Hey everyone!
Monday is the big day! I'll be able to start writing then. That means Wednesday will be the first post with my word count total. For all of those who are wondering, I have to write on average 1667 words a day. That's okay because, on an inspired day, I can probably write about 1700 words an hour. Which means I only need about an hour a day to get this written.
Here's a review as prep for Monday. My story is called The Lost Text, and it will be a fascinating fantasy story that reaches from a simple college in America to the very depth of the entire multiverse. It has multiple worlds and a completely made-up language. It's got allusions and references and all sorts of awesomeness. And, in a new stroke of inspiration, it will have multiple viewpoints. Hopefully this will be no less than epic.
See you all on Wednesday, and keep rooting for me!
Saturday, October 30
Wednesday, October 27
Yay for Progress!
ANDREW got PLOT DEVICE!
In my brainstorming session (read: random thoughts throughout the day) I realized how I can structure the story. I mentioned the story has Yggdrasil, right? Well, in a sense, Yggdrasil is going to be the "antagonist". Really, it's got two problems: 1) It's kind of falling apart, and 2) it has a defense system to prevent being attacked. You know, the whole Gotterdammerung thing. So when the good guys try to fix the problem, the tree will try to stop them; not because what they're doing is wrong, but because it perceives them as a threat to its existence. So, essentially, they have to fight the Yggdrasil. That's pretty epic, is it not?
I've also got a way to pad the story a little. You see, in a nutshell, Elseworld was once a part of Earth, but it drifted off into a parallel dimension (part of that Yggdrasil thing). If the heroes can't find a way to heal the Yggdrasil, the entire planet will disintegrate into all these different dimensions, some of which are less-than-healthy. So, if I need a few more words, I can just add another island. Trustmethisisagreatplan!
I REALLY hope this story will work. I don't think it's going to be the next Lord of the Rings, but I think I can make it to 50K. It all depends on how well I can flesh out the plot. There's a lot of the story where I just don't see anything happening. Actually, now that I think about it, it might be kind of Dune-like, in that it will detail one character's development from mild-mannered genius to the savior of the human race. That makes sense, right? Hopefully ideas will just spring up.
Oh, here's some way you can help. I want to introduce a seed from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. I have a method right now, but it's a little late in the story. I don't think the Elseworlders have it, and I would be hesitant to say that anyone on Earth has it. Right now it's in Eden itself, but again, it's a little late for my tastes. I kind of want the characters tempted to use it time and again, and that requires a little more setup. If you've got any ideas, send them my way. I might find a way to incorporate them into the plot. Who knows?
Welp, that's about all I've got to say this time. November 1st is comin' up quick. Stay tuned.
In my brainstorming session (read: random thoughts throughout the day) I realized how I can structure the story. I mentioned the story has Yggdrasil, right? Well, in a sense, Yggdrasil is going to be the "antagonist". Really, it's got two problems: 1) It's kind of falling apart, and 2) it has a defense system to prevent being attacked. You know, the whole Gotterdammerung thing. So when the good guys try to fix the problem, the tree will try to stop them; not because what they're doing is wrong, but because it perceives them as a threat to its existence. So, essentially, they have to fight the Yggdrasil. That's pretty epic, is it not?
I've also got a way to pad the story a little. You see, in a nutshell, Elseworld was once a part of Earth, but it drifted off into a parallel dimension (part of that Yggdrasil thing). If the heroes can't find a way to heal the Yggdrasil, the entire planet will disintegrate into all these different dimensions, some of which are less-than-healthy. So, if I need a few more words, I can just add another island. Trustmethisisagreatplan!
I REALLY hope this story will work. I don't think it's going to be the next Lord of the Rings, but I think I can make it to 50K. It all depends on how well I can flesh out the plot. There's a lot of the story where I just don't see anything happening. Actually, now that I think about it, it might be kind of Dune-like, in that it will detail one character's development from mild-mannered genius to the savior of the human race. That makes sense, right? Hopefully ideas will just spring up.
