One Weird (Read: Useless) Trick for Naming Your C-Novel Inspired Characters
Apr. 22nd, 2025 06:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Let's say you're writing something inspired by on based on a c-novel. And you've come to the exciting part, which is choosing names for your characters. And you find yourself stuck.
Well, not to worry! We have a several-millennia-long tradition of poetry to assist us. All you have to do is this.
Take a line from a Book of Odes poem, or a Tang poem, or really any poem. Then pick out the name-like elements and smoosh them together. Voilà, you've got yourself a name.
Thus, from the Book of Odes the line 蒹葭苍苍, 白露为霜 (pinyin: jianjia cangcang, bailu wei shuang) (Legge's translation: 'The reeds and rushes are deeply green / And the white dew is turned into hoarfrost) gives us Bai Jianjia, which is suitable for either a refined young lady or a courtesan of the high-class, scholarly sort. Also from the Book of Odes, the line 昔我往矣,杨柳依依 (pinyin: xi wo wang yi, yangliu yiyi) (Legge's translation: At first, when we set out / The willows were fresh and green) gives us Liu Yiyi, also a good courtesan or high-class maidservant name (IMO the Book of Odes link might just about make it learned enough to be a young gentlewoman's name, but I don't usually like repeated-syllable names for upper-class or scholarly women, unless it's a nickname).
This trick is pretty commonly used in popular media. The drama version of The Message has a character named (or rather, re-named) He Jianzhu (何剪烛). This is clearly taken from the line 何当共剪西窗烛 (pinyin: he dang gong jian xichuang zhu) from Li Shangyin's poem 'Sending a Letter North on a Rainy Night'(夜雨寄北). The love interest from The Beauty's Blade is called Yu Shengyan (玉生烟), and so is a secondary character from the danmei novel Thousand Autumns, courtesy of the line 蓝田日暖玉生烟 (pinyin: lantian ri nuan yu sheng yan) from another Li Shangyin poem, 'The Brocade Zither' (錦瑟).
'But, douqi,' I hear you cry, 'what if I don't know any Chinese poetry or enough Chinese to know what are appropriate name elements to pick out of verses?'
Ah. Then I'm afraid this post will be of no help at all. Sorry.
[Prompt #421 — Amnesty] teen Titans — Total Consumption
Apr. 22nd, 2025 06:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Author: Audrelite Title: Total Consumption Fandom: Teen Titans (2003) Prompt: #421 — New Rating: E (Sexual content) Characters: Leonid Kovar, Koriand'r Word Count: 100 Summary: The sensation: total consumption, a pressure shattering every limit, a rhythm building, breaking, rebuilding its exquisite loop.
[Prompt #429 (Amnesty] Winx Club — Icy And His for the Taking
Apr. 22nd, 2025 02:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Author: Audrelite Title: Icy and His For the Taking Fandom: Winx Club Prompt: #429 — Icy Rating: T Characters: Tritannus, mentioned Icy Word Count: 100 Summary: To lose sight of Icy would be to lose this new constant gifted to him within this desolate wasteland.
Prompt: #440 - Amnesty Week
Apr. 21st, 2025 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Your response should be exactly 100 words long. You do not have to include the prompt in your response -- it is meant as a starting place only. Please use the appropriate prompt tag with your prompt response.
Please put your drabble under a cut tag if it contains potential triggers, mature or explicit content, or spoilers.
If you would like a template for the header information you may use this:
Subject: Original - Title (or) Fandom - Title
Post:
Title:
Original (or) Fandom:
Rating:
Notes:
Here's the template as code for easier pasting:
If you are a member of AO3 there is a 100 Words Collection!
The prompts are:
439. refuse
438. shelter
437. flower
436. bitter
435. exile
434. cook
433. scrape
432. mudita (मुदिता)
431. toska (тоска)
( Earlier prompts )
(no subject)
Apr. 21st, 2025 12:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Fandom: Death Note
Rating: Gen
Notes: Spoilers for the end of Death Note; death of a child
( Read more... )
Finish Line April 20!
Apr. 20th, 2025 08:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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FINISH LINE
YOU MADE IT!
I hope your weekend treated you well, but even if it didn’t, we’re here to celebrate your marathon achievements. If you posted anything you’ve written during the weekend challenge don’t forget to add it to the monthly fic round up here!
