Day 44 (1:20) Of Rewriting My Novel

Hey, I wanted to share some conlang news with you all. A friend of mine named Jake Penny just released a video describing their creation of a new conlang—Pankashku—for the movie Madame Web.

Now if you've actually seen Madame Web (unlikely, I know), you may recall not hearing a conlang in it at all. This is because the actual Pankashku dialogue that Jake translated for the film was cut in its entirety, and Jake was not credited.

As a professional conlanger, I can tell you this does happen, and it always sucks, but it especially sucks when it happens with your first and only job. Jake isn't alone this. Bill Welden created a conlang for the movie Noah, and it, too, was cut and Bill wasn't credited. Both were paid, and, of course, the contract states that your work will be used at the company's discretion (which includes not at all), so it wasn't like they were taken advantage of, but when your work isn't used and you're not credited it means no one hears about you, and industry word of mouth doesn't spread to get you future work. It really, really sucks, given that there are so few opportunities for conlang artists to be compensated for their work.

That is why I'm sharing this here! If you're interested, please give it a watch, but if not, please reblog it around, if you would. A lot of work goes into creating a language, and the least we can hope is that our work will be heard/seen and appreciated.

Also, if you'd like to support Jake, they and Miles Wronkovich have a YouTube series/podcast which you can support on Patreon here.

Thanks for your time! <3

Day 42 (1:15) of rewriting my novel

Today, I wrote Izi's address to the city of Tolftorrijv.

Sidenote: I realized that all my translations for place names are super inconsistent. Tolftorrijv, for example, is named in Ipol, but Ir Nouzonif is named in Classical Zispoel. Zenée is (probably) named in Zeneth? Then Odapir, Atepsi, Ytos, and Itaush are all named in Classical Zispoel, too.

Anyways, one of Izi's character traits is that, despite being relatively shy and stage-scared, he's still very charismatic and popular with most Zenestians. I suspect he'd be a major political force in the chaos that is post-novel canon.

Sidenote 2: I realized that, in post-novel canon (actually, during the duration of Part 5, too, which includes the aftermath of the fall of Ir Nouzonif) Izi doesn't have to relinquish control of the Coalition's armies, due to some weird wording in the Coalition's founding document. Would this potentially lead to a united Zenesto-Odapirian macro-state? Possibly? That's a tale for another day, probably.

There is a forbidden type of magic out there. It isn’t forbidden because it’s inherently evil, or forces you to lose your humanity, or requires human sacrifices - it’s just forbidden because it’s annoying as heck to fight against.

eci.ec.europa.eu

European Citizens' Initiative

Give your support !

EVERYONE(!) I’m blazing this post because at this pace we might barely hit 1,000,000 signatures—or just fall short. PLEASE reblog this post, no matter where you are from, so we can reach as many EU citizens as possible and end this horrible practice!

~WIP Intro~

What's up guys! Recently I started a new WIP and I'm honestly really vibing with it, so I thought I would take some time to do a proper introduction before I started talking about it elsewhere!

Title: Starstruck

Genres: science fiction, fantasy, action-comedy

Progress: just started first draft! (as of July 2024)

Synopsis

The story is written in first person from the perspective of a person called Miffy, a semi-organic being created to hold unimaginable amounts of energy. Via a series of unfortunate events, she is infused with the most powerful energy weapon in the universe, and finds herself at the centre of a galaxy-wide manhunt. Eventually she ends up joining a small crew of travelling adventurers dedicated to helping anyone that needs them, and becomes embroiled in a plot on a nearby planet that might be more personal than it first appears...

I got the first ideas for the story while reading Frankenstein, so there are some similarities with the creator/creation subplots. It also has kind of Treasure Planet-ish vibes, with the big 18th century pirate ship in space and all. It's a bit hard to accurately describe in a synopsis, so if you're interested, setting/characters ect are under the cut, since it's a little long :)

(oh, and. minor warning for blood, though it's only once and in a cartoon style)

Setting

The story has two main settings: the first one is a station that is essentially a space university, except only for like, really smart people. It's the main base of the Fellowship of Gifted Individuals, and the residency of those applying to graduate into the FGI. Our main character Miffy is born here, as she's the creation of one of the students as part of his thesis project.

However, she quickly joins a crew of space explorers and travels to our second location: the planet Oduseus. This planet is relatively backwater, and stays out of the galactic loophole, with somewhat outdated technology... at least, that's what the travel books say. In reality, the crew finds the planet powered by some mysterious, renewable energy, filling the city with beautiful light. But something darker lurks beneath the surface, as citizens keep dying under mysterious circumstances...

The general galaxy is obviously space and therefore draws inspiration from many traditional sci-fi tropes, but I've also tried to include some older elements to it, for example the ship they travel in, and some hints of celestial mythology as well, like the starmaids that swirl around in the vacuum.

