Rain outside....Words within

[j_cheney]

Finally, thoughts about Conestoga.

So, I went to Conestoga with the hopes of making no social gaffes. That was my goal, and I think I did pretty well at accomplishing that.

I served on three panels, the first being about the Facebook Phenomenon. Amazingly, it worked out quite well, with an equal balance of lovers and haters of various networks. I got to meet both frankwu and Brianna Wu there, who were both charming and fun to talk with. Also met Fan GOH Diana Bailey who graciously served as our moderator. We did, BTW, solve all problems of the on-line world.

The Guilty Pleasures panel (about guilty pleasures in reading, not anything else, folks) didn't soar quite as high, partially I suspect, because we can't really name names....it would be unprofessional. ;o) The final panel, the WOTF panel, had the regular suspects and the regular questions. I am, there, the fresh blood, and talk the loudest. ;o)

So other than the panels, I did about 100 pages of revision, and a good deal of socializing which made it a great week-end. ;o) Got to hang out with several regional writers, sewedel, Craig Wolf, wledbetter, and rclementmoore at various times, and had fascinating discussions. Hunting for coffee on a Sunday morning turned out to be a blast...especially when we never actually found the coffee.

I got to see my Wolfsongs editor shadowhelm and have a nice long chat, and got to meet Carol Hightshoe after seeing her name over at BU so many times. Had a nice chat with KD Wentworth as well. (I bid on a couple of items at the charity auction, and won both--only to discover later that they were both donated by KD. I hope she doesn't find out that I bought her stuff and think I'm a creepy stalker. We just have similar tastes in fashion accessories. Honest!)

I missed people. I know I did. My brain is a sieve. I blame the zombies.

But Conestoga was a blast. I'll get to see a lot of the same people in a couple of months at SoonerCon as well, so that's something to look forward to ;o)

I wrote DitD quickly. In reading it quickly, (100 pages in two sittings) I noted that I need to work on varying the phrases for certain movements, and so have decided that I will start compiling my own Thesaurus of Body Language.

So I'm starting with eyebrows. My first too-often-used phrase is 'he regarded her with raised brows' Any suggestions as to other ways to write this bit of body language, oh wiki-world?*

__________________________________________
*(Please note, if I happen to use your phrasing at some point in the future, I am not going to pay you royalties. Get over it.)

Comments

[kmarkhoover.livejournal.com]

Brows can arch or crowd together.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Crowd together....that's a new one for me. Will write it down ;o)

[jess-ka.livejournal.com]

They can also lift and quirk. Crazy brows.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Aha! I had quirk, but not lift. Go figure....

[jongibbs.livejournal.com]

Just a thought, but how about showing his surprise another way? With the right follow-up dialogue, for instance, you could lose the eyebrows altogether.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Very true, but the point of a thesaurus is to come up with other ways to express a specific phrase or word, so I'm sticking to my guns brows here ;o)

[jongibbs.livejournal.com]

In that case, how about furrow?

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Already filed under 'furrowed'

[displacedtexan.livejournal.com]

"He regarded her with a Spock-like arch of his brow"

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

No. Just no.

[isleburroughs.livejournal.com]

*giggle, giggle*

[orogeny.livejournal.com]

You know... I saw "SoonerCon" and my brain read "StonerCon."

I just spent the morning at a 9-year-old's school for "Grandparents and Special Friends Day." I think my mind's been destroyed.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Zombies....

[namelessarchon.livejournal.com]

How many years does this make that you've attended Conestoga? Just wondering what your circuit time was considering your success rates.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

This is my second year attending Conestoga ;o)

Hope that answers the question.

[snickelish.livejournal.com]

Her eyebrows pinched together in... (confusion, anger, frustration, concentration, etc).

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this is raised brows, though. Not furrowed brows. I'll stick that under 'furrowed'

[jongibbs.livejournal.com]

How about 'His eyebrows pinged upwards'?, or 'His eyebrows shot up'?

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

I'm not so certian about pinged, but shot works for me....

[jongibbs.livejournal.com]

Hehe, third time's the charm :)

I guess they could also 'disappear beneath a fringe of (insert appropraite hair description)' to0

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Good idea ;o)

[isleburroughs.livejournal.com]

he scrutinized, noticed, observed her from beneath, below peaked brows??

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Cool ;o)

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

But when your POV character is blind, does she really notice, or care, about what someone's eyebrows are doing?

Seriously, I worry about the same thing. My characters nod, they shake their heads, they sigh... But what else can they do? Part of the problem is that there are only so many things you can do with the human body (or face) before you start getting ridiculous. Lloyd Alexander, though I adored him, had that problem in the Prydain Chronicles. I mean, how many times could black suns burst in Taran's head?

If it's the same character doing it, I would just call it a quirk and not worry. If not, well, as folks've said, "lift," "raise," "quirked," etc.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

It is a quirk in this case. (Not the blind POV here) I'm just trying to find ways to vary it a little....