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@merieshenanigans

Doesn’t that make it more impressive…? I have no talent for learning languages, so I am absolutely jealous, lol. The only things I have really picked up are random Japanese words and phrases from watching anime. Which I suppose would help my intentions to learn Japanese in the near future, but… xD

LOL, thank you! I’ve never watched anime (ever… XD) but you and Calidris are this close to convincing me to watch Haikyuu XD

I don’t think any are particularly clever… I know a very, very limited amount of Chinese idioms. Erik and Faëll are always quoting the Dommesan sages, many of whose sayings are fancy translations of idioms like fu shui nan shou, “water poured out cannot be restored” which basically refers to reaching some point in a situation after which there’s no turning back. It’s… literally the most random idiom I could possibly have thought of, but it sticks in my head because of the story behind it xD

Ohhh, that’s too cool! I tend to use the folk-names in Dutch for a lot of flowers, then translate them loosely XD The only example I can think of is “Whistleweed” which is the Dutch name for Queen Anne’s lace. I thought it was a pretty name in and of itself, so I just translated it XD

Another one of my favorite examples is “Black cats with white feet” which is what you’d say to someone when they were being too nosy. (Like in reply to “what are you talking about?”) It’s an absolute bizarre idiom, and I’ve always thought it was hilarious. Admittedly, some Dutch idioms are untranslateable because they’re either extremely rude in English or they’re just bizarre. (The Dutch version of “People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” is “People with butter on their head shouldn’t stand in the sun” Like… where did that come from?? XD)

Most authors just seem to confuse love at first sight with attraction at first sight, which are two totally different things. And I mean, I’ve heard of people whose love stories start out with “I saw them, and I knew they were the one” but you could have been wrong… There’s no way to prove that just because you felt it was so, that it was so T_T

Ugh exactly!!!

I totally relate. Romance is h a r d. –says the person who never even gets that far into a story for things to actually happen

Yeah! I think it helps to make transitioning into writing romantic stuff easier, too.

LOL, absolutely! I often end up going “Okay, is there any way we can possibly remove the romance? Would it still work or would it be read as romantic anyway?”

Stubborn Boy’s story is also dual POV, but I don’t exactly want his sister to carry the rest of the book for him, when he’s so darn important too xD

I normally never write in a single POV… I tried third-person omniscient for the first draft of TFE, but I’m not sure if it’ll stick around. If it does, it’d be mostly thanks to Pax.

LOL, don’t you just love when one of your POV characters is being lovely and sweet and handing you ideas and the other one is lying facedown in the dirt, screaming and refusing to budge XD It happened with Liorah and Aydin earlier, I think you can imagine who did what XD

Yeah, I don’t think there’s really any need to go that far back. Most of the time it wouldn’t even be mentioned in the story at all, so… We always gotta do what’s best for the story *shrugs*

Exactly! There’s a line between knowing how your world works and obsessing over things that won’t even be mentioned.

Because everyone likes romance -_-

That said, I’m addicted to the two-side-characters-who-are-basically-engaged-from-childhood trope… but only if they’re side characters. Heh.

Oh, yes!!! That’s a great trope for side characters!

Wait, everyone else likes romance? XD

Oh gosh, I was so afraid that was going to happen too. I feel like it’s what you learn to expect, what with this general type of story! I’m glad it ended the way it did, though, even if it was sad. It wasn’t tragic or anything, and it didn’t close the door on anything. As you said, it felt real and it made sense.

It was sad but satisfying! Otherwise, it would have been too much bitter and not enough sweet. I loved how they showed her keeping a connection to both countries.

I think I expected it because that’s what happened to me when I was little, when we went back to South Africa for a visit. I was so excited to see my friends again because I’d really missed them. And then they’d all forgotten me and didn’t want anything to do with me 😅 Looking back on it, I mean, we were like five, that’s what little kids do, but at the time I couldn’t get it and it stung enough that I remembered.

Funny, I haven’t thought about that in years, but when she was going back to Ethiopia, it all came back instantly XD I guess that’s how you recognize a well-written book!