Day 27 (36 In Base 7) Of Re-writing My Novel

I’ve got to find my worst-spelled words sometimes, but yeah, the more tired I get, the worse I spell, too. Reblogging so I can find this post in a pinch lol.

I have made a discovery.

Apparently, the more tired I am, the more poorly I spell.

Fun fact: I'm actually garbage at spelling. A lot of people (both IRL and otherwise) think I'm really good at it just because I know how to spell most everything off the top of my head, but that's just because I've learned them over time from writing so much. Without knowing... I spell extremely poorly.

Why do I mention all this?

I tried spelling "structured" as "struckured".

And that's just the beginning.

Overpowered Magic in Meiste I:

Perlocutionary Language Magic

In a later post I will explain magic in my conworld, Meiste, but one form of magic is Language magic. An overpowered ability some language magicians hold is the power to turn locutionary actions into perlocutionary results.

J. L. Austin was a philosopher interested in language, and he coined the terms "locutionary," "illocutionary," and "perlocutionary" to refer to sentences which invoke actions and the result thereof. Locution is literal meaning, but illocution refers to what an utterance has done, and perlocution refers to what happened thereafter.

For example, when you say "have a good day," you invoke perlocution to enforce that the person to whom you spoke should have a good day. When you say "please pass the salt," perlocution involves somebody passing the salt.

It's not hard to see why this is overpowered, then. If a perlocutionary language magician says "damn you!" then you may or may not be damned, depending on the magic behind it. Or if they say "bless you!" you may literally be blessed.

This may even be extended to sentences like "give me money," where now somebody may give the person who spoke money.

This is definitely overpowered, but I argue definitely not as overpowered as most Earth magic.

Average person: how does writing work

writer: Well u type an u delete. You rethink. Then u do 187 min of research and correct it. You reread and wonder if u hav a grasp of english. Then u revise

person: then ur done with the book?

writer: then u move onto the next sentence

Day 24 (33 in base 7) of re-writing my novel

Since google docs (my primary writing tool, accompanied by my note-taking journal) doesn't quite accurately describe my true word count, today I will celebrate 30,000 words like I promised yesterday, because it's close enough to be within a 5% error.

I wrote more today, including getting deep in the weeds with the relationship between Izi, Hero of Cognition, and Dolgof, the Hero of Life. Without sharing very many spoilers, they're in very similar situations. Or, have been.

Izi, the current Emperor of Zeneste, has never been in a position of power before, nor has he been a proper leader. Dolgof had been in his position during the drafting of the Constitution of Zeneste, but she never became a good leader.

I like this dynamic between them. Not only does Izi have someone to discuss what being a leader means with, he also has someone to juxtapose himself against, however unhealthy that may be.

Dear Tumblr,

Today I finished my novel. I don't mean that I got the first draft done. I mean that I, recently sixteen, finished the novel that I've been working on for as long as I can remember. I did it.

I am very happy and I just wanted to share it with all the weird little freaks that inspired me to put my blorbos down on paper. I don't care if nobody sees this. I did it. I am a writer. I finished my book.

Love,

Avi

As an alternative to 'sugar, spice, and everything nice'

I present: 'salt, vinegar, and everything sinister'

Day 17 (23 in base 7) of writing my novel again

Today I will drop some Modern Odapir translations because they're actually kinda ridiculous and I'm really proud of what I was able to accomplish with this damn language.

Phonology

Stops: p, b, t, d, k, g

Nasal stops: m, n

Fricatives: (f) (v) (s) h

Approximants: w, j

Tap: r

Vowels: i, y, e, a [ə], á [a], o, u

Diphthongs: ai [əɪ̯], oi [ɔɪ̯], au [əʊ̯], áu [aʊ̯]

As you can see, phonemic vowel length was lost, as well as a lot of diphthongs, and all of the affricates. Non-glottal fricatives remain as allophones of stops between vowels, i.e. p, b, t > f, v, s / V_V.

Translations

Wá maji áso ná moi ten ko! - Watch where you're going! (Lit. using where you're going, do a warning!)

Omoi moimaji ko - Halt. (Lit. do a stop.)

Majy jamá ná ymak moimaji. - Why are you out after dark? (Lit. Why exist you after dark.)

I really like the (o)moi N ko grammar I created, because it serves several functions all in one. It literally means "to do a N," but it's actually just a light verb construction.

In the context of Meiste, absolutely. It's only now that I realize I've never described the names of the characters, nor how they relate.

Iziser - A borrowing from Classical Zispoel "Izilseor," which is a name found in the Epic of the Hero of Life. It was once used to mean 'one who eats,' and metaphorically extended to 'one who is in love,' then 'one who loves.'

Hotautebz - Hotau is to literally ascend. It's an Old Ytos word for to ascend, plus "tebz" which is another old word for person.

Lozerief - Classical Zispoel for 'life,' definitely supposed to be a pun since she's the Hero of Earth, not life.

Are you the writer who carefully chooses OC names for their meanings, or are you the writer who picks whatever sounds good?

I have a foolproof strategy for worldbuilding these days (as an American):

Step 1: Wait for Trump/MAGA to do something stupid and perform insane levels of Orwellian double-think to justify it.

Step 2: Write it down and change the names around.

Day 25 (34 in base 7) of re-writing my novel

Today I explored one of two very important concepts in my novel: what does magic look like without a body to bind to it? Read ahead to learn more, but there are technically spoilers here.

"No," I decided. "It's-" A foul stench slashed at my nose, popping my eyes open. "What the hell?" I stood and plugged my nose, sticking out my hand. "I don't smell it." Hota stood beside me, hands in their pockets while they looked around. From the forest came a rotting buck the size of a semi truck. I could see its skull from beneath the skin that had fallen away, and only one eye remained on it. "I don't see that." Hota gulped and stood behind me. The buck wasn't real, I realized. The buck was made of magic. This was the consequence of failing to restore magical balance quickly enough. This putrid thing, made from unguided magic, wandering aimlessly in a world where it couldn't interact. Had I failed? Would Meiste soon perish?

Magic without a body is aimless. It is undead. It has no will nor way, rhyme nor reason, nothing like that. In fact, the perception of that magic is what caused it to take a form in the first place. It is only putrid-smelling because Izi perceived it that way, and it only looks like a rotting deer because that's what Izi saw.