#sapphicaquarius

[theticklishpear]

Hey Pear, do you have any advice on figuring out whether a plot is 'too full' so to speak, with too many things happening within any given arc/plot? I have a feeling I may be trying to cram too much or too many individual events in a story, even if it makes perfect sense to ME. The possibility of readers finding the plot too convoluted is a potential problem, but I'm not sure how to tell if I'm adding too much or too many streams of events together.

Projected length can be a big hint. If your original sense of the story wasn’t as a series, but you suspect it’ll take more than 200,000 words, and you start thinking, “This might need to be a series to tell the whole thing,” but you don’t have clear, defining arcs within the story already that would let you break it into cohesive and mostly contained stories within each book, you’ve got a problem.

Start with your main plot, your essential story. Strip it all down to the essence of what story you’re trying to tell. That core is what you need to stay true to. You must always be able to see this thread. You must never lose it to other purposes. You must always be able to come back around to this single, individual thread of story. Things must feed back into this.

Once you understand what that dominant thread is, you can start laying additional threads over top of it, but you can never once lose sight of your central story.

Find the additions that are essential to understanding that central story, but be ruthless in determining what “essential” means. Think long and hard about how each thread presents itself in the narrative and whether they really need their own subplot of if they can be portrayed in ways alternate ways that still get the information across.

What was just a “for fun” addition that you thought would be great but whose weight is really just dragging the story down? Is there a way to keep the essence of the idea while paring it back so that it’s just a detail without being A Thing?

If you took one of the events out, or combined its effect as part of another event, what would happen to your story? Would it simply be slightly less protracted? Would it entirely fall apart? Would it allow you time to expand other sections you breezed through? Would it impair the understanding of the story for the audience? Are there moments that would work just as well off-screen?

Combining events, just as combining excess characters, can really help streamline a difficult and leggy story. It won’t always be your go-to tactic, and often times our minds tell us in that very plain, very straightforward, very logical voice, “Well now, that’s just ridiculous. [This] wouldn’t happen in any other setting,” and at the same time the smaller whine of another voice chimes in, “But that’s not how I saw iiiit!” And you’ll be very resistant to combining events or people. Taking an extraordinarily logical and matter-of-fact lens to each event, think about the point of it. Why was it in there at all? What was it doing for the story? What was its function? What emotion or arc point was it trying to draw out of a character? How else could that happen? Always be willing to change your original conception of the story, even when you’re telling yourself to stay true to your vision.

A lot of it is gut.

Sometimes, all you can do is write it and see, and prepare to strip back later if it becomes unwieldy. And that’s okay, too.

Good luck! -Pear

[veliseraptor]

Hey Lise, do you know of any good Sif/Loki fics? its not my usual ship, but I like both of these characters and feel they don't get enough good interactions in general. I also wish there were more fics of them getting along better than in canon, but those seem even fewer. I like how you write both of them, even if antagonistically (your grasp of their personalities always feels right, damn you're good). Any recommendations?

I don’t actually read much Sif/Loki at all, though I too love both of them and actually have a lot of feelings about their relationship and how complicated I think it is/was/could be. 

I know they have some great interactions in Bargaining by proantagonist, and I also quite liked Constancy by Barkour. There’s A Valediction Forbidding Mourning which is a really interesting post-Thor 2 fic about past-Sif/Loki. I also have a few ghosts of timorous heart bookmarked, which is post-Thor mourning fic about Thor and Sif both mourning Loki.

I’m really, really picky about my Sif/Loki and also haven’t gone looking for much, so that’s about all I have off the top of my head, unfortunately!

[wyrd66]

Do all the peoples in this world 'rate' magic this way or is it just some?

I figure it’s relatively universal. It was probably the Centralist scholars that came up with the system, and it was adopted by the other countries. The system’s been around for decades and decades, so it’s had time to spread to the majorly populated areas.

The more remote Eastern villages, Northern clans, and the entirety of the magic-hating West might not have heard of the tests, and certainly wouldn’t have access to them, but otherwise the knowledge is pretty wide-spread.

Thank you for the question!

