A Writer's Guide to Linguistic Worldbuilding: The Kickstarter

 

What is linguistic worldbuilding? It's all the little details, like how people, places, and things get their names and what sounds can be combined into words, but also broader strokes, like how characters from different cultures or subcultures talk, or whether there's a dominant language imposed by an empire. It's all the things that exist in the real world but fly under the radar for many of us.

This project has taken a long time to get off the ground. Around the time when I started writing for tor.com, when I started paying careful attention to the use of language and linguistics in genre writing, I decided I wanted to write a guide on how to do good linguistic worldbuilding. I initially tried it via Patreon, but I never had enough backers to focus on it, so that never went anywhere. (If you ever backed my Patreon, you will get a free ebook, and we can discuss other rewards depending on how much you contributed over time.)

Now I've decided to self-publish it, but I have to write it first. For that, I need your help.

I don't want to give everything away before launch day, but here are some things that will be included:

• How sound works and how to extrapolate from human vocal tracts to non-human ones
• How you can do first contact without a universal translator
• How you can give your characters problems using language and intercultural communication
  
• How to make up culture-specific proverbs and cuss words
• Examples from books I love 
• Current linguistic research and theory
  

I have about 15,000 words written, and I expect it'll be somewhere between 60,000 and 90,000 when I'm finished with it. 

The Kickstarter is going to launch on August 15, so follow this link and sign up to be notified! Rewards start as low as 3 €, and I have some limited-quantity rewards that I can't wait to reveal!

Practical linguistics for writers

I'm launching a Patreon today that combines my talents: writing and linguistics. I'm going to be writing a book about the basics of linguistics that are useful for writers, especially of speculative fiction - phonetics, morphology - and how to use these things for good in your writing. How the shape of your aliens' vocal tract affects which phonemes they can produce. How to make a logical set of sounds in your secondary world, if you don't want to just use English or faux French.

Please share with your friends and colleagues! Practical Linguistics for Writers

This was supposed to automatically publish in June, but it didn't. WTF. So here it is, 4 months delayed.

Now it can be told!

I've been accepted to the German Studies MA program at the University of Georgia for this fall! I'll be focusing on the linguistic aspects of the language (language change and variation).

I'm not going to get to very many (any?) cons over the next couple years, because of classes and all, but I currently intend to get the new novel WIP outlined before the semester starts and take a couple hours every weekend or something and work on a draft.

Time marches on

(it's a pun. laugh.)

Right, then. I have the physical certificate for the teaching course in hand, so I am all official on this thing. Woot! I'm teaching my third class at the language school, and it seems to be going well.

My sister had a baby about a month ago, so I have a niece. I crocheted a blanket for her, and it worked out well. My sister texted me a picture of the baby on the blanket.

I have a short story that I'm thinking of self-publishing. I can export it as an epub in five minutes with Scrivener, but I need a cover and all that. I'm also thinking of making some copies at kinkos and selling a print version at cons I go to. It's 5000 words, so it would be folded letter-size.

But I'll deal with that later. Right now I'm supposed to be finishing the revisions on this novel (the one that expands "Something There Is"). My original goal was this Friday, but I have 10 chapters left, and that's looking highly unlikely. Next Friday, then. And then it's off to beta readers. Yay.

Shatterdome Atlanta 2: Jaeger Boogaloo will be happening in three months (oh god).

After I finish novel revisions, I'm working on a secret project (secret because I don't want to talk about it too publicly in case nothing comes of it; a lot of you probably already know what I'm talking about anyway) and con planning, and when I have spare brain cycles, figuring out what the next novel I'm writing is about AND working on the synopsis & query letter and researching agents for the current one.

But that's a ways off yet, so I'm not thinking about it too hard at the moment.

Busy, busy, busy.

Shatterdome Atlanta is in 22 days, and I'm spending several hours every day working on that.

I'm finishing up a short story for submission to an anthology.

I'm taking the 5th exam in my distance learning German-teaching course starting Sunday (15 days).

A friend is visiting from California the 20th-23rd.

I'm going to Berlin in about 6 weeks, and I need to plan for that.

Back when I can breathe again.

The story you want to write vs the story you can write

I like space opera. I don't care if it isn't fashionable to do so, because it's not "rigorous" or because it's all tropey or whatever other reasons people say space opera sucks. (That was the first google hit for that phrase.)

I love Bujold's Vorkosigan series. I love Cherryh's Alliance-Union and atevi series. I want to write stories in universes as big as those, with characters people remember and care about.

