How has your weekend been so far?
Mine has been cold and full of reading, so I thought I'd carry that on to my blog post. The reading bit at least.
In the past few years, I've found that scholarly articles and books have become my biggest research asset. Not only do they teach me new things about specific cultures but they also help me think of new story ideas.
And more importantly, they provide all the in-depth information I need in one place (book/article) without making me go through tons of goggle search results.
Right now, I use e-Duke Books. You can find a whole bunch of books and journal articles about a variety of subjects on here. I tend to gravitate towards the history section even though I started out in the Asian Studies section (trying to get some AtO world building ideas). But there's so much more available.
If you've got the time, give it a go and let me know which section pulls you in.
Polar
Showing posts with label resources. Show all posts
Showing posts with label resources. Show all posts
13 December 2014
06 December 2014
AC_D6: Editing Resources
It's the sixth day of Advent Calendar
series and it's been 'editing day' for me ever since I got home.
I'm not going to lie, it's been
tedious.
I had to stop myself from writing
various plotbunnies, because that would make me procrastinate and not
go back to editing.
Thankfully, there are a few helpful things that I've found that makes editing easier.
It's a long checklist and I like it for
being so thorough and educational. It's easy to forget the basic
rules of grammar sometimes.
An online editor. Just copy bits of
your writing (it only allows 1000 words at a time) and be astounded by the amount of stuff (especially the little errors) this thing picks up. It's good for catching things you'd otherwise miss.
I may or may not have mentioned this
bit of software before. But this is a text to speech software and
it's been a real help for me. Having your work read out to you,
helps you pick up errors or odd sounding bits that you would have
missed with plain old reading.
Also, the way the voices mess
up non-english words will make you giggle. And that's a good way to
deal with the monotony of editing.
Okay, I'm going to go back to editing
now. Wish me luck in staying focussed.
Polar
30 June 2010
Chapter 9 A/N: Extended version
In my quest to reduce my really long A/Ns I've decided to put all that extra talk on the blog. That way I can say as much as I want without taking up space in the actual story on ffnet.
Snakeroot- Bet you thought I made that up, but it’s a real plant. I've based the idea of it being used as a snake venom antidote becasue I read about the Indian Snakeroot which was used in ancient times as a treatment. It seems to grow in a variety of places in different variations, so it's not too farfetched to have it in Konoha/elemental countries.
Azalea plant- Ahh, I wanted to find a japanese plant that had some nice non romantic meaning. It was really luck that let me find this plant. IT just seemed so perfect. And it looked really pretty. Of course I used the western flower language for the symbolic meaning.
Naras- What can I say? They're fun to write- they're so unpredictable with their intelligence. You never know if they're being nice or waiting for a chance to get you thrown in prison.
Politics- I really had no idea how to deal with it. I just hope I managed to do a good job with it. It went according to my own plan, but I wonder if it makes sense to people.
Chapter 9 omake- Rejected writing (too silly to keep in the actual chapter)
"Kotetsu, there's someone following me, like a creepy someone. I think Danzo may be trying to kill me because I made a wise crack about his one eye"
"Oh, that's just your Anbu watcher..."
"huh?"
"You know to make sure you're not a spy or anything."
"Were you supposed to tell me that?"
"I thought it was obvious."
Harry turned back and glanced at the empty space where he knew his watcher was. "Well, he/ she is very, very good at hiding." Harry said loudly and pointedly. Then he leaned down and whipered to Kotetsu, "So uh, do they watch me sleep?"
"Probably"
"That’s so creepy" Harry shuddered.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tsunade looked at the results in her hands in absolute disbelief. Naruto had living family. She cleared her throat and looked at the expectant faces before her.
Words failed her so she just nodded. Her doubts vanished as she watched Naruto jump in the air with a joyful scream and then proceed to hug his newly found cousin who seemed lost in some memory.
“Harii” Naruto squealed after yet another flamboyant hug.
Sakura and Shizune stood to the side with smiles on their faces from Naruto’s enthusiasm. Kakashi had taken out his book once more and proceeded to pretend he didn’t know what was going on in the room around him.
“Well it looks like you’ll have to be taken off active duty” Tsunade said. Both boys turned towards her incredulously. Before Naruto could scream she headed him off. “So that you can learn about your relative…”
She was surprised when the black haired boy intervened in a polite tone, “uh, mam, that isn’t necessary, I don’t want to impose on him or anything. I could just hang out with him when he’s free…” he stopped as he looked into her eyes.
