Home » Discussion Forums » Blog Post Discussion » A day full of adventures
| A day full of adventures [message #40559] |
Mon, 21 March 2011 22:37  |
 b_twin_1
Messages: 2597
Registered: September 2008
Location: Victoria, Australia |
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Adventure!
I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel ~ Blackadder
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| Re: A day full of adventures [message #40562 is a reply to message #40559 ] |
Mon, 21 March 2011 23:19  |
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boddhi_d
Messages: 70
Registered: October 2008
Location: Tennessee |
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We can associate with you, and your issues, and the Yarn Collection/Multiple Project theories.
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Especially multiple projects...I swear, I'm going to have to include projects in my will, the completion of which is a requirement to inherit. ('To my beloved second cousin I bequeath my pearl earrings and $1000, to be distributed upon finishing the rosebud quilt that is nearly done.')
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and not to be rude,
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In the southern U.S., we have an all-purpose phrase that can be used to GREAT effect in many circumstances, and I think is appropriate here: "Bless your heart." As in, "Bless your heart, child, why don't you just go sit down and try it again, and this time actually pay attention?" It's a fabulous way 'not to be rude.' AND it can be repeated ENDLESSLY.
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I have no clear idea of who the main character is
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Bless its heart.
I can't help but wonder, is this maybe a problem of the reader trying to decide which of the males is the main character?
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If Oisin doesn’t stop flapdoodling around on the flimsy excuse that he has 1,000,000,000,000 things to do already^^^ and get the New Arcadia Singers organised,
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...and write another GUEST BLOG...*
Dawn in TN
*That was a cue, wasn't it?
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| Re: A day full of adventures [message #40566 is a reply to message #40559 ] |
Tue, 22 March 2011 00:48 |
EMoon
Messages: 665
Registered: March 2009 |
Senior Member |
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..."you’re hanging harness on something that isn’t anything like tame enough yet for it. Like a bad trainer you may force it to do something that it will, by that force, do clumsily, and which it would have done gladly if you’d given it a little more time and freedom to find its own way."
Yes. Though I do talk sometimes about work in progress in a very limited way ("x-many words today and solved/didn't solve a problem") it's absobalutely true that talking/writing about it too much is exactly like rushing the training of a critter or a child. Especially any speculation in advance of where the story is at the moment. "Tomorrow I'll take care of the scene where the magical parrot changes color and tells Teddy how to find the Key to Everything..." would trap the book into what I think, at this moment, the story should be. But that's my conscious, analytical mind making plans and thinking it knows...and the story may (will) need to knock me flat and trample on me to make it clear that the story, and not my front-brain, is in charge. Yes, magical parrot, and yes, changing color means something, and yes, eventually Teddy will find the Key...but it doesn't mean what I think it does when I'm foolishly telling a blog audience what I'm going to do.
In the run-up to the release of the new book (tomorrow! And as always, I'm panicking) I've been sharing some background stuff with the community at the Paksworld blog, and as usual some are eager to leap ahead into interpreting while others are eager to ask more questions. I can tell them anything that's archival, so to speak--it's done with, for story purposes. But I can't go near the edges, where it's kind of fringe-like, because those are still potential new stuff. (So I can't really talk about some of the details of the mikki-kekki in Dzordanya because...I have this uncomfortable feeling that I will need to find out more about them...only not now. Later. When it's time. And if I make it up now, that's the wrong kind of creating.)
E
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| Re: A day full of adventures [message #40571 is a reply to message #40564 ] |
Tue, 22 March 2011 04:15 |
CathyR
Messages: 575
Registered: July 2009
Location: NW England |
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| Stephanie wrote on Tue, 22 March 2011 03:45 |
And Robin, reading your blog has changed my way of looking at authors - not that I didn't know that an author is a person, but I just didn't know any personally. I realize that the blog is just a small and selectively edited part of your life, but a lot of your voice comes through and I really enjoy feeling like I know a little bit about Robin, the person ... it's such a joy to read and I want you to know how much I appreciate you spending the time to share some of yourself with us.
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YES!!!
Your blog is my essential morning reading while I have my breakfast cup of tea. It sets me up for the day before I head out to work.
Thank you.
Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.