Content/themes

In terms of adult content, the WIP is actually pretty tame. There's no sexual (or romantic) content, and minimal swearing. The only thing I would say is there's moderate violence, mostly fantasy (like, throwing magic lasers at each other and stuff) but there are a couple of deaths that might be a bit gruesome.

The main themes of the novel are finding who you are in a world that you don't recognise and choosing to help others even when you don't have to. Other themes dealt with include responsibility, loss, rebellion against an unjust monarchy, found family and unsafe scientific practices.

Cast of Characters

(I've added Picrews to this that I made a while ago, credit goes to @elena-illustration, it's her little guy maker if you're interested)

Miffy

Name: Miffed, nicknamed Miffy

Age: physically? 19. time-wise? 3 days. mentally? unclear.

Pronouns: she/they

Miffy is the main character, and the story is told from her first-person perspective. She was created in a lab by Bikuta, but soon leaves home to explore the galaxy, and satisfy her need to help others. Due to the vast amounts of energy contained within them, they are incredibly powerful, and hunted by many, especially the malicious Dark Eyes Society. She is not particularly emotive, and can be blunt, although once she discovers the concept of lying, she uses this to her full advantage. Her sense of humour is mostly only funny to her.

Strength: 20

Stealth: 6

Intelligence: 12

Wisdom: 8

Social Skills: 5

Fun Facts!!!!!

- she has no intestines

- she chose her own name based on a random word she heard once (because she thought it sounded cool)

- her hobbies include hitting things with a big stick and not being able to read

Cecilia

Name: Cecilia

Age: 15 (it's complicated)

Pronouns: she/her

Cecilia is the youngest member of the crew, and loves to have fun. She smiles a lot, and enjoys making friends, although I must admit, she doesn't fully understand the concept of personal boundaries. Her signature weapons are two silver daggers that she keeps on her at all times.

Strength: 14

Stealth: 17

Intelligence: 9

Wisdom: 9

Social Skills: 7

Fun Facts!!!!!!

- she has a teddy bear named Bookaloooka

- she enjoys stealing her crewmates' clothes (and is VERY disappointed Miffy for only having one outfit)

- whenever she feels sad for no reason, she tells herself that it's because she's been assigned to mourn the death of a stranger

North

Name: North (unclear if this is his legal name)

Age: 25

Pronouns: he/him

North is a member of the crew, and wields incredible mystical powers. He is very serious, and tends to keep himself to himself, preferring to meditate in solitude. He likes playing board games. You get the sense that he's running from something...

Strength: 18

Stealth: 12

Intelligence: 15

Wisdom: 10

Social Skills: 3

Fun Facts!!!!!!

- he's deathly scared of children

- occasionally he will just make the worst pun possible, because he knows that it's good to be funny he just doesn't know how

- coincidentally, said puns are the only things Miffy will laugh at

Reginald

Name: Reginald Bleaks

Age: 38

Pronouns: he/him

Reginald is another member of the crew, and their main source of information. He's very British (despite the fact that Britain doesn't exist), and is knowledgeable about the more criminal aspects of society. He can be pretty salty sometimes, but also cares deeply about his family.

Strength: 15

Stealth: 10

Intelligence: 19

Wisdom: 12

Social Skills: 10

Fun Facts!!!!!!

- his hair is #D2B48C

- Raven and North found him in a dive bar

- the entirety of the FGI hates his guts with a passion. They deeply loathe him. They wish he was pushing up daisies

Raven

Name: Raven Shimmerseat Hortensia Twinkle the Third

Age: 39

Pronouns: she/her

Raven is the unofficial leader of the crew, and the owner of the ship. She's very caring and empathetic, and has a special fondness for collecting strays, opening both her ship and her heart to anyone that wishes to join them. She is, however, from a very wealthy background, and can sometimes struggle to connect with others due to her wildly different upbringing.

Strength: 13

Stealth: 9

Intelligence: 11

Wisdom: 15

Social Skills: 9

Fun Facts!!!!!

- sometimes she and Reginald just sit on a bench throwing shade at passerbys

- she has six younger sisters

- when she was in her early twenties, she released a rap album full of songs about interstellar economics. It won a space grammy. She doesn't like to talk about it

Bikuta

Name: Bikuta Ashikaga

Age: 21

Pronouns: he/him

Bikuta is the man who created Miffy. He's working towards his acceptance into the Fellowship of Gifted Individuals, and gets very upset when Miffy leaves him, since he needs them to complete his thesis project. He is highly unethical and willing to do almost anything for science. He refers to Miffy as his sister, since he claims to be 'too young to be a dad'.

Strength: 4

Stealth: 7

Intelligence: 19

Wisdom: 7

Social Skills: 6

Fun Facts!!!!!!!!

