conlang – Axon Firings

conlang, Sagaia

On Words and Names in Sagaia II: Sindarin Inspiration

February 18, 2024 Jeff Lilly

How often do you get halfway through a fantasy novel and realize you need to revamp the primary language of your world?

conlang, fanfic, nanowrimo

Strange as News from Bree: NaNoWriMo 2023

December 21, 2023 Jeff Lilly

The Shire is the perfect setting for English-style murder mysteries. The idea is irresistible. The only issue is that, of course, hobbits do not commit murder. It would be unthinkable! A hobbit detective would be stuck solving mysteries of missing pies and silver spoons. Nefarious, no doubt, the stuff of high drama and family feuds. But I wanted to write murder mysteries. So… I set the stories in Bree, where there are lots of people who are not hobbits, and all sorts of murderous business can be afoot.

conlang, Sagaia, Writing Process

The Wilds of Sagaia: Artwork, Plotcraft, and Language Evolution

July 26, 2023 Jeff Lilly

As I sit down to write this, I can hardly believe it, but just a week and 100 days from now, on November first, I'll be starting my Million Word Year.

conlang, Writing Process

The Roman Code: the Why of our Letters

June 16, 2023 Jeff Lilly

It seems as though perhaps, over four thousand years, the chaos of the original Phoenician letters has developed into a linguistic system.

conlang, Writing Process

Subordinate Clauses in Gnin El and Sasrâl

April 13, 2022April 13, 2022 Jeff Lilly

Talk about an exciting topic! But how a language encodes the connections between clauses can have far-reaching ramifications. As I explain here, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English have very different assortments of complementizers. How scribes translated them gave rise to a huge variety of interpretations of the New Testament. But I'm sorry to say that I… Continue reading Subordinate Clauses in Gnin El and Sasrâl

MASTODON POSTS

Been struggling a lot with the name of a country in my current WIP. Needed something that was plausibly derived from a creole of Spanish and English, meant "gold", "warm", or "colorful", and sounded beautiful. Also it couldn't sound too much like "Colorado" or "Calendar".For a while I was going with "Calitenia", but it just wasn't working for me.Today I landed on "Coloroya", derived from "color del oro", and I couldn't be happier. :)#conlang #worldbuilding #writing #fiction
Was up till 3 AM last night reworking the phonology and orthography of the Sagaian language. It was so much fun, and the language is SO much better. Sample comparison:Earlier version: Ta nadú aghat eleá aghat póit aghaa, aghat muaa láu šir, cadh iš láu?Current version: Ta nattúr aias art aias poetícca aiam, aias múra llor hsín, cat íhs llor?Meaning: I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough? (Van Gogh)#conlang
---And then it started to unravel. We’d been working for maybe two hours of my time, maybe months for him, and the walls of text began to include more and more frustration, invective, and anger.“Oh God, Wally, it’s so lonely here. I just sit and sit and wait for your answer. And the office never changes. I’m in hell, aren’t I? Tell me the truth, Wally. Admit it, I died and went to hell. Oh God I just want to open a window. Just see one goddamn tree. Just drink one beer...”
#writerscoffeeclub 29. Describe the saddest moment you’ve written. Share an excerpt.In my novel Axon, Inc., a character is killed and his personality is stored in a computer model. But the model is unstable, and he effectively dies again every time they try to activate it.Excerpt in the reply:
#WritersCoffeeClub 20. Do you have a blog? Tell us about it and share a link.Http://www.axonfirings.com is my writing blog, where I post important updates along with thoughts about worldbuilding, languages (real and imagined), plot, character, and story structure. I’ve posted recently about NaNoWriMo 2023 and my serialized novel on Patreon, as well as book reviews and speculative articles about why our letters are the way they are and what the notion of “canon” is for. I try to post monthly.
Immersive kitten therapy; Direct gazeImmersive kitten therapy #catsofmastodon #kitten
"Time does not stand still, though the Sun be lost." - a Rider of Rohan speaking to MerryGood to remember in the dark days of January.#tolkien #quotes
#writerscoffeeclub How do you name your characters?It's often a process both wonderful and agonizing. Sometimes I'll go months knowing a character's name is wrong, and not knowing what to do about it. Other times the name comes immediately. And occasionally I have to design or re-design the character's language in order to get the name right.#conlang
"The mightiest may be slain by one arrow." - Pippin TookGood to remember when your foes seem too strong for you.
#WordWeavers #Writing 16 Do you have any writing rituals?Tea.Irish breakfast tea with honey and oat milk.Tea....Tea.
Denethor: In desperate hours gentleness may be repaid with death.Faramir: So be it.Tolkien, TT
People’s CDC COVID-19 Weather Report https://peoplescdc.org/2024/01/08/peoples-cdc-covid-19-weather-report-65/
#WritersCoffeeClub 11: dream sequences:Can be effective if done well. Eg try to ensure the reader knows that it *is* a dream; otherwise they may feel cheated, tricked into investing in something unreal.From my current work:"They were glorious dreams, all of them, right up until the end. Dreams of endless green and gold forests, vast oceans plowed by tall sailing ships, lords and ladies dancing and whirling in marble halls slung with chandeliers like constellations of candles…"
#writerscoffeeclub Jan9. Do you avoid or embrace adverbs, he asked provocativelyIt’s strange to me that a whole part of speech is singled out for vilification like this. Why isn’t there a similar issue with adjectives, auxiliaries, or determiners?… I don’t think it’s really adverbs that are the issue here, but a reflection of the show/tell heuristic. If you say your characters speak “hastily” or “sadly”, for example, you miss the opportunity to *show* that through their choice of words.
Sketch of my heroes exiting stage right, pursued by wolves. A scene from my ongoing serialized novel at my Patreon here: http://patreon.com/user?u=100856#illustration #fantasy
Jan 8 #WritersCoffeeClub—Do you ever use discarded story ideas from one project in a different project?Always, continually. Discarded story ideas are a gold mine of material for new stories. I raise ideas from the dead repeatedly until they work. Almost twenty years ago, I had an idea for a weird alien species that I love, and I've tried three or four times to work that into a story. Its current incarnation, "Orphan Moon", is about 75% done, on the backburner, but I have high hopes.
It might be worse, and then again it might be a good deal better.- Thorin#tolkien #hobbit #quotes
The Crow Witch began preening itself, rearranging the beads and glass and other decorations in its feathers. “Cast more spell. All talk. Talk together.”“You’re going to cast another spell? So that we can all talk?”“Yes, yes. Hush you.”The crow muttered and hopped from branch to branch around the tree. Dark wingLight graceEyes gleam...Voice dreamWitch spaceSpell singMagic callOne, allSpell thrallShare earDraw nearHear clear!Read more: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=100856#fantasy #writing
URGENT kitten news: they have a new cubby snuggle.Ash is inside it and using it properly. Willow is still learning the finer points.(You can see the eye infection they both have in Willow's eyes. Not to worry, they're both on medication for it.)#catsofmastodon
Sketch of the Crow Witch, a character from the novel I’m serializing on Patreon (patreon.com/user?u=100856). This is a completely normal crow who is not at all insane probably, and is a witch. #fantasyart #illustration #patreoncreator