[bloojayoolie]

Animals, Bad, and Children: prokopetz I've seen a lot of videos going around of urban-dwelling critters coming to humans for help with various problems, ranging from boxes stuck on their heads to young trapped down a storm drain, and it's gotten me to thinking: On the one hand, it's kind of fascinating that they know to do that. On the other hand, setting any questions of how this sort of behaviour must have arisen aside for the nonce, does it ever strike you how weird it is that we've got whole collection of prey species whose basic problem-solving script ends with the step "if all else fails, go bother one of the local apex predators and maybe they'll fix the problem for no reason"? roachpatrol well, come to think of it, we're at the top of the food chain but we almost exclusively hunt and kill prey out in the country. raccoons and possums and foxes and crows all succeed in an urban environment because they're opportunistic and observant. and almost none of them would have observed us pounce on one of their species and then start eating it, you know? a lot of them would have observed that we scream and chase them out of wherever we don't want them to be, but other animals are territorial too. but there's a number of situations where humans feed whoever's bold enough to take them up on the offer, and we do tend to pull garbage off of other animals as soon as they slow down enough for us to catch. 'a human got me but nothing bad happened' is a much more frequent thing than 'a human got me and tried to eat me anyway like, we're masters of our environment, we make weird shit happen all the time, we have lots of great food and sometimes we share, and we almost never eat someone. it makes sense for urban animals, over the last century or so, to just keep an eye out for opportunities to use us, and to pass the habit on to their kids. tsfennec It really is a weird, funny thing. Like yeah, technically they're predators, and they get pretty screamy, especially if you try to take any of their stuf... but given the chance it seems like they'd rather help us out and sometimes they'll just randomly give you food, so??? I mean, I guess in fairytales and myths we've got our fair share of stories about dangerous people/creatures who might well kill you or otherwise ruin your life, but to whom people nonetheless turn for help in desperate circumstances. So it's not like the perspective is exactly a foreign thing to our own mindset, really... It's just that, y'know, we can't actually go make a deal with the faeries when there's something we can't figure out. (Which brings me to an interesting thought about the ubiquitous rule about never eating the faery food lest you find yourself forever unsatisfied with anything in the human world and the potential parallels to the dangers of feeding wildlife human food lest they become addicted and too tame and dependent to be safe for either themselves or us. Hmm.) sapphicaquarius Okay, but that last bit with the Fae...makes almost perfect sense Of the stories l've read, the food of the Fae, its origins and effects, are often strange and/or obscure.- Just like our food to most animals The Fae are strange beings that seem to know weird things that give them power or an edge over us.- Just like us to animals. The Fae work and live by strange rules also often nonsensical or obscure to us.- Just like us to animals. The Fae can easily obtain vast amounts of things we consider rare/precious/ desireable, and have no problem with dishing it out wantonly for no other reason than amusement.- Just like us to animals. The Fae sometimes are amused by having us around, but only on their terms and IF it amuses/intrigues them.- Just like us to animals GUYS, I SENSE A PATTERN... roachpatrol -they have arcane social conventions and the punishment for not paying the correct respects right is banishment, if you're lucky, and death if you're not. -they have wild and unexpected parties where you'd least expect to find them, but if you're bold enough to entertain them they'll feed you and caress you and play with you all night. -time runs strangely in their realm. their homes are summerlands: warm and bright, no matter the season. there is always fruit on their tables. but not everyone who comes in from the cold is let back out again -their games are cruel and complex and unfair, but if you can beat them by their own rules you will access riches beyond imagining. -sometimes they just fucking fuck with you, the fuckheads. -they will absolutely steal your children away. when your children return- if they ever do - they will come back strange. they will have magic earrings or necklaces or bracelets. they will know things they shouldn't. they won't know things that they should. your strange children might survive, might even prosper, might take wives and husbands and have children of their own. but they will always be marked by their time away from your world. -the price for pissing them off is always death. sometimes just you. sometimes your whole community. -if you are very good, and very smart, and very brave, they will grant your wish Source: prokopetz 84 107 notes Maybe the real fae were inside us all along

