Before November ends, a progress update.

I quit this year's nanowrimo 20 days ago, with a total word count of 9260. I'm gonna need at least two more year to reach 50k words, combined, that is.

I like what I've written so far. It's much, much better than last year's; more fresh and imaginative. In fact, I'm considering resuming work on it once I have a break, whenever/if I have a break.

NaNoWriMo. Again. Hmm.

In three days starts a new NaNoWriMo, my second. My first thought is: I only posted 8 entries here since the last one. Lazy bastard!!!!

My second thought, however, is: Will I get to finish my novel this time? My guess is: No.

Unlike last year I'm burdened with several papers due on November, exams, deadlines at work and a dreadful tiredness, probably caused by the former. And writting 1500+ words a day may be easy for you, even maybe for last-year-me, but not for present-day-me. Even if I had the time (no more than 2 hours a day in my experience), which I use for a much needed nap after work and before class nowadays, I would still need to find the inspiration and motivation to do so. "Dude, go see a doctor", some might say. I know what I need to do. I'm just not doing it. (Spoiler: get more sleep, loose weight, drink less coffee)

The other problem is what the hell could I write about? Would it be motivating to finish last year's effort? Hmm. No. Moving along... How about the story of a young man who's given a ring, and must travel to mount Wolfenstein to destroy it? ... That sounds good!

A review of the history behind Adnen

Once upon a time, there was a roleplaying group, gamemastered by yours truly, and set in Middle Earth (using ICE's MERP). I never liked rpg modules (in general), so since the beginning I wrote every adventure from scratch, creating scenarios, peoples, plots, regional politics, etc..

In time, I had enough material to move it from Middle Earth to its own world. It was basically a clone of MERP's Middle Earth, with the same combat resolution, magic system and treatment of non-combat abilities.

Around the same time I discovered GEM, by Neale Davidson, a generic set of rules adaptable to almost any kind of setting, and fell in love. I immediately started porting all my material from MERP to GEM, something my players hated, since we had to give up roleplaying for several months, and when we finally resumed playing, they felt their characters were not as powerfull as before (A side effect of switching from a fantasy RPG to a more 'realistic' set of rules.); However, in the meantime I drew the first maps of what would be Staliope, Nêke (back then Neike-Mih) and the whole continent of Adnen. Also around that same time, The king of Kail was transfomed from your regular tiranical ruler to a Sauron-like Necromancer (A curse in my conwolrd I'm still fighting to eradicate... figuratively speaking), adapting the Abominations suplement for GEM.

And then the group broke. I wasn't particularly sad, not because I didn't like roleplaying with them, but because I had found a new love: Conworlding.


To be continued...

Substratum ad nauseam

A recent discussion over at the ZBB about substratum influences made me revisit the influence past interactions between different tribes would have in the various branches of the PPA language family. When I first thought about it, there were few languages to work with (following the silly rpg idea of 1 race = 1 language), kaleando for the Kala, stalio for Staliope, pekemí for the Pekemí, varzo for the varzum and kail for the, um, Kail; and the influences were very simple: Kaleando (my 'elves tongue', back in the day) would influence Stalio and that was it.

The situation nowadays is so different; Stalio and Pekemí have divided into many dialect part of the PPA family (a new culture, that of the Aescal, was created). Kaleando is now actually a set of 4 languages, part of a dialect continuum. Varzo is still undeveloped and Kail is part of the huge PN language family.

So, how did languages interact? How did all the various dialects became dominant languages? Where there languages that became extinct?

This last question is obvious and important, although hard for a conlanger. Of course there should be extinct languages, but which ones? Arggh!!!!!! I can't kill one of my babies!!!! Can you!? Huh?

Hmm. I have some conlang sketches that are awful enough to be discarded... I might borrow some lexicon into my main conlangs first...

One thing that became clear early on while working on PPA's daughters is that they got separated rather abruptly (few developments in common), so they should not interact for some time. Proto Aescal interacts with Sadori early on (in fact, some PA tribes are conquered by the Sadori), maybe with the Varzum later on. Some other language [Ntaske'ak?] later, and then the fun begins. The Arcian tribes (part of PA) meet the Nimik (PP tribes) and the Pekemí. It will be interesting to see how the various cognates merge, coexist, antagonize.

Of course, first I have to finish the sound changes from PPA to PA....

Babel by Google

Sometimes, when I feel extremely bored, I like to play with Google Translate. I find it so amusing I can type random texts for hours, doing combinations, swtching from english to spanish, back to english, to french, then to german, back to french, back to english, to russian, back to english, etc.

Here's what I came up just a few moments ago:

El primer centauro comprendió que el horno no estaba para bollos; sin embargo, apoyó a otros bípedos para que comiencen una puja por el reconocimiento de sus derechos civiles

>The first centaur realized that the oven was not for rolls, but others supported bípedos to begin a bid for recognition of their civil rights

>>El primer centauro se dieron cuenta de que el horno no estaba para bollos, pero otros bípedos apoya a comenzar una puja por el reconocimiento de sus derechos civiles

>Der erste Zentaur klar, dass der Ofen war nicht für Rollen, aber auch andere, unterstützt bípedos zu beginnen, ein Angebot für die Anerkennung ihrer bürgerlichen Rechte

>Il primo centauro capito che il forno non è stato per rotoli, ma altri sostenuto bípedos per iniziare una offerta per il riconoscimento dei loro diritti civili

>O primeiro centauro percebeu que o forno não era para rolos, mas outros apoiaram bípedos para iniciar um lance para o reconhecimento dos seus direitos civis

>Le premier centaure rendu compte que le four n'était pas pour rouleaux, mais d'autres soutenu bípedos de commencer une offre pour la reconnaissance de leurs droits civils

>>The first centaur found that the oven is not for roles, but other start, supported bípedos an offer for the recognition of their civil rights

>>>El primer centauro encontró que el horno no está para papeles, pero otras comienzan, con el apoyo bípedos una oferta para el reconocimiento de sus derechos civiles

>>>>The first centaur found that the oven is not for paper, but other start, with the support bípedos a bid for recognition of their civil rights

>>>>>El primer centauro encontró que el horno no está para el papel, pero otras comienzan, con el apoyo bípedos una oferta para el reconocimiento de sus derechos civiles


So, basically, I went from this:

El primer centauro comprendió que el horno no estaba para bollos; sin embargo, apoyó a otros bípedos para que comiencen una puja por el reconocimiento de sus derechos civiles

to this:

El primer centauro encontró que el horno no está para el papel, pero otras comienzan, con el apoyo bípedos una oferta para el reconocimiento de sus derechos civiles

Nice, huh?