Day 34 (1:04 In My Extended Base 30/7) Of Rewriting My Novel

Day 23 (32 in base 7) of Rewriting my Novel

I was on a plane again today, so I wrote a bunch. If I didn't crack 30,000 today, I'll crack 30,000 tomorrow. Yay!

I finally got around to writing an introduction for this blog, which was long overdue. I'm definitely not only shouting off into the void of binary while I continue to write.

Neither Odapir nor Ipol are to a point where I would feel comfortable publishing a dictionary, but they're to a point where I can translate as I need to and derive words on the fly. If I ever get to a point where I have 1,500-2,000 words, I'll publish a dictionary, then. Probably online.

Reblogging to add what I've found:

I did not find what I was looking for, but I found a better passage, I think?

Here's a link to the passage and its original (Old Chinese) text.

Translation was done by James Legge (1815-1897). He studied in Hong Kong and translated a ton of Chinese classics. There are probably more modern translations somewhere.

Basically, this is in a section of texts talking about Zhou Dynasty rituals for burial, but unlike the other sections in this area, this one is littered with imagery about farming and planting and family.

The implication, I think, is that death just happens, which I think aligns pretty well with what you're looking for? Like, sure, on its face, it's describing the ritual of sacrificing crops to give to the dead, but the author goes in length through the exact process of farming, yk?

I hope this helps! I'm a Chinese major, so feel free to ask more questions if you're curious/don't understand.

Text below:

They clear away the grass and the bushes; And the ground is laid open by their ploughs. In thousands of pairs they remove the roots, Some in the low wet lands, some along the dykes. There are the master and his eldest son; His younger sons, and all their children; Their strong helpers, and their hired servants. How the noise of their eating the viands brought to them resounds! [The husbands] think lovingly of their wives; [The wives] keep close to their husbands. [Then] with their sharp plough-shares, They set to work on the south-lying acres. They sow their different kinds of grain, Each seed containing in it a germ of life. In unbroken lines rises the blade, And well-nourished the stalks grow long. Luxuriant looks the young grain, And the weeders go among it in multitudes. Then come the reapers in crowds, And the grain is piled up the fields, Myriads, and hundreds of thousands, and millions [of stacks]; For spirits and for sweet spirits, To offer to our ancestors, male and female, And to provide for all ceremonies. Fragrant is their aroma, Enhancing the glory of the State. Like pepper is their smell, To give comfort to the aged. It is not here only that there is this [abundance]; It is not now only that there is such a time: From of old it has been thus.

Hey, guys, I cometh with a question.

Do you guys know any poetic words, phrases, terms, etc, referring to death? Stuff that's more neutral, or melancholic, something that acknowledges death as a necessity of life and deems it almost beautiful.

It can be from any language, so long as it carries the meaning.

For complete transparency: this is for the name of a faerie character who personifies death.

They describe themself as: "the leaf that is evicted from the tree. {T}he ageing bones of a feeble grandmother. {T}he rot that gathers on a dead animal, the bugs that feed on its carcass, and the entire process of death.

"In short, I am Dying."

But uh—that'd be a temporary name for her. I'm trying to figure out his "real name" so to speak. They're someone who takes joy in their reaper-like role and finds mortality (and mortals' attempts to escape it) entertaining. They find their own domain fascinating, but clearly a cause for others' suffering.

Just not hers.

Anyone have a word/name that carries those kinda connotations? Again: it can be from any language!

(i'd appreciate a reblog for visibility)

From a worldbuilding perspective, putting a ball in a bin/hoop/etc... seems like the most basic form of entertainment, and I support it. (Consider literally every game that includes a ball-most literally have ball in the name!)

Maybe ball is what unites us all lmao.

