I'll tell you what (Humor by Heyer)

I've made a start to my book and, aside from one scene, it's not funny. Not as funny as I want it to be. So I've paused a moment to read some Dickens and Heyer.

My characters are coming off too realistically, whereas the kinds of comic characters I like are always exaggerations, as though you were drawing a caricature of someone you know in real life.

For example, some of Heyer's funniest side characters are in her book Friday's Child. It's about a sort of macho guy's guy who needs to marry to get his inheritance so he proposes to a sweet but quite silly childhood friend, whom he doesn't realize is in love with him. The romance of the book comes from Sheringham's gradual coming to love and acting protective of his bride Hero, though it takes some help from his friends. And the humor of the book comes from his friends.

Here are two scenes that show, I think, just how expertly Heyer draws her comedic characters.

There are three friends, George, Fakenham (Ferdy), and Ringwood. Here's George's first entré into the book...

*

"Don't try to trifle with me, Sherry! Don't try it I say! I know where you have been! You have taken a damned advantage of me, by God!"

"No, he hasn't," said Mr Ringwood. "Now, sit down, George, for God's sake, and don't put yourself in a pucker over nothing! I never saw such a fellow!"

"Nothing to be in a pucker about," said Mr Fakenham, adding his helpful mite. "Sherry's going to be married."

"What?" gasped Lord Wrotham, turning a ghastly colour, and rolling his eyes towards the Viscount.

"No, no, not to Isabella!" Mr Ringwood assured him, touched by the sight of such agony. "Really, Ferdy, how can you? Sherry's going to marry another female."

Lord Wrotham staggered to a chair, and sank into it. Anxious to make amends, Mr Fakenham poured out some ale, and pushed the tankard towards him. He took a pull, and sighed deeply. "My God, I thought--Sherry, I have wronged you!"

"Well, I don't mind," said the Viscount handsomely. "Got too much else to think about. Besides, you're always doing it."

"Sherry," said Wrotham, fixing him with a hungry gaze, "I insulted you! If you want satisfaction, I will give it to you."

"If you think it would afford me satisfaction to stand up for you to blow a hole through my chest, you're mightily mistaken, George!" said Sherry frankly. "I'll tell you what: if you don't stop trying to pick quarrels with your best friends, you won't have any left to you!"

--> George continues to call people out throughout the book. But no one "go out" with him, because he's the best shot in town.

*

Here's the scene just after Sherry and Hero are married. It's possible he hasn't told his friends this is a marriage of convenience:

Once outside the church again, the Viscount handed his wife into the hackney, and turned to consult his friends on the best way in which to spend the evening. Mr Ringwood stared at him very hard, and even Ferdy, who was not much given to the processes of reasoned thought, goggled a little at the suggestion that they should all foregather at Fenton's for an early dinner, pay a visit to the theatre, and wind up the eventful day by partaking of a snug little supper at the Piazza.

"But Sherry, dear boy! Lady Sheringham--wedding night--won't want a party!" stammered Ferdy.

"Fudge! What the devil should we do, pray? Can't spend the whole evening looking at one another!" said the Viscount. "Kitten, you'd like to go to the play with us, wouldn't you?"

"Oh, yes, do let us!" cried Hero at once. "I would like it of all things!"

"I knew you would. And you would like Gil and Ferdy to go along with us too, I dare say?"

"Yes," agreed Hero, smiling warmly upon these gentlemen.

"Then that's settled," said the Viscount, getting into the hackney. "Fenton's Hotel, coachman! Don't be late, Gil!"

The vehicle drove off, leaving the Honourable Ferdy and Mr Ringwood to look fixedly at one another.

"Know what I think, Gil?" Ferdy asked portentously.

"No," replied Mr Ringwood. "Damned if I know what I think!"

"Just what I was going to say!" said Ferdy. "Damned if I know what I think!"

Pleased to find themselves in such harmonious agreement, they linked arms in a friendly fashion, and proceeded down the road in the direction of Conduit Street.

Oliver Kitteh - Chapter Twelve: Which contains the substance of Oliver's Back Leg Rehabilitation

As told by Ms Brownlow (italic narration by Mabel).

Click here for chapters one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. ten and eleven.

The Serious Bidness of straightening out Oliver's back legs continues!

