I have written very little since last Friday. Too much going on. Tonight I thought about logistics, about an escape scene in the first volume, some visits to the capital in volume three, and the battles raging all about the capital now. What is the layout of the walled city? Of the castle within it? Of the outbuildings around it? Where are the gates and what are their names? The main streets?
One must make certain these various scenes are consistent. Every description in the first volume circumscribes descriptions in subsequent tomes. Fortunately, there is one more revision of volumes 1-2 before they go off in hopes of publication. My last chance for coherence!
From this evening's exercise in more specific layouts I learned at last how to say "Her Magnificence, the Black Lion" in my artificial language.
It is, after all, the title many have longed to ascribe to our princess - the title she reluctantly now accepts.
I borrow almost all the roots of my words from European languages, with occasional Armenian and Hebrew thrown in. I amuse myself with the modification of sounds and blending of sources. There is actually a sloppy theory behind why this blend would occur in my parallel world. Göran will know instantly where I borrowed "magnificence."
Sweet dreams, my leaping lioncels!
--the BB
4 comments:
Would I? Prakt may be splendor in various low Germanic languages.
It may be archaic but my English-Swedish dictionary shows Prakt as a Swedish word for magnificence or splendor.
A collector of miscellanea, I may not (and indeed do not) speak or understand the language of my grandparents but I still have a dictionary at hand.
I'm going to stop reading these hints.... I don't want to know until I get there!
Margaret, you may be the only one in danger here. I figure most folks will have forgotten it all by the time the books are in print. It is a way to share my delight in writing and be playful, and spurs me to keep writing. Today all I could do was redraw a map of the capital (not to scale but good enough for me to describe logistics now). Very little rewriting will be necessary, but certainly some.
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