#do i have a conlanging tag yet

[elodieunderglass]

When does Tolkien start entering the public domain?

(In reference to this poll https://www.tumblr.com/elodieunderglass/730451774219190272 where I tagged it supporting my own personal theory and added that when Tolkien enters the public domain WATCH OUT)

Tolkien’s works enter the public domain in the USA, uk and Canada 70 years after his death - so 2043 with open season starting 2044.

If we’re all still around in 20 years’ time, make a note of it! I’ll write you a story with unhinged hobbit family structures, the Shire being a place that dampens magic, and the unauthorised yet strangely canonical adventures of Belladonna Took and the Silmarils. It will be 200,000 words long and written in the correct tone, and I promise to do completely immersive research to colour in the background: every linguistic reference, Anglo-Saxon folkway, Icelandic influence, weirdly deep dives into topics like kinship moiety and subtle mischief that characterises Tolkien’s work. This would be so funny to me.

Everyone will be racing to publish basic porn and games; the d&d franchise which will be world-eating in 20 years will finally get to drop the pretense of “halflings,” Witcher and other franchises ditto; all the fantasy writers who have tugged at the tit for so many generations will finally be able to do it openly, and the films will be constant and abysmal. But we, we alone, we happy few alone and free; we will be giggling together, like playing dolls, over what the people REALLY want: constructing elaborate conlang puns with a 200k textual payoff.

It will be my honor to work on this for no reason at all, and I will ceremoniously give it to you in exchange for £7.99. And we will laugh and laugh and laugh

[sombra-conlangs]

Conlang year 2025 · Day 1 - 4

I decided to try out @quothalinguist's conlang year, it is basically a series of daily prompts that guide you through the process of creating a new language, by the end of the year you will end up with a conlang that is developed enough to participate in relays and lexember, you can find it on quothalinguist.com

It looks like conlang year is mostly geared towards creating languages that are naturalistic and evolved from a proto-language, and the concept I have for this is not going to really fit into that, you'll see why once I start describing it, but I don't imagine that'll be too much of an issue, it's still useful to have a guide for the different aspects of the language I should focus on. I'll try to adapt the prompts to work with my idea and I guess I'll skip the ones that I can't figure out how to adapt.

I'll be combining many prompts together into single posts for convenience, I'll tag these posts as both #Conlang year and #Conlang year 2025 so you can search those in my blog to see them all if you want (once I name the language I will also add it to the tags, but the language doesn't have a name yet).

If you want to see all of the information from these posts compiled into one place I will be adding all of the information about the conlang I create on my website: tekseni.bearblog.dev

Day 1: Set an intention for your language

(warning: this gets a bit heavy, but I try not to make it too dour)

I haven't been feeling great lately, I won't go into details, I'll just say that it can be difficult to manage your emotions when the world seems to be in such a terrible state, living through historical events is not easy.

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

I know there's some people who say you have to be constantly staying informed on every bit of news because if you don't you're a bad person, but that's not a sustainable way to live. It's important for us to keep ourselves sane, if you're going to help others through turbulent times you have to make sure you have your own feet on firm ground. I won't be of much help if I'm having a crisis, so taking care of my own mental health is important, and for many of us that can include a bit of escapism and using art as an outlet, using art as motivation to keep going and enjoy life despite the circumstances. This conlang is my escapism.

With all of that being said, here's my 2 main goals for this conlang:

1: I want this language to make me smile

I want to create something that helps me to find some beauty and hope in the world, I want the choices I make with the language to make me smile, and I want to be able to have fun while working on it, without having to worry too much about how naturalistic it is or anything like that, so ideally I'd also avoid comparing this to other conlangs.

If we compare this to visual art, I'd say this is less like trying to create an awesome painting with perfect perspective, colors and composition, and it's more like me doodling in a sketchbook that is meant primarily for me, but I also want to share it with others in case they find it to be at least mildly interesting or it helps inspire them in some way.

It's not like my other conlangs don't bring me joy, I guess what I'm trying to say is that this time I will try to design the language without worrying about things like naturalism or trying too hard to make my worldbuilding interesting or deep, it's just a canvas where I can throw paint and let myself go wild, trying out things I normally wouldn't, and making choices based on my personal preferences instead of what I think I "should" do, so I guess that makes this is a personal language.

2: This is going to be a surrealistic conlang

I have already decided who the speakers of my language will be, I'll elaborate more in the following prompts but I currently call them "dream angels" because they're basically benevolent beings that exist in the world of dreams, and because of this I want to try my hand at making a surrealistic conlang, @dedalvs wrote an essay on fiat lingua about what such a language might look like, and I keep coming back to it every now and then because I love the concept.

Even before that essay was posted I remember thinking of what conlangs might look like if they were inspired by different art movements, and a surrealistic one fits particularly well into the dream world idea, it will also allow me to fulfill my first goal fairly easily; making something that makes me smile without having to worry about naturalism and letting myself experiment. I've always been drawn to surrealism for one reason or another, not entirely sure why but I know this is something I'm excited to work on.

I'm not expecting this to be the best surrealistic conlang out there, but it doesn't have to be, it just has to be fun for me, and it will work as a learning experience regardless, so if I want to try again at some point I will have a better idea of how to approach it. I'm sure someone out there will make an amazing surrealistic conlang one day and I'll be excited to see it when it happens.

Day 2: Set an intention for sharing your language

Basically the main audience is me, I hope that future me will be able to look at all the different translations, grammar choices and vocabulary I made and feel like it's a fun language that still brings me some joy in some way or another, even if I don't keep working on it for much longer after the conlang year has ended at least I hope it was a positive experience.

