Banana Soup and Author Avatars

[mark_asphodel]

 Food update!  Tonight's din was "Supa Ya N Dizi," a tongue-twisting spicy chicken and banana stew.  Yes, bananas.  I'm sure the original recipe used plantains, but this health-skewed version uses barely-ripe bananas.  It is seriously good stuff and a household favorite in Asphodel Land.  That coconut-milk "ice cream" from the hippie food section of the grocery store makes a nice follow-up.

In other news, writing Nyna-fic is emotionally toxic.  I'm mostly done with the first chapter, and kind of know where I'm going with the rest of it, but her interactions with the other characters are so... spiked.  Example: later on in the story, there's a scene where Alm comes over to Zeke's place to have dinner and talk shop, and the balancing act going on there between Zeke and Nyna is just a mind-screw.  The secondary theme of the piece turns out to be a lot about identity and names and "language" (see: code-switching), and having Alm/Albyne/Rudolf, Camus/Zeke/Sirus and Not-Princess-Anymore Nyna around a table (oh yeah, and Teeta too) is... liek whoa.

[I worked on Chapter Four of "Another Piece of Blue" as well, so that's good.]

Anyway, the main theme is the sort of desire vs obligation thing that always makes me want to smack Nyna.  Not that I'm trying to demonize her in this-- if anything, I'm trying to get some sort of positive resolution for myself about her, or at least a non-negative resolution.  In a sense, it really is personal, or rather personal/professional.  I'm not actually using her as a substitute for the dear friend and co-worker who royally screwed me over last year[*]-- but it's there, in a sense, in the same way that Seth in "Heaven's Blessings Upon Us" was me on some level.  I don't try to use characters as my avatars or mouthpieces-- "Motherland" had huge chunks of my life run through a blender and incorporated into its fabric, but nobody complained so I guess it was done well enough.  I know that a huge portion of FE 'fic comes out of frustrations in my professional life, and the Nyna 'fic is part of that.  On some level, I'm displeased with the mixed messages FE canon provides about destiny and duty as opposed to self-actualization.  On some level, maybe I am having a smackdown with my buddy "Stan" over the mess he handed me last year.   Nyna, at least, is a lot more attractive than a middle-aged Polish-Sicilian guy.

* For "personal reasons" that were completely understandable.  We're still friends.  But he still screwed me over in ways that impact me every single day at work.  He took a time out for personal fulfillment, and I got stuck holding the bag.  Oh, I had the option of running away myself and saying "No way, too hard, don't wanna," but I actually wanted this thing to succeed, and nobody else remotely competent had the balls to step forward and take responsibility.  I guess I'd rather jack things up personally than watch from the sidelines as someone else ruins the division.

Comments

[hooves.livejournal.com]

[spicy chicken and banana stew]

This sounds creepily good. I mean. Really. I don't know. Maybe I'll get brave and try it. :O

Also, emotionally toxic stories are generally for the win!

Oh, and I like the prompt you picked for the next round of fe_contest! Very nice. It'll be posted soon. ♥

Also, question: how do you always come up with such good titles?

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

This sounds creepily good

It's really good, especially with sourdough bread.

Oh, and I like the prompt you picked for the next round of fe_contest!

Oh, yay. I was going to go with "myth" originally, but I think this one has plenty for people to wring meaning out of.

Also, question: how do you always come up with such good titles?

Heheh. I'm glad you like the titles, as I am rather proud of them. I think it comes out of years and years and years of sorting through the world for the perfect fake song titles and fake album titles for my original novel. I'm the sort of person who is forever jotting things down and going, "This would be the perfect title for such-and-such!" I'm also a person who judges quite a bit from a title-- if you offer me the choice of two albums I haven't heard (from the same artist), I'll pick the one whose titles I like better. That's one reason I couldn't get into Radiohead at all for years; I didn't want to listen to songs called "Airbag" and "Myxomatosis"!

Derp, take two

[hooves.livejournal.com]

On some level, I'm displeased with the mixed messages FE canon provides about destiny and duty as opposed to self-actualization.

