A couple of random things

[regshoe]

I'm not sure why it's never occurred to me to try this before, but: I have discovered the delights of downloading fic from AO3 and putting it on my e-reader, and it's an excellent way of reading longfic! Much more pleasant than the screen, the formatting all translates well, and AO3 even puts a little note at the end reminding you to go back to the website and comment :D Anyway, I've now downloaded all the existing Flight of the Heron longfics for future re-reading.

I don't think I posted about the Ghosts finale at the time—I watched it last week, it was very good! Aww, such a lovely happy ending for both couples, even if the big misunderstanding between Alison and Mike was a bit silly, haha. Kitty's enthusiasm over the wedding was adorable, as was the Captain getting quietly really into all the trappings of the celebration. Robin giving his opinions on relationships was hilarious, and I liked the unexpected Mary backstory details! Hey, and I see there's going to be a Christmas special—that's two TV specials to look forward to this Christmas. :D

Comments

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Downloading fic from ao3 is really useful, I agree! I like that you can choose several formats, and I find it very helpful as a quick way to back up stuff! Oh, and I also like the site skins you can use to make reading easier/more comfortable, but I forget if they show up when you download a work.

And I really liked the "Ghosts" finale!! Kitty was so happy about the two brides, awww! She really is the nicest, and she, Robin and the Captain remain my favourites! <3 And ohh, a Christmas special!! I didn't know about it, so thanks for mentioning it--it's definitely something to look forward to! :D

[regshoe]

I'm sure I'll be making more use of it in future :D

Yes, I loved Kitty's delight over there being two brides! She's such a sweetheart. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with the Christmas special—ghosts and Christmas obviously suggests Dickens references, but on the other hand none of the ghosts are Victorian, so...

[luzula]

Re: putting fic on my ereader, that is actually why I bought an ereader in the first place!

Unrelatedly, I'm discovering that I'm not using the contractions "I'll" and "you'll" enough in my FotH fic. They're Broster's most common contractions, as per your post, and rightly so, it seems--I started reading that 18th century essay on agricultural reform, and it uses them a lot, actually. Must go back and edit my fics...

[regshoe]

It's certainly a good use for it :D

I admire your commitment to canon- and historically-accurate contraction use! That's interesting that an essay on agriculture uses lots of contractions—that's just the sort of writing I'd expect to be more formal and not use them, but then of course the eighteenth century may well have had different standards about that sort of thing.

[luzula]

It uses I'll, you'll, 'tis and don't, for example. And also the thing where "s" is written as "f", but only in certain places. What is the deal with that, do you know?

[regshoe]

Ooh, long S! (not exactly the same as F, just very similar!: ſ only has half a cross-bar on the left*, f has it all the way across). For some reason people decided that S should look different depending on its position in the word—the basic principle is that ſ is used at the start and in the middle of words and s at the end, but there are lots of complications and exceptions, and the use wasn't always consistent. I've found a blog post that goes into a lot more detail!

ETA: *and it evidently depends on the font, because the one Dreamwidth uses for posted comments clearly doesn't have a cross-bar at all... :D

[luzula]

Oh, interesting! Huh. This is used in older Swedish texts as well, but I've never bothered to find out the reasons for it before.

The text also does another thing where the first word of the next page is printed below the last word of the previous page, I suppose to give the reader a sort of preview.

[regshoe]

I've just gone and looked at the first few pages to see, and that is interesting—it seems like a way to make skipping from one page to the next while reading easier, maybe?

Anyway, I always love finding out these little details of things from the past! I feel like knowing things like what reading a book would have been like for characters from the eighteenth century gives more depth to understanding them, somehow. :)

[luzula]

Anyway, I always love finding out these little details of things from the past! I feel like knowing things like what reading a book would have been like for characters from the eighteenth century gives more depth to understanding them, somehow. :)

Yes, I agree! Have just discovered all the issues of the Scots Magazine from those years that are online. : D

[regshoe]

Ooh, very nice! *goes off to read* :D