But I don't have the skill yet. I have 160,000 or so words in two related space-opera-with-mercenaries novels (one's a completed first draft, the other is around 68k on the 0.5th draft). I intend to finish making book two into a completed first draft, then going over book one for continuity changes and "oh hey I should mention...", but I don't know if I want to keep poking at them.

What I can write, apparently, because I can sell it, is historical fantasy that borders on magical realism. U8: Alexanderplatz (1989) is a story about the end of the Cold War with ghost trains in the ghost stations of Berlin. "Something There Is," coming out in the anthology Substitution Cipher in December, is about the early days of the Cold War, with a teenaged girl who can hear the voice of Berlin.

(I have a vague idea about making "Something" into a novel, going on after the end of it, but I don't know. It needs to cook more, I think.)

It's a hard realization to have, that the thing you really want to do isn't something you're very good at. Though, to be honest, writing historical fantasy set in Germany is something I also really like, and it lets me use half my college degree.

This isn't the first time I've had this realization. I dropped out of chemistry grad school, because I a) wasn't very good at it, and b) discovered that lab chemistry wasn't what I actually wanted to do with my life. So I went to pharmacy school, which I liked better. Apparently what I want to do is write, but that's not making me any income, so I'm back on the hunt for a job in my field. (20 applications in a week, and not a single bite. This economy, I tell you...)

So, for now, I'll write the stories I can, which happen to also be ones I want to write, or I wouldn't be inspired by them, and let the universe-spanning space opera wait. Hopefully not forever.

Caffeine free.

Neurologist's orders. Apparently, I have several types of migraine all mixed up together, and caffeine contributes to one of them. So I had to quit cold turkey. My neurologist hath a blog, and he wrote about the link between caffeine and headaches, if you're interested.

But, on the plus side, once I've detoxed completely and I no longer have the sinusy headaches, I can have all the caffeine I can drink two days a week. Good thing, because I have a ton of black and green teas in my cupboard that need to go.

I've been drinking herbal tea in the mornings of late, going through Christmas tea dated 2008 and 2009. Celestial Seasonings Gingerbread Spice is AWESOME. Most likely I was hoarding it for future drinking, which explains why I drank maybe half the box. You can only buy it 3 months of the year! I have a box of Sugar Plum Spice (dated 2009) still in its shrink wrap in the cupboard, which will be the next to go. Maybe tomorrow I'll have some of that.

In related news, I crocheted a cozy for my teapot. I improvised, which means it took me 5 tries before finding a method that worked. My teapot is a non-standard size, not round, but more UFO-shaped (an older model of this one, I think), so the half dozen patterns I saw on Ravelry wouldn't quite work.

Pattern for a tea cozy:
ca 100 g worsted weight, size H hook

Ch 6, sl st to form ring.
DC 12 in ring. sl st to close. ch2
2dc in each dc (ch2 counts as 1dc) sl st to join. ch 2.
*dc 2 2dc in next dc* around ring. sl st to join. ch 2.
*dc 3 2dc in next dc* around ring. sl st to join. ch 2.
*dc 4 2dc in next dc* around ring. sl st to join. ch 2.
*dc 5 2dc in next dc* around ring. DO NOT JOIN. This is the spout. ch 2.
*dc 6 2dc in next dc* to approximate midpoint (leave space for handle). ch 2, turn.
*dc 5 dc2tog* to split. ch 2, turn.
*dc 4 dc2tog* to handle space. ch 2, turn.
*dc 3 dc2tog* to split. ch 2, turn.
*dc 2 dc2tog* to handle. ch 2, turn.
*dc 1 dc2tog* to split. Fasten off.
Tie on at opposite side of split. *dc 6 2dc in next dc* to handle space. ch 2, turn.
*dc 5 dc2tog* to split. ch 10. (this will be the strap) ch2, turn.
dc 10 in chain. *dc 4 dc2tog* to handle. ch 2, turn.
*dc 3 dc2tog* to strap, dc 10. ch 2, turn.
dc 2, ch 1 skip next dc, dc 7 (to make buttonhole). *dc 2 dc2tog* to handle. ch 2, turn.
*dc 1 dc2tog* to strap (may dc first 2 stitches tog for aesthetics), dc to end. ch 1, turn.
sc in each dc. at handle, ch 2 (or number of stitches left open for the handle) continue around.
Crochet (or purchase) a button and fasten it in the appropriate position.
Wash, block dry on teapot.

It should look something like this (handle shot) when you're finished.

What am I doing?