I also want to share the language online (on this blog and on my conlang website) mostly because I'm hoping that at least one person is going to look at my conlang and feel inspired, or maybe it will make them smile too, so I'm going to try to describe all the features in a way that is understandable for other conlangers.

Day 3: Determine your speakers and conworld

The basic idea is that there is another plane of existence, one we can't see when we're awake, and the world where dreams exist is connected to this other realm, so when we dream we sometimes come into contact with the ethereal beings that speak this language, and they are kind and loving.

The dream angels usually don't interfere with human affairs too much, but they sometimes help us by making nightmares go away and soothing the people they see, at least while the people are asleep (since they can't interact with us outside of dreams).

They also shift the way they speak to be a bit more familiar to the person they're encountering, so I imagine the phonology of their language might shift a bit from its default form depending on what your native language is, the language would still be unintelligible to you but it would sound a bit like someone speaking your L1 in a weird way (which also means that it will be easier for you to pronounce the language if you are able to speak back at them because you will at least get to use sounds you already know how to pronounce, though you're welcome to pronounce it in its original form).

These beings are very surreal in their appearance, there's probably different types of dream angels but the ones I'll be working with are kind of like a mix of various sea creatures, drifting through space peacefully, building all sorts of things and admiring the nature that exists in their world.

I imagine their settlements are built on floating islands full of all sorts of critters and nature, and their world as a whole is probably a bit weird and doesn't always seem to follow logical rules, in keeping with the kind of things you see in dreams, so they might look a bit like something you'd see in an M.C. Escher artwork, where you're not exactly sure what you're looking at, but it has a certain beauty to it.

Day 4: Describe (or design) your speakers

And finally here's a picture I drew of a prototypical dream angel:

They might look a bit intimidating or scary to you, but I chose to take inspiration mostly from various sea creatures because they help to convey this kind of ethereal and weirdly beautiful aesthetic, when I look at jellyfish I often wonder how those are living beings that exist in our world, they look more like they're inanimate objects drifting in the water and yet they're alive, and they're so mesmerizing and fascinating, like a living nebula.

I imagine different dream angels would have different characteristics, but in general they're basically like some sort of jellyfish with 3 main tentacle-like appendages, many thin tendrils, 6 insect-like arms, 6 little wings (because it makes them look a bit more angelic lol) and they have one eye, but no human has ever seen their eyes because it is always covered by something, in this case it's a butterfly, but whatever is covering their eye it does not prevent them from seeing, this is the dream world after all.

I think there might be other types of dream angels, and they're all able to speak a human-like language because they don't need a mouth to speak, they just telepathically send sounds to other beings, so the speakers of my language will be characterized by being similar to sea creatures, perhaps there's other dream angels that are more similar to other types of animals, or inanimate objects, maybe some are just completely out there and don't even look like anything we're familiar with as humans. By the way if you feel inspired to design your own dream angels go ahead! I think it'd be nice if I was able to inspire creativity in others with my work.

I'm also choosing to use a human-pronounceable phonology because I enjoy pronouncing the words and sentences of my conlangs, but perhaps at some other point I will make a different register of the language that uses different noises as phonemes, maybe sounds of water and nature, or maybe something like one of those really peaceful synths, after all their phonology is not limited by their physiology or even things like logic.

But anyway that's it for now, I feel a bit vulnerable putting myself out there so much, this feels a bit more personal than my other conlangs I've shared, it's not like a regular fantasy worldbuilding project or a fanlang or an a posteriori language, this one is very out there and weird, but again I want to share it in case other people find it interesting, and hey, we need more examples of surrealistic conlangs, so I'm more than happy to contribute to that.

[bygonesigh]

20 Questions for Fanfiction Writers

Thank you for the tag, @songofamazon!! ^_^ I really enjoyed reading through your detailed answers!

Tagging: @biowaredisasterbisexual , @hyperions-light , @ofcrowsanddragons , @basedonconjecture , and @thepalehorsevictoria but really @ anyone!! If you do it, I will read it!

(tried to think of those with multiple published works, if I missed you, I'm sorry!!)

1). How many works do you have on AO3?

At this moment, I have five. Soon to be six since I'll be uploading my Taash drabbles/short fics for Taash week :)

2). What's your total AO3 word count?

263,219!

3). What are your top five fics by kudos?

Since I only have five fics, I'll be listing the first one only.

An Examination, of Sorts — Rated E; Female Rook/Emmrich Volkarin; 148 kudos; 16,848 words.

Honestly, it's just smut, haha. If anyone clicks, please heed the tags (dubious consent).

4). What fandoms do you write for?

Currently, just Dragon Age. There are several fandoms I'd like to write for, though! I just haven't gotten around to those ideas in my mind, yet.

5). Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Of course!! :) I value all comments I get! I know how sometimes it can be nerve wracking to make one.

6). What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

In my only longfic, Var Abelas, I gave it two endings (good or bad). The 'bad' ending involves Lavellan dying and Solas tearing the Veil.

7). What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I'd probably say An Examination, of Sorts. Lich Emmrich and Rook are together, YAY!

8). Do you get hate on fics?

Not that I know of? And I hope it stays that way...haha ^^;;

9). Do you write smut?

Yes! Though it took me a bit to get there. I'm naturally a very nervous person, and just the thought of writing smut made me, well, nervous lol. But I pushed through! And now..*glances at AO3 page*...I may have opened the flood gates. Now, if I write it well? That's another question, lmao.

