Weekly Plot Help - Week of November 10th

[alison-sky.livejournal.com]

Got a problem in your NaNo? Who doesn't?! But we've got a way to help!

Post here with your plot problems, and all through the week members of the community will scan through and see if they can help.

AKA - The best way to procrastinate is to help others!

So post your problem. Then take a moment to look at everyone else's and see if you can help them.

People helping people. That's what makes this community great :)

So have at it!

Comments

Re: Seattle and Los Angeles Help, Especially Japanese and Hispanics

[runa27.livejournal.com]

O.O

YES. That helps enormously! Especially since the native Seattle..ite? (What do you North-Westerners call someone from Seattle?)... is bookish and shy and such, and I think she'd be fond of hanging out in the University District, from the sounds of it. :D

And your description helps me get a MUCH better handle on how to capture the feel of it, both from the perspective of the girl who's lived there her whole life and the California girl who's probably not at all going to like the cold, damp chill. ;)

Ahaha... I almost want to move to Seattle now. Or at least visit the University District. It sounds so cozy in comparison to where I live (I'm probably weird for thinking a drizzly city sounds more pleasant than sunny Florida, but I hate the heat anyway, ha).

Re: Seattle and Los Angeles Help, Especially Japanese and Hispanics

[hireadd.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm glad! It's Seattleite, yeah. :D I'm sure she'd love the U-district, and there are a lot of buses in and out of the area. Also... I'm not 100% clear on what the policies for non-students checking out books are (it might not be allowed), but she would be able to visit the libraries on the University of Washintgon campus. Fun fact: the UW campus has a bigger collection of books (over six billion, I believe) than anywhere else in the United States. And the libraries are gigantic, beautiful structures (for example, see the Suzzallo library (http://www.lib.washington.edu/suzzallo/)). A lot of the architecture on the campus is like that as well- giant and gorgeous and full of fields, statues, and a lot of greenery.

From my experience, Seattle tends to seem fairly gloomy and gray to someone who thrives in or is coming from a much warmer environment (like your character from California), unless they're lucky enough to arrive on a sunny day, but actually has a pretty cozy feeling to it a lot of the time and isn't as depressing as people tend to paint it- the buildings tend to be very warm inside, especially cafes, and there's nothing like sitting inside a coffee shop with a cup of hot chocolate while it's rainy and gray outside. Although catching buses in the rain can occasionally be not so fun.

Glad to be of help. :) Seattle is a bit overwhelming to a small-towner like me, but in a lot of ways really nice (although it does, of course, have the same issues with violence and danger areas that any big city does). The University District has a really small, warm, local feel to it (and lots of good, cheap food). And man, I'm abusing parentheses today.

Re: Seattle and Los Angeles Help, Especially Japanese and Hispanics

[majesticjac.livejournal.com]

From my experience, Seattle tends to seem fairly gloomy and gray to someone who thrives in or is coming from a much warmer environment (like your character from California

iawtc!

My friend, who has actually lived in Seattle her whole life (until now) loooves the sun and the weather here tends to be a depressant to her. She's actually taking vitamin D now, in order to boost her state-of-mind/happiness, and such...

Re: Seattle and Los Angeles Help, Especially Japanese and Hispanics

[hireadd.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there are some people who the environment can be a killer for. My brother, who's part Vietnamese, has had a lot of issues with living in the north-west (he recently moved to Hawaii). I tend to find that, even as a resident up here who can't handle a whole lot of sunlight, I tend to be vaguely depressed and lame for a few weeks at the end of summer until I get used to the really gray, rainy weather and have to take vitamin D.

Re: Seattle and Los Angeles Help, Especially Japanese and Hispanics

[majesticjac.livejournal.com]

It doesn't actually depress me but I get bummed when the warm weather starts going away. Once we're through the warm-to-cold transition I'm hyped up in the weather (I've loved rain my whole life X3). Its cozy and good movie-watching or novel-writing or baking & tea drinking weather. :D

Re: Seattle and Los Angeles Help, Especially Japanese and Hispanics

[hireadd.livejournal.com]

Heh, sounds just like me. :) I actually enjoy the fall/winter weather a lot, but it does take some adjusting to.

Re: Seattle and Los Angeles Help, Especially Japanese and Hispanics

[clayshaper.livejournal.com]

I have lived in the Seattle area for decades, and the University District is a really facinating place... there's everything from Ice Cream parlours (Cold Stone Creamery and Haagan Daaz) to little east indian clothing stores, a footwear place that sells Birkenstocks and 'non leather' shoes for vegans, a lot of asian food places- tiny little shops, no more than fifteen or twenty feet wide, and a good 60 or more feet long! There's Bead shops, and 'alternative' clothing shops (doc martens, vinyl coats, tie-dye or vintage clothing, that kind of thing) and even a little shop that sells nothing BUT gargoyles. (think i'm kidding? heh! check out http://gargoylestatuary.com/!!)

Away from the U-district, but also of local fame among the UofW students, would be Archie McPhees: http://www.mcphee.com/ VERY fun to drop by- and it shows you the sense of humor and style that a lot of the little shops play on, in the U-district, even though Archie McPhee's is now located in Ballard- most of the bookshops and gift places will carry SOME of that kind of fun stuff. :)