- I'm writing a short story about women in the military. I'm hoping to have a first draft in the next week or so.

- The notes I've received on Iron and Rust are percolating in the back of my mind. I've only gotten one set back so far, and I'm waiting on two more. Once I get the others, there'll be more for my brain to gnaw on while I work on other things.

- I'm going to ReaderCon in Boston next week. I'm alternatingly terrified (the other attendees are way smarter and more well-read than I) and excited (a con! for book geekery!) I hope to meet some more Broads and learn some cool stuff from the panels.

- I'm also going to NASFiC. That's here in the Triangle, so I don't have to make extensive travel arrangements. I'll probably be sleeping on a pair of friends' couch, since they live much closer than I do. I have some more news on that, but it's not official yet, so.

- For my third con in three months, I'll be going to Dragon*Con in Atlanta. I don't have much to say about D*C, other than I can't wait, because I love D*C. I don't go for the guests or the panels, really, though sometimes they're pretty awesome. I go to be with geeks for four days.

- And, of course, it's World Cup season, so I'm watching a lot of football. In Spanish (on Univision) because I don't get ESPN. The Argentina vs Germany match is going to be interesting. I'm holding my thumbs for the Nationalelf.

Long time, no update.

I haven't written here since October 21, according to my blogger dashboard. Yikes! I guess I don't think the day to day tedium is all that interesting, either to write about or for you to read about ;)

I've been working hard on my WIP, tentatively titled Iron and Rust. Since I've been basically unemployed since early October (I have a job, but my agency hasn't had any placements for me since then), I've decided to stop futzing around and get serious on this. I've got a daily target of 1500 words now, and when I sit down to write, I quit Firefox. It's been working fairly well. I've written 5000 words since Monday.

I'm vaguely concerned that I'm at 22,000 words and have reached the approximate midpoint of the story, since it should really be closer to 90,000 when I finish. But scenes seem to take up more space when I write them down than I think they will, and there's still the upcoming major battle. I also have a lot of places where I should go back and fix wording, add more detail and description, than sort of thing, and plenty of places where I could easily add another scene or even another chapter. I'll get through this draft and see where I need to add things in, do that, then go back and edit the details and repetition and suchlike. After that, it'll go off to betas.

In awesome news, I sold my 840-word short "U8: Alexanderplatz" to a historical speculative fiction anthology. I'm pretty stoked about that. Publication date is not yet announced, so I'll let everyone know as soon as I do.

I'm planning to go up to Mom's for Thanksgiving, and there's an exhibit of Safavid Persian and Ottoman Turkish art at the Sackler & Freer galleries, which I definitely want to see. Then Ben's folks are taking us to Disney World the week(ish) before Christmas. I haven't been since college, and none of them have ever been. Should be fun.

Less fun will be the crown I'm getting next month, with 2 or 3 more teeth my dentist is watching. This will be my fourth crown, and my second this year. If Blue Cross didn't have such stingy payments for bite guards, I could have gotten one six years ago and saved myself (and them, don't forget) several thousand dollars. Six years ago, there wasn't overwhelming proof that I grind my teeth, so they refused to pay. Bastards.

Some new projects and a new geek thing

So, since I've got all this time not working, I've got lots of time to write. It's great.

I'm working on a space opera romance novella, which I hope to get a first draft completed by the 4th of July and use the following weeks to revise and edit before sending it in.

I've got a completed alternate history short story (untitled) that I'm waiting for some commentary on before submitting it.

I'm still awaiting word on the super short I sent in back in March. Longer wait is better, right? *crosses fingers*

So aside from that, I've been geeking on Axis Powers Hetalia, which is a delightfully charming, slightly offensive take on world history, using personifications of countries as a conglomeration of their stereotypes. For example, America is overly enthusiastic and loves hamburgers and being in charge, while Japan has an excellent miniatures industry. It's in Japanese, but you can click links at the official site, or look at an English-language fan site. The artist has a blog (also in Japanese, obviously. No, I have no idea what's going on.)

H1N1, space opera, and alternate history

These things are not all related, except inasmuch as I'm interested in all of them.

I'm a pharmacist, if soon to be unemployed, and I've done a certificate in Field Epidemiology through UNC School of Public Health. I'm fascinated by infectious diseases. So of course I'm following this new influenza strain.

Key thing to remember right now is that it's not any more lethal than a seasonal flu, at least not in the US, but that viruses mutate readily, so there's potential for it to be more lethal. Something like H1N1/1918 (Spanish flu) is most likely not going to be the case; there were a lot of extenuating circumstances in 1918 (World War I and troop movements, taking the virus along with them, for example.) We've got better drugs and better technology now, and we've got people working on preparedness stuff.