10). Do you write crossovers?

Not at this moment, but I would be open to writing a few, sure. Though only in adjacent genres, like a Dragon Age and Baldur's Gate 3 crossover.

11). Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of!

12). Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope, haha.

13). Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

No, but I would be open to it!

14). What’s your all-time favorite ship?

This is an evil question! I have so, so, so many ships that I love to read though I haven't written for them. UGH, I can't choose one!!!!! (lol it's been like ten minutes and I'm still thinking)

Okay, though I haven't written for it at all—

V/Johnny SIlverhand from Cyberpunk 2077. It's not 'official', but I absolutely love this pairing. I'm a huge sucker for major angst and tragedy, and V/Johnny SIlverhand is the perfect tragedy :')

15). What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

If it is published, I will finish it. It may take months or years, but I'll finish it (I am very stubborn).

16). What are your writing strengths?

Hmm... I'm not really sure? I think I can write banter/dialogue well.

17). What are your writing weaknesses?

I make a lot of typos when writing, and I do not easily catch them. I often skip words when writing and my brain will fill them in, making it harder for me to see (text to speech helps a little).

18). Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

Do it, wooo!! I personally italicize the other language if I use it, conlang or not. Though in my opinion, there should be a balance between the other language and the primary one you're writing in.

19). First fandom you wrote for?

This is going into the childhood trenches, here. Hmm...as a child I wrote Sailor Moon fanfic but didn't really "publish" it. It was more a series of drabbles, as I was very young and didn't know how to write a story.

20). Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

Hmm... This is difficult. I don't think I can choose a fic, as with all of them I have conflicting emotions. I have more favorite moments in each, if that makes sense. For example, I'm ambivalent to chapters 1/2 in An Examination, of Sorts, but I absolutely love chapter 3!

[lamortwrites]

20 writer questions!

Tagged by @mashamorevvna and @sybaritick , ty both <3

I think most people have done this by now but in case you haven't and would like to, I'll tag @kawareo @chronurgy @spellmage @dandelion-bride @zigraves @popiellart @fourraccoonsinacoat <3

How many works do you have on ao3?

Twelve!

What’s your total ao3 word count?

62,565. A third of that is just one fic lol

What are your top five fics by kudos?

you get me closer to god (E, durgetash, 4k, necrophilia)

lose the halo, don't need to resist (E, durgetash, 7k, edging/bondage)

love you to death (E, durgetash, 1.7k, obligatory durgetash desk sex fic)

wear you like a stain (E, durgetash, 1.7k, hand jobs/frottage)

am i too lost to be saved? (E, crisis of faith with a side of durgetash, 5.8k, the tadpoling™)

I don't think kudos are a good indicator of what's good lol two of these I really don't like and one I consider deleting p regularly. But stats are stats ig

What fandoms do you write for?

In terms of what's posted, just bg3 rn. But if I ever make it out of my writing slump I have stuff in drafts for resident evil, the draw distance new york trilogy (though I haven't played reckoning yet...), bg1/2, arcane, and rogue trader :)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do!!! Eventually...I'm p bad at responding in a timely manner bc I get nervous about responding and overthink it and then it's been four months and now I feel even worse for not replying but yeah the goal is to respond to all comments even if it sometimes takes way longer than it reasonably should

What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Mmm I guess technically the tadpoling one linked above. But. That's the one I hate the most I cannot in good conscience recommend it. Instead I would suggest Gale orb body horror (1.2k) or durge cannibalism nightmare (1.1k) which I think both qualify for angsty

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

What is this ""happy"" you speak of...? I would say probably durgetash body worship (1k) but I don't tend to write happy fics haha

Do you get hate on fics?

Not yet! There's still time tho

Do you write smut?

I certainly try

Do you write crossovers?

I haven't done before but I'm not opposed to the idea

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge! Most of my fics are archive locked at this point anyway and I don't really think there's anything there anyone would want to steal in the first place

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope, definitely not popular enough for that

Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

A fanfic, no. I used to do a lot of collaborative writing of original stuff with friends a few years ago, though, and the worldbuilding for king of the ninth world was v collaborative with @sybaritick , so that half counts I think

What’s your all time favourite ship?

All time is a hard one. Silverflint? Kiradax? Sarevok/Tamoko? GW/Dorn? Mary Keay/Gertrude Robinson? Nines Rodriguez/me? Claire Redfield/Jill Valentine? Billy Coen/Carlos Oliveira? (That one's fully crack it's not real I made it up but it's real To Me.) Rn it's durgetash still but that doesn't have the longevity to count as an all timer yet I don't think. Give it a couple more years

What’s the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Bloodborne au my beloved...longfics are so scary how does anyone do this

What are your writing strengths?

Worldbuilding is the main one I think. Not so useful for canon fic but great for sketching out AUs!

What are your writing weaknesses?

Description. Using characters' names instead of overrelying on pronouns. Actually finishing things lol

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

Nuance button. It's strange and a bit pretentious but as long as it's not overdone I don't hate it. Works better for conlangs then real world languages imo, but a good enough writer can make me enjoy anything

First fandom you wrote for?