I placed the box in the living room, along a path he used when going from the bedroom, and right in front of a new play area we were putting together. He was beginning to travel quickly enough that he wanted to play games with Chloe and have her chase him.

At this point, Oliver was about two and a half months old and he and Chloe were having a lot of racing games. I decided to take the long green scratching post and the wonderful box and that green suede sleeping box I'd gotten Oliver and make him a sort of 'track' to run through.

My idea here, again, was that I wanted to force him to be using his back leg closer together as he made his way around the apartment. He was already improving.  His belly was a little bit further off the ground, he was holding his legs at a slightly different angle, still out to the sides but no longer entirely flat on the ground.  It was such a subtle difference that the vet wasn't certain I knew what I was talking about when I said he was improving.  He really was though.

 Pictured here: The fabric bolts that Ms. Brownlow 

had to keep rolled up because Oliver was learning to climb on them.

Also, the lovely Chloe.

Anyway, my idea with this 'track' was that Oliver could run along the scratching post, or along the top of the box, or through the box or the suede box.  The suede box was the only one where he could spread his legs to the sides, but he'd be slowed down going through the circles on the ends and it was just slower to travel through.  My hope was that he would want to go one of the other ways. And, as he and Chloe were playing these chasing games throughout the day, he would get a lot of practice making speed with his little legs closer to his body.  Of course, I had no idea quite how he was going
to do that, but it seemed worth a try.

Oh, boy, was it.  At first he opted for traveling along the tops of the box and the scratching post.  The post was easier because the corrugated cardboard gave him the best traction.  He had a bit of a balance challange on the box.  Both let him have his legs out to the sides a bit, but because the pieces were all close together, they made 'walls' so he couldn't just let his legs hang over the sides as he'd done previously.

Once he got even better at running this track, and as he got faster and more impressed with himself, he began to run through the box.  And he got really good at it.  And he began standing much more on his feet.

Of course, we also played with toys like the goldfish on a stick. You can see here how much he's still keeping his legs out to the sides.  You may be able to tell he's holding himself up a little bit higher on his back legs.

And another view showing his improvement.  He was definitely standing up better, not all the time but increasingly frequently.

Alright my buddies... next week is The Big Reveal!

       

The bellybutton gals

Ooh a new Nombrils book is out! Les Nombrils is a graphic novel series about a plain girl, who is very sweet, and her two best "friends", who are... not so sweet. There's a cute romance as the plain girl finally gets a boyfriend, and later a rival for his affections. But the humor of course comes from the idiot twins.

As I've whined before, there aren't enough comedies about really funny groups of female characters. I'm excited to see a book 5!

Which non-fiction book should we read, eh?

The Canada Reads nominees have been announced! Canada Reads is an annual event where 5 celebrities (from all professions) are give 5 books to champion--they debate, vote each other off, and then Canada is encouraged to read the remaining one.

Last year featured home decorating guru Debbie Travis leading the trash talk on the first ever graphic novel ever nominated, even though she hadn't finished it! She's "out" for me. Out forever.*

The winner was a comic political book which my dad and I read.

For the first time, this year, they're looking at non-fiction books (debate to begin in February). I'm looking at the nominations, and I'm already disappointed by one. Prisoner of Tehran is about a woman who was a political prisoner in Iran, after the Revolution, but it's considered some former prisoners have criticized it as containing many false elements. So I'm out.

I would rather read Something Fierce about a young woman expatriate who goes back to Argentina to fight in the underground. Which as far as I know isn't fake. In.

The Tiger is about a tiger on a killing "spree" in Siberia, and the detective efforts to track it down. Could be the best book on the planet and I'm not gonna read it. Not unless the tiger wins. Out forever.

On a Cold Road is the diary of a band member from a Canadian rock band, touring. "Storied arenas one tour and bars wallpapered with photos of forgotten bands the next. Zit-speckled fans begging for a guitar pick and angry drunks chucking twenty-sixers and pint glasses." Sounds good! Bet it'll get voted out first. Unless the defenders decide to go after the Siberian tiger, since there doesn't seem to be a Canadian connection to it.

And finally, Ken Dryden's The Game, which is a classic insider account of hockey. Will probably win, but I could care less about hockey so I'm out.

