Writing What You Don't Know: The Assistants

I'm also not Russian, but I speak some.

I thiiink the patronymic might be Ipatyevna, since names ending in -i usually change it to -ye-. But Ipatichna works, too.

Surnames: Kara should be Starikova, with the -a ending, as she's a girl. I read about some contexts where Russian women used male surnames (besides the obvious: emigrating to a country that doesn't do different name endings, or the non-changing surnames), but I can't remember what they were and changing the name ending is usually the safer bet. Also, "stariy/staraya" actually means "old" in Russian. If the spaceship pun is supposed to be multilingual (because "star" in English and another, less obvious word in Russian), then Starikova is great. If you want to go full Russian pun, then maybe Zvezdova ("zvezda" means "star")? Although that'd be lost on non-Russian-speaking readers without explanation.

Kortni should also be Dugina like her mother, though. The surnames don't change that much, other than the -a ending thing. Duginovna sounds like the patronymization of her parents' surname. If I googled correctly, Duginovna is canon, but I still kinda disagree with it.

Nicknames: possibly Kor for Kortni among friends. It's something I've seen my Russian speaking acquaintances do with the obviously non-Russian names: just take the first syllable and to hell with the usual nickname formula. Kora would also be likely, but it'd get mixed up with her sister very easily.

 

Hey, I've got about the opposite set of qualifications for this: I don't speak it much, but I am Russian! (By which I mean I can comprehend/read/translate it fine. The actual speaking part has fallen to disuse.) So I can provide a second opinion on some of these, if you're interested:

1. Patronymic for "Ipati": My vote's definitely on Ипатьевна ("Ipatyevna"/"Ipatievna") for this one. "Ипатична" ("Ipatichna") isn't really a thing, as far as I can tell, and it doesn't really sound like a thing to my ears either. You can judge them yourself with The Google Test: "Ипатична" returns exactly one result, for some scanned PDF that's too low-quality for me to bother reading it, and "Ипатьевна" returns 7,100 results.

("Ipatievich" isn't to be confused with the similar-sounding patronymic "Ipatovna". "Ipatovna" would be if their dad's name was "Ipat". "Ипатьевна" is for "Ипатий", which is the name I'm assuming was Romanized to "Ipati" here, since I can't imagine what else would be.)

2. Kara + Kortni diminutives: First of all, is there any chance that "Kara" is already short for the name "Karina"? Because I can find diminutives for "Karina" just fine, like:

• Kara
• Rina
• Karinka
• Rinochka
• Karen'ka
• Karinochka
• Karinushka

(I tried to list those roughly from "least cutesy/effusive" to "most cutesy/effusive", so the ones at the bottom are probably not a casual-everyday-usage thing. I like "Karinka" the most, because it's also a kind of...colloquial?...word for "shadberry". The Actual Word for the berry is "ирга", but I didn't actually know that until I looked it up. I didn't know it was "shadberry" in English, either? I don't think I really know my berries that well.)

(Also I got that list of diminutives from here. In general you can find diminutives for most Russian names by Googling "уменьшительно-ласкательные формы имени [insert name in Cyrillic]".)

I have no idea what to do with Kortni, though. It's not a Russian name, it's not a diminutive of a Russian name, it doesn't sound like Russian names...I don't have enough experience with that. My beeest guess would be to maybe go for something like "kotik"? That's not really a diminutive so much as it is a pet name. It just means "small cat". It's something a parent could call a child, and it probably wouldn't be out of place in a romantic relationship, but I'm not sure if I could imagine a younger sibling calling an older sibling that casually. ...I've basically got nothing here.

3. The Dugina/Duginovna/Starikov/Starikova thing: I can second the "Duginovna should be Dugina, Starikov should be Starikova, unless special circumstances" thing. "Starikov" I could imagine if they were living in a country without gendered surnames, and they were all using that family name...but if Kara's the only one who's a "Starikov" I don't really know why she wouldn't be "Starikova" instead. As for "Duginovna"...um, I tried Googling it and literally the only result I got was for some Russian-language review of what I'm assuming is the exact series of comics we're talking about here. (And that review did use "Starikova", not "Starikov", if that helps.) I guess maybe you're just stuck with it, then?