If public health works, nothing happens. Which is to say, if public health authorities are on the ball, encouraging social distancing, hand hygiene, and cough etiquette, then the outbreak will be contained. Unfortunately, the public perception will too often be, "Oh, they were exaggerating! Next time, I'll just ignore them." BAD PLAN.

I saw a call for submissions from Samhain Press (on The Galaxy Express SF/romance blog) for space opera romance novellas. I'm all over that! In my soon-to-be copious free time. Those are due 8/1.

I'm working on (sort of) an alternate history short story (5-10K) for June submission to Crossed Genres. I have an idea, and I'm researching stuff, hoping that the seed will grow into something usable.

Those two things are related, since the alternate history is the basis for the space opera. (Imperialism in space. Can't exactly grow from current history. Or could, but I like alt.hist stuff.)

If the weather stops going back and forth between sunny and cloudy and looking like it's gonna rain, I can go take a walk. (Added bonus of not working: more time to exercise.)

Reading, reading, not writing

I'm working through Memory, slowly but surely. I wish I had a large block of time so I could get through it and blog about its awesomeness, but with several other projects, hobbies, and a 40-hr job, I've got to budget my time like a mad budgeting thing.

Project 1: Making stuff for Artists' Alley at Animazement (Memorial Day weekend); attempt to make something for art show. Time budgeted: 2 hours/week (while watching House & Heroes); one additional hour if Kings isn't canceled.

Project 2: Reading up on World War 1. Right now, working through Tuchman's The Guns of August. It's written in an easily readable style, rather than the extremely dull textbook version of history. I've decided that Kaiser Wilhelm II was the George W. Bush of his time, which makes a lot of early 20th century history more accessible. Time budgeted: Whenever I can fit it in.

Project 3: Writing. Revising a short story, revising a novel. Time budgeted: 1 hr + Thursday evenings, whatever I can fit in on weekends (usually a couple hours each day.)

Hobby 1: Tai chi. I have one class, Wednesday 6-7:30. I also have to practice, and now that I am learning multiple routines, I need to allot more practice time. Time budgeted: 20 minutes weekday mornings, 1-2 hours per weekend (outside!)

Hobby 2: anime. I love those cartoons. Luckily, I'm not following very many shows right now, so my weekly gathering of nerds (Tuesdays 7-10, dinner @5:30) is sufficient. Anything I'm trying to keep up with (Gundam 00 just ended, Tytania should be close, but I'm way behind on it) I fit an episode in here and there.

Hobby 3: Reading. That's sort of a given! I don't have any time budgeted per se for this one. I'll relax in the evening with a book, usually between 9 and 10 (when old people like me turn into pumpkins.) But 3 nights a week, I'm doing something else between 9 and 10, so it's another "when I can." Though I can oftentimes manage to read while I'm at the day job, on downtime. I've got The Guns of August with me today.

Plus things like hanging out with friends, spending time with my husband, playing with the cats, and sewing (which I'm taking a break from, ohgod I need it.)

This is why I wish I were independently wealthy. I wouldn't have to go to work 8 hours a day, and I could use that time on all the things I like to do.

Crazy March weather

It snowed Sunday night. I got Monday off work, which was pretty cool. This time we hardly needed it, but I guess they didn't want to repeat the idiocy of SnowBama day, when we went in at 10:30 and they told us we'd be closing early after we all showed up, braving unplowed roads. I welcomed the time spent lounging in my sweatpants. I got a first draft of another short story finished, the one about train stations in Berlin. It finally cooperated enough to get into words!

For those keeping track at home, this makes 2 short stories for 2009, though I've only submitted one so far. It's off at the feedback mill, so I'm waiting for commentary. I was fairly shocked that it stayed under 1000 words -- under 750, even! I suspect that revisions will add a bit to the word count, because I probably left out important details that make the setting make sense (which I'm bad at picking out myself, so I rely on other people to tell me. But I'm practicing to get better at doing it myself.)

This weekend I'm taking a 2-day intensive tai chi class. It's about 20 hours. We'll be learning a 2-person form, half of it anyway. I'll be completely wiped out when I go to work Monday, but I think I'll sleep well.

Speaking of sleep, last night I fell asleep with a cat curled up by my head. It's like a purring hat, with a random chance of inflicting damage. Kitties are cute.

Weekend of failure!