This would actually be a REALLY interested discussion post, if you posted it. Just saying. :O

As far as Avataring goes, I think most people do it, especially in the FE fandom, because most characters don't have a "complete" background, personality, et cetera. It's really hard to imagine how, say, Seth would act if embarrassed. Would he actually show it? Or would he be able to hide it? That's just one dumb example of something simple that the game cannot tell you.

Plus, I think if you don't take it too far (and make, like, Seth like, talk like, y'know, like this just because you do, which you probably don't, but it's just an example) a little bit of avataring can make an otherwise flat character seem more 3D. (Eliwood, anyone? What about a lot of FE1/2/3 characters?)

I mean, if you're writing about Marth, for example... and someone somewhere offers him a drink.

Does he accept it?

No?

You don't know what Marth would do in a situation like that, so you have to kind of "put yourself into Marth's shoes" so to speak. Do you think he /would/ or /wouldn't/? It's hard to know, and I think most people, when faced with a decision like that, would look at it like, well, would /I/ accept the drink?

Derp. That was a horrible example, but I hope that made some kind of sense? JUST SLAP ME IF IT DIDN'T. I mean, I don't know that Marth does or doesn't drink in-game, but if the issue is never addressed at all...how are you supposed to know? I think the "have no way of knowing" issues are the ones that end up getting avatared in the FE fandom...because there are so many of those things.

/hangs head in defeat

Re: Derp, take two

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

This would actually be a REALLY interested discussion post, if you posted it. Just saying. :O

I'll get around to it one of these days... I'm afraid of offending people with some of the things I have to say about the more popular games.

I think the "have no way of knowing" issues are the ones that end up getting avatared in the FE fandom...because there are so many of those things.

Totally. Actually, since the Archanea games have so little info about everyday living, I've resorted to plundering the manga adaptation for some details. The manga actually has the characters doing mundane things like going to market in normal clothes, reading the newspaper(!), eating and drinking. The Archanea shown in the manga has a kind of 18th century vibe to it-- like France after Louis XIV was past his glory days. It's a very flawed adaptation, but some of it does interest me.

I'd love to write something actually set in the mangaverse and "fix" its problems, but most of it isn't scanlated, the manga throws the game-plot out the window, and I only have a vague idea of what's going on in places.

[myaru.livejournal.com]

I know that a huge portion of FE 'fic comes out of frustrations in my professional life

See, to me this seems to be normal for writing of any kind. We all (general "we") give lip service to rules like never project your personal beliefs onto a character and do not use your hero as your mouthpiece and so on, but fiction comes from our lives, even when it's written in a fantasy world. I'd be surprised to hear an author wasn't using fic for some kind of personal catharsis, or to work out some sticky moral dilemma from their own experience.

Also, I'm with sacae - that'd be an interesting post to read. I'd be just as happy to get the story, though.

That soup sounds amazing. I have to try it.

[samuraiter.livejournal.com]

Since I do not know if you have comments e-mailed to you, I will thank you here for your explanation of the Curse of Artemis. :-) I saved a copy of that comment for my personal reference, since I get the feeling I will be returning to Archanea for the next challenge at fe_contest.

(Like sacae, I am also curious as to how you come up with these titles. They tend to be instantly memorable.)

As for projecting oneself into a 'fic, I agree with myaru that it is unavoidable, since we write what we know and what we feel. I try to disperse it by distributing little fragments of my P.O.V. among different characters, or by having characters take opposite / different sides of the same issue. (Favorite example: In One Year, Erk, Guy, and Heath all love Priscilla, but each of them has a different dynamic with her representing a different type of love, be it child-like [Erk], pure to the point of courtly honor [Guy], or mature and carnal [Heath].)

Hmm. I recall having a chicken / banana / coconut milk combo at my favorite Thai restaurant, years ago. Still sounds good today. (Curry, I trust?)

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

They tend to be instantly memorable.

Thank you! I think it stems from many, many years of practice. :D

I try to disperse it by distributing little fragments of my P.O.V. among different characters, or by having characters take opposite / different sides of the same issue.

That is generally what I do in original 'fic and fanfic both. It's far less perilous than investing undue personal interest in one character.

(Curry, I trust?)

There was some curry powder in it, but this soup is more African or West Indian, I think. The coconut is more for texture, and the tomatoes and chiles predominate.