I don't know if there's a fandom for it but the first fanfic I ever wrote was for a children's book series called rainbow magic. It was all about fairies -- each series had a theme (e.g. colours, genres of music, types of weather) and each book followed a fairy whose powers related to an aspect of that theme (e.g., my favourite as a kid was Storm the lightning fairy, one of the weather books). An incredibly easy format to take and write fic of, especially when you're...seven? Eight? Somewhere around that age I think

The first fandom I posted fic for...slightly embarrassing, but it was for mcr's danger days universe lol

Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

I kind of hate all my writing rn 😅 I think lose the halo is an all timer for me but I've improved enough since writing it that reading it feels really bad lol. I'll give it to merfolk au since that's my most recent and therefore theoretically my best writing so far. And I spent way too long writing it, so the world is permanently lodged in my brain

[max1461]

If tumblr goes down I'm gonna fuckin miss this place. But I don't want to get ahead of myself, that's not happening yet. By the way is there a way to back up the non-public parts of my blog, such as likes and messages and so on? I'd like to just back up the entire thing.

Oh and by the way I'm gonna be starting a "real" blog at some point, which is something I've wanted to do since before I started my tumblr. I'm probably gonna start three, actually: one for my research, one for my conlangs, and one for my misc. opinions which you might e.g. see in my #society or #navel gazing tags. I'll probably have much higher standards for posting on these things that I do here, and post more rarely, but I'll keep posting.

Not sure where I'm gonna make my penisposts though. That's a tough one.

[dukeoftheblackstar]

got any plo koon fic recs? looking for some new stuff that's good. one shots and long fics welcome! I'll take anything i can get

Shamelessly promoting my own:

Dom!Plo ask by yours truly, submitted by the lovely @mild-disorganization

Some tired dad!Plo headcanons maybe?

And for some that I have read and adored:

Plo Koon Masterlist by @my-head-is-an-animal (Mixed)

Thigh Kink with Plo by @saradika (NSFW)

Not a fic, but hella spice by @saradika (SFW & NSFW)

Friendship - Plo Koon & Wolffe by @wild-karrde (SFW)

PloKit Art (their entire blog) by @uiro-mgmg1 (NSFW - mostly art)

SFW & NSFW Alphabets for Plo by @samspenandsword

My favorite ♥:

Sovereign (PloKit, idk if you're into it, but I am) by @tits-fisto (NSFW but very wholesome)

The Tiniest Councilor by Quiet_Shadow (SFW)

Name and Soul by @decepticonsensual (SFW)

Haven't read but is on queue when I have the mood and will power to actually read and not thirst for our Kel Dor Emperor ♥

of claws and tusks by my bestiecakes ♥ @saengak <- Apparently, it's hella angsty and I reserve the angst for weekend when I'm not out here thirsting for this King.

in deditionem by my bestiecakes ♥ @saengak <- I've seen them write ♥, it makes me squeeeeeeee ♥

Helium by @cynderiaopus who also made my current bomb AF pfp of Plo steepling ♥

Other materials and interesting read:

@exosorcery has very interesting comics and posts about Kel Dors in general. Here's one specific of Plo Koon:

A few faves from them:

@veny-many for their AUs and Plo Koon & Wolfpack Art (also includes others) <- Presenting you the bebbis ♥

My faves:

The entire post AU 66 where Plo lives is a quintessential to any post AU 66 imho because I'm heavily invested in this and I'm about to cry because I need to organize my bookmarks (and update this) so I can give you the proper start to fin link.

I'd post more from @veny-many and @exosorcery, but if you spend a good 10 minutes scrolling, you'll be there forever. Quality art content!

You may also want to check World building and ConLang Kel Dor study, apart from their OC x Plo Koon art. Big thanks for this neat document by @plokoonsdisapprovingeyebrows

[[ @plokoonsdisapprovingeyebrows I hope it's okay to share. If not, I can take it down ♥ ]]

So far just these at the top of my head. Thank you for the Plo-related ask :D! I enjoyed sifting through my bookmarks ♥

Don't forget to give love and reblog, comment, follow these amazing people who do so much for the Plo Koon, Dorin, Kel Dor tags ♥

[starflungwaddledee]

hii!! i just wanna say your comic and starspeak lore are SO cool omg!! the way you incorporate the essence of the starfolk culture into their language is incredibly creative and very fitting auauagahsahdbsnsnn <3

i'm pretty interested in all the grammar of the language!! i think you mentioned that there's a question particle that kind of works like mandarin chinese, do other final particles exist? little tone indicators in the language seems like it would help mutual understanding between a bunch of mystical star-beings :0

also, if it's been developed yet, how do verbs work in this? granted, i don't know a lot about greek/latin languages or if you're basing the grammar off of them too, but does it lean more towards romance language's crazy conjugations, or a simpler "subject verb noun" structure?

sorry if this is a lot haha i know the language is still a wip, but it's such a cool concept! i think languages are really interesting and the way you incorporate it into kirby is so mmbdbbrnzmxfh✨✨

alright, this one took me a very long time to get to (because i knew it would be long and i've been working on it on and off for a while) and i'm so sorry! thank you so much for your patience veve! and it's been a little while since we've had a starspeak post so let's go!