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| Re: A day full of adventures [message #40572 is a reply to message #40559 ] |
Tue, 22 March 2011 07:40 |
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Mirkat
Messages: 99
Registered: May 2010
Location: Wherever the Navy takes u... |
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My name is Rglmmph and I am in 7th grade advanced english [ital mine, lack of init cap Rglmmph’s] . . . and I have a few questions. First off, why is The Hero and the Crown so confusing? My english [sic] teacher already made us read 6 chapters and not to be rude,
I always like ‘not to be rude’. Not to be rude, but your heroine sucks pond scum. Not to be rude, but DEERSKIN/SUNSHINE/DRAGONHAVEN is the dumbest book I’ve ever read in my life. Not be rude, but Stephen King/Anne McCaffrey/Edmund Spenser did it better.
but I have no clear idea of who the main character is and what the plot is.
Seriously? Six chapters and you have no idea who the main character is?
. . . What should I do to better understand your book? I feel like every paragraph has more and more confusing stuff in it. Is there a particular way I should read this book? Should I just read the dialoge [also sic] or the details or both?
Usually when you read a novel you read all of it, yes. Usually there’s stuff you need to know in both dialog[u]e and, er, details. But then advanced english has clearly changed a lot since my school days.
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*cough* *sputter* Still snorting at this little interlude. Thanks for sharing, however frustrating it must be to actually have to answer. 
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| Re: A day full of adventures [message #40578 is a reply to message #40559 ] |
Tue, 22 March 2011 11:34 |
ScorpioMouse
Messages: 7
Registered: February 2011
Location: Virginia |
Junior Member |
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Oh, I LOVE the suggestion that the little person in need of heart-blessing is trying to figure out which male is the main character in H and the C! I think we've nailed it there.
After nearly three decades of trying to be SANE and SENSIBLE and NORMAL, I'm finally accepting that insanity is just fine. I consider this blog to be part of my self-therapy - I love reading it, so do many many other people, we all adore and identify with your less sane moments. Ta da! More proof that wonderful things come out of insanity allowed to run its course. (For those of you thinking, "I could never contain my insanity, it is too central to my character," I respectfully posit that you probably could, it would just have dire consequences requiring lots and lots of self-therapy.)
Regarding dairy before singing, I came by the nickname Mouse honestly when my Beast and I were first dating. I ate every bit of cheese in his apartment from day 1. I've never known dairy to affect my singing, but I do notice that being anywhere near a smoker, or drinking certain kinds of alcohol (including champagne, drat it all) do affect the cords. I'm also inclined to agree that you may be dealing with a cold unaware.
~ Mouse
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| Re: A day full of adventures [message #40582 is a reply to message #40559 ] |
Tue, 22 March 2011 12:24 |
Annagail
Messages: 68
Registered: August 2009
Location: PA |
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Vocal fold function wrt dairy and other stuff:
Completely depends on the singer and the time of year and the humidity. I have absolutely no problem singing about half an hour after I've just had yogurt for breakfast, but I have friends who swear off dairy completely if they're mid-rehearsal-season. My teacher swears by a humidifier in the winter- I'm not convinced, but I'm not gonna knock it for other folks. ScorpioMouse mentioned being around smokers- that will definitely screw up my vocal folds for awhile, and alcohol does have a drying effect (but wears off after not-too-long). Also, taking antihistamines will dry up the mucosal covering of the folds to some extent, so if you have allergy problems and sing, it's really best to try to find some other way of dealing with them that doesn't involve antihistamines. Blood thinners (aspirin, ibuprofen) can increase the chance of a hemorrhage, so if you can avoid singing on these, do. Also, for women, the chance of a hemorrhage during "that time of the month" is already higher- used to be in the old German opera houses the women would have "no singing at that time of the month" in their contracts- and combining that with blood thinners can be a really, really bad idea.
If the throat feels clogged/thick/fussy for any reason (dairy consumption or not), the best remedy I've found is ginger tea with lemon and honey (and a dollop of whiskey if you don't need to be anywhere in the near future). Basically, grate up about a thumb's worth of fresh ginger and boil the heck out of it (for about 15 mins or so, until it starts looking "tea"ish and burns when you sip it), strain out the ginger, add lemon and honey and whiskey, and drink. It will burn- if it doesn't burn it's not strong enough. But that's basically what ended up delaying the onset of my mono last fall until *after* the big opera gala.
And /agree with all of the "bless his* heart"s about the poor hapless 7th grader who's looking for the (male) Hero of the book. Seriously, by six chapters in the idea of "backstory" should have already been realised- I do remember being slightly thrown by the style the first time I read it, but I was in like 3rd or 4th rather than 7th. I was also not flummoxed by the idea of a female Hero.