The Transformers, episode 32 “The Master Builders”

hmm another cool Tagalog thing that isn't in modern English (to the extent of my knowledge, that is) - and which can be found in other languages too! - are gender neutral pronouns and words for people. this wasn't something I noticed until I started reading more and more English books, because I realized that a lot of these words have no direct equivalent in English.

the word siya, meaning he/she, singular. I wouldn't say it's an equivalent to the English gender neutral "them" as it is purely used as a singular pronoun.

anak, meaning son/daughter. For me the English translation "child" is not 100% accurate, since child could also mean a random kid that isn't your son and daughter, while anak quite literally means child as in offspring.

a few more familial terms like pamangkin (nephew/niece), bienan (parent-in-law), manugang (child-in-law).

and then there are ones like kapatid, sibling, and asawa, spouse, but I think these are more often used in casual conversation compared to their English equivalents.

and then we have the aspects of the language that were directly influenced by Spanish, so we have some gendered words in usage, hence the terms Filipino/Filipina. however, in these instances, people generally aren't very strict on using the "correct" gendered word when talking casually. really threw me for a loop when I started learning romance languages that had gendered nouns, lol. thank you for listening to my random rambling~

me when the plot won't plot like it should

OC Open Tag Questionaire

Open tag from @fantasy-things-and-such

I'll do this with three of my main OCs: Iziser, Hotautebz, and Lozerief.

1) Are you a night owl or a morning lark

Izi: Normally, I hear the phrase as "night owl or morning star." I sleep in too late to be a morning star, though.

Hota: Izi thinks he sleeps in late? 10 AM? Rookie numbers.

Lozerief: I don't sleep. I once went a period of two weeks without sleeping before my body had enough and I slept on the floor. My sleep schedule is so irreconcilably bad that I can't, in good conscience, answer this question.

2) what is/would be your favorite kind of cheese

Izi: I'm lactose intolerant! I hear they make good brie in the highlands, though.

Hota: I feel bad for Izi. He's missing out on the wonders of mozzarella.

Lozerief: I grew up on a dairy farm. I had a brief stint selling cheese. I can't stand the stuff anymore-cheese, milk, butter, you name it! I guess my favorite at the time was well-aged gouda. I put my heart and soul into making gouda, let me tell you.

3) whats your favorite letter?*

Izi: This question is terribly unspecific! What language? Because my favorite "normal" letter is "rr." It looks like this: 工.

Hota: Again, poor Izi doesn't know the horrors of trying to learn to write Ytos. That being said, my favorite letter is the regular "r" in Ipol, which looks like this: 口.

Lozerief: Depends on the language, mostly, and script. Like, I'm old enough to remember the Classical Zispoel abugida that Pagjom invented, like, nine hundred years ago! It's hard to choose a favorite, especially in modern Ipol, which simplified the old abugida tremendously, down into an abjad. But, "f" is my favorite letter: Π.

*Sidenote: these are relative approximations of the actual characters in the Ipol Abjad, which I may later make a post on.

I tag @theothersideofthewoods @oldfashionedidiot and @authorcoledipalo + open tag. Your questions are:

What's your favorite restaurant? If you don't have one, what's your favorite food?

How many languages do you speak? Do you speak English? How many forms of those languages do you speak?

What does magic mean for you?

not just homestuck, how about:

* linguistics

* niche micro histories about specific people

* legend born (by Tracy Deonn)

* plants

and more!

Scene: My funeral, day. People are crying over my grave, laying flowers, all the usual customs. Suddenly, there's a rumble coming from under everyone's feet. The Earth trembles as my hand shoots up out of the ground. As people are screaming and running in all directions, I float up in the air and state one simple proclamation.

"Hello everybody, let me tell you about Homestuck."

Day 10 of writing my novel again. (13 in base 7).

Part 1 is done!! I stayed up late to finish it. The ending might be kind of lame so far, but that’s what my alpha readers are for! I really hope they come through because I need the feedback.

I’ll celebrate tomorrow. How, exactly? Not sure yet. I will update tomorrow.

All gender is made up but my gender is more made up than yours because I am a conlanger.