Please reply with your numbers for the weekend–word count, number of pages edited, outlining work–whatever you accomplished. Include what you feel should be included, but please remember that we love numbers almost as much as words.
Thank you for writing with us this weekend!
Pre-Orders Open for Two More Print Novels
Apr. 20th, 2025 08:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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- Kuwei (the publisher)
- Jinse
- Kuaile
- Wangou
- Xinshijiao
The web version of the novel can be read here on JJWXC.
Pre-orders are also open for What Era Do You Think This Is (都什么年代了啊, pinyin: dou shenme niandai le a) by Qi Xiao Huang Shu (七小皇叔). The publisher-provided English title for this was Kissing a Gardenia, but that seems to have been scrapped now. This is also a contemporary romance, set in baihe voice acting circles. Pre-orders can be made via the following bookshops:
- Fengrusong
- Hanlin
- Kuaile
- Kuaile (extra merch)
- Xinshijiao
- Xinshijiao (extra merch)
The web version of the novel can be read here on Changpei.
Shin Megami Tensei: Law Unto Chaos
Apr. 20th, 2025 04:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Fandom: Shin Megami Tensei
Rating: PG-13
Notes: bureaucracy, humour
Summary: When demon summoning becomes widespread, its just immigration paperwork.
( Read more... )
Writing Sprints April 21-25
Apr. 20th, 2025 08:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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what’s a 1k1h?|| time zone converter || 1k1h Calendar
All sprints are run on Discord only. You can find our Discord server here.
Monday ( time zone converter)
5am PT/ 8am ET/ 12pm UTC Mrsimoshen
8am PT/ 11am ET/ 3pm UTC Max
11am PT/ 2pm ET/ 6pm UTC LittleMissTPK
1pm PT/ 4pm ET/ 8pm UTC LittleMissTPK
5pm PT/ 8pm ET/ 12am UTC Treefrogie84
7pm PT/ 10pm ET/ 2am Tues UTC Joe
Tuesday ( time zone converter)
8am PT/ 11am ET/ 3pm UTC Alec
11am PT/ 2pm ET/ 6pm UTC PreciousAnon
1pm PT/ 4pm ET/ 8pm UTC Xia
7pm PT/ 10pm ET/ 2am Wed UTC Alec
9pm PT/ 12am Wed ET/ 4am Wed UTC NotTooLateForTheGame
Wednesday ( time zone converter)
5am PT/ 8am ET/ 12pm UTC Mrsimoshen
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11am PT/ 2pm ET/ 6pm UTC Xia
1pm PT/ 4pm ET/ 8pm UTC Xia
5pm PT/ 8pm ET/ 12am UTC LittleMissTPK
7pm PT/ 10pm ET/ 2am Thur UTC Alec
Thursday ( time zone converter)
5am PT/ 8am ET/ 12pm UTC Mrsimoshen
8am PT/ 11am ET/ 3pm UTC Alec
11am PT/ 2pm ET/ 6pm UTC PreciousAnon
1pm PT/ 4pm ET/ 8pm UTC Treefrogie
5pm PT/ 8pm ET/ 12am UTC Treefrogie84
7pm PT/ 10pm ET/ 2am Fri UTC Alec
9pm PT/ 12am Fri ET/ 4am Fri UTC NotTooLateForTheGame
Friday ( time zone converter)
5am PT/ 8am ET/ 12pm UTC Mrsimoshen
8am PT/ 11am ET/ 4pm UTC Max
11am PT/ 2pm ET/ 6pm UTC LittleMissTPK
1pm PT/ 4pm ET/ 8pm UTC LittleMissTPK
5pm PT/ 8pm ET/ 12am UTC Treefrogie84
7pm PT/ 10pm ET/ 2am Sat UTC Alec
Across the Empire (纵横) by Lin Cuo (林错): Review
Apr. 19th, 2025 07:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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The protagonist Lin Zong is an interesting twist on the popular cross-dressing lead. She is, at the start of the novel, the only living child of Prince Chu, one of the emperor's brothers. We're told that, being a very sickly child, she was brought up as a boy in order to ensure her good health (this is a superstition/folk belief/tradition that's still extant in some communities; the idea seems to be that, if you raise a child as the 'opposite' gender, you confuse the malevolent forces responsible for their poor health).* So from a very young age, Lin Zong has been treated (and dresses as) a boy, and her father has even designated her his heir, but everyone knows that she was born a girl. This creates interesting tensions down the line.