[grownnon-binarytings]

PASS THE HAPPY ALONG! When you get this, reply with 5 things that make you happy and pass along to 10 nice people 😋

Things that make me happy? 🤔1. Caspy (my black kitty cat)2. Zeus (muy grey kitty cat)3. Other people's kitty cats4. Stray cats5. Doggos🐶@flamingbalrog @swaggasean @bibaebae @mandy-hope-san @fetusbrigade @lena-w-cat @laamigalesbiana @sapphicaquarius @macropuddingluva @chicken-or-dickhead your turn ✌🏾

[ryocos]

sapphicaquarius replied to your post: What do you identify as?

Would it be rude of me to ask what it is you do to reduce your chest naturally? I get dysmorphic about my own as well, but my workouts so far have helped me loose weight all over (yay) instead of being focused on my chest.Anything that might help with this part specifically would be immensely helpful…sorry to bother…

I believe its due to the variety of chest exercises I do at different rep schemes. I do flat bench presses at low reps/high weight then light weight/high reps for incline bench to make my upper chest look more pronounced (masculine) every chest workout.  I might add some decline bench into the mix just to keep things balanced (low weight/high reps as well), and I think it will reduce my chest a lot more as well. It’s a tough decision to make knowing that some of the people I’m close to (my gf is 100% supportive though) might not agree with reducing it that much.

[natcat5]

roachpatrol:

sapphicaquarius:

tsfennec:

roachpatrol:

prokopetz:

I’ve seen a lot of videos going around of urban-dwelling critters coming to humans for help with various problems, ranging from boxes stuck on their heads to young trapped down a storm drain, and it’s gotten me to thinking:

On the one hand, it’s kind of fascinating that they know to do that.

On the other hand, setting any questions of how this sort of behaviour must have arisen aside for the nonce, does it ever strike you how weird it is that we’ve got a whole collection of prey species whose basic problem-solving script ends with the step “if all else fails, go bother one of the local apex predators and maybe they’ll fix the problem for no reason”?

well, come to think of it, we’re at the top of the food chain but we almost exclusively hunt and kill prey out in the country. 

raccoons and possums and foxes and crows all succeed in an urban environment because they’re opportunistic and observant. and almost none of them would have observed us pounce on one of their species and then start eating it, you know? a lot of them would have observed that we scream and chase them out of wherever we don’t want them to be, but other animals are territorial too. but there’s a number of situations where humans feed whoever’s bold enough to take them up on the offer, and we do tend to pull garbage off of other animals as soon as they slow down enough for us to catch. ‘a human got me but nothing bad happened’ is a much more frequent thing than ‘a human got me and tried to eat me’.  

anyway like, we’re masters of our environment, we make weird shit happen all the time, we have lots of great food and sometimes we share, and we almost never eat someone. it makes sense for urban animals, over the last century or so, to just keep an eye out for opportunities to use us, and to pass the habit on to their kids. 

It really is a weird, funny thing. Like yeah, technically they’re predators, and they get pretty screamy, especially if you try to take any of their stuff… but given the chance it seems like they’d rather help us out and sometimes they’ll just randomly give you food, so???

I mean, I guess in fairytales and myths we’ve got our fair share of stories about dangerous people/creatures who might well kill you or otherwise ruin your life, but to whom people nonetheless turn for help in desperate circumstances. So it’s not like the perspective is exactly a foreign thing to our own mindset, really… It’s just that, y’know, we can’t actually go make a deal with the faeries when there’s something we can’t figure out.

(Which brings me to an interesting thought about the ubiquitous rule about never eating the faery food lest you find yourself forever unsatisfied with anything in the human world - and the potential parallels to the dangers of feeding wildlife human food lest they become addicted and too tame and dependent to be safe for either themselves or us. Hmm.)

Okay, but that last bit with the Fae…makes almost perfect sense.

Of the stories I’ve read, the food of the Fae, its origins and effects, are often strange and/or obscure.- Just like our food to most animals.

The Fae are strange beings that seem to know weird things that give them power or an edge over us.- Just like us to animals.