(i will preface by saying again that the language is still very much a wip which i could change at any time, and that i'm no trained specialist; i'm just doing this for fun and there's a high chance i fully have no clue what i'm talking about 😅)

❓ i'll start with the easiest one of these and go for the question particle!

i think that Celestials are not often doubtful or questioning things, but when they do the particle is an opener rather than a sentence-final (such as ma (嗎/吗) in mandarin chinese). it otherwise works extremely similarly in that it is tagged on to turn a sentence into a question.

so the most common starspeak question particle is tc, almost a mouth sound than a word. the letters are a combination not often used elsewhere in their speech patterns, which i like to think also wraps back around to them being fairly certain of most things they open their mouths to say.

tc is predominantly used when seeking clarification about someone else's experiences, which is probably one of the more frequent times they wouldn't know something in (self-presumed) absolution.

combining it with some other things we've learned; épios (see) and eu (you) we can ask someone what they're seeing presently, where the target of the speaker (eu) is in active possession of the seeing action and vl is an active tense:

"tc vlépios eu?" // "(what's) seen (by) you?" // "what do you see?"

unfortunately in the conlangs current state, moving things around even a little bit throws out the meaning of sentences a lot, which is something i could probably iron out more with significantly more time 😅 "tc eu vlépios?" for example would be closer to "you're seen?" and "tc vlépios-eu?" would probably be like.. "what sight possesses you?", which is... still kind of the same i suppose but it's just an unnecessarily intense way to say it 😂

🥰 okay! question particle done and it was not actually the easiest but anyway; onto the personaliser! "ki".

i'm not 100% sure if this sort of thing exists in other languages or what it might be called to begin researching, but it's ostensibly a way to turn an external item or concept into something internal or individualised

asté (star/s) for instance is a very overused word in their language, understandably. you can use it to refer to gaseous bodies, other Celestials, other non-Celestial beings, or even a specific individual rank within a relationship system. ei asté applies an amount of ownership over the star/s, but still does not make them an individual in their own right. you would most likely use this if you happened to be carting around an actual giant flaming ball of gas

ei astéki however immediately makes the star something more personal, a little soul-deep. maybe it's a warm light inside you, or maybe it's the beating heart of another living being. dropping the 'ei' you could use this as a nickname, though it'd be kind of like calling someone 'person'.

"ei astéki skotei koris eu" // "my stars dimmed lacking you" // functionally just a really big ham "i missed you"

🤏 alright rolling on, last one: a diminutive. this one's easier i think; maybe i ought have started here. oh well!

like it says on the tin, this is to make things small and/or cute! the particle is ró and it is usually tacked on at or towards the end of a word. much like in english i think this is usually done affectionately. though it could be done a little pettily or rudely, being small in size is significantly less of a negatively-judged-concept by Celestials than being low in brightness.

here's some examples, probably the easiest way to go about this one! all of these are actively affectionate, not unlike a pet name?

moiydísró - (small) cheeky one astéróki - small star (personaliser; makes this a clear nickname) ei Vaýtitaró - my little gravity

💬 and then to wrap up, this last part about verbs and conjugations!

answering this one with complete confidence would require that i were a bit better at this and had it more fixed and figured out, but i'll do my best!! i'm not really basing the grammar off any one language in particular (I only use translations to form a rough sound/word and go from there), just kind of what feels like the right sort of vibe.

because i was just doing this for myself and for fun i didn't start out with any rules, just rolled with what i enjoyed! if you were doing conlang more seriously i think it would help to set those rules up at the outset 😅

in its present state, my starspeak seems to me to be a topic prominent language with less individual conjugations and more modifiers; including significant reliance on sentence order and word placement

so instead of having many different words for see (seen, saw, to see) it's more about the placement, word combinations, and other modifiers;

ei épios - me see (a request, often used in place of 'wake up') vlépios ei - seeing by me (active tense added by vl but it's not strictly necessary) eu épios - you see (the speaker sees the target) épios-koris eu - without seeing by you (sight possesses a term for "lack", so the sight itself is lacking. "you don't see clearly", ostensibly.) épios ei prioto - seeing by me before (i saw it earlier)

this is sort of a necessity because right now the overall variety of words is limited; both by the earliness of its development and also because i think that this is a species that might not have needed a lot of words.

maybe they moved the same few hundred words around and minced them up in new ways rather than making lots of new ones. maybe they might have communicated through body language as much as with words (despite how much galacta knight clearly loves the sound of his own voice) or maybe i'll change my mind and they'll be a talkative bunch and we'll have dozens of new words soon 😂

anyway, i hope this is a ~fun and cool answer~ that you will enjoy despite its incredible lateness and sprawling length!! thank you so so much for asking me about the language; as you can tell i dearly love to talk about it despite its nebulousness, and i'm sorry it took me so long to get this out!

[quothalinguist]

I've been so happy to see people sharing their Conlang Year work (and thank you to all who are tagging me in it so I can more easily follow your journey!). I haven't managed to post my updates for my own Conlang Year work on my website quite yet, but I have been doing the prompts for my current language-in-progress, which is a language for Nisse speakers (i.e. gnome-like speakers). I decided to have some fun with how I am sharing the sound system and created this NisseLang drawing to showcase the sound inventory in the proto-language.

Have a conlang day!

[olderthannetfic]

Re: https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/738859016693874688/why-do-some-popular-things-have-such-small & the person who replied to it in Another ask about Slay The Princess --

This answer was a facinating read as someone currently in the James Cameron's Avatar fan space -- i was only 8/9 when the first movie came out, and wasnt very into fandom Yet, but around the early 2010's when i Did get into it and went looking, there was almost Nothing to be found (and the few that Did exist were either short character studies written by some of the smartest people on the planet or troll fics), less than a 1,000 Total in the media tag on ao3 iirc?? And i remember feeling Fine with that, for the exact readon you both mentioned -- the first Avatar is a very well rounded film, no matter what everyone cares to say about it. It was Written to be a stand alone film, and bc JC is good at what he does, that Worked, and there truly wasnt much to write fic about besides Extreme au shenanigans or a few theoretic between-scenes, you know the type.

