like a good basis for a story.

Writing in a different language than you're used to can really be hard. I have to write essays for Japanese class now, and ugh...

The gender thing amuses me, because Japanese goes the opposite direction and doesn't mark plurals or gender. So If you say "biologist" (seibutsugakusha; I just looked it up), it could mean "a biologist", "the biologist", "some biologists", "the biologists", etc. They could be male, female, or whatever. It makes things rather vague. Which could be good, I suppose, but at other times, it drives you nuts.

Calculus! AHHH! *runs and hides*

I read some of the little_details community, and it's rather addicting. Good luxk with your story(ies)!!

*hugs*

[elen_nare]

It's a fun word, isn't it? :)

That bacteria is amazing. There's one of the things I'd like to work on someday - not that bacteria specifically, but astrobiology in general.

True, I often had problems writing for French class - so much that I hadn't the foggiest idea how to say! Though I could get the right words sometimes by mixing the spanish and english versions, then making it sound french. I suspect that method wouldn't work in Japanese ;)
I think what annoys me most about this is that Spanish is supposed to be my first or equal first language, I should be able to write in it without gaining a desire to incessantly facepalm. *glares at internal editor* shut up, you. You're just part of my subconscious, stop trying to boss me around!

Ahem. I'm not crazy. At all :P

I suppose there's good and bad sides to both approaches, the "everything is gendered" and the "nothing is gendered". Right now, though, I'm wishing for the latter and stuck with the former, lol.

Come back! I won't talk about it any more, I promise! (Or can I go and hide with you?)

It is very addictive. Thank you!

*hugs back*

[bluealoe]

You should get in touch with my best friend, she majored in astrophysics. She can do the physics and you can do the biology :)

Spanish + English = French? Interesting :)

Lots of people are better at speaking a language than writing it; I've met lots of people who can't even string together a sentence in English. So don't feel bad :) If it's easier to write in English, could you write the story in English first, then translate it to Spanish? Or would that be way too much work?

*pokes head out from under her rock* Quick! In here! Get in before Calculus finds us!

[elen_nare]

Really, I'd need a biologist, since I'm doing a degree in astronomy :) (Hence all the Calculus and Physics studying). Out of curiosity, what does your friend work on? Sorry if I seem nosy, it's just you don't meet astrophysicists every day (or hear of them from friends). I also find it interesting that she majored in astrophysics - in Argentina at least my university is one of the few that doesn't make me get a physics degree first and then specialize, so I wondered how it works in the US.

Not always, of course, and in can make for some real howlers, but if you have a similar word for the same thing in two of them, it's often also alike in French. Like, say, verb(E) - verbo(S) - verbe(F).

I know, it's just... frustrating. I've got a first draft, finally, and I'm letting it stew for a bit before taking another look. My brain was trying to do the English to Spanish, definitely. Leading to ocasional "Shut up, MS Word, that is a word... oh, wait... Yes, you are for once quite right. I'm using Spanglish" moments, lol.

*hides under rock* I think we're safe in here :)

[bluealoe]

Not all schools in the US have majors in astronomy (my school didn't), and I'm guessing very few have programs for astrophysics. But my best friend went to a specialized science university, everyone there was studying science or math, so they had an astrophysics major.
Actually, right now she's in graduate school getting her master's in microbiology. She decided she was more interested in viruses than in outer space. ;) I'm not sure what she plans to do when she graduates, maybe work in a lab. However, I remain convinced she's going to discover alternate universes.

[elen_nare]

Ah, a specialized science university. Now it all make sense :)

Viruses and ouer space aren't mutually exclusive! She might discover alien life :)

[bluealoe]

Actually, I just got an email from her yesterday, and apparently she's going back to astrophysics. I quote "So, I went back to the physics department. I'm now working on a master's in theoretical astrochemistry, modelling the formation of carbon sulfide in comets. I'm taking graduate level quantum mechanics and thermodynamics. I am LOVING IT. I hadn't realized just how right doing physics feels until I came back to it."

She scares me. A lot.

[elen_nare]

That sounds awesome! Formation of carbon sulfide in comets... Theoretical astrochemistry... That is why I'm putting myself through all this Calculus! I want to work on things like that someday. I got pretty discouraged studying today. I didn't just not use the easiest process, I seemed to deliberately look for the hardest one! Your friend's quote put it all back in perspective, so thank you both :) <3

Heehee, that reminds me of some comments my very non mathematical sister has made at times, such as "I'd kind of like to go to your university, just to meet weird people" *snort* I can't exactly argue with it, lol.

(Sory for deleting and reposting, but I had to use this icon, didn't I?) ;)

[bluealoe]

I'm glad it was inspiring for you. :) Personally, I can't even wrap my mind around the idea of theoretical astrochemistry or why you want to know about carbon sulfide in comets. But hey, to each their own. :)

The odd thing is, I've heard science-y people say the same thing about non-sciencey people. And at my college, I sure met a lot of language/history/music/etc geeks, so I think there's just weird people everywhere. :)

[elen_nare]

I think there's just weird people everywhere

Or we're all a little weird in our own way :)

[zeviz.livejournal.com]

Congratulations with winning a prize in the past, and good luck with your current entry.

For dialogue formatting, would it help to use English convention, and then convert it when you are done? (By the way, Russian uses the same convention as Spanish.)

This unortunately fed the bunny, which now wants me to write pretty much the whole lives of all the main characters in the canon. Not. Happening. Any. Time. Soon.
So you aren't in the mood to write several novel-length fics? :P

I will not write fic instead of revising. I will not write fic instead of revising. I should not write fic instead of revising. I probably will write fic instead of revising...
Sounds familiar. :P
Good luck on your test(s).

[elen_nare]

Hi! Long time no see :) How are you?

Thanks :) Using one convention and switching it at the end might be a good way to go to go in future, thanks for the idea :)

So you aren't in the mood to write several novel-length fics? :P
Not really... though one of the factors was "I can't spend as much time researching the historical period as I'd want to if I did", yet I'm doing absurd amounts of research for 500 word fics. I'm still not doing the novels, though :P

Thanks!

[zeviz.livejournal.com]

Hi! Long time no see :) How are you?
Anything less than a year isn't a long time. :P And I am about average.

though one of the factors was "I can't spend as much time researching the historical period as I'd want to if I did", yet I'm doing absurd amounts of research for 500 word fics.
Historical research can be quite fun. Which time and place is it?

I'm still not doing the novels, though :P
Come on, don't you dream of being world- Internet-famous author? :P

[elen_nare]

Anything less than a year isn't a long time.
Of course :P Average is good, yes? :)

The period is England, pre and during WWII. The second is fairly easily researched, the second one not quite so much.

The research is fun... I'm just sooo detail-oriented I'm trying to research horribly obscure things. Such as girl guide companies in the lake district in the 1930s. Because I'm considering that one of the characters might decide to work with them when she leaves school. It's a shame I'm not doing this a few years later, I'd have way more books of the time on project Gutenberg and so on... as it is I'm stuck with the early 20s as the latest there.

I'm slowly ammassing questions I can't find answers to, and will eventually throw myself at the mercy of little_details for the general ones, and the fandom comm for the specific ones.

Come on, don't you dream of being world- Internet-famous author? :P
*snort* Who says I can't be that with a collection of same-story-arc one-shots? :P Besides, it'd be a pretty obscure fame, giving the size of the fandom ;)