________
* Among my friend Gilby's gang there are three ratings. You can be "in" for something, or "out" for something, or the dreaded "out forever."
       

Photo Time!

Got tons of pics on my phone... time to offload them on you.

Our friend Shooter

 

This is what happens to my nails the second the weather chills.

Break break break break.

My DNA doesn't like the cold.

One day I opened the balcony door and saw this smashed car in the parking lot!

??

A Swiss Girl spotting!

This is where we go for sushi.

A couple weeks ago on of the buildings on my block (there's 7 almost identical buildings) caught fire on the third floor. We were watching TV in the early morning, when our power went off and we could hear the sound of buzzsaws. Fernando walked out to see what the hell was up, and saw the fire. The fire department was cutting through the roof to prevent the fire from spreading to the other side of the L shaped building. It turned into a 4 alarm fire--I guess the focus was on keeping it from spreading to other floors. Which they succeeded at, though the second floor must be water damaged. 

There were only 2 deaths, but it was still sad. The fire seems to have started in an apartment where a teen boy was playing with a birthday candle; his younger brother was saved by two young men from the first floor, but he and his mother died. Thankfully the father wasn't there, so the young boy didn't lose both parents. Sadness.

Some people rescued themselves by crawling down from balcony to balcony. It's unfortunate that the woman and her son didn't try it. You could even fall from the third floor and you'd be injured, but probably alive.

This was the view from the back (our parking lot). We can't see that building from our apartment, and we couldn't smell the fire at all. It's distressing to see a building that looks just like yours' burning up!

Our candlelight.

We were babysitting Shooter again. Here's Minion sitting on the floor with him, in the dark.

 

When I walked Shooter at 6 AM, the street out front was  covered in water, even though this spot is two buildings away.

It's spooky when you can see through a building and out into the sky. 

In lighter news...!

Fernando with a pillow on his head.

He gives me these pillows as gift--their guts pull out into a warm blanky.

It's feeding time in ladybug land!

This is the raisin dish.

    

The Dolly Show

I recently dug out my dolly collection, cause I wanted to pick some out as stand ins for the characters in my book. I took some pictures for you as I unloaded my tupperwares and undressed and sorted them. (The very fact that I have tupperwares full is why I don't collect them anymore. Most were bought on sale so I have a weird mix.)

First, the Star Wars Collection. Here's the core gang.

 

The sand inhabitants

Some good guys. Don't you love Admiral Akbar?!

And of course, ole smoothy himself, Lando. "We got to give him more time!"

My husband's always buying my Yodas of various sizes.

Some baddies. The Boba Fett is from my brother's childhood. I never had Ken dolls, cause they suck. I used Boba Fett as the boyfriend.

 This looks like Jar Jar, but he's got a bad ass look on his face. Must be another Gungan.

Plus he must be cool, cause he's hanging with Gandalf the White.

Here's the boys collection. A Cylon and some other Battlestar dude, from the childhood collection. Also my brother's Planet of the Apes guys. And then Beast, Quasimodo, Wolverine and Nightcrawler.

Much sexier than Ken! Well except for the Jem guy down in front. ...No, he's sexier than Ken too. 

It seems the last time I used these dudes was when I made a present for my old boss. It was A Christmas Carol starring him as Scrooge (he was a very grumpy guy) and also the rest of us. ...I think this was the doll playing him. Exciting jacket!

Marley's chain.

Jem guy!

Minion loved munching on his hair

Another Regency dressed gent.

 Another of the Christmas Carol cast, but... he looks like a young Oscar Wilde!

 Here he is modeling the fur cloak my mother made--part of a set of Queen Amidala costumes.

Here's a blurry photo of the mini doll my stepmother painted--it's supposed to be me! Though I wear a bit less makeup. She repaints dolls and sells them and gives the money to an orphanage in Mexico. I included the Before picture.

 

Here's how I dressed Amidala for my trip to London. But Yoda ended up in most of the photos because he was more photogenic.

 Disco Barbie in Victorian gear.

Baby Spice's neck broke

Amidala outfits made by my mum:

 

Crocheted dress Christmas present from a coworker

Three outfits my mother made me when I was little. I love the designs and the fabrics:

And that is the dolly shoooow!