Oh, here's some way you can help. I want to introduce a seed from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. I have a method right now, but it's a little late in the story. I don't think the Elseworlders have it, and I would be hesitant to say that anyone on Earth has it. Right now it's in Eden itself, but again, it's a little late for my tastes. I kind of want the characters tempted to use it time and again, and that requires a little more setup. If you've got any ideas, send them my way. I might find a way to incorporate them into the plot. Who knows?
Welp, that's about all I've got to say this time. November 1st is comin' up quick. Stay tuned.
Saturday, October 23
No update today
Hahaha... working.
No, I have nothing new as of today. 9 days or so until the big day! See you then.
No, I have nothing new as of today. 9 days or so until the big day! See you then.
Wednesday, October 20
Help from followers!
Hey everyone!
"Sinyhy, Kyvani-kisi!" "Luwasi. Kinkx nischesüo?" "Nüveha,schxnoi. Vxnuscheso lüknx kokiri nischesuo?" "Ho, wi nisuo ravi nea." "Schxnoi. Ki suschosuo rosvo. Hionay!" "Hionay."
Yes, that was a simple conversation entirely in Elseworld, my conlang. I have a quite a bit built up at this point. Just writing that conversation, though, showed me how much more I need to write. I had to make up the words "Town" (kokiri [some people will catch that joke :P]), "left" (nea [so named because you can make an Elseworldian "n" with your left hand]) and "at" (ravi) just to complete it. I've got eleven days, but I don't really need too much more. Just some basic vocab stuff.
The reason why I ask for help is for my AU Earth. I could really use some help building the timeline. I'm considering just scrapping it and using a timeline similar to ours, but I still like the AU idea. Any ideas you have to further the concept would be much appreciated. I could also use help with the vocab for Elseworld's language. The alphabet is pretty simple: k, i, n, o, s, x, v, y, w, e, sch, u, h, ü. The only rule for making a syllable is it must end in a vowel. (Also, it usually only has one consonant in front of it, but there can be more than one.) A root ends in x, so you can make a whole family of concepts with just one root (i.e. grace, graceful, gracefully, etc.) Your aid would be much appreciated.
Anyways, not much going on over here. Had a lot of homework, so not much progress. See you Saturday!
P.S. For those of you who were wondering what the conversation said, here it is translated. "Hello, Kyvani, my friend!" "Greetings. How are you?" "Good, thank you. Do you know where the town is?" "Yes, it is to the left." "Thank you. I need to go. Goodbye!" "Goodbye." Yeah, it's not that complex. But it is a realistic conversation, so it counts.
"Sinyhy, Kyvani-kisi!" "Luwasi. Kinkx nischesüo?" "Nüveha,schxnoi. Vxnuscheso lüknx kokiri nischesuo?" "Ho, wi nisuo ravi nea." "Schxnoi. Ki suschosuo rosvo. Hionay!" "Hionay."
Yes, that was a simple conversation entirely in Elseworld, my conlang. I have a quite a bit built up at this point. Just writing that conversation, though, showed me how much more I need to write. I had to make up the words "Town" (kokiri [some people will catch that joke :P]), "left" (nea [so named because you can make an Elseworldian "n" with your left hand]) and "at" (ravi) just to complete it. I've got eleven days, but I don't really need too much more. Just some basic vocab stuff.
The reason why I ask for help is for my AU Earth. I could really use some help building the timeline. I'm considering just scrapping it and using a timeline similar to ours, but I still like the AU idea. Any ideas you have to further the concept would be much appreciated. I could also use help with the vocab for Elseworld's language. The alphabet is pretty simple: k, i, n, o, s, x, v, y, w, e, sch, u, h, ü. The only rule for making a syllable is it must end in a vowel. (Also, it usually only has one consonant in front of it, but there can be more than one.) A root ends in x, so you can make a whole family of concepts with just one root (i.e. grace, graceful, gracefully, etc.) Your aid would be much appreciated.
Anyways, not much going on over here. Had a lot of homework, so not much progress. See you Saturday!
