And Your Bird Can Sing

Another unexpected complication about world-building is animal names. Not all animals. I'm going to call a lion a lion. But when you get around to some species, it's not so simple. 

For example, the Townsend's warbler is a beautiful little bird I sometimes see. It's named after an ornithologist. There's no reason that another world would name a bird after a guy from this world. And sure, I could make up some back story for a guy with the same name who had a part in the history of this bird. 

But when an American bird species (or African, etc) is named after a European scientist or explorer, that's a problem in itself. It's not like that person discovered the bird. It's pretty much a guarantee that the species already had a name in the local language. 

And on top of that, some bird species are actually getting new names because they were named for people that did bad things. 

For other cases, it's silly to use a French name for an American bird (such as the grosbeak). 

So, when I want to have a specific bird appear in one of my stories, I sometimes have to give it a new name. I've found a couple old-fashioned names that work. And for others, I've gone with American-Indian names for the birds. A couple others, I've just reworded. 

There are so many things to figure out! 

Really, Google?

Since Blogspot changed some of their features, there's this weird AI button. It's right in the corner of where I type posts. Whatever genius designed this made it so I can't see the text that's beneath that button. So every time I edit a post, I have to hit enter a couple times so I can actually see the text.  And then move everything back into place. 

Nice job, programmers...

Not to mention that for a few years now, the login has been broken. I can no longer just click on a post to edit it. I have to search for it through the whole list of posts. 

I also stopped using Google search because there's no way to avoid the AI vomit that fills half the screen. I'm now using Ecosioa, which works just as well. And it's supposed to be a more environmentally friendly company anyway. 

Stories of history have often changed over time, becoming part fable. Details get exaggerated, or left out, or changed. But even if they're no longer completely true, you can still find truth in them. Even if all that's left are messages or themes. 

Become Cartoony

I've seen advice on how to design cartoon characters. And while I love some cartoon styles, I never bothered to try my own cartoony style. I've only ever drawn characters from existing cartoons. 

My drawing style is a little more realistic. Even when I draw comics (I'm very mediocre at that) the style isn't at all cartoony. But now there's a character I want to use in some comics. I did a practice drawing, which turned out pretty good. But I can tell that if I try to draw him like that in a comic, it won't look right. Now I have to figure out how to draw him so he looks good as a comic character. So far, I haven't found any reference pictures that are in the direction I want to go. 

Yeah, I have no experience in this kind of thing. I guess i'll just have to do some experimenting and see what works. 

Recovering Villains

I seem to have a category of character that I find endlessly entertaining:  Recovering villains. 

And I can finally use my new warning sign! 

I think it first started with Once Upon a Time. There's a span where Regina isn't evil anymore, but she sure ain't nice. Snow says something optimistic, and Regina goes, "do you get a quarter from the hope fairies every time you say that?" That cracked me up. 

In Steven Universe, we get Peridot. The angry slice of pie. Once she's captured and her tech taken away, she's not really a threat. She doesn't even try to deceive them. She's too honest for that, to the point where she has to be reminded if she's supposed to lie. But even when she's no longer dangerous, she's quite the stinker for a while. Like when she learns that bopping someone in the face hurts them. 

For Strange Magic, there's the Bog King. Especially when he's trying to get Dawn to stop singing, and he can't help but feel touched by her kind gestures. 

Then of course there's Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, with my favorite crazy monkey. Even in prison, he still had plenty of attitude. It's a lot of fun to watch. But the reason I like this category so much is because it's great to see these characters steadily become good. 

Then we get She-ra and the Princesses of Power. After everything Catra did, I was certain I'd never forgive her. But she's a cat. Which means I couldn't help warming up to her when she stopped being nasty. Even if she still is pretty prickly. She deserves all the teasing, like how cute she looks in her helmet. At one point, she says she's working on anger management, and Adora is so excited. Aah, fun stuff. Angry cats trying to be a little less angry. 

And most recently there's Spiderman No Way Home, with Dr. Octavius. It's not actually him that's being evil. But when he's captured, he takes every available chance to be a jerk. He just can't back it up, so his threats are laughable. I find it far too entertaining how he gets dragged around by his own machine. 

Spoilers

This is one of my many schemes that became more complicated than expected. For a while, I've been wanting to have some sort of icon or picture to use on my blog as a warning for spoilers. I hadn't yet thought of a good character or image to draw. 

I just rewatched my favorite season of Doctor Who - the one with Donna. I had kinda resisted starting it again, but I enjoyed the heck out of it. I forgot how much fun the Doctor and Donna are. It was like being with old friends again. I even went back and watched some of the episodes again with Nicole a few days ago. 

I also noticed something new. In the library episodes, I always assumed that Donna's fictional husband really was fictional. But there are about three seconds at the end where you see him try to call out to Donna, and just miss her. Come on, Donna's story is already tragic enough without that! (This is where I send Fern in to interfere ;) which contributes to the feeling of these characters being old friends). 

This episode where we meet River Song solved a problem for me. One of her iconic lines is "spoilers." This show does a fascinating thing where River's timeline kind of flows backwards to the Doctor's. They're not supposed to share any information that the other doesn't know yet. I didn't think I could draw River well enough to let a casual viewer know it was her. I tried to find a picture, which ended up being hard. I just couldn't find an image of River that worked. I wanted that mischievous look she sometimes has when she says "spoilers." And I wanted the picture to have some hint that this character was from Doctor Who. I finally stumbled upon a book cover. It's a great picture of River, and she's holding her cool Tardis book. 

Then came the second hurdle. I no longer have simple access to the program that lets me add text to an image. At least not text that will be legible. But after combining a few different programs and websites, I finally got it! 

Now hopefully I'll actually remember to mark spoilers more often in my blog. Since I spent so long making this freaking image. 

Being Good Doesn't Earn You Money

I just saw a depressing Youtube video that interviewed a successful author. She's a full-time writer, and not married. So what she earns from writing is all she gets. And despite her work selling well, she said that she can barely keep her head above water. I knew that writing can be a lousy way to earn money. But I thought successful authors would have it better. 

It's so insane that people working full-time can barely make ends meet. And writing is only one of many examples. Plenty of people that work their tails off can't even stay afloat. 

Yes, I will keep complaining about this society and economy, which give people fame and unimaginable wealth by trampling on so many others. 

The Right Time to Tell Stories

Story-telling is incredibly important to cultures all around the world. I don't mean movies, but word-of-mouth tales. Some cultures have rules about when they tell stories. For example, many American Indians will only tell mythology during winter. Other tales can only be told to men, maybe. And some stories weren't told to outsiders simply because outsiders wouldn't understand them. That person would have to get to know the people before they understood what some of the story referred to. 

The San people of Africa wouldn't tell a newcomer any of their stories until they'd danced with them. And not just any dance, but a special dance after a successful eland hunt. I want to know more about that. Is there something about eland and stories?