Zompist Bboard Again

alice wrote: ↑Thu Sep 24, 2026 2:47 pm

A classic. And very, very, funny too. No aspiring novelist should be allowed to not have read it.

Does anyone else think at it feels at times almost British for something written by Americans?

Raphael wrote: ↑Wed Sep 23, 2026 3:46 pm Once again re-reading bits and pieces of How NOT to Write a Novel. Have to keep myself from quoting it to copyright-violating extent.

That title is an interesting bit of syntax. In general English allows not to move as far left as possible without changing the meaning. But here I think the variants have different meanings.

"How to not write a novel": preferred reading is how to avoid writing it.
"How not to write a novel": can't mean that, instead means ways you shouldn't write.

I was listening to this to improve the translation and now it's stuck in my head:

rotting bones wrote: ↑Mon Aug 31, 2026 2:02 pm Maybe it's just me, but Nazrul's song about the rain as a goddess sounds fantastically dynamic: https://snapshotsofthelabyrinth.photo.b ... %e0%a7%8d/

My mother used to sing all these songs while cooking and working.

These Violent Delights by Nemerever. Gay dark academia vibes so far.

The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, tr. Ivan Morris. Chapter titles include “When I make myself imagine”, “Depressing things”, “Hateful things”, “Things that make one’s heart beat faster”. To be so closely inside a 9th century lady’s head is rather amazing.

sasasha wrote: ↑Mon Oct 05, 2026 3:42 pm The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, tr. Ivan Morris. Chapter titles include “When I make myself imagine”, “Depressing things”, “Hateful things”, “Things that make one’s heart beat faster”. To be so closely inside a 9th century lady’s head is rather amazing.

Your brief summary is enough to make me think of the concept of Tiffany problems.

MAGA witches are proof that politics cuts across cultural forms: https://youtu.be/1cpjU5qS_vk?t=609

This book looks interesting: https://youtu.be/afQUBFTI7sY

Opening to Botan Kamiina Fully Blossoms When Drunk: https://youtu.be/fUU_VKLXzRQ

Reading
Siri Pettersen - Sølvstrupen
Book two in a young adult fantasy trilogy, recommended to me by my youngest daughter. I quite like it.