He suddenly fiddled with his fringe. But that was enough for Naruto to speak, “well he can come watch me train. My super cool training.”
As Naruto continued to talk, Tsunade noticed the fond look that Harry seemed to get as he stared at the blond boy.
“Enough” tsunade interrupted with a punch. Harry immediately rushed to his cousin in concern even as he looked at the Hokage in awe and fear.
That last one just makes me cringe and laugh and the same time for some reason!
Polar.
Snakeroot- Bet you thought I made that up, but it’s a real plant. I've based the idea of it being used as a snake venom antidote becasue I read about the Indian Snakeroot which was used in ancient times as a treatment. It seems to grow in a variety of places in different variations, so it's not too farfetched to have it in Konoha/elemental countries.
Azalea plant- Ahh, I wanted to find a japanese plant that had some nice non romantic meaning. It was really luck that let me find this plant. IT just seemed so perfect. And it looked really pretty. Of course I used the western flower language for the symbolic meaning.
Naras- What can I say? They're fun to write- they're so unpredictable with their intelligence. You never know if they're being nice or waiting for a chance to get you thrown in prison.
Politics- I really had no idea how to deal with it. I just hope I managed to do a good job with it. It went according to my own plan, but I wonder if it makes sense to people.
Chapter 9 omake- Rejected writing (too silly to keep in the actual chapter)
"Kotetsu, there's someone following me, like a creepy someone. I think Danzo may be trying to kill me because I made a wise crack about his one eye"
"Oh, that's just your Anbu watcher..."
"huh?"
"You know to make sure you're not a spy or anything."
"Were you supposed to tell me that?"
"I thought it was obvious."
Harry turned back and glanced at the empty space where he knew his watcher was. "Well, he/ she is very, very good at hiding." Harry said loudly and pointedly. Then he leaned down and whipered to Kotetsu, "So uh, do they watch me sleep?"
"Probably"
"That’s so creepy" Harry shuddered.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tsunade looked at the results in her hands in absolute disbelief. Naruto had living family. She cleared her throat and looked at the expectant faces before her.
Words failed her so she just nodded. Her doubts vanished as she watched Naruto jump in the air with a joyful scream and then proceed to hug his newly found cousin who seemed lost in some memory.
“Harii” Naruto squealed after yet another flamboyant hug.
Sakura and Shizune stood to the side with smiles on their faces from Naruto’s enthusiasm. Kakashi had taken out his book once more and proceeded to pretend he didn’t know what was going on in the room around him.
“Well it looks like you’ll have to be taken off active duty” Tsunade said. Both boys turned towards her incredulously. Before Naruto could scream she headed him off. “So that you can learn about your relative…”
She was surprised when the black haired boy intervened in a polite tone, “uh, mam, that isn’t necessary, I don’t want to impose on him or anything. I could just hang out with him when he’s free…” he stopped as he looked into her eyes.
He suddenly fiddled with his fringe. But that was enough for Naruto to speak, “well he can come watch me train. My super cool training.”
As Naruto continued to talk, Tsunade noticed the fond look that Harry seemed to get as he stared at the blond boy.
“Enough” tsunade interrupted with a punch. Harry immediately rushed to his cousin in concern even as he looked at the Hokage in awe and fear.
That last one just makes me cringe and laugh and the same time for some reason!
Polar.
01 June 2010
A look at Konoha Politics!
So this is just a collection of political things I've come across from various fanfics, discussions and the Naruto series itself.
The Canon Politics
Daimyos
The ruler of a country who provides funding for the ninja villages. They can decide who becomes the next Kage and if the ninja take a certain military/war actions. (Manga chapters 488)
But this person doesn't really go in depth with the internal ninja affairs. That stuff falls to the Kages.
An interesting tidbit is the Twelve Guardians that contains a combination of ninjas, monks etc. Asuma Sarutobi was a part of them for a while.
Kages
The ruler of a ninja village usually chosen by being the strongest. An existing Kage may retire and pass his title to someone he/she considers the strongest.
In case the Kage dies before choosing a sucessor, a Kage is chosen by the Daimyo and his council. (If you're sneaky enough you can make the Daimyo appoint you as the Kage!)
Responsibilities include
They seem to have political power but I never really understood how they managed to stay in power. Or why they seem to have so much influence.
Anyway they seem to be part of the Daimyo's council and have a say in the choosing of a Hokage. (Still need to read up some more on them along with Danzo- I'm not completely sure about their duties.)
