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(I Think it may already be there, but I have to join in):
I won't tell you my favorite bits, 'cause they're apt to change.
I won't tell you my favorite bits, 'cause they're apt to change.
I decided just to play around with sounds in my mouth, to see what tickled my fancy, and came up with "Quadiquafflump." 'Quadi-" is for 'four' (the number of different creatures from whom it gets its parts), and "quafflump" is for the sound it probably makes, as it moves through its native habitat -- mixed wetland forests.
Here's a link to the card in my store (tell me what you think of the copy I wrote about it? Thanks!):
Here's a link to the card in my store (tell me what you think of the copy I wrote about it? Thanks!):
More Monster Musings
Feb. 17th, 2011 04:44 pmFirst, here's the monster I started to draw, yesterday, in honor of MONSTER DAY (February 16th), 2011 (I only finished it a few minutes ago -- it, um, kept getting hairier and hairier >_>):
Second, thinking about the origin of the word "Monster" (from the Latin for 'omen' or 'sign,' specifically, an omen that the gods are about to wreak vengence for humanity's sin), and how that can still have meaning for me, as an atheist:
Omens, like life, can spring forth without a scheming architect scribbling away behind the scenes (Creationism is Intelligent Design; Evolution is Intelligent Improv.*). An organism born with a radically unexpected body form could very well be a sign that Something Big is Changing deep within the system, and soon, we will feel that Big Change.
Humans: a) Don't like Big Change, and b) take everything personally, and assume anything we don't like is a punishment. So.
Third, thinking about how this "holiday" (it may be on its way, but it hasn't yet reached self-sustaining meme power) can fit into my own year, and my own experience of the seasons:
If I understand monsters to be embodiments of big change, or signs that big change is coming, then maybe this can be my "Hooray! Winter is over holiday!"
Y/Y?
*Say "yes" to everything, just keep going, and see what happens.
Second, thinking about the origin of the word "Monster" (from the Latin for 'omen' or 'sign,' specifically, an omen that the gods are about to wreak vengence for humanity's sin), and how that can still have meaning for me, as an atheist:
Omens, like life, can spring forth without a scheming architect scribbling away behind the scenes (Creationism is Intelligent Design; Evolution is Intelligent Improv.*). An organism born with a radically unexpected body form could very well be a sign that Something Big is Changing deep within the system, and soon, we will feel that Big Change.
Humans: a) Don't like Big Change, and b) take everything personally, and assume anything we don't like is a punishment. So.
Third, thinking about how this "holiday" (it may be on its way, but it hasn't yet reached self-sustaining meme power) can fit into my own year, and my own experience of the seasons:
If I understand monsters to be embodiments of big change, or signs that big change is coming, then maybe this can be my "Hooray! Winter is over holiday!"
Y/Y?
*Say "yes" to everything, just keep going, and see what happens.
(I'm mostly talking to myself, here. But comments would be cuddled, petted and replied to)
( An outline for Inanimate-to-Sentience transference )
( How this might play out, specifically, in my novel: )
What I'm not sure of, yet:
Any ideas?
( An outline for Inanimate-to-Sentience transference )
( How this might play out, specifically, in my novel: )
What I'm not sure of, yet:
- Where on the Sliding scale of living toys (via TV Tropes) my toy characters should fall, or
- What's the nature of the nightmares and ghouls they battle, in the main conflict of the plot
Any ideas?
Things that polls can teach you...
Oct. 8th, 2010 04:54 pmSo, yesterday, I made a poll about what I might write during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month: November 1-30). At the time I made it, I thought I was conflicted and/or confused over which story idea I should tackle.
I got three responses over on the LJ side of the divide. And I found myself disappointed that no one picked my children's fantasy/misfit toy idea.
So I guess that tells me I wasn't so conflicted, after all -- there is one idea that tugs harder at my heartstrings than the others.
Here are the two main characters slowly coalescing in my imagination, right now:
A girl -- perhaps six or seven years old, but maybe as old as ten -- who loves bugs and creepy crawlies and imaginary monsters, but whose mother, aunts, uncles, teachers, et alia, all want to be a "cute" girl, who likes ponies and princesses, and sparkly fairy wands, like other "normal" girls her age.
A "monster" toy -- as according to one older definition of "monster": a creature with a mix of several different animals' body parts. There's a snafu at the toy factory, and the computerized patterns get all mixed up, so, for a brief period, stuffed bunnies get giraffe necks, stuffed lions get bunny ears, and so forth. The glitch is discovered, the machines are stopped, and all the "defective" toys get found, taken apart, and their pieces recycled -- all except for one: a "monster" teddy that somehow managed to get through the assembly line and into its package and into the shipping crate before the glitch was discovered.
Naturally, the girl finds the monster (somehow), and (somehow) gets it home. Maybe the mother gives in, perhaps as a bargain to get the girl to wear the pretty dress and to be ladylike at an important event. Or maybe the girl finds the packaged teddy in a discard pile at the store, or ...?
And then, the story takes a turn into Raggedy Ann, Velveteen Rabbit, and Toy Story territory, and becomes a "Secret life of toys" tale. And the Monster Teddy becomes the protector/hero, because it can use its fangs and claws and weird looks to fight off nightmares and malevolant shadows...
Here's what I'm pondering right now: are there more interesting, and /or nuanced ways, for a toy to "become alive" than through the pure and innocent love that the child has for it? Because, frankly, that scenerio, while a commonly accepted trope, seems a bit too saccharine to be a good fit with these particular characters.
Hm.
I got three responses over on the LJ side of the divide. And I found myself disappointed that no one picked my children's fantasy/misfit toy idea.
So I guess that tells me I wasn't so conflicted, after all -- there is one idea that tugs harder at my heartstrings than the others.
Here are the two main characters slowly coalescing in my imagination, right now:
A girl -- perhaps six or seven years old, but maybe as old as ten -- who loves bugs and creepy crawlies and imaginary monsters, but whose mother, aunts, uncles, teachers, et alia, all want to be a "cute" girl, who likes ponies and princesses, and sparkly fairy wands, like other "normal" girls her age.
A "monster" toy -- as according to one older definition of "monster": a creature with a mix of several different animals' body parts. There's a snafu at the toy factory, and the computerized patterns get all mixed up, so, for a brief period, stuffed bunnies get giraffe necks, stuffed lions get bunny ears, and so forth. The glitch is discovered, the machines are stopped, and all the "defective" toys get found, taken apart, and their pieces recycled -- all except for one: a "monster" teddy that somehow managed to get through the assembly line and into its package and into the shipping crate before the glitch was discovered.
Naturally, the girl finds the monster (somehow), and (somehow) gets it home. Maybe the mother gives in, perhaps as a bargain to get the girl to wear the pretty dress and to be ladylike at an important event. Or maybe the girl finds the packaged teddy in a discard pile at the store, or ...?
And then, the story takes a turn into Raggedy Ann, Velveteen Rabbit, and Toy Story territory, and becomes a "Secret life of toys" tale. And the Monster Teddy becomes the protector/hero, because it can use its fangs and claws and weird looks to fight off nightmares and malevolant shadows...
Here's what I'm pondering right now: are there more interesting, and /or nuanced ways, for a toy to "become alive" than through the pure and innocent love that the child has for it? Because, frankly, that scenerio, while a commonly accepted trope, seems a bit too saccharine to be a good fit with these particular characters.
Hm.