The Fae work and live by strange rules also often nonsensical or obscure to us.- Just like us to animals.

The Fae can easily obtain vast amounts of things we consider rare/precious/desireable, and have no problem with dishing it out wantonly for no other reason than amusement.- Just like us to animals.

The Fae sometimes are amused by having us around, but only on their terms and IF it amuses/intrigues them.- Just like us to animals.

GUYS, I SENSE A PATTERN….

-they have arcane social conventions and the punishment for not paying the correct respects right is banishment, if you’re lucky, and death if you’re not.

-they have wild and unexpected parties where you’d least expect to find them, but if you’re bold enough to entertain them they’ll feed you and caress you and play with you all night.

-time runs strangely in their realm. their homes are summerlands: warm and bright, no matter the season. there is always fruit on their tables. but not everyone who comes in from the cold is let back out again.  

-their games are cruel and complex and unfair, but if you can beat them by their own rules you will access riches beyond imagining.

-sometimes they just fucking fuck with you, the fuckheads.

-they will absolutely steal your children away. when your children return— if they ever do— they will come back strange. they will have magic earrings or necklaces or bracelets. they will know things they shouldn’t. they won’t know things that they should. your strange children might survive, might even prosper, might take wives and husbands and have children of their own. but they will always be marked by their time away from your world.

-the price for pissing them off is always death. sometimes just you. sometimes your whole community. 

-if you are very good, and very smart, and very brave, they will grant your wish.

[jennawynn]

sapphicaquarius reblogged your photoset:My very good friend’s bday tomorrow and I am...

Where’s that gif of Deadpool saying ‘‘superhero landing!’‘ when you need it…

#art

that gif was the first comment made when i posted it on FB too, @sapphicaquarius

[veliseraptor]

book title: the stone sky (cry with me lise...)

added to TBR | on my TBR | couldn’t finish it | did not enjoy | it was OK | liked it | loved it | favorite | not interested

ohhhh man. I mean, any time a book makes me cry, that’s a sign it did something right, and I was definitely crying at the end of this book. the whole broken earth series was gorgeous, and everything about families and prejudice and healing...all the themes hit me so hard and it all came together so beautifully at the end. 

I don’t think I’ve ever read a series, either, which such a complicated and beautifully depicted mother/daughter relationship. 

[veliseraptor]

Lise, I just read your latest gehenna chapter and!!!! I am!!! gaaaahhh!!! LOKI NEEDS TO BE WRAPPED IN SOFT THINGS AND GIVEN CHOCOLATE! But! Natasha explaining things! Loki starting to realize things were not right with his other doms!! The feels you give me Lise! Nobody does it better than you. And everybody you write is always so in-character!!! aaaaaaahhhh! Bravo! You write the best Loki whump ever! I have no good enough words to express my admiration. (APPLAUSE !!!)

Thank you so much! I do my best to deliver two things with some consistency: feelings and Loki whump. That’s my Brand™. 

I mean, if there was a contest in fucked up probably either Things Falling!Loki or Halfway House!Loki would win, but Gehenna!Loki is pretty up there. And Natasha is like... “this is not what I was planning on happening but here we are, cool”, but she’s a decent person and enough is, at some point, enough. 

Loki, meanwhile is like “so...I shouldn’t just be having sex with people who hate me? weird”

I’m glad you enjoyed the fic!

[theticklishpear]

esplainyourplotweirdly #2 ! A witch who happens to be a trucker delivers a load into a small town museum. Whoops, an angry cheetah-spirit with a knack for possessing people has its stolen totem brought along. Also the disabled jewish curator is flummoxed as to what to do, but his three cats are just loving the new 'cat' in the neighborhood. His elderly neighbor with an unplaceable accent who owns a bakery may be involved. Metal spoons go missing regularly. THAT part, is always the witch's fault.

Night of Musing

Metal spoons go missing regularly……….

[theticklishpear]

for the explainyourplotweirdly! I'm trying to write a fantasy/politicaldrama story about 4 sapient species trying to keep the peace together on a world that is 90% water and icebergs of freshwater are more precious than gold for their rarity and necessity. The four sapient species are : humans, a kind of cephalopod, a nomadic species of sharovipteryx and a pterosaur people. All can perform magic, there are floating islands of fungus moving around the world-ocean and everybody wants magic copper.

