#writing flails

[grumpyoldsnake]

Okay so I haven't been talking about it much because I don't tend to lifeblog much on tumblr in general anymore

BUT

THE BOOK

I am 90% done with the first draft of my book

Holy fucking shit y'all I have never made this much progress on such a large project in my life. I really genuinely think I'm gonna finish this thing!

(I am looking forward to switching from drafting over into editing so, so much sdlfkdshg)

[krtart]

Okay so the thing is. The THING IS.

I use he/him for both, but neither Space nor Ventro are male. They’re aliens; their genders are alien.

Ventro’s gender is drone, and he’s trans. What that means is that he was hatched and raised a soldier, and is soldier-sized, but his gender identity (and, now, hormones) is the small, brightly colored interitrask caste that carries eggs in their bodies until those eggs are fertilized and the shells have hardened.

Space’s gender is nonexistant, and his species is unisex. His social role is non-parenting grunt worker; if he ever became a parent, a leader, a teacher, or someone who held community life and death in their hands (doctor, clergy, mortician, farmer, environmental support systems engineer, sanitation worker, etc.), his social status and pronouns would change.

All of which is to say that I could change their English pronouns to she/her without changing a single other thing about the book,

And that this would absolutely change the vibe of the book for many English-speaking readers (including myself tbh let’s not pretend I’m immune to subconscious influence),

And that I don’t really know what to do with that!

[justashadetalkative]

Writing flails: Clemcy I can’t say that Severance has given me Clemcy feels, because WOW, different circumstances and flavors, but.

It’s certainly given me Clemcy thoughts. Namely, it’s made me realize I need to think about something that’s actually rather character-defining:

On the precipice of his first soul-split, did Clemcy know he was selling himself into service, or did he expect half his soul to meet oblivion? I could certainly see the potential for ambiguity, negotiating with an extradimensional alien entity as he was. 

Either way, the two parts of his soul do eventually cross paths once more. I’ve been pondering what that first conversation with himself might have been like.

Convincing the Mars-body to reintegrate with the servant-body must have been one of the hardest sells he’s ever negotiated.

[grumpyoldsnake]

I’m writing an aroace character with a different experience than my own and I’m starting to realize that I have less context for it than I’d realized. 😅 (My neurodivergence-spawned social isolation kind of speed-ran me right past any *aroace*-spec-centered feelings of social tension while growing up ffff)

So! Has anyone had the experience of feeling compelled to perform certain relationship styles, and if so would you be open to talking about that experience a bit? Could be anything from just feeling like you needed to pretend to have crushes all the way to actually entering relationships that weren’t right for you.

I’m mostly curious about what motivated those choices; a sense of obligation? Curiosity? Misunderstanding? A fear of missing out? A fear of discovery?

[krtart]

Thinking about clothing for Taking the Long Way

A lot of my alien character designs tend to be nude mostly because I have very little patience for (or skill with) clothing design 😂

BUT

Realistically: Ventro should have clothes most of the time, and I need to get around to designing both what that looks like and what potential nudity taboos his culture might have.

I think most tellurian cultures wouldn’t have any kind of nudity taboo, but would probably still wear clothing a little more often than I’ve so far depicted.

Space, meanwhile, probably does indeed go nude almost all the time, aside from occasional work gloves, carry packs, & perhaps some insulation when he’s ill or starving. He self-regulates temp under most conditions without discomfort, he tends to float whenever shoes might be required for other folk, and the crystals all down his spine at most times make it so that carrying things telekinetically might genuinely be less hassle for him than the straps he’d need to use to hold any packs or pockets on his person. (Though perhaps he wears occasional… gauntlets? Forearm sheathes? For small items?)

[justassorted]

Details: Ithadel

I think one part of how Ithadel has managed to stay so isolated for so long is that… at his emotional core, he simply cannot accept that someone else might find it fulfilling to be able to do something nice for him.

I don’t think he can even fully accept the notion that someone else might find it pleasant to know that he likes something about them.

And that’s kind of a hurtful thing!

It’s painful to try to befriend someone who doesn’t let you be kind to him, and who is convinced that anything kind he might say to you would be discomforting or meaningless at best.

[grumpyoldsnake]

I propose a new neopronoun set:

ii/iir/sier/siers/sierself

The vowel sound is "ee" as in "meet." (That would be "i" by IPA notation.)

Subjective: ii. "I think ii is a fun person."

Objective: iir. "I saw iir at the party last night."

Possessive determiner: sier. "It's not sier fault we got lost."

Possessive pronoun: siers. "That scarf is siers."

And then I'm still sliiightly undecided on the last form:

Reflexive: iirself. "Ii is at peace with iirself."

Alt reflexive: sierself. “Ii is at peace with sierself.”

More ponderings to be added in reblogs another day!

[grumpyoldsnake]

So many creative ideas rn, so little time

(For once this is less a case of “I can’t do any of the creative things I’m thinking of,” and more a case of “I’m doing several creative pursuits but my brain is still outpacing me” 🤣)