Anyway, uh, disclaimer that I don't actually Actively Speak Russian In My Daily Life, I'm not actually Actively Immersed In Russian-Speaking Society, take my words with a grain of salt, etc.

 

On their first name - this is an AU DC Comics thing. I assumed that, since Kara's name is Kryptonian, her spaceship somehow communicated 'hey this is a baby whose name is Kara' and her adopted parents went 'yeah ok then, seems legit.' And Kortni is also not meant to be a Russian name in-universe - her biological father was an English dude who wanted his daughter to be named Courtney, and even though he was a jerk, her mom decided to stick with that name.

 

Pinging @Mercury and @jacktrash because I've heard you guys talk openly about this before. I have a character who really fucked up her knee and a mix of her being bullheaded and a lack of decent medical care, she keeps re-injuring it and the damage is permanent.

I'd love some perspective on how her limited mobility might effect her (she's a detective, and used to being able to give chase to people when needed). I think stability and range of motion are the biggest problems. I was thinking she tore her ACL, but that's mostly because that's the injury I'm most familiar with. I do want her to be able to treat/manage the injury, but I'm having a hard time finding information on non-surgical treatments (braces, a cane, that sort of thing) for serious knee problems.

 

You need someone to tell you about how Buddhist social structures work I can manage this. Though the bulk of my information will be coming from a Thai Theravadan lay person, I have done research on the structures in other schools and can talk about them to some degree too. You wanna know what it's like to have a monk as your master? I am your man. I can also provide information on the lives of monks in several schools.

 

Unno if im late to the game but you can pling me abt:

TW?

-growing up billingual
-norwegian culture
-witnessing death
- cptsd since early childhood
-growing up with intense psychological stress/paranoid obession in general
-indocrination
-delusions
-cults
-skills from Rural area such as fishing and making stuff outta sticks
-being a ""gifted child""
-long term isolation
-being systematically "un personed" and the process of reclaiming a personality/agency again
-growing up atheist in a culturally secular but legally religious country
-being disowned
-abuse of most kinds
-god this got lowkey depressing
-anything that has to do with winter and the european arctic (midnight sun/culture etc)
-stuff such as disasters/witnessing mock suicides and second hand experienes with terrorism (city being attacked but not you personally etc)


this got kinda dark.. but yeaH all these topics i have personal experience with and also find interesting as hell to write about/discuss so theres what i can contribute

 

I... kinda need a second opinion, guys.

A while back, I started on a first-draft novel with the working title of 'Foxbones', which involved a lot of mixed-culture high fantasy, and a plot involving a second-son prince looking for his wastrel heir of a brother, and accumulating a ragtag band of friends on the way.

At the time, when I wrote most of the stuff I this evening dug up and started to move to a Scivener project file, I was enamoured with japanese mythos with a little korean thrown in for flavour - and the number of fox characters, as well as a couple of bakeneko one of which is the main character's best friend reflects this. However.

I've recently wanted to start throwing in other cultures as influences - mainly changing the royal family from asian-influenced to african, as well as drying up the surrounding country and maybe tossing a few hyena and painted dogs in, because I love them so - but I am hyper-aware that I am white as soap and I don't want to do it wrong.

As mentioned in a holler closet post, I am often guilt-stricken at all the horrible things white people have done, cultural appropriation among them, and after living on tumblr for so long I find it difficult to start even on research into african cultures without my brain going 'YOU HAVE TO HUNT DOWN EVER DETAIL ON X TRIBE AND INCORPERATE IT SOMEHOW OR ELSE YOU'RE BEING A TERRIBLE PERSON.'

On the other hand, my indulgent side just wants to fuck it and make a society of dark-skinned royal samurai. Am I allowed to do that?

TL;DR - I love melting-pot cultures and mixing ideas from IRL mythologies and ethnicities, but as a white person whose only call to interesting lineage is some czech jewish blood on my maternal grandfather's side, I don't know what's okay for me to take from any more.