Then the second movie came out Last year and then the Game came out THIS and the fandom has just. Exploded. It's almost funny because so many of the younger fans, who were in it for x readering with the Sully kids, keep complaining about how "the fandom is dying 😭😭" in the tags the past few months and i just have to stare at it like pal just because we're not still shooting metaphorical fireworks about how much we loved the sequel and game doesnt mean we've all Moved On 😩 Im still Diligently mpregging the resurrected villain in my new longform crack fic thats probably going to be finished around the time the 5th movie comes out. Wee child you must Power through with us. Increase Your Fandom Stamina 💪😎🏃‍♂️!!!

But yeah it's just been Extremely interesting seeing how drastically things have changed, going from that completed, hard-to-write Wholeness from how compact the first film was vs the Flood of worldbuilding and lore and new characters we've been given (and have yet to Get, there may be some evil f/f fics beyond the horizon...) and how much the Sequel has contributed in the process of making Avatar easier to enjoy Casually, rather than as a "stereotypical", "extreme" strawman'd Avatar fan of yor (our elders who i respect most vehemently, for their help in understanding and writing the Na'vi conlang in all our fics 💪❤).

Even though the canon movies have a lot of problems, ive been luckiy enough to see the Fandom do what its always done best -- ive met wonderful people and Incredible artists while the life experience + background knowledge who can flesh out the areas of the concept that JamCam has yet to delve into, for whatever reasons he claims to have, and ive And others have felt moved enough by it all to start writing our Own incredibly self indulgent and sincere stories, within the same framework! Bc good lord it really is a sandbox. The moment you start diving into all the Implications of Avatar's universe, how the RDA is run, how Eywa works, etc etc etc.... jesus. ive lost so many hours of sleep reading real academic papers on Actual xenobiology (yes its a real thing, it both is And isnt what you think it is) for these movies, its nuts.

So some days like Now i just have to sit here like. Wow. We built this house And made it a home. and its Awesome. these asks made me want to gush about it 🥰 thats all! tysm!! Love this blog SO much, keep up the great work n have an awesome day everyone!!!

--

[i-i-e]

new pinned for forty-five squared

we're still not acclimated to tumblr (or anywhere, really) as of yet but a new pinned is overdue. any string matched by /yan|nia(s{1,3}u)?/ will work as a name for this system. our handle works too, if you want to @ us. any set of pronouns will do, we do not care.

we live in the states, eastern timezone. we have not been able to draw all that much lately. this is just another place for random thoughts and occasional drawings.

there are a total of eight distinct members in this system, but for the most part only the first four will talk here. we'll try our best to keep consistent tags, though we haven't defined them yet.

ayra: the original, the main host of the system irl.

euio/euyo/ewi: the first created member.. plushie shapeshifter.

ria: a spontanoeous member, fluffy sheep..

zata: another created.. octive based on a snowpix but no longer associated with it.. has a computer in her starboard eye, can sometimes traverse between the digital and physical worlds..

resa: 403 Forbidden

swita: kijetesantakalu that keeps us calm when stressed. but only takes control when he feels like it..

aru: literally just spinda, fictive we think is the word..

me. the one typing this. i don't have nor want a name. some ferret/marten thing.

sometimes we draw or write or make webpages.. sometimes we mess with our conlang or play games, we're kinda all over the place. preferred operating system is linux.

aroace

[yesistolethisurl]

Writer questions

thank you for the tag, @say-lene (and also sorry i'm a few days late, oops).

I'm not certain whose's been tagged with this one already, so no-pressure tags for @black-rose4, @threeofswrds, & @mashamorevvna

How many works do you have on ao3?

Six!

What’s your total ao3 word count?

30,607 words

What are your top five fics by kudos?

Beachside Introductions

Brocade, Shredded

Pursuit

Some Friendly Faces

Waiting

What fandoms do you write for?

Baldur's Gate 3, Dragon Age, and maybe Pillars of Eternity one day?

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! I love talking to people that leave comments, and I really appreciate them taking the time to do so!

What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

It might be Waiting, since the POV character of the fic is trying to figure out whether or not she should mourn for a friend she has no idea is alive or not.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Also Waiting, as the friend (@smoreofbabylon's Beryl) is very much alive!

Do you get hate on fics?

Not yet, thankfully.

Do you write smut?

Also not yet, I'm too much of a chicken.

Do you write crossovers?

Nope!

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Also also not yet.

Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Also³ not yet.

What’s your all time favourite ship?

I don't know if I have a fav, but Wrightworth is certainly the oldest.

What’s the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

*looks over shoulder* um... maybe one out of 34 would be the better goal to aim for?

What are your writing strengths?

Environmental description and mood setting, I think.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Interiority. I've gotten better at mimicking character voice and intuiting what they want out of a situation, but I think I can improve on having the audience sit with a given character on what they feel.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

I would want to consult with someone with someone who knew more than me about it first. If it's a ConLang, you know that wiki page is going to side-by-side the entire time I'm writing.

First fandom you wrote for?

Myst (1993).

Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

Right now? Some Friendly Faces

[tangentburd]

(◐｡◐) -{ People I'd like to know better!

~ thanks to @aifastic for the tag! [ X ]

〜〜〜

❖ Last song: Crescent Cutlass (2019) – Nishikawa Takanori 西川貴教 — coworker: so what kind of music do you usually like to listen to? me: eh, anything with a high bpm so i can work/draw faster haha coworker: oh really! any examples? me:

❖ Last book: Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch (2019) — i 200% relate to this particular section on the unspoken conventions of keysmashing

❖ Last movie: Infernal Affairs 《無間道》 (2002) — obligatory rewatch after 20+ years because triads, spies and much better acting (and better-looking actors) than i remembered. i believe in Andy Lau supremacy thank you

❖ Last show: Mononoke 《モノノ怪》 (2006) — how the hell did i procrastinate on this one for SO LONG. the mystery stories and Japanese folklore themes and narrative style are great enough (the "Umibozu" arc especially made me wonder), but the art style is phenomenal and dazzling and terrifying all at once. recommended if you're fine with bright colours, spirits/monsters and tension/horror.