A friend of mine decided that, since it's a holiday weekend, she would set herself an impossible goal and fail to meet it. I joined in, since that sort of thing is always fun.

I decided I'd work on the kids' story, but I never figured out a plot, so it's sitting at 300 words. Then I decided I'd punt and work on something else, but that's not coming, either, and what I'd like to do is take a nap.

The cats sleeping on either side of me aren't helping a damn bit, either.

So maybe I'll punt Necmiye's story, too, and type up some NBR, which actually has 37,000 words typed up, so it'll be closer to 45K when I get the skeleton typed up. Then revising, revising, revising. And making it a real story, with descriptions and symbolism and foreshadowing. Maybe even sex.

The desire to take a nap, however, is overwhelming. Maybe I'll eat something, since I'm kinda hungry, too.

There's a winter storm watch from tonight until the end of the day tomorrow. I wouldn't mind a snow day from work, but I doubt they'll close. I just hope I don't get yelled at for not wanting to drive my small sporty car in 2-4" of snow on North Carolina roads, with North Carolina drivers. Or for being late, when I'm the only damn person on the road driving at a sane speed.

Finished short story?

So, I've got some writing goals for the year. 1: Finish 4 short stories and submit them for publication. 2: Get NBR ready to query.

I have Seeds of Rebellion, 6900 words, awaiting crit from my writing group. I think the last thousand words or so need some editing and revision, especially the ending, but I'll get some peer opinions.

I'm working on the ghosts/trains story now. I think I need to change it to third person (it's currently first) to make it work better. It reads more like a memoir/diary than how I want it to be. But it stands at 1600 words, with some outlining of the whole thing so I know where it's going. I'm still stewing on the POV change, though.

No idea yet what the other 2 will be. I'm pondering a children's story version of part of the ghosts one, with the setting changed. There's a creepy bit of history regarding a part of the Spree River and the Berlin Wall and kids drowning because the West German fire department couldn't go in (jurisdiction and stuff) and the East German *wouldn't.* Soviet-era Germany was a strange, sad place.

NBR has about 30000 words typed up, the skeleton of the story (though I have 2 chapters yet to type up from the handwritten draft). The first chapter is reasonably polished, but that leaves 28 to go. It's gonna be exciting. I hope I can get my act together and finish it. That's why I give myself targets.

Thanksgiving, travel, and project updates

Today I'm at work. Both of my co-workers are on vacation today; my manager is on his way to Philly to visit his wife's family, and my tech is taking the day off. So we're not leaving for the in-laws' in St Louis until tomorrow afternoon. We'd gotten a flight out around 1 pm, but the airline canceled it and rebooked us on a 3 pm flight, so we're not getting there until dinner time. Ah well. But the travel will be less horrible tomorrow than today. Sunday's still gonna stink. That's OK; I'm taking Monday off work.

I'm working on this final paper for my field epidemiology class, and I don't really feel like it. I've got about a page written, toward the 8-page limit (plus 4 pages of figures and unlimited references.) Then I need to make a power point presentation. It's due 12/4. I'll get done what I can today, then spend Monday working on it at home, Tuesday and Wednesday on the power point and any other things I need to finish, and give everything a final once-over on Thursday before turning it in. And then I am Done. With. School. Quite likely forever. I'm too old for this shit.

(Though really what it is is that I'm too ADD for this shit.)

I crocheted one glove, ran out of yarn, and bought a second skein today. So I can make the other now. Yay. I found some fab pink cotton yarn to try making a Haro. If it works out, I'll put it in the art show at Animazement.

I've mostly finished a short story. It needs an ending and a lot of revision, so it's only mostly finished. I'm planning to send it off to a new magazine that unfortunately isn't a paying market at this time. Whatever. They take it, I can point to it and say "look, publication." They reject it, I revise and submit elsewhere.

Right. Back to writing my paper.

Mundanity

My local anime club is having its periodic growing pains and drama.

I'm apparently not allowed to want to go to DC and do things there, potentially with friends, because I should prefer to sit around and do nothing all day at my mom's house. For 3 full days. Because my grandma said so. Or I should meet them for lunch in Silver Spring, because there's so much interesting stuff there, like the Smithsonian. *eyeroll*

I'm avoiding a huge homework project due 12/4. I've gotten some data and such together, but I haven't started working on it. I'd prefer not to have to drag the laptop through airport security on the way to St Louis for T-day, which means I need to be relatively done with it before we go, because I'll lose 4 working days, then have about 3 after I get back. So, I have to focus.