The Iffy politics (things from fanfics/speculation discussions)
1- Civilian Council
It's basically found in the evil-Konoha/abused-Naruto stories. A bunch of civilian people make up the council and they try to butt into the matter of ninjas and things.
Realistically- I think if this did exist in a ninja village, they would never be able to interfere with ninja matter- not if they value their life. The only thing they'd probably talk about that involved ninja was the civilian-security and stuff like that. Otherwise they'd stick to trade and other boring non-ninja things.
2- The Clan Council
A collection of all the clan heads who decide a lot of ninja related issues! It makes sense in a way because Konoha is filled with a lot of influential clans. But I don't really like this as a political system.
Bits I like
I like the idea of the Hokage having some sort of council to help with ninja affairs. I just don't think it should include people just because they are head of a clan. They should have some sort of purpose in the council, you know? Plus I think the Clan heads are more involved in the running of their clan.
Anyone have any suggestions of things I can read up for more info? I'd really like to read some more things before finalizing my own version of the Konoha politics.
In other news, Chapter 9 is slow but getting there. I haven't gotten past the 5000 word mark yet, so obviously I have a lot of writing left to do. But the research keeps bogging me down. Also random plot bunnies keep distracting me! But I'm hopeful to get most of the writing done by the end of next week. *crosses fingers*
Polar
The Canon Politics
Daimyos
The ruler of a country who provides funding for the ninja villages. They can decide who becomes the next Kage and if the ninja take a certain military/war actions. (Manga chapters 488)
But this person doesn't really go in depth with the internal ninja affairs. That stuff falls to the Kages.
An interesting tidbit is the Twelve Guardians that contains a combination of ninjas, monks etc. Asuma Sarutobi was a part of them for a while.
Kages
The ruler of a ninja village usually chosen by being the strongest. An existing Kage may retire and pass his title to someone he/she considers the strongest.
In case the Kage dies before choosing a sucessor, a Kage is chosen by the Daimyo and his council. (If you're sneaky enough you can make the Daimyo appoint you as the Kage!)
Responsibilities include
- protecting the village by any means necessary
- keeping all your ninja functioning by obtaining and distributing missions
- wearing a funky hat that acts as identification when all the Kages meet (so there must be something on the hat itself- a seal perhaps?)
They seem to have political power but I never really understood how they managed to stay in power. Or why they seem to have so much influence.
Anyway they seem to be part of the Daimyo's council and have a say in the choosing of a Hokage. (Still need to read up some more on them along with Danzo- I'm not completely sure about their duties.)
The Iffy politics (things from fanfics/speculation discussions)
1- Civilian Council
It's basically found in the evil-Konoha/abused-Naruto stories. A bunch of civilian people make up the council and they try to butt into the matter of ninjas and things.
Realistically- I think if this did exist in a ninja village, they would never be able to interfere with ninja matter- not if they value their life. The only thing they'd probably talk about that involved ninja was the civilian-security and stuff like that. Otherwise they'd stick to trade and other boring non-ninja things.
2- The Clan Council
A collection of all the clan heads who decide a lot of ninja related issues! It makes sense in a way because Konoha is filled with a lot of influential clans. But I don't really like this as a political system.
Bits I like
I like the idea of the Hokage having some sort of council to help with ninja affairs. I just don't think it should include people just because they are head of a clan. They should have some sort of purpose in the council, you know? Plus I think the Clan heads are more involved in the running of their clan.
Anyone have any suggestions of things I can read up for more info? I'd really like to read some more things before finalizing my own version of the Konoha politics.
In other news, Chapter 9 is slow but getting there. I haven't gotten past the 5000 word mark yet, so obviously I have a lot of writing left to do. But the research keeps bogging me down. Also random plot bunnies keep distracting me! But I'm hopeful to get most of the writing done by the end of next week. *crosses fingers*
Polar
23 April 2010
Naruto's apartment!
So in my random fan research I came across a wonderful sketch that gives a detailed layout of what Naruto's complete apartment looks like. I think it's pretty awesome, mostly because I'm trying to give Harry a place to stay.
But in terms of writing, it definitely helps me picture where possible scenes can take place.
Now if only I can find a detailed sketch for Kakashi's apartment.
Polar.
But in terms of writing, it definitely helps me picture where possible scenes can take place.
Now if only I can find a detailed sketch for Kakashi's apartment.
Polar.
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