lightnings-and-stars-and-dreams

[lightnings-and-stars-and-dreams]

So, yesterday I opened basically all of my English novels and quite a few of my French ones for "reasons" (aka: I can't resist anything that even remotely feels like a dare); and I'm still not over the sheer amount that are written in the first person... almost half of them! Including Gilles Legardinier writing a teenage girl! When did this happen, and how on earth did I not notice before?!

(There are also at least a dozen books I've never even attempted to read before, some of them bought several years ago, but that's another story altogether...)

By the way, I'd love it if somebody could rec an English language author who writes good descriptions... Currently looking for a fun and pleasant way to expend my vocabulary ^^ (I love Balzac, if it helps. For real. In an entirely non-ironical way. Reading again La peau de chagrin as an adult was a delightful revelation...)

[lightnings-and-stars-and-dreams]

Charlotte Brontë en mode Reddit... Énorme XD

I [34 M] am somebody who inherited a lot of wealth from my parents, which allows me to support my ex’s daughter [10 F, from France and not my daughter]. To deal with the challenges of remote learning, I hired a tutor [19 F] to live in our home and teach her while I’m traveling for work. The tutor seemed a bit boring at first, but the more I got to know her, the more I liked her. We eventually really hit it off and got together after I broke up with my ex - now we’re engaged.

There’s just one problem: we were about to be married when my ex-wife’s brother [38 M] showed up and revealed that I’ve kept my bipolar and/or depressed wife [37 F] locked in a small padded room in my attic for the past 15 years. (Inlaws know all your skeletons. Ugh.) He then called me a bigamist in front of my girlfriend, embarrassing me and her!

Now my gf wants to break off our engagement...all because of a little spousal attic confinement! I tried to compromise - I even said that marriage wasn’t a huge deal and she could still be my mistress, but she won’t hear me out. We’re so in love, I don’t see what the big deal is...AITA here???

Tl;dr: AITA for trying to convince my 16yr younger fiancée to become my mistress after she discovered I kept my depressed wife trapped in a padded attic room for 15 years?

[lightnings-and-stars-and-dreams]

First lines

After being tagged by @afewbulbsshortofatanningbed , @yucasava and @an-amalgamation-of-things , I felt compelled to dig up my password and answer... Reading you all was interesting and fun, thanks for sharing your thoughts!

(Please somebody, teach me how to create links on Tumblr 😅)

Rules: list the first line of the last ten (10) stories you published. (Or however many stories you have, if you don’t have 10. I’m including collabs!) Look to see any patterns you notice yourself, and see if anyone else notices any. Then tag some friends.

1 -<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/36271663">The Good, the Bad and the Igloo</a>

“You see, in this world, there’s two kinds of people Alex: those with loaded guns, and those who dig. You dig.”

2- <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/35488642">Frustrations, Fomething and Fate</a>

Yassen Gregorovich’s week had been more than a little bit frustrating.

3- <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/34993990">Yellow, Blue and Red</a>

Ian Rider was in a sour mood.

4- <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/34529119">Ashes to Ashes</a>

There was something almost relaxing about packing.

5- <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/34109800">I Have the World and Everything in It"</a>

Yasha Gregorovich attempted to escape the very same day he was brought to the dacha in the Silver Forest.

6- <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/33696895">Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered</a>

One thing that Yassen Gregorovich had learnt in Malagosto was to always expect the unexpected.

7- <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/33641938">In Vino Veritas</a>

Yassen is a strange man, and seeing him in a domestic setting is... odd.

8- <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/33564184">Cloudy Mallows (Or: Alex Rider and the Marshmallow Factory)</a>

There was a tall, antique-looking building on Liverpool Street in London.

9- <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/32881540/chapters/81599272">The Sin and the Sentence</a>

It wasn’t unexpected for Yassen Gregorovich to be called back to Malagosto.

10- <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/32856787">A Week in the Life Of: Alex Rider</a>

“I don’t suppose you’re here to invite Jack on a date, are you?” Alex asked in dismay when he found Ben Daniels on his doorstep at the end of a cloudy late September day.

So, for the record, I deeply dislike writing openings, and I deeply dislike some of those featuring above (6, 8, 9, and I'm not satisfied with 5 either). Now that I've both read your thoughts and listed my latest opening lines, there's indeed a pattern...

I tend to write a short sentence supposed to set the mood and possibly the POV, followed by a longer one that gives more details (why the characters are in that mood in examples 2, 3 or 4; attempting to convey the idea that the Royal and General is a building full of deception and so will be this fic in 8).