P.S. For those of you who were wondering what the conversation said, here it is translated. "Hello, Kyvani, my friend!" "Greetings. How are you?" "Good, thank you. Do you know where the town is?" "Yes, it is to the left." "Thank you. I need to go. Goodbye!" "Goodbye." Yeah, it's not that complex. But it is a realistic conversation, so it counts.
Saturday, October 16
Not much today
Not much of an update today. I've finished all of the conversational phrases in the Elseworld's language. I've got a lot of other things to do, so it's gonna be slow. I'm starting the alternate history for my Earth-like universe. Basically, what happened was, instead of the Constitution creating one country, the 13 colonies each became sovereign nations. There is a non-affiliated organization called the United Front that organizes the sovereigns, but all in all they are completely independent. We'll see what I can get done.
Wednesday, October 13
Antagonism
Hey everyone!
Blah blah, conlang's coming, blah blah, I'm adding Yggdrasil, problem:
The way the story is coming together right now, I don't have a bad guy. I'm not sure if that's a problem or not. I mean, there is a conflict (namely, the destruction of the entire multiverse) but there isn't a character they have to fight. I'm not too sure if I can even pull it off. We'll see.
I'm really excited to get this story written! Things just keep coming together! Okay, so story time. I was building the conlang and I wanted to create the months. So I create these months based on important natural events (like the first snowfall or the solstices). I had wanted to build a pantheon too, and I realized it would make a lot of sense to make the gods match up to the seasons. So I created these four gods (who have romanized names as Snowstar, Blossom, The Great Sun, and Autumna) that would preside over the seasons. That was kind of that, until I started drawing the map of Elseworld (the non-Earth dimension). I made a forest, a river, and an outdoor stage-thing, among other places. Suddenly, I decided to name those places after the gods. So the forest became Autumna's Forest, the river became Blossom's River, and the altar became Snowstar's Audience. I decided that The Great Sun (Wesywo, his name doesn't really translate, so they just call him the Great Sun) would have dominion over whereever the sun shines. Suddenly, that led to a realization. Elseworld has some access to magic, and I discovered that this magic is tied to places. In a sense, magic in Elseworld is kind of like a cleric in D&D; they petition the gods for spells. These spells are only available at the god's domain (i.e. the river or the forest). This created a sort of hierarchy based on their magical power. Blossom's is the easiest to use, since she's just a nature god. However, she can only be petitioned by the river. By contrast, Wesywo can be petitioned anywhere, but his magic is so powerful that it's dangerous for only the most skilled petitioners to attempt to use. It does create a lot of structure for the magic system I wanted to design. Of course, the gods can only be petitioned in their native tongue (i.e. my conlang). They won't respond to English. (Yes, I'll have footnotes for the things in the conlang). It's amazing how everything can help design each other.
Anyways, that's all I've got for today, I think. I'll keep you posted. Stay tuned!
Blah blah, conlang's coming, blah blah, I'm adding Yggdrasil, problem:
The way the story is coming together right now, I don't have a bad guy. I'm not sure if that's a problem or not. I mean, there is a conflict (namely, the destruction of the entire multiverse) but there isn't a character they have to fight. I'm not too sure if I can even pull it off. We'll see.
I'm really excited to get this story written! Things just keep coming together! Okay, so story time. I was building the conlang and I wanted to create the months. So I create these months based on important natural events (like the first snowfall or the solstices). I had wanted to build a pantheon too, and I realized it would make a lot of sense to make the gods match up to the seasons. So I created these four gods (who have romanized names as Snowstar, Blossom, The Great Sun, and Autumna) that would preside over the seasons. That was kind of that, until I started drawing the map of Elseworld (the non-Earth dimension). I made a forest, a river, and an outdoor stage-thing, among other places. Suddenly, I decided to name those places after the gods. So the forest became Autumna's Forest, the river became Blossom's River, and the altar became Snowstar's Audience. I decided that The Great Sun (Wesywo, his name doesn't really translate, so they just call him the Great Sun) would have dominion over whereever the sun shines. Suddenly, that led to a realization. Elseworld has some access to magic, and I discovered that this magic is tied to places. In a sense, magic in Elseworld is kind of like a cleric in D&D; they petition the gods for spells. These spells are only available at the god's domain (i.e. the river or the forest). This created a sort of hierarchy based on their magical power. Blossom's is the easiest to use, since she's just a nature god. However, she can only be petitioned by the river. By contrast, Wesywo can be petitioned anywhere, but his magic is so powerful that it's dangerous for only the most skilled petitioners to attempt to use. It does create a lot of structure for the magic system I wanted to design. Of course, the gods can only be petitioned in their native tongue (i.e. my conlang). They won't respond to English. (Yes, I'll have footnotes for the things in the conlang). It's amazing how everything can help design each other.