*This was also the premise of the 2015 Taiwanese drama Bromance, the most accidentally(?) queer cross-dressing drama I've ever watched. Seriously, the protagonist is easily readable as non-binary up to the very last frame of the drama.
Prince Chu is one of those extremely competent, charismatic, loyalty-inspiring princes who are the bane of their emperor brothers' existences. The emperor therefore devises a loyalty test: he arranges for Lin Zong to be married to a high-ranking young noblewoman named Chu Yanran, to see how Prince Chu will respond. Prince Chu and Lin Zong don't really have a choice but to accept the match (the other option is to kick off and basically start a rebellion), and so we end up with the rather surreal scenario of a lesbian marriage sanctioned, nay compelled, by an otherwise institutionally homophobic state.
( some mild spoilers )
I read the Chinese original of both volumes here and here on JJWXC.
If You Liked This Danmei, You Might Like That Baihe
Apr. 18th, 2025 07:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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- If you liked Sha Po Lang, you might also like Minister Xie (谢相, pinyin: xie xiang) by Ruo Hua Ci Shu (若花辞树). In Minister Xie, teenage emperor Liu Zao tries to get to grips with ruling an empire while also doing her best to turn her prime minister Xie Yi (who is 14 years older than her, and also her sort-of aunt) into her wife. I have been reliably informed that she is even more Obsessed and Dramatique about the latter task than Changgeng is in relation to Gu Yun. Brief reviews are available here and here.
- If you liked Erha, you might also like the first 40% of The Abandoned (弃仙, pinyin: qi xian) by Mu Feng Qing Nian (沐枫轻年). Featuring extreme xianxia shizunfuckery and multiple rebirths, the first chapter of The Abandoned alone has the protagonist masturbating to a painting of her shizun, a curse that's basically the xianxia version of sex pollen, multiple instances of hurt/comfort, stratospheric levels of unhealthy disciple/shizun co-dependence, a double rebirth, the protagonist allowing her shizun to stab her in the shoulder so that she could get close enough to kiss her shizun, and the protagonist stealing her shizun's jade pendant for use as a masturbation aid. I say the first 40% because the remainder of the novel is unfortunately a bit of a drag (though for all I know, the back half of Erha also overstays its welcome). Brief review here.
- If you liked SVSSS, you might also like An Incantation for Subduing a Dragon/Dragon Subjugation Incantation (降龙诀, pinyin: xiang long jue) by Shi Wei Yue Shang (时微月上). Protagonist Luo Qingci transmigrates into a xianxia novel and into the body of female lead Ruan Li's evil, conniving shizun. Being genre savvy, Luo Qingci tries her best to avoid the character's canonical grisly fate, only to discover that her disciple might just be falling in love with her. Oh, and Ruan Li is also a dragon. Ongoing fan translation here.
- If you liked Qiang Jin Jiu, you might also like At Her Mercy (我为鱼肉, pinyin: wo wei yurou) by Ning Yuan (宁远). Except that everyone in At Her Mercy is evil. An English-language translation of At Her Mercy has been licensed by Rosmei (under the title At the World's Mercy), though the publication date is not yet known.
And now we come to the non-danmei though still danmei-adjacent comps:
- If you liked Nirvana in Fire/The Langya List, you might also like At Her Mercy, except that as noted above, everyone in At Her Mercy is evil.
- If you liked the Daomu Biji/The Lost Tomb series, you might also like Exploring an Empty Tomb (探虚陵, pinyin: tan xu ling) by Jun Sola (君sola) and Reading the Remnants (问棺, pinyin: wen guan) by Qi Xiao Huang Shu (七小皇叔). Obviously I don't know anything about the Daomu Biji series except that they're tomb-raiding novels, and both Exploring an Empty Tomb and Reading the Remnants are also tomb-raiding novels, so... close enough, I hope? Exploring an Empty Tomb is also literally millions of words long. A partial fan translation of Exploring an Empty Tomb is available here. A partial fan translation of Reading the Remnants is available here, and a fuller one here.
Comment with your own comps, if you have them! Also, feel free to post a danmei title, say what you liked about it and/or what its most notable qualities are, and people who read more baihe can hopefully find some comps for you!
Sign Up April 18 - 20!
Apr. 17th, 2025 10:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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SIGN UP!!