❖ Last thing I googled: "pentas propagation" — confession: i plant more than i art.

❖ Last activity: Trip planning and miscellaneous photoshoppery. — currently helping out the super talented and entertaining folks over at @hauntingthenarrativepod with some episode covers for their L&Co. podcast. i also believe in ghostie supremacy

❖ Favourite colour: {CadetBlue} — aka somewhere around #5f9ea0 because i can't decide between blue and green

❖ Sweet / savoury / spicy: Savoury hands down (optional: any humane amount of spice) — at a stage in life now where even a tiny taste of sugar makes me feel awful, which i'm gonna see as a good thing. also yes that excludes mala FIGHT ME

❖ Current obsessions: Conlangs, codes, ciphers. Riso art. Mystery stories. The life cycle of Lepidoptera. How Not to Kill Every Single Cutting I Take From my Plants. — excluding TF2 because that's obviously more forever than current. also i want to say sorry to my pentas :(

❖ Looking forward to: An upcoming overseas trip — no i haven't packed a thing yet. but i'll be bringing along my tiny plastic buddy and his buddy again yay

〜〜〜

I usually don't tag anyone else for these, but given the topic I'll tag @gonturan0 (no obligations as always).

Have fun and thanks for reading! \o/

[lucythornwalter]

Writer Interview!

I was tagged by @wisteria-lodge (thank you!)

I’m an original fiction writer, so I’m focusing on the questions that apply to that - my AO3 stats and some of the questions about translation/theft don’t really apply here. That being said, let’s dig in -

Do you respond to comments? Yes! I love comments on my work. That’s one of the reasons I’m publishing as a web fiction project. I’d love to hear from people!

What's the story you've written with the angstiest ending? It honestly depends on your definition of angstiest. Right now, I’m working on Erinyes, which is a story about magical detectives who work for a corrupt oligarchy and who are desperately trying to solve the murder of a pair of recently-married twentysomethings and their newborn daughter. That… doesn’t exactly have a happy ending, even though it serves as a prequel to my in-progress novel. But a lot of the angst comes from the fact that this is a prequel, and so Alecto and Vicia and Adelaide (and Vigna and Frances) do ultimately fail to bring the murderer to justice because the justice comes later in the story. My first ever novel from years ago, though, ended with the love interest getting stabbed in the chest, so I’ve always had a thing for unhappy or bittersweet endings.

What's the story you've written with the happiest ending? Probably a short story adapting part of The Odyssey, specifically focusing on Penelope’s perspective around Odysseus’s return.

Do you write crossovers? This is a fic question but I want to answer it because I would love to write a crossover between my stories and the book series that originally inspired them. Everyone who got a genderbend to become a lesbian would be completely baffled, but also, [Redacted] and Wilhelmina Weiss would get along like a house on fire, and I need that in my life. It won’t ever happen for various reasons, at least not until I’m done with these books, but a girl can dream.

Have you ever received hate? Once, when I blazed an early post letting people know I’m writing! Someone said it sounded formulaic.

Do you write smut? Yes. I haven’t had the opportunity with this project yet, though Virgo and Peri were simmering and waiting for sex all through Grocery Shopping is a Dangerous Job. The first piece I write in this series that will have smut will probably either be Astraea and Ronan having gothic romance premarital sex in The Nearly-Royal Line of Ball or Renwyrma and Wilhelmina hooking up in The Summer of 1871.

What's a wip that you want to finish but don't think you ever will? I have an in-progress Les Mis adaptation called The Light of the Future about Charlotte “Charles” Feuilly, crossdressing butch lesbian. It writes like the process of eating fudge, and it would require me to be as familiar with Paris as a local from the late 1820s, and so I kind of chip away at it but don’t make it a priority.

What are your writing strengths? I think I handle plotting really well. I’m an ideas woman, I can come up with fantastic ways to tie vivid scenes and concepts together. I’m good at dialogue too, I think, maybe too good.

What are your writing weaknesses? Action scenes. Action scenes action scenes action scenes. I am so much worse at action scenes than I want to be. I’m also good at writing romance in established relationships but bad at making it feel like it starts from nothing, or at least I feel that way, though I’m going to have to get good at it because I have to get Renwyrma/Wilhelmina, Astraea/Ronan, and Andromache/Henry canon and established so people give a shit.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages? I speak Spanish fluently and I’m reasonably familiar with French, and I can put together sentences in Japanese and a few conlangs, and know a native speaker of Italian and several people who are decently familiar with Greek and Latin - I’m very comfortable with it. In some of my past fanfic I put completely untranslated conlang phrases and words into my dialogue and let my readers sink or swim.

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to? Another fic question, but I can’t resist it. I really want to write something truly canon-compliant Holmes/Watson that adheres to my personal theories about their relationship timeline, but I don’t think people would like it because it would deal so heavily with comphet. (I ship them but it’s complicated. I would love to talk about this.)

Tagging: @monstrousgourmandizingcats, anybody else who wants to join in!