The more I try to write, the less I dislike my opening lines, so it must be one of these things that improve with practice ^^

Most of the AR fans I know on Tumblr have already been tagged or answered, so only tagging @keeloca for this - you can spread it to your own fandoms ^^

[lightnings-and-stars-and-dreams]

I've been wondering for a very long time how one would translate Les fleurs bleues without losing too much of Queneau's fantastic play with words and levels of language in the process. It seems that Tumblr holds part of the answer, yay!

A lot is lost in translation, indeed. "Houature", "d'à midi," "cornicienne" (far less explicit than 'horn-wracking'...) But Barbara Wright appears to have done a very good attempt, and I'm pretty happy to find the same impressions as in the original work in this excerpt! (though it feels like such a spoiler that I'm almost sorry to reblog it...):

The contrast between the colloquial language / the Duke's 'occasional' foul mouth despite his noble, Middle Ages upbringing, and the more upscale levels of language, is present.

"Sthenes sulks" is just as short, factual and easy to remember as "Sthènes boude" - which is always interesting in a leitmotif.

"Grafftomaniac" is excellent for "graffitomane". Conveys the same idea of a word that doesn't exist but is perfect in the context.

"Chez Inno" is untranslatable, so it's explained - " the supermarket" - and just as absurd of an idea.

However, I have no idea of what "de-luxe" would sound like to a native English speaker... And I'd love to know how "Moult te goures, hébergeur", or the banderille/espadrille conversation, or "pour y considérer, un tantinet soit peu, la situation historique," or all of chapter one, really... were translated!

Thanks for the beginning of the answer, Tumblr! And many thanks to the Alex Rider fandom which led me to explore it!

The Blue Flowers by Raymond Queneau, translated by Barbara Wright

'He always finds something not to do,' says Lamélie. 'He's very good at keeping himself unoccupied.' (p. 48)

***

They discuss what they're going to do. Empoigne has to buy some hay and oats at the snob supermarket, the Duke is going to visit the Palace of Alchemy, the ladies are going to see the collections. That's for the morning. They'll lunch in town in a de-luxe establishment. The afternoon will be devoted to the examination of various sights; a performance at the cinema is likewise anticipated. Dinner in a de-luxe establishment; not the same as the lunchtime one. They won't be very late back and after that they'll capture the grafftomaniac.

'What about the horses ? ' asks Cidrolin. 'Aren't they going out too?'

'Tomorrow,' replies the Duke. 'Tomorrow. When we've captured your man.'

'What's that got to do with it ?' asked Cidrolin.

'Nothing,' replies the Duke.

He assumes an anxious look.

'It's true,' he murmurs. 'Poor Sthenes, poor Stef. They'd like to admire the beauties of the capital city as well. Could I be becoming an egoist? Monsieur Cidrolin, I should blush for shame. You're a kind-hearted man, Monsieur Cidrolin. You're right, I won't leave two friends kicking their heels while I go and enjoy myself. Empoigne, we'll ride to the supermarket, you women take your car. Empoigne, go and get Sthenes and Stef.'

Mission accomplished, Sthenes and Stef look sullen.

'My dear Demo,' says the Duke.

Sthenes sulks.

'Come come, my dear Demo,' says the Duke. 'I wasn't forgetting you. We just wanted a few words with Monsieur Cidrolin. There was never any question of leaving you here and of your not coming to admire the beauties of the capital city with us. Was there, Monsieur Cidrolin?'

From a study of Cidrolin's face it's easy to infer the horn-wracking situation in which he finds himself; can one lie to a horse? can one give the lie to a guest?

Cidrolin finds an elegant solution. He says to the Duke :

'You talk to him as if he could understand man's language. Has that ever been known, a talking horse? In dreams, perhaps. Or in mythology.'

The Duke didn't think it an elegant solution. He said:

'What the hell's it got to do with you, the way I talk to him? All I'm asking you for is the truth! To wit, that I wasn't forgetting you, my dear Demo.'

'Monsieur d'Auge,' said Cidrolin, 'listen, in that case, to these enthymemes, not to say these sorites. If this horse understands human language, then he's extremely intelligent. If he's intelligent, he's already guessed what's happened. On the other hand, if he's intelligent, he's good, and, if he's good, he will make allowances for a simple oversight on your part and it will not be allowed to cloud your friendship.'

And turning to Sthenes, Cidrolin added :

'Isn't that so, Sthenes ? '

Sthenes smiled, a little sadly, and tossed his head.

'Good old Demo,' says the Duke. (pp. 195-97)