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its-alumina · 11 days

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"Yeah, I'd write my story, but..." - me, on a daily basis

(screencap from Star Wars: The Last Jedi)

#writing #meme #writing memes #writing struggles #screencaps #creative writing #writers on tumblr #writers #writer

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its-alumina · 2 months

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its-alumina · 2 months

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They had me in the first half...

The Logical Couple

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its-alumina · 3 months

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my favorite fall out boy album is uhhhh…. Fondle A Dude

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its-alumina · 3 months

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If I had a nickel for every book about a smart 12-year-old using Santa Claus technology, with tech-elf side characters, mentally ill mother figures, dead dads, themes of loss, and magic ex machina taking place at Christmas time and written by Eoin Colfer, I'd have two nickels.

And somehow the books are foils of each other. Artemis would 100% be Juniper's nemesis if they lived in the same universe. Love that, love them.

Read Juniper's Christmas if you haven't, it's great.

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its-alumina · 4 months

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What the-- 7 years??

#7 year tumblrversary #tumblr milestone

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its-alumina · 8 months

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Does it ever drive you crazy...

... just how fast the night changes?

Manga: One Piece

#one piece #manga #anime #monkey d luffy #admiral kizaru #manga panels #eiichiro oda

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its-alumina · 1 year

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Writing ASL: Techniques to Write Signed Dialogue

Hey, guys! I've been reading a lot of DC Batfamily fanfiction lately, and in doing so I realized how little I see of ASL being represented in written text (love you, Cass!). I wanted to briefly talk about tactics to writing American Sign Language (ASL), and ways that these techniques can help improve your writing in more general contexts!

SOME THINGS BEFORE WE GET STARTED

I will be discussing everything in terms of ASL! If you have a character who uses Chinese Sign Language or even British Sign Language, the same rules will not necessarily apply! Don't be afraid to do some extra research on them.

Do not let this dissuade you from writing a character who signs ASL! This is by no means the end-all be-all to writing ASL dialogue, and I do not intend this post to insinuate that by writing ASL the same way you write English you are deeply offending the Deaf community. If this is something you're interested in though, I highly recommend experimenting with the way you write it! Above all, have fun with your writing.

Related to 2nd rule, but still very important: not everyone will agree that sign language should be treated/written any differently than English. This is a totally valid and understandable stance to take! I do not hope to invalidate this stance by making this post, but rather to introduce an interested audience to how ASL operates in the modern world, and how that can be translated into text.

ADDRESSING SOME MISCONCEPTIONS

ASL is the same as English, just with gestures instead of words.

Actually, no! There is a language that exists that is like that: it's called Signing Exact English, and it's an artificial language; i.e., it did not come about naturally. All languages came from a need to communicate with others, and ASL is no different! It is a language all on it's own, and there is no perfect 1:1 way to translate it to English, just as any spoken language.

2. But everyone who signs ASL knows how to read English, don't they?

No, actually! Because it's a completely different language, people who sign ASL and read English can be considered bilingual: they now know two languages. In fact, fingerspelling a word to a Deaf person in search for the correct sign does not usually work, and is far from the preferred method of conversing with Deaf people.

3. Because ASL does not use as many signs as we do words to articulate a point, it must be an inferior language.

Nope! ASL utilizes 5 complex parameters in order to conversate with others: hand shape, palm orientation, movement, location, and expression. English relies on words to get these points across: while we may say "He's very cute," ASL will sign, "He cute!" with repeated hand movement and an exaggerated facial expression to do what the "very" accomplishes in the English version: add emphasis. Using only ASL gloss can seem infantilizing because words are unable to portray what the other four parameters are doing in a signed sentence.

4. Being deaf is just a medical disability. There's nothing more to it.

Fun fact: there is a difference between being deaf and being Deaf. You just said the same thing twice? But I didn't! To be deaf with a lowercase 'd' is to be unable to hear, while being Deaf with an uppercase is to be heavily involved in the Deaf community and culture. Deaf people are often born deaf, or they become deaf at a young age. Because of this, they attend schools for the Deaf, where they are immersed in an entirely different culture from our own. While your family may mourn the loss of your grandfather's hearing, Deaf parents often celebrate discovering that their newborn is also deaf; they get to share and enjoy their unique culture with their loved one, which is a wonderful thing!

YOU MENTIONED ASL GLOSS. WHAT IS THAT?

ASL gloss is the written approximation of ASL, using English words as "labels" for each sign. ASL IS NOT A WRITTEN LANGUAGE, so this is not the correct way to write it (there is no correct way!): rather, it is a tool used most commonly in classrooms to help students remember signs, and to help with sentence structure.

IF THERE'S NO CORRECT WAY TO WRITE IN ASL, THEN HOW DO I DO IT?