Sanity? I think I was just glad to see that other people are as insane as I am, and that being good at any sort of artistic endeavor pretty much requires a variety of insanity that makes one highly interesting to me.
*do we know it's a him?
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| Re: A day full of adventures [message #40583 is a reply to message #40559 ] |
Tue, 22 March 2011 13:13 |
YoungGeekyLibrarian
Messages: 3
Registered: March 2011 |
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regarding dairy and singing - I do think it varies amongst people... I know people who won't eat or drink much dairy ANYTIME because they're singers, and then there are others like me who generally don't think a whole lot about it (as long as I'm not in bad voice to begin with, dairy doesn't do much to my vocal cords - now refried beans on the other hand, lol, those are a no no before singing). Then I also know of another singer whom has slightly damaged vocal cords (or its something that has always been wrong with her cords, I don't remember which) who actually sings BETTER after consuming dairy because she needs that extra bit there, lol. So clearly its a personal issue, and it wouldn't surprise me if it it didn't change for some people over time...
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| Re: A day full of adventures [message #40584 is a reply to message #40582 ] |
Tue, 22 March 2011 16:22 |
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boddhi_d
Messages: 70
Registered: October 2008
Location: Tennessee |
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Annagail: *do we know it's a him?
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No idea. Cluelessness being a factor of age, attitude, and circumstance rather than gender, I'm not presuming one way or the other.
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librarykat: Bless his heart, isn't he just precious?
Sorry, but having lived down here in the Redneck Riviera for the past almost-eight years, those two phrases occur a LOT.
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Oh, yes. Both phrases, individually or in combination, cover SUCH a range of circumstances.
--Dawn in TN
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| Re: A day full of adventures [message #40590 is a reply to message #40559 ] |
Wed, 23 March 2011 01:29 |
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danceswithpahis
Messages: 380
Registered: October 2008 |
Senior Member |
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"She could not remember a time when she had not known the story; she had grown up knowing it." (H & C, 1st sentence)
This is a very, very rough rule of thumb, and many examples could be given to disprove it. However, when I'm starting a book, barring any reason to think otherwise, I tend to assume that the character starting off the book (in this case, specifically referred to in the first sentence, the first paragraph, and throughout the first chapter) may well be the main character. Again, this could be wrong; sometimes the first chapter is from a "throwaway" character, for example, that never appears again for the rest of the book, perhaps the book is about someone else seen through this person's eyes, or maybe there are several main characters and the book starts off with just one of them. However, if the story continues being from that character's perspective, basic reading skills would indicate that the one whose perspective we are sharing is, in fact, the main character. Just a thought.
"Oh good! My dog found the chainsaw!"
-- Lilo ("Lilo and Stitch")
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| Re: A day full of adventures [message #40601 is a reply to message #40559 ] |
Wed, 23 March 2011 12:38 |
keller
Messages: 1
Registered: March 2011
Location: Tacoma |
Junior Member |
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I'm new to the forum, but I couldn't resist commenting on Rglmmph's letter. I first picked up "The Hero and the Crown" in sixth grade, and I'm rereading it as a freshman in college for the...hmmm...I can't remember how many times I've reread it! It is because of the layers, because I have to ponder and puzzle out, that I keep returning to your books. I find something different each time.
TempusVernum
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| Re: A day full of adventures [message #40621 is a reply to message #40559 ] |
Thu, 24 March 2011 01:55 |
jjmcgaffey
Messages: 53
Registered: September 2010
Location: Alameda, CA |
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Oddly enough, while I had no problem _reading_ the Hero and the Crown (many many times), the one time I tried _listening_ to it was an exercise in frustration. I kept thinking that _now_ the story would start and it would be another flashback...it's truly strange, because I was completely familiar with the story but when I had to process it auditorally (is that a word?) rather than visually it just didn't work. The reader was quite good (no idea who it was), just - the flashbacks kept tripping me up. I had to go read it as soon as I finished the audiobook to get it back into proper style in my head.
H&C was my second Robin book, I think - the first was The Blue Sword (which I picked up because somebody said it was like Kipling. Which it is - or at least, anyone familiar with the Raj (as I was and am) can see a lot of similar thinking among the Homelanders...). Then I discovered there was another Damar book and grabbed H&C. I love a lot of Robin's books, but if another Damar story should manage to climb out of that box in the attic (was it the attic?) and get hold of your sleeve, I would be delighted.
jjm
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