OC Open Tag Questionaire

Congrats! 36,000 is not only a lot more words than many might give it credit for, but also (and especially since yours is just in notes) going to be a lot of good words.

Crazy to think that I’ve written over 36,000 words for my current book: The Daughter of Magic.

I feel two emotions:

1. excitement because it’s mostly notes

2. Dread because it’s mostly notes

remember everyone if you google [subject] wiki and the top result is from fandom, literally scroll down like, at all. if an independent wiki exists it will almost be the second result, and it will almost always be better than the fandom wiki. a shocking number of people seem to be unaware of this technique

The findings are in! Thanks to the 105 people who voted.

The results are pretty expected, I think. The prestige American and British pronunciations are in roughly equal distributions. I figured mine ([ˈɑɹnd͡ʒ]) would be pretty low down, and it was, lol.

Shoutout to:

That one British person in the replies, for whom "orange" rhymes with "Stonehenge." I assume it's a true rhyme, which is cool!

Also, shoutout the the one person in the tags from Singapore who gave the pronunciation [o.ɹeɪntʃ] (something akin to "oh-wrench"). I'm in a languages of Southeast Asia course right now, and we glanced at Singapore English and Singlish, so this was another cool glimpse.

Y'all, I just got curious at one point, and I hope this isn't a repeat of a previous post. So, if you don't mind:

Wiktionary

orange - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Wiktionary has a couple of recordings if you're curious about the difference/don't know linguistics and can't read IPA.

Follow-up question:

What words/phrases (if any) rhyme with orange?

This is a hotly-debated topic in the English language. I sincerely believe that in my dialect, no single word is a true-rhyme with orange that isn't also either a portmanteau or explicitly related to the word "orange." (E.g. blornge does not count for me, even though it does rhyme, because it is a portmanteau of blonde and orange.)

Reblogs are appreciated!

Day 29 (41 in base 7) of re-writing my novel

Yeah today everyone remembers that, all the way back in Part One, Lozerief offhandedly said that Izi could render the Constitution of Zeneste completely void if he said so. I find this very amusing for several reasons.

The President is (effectively) the Emperor after she removes Iziser as Emperor.

If Iziser renders the Constitution void, the President and the two houses can write a new constitution which doesn't include the Emperor as a role, or any connection to the Hero of Life.

Furthermore, they can write the role of Vice President out entirely and hold special "elections" (mass voter fraud/suppression) and oust Lozerief, the only sane politician left, while she's isolated from the other two (three) Heroes.

This is a rather Orwellian (see 1984) take on how this will turn out, but President Sluwfa has to then convince the masses that a) this is what the Hero of Life would've wanted, and b) In Iziser, the rice farmer who became Emperor, was actually an enemy of the state the whole time. As a result, policing in Ir Nouzonif (both the city and the state) increases drastically, but (as you may already know from my previous posts,) many remain sympathetic to In Iziser, anyways.

"Rationalism" is up there with "Objectivism" in terms of "definitionally funny things to call your own belief system".

Happy Worldbuilding Wednesday! Where in your setting would you most like to visit, and where would you avoid at all costs? 😉

I may have to start celebrating Worldbuilding Wednesday. (I'll probably participate in Lexember this year, though.)

Mixed feelings about most of the places in Meiste, but there are a couple I'd really want to go to, and a few I'd desperately want to stay out of.

The runner-up place to go in Meiste is...

Ytos and Itaush: The Twin Duchies

In addition to the inhabitants of Ytos and Itaush having a history of hospitability, Ytos and Itaush both occupy the North Pole of Meiste. My ideal trip would start in Ytos City, to see the Hero's Landing, then make my way North to hike to the North pole. It could also be cool to do an arctic cruise (or something like it) around the coast, but most importantly, I'd want to see the thousand-year old architecture in Itaush city. (Oh, pretty important aspect: The Ytos and Itaush have a history of treating queer people as equals in ways that most of the rest of the world really doesn't because it's in the Zenestosphere.)

(One last thing: Itaush left the Confederacy in a velvet divorce, but Itaush maintains an open border with Ytos.)

And the winner is:

The Principality of Atepsi

Atepsi is in the Zenestosphere, but they're queer-friendly as Ytos, especially outside the capital city, Atepsi City. (However, since Princess In Taguchif is out as a lesbian, and also wildly popular, that sentiment is changing.)

The climate of Atepsi is hot and humid, since the whole country straddles the equator. In fact, Atepsi city is in the middle of a jungle, deep in the headwaters of the Atepsi river.

First, I'm going to Atepsi city. Open-air markets, historic places, friendly people, extravagant architecture, public transportation, etc. Easily the best city in all of Meiste. It's not even close.

Then I'm taking a boat up the headwaters of the Atepsi river and into the mountains. They say the snakes are benign in Meiste. Definitely looking for cool snakes.

Then, I'm backpacking through the rest of the mountains to get to the Straits of Odapir to find Meiste. (I definitely won't.)

Finally, I'm taking a boat through the Straits of Odapir to the islands of L'meistek. L'meistek is an island halfway between Odapir and Atepsi which is said to be at the center of Meiste and where magic is strongest. But mostly there's a dormant(?) volcano there I want to hike up lol.

Atepsi also controls the Nendisfsho desert to the South, so if I came back, I'd love to see the sand dunes and dry rainforest.

Stay Away From:

Zeneste: Ir Nouzonif

Capitalistic hellscape. This is the capitalistic, authoritarian hellscape I talk about in previous post. Many people in the province of Ir Nouzonif are also brainwashed into hating Odapir and Odpairian citizens as a means of control. In a convoluted, twisted way, the farming economy of (Southern) Ir Nouzonif is entirely dependent on migrant workers from Odapir.

After the Fall of Ir Nouzonif (in Part 4 of Meiste), the city of Ir Nouzonif becomes fair game, since it's also a religious center and Hota and Lozef completely overhaul the government, yet xenophobic tendencies remain, especially in Southern Ir Nouzonif State.

Odapir: Odapir City

Odapir is an authoritarian surveillance/police state, and Odapir City is the place the police have the most eyes. (Not to say Ir Nouzonif isn't a police state.) Many in Odapir, too, are brainwashed into hating Zenestians as scapegoats. Not a great place to be, and many in Odapir City are xenophobic as a result (much like Ir Nouzonif.)

Outside of Odapir City, and especially in the Southeastern corner (where there are no cameras) you may find the Hero of Life, good beaches, and good hikes.

Zeneste: Tolftorrijv and Zenée

Ok, maybe you can get away with going to the cities of Tolftorrijv and Obizoe, but beyond that, don't even try. The cities themselves aren't really worth visiting, and many Zenestians beyond the cities are xenophobic, in addition to there not being anything to do beyond the cities.

This has been a massive excuse for me to yap, so I hope people enjoy this lol.

Usual Suspects: @oldfashionedidiot @quillswriting

If you'd like to be added to one of my taglists, please see this post, or DM me!

how about 4) while yapping to the one person who listens to you yap while you're driving so you can't write it down (the European mind cannot comprehend this.)

having really really good dialogue for your story but it’s either 1) in your bed in the middle of the night or 2) in the bathroom shower, so you have to wait about fifteen minutes before you can get to your notebook to jot down the ideas but by then it has dissipated and so has your entire sense of being in this universe *screeches in disintegrated*

“It can take years. With the first draft, I just write everything. With the second draft, it becomes so depressing for me, because I realize that I was fooled into thinking I’d written the story. I hadn’t — I had just typed for a long time. So then I have to carve out a story from the 25 or so pages. It’s in there somewhere — but I have to find it.”

— David Sedaris