A most astute observation! The short answer: it's up to you. There is no right or wrong way to do it. The longer answer? Researching the culture and history, understanding sign structure, and experimenting with description of the 5 parameters are all fun ways you can take your ASL dialogue to the next level. Here are 3 easy ways you can utilize immediately to make dialogue more similar to the way your character is signing:

Sign languages are never as wordy as spoken ones. Here's an example: "Sign languages are never wordy. Spoken? Wordy." Experiment with how much you can get rid of without the meaning of the sentence being lost (and without making ASL sound goo-goo-ga-ga-y; that is to say, infantilizing).

Emotion is your friend. ASL is a very emotive language! If we were to take that sentence and get rid of the unnecessary, we could get something like "ASL emotive!" The way we add emphasis is by increasing the hand motion, opening the mouth, and maybe even moving the eyebrows. It can be rather intuitive: if you mean to say very easy, you would sign EASY in a flippant manner; if you mean to say so handsome, you would sign handsome and open your mouth or fan your face as if you were hot. Think about a game of Charades: how do you move your mouth and eyebrows to "act out" the word? How are you moving your body as your teammates get closer? There are grammar rules you can certainly look up if you would like to be more technical, too, but this is a good place to start!

Practice describing gestures and action. ASL utilizes three dimensional space in a lot of fun and interesting ways. Even without knowing what a specific sign is, describing body language can be a big help in deciphering the "mood" of a sentence. Are they signing fluidly (calm) or sharply (angry)? Are their signs big (excited) or small (timid)? Are they signing rushedly (impatient) or slowly? Messily (sad) or pointedly (annoyed)? Consider what you can make come across without directly addressing it in dialogue! Something ese about ASL is that English speakers who are learning it tend to think the speakers a little nosy: they are more than able to pick up on the unsaid, and they aren't afraid to ask about it.

Above all, don't be afraid to ask questions, do research or accept advice! New languages can be big and scary things, but don't let that make you shy away. Again, there is nothing wrong with deciding to write ASL the same as you write your English. I've personally found that experimenting with ASL dialogue in stories has aided me in becoming more aware of how to describe everything, from sappy emotional moments to action-packed fighting scenes. Writing ASL has helped me think about new ways to improve my description in more everyday contexts, and I hope it can be a big help to you as well, both in learning about Deaf culture and in pursuing your future writing endeavors. :)

P.S: I am quite literally only dipping my toes into the language and culture. I cannot emphasize how important it is to do your own research if it's someting you're interested in!

P.P.S: I want to apologize for my earlier P.S! What I meant by “I am … dipping my toes into the language and culture” was in direct regards to the post; what I should have said is “this post is only dipping its toes into the language and culture.” While I am not Deaf myself, I am a sophomore in college minoring in ASL and Deaf Culture, and I am steadily losing my hearing. Of course, that does not make me an authority figure on the topic, which is why I strongly encourage you to do your own research, ask your own questions, and consult any Deaf friends, family, or online peers you may have.

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its-alumina · 1 year

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"Baby, seasons change, but people don't, and I'll always be waiting in the back room"

The Take Over, The Breaks Over /// Fall Out Boy

#the take over #fall out boy #infinity on high #andrew hurley #joe trohman #pete wentz #patrick stump #song lyrics #screencap

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its-alumina · 1 year

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This.

Ugh, there should be a name for that feeling you get when you read the penultimate book in a series and it makes your heart so heavy knowing there's only one more and after that it's gone. I just listened to book 7 of Artemis Fowl and there's only one more book and oof I'm already heartsore.

Actually, I think anyone reading this would like it a lot! It's a fun blend of scifi, fantasy and thriller, there's awesome characters (including some very badass ladies), the plots always leave you thinking 'how are they gonna get out of THIS ONE', and I love it so much. They get even better as they go on. It's a kids' series, but it doesn't feel like one, which I suppose is a sign of a well-written children's series. :P

Also, the way I feel about the series is pretty similar to how some people feel about Harry Potter, so if you know anyone who wants something similar without supporting JK Rowling, go ahead and recommend Artemis Fowl to them!

But whatever you do, DO NOT WATCH THE MOVIE. I heard it sucks and isn't like the books at all, plus they whitewashed my favorite character. :(

#artemis fowl #eoin colfer

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its-alumina · 1 year

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easy hack if you're scared of a blank page or need word count encouragement

I have a hard time writing on that big blank document. Even if it already has paragraphs or pages of work, it still feels incredibly daunting when I first start.

I manage the page setup on Google Docs to help me out.

Not only do the words fill up the page faster, the size I use is roughly the size of a paperback. It's exciting to visualize what it could look like published.

It helps me to have visual encouragement, rather than a document that looks more like a school essay.

Here is how I set my document up in Docs under File > Page setup