Anyways, that's all I've got for today, I think. I'll keep you posted. Stay tuned!
Saturday, October 9
Update
Rxwasi! Kinkx nischesüo?
As you can see, the conlang is coming along well. It's pretty much completely fleshed out grammatically. The "fun" part is writing all the vocabulary I'll need. It's kind of annoying. That above says "Greetings! How are you?" x's are pronounced as a sort of back-of-the-throat, guttural rasp. That's the best way I can describe it (since I can't really do it either). It's got an awesome writing style, but that doesn't translate well to computer typing, so I've Romanized it. (For example, the x, the sche which is really more of a tsche sound kind of, and the ü, which is more of a yuh sound.)
I've now got a tentative title. It's The Lost Text. And man, is it going to be great! It's got magic, archaeologists, dimension-hopping, Biblical references, the works! Now, if only it had a plot... XD
Of course, having multiple dimensions means I need to have multiple worlds. So not only do I need to create an entire language, but I also need to build two different worlds. One will be an AU Earth, while the other will be... not. I haven't really decided. But, nevertheless, it's going to be sweet.
The problem with having a lot of details set up is that I immediately want to start writing things. I have this great scene in my head where... but I don't want to give too much away (both figuratively and literally). I'm trying to divert myself from plot-building by working on the conlang, but it's not too successful.
Anyways, that's all I've got for now. Keep following me, and I'll give you more insight to the progress. I may have some conworld stuff up, but we'll see.
As you can see, the conlang is coming along well. It's pretty much completely fleshed out grammatically. The "fun" part is writing all the vocabulary I'll need. It's kind of annoying. That above says "Greetings! How are you?" x's are pronounced as a sort of back-of-the-throat, guttural rasp. That's the best way I can describe it (since I can't really do it either). It's got an awesome writing style, but that doesn't translate well to computer typing, so I've Romanized it. (For example, the x, the sche which is really more of a tsche sound kind of, and the ü, which is more of a yuh sound.)
I've now got a tentative title. It's The Lost Text. And man, is it going to be great! It's got magic, archaeologists, dimension-hopping, Biblical references, the works! Now, if only it had a plot... XD
Of course, having multiple dimensions means I need to have multiple worlds. So not only do I need to create an entire language, but I also need to build two different worlds. One will be an AU Earth, while the other will be... not. I haven't really decided. But, nevertheless, it's going to be sweet.
The problem with having a lot of details set up is that I immediately want to start writing things. I have this great scene in my head where... but I don't want to give too much away (both figuratively and literally). I'm trying to divert myself from plot-building by working on the conlang, but it's not too successful.
Anyways, that's all I've got for now. Keep following me, and I'll give you more insight to the progress. I may have some conworld stuff up, but we'll see.
Monday, October 4
Planning Stage
So I've been thinking a lot about this project, and a few things are coming to me:
1) I'm pretty sure it's going to be fantasy, but I may go crazy and make it sci-fi.
2) I'm debating between two different ideas. I think it would be really fun to just write it "by the seat of my pants". You know, without any planning. That could be fun, but it would be pretty impractical. I could do some character design, some plot framework, but that would simplify the process a little. I don't know. The hard part is I keep coming up with these awesome plots and I don't know if I should use them. Thoughts, anyone?
