I love learning little bits of info too, both when I write and when I'm reading. :) That's why I appreciate it when writers do some research, and get annoyed when they don't, at least when their failed guesses happen to coincide with areas where I can tell they're guessing (and failing).
And yeah, the djinni one is definitely on the list, even if I don't do it for NaNo. I have a file full of notes and links and references I copied off the net about djinni. I just need more setting details before I can do anything worthwhile with it.
The sorta-Chinese colonization story sounds interesting. [ponder/nod] I read this one fantasy story back whenever, where this one land was inhabited by a ruling conquerer culture and a subservient native culture. You find out eventually that the whole thing had been caused by this huge cultural misunderstanding. When the people who conquered the land first showed up, the natives met them on the beach and offered them food. To the conquerors, servants and slaves provide food, so they interpreted it to mean that the natives were acknowledging their subordinate status and were freely offering to serve the newcomers. In the native culture, though, those who offer food are the providers and have higher status than the dependents who accept it. So they were offering no such thing, but the newcomers had the weapons technology and aggressive attitude to enforce their misinterpretation. For centuries thereafter, the rulers referred to... "the compact" or something like that, the "promise" the natives made to serve, and whenever they start rumbling with resentment or rebellion, the rulers start snarling about oathbreakers and all. It was a cool situation and when it was finally explained I was all, "Wow, neat!" I love stuff like that, much better than just "They showed up and took over and they're assholes, period." I mean, these particular people probably would've tried to take over anyway [wry smile] but it was neat to see that they actually had something (no matter how flimsy and wrong) on which to base their assumptions of superiority. It gives their culture and their attitudes an interesting twist.
I like the idea of various vassal states, though. That lets the invaders play them off against each other in a psychological divide-and-conquer move. [nod]
I've lost way too many story ideas over the years, so I finally just started my "Ideas" file and I jot down whatever comes to me there. Sometimes it's an actual plot idea and sometimes it's just some cool piece of info I might be able to work into a story somewhere. I have a separate one for fanfic-specific ideas, although a lot of them are interchangeable.
no subject
And yeah, the djinni one is definitely on the list, even if I don't do it for NaNo. I have a file full of notes and links and references I copied off the net about djinni. I just need more setting details before I can do anything worthwhile with it.
The sorta-Chinese colonization story sounds interesting. [ponder/nod] I read this one fantasy story back whenever, where this one land was inhabited by a ruling conquerer culture and a subservient native culture. You find out eventually that the whole thing had been caused by this huge cultural misunderstanding. When the people who conquered the land first showed up, the natives met them on the beach and offered them food. To the conquerors, servants and slaves provide food, so they interpreted it to mean that the natives were acknowledging their subordinate status and were freely offering to serve the newcomers. In the native culture, though, those who offer food are the providers and have higher status than the dependents who accept it. So they were offering no such thing, but the newcomers had the weapons technology and aggressive attitude to enforce their misinterpretation. For centuries thereafter, the rulers referred to... "the compact" or something like that, the "promise" the natives made to serve, and whenever they start rumbling with resentment or rebellion, the rulers start snarling about oathbreakers and all. It was a cool situation and when it was finally explained I was all, "Wow, neat!" I love stuff like that, much better than just "They showed up and took over and they're assholes, period." I mean, these particular people probably would've tried to take over anyway [wry smile] but it was neat to see that they actually had something (no matter how flimsy and wrong) on which to base their assumptions of superiority. It gives their culture and their attitudes an interesting twist.
I like the idea of various vassal states, though. That lets the invaders play them off against each other in a psychological divide-and-conquer move. [nod]
I've lost way too many story ideas over the years, so I finally just started my "Ideas" file and I jot down whatever comes to me there. Sometimes it's an actual plot idea and sometimes it's just some cool piece of info I might be able to work into a story somewhere. I have a separate one for fanfic-specific ideas, although a lot of them are interchangeable.
Angie