Night of Musing

There are floating islands of fungus.

[theticklishpear]

Hello Pear! I am currently worldbuilding for a fantasy setting on a planet that has about 90% of its surface covered in water, so sailing and the logistics of living, trading and being able to grow certain foods is important. But since I've lived my whole life thoroughly landbound and nowhere near coasts, these things are not well-known to me, and I don't know how they would affect daily life. Do you know any good sources for such information? Or well-written examples of life at sea in fiction?

This is a really interesting question because it’s almost entirely different than what sailors of our world were working with. In our world, ~70% of the surface is water, so that’s 20% more land to work with. Our sailors were supplying up for the times between landing, where yours need to be able to sustain. It’s a different mindset, and I know you’re aware of it already. So looking at historical references will only get you so far, but let’s see what we can do.

Food and water are going to be your most important resources to figure out. How do they obtain fresh water and keep their food stocks medium-to-high-ish? What’s readily available to them, obviously, are the fish and creatures living in the seas they’re sailing, which are protein and good for sustenance if you can work out how to keep over-fishing to a minimum.

Of course, ale, wine, and liquor were exceptionally common on ships for things like seasickness, morale, disinfectant, and the simple fact that they knew it wouldn’t have contaminants in it. Unfortunately, alcohol will not keep someone hydrated–in fact, it’ll dehydrate them, so fresh water is key. Rain barrels may be an option, but if these are not only seafaring peoples but also sea-living people, it’s likely they’ll have apparatuses for desalination processes. A convenient byproduct of desalination is the twice-as-salty brine that remains behind can be used as a preservative for excess fish, meats, and fats that may be acquired.

Fresh fish and meats are always going to be better than dried stuff, but your peoples aren’t likely to just catch foods based on daily needs, but will have some stores (though perhaps less due to space, ventilation, and nutrition restrictions) for times when the fish may not be “in-season” so to speak. Try to keep the amount of dried and salted foods to a minimum because they’ll also dehydrate, and water is at a premium on ships, but it’s likely there’ll be some deck space for drying and salting of seafood.

Now, we all know of the dangers of scurvy and not getting enough vitamin C while at sea, but there are some places your folks will be able to get it from, seaweed for one. Seaweed is packed with vitamin C and drying it into sheets would probably be the easiest way to make sure folks are getting what they need. In addition, things like beets, kale, asparagus, spinach, potatoes, tomatoes, peas, lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, and some squash have a higher tolerance for salt in their soil, and some are particularly suited to hydroponic gardens that could be constructed on-deck depending on the level of technology and practical/critical thinking your cultures are at, or growing inside cloches (maybe even cloches for desalination for low-tech hydroponic gardens?). Sprouts, in particular, such as alfalfa, broccoli sprouts, mung beans, sprouted oats, and radish sprouts will help provide protein, vitamin c, and a host of other nutrients. Best yet, the growing of sprouts is fairly easy to accommodate.

Waste removal and/or recycling will be an issue, especially if most of your peoples are sea-living. Dumping it in the ocean is going to create massive problems very quickly with that kind of at-sea population. Much of your products will be made from materials which are likely to be biodegradable unless technology is so far advanced that you’re dealing with plastics. But honestly, if a majority of your world is water, and a majority of your peoples are living on the water, your people are going to be much more likely to be using natural products created from natural fibers and whatnot that are biodegradable. You should probably look into mulching and using food waste as fertilizer where needed. Even human waste can be put to use with the right kinds of bacteria to break it down properly. That one will take some thinking, and while you don’t need to outline the process in your story, you should be aware of what those processes are.

Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of resources on conducting trade while also on a boat at sea, or at least historical ship-to-ship transfer information is slim from what I was looking at. I imagine they’d need to find a way to flag each other down and let them know their intentions, and carefully maneuver the two ships side-by-side without the danger of scraping the sides of the ships together but close enough to extend crossing boards (or rope bridges thrown to each side or whatever kind of crossing apparatus they use), and then conduct trade that way between the ships. It’s probably more likely they’d do it via smaller pilot boats traveling from each vessel to meet. They’re less likely to do serious damage to each other, and easier to lash together during the trading procedures. I think what technology is available will kind of help you figure out the logistics of this one.

BOOKS:

Here are some Goodreads lists that might give you some options to look into (my search keyword was just “sea”). Secrets of the Realm by Bev Stout seems to be a popular pick, as is Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader from C.S. Lewis, The Floating Island from Elizabeth Haydon, and Red Seas Under Red Skies from Scott Lynch are a few that came to mind off the top of my own head.

Nautical Tales Goodreads listMaritime Classics Goodreads listShip ahoy! Goodreads listTrue Nautical Stories (Non-Fiction Only) Goodreads listBest Seafaring History books Goodreads listGreat Stories: Sailors, Ships & Sea Adventures (fiction only) Goodreads listBest Sea Adventure Novels Goodreads listBest Adventure Books with or about Sailing Goodreads list

RESOURCES:

May or may not be helpful. Some are probably not talking about exactly the same setting (such as growing food on your yacht) but the principals may be helpful:

FOOD:

Practical Cruising - Grow Food on Your BoatHow to Prevent ScurvyHow To Preserve FishFive ways to preserve fish without refrigerationLife at Sea During the Age of Captain Cook(Actually, The Mariners’ Museum where I used to hang out is a really great resource. Check out the “Online Learning” section of their navigation bar, found under “Learn.”)What Did Sailors Eat? (and other life-at-sea links)

VOCABULARY:

(Links courtesy of University of Southampton from @beezarre)CogBottom structureInner structureCross sectionSailing ship rig typesSails on a full-rigged shipParts of a sailing rigBasic Terminology of Shipbuilding (book)Shipbuilding TermsIllustrated Terminology from the Age of Sail

[theticklishpear]

Hello Pear, I have considered putting up of my worldbuilding ideas online just to keep it all in one place (and organized!) but am reluctant to put out anything. Have you done (or know someone who has) this and would you recommend for or against it?

I do have a blog where I put of stories and talk sometimes about things (and I’ve talked about some things, mostly character-related, right here on this blog), but I haven’t put up world-building materials simply because most of my notes wouldn’t be coherent to others, and I want my readers to discover the world through the stories without trying to line up what they’ve read in my notes with what I say in the stories. But! That doesn’t mean it’s not a valid idea for other writers–as you know, we’re each different and what works for some won’t work for others, and vice versa. Now, I’m not sure what sorts of things you’re worried about with this idea, but I imagine it might stem from others creating works based off your ideas before you get a chance to get your ideas out there. Stealing is a pretty common fear, but I think it happens a lot less than people assume (not to say it doesn’t happen).

If you’re worried about others using the information you post, you could always lock it behind a password. Tumblr allows you to do this in a variety of ways from a blog password to posting content privately. In addition, you could post it to a place like Evernote that would allow you to organize it digitally as well. Both these options (aside from posting content privately) allow you to invite in people you trust to see the works via sharing the blog password or giving viewing/commenting permissions to friends. These options keep out ne’er-do-wells while still giving you the ability to let others see it.

If you’re worried about copyright, by posting them, you are giving them a date and an author. It’s not full copyright in terms of legally registering it, but it’s going to help with any kinds of stealing you come up against. These days, as long as you can prove you own the blog, and you can point to the date it was posted as being previous to the stealer’s content, you’re probably going to at the very least be on good grounds for a take-down notice.

What having a place like this does do--aside from the obvious intended uses--it also exposes your story, idea, and world to the wider audience out there. You can start gaining fans and exposure for your plan that you can capitalize on later with publishers if you chase that route. You may get jerks, too, but you could get genuinely interested readers who can’t wait to see this come to fruition. They may give you advice and ideas and, best of all, encouragement. So along with all the scary things that can happen, sometimes we strike gold.