3) I'm thinking about taking requests. Now, if you want me to write a story about X, join NaNoWriMo and do it yourself! But if you'd like me to add a certain type of character or mechanic, I could do that. Like, say, putting elephants in it. I am also considering putting people I know in it, but that raises a few problems of its own. Firstly, you would have to explicitly agree to be in it. Secondly, you would have to be willing to have me blow you out of proportion, or even just use your name on a radically different character. Thirdly, I would have to actually fit you in, which could be pretty hard as it is. No guarantees all around. But that's really not that important.
4) I have had a brilliant idea: a conlang. I will create a conlang specifically for this story. Obviously, I haven't thought much about the setting or plot (see 1&2) but this conlang will just be back-up for whenever I want to use it. I've got this great idea for honorifics and... you know what, why don't we wait until I've got this all figured out before giving you too much detail.
5)I am really going to need your support, everyone. When November starts, I'm still in school. Finals week is halfway through it! I will need your advice, your input, your ideas, and most importantly, your support. Also, as I mentioned before, I would be super-excited if someone else joined with me. That would be helpful so that we could write together, give each other confidence boosts, all that. (We could also chat over NaNoMail.)
Anyways, that's all for now. Keep following me, because I'll probably post Saturday. I might not though. Depends on what's new.
1) I'm pretty sure it's going to be fantasy, but I may go crazy and make it sci-fi.
2) I'm debating between two different ideas. I think it would be really fun to just write it "by the seat of my pants". You know, without any planning. That could be fun, but it would be pretty impractical. I could do some character design, some plot framework, but that would simplify the process a little. I don't know. The hard part is I keep coming up with these awesome plots and I don't know if I should use them. Thoughts, anyone?
3) I'm thinking about taking requests. Now, if you want me to write a story about X, join NaNoWriMo and do it yourself! But if you'd like me to add a certain type of character or mechanic, I could do that. Like, say, putting elephants in it. I am also considering putting people I know in it, but that raises a few problems of its own. Firstly, you would have to explicitly agree to be in it. Secondly, you would have to be willing to have me blow you out of proportion, or even just use your name on a radically different character. Thirdly, I would have to actually fit you in, which could be pretty hard as it is. No guarantees all around. But that's really not that important.
4) I have had a brilliant idea: a conlang. I will create a conlang specifically for this story. Obviously, I haven't thought much about the setting or plot (see 1&2) but this conlang will just be back-up for whenever I want to use it. I've got this great idea for honorifics and... you know what, why don't we wait until I've got this all figured out before giving you too much detail.
5)I am really going to need your support, everyone. When November starts, I'm still in school. Finals week is halfway through it! I will need your advice, your input, your ideas, and most importantly, your support. Also, as I mentioned before, I would be super-excited if someone else joined with me. That would be helpful so that we could write together, give each other confidence boosts, all that. (We could also chat over NaNoMail.)
Anyways, that's all for now. Keep following me, because I'll probably post Saturday. I might not though. Depends on what's new.
Sunday, October 3
Greetings!
Hey everyone, this is my blog for my NaNoWriMo project! NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is a competition that occurs in November to complete a 50,000 word novel. I won't have any updates until it starts (obviously), but throughout November, I will post updates every Wednesday and Saturday. Hope you guys root for me, I've got a lot of work coming up for me!
That's all I've really got to say for now, but why don't I leave with you with the link for NaNoWriMo, here: www.nanowrimo.org.
EDIT: To protect my intellectual property, my story won't actually be up here. I will tell you about what I've written, challenges I've had to face, that sort of thing. But I can't give you complete parts of the story. I'm used to just posting a story on Facebook since the stories weren't big deals, but this is. So, sorry about that. Keep in touch.
That's all I've really got to say for now, but why don't I leave with you with the link for NaNoWriMo, here: www.nanowrimo.org.
EDIT: To protect my intellectual property, my story won't actually be up here. I will tell you about what I've written, challenges I've had to face, that sort of thing. But I can't give you complete parts of the story. I'm used to just posting a story on Facebook since the stories weren't big deals, but this is. So, sorry about that. Keep in touch.
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