Mab's Mad Musings

After pulling an all nighter a couple of nights back, and then not sleeping until yesterday evening - and realising that my brain was so fried that I signed up for hd_owlpost even though I wasn't going to (and going off on weird and odd tangents in my sign up that are not relevant to the post, I am now rested again and ready to get back into the swing of writing things! I've got about 10k of detailed outline for my harrybang fic (all made during the manic night of no sleep). Now it's time to write up and submit my synopsis and then start turning outline into fic!

Come and join me in srs if you have words to make too. I'll be writing from now 6 pm (PST) until 1-2 am. Basically the next 7 or 8 hours.

SRS room hd69

Looking for a low-key and fun H/D winter fest?
Did not make it into hd_erised?
Not a writer and not an artist but still would love to give and receive holiday gifts?



Sign-up | Rules and Fest Guide



Come and join in the Owlpost Drarry love! I'm up for making a podfic or two as a gift, offering beta service, and/or writing a ficlet! Have you ever wanted one of YOUR fics in audio format? SIGN up and say so! XD

Also... Don't miss it! hp_podfic_fest 2014



Pay no attention to that posting date, this is a recycled banner. It's going to start posting 1 September!!!

I'm going to be recording a podfic for an upcoming fest in which one of the characters speaks with a pretty thick Irish accent. It's important to the plot, so I really do need to work something out as far as getting the point of the accent across (hopefully without distracting people from listening) and so I'm calling for help.

Basically, I'd love it if somebody with an Irish accent would record themselves reading this character's lines and share it with me. I'll have better luck mimicking than trying to develop an accent myself.

If you can help, or know of somebody who might be able to, let me know in the comments (screened).

Thanks!

ETA... Tentatively sorted. *fingers crossed I can get it right with help!*

I've taken on the Word Masochist Challenge as issued by Primarybuffetpanel on Tumblr.

Basically the challenge is to read aloud and record this version of the poem The Chaos by Gerard Nolst Trenité.

It's known as the English Pronunciation poem. It's a lot of fun!





Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.

I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.

I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.

Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,

Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)

Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague. (I messed up here and misread ague as argue)

But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;

Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,

Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;

Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;

One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;

Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.

Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.

Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.

Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.

And your pronunciation's OK
When you correctly say croquet,

Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.

River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.

Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.

Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,

Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,

Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.

Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.

Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.

Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.

Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.

Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.

Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.

We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.

Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;

Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;

Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.

Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.

Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.

Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.

Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.

Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.

Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.

Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.

Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.

Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass. (I messed up here and totally skipped this line)

Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.

Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.

Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,

Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.

Pronunciation -- think of Psyche!
Is a paling stout and spikey?

Won't it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?

It's a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,

Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict. (I mispronounced indict, too... *headdesk*)

Finally, which rhymes with enough --
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?

Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!!!




Other than the three spots I point out in the spoiler cut, I called it by its tumblr tag wordmaso challenge instead of word masochist challenge. But considering I didn't edit, I'd say I did a pretty good job!

If you'd like to hear how the other challengers have done, check them out in the comments HERE

It's quite fun and I encourage all you who have courage to give it a go!

One Month, One Fanwork
Sign-ups open on May 1 at dreamwidth and livejournal


Anybody interested in doing this with me in May? I'm willing to let you write and I'll podfic or write together and podfic together. I'm thinking something between 1000-5000 words, open to any pairings in hp, though I'd consider Star Trek.

Screening comments for interest and to promote mystery.

Hey all. I'm working on a long podfic project and will be requiring some assistance in the next couple of months. There are a few lines in the story that are spoken in italian and I could really use a person fluent in italian to record themselves reading the lines (nice and slow) and then regular speed, so I can practice before I have to do it myself.

If you can help, please leave me a comment.

Thanks!

*edited for a stupid mispelling*

My email is Qumabh@gmail.com (if you can send me an mp3 reading)

Now that Vaysh has had her birthday, I can share the podfic I made for her. It's a wonderful fic based on the last moments of Charity Burbage's life and is canon compliant while still giving Charity a backstory and voice that makes her death even more tragic.

Please take the time to read the fic or listen to the podfic if you can handle this sort of darkness. It's not much worse than the darkness that is already in Deathly Hallows canon.



Audio streaming and download links on livejournal

Audio streaming and download links on Ao3

Official fic rec:
Author: vaysh11
Title: A Casual Death (link to the fic text)
Character(s): Charity Burbage, Severus Snape, Lord Voldemort, Narcissa Malfoy
Rating: R
Contains: torture, canon character death
Summary: The last minutes of Charity Burbage's life.
Word Count: 1900
Why I loved it: Where do I start? This fic is AMAZING. It develops Charity's character in her last moments, and really adds power to the punch canon delivers in this scene. I can't even … gah … Just trust me, all right? If you can handle darkfic, you can handle this. It's not much darker than the actual book, but looking at it from another POV is a must for lovers of the books. You'll see what I'm talking about.

I've been having a ton of fun learning to podfic. My first three podfics have posted at the hp_podfic_fest and so I'm claiming them here. I still need to work out how to post them to Ao3, but I know that I'll figure it out soon.

I received some wonderful, private concrit on my first piece that included links to editing on audacity and how to make sure the sound is loud enough for all listening mediums. I was quick to thank this person and to make sure my third submission to the fest was loud enough. I plan to go back and play with the settings on my first two fics to hopefully bring them up to snuff. (the sound files are too quiet).

Anyway, my point in mentioning that is that I want people who listen to, or read my works to know that I am open to constructive criticism and prefer it when it's given discreetly through PM, unless I ask for it in a public post. Thank you to the wonderful person who did it just right (and helped me improve my performance for future fics.)

( On to the podfics )

Leaky con is over and I'm not coming down yet!

*warnings for excessive use of ridiculous adjectives ahead* Proceed at your own risk.

( All the things )