Remember: Even if someone does decide to base their own stories off of world information you put up, they’re never going to do it the same way you will. Original is only what you make of it; with millions of stories in the world, it’s nigh on impossible to create something completely original. Don’t worry about it. If this is what you need to get your notes in order, then this is what you need.

I know @miniimae has a blog for Ilimyr here on Tumblr for these same kinds of ideas of storing world-building details in an accessible, organizable way, so it’s not unheard of by any means. Hey followers, have you established a place online to keep world-building details for your stories? Any experiences you’re willing to share? Feel free to drop them in the replies or the ask box!

[theticklishpear]

Hi Pear! I have a culture-building question! I've created a fantasy world with a particular culture that is geographically isolated, and they have quirks that their neighbors lack. One of which is a market for 'private entertainers' who are individually hired to entertain paying customers. They also do public things like theater, concerts and festivals, but less so. Someone pointed out that this sounds a lot like Japanese geishas, and I had not initially noticed the similarities between them.1/2

I am rather concerned that I might be engaging in cultural appropriation without meaning to, and have a dilemma as to dropping the idea entirely despite its plot relevance and importance to a particular character’s life/narrative. The culture it occurs in otherwise does not necessarily resemble anything from Japanese culture/history, and was not intended to be so. Help?

I think a lot of it depends on what you mean and what you intend for these individuals to be doing during these sessions of private entertainment, but from the description, it does sound very similar. An important distinction is going to be the stance of your characters on sexual acts, and what genders are allowed to become one of these entertainers. Are these individuals thought well of? Is their business well-known? Are they solely concerned with the arts or are they also entertaining with conversation? Are there certain customs that must be observed when hosting them? How about traditional garb? Where do individuals who hold this occupation come from; what tend to be their backgrounds? How do they train and become a practitioner of this occupation?

Take a hard look at what your intention with them is and what kinds of statements you’re making about the individuals who both are the entertainers and those being entertained. Examine what you’re saying by putting them in the cultural capacity that’s entirely divorced from Japan.

I am not nearly as versed in occupations similar to geishas in other cultures, however Korea and China had historically similar professions (though with their own twists and without quite as thorough research and obsession surrounding them), as well as Japan’s deep history. Something else to think about is the history of minstrels; it wasn’t uncommon to have private entertainers in the capacity who came in under paid contract to perform, whether it was poetry, song, juggling, acting, or other capacities, while also performing publicly.

I certainly don’t want you to go away from this thinking you’re fine and dandy--you’ll just call them minstrels and be good--but you may be able to change some aspects of your group to less resemble geisha and take on a life of their own. If this is an important aspect to a character of the story, it’s worth the time to research and find out exactly how similar they’ve become to things you may not have intended to portray, and it’s worth the time to figure out how you can change them to become their own thing or embrace them and represent them properly. What you want to do is up to you, but you owe it to yourself, your story, and your readers to now sit down and run some diagnostics.

(Geisha vs. Oiran)(Chinese Yiji)(Korean Kisaeng)

[theticklishpear]

My favorite relationship in all my stories is one between two cousins(who were initially ignorant of their ties) who end up, amongst other things, saving each other's lives in a harrowing cross-country escape from dangerous persuants. Their relationship is never even a little romantic before they knew their relation, but it was formed and solidified in their dangerous trek across terrain only one of them knew vaguely, and the other being quite capable but being a stranger in a strange land. 1/2?

After surviving, they suddenly find themselves needing to try to explain to their relatives why they trust each other so much despite still being relative strangers after the ordeal. They were more focused on staying alive, after all, and going back to 'normal' things proved more challenging than expected for both of them. For one of them, going back to 'normal' after severe trauma is too difficult on their own, and they rely on the stranger-cousin for support and sympathy to get through a lot and the other is already familiar with trauma, and helps them through the worst of the post-survival adjustments. The other is also in rather dire need of someone who can help them adjust to being in what is essentially a foreign country, with different cultural standards and expectations putting pressure on them. Their relationship is entirely platonic, but also very close, tight in a way that binds people who've survived terrible things together, and is no less loving than a romantic one.

Close-knit, intense friendships

Night of Musing