Need to get some words in? The Weekend Writing Marathon (WWM) is a writing challenge designed to help you do just that. You set your own writing goal for the weekend and work to achieve it before reporting back to the group on Sunday night.
How do I participate?
1. Reply to this post with your weekend writing plans–be as specific (or not) as you’d like.
2. Start writing on Friday 12:01 am local time. Work to meet your goal by Sunday night at 11:59 pm local time. You can work on whatever you want during this time.
3. Post your accomplishments to the Finish Line post at the end of the weekend (even if you didn’t reach your goal).
How do I report my accomplishments?
A Finish Line post will go up on Sunday. Reblog that post with your final word count/accomplished goal(s) by Monday at midnight local time. Totals from the weekend will be posted on Tuesday.
This challenge is currently running on 2 platforms: pillowfort, and dreamwidth. If you sign up on this platform, please respond to the Finish Line post on this platform.
Let us know if you have any questions!
Writing Sprints April 18-20
Apr. 17th, 2025 06:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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what’s a 1k1h?|| time zone converter || 1k1h Calendar
All sprints are run on Discord only. You can find our Discord server here.
Friday ( time zone converter)
5am PT/ 8am ET/ 12pm UTC Mrsimoshen
8am PT/ 11am ET/ 4pm UTC Max
11am PT/ 2pm ET/ 6pm UTC LittleMissTPK
1pm PT/ 4pm ET/ 8pm UTC LittleMissTPK
5pm PT/ 8pm ET/ 12am UTC Treefrogie84
7pm PT/ 10pm ET/ 2am Sat UTC Alec
Saturday ( time zone converter)
4am PT/ 7am ET/ 11am UTC PreciousAnon
7am PT/ 10am ET/ 2pm UTC Treefrogie84
9am PT/ 12pm ET/ 4pm UTC Treefrogie84
12pm PT/ 3pm ET/ 7pm UTC LittleMissTPK
4pm PT/ 7pm ET/ 11pm UTC Treefrogie84
7pm PT/ 10pm ET/ 2am Sun UTC Joe
Sunday ( time zone converter)
4am PT/ 7am ET/ 11am UTC PreciousAnon
7am PT/ 10am ET/ 2pm UTC Treefrogie84
9am PT/ 12pm ET/ 4pm UTC Treefrogie84
11am PT/ 2pm ET/ 6pm UTC PreciousAnon
1pm PT/ 4pm ET/ 8pm UTC Treefrogie
5pm PT/ 8pm ET/ 12am Mon UTC Treefrogie84
7pm PT/ 10pm ET/ 2am Mon UTC Joe
[Prompt #439] BtVS / Spuffy — One-time Special
Apr. 17th, 2025 10:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Author:
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Characters/Pairing: Spuffy
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: none
Word count: 100 (Google Docs)
Spoilers/Setting: Set post-S11 (comics) in an alternate reality where Buffy and Spike are an established couple.
Summary: At their wedding reception, Buffy and Spike talk about their first dance.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction created for fun and no profit has been made. All rights belong to the respective owners.
Challenge: #439 - Refuse
Crossposted:
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—
( READ: One-time Special )
[Challenge #439: Refuse] Friends: 'Best Friend Ever'
Apr. 16th, 2025 07:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Fandom: Friends
Rating: G
Notes: Crossposted to
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( Best Friend Ever )
[Prompt #439] Winx Club — Won't Leave You Alone
Apr. 16th, 2025 12:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Author: Audrelite Title: Won't Leave You Alone Fandom: Winx Club Prompt: #439 — Refuse Rating: G Characters: Darcy, mentioned Tecna Word Count: 100 Summary: If Icy or Stormy were ever to discover she'd been seeing one of the Winx, had fallen in love with one of them... no amount of illusion or hypnotism could possibly offer the explanation due.
Prompt: #439 - Refuse
Apr. 15th, 2025 02:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Your response should be exactly 100 words long. You do not have to include the prompt in your response -- it is meant as a starting place only. Please use the tag "prompt: #439 - refuse" with your response.
Please put your drabble under a cut tag if it contains potential triggers, mature or explicit content, or spoilers.
If you would like a template for the header information you may use this:
Subject: Original - Title (or) Fandom - Title
Post:
Title:
Original (or) Fandom:
Rating:
Notes:
If you are a member of AO3 there is a 100 Words Collection!