Mischief Maker

a. She’s 5′ 11″ and can never find pants long enough for her legs or shirts long enough for her arms.

b. She hates synthetic fibers as much as I do and it’s difficult to find natural fiber clothes that aren’t made of cotton

c. She’s a biologist and would physically fistfight microplastics if given half a chance

So her gift from mom and dad for her birthday was a sewing machine. Not a super expensive one but a good solid serviceable one.

And recently she asked “So where do I GET wool or linen and thread that isn’t polyester” and mom was like ‘go ask your sister’

“Bets, u know I’m a 15th degree blackbelt of buying shit on the internet”

cotton and Silk thread; https://redrockthreads.com/

Linen thread and wool fabric; https://burnleyandtrowbridge.com/ (they’ve got wool stuffs and worsted wool fabric for $15 a yard! I just got three yards of navy worsted wool I’m making a constellation winter skirt from)

More linen thread and wool; https://wmboothdraper.com/ (just ordered wool broadcloth to make a coat)

Silk fabric (THE best place to get silk lining fabrics and raw silk fabric):https://www.dharmatrading.com/

A varying assortment of wool and silk and cotton and even some leather, use coupon code  spring2020 for 50% off your full order, worked yesterday when I bought some stuff there; https://metrotextilesnyc.com/

The Linen Lab has a variety of weaves, weights, and colors available

I lost a needle I liked in my pincushion so I decided to get a strong magnet and see if I could pull it back out.

I pulled out 68.

I very rarely sew.

AND YET.

(I know this isn't the most even way to represent animal groups but I tried to go off of what I saw mentioned most in the notes)

Dialogue is informed by two things: the speaking character's.... uh... character and the context of the situation. These things will not only influence the physicality of the dialogue but also what's emphasized in it.

The same line can be delivered in many different ways, depending on those factors.

EX: "Oh, I see," he said.

"Ohhh, I see." Grendel slowly turned towards Ruby. He might not have had eyes beneath that tattered blindfold, but she swore she could actually hear them rolling as a thin, sardonic smile pulled across his face.

"Oh." Dem's voice was very small. He dug his palms hard against the railing before continuing. "I... see."

"Oh! I. I... uh. I see!" Tey said. That was a lie. There was nothing in any part of his delivery that convinced Emmrich that he did, in fact, see what he was talking about.

Ben had to press his lips together, hard, to keep from squealing. "Oh. Oh." Ever so carefully, he knelt down and offered his hand to the little creature before looking up, tears gathering in his smiling eyes. "I see."

"Oh... hurm. I see," Aurin mumbled. He leaned forward to inspect the relic with a sound not unlike a butter knife being dragged across a cheap plate.

Now, like, not every bit of dialogue needs to have an expository bit attached to it. And in long conversations that can get a little tiring, I think. So I like to think about how the back and forth will look. Sometimes just as important in a dialogue is what is happening when the characters aren't speaking. (borrowing @ltleflrt's Caelnir for one of these)

"Oh." Dem's voice was very small. He dug his palms hard against the railing before continuing. "I... see." Cael looked around the room, anywhere but at his best friend. "I'm sorry, Dem." It had to be the heavy, damp air that made the words stick so hard in his throat. "Yeah. Yeah... me too."

or

"Ohhh, I see." Grendel slowly turned towards Ruby. He might not have had eyes beneath that tattered blindfold, but she swore she could hear them rolling as a thin, sardonic smile pulled across his face. He leaned in close to her, so close she could smell the metallic tang of his skin. So close she could smell the distant smoke of the first fire those first humans clustered near on his breath. The lizard deep in her brain started screaming. "Grendel," Caim warned from his perch. "I see, Ruby Jones." Grendel said. "Do you?"

or

Oh! I. I... uh. I see!" Tey said. That was a lie. There was nothing in any part of his delivery that convinced Emmrich that he did, in fact, see what he was talking about. "Do you, my dear?" Emmrich tried very hard to not use a professorial tone around his Rook. They were equals, and the younger man was certainly more learned than he was in many other things. But he could tell by the way he flinched that it had slipped out. Tey's gaze darted around at the gathered members of the Mourn Watch. To Emmrich's eyes he seemed so alone in this moment, Crow's leathers bleached grey in the pale green light, surrounded by a horde of academics, the undead, and several examples of both. Suddenly, Emmrich wished he'd asked this more privately. But before he could apologize, a hissing skeleton clattered by at high speed, chased by a pack of aggressive wisps. "Ok. No. I don't understand any of this. I was just gonna try and grab some context cues as we went on." the young man laughed. "Just tell me what needs doing."

So, short form, dialogue for me isn't something that can happen divorced from any physicality in the story. And I know there are folks who disagree with the habit of italicizing words for emphasis.

Imagine.

Tiffany Problem and the Courtly Love Septangle

Tiffany Problem and the Totally Justified Peasant’s Revolt

Tiffany Problem and the Face-Blind Knights

Tiffany Problem and the Blemmye Emissary

Tiffany Problem and the Pointless Crusade

Tiffany Problem and the Genderbent Monk

Tiffany Problem and the Hayward’s Privilege

Tiffany Problem and the Feudal System in General

I've had a lot on my mind.

WATSON'S SKETCHBOOK: VOLUME 2 is coming out!

WHEN: 9:00am PDT/12:00pm EDT/5:00pm BST on August 20!

WHERE: Here is the link to my online shop. There will also be a big restock of Volume 1, as well as my other graphic novels.

DETAILS: Priced at $20, the same as the original, although this one is in color and about 20 pages longer.

This will be a direct ordering situation, no preorder, so hopefully no one will be waiting too long for their copy.

I ordered a good amount of books, but not unlimited, so jump on it if you can - my last few releases have sold out fairly quickly.

ANYWAY