- his hair is actually black, he dyes it midway through the story so that he can match Miffy

- he specialises in semi-organic matter and its potential as a vessel for renewable energy

- he unironically uses uwu when texting

Cobalt

Name: code named Cobalt

Age: 42

Pronouns: he/him

Cobalt is a bounty hunter who spends most of the book trying to kidnap Miffy. He's part of an elite Guild and highly professional, stopping at nothing to complete his assignment. While not exactly the most innocent person in the book, he's not necessarily amoral, and views Miffy as a job rather than an enemy.

Strength: 17

Stealth: 14

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 11

Social Skills: 9

Fun Facts!!!!!!!!!!

- now, dear reader, you may not have noticed this, but he is, surprisingly, a little bit fond of swords

- he has beef with not one but two feral teenagers

- these two teenagers happen to be a) his best friend's son and b) his boss

Aaand that's it! I hope y'all enjoyed :) feel free to ask me any questions, I will take literally any excuse to ramble lmao

Day 27 (36 in base 7) of re-writing my novel

I started Part Three today. Progress still in progress.

Part Three will be particularly hard to write because of how loosey-goosey it is right now, but I'm nailing the plan down. At least the first several thousand words should be planned-out, for now. This part may be very long, like 30-40,000 words.

But it starts off in a particularly dark place. Spoilers ahead, for anyone who cares.

Part Three begins with Iziser reconsidering why he ever trusted Lozerief to begin with, and why she would turn on them. He initially believes its his fault. He also jogs a memory from being back in the only place he ever called "home," and he realizes Lozerief was fighting for him on the sidelines all the while. Why, now, would she go and take his magic?

But Lozerief comes around out of necessity in the end of Part Three. Will I use Lozerief to answer every question? Definitely not, there's still one more Part! And she doesn't have all the answers, only most of them. Including some of the biggest ones that she keeps hidden away from everyone...

Foreshadowing is so fun! Even though I'm still on draft one of my novel, I may list which of these elements I've incorporated so far below.

Lozerief knows stuff she shouldn't. How did she know Izi's dad? If she knew his dad, did she know his mom? (Spoilers, yes, she did, duh.)

Colors. Everywhere. Lozerief wears black, foreshadowing her role as Hero of Earth. Izi wears white, foreshadowing his role as Hero of Cognition and her antithesis. Hota wears teal for their role as Hero of Mind.

I (mostly) know how this will end.

Not a Checkhov's gun but I repeatedly bring up Izi's old home for more reasons than just trauma.

I keep track of what I put in languages that I create so that only I (and the characters who speak those languages) know what they're saying. (I foreshadow the rise of the White Army this way.)

Names with meanings is a big one for Lozerief...

I realize only now that Lozerief is the character who hides the most, and it's amazing she doesn't spoil it all right away. Maybe she's bound by some old agreement...?

subtle ways to include foreshadowing

one character knowing something offhandedly that they shouldn't, isn't addressed until later

the crow rhyme

colours!! esp if like, blue is evil in your world and the mc's best friend is always noted to wear blue...betrayal?

write with the ending in mind

use patterns from tragic past events to warn of the future

keep the characters distracted! run it in the background until the grand reveal

WEATHER.

do some research into Chekhov's gun

mention something that the mc dismisses over and over

KEEP TRACK OF WHAT YOU PUT. don't leave things hanging.

unreliable characters giving information that turn out to be true

flowers and names with meanings

anything with meanings actually

metaphors. if one character describes another as "a real demon" and the other turns out to be the bad guy, you're kind of like...ohhh yeahhh

anyways add anything else in the tags

I keep doubting I can find nicher fandoms but here we are. does anybody want to talk about ZeWei and Laghari Portals

Nine Lines, Nine Tags

A tag game from @authorcoledipalo (that I totally didn’t forget about, sorry!)

The rules: Post nine lines of dialogue, and then tag nine people. (I will tag less because 9 is too many.)

1. “You two [Izi and Hota] are cute,” Tagif chuckled, sitting on the extra bed, undoing her gauntlets.

2. “Hang on, let me get my foreign relations advisor on the phone with you.” I waved for Tagif who leaned in while I held the phone out.

3. “That was the last [syringe]. I shattered the other two.”

4. “You already took away our only chances at saving our world. Why come back to rub it in our faces?”

5. “Goddammit!” She stomped her foot, throwing her fists down. “Do you think I wanted to do that? I’m here to get her back, too.”

6. “No. Mistake is too light a word. Try murder?”

7. “It doesn’t kill magic, it just makes it unusable. Happy?”

8. “She already brainwashed everyone,” I hissed, “what more does she want.”

9. “All I want to do now is help you. All I want to do is retake Ir Nouzonif and stick it in President Sluwfa’s face.”

Tags:

@foxgloves-garden @ominous-feychild @theothersideofthewoods @moonsbetween @oldfashionedidiot +open tag!