 

this is kind of random and no need to reply but does anyone happen to know abt lebanese or generally middle eastern inside references?? idk how to explain it but like stuff ppl would make memes about or food that isnt a deeply cultural dish but more of a snack youd buy at a kiosk or what kind of bad tv shows ppl that ppl only really watch to pass time there is?

basically not whats most culturally significant on paper but that most ppl would be nostaligic or at least have a relationship to somewhat

thx

 

Not 100% what you're looking for, I know, but Malaak is a webcomic by a Lebanese set in Lebanon, and shows, next to the otherworldly and superhero elements, also some general day-to-day life, so it might help? Also a good read in general.

 

So I am writing a fic featuring a thirteen year old trans girl and I know nothing about what it's like to be amab. Also everything I know about being trans is second hand and from the other direction. I gather from the afab discussion that she would have to wait until sixteen to start on hormones?

 

Detail: her mom is dead and her father is in a coma and a Much Better Person has temporary guardianship of her -- would that block her from doing anything medical at all?

 

in my country you get consent privileges at age of 16, so thats when you can start doing hormones without parents knowing too. though it can take a prettyyy long time to get administerd (6 months is on the very quick side) at least here

 

@Kami

Tiling is a joke. Specifically grandfathers who suddenly tile the fuck out of your home. There is just a general tiling obsession.

There are arguments over who does the best versions of foods. Such as the knafeh argument. Egypt is convinced it has the best knafeh which is bullshit because What Is This Lack Of Cheese shit.

Jokes about not waking up in time for fajr, staying up into fajr, and other things associated with the time for the first prayer session of the day.

Jokes about how we are all going to get diabetes. These pop up a lot because diabetes is a very big Arab problem due to foods they eat. Jokes about heavy amounts of sugar in general.

MORNING DICK. The result of a newsreporter saying sabah al'eyer (dick morning) instead of sabah al'kheer (good morning).

Arabic lol equivalent is hhhhhh or ههههههه.

Jokes about fast being hard during Ramadan are Huge. Like you'll see that who gets up at three AM Spongebob meme applied to Ramadan all the time. Excitement about Ramadan specific hawala and other foods is a big thing too.

The Egyptians are the biggest shitlords in all the world. Masters of sarcasm, puns, and generally being little shits. Many find them too sarcastic and get offended by them.

I sadly don't have anything on tv shows and I can't think of the food thing at the moment.

 

Please note that none of these are specific to Lebanese people, but instead things I've come across in mixed Arab and mixed Muslim groups. I do not know what the Lubnaaniyun's hilarious memes are. But rest assured they are likely hilarious.

Oh other thing is English speaking Arabs applying English rules to Arabic. Like "Baba I closed all the shuubaks!" Shuubak being window and the plural is shubabiik. I assume this would happen with other languages too. It's just a thing people do and sometimes people joke about it. It's cute and funny when kids do it.

Jokes about "Why did I not learn Arabic" and other such laments are big with second generation kids.

 

this is very useful thank you


also morning dick omfg ,,

 

a moment in history we will never forget

Anyway I'm happy this has proved useful to you! Also my mentions of Islam focused memes reminds me that Arab Christians and Jews are often cranky because a lot of "Arab shit" is specifically "Muslim Arab shit". Like the Ramadan memes. There can be a sort of "I EXIST TOO" resentment going on there, and for good reason. There's a lot of Catholics in Lebanon because of France. As a result many Lebanese speak French and share French memes and such.

 

i am so sorry i just am giddy about being able to talk about arabs

 

did that anchor ever live that down or did he embrace his new status

yeah man i love hearin about that stuff ! also ive noticed; re arab world being conflated with islam so i was expecting a lot of overlap! the chars im writing are lebanese christian tho but its still useful

no no keep going if you wanna i love hearing about other cultures esp in the middle east and i especially love hearing about just day to day life and memes and stuff its very good

 

Oh, so that's why a lot of people assume my mother is Lebanese (or Jewish). She speaks French, looks vaguely middle eastern and isn't Muslim so I guess that explains it.