But a friend found an anthology that looks interesting, submissions due 11/30 -- which is cutting it close. And I want to write for a different (paying) anthology, too. But school. Blah.

I'm crocheting a pair of fingerless gloves so I can a) crochet or b) type without my fingers freezing off. That I'm doing this when it's already cold outside (and, by extension, inside) reflects not so much a lack of foresight on my part, but rather a lack of sufficient motivation.

Current projects

So, this may not be common knowledge, or even obvious despite reading my posts, but I want to become a science fiction writer. I'm planning to make this my official site, for when I make a sale. (It's better to say "when" than "if.")

If you want to follow my blog, you can scroll down and click the "follow" button. Right now, it says 0, which is sad and lonely. Don't make my blog sad.

So, projects I'm working on.

- Nothing Beside Remains, a novel-length story that took me 6 years to draft, and will probably take another year to revise into something to send to beta readers. Status: 1 chapter revised, 20+ to go.

- Seeds of Rebellion, a short story. I intend to have this at a beta-read-able stage by Christmas and to send it out to magazines early next year.

- Unnamed short story, about the ghost stations in Berlin. Status: idea-gathering phase

- Unnamed massive project, involving WW1 and a future German space empire. Status: Research and world-building phase.

Non-writing projects I'm working on:

- Making a corset for a friend. Status: pattern drafted, need to make mock-up for fitting porpoises.

- Crocheting a TP roll cover to match our new bathroom. Status: 50%

- Practicing on my spinning wheel. Status: Don't make me laugh.

- Building my backlog of model kits. Status: 1 done. 5 remain, though I'm thinking of selling 2 of the kits.

- Sorting through the wreck of my scrap fabric. Status: Makes me want to cry. But I ordered a book with a pattern for crocheted rag rugs, and I can use the scrap for that.

- Gardening. Pruned herbs. Will prune gardenias after Thanksgiving. Am trying to grow baby rosemary plants from cuttings (to sell or plant as hedges on our lawn. That stuff GROWS.) Will need to re-prune lavender and rosemary in February. Status: ongoing.

Notes from the job front when I have something to report. Current primary consideration: more time for writing.

Sewing, organization, etc.

Apparently, the state of my sewing room was driving me crazy, because I went out and bought a couple shelves and some plastic bins. Then, midway into a project, I took everything apart and rearranged the room. I need to get some more underbed storage bins or something, and possibly to sell a bunch of scrap or extra fabric (like a yard or so of nice polar fleece) that I'll never use.

At any rate, I feel like the room is in decent enough order to continue my project, which is an 1895 bodice. Being surrounded by chaos and clutter makes it hard for me to think straight. The room is still a mess, but it's more of an in-progress mess than a leftover-from-previous-projects mess, so it's OK. I have a tendency to create a huge mess while I'm working, and I clean it up when I'm finished. Unfortunately, the last few projects didn't leave me much time for cleaning up afterwards. So now I'm stuck cleaning up after the last few messes. Bleh.

I've decided that after I finish these 2 costumes for Dragon*Con (and make the couple fixes to Edgeworth), I'm not doing any major costuming projects for at least 6 months. And this time, I mean it. I need to work on my spinning, and probably some crocheting (I had a thought that I could make little phone or camera cases), and I've just had sewing projects back to back for about a year now. I need a break to do something different.

So, after September, I can do something else. Yay.

Edgeworth, part 1

I found a decent suit pattern at Burda, so I went to Joann's to buy it. Of course they didn't have it, and the Vogue pattern number I'd written down a) didn't have a vest and b) only comes 3 sizes to an envelope. Poo.

So I perused the fabric a bit and happened upon this cotton bottomweight almost-twill that's in an appropriately garish shade of red (that won't look too horrible on me.) It was 6.99 a yard I think. 100% cotton! They had a 65/35 cotton/poly in an appropriate shade, but it had the nastiest texture. Then I got lining for the vest and coat, and a card of buttons for the vest.

I still need buttons for the coat and sleeves (though there are none in any of the art... I'm perplexed), and a wig (I saw one on the internet that might work). Possibly shoes, but I have a pair of women's black shoes that would do. I have a few yards of black cotton that I was going to use for the lining of my 1895 bodice, but I've decided only to to hem facings for that, except for the lapel part, so I should have sufficient extra. (Hm, I seem to have forgotten about the sleeves... well, I'll figure something out.) I also need a white button-down shirt and a jabot. I have fabric for a jabot, from when I never managed to finish my Balthier costume.

I've got the pattern on order, so I can start when it gets here.