[plokoonsdisapprovingeyebrows]

@dukeoftheblackstar - new post so we don't blow up exosorcery's notifications XD I don't have a taglist but most of my kel dor stuff is tagged with kel dor headcanons or kel dor conlang on my blog - some posts show up in both tags bc they have elements of both. I've got a shitload more bouncing around in my brain but I haven't gotten around to putting much on tumblr yet skhdfkshj

Also yes, I'm on board with carbonated drinks. Surprisingly enough, I have that as my HC too. I'm exploring liquor and variety of food that do well with Dorin gas which may play a part in their digestive. But I'll need someone more into chem than me to get that accurate.

[handshake meme] yeah i don't have nearly the chem knowledge to know if any of my headcanons for their biology are at all plausible - most of mine kinda started off as jokes XDD

I do have thoughts on kel dor treats tho! :D The main one I've come up with is called koyaalo, which means 'armored snail' - it's a thick-shelled bite-sized mollusc found in temperate regions of Dorin and it tastes delicious when pickled in noterazu (cooking wine, unfortunately explosive offworld). Something like a cross between nice crispy bacon and maple syrup. I like to think of it as a seasonal harvest delicacy, hard to farm so carefully managed for sustainability.

Of course, it is ARMORED smail, so you have to crack it open to get at the goods. Non-kel dor can do this with aid of a nutcracker; kel dor just go chomp. XD I hc that they have some heavy-duty molars for cracking open bones &such - beak and tusks for fine manipulation and nibbling, molars for gnawing.

there's also ttantta, which I'm imagining as sort of a sauce/pate-like thing that you can dip stuff into or just eat straight out of the jar if ur feeling decadent. It's a savory thing, sort of cheesy, but I think there's like a million regional variants with all sorts of additional seasonings and everyone argues about the best way to eat it lmao.

[cavka]

20 Questions for Writers

i was tagged by the ever lovely @oakashandwillow

1. How many works do you have on AO3? uh... are we counting works i've orphaned over the years? if not, 16 over two accounts.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 41,118

3. What fandoms do you write for? currently, it's all star wars all the time, though there's probably going to be a one piece fic out of me soon. other fandoms i've written for include dragon age, naruto, and stranger things.

the rest of the ?s are under a cut to save space!!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

(i promise you that) we're marching on | naruto fic, sakura-centric gen

the long and short of it | witcher fic, geralt/eskel, bonus fiberarts

the unexpected series | stranger things fic, steddie, rule 63!steve with surprise baby

quid pro quo | star wars: the clone wars fic, rex/echo, smut

the will to carry on | stranger things fic, abandoned wip, rule 63!steve

5. Do you respond to comments? i try to! i don't always have the spoons for it tho

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? surprisingly, it's not the fic that's all about grief and recovery. it's a star wars drabble, changing of the guard.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? the joke answer is quid pro quo. (because it's smut.) but most of my endings tend to be content or hopeful if not happy, so this is hard to quantify for me.

8. Do you get hate on fics? not as of yet, but given i write cloneshipping i'm honestly just bracing for it to happen at some point

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? indeed i do. i currently only have one smut thing uploaded, so idk if i can say anything for certain about trends, but given my wips... emotional sex and smut as character studies seem to be my thing.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? nope. not really my thing.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? nope! thankfully, i've heard horror stories

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? i think one that no longer exists was once translated. (i had a sad habit of deleting or orphaning things i was less than pleased with when i was younger. i know better now.)

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? ahaha yes but none of it i'm going to mention by name. all my co-written fic happened in middle school with IRL friends.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? i'm a filthy multishipper this question is like asking me which of my hairs i like best

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? oh man. definitely the will to carry on and the couple of stranger things wips in my wip file. not that i don't love the stories anymore, but certain parts of the fandom annoyed me right out of any inspiration or desire to touch anything related to said fandom with a twelve foot pole.

16. What are your writing strengths? i like to think i'm good with characterization and dialogue.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? writing anything longer than 3k words max lmao though that has been improving lately and i have high hopes for the sev fic getting finished

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? there... there is a whole can of worms here that this question opens for me and i don't think anyone wants my ramble about dialogue, other languages, conlangs, dialects, and the effects of having been in anime fandom for so long so. this is not getting answered other than with a shrug

(unless someone wants the ramble in which case i will happily oblige)

19. First fandom you wrote for? teen titans cartoon when i was a wee thing. it was a self-insert fic that was less than a page in ms word, single spaced :')

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? this is such a cop-out answer but i genuinely don't think i can pick a favorite. maybe ordinal, just because i'm still super proud of having finished it and what i did with the characterization at missing scenes? but augh i want to put more here too

i'm tagging @bisexualdinahlance, @bilbosmom-belladonna, @cacodaemonia, aaaaand @cabezadeperro but no pressure if you're not game :> and if anyone wants to do it but isn't tagged /points to eyes /points to u

[texasdreamer01]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Self-tagging from @ygodmyy20! 👋

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

80!

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?

239,131.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently Stargate Atlantis, but I'm considering the Hobbit fandom again due to some fandom events.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Psychopomp (Space Australians fandom, technically origfic) Twixt Primroses and Hawthorns (Hobbit fandom) All we are, and all we have�� (Star Wars TCW / Prequel fandom) Ādfȳr (Hobbit fandom) Nice Manners for a Thief (Hobbit fandom)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I do my best, even if it's just to say thank you. I've gotten some puzzling comments before, so I haven't gotten to them yet.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Uhhhhhhhhhh I guess it depends on the fandom? I write angst a lot, anyway, so it's difficult to tell which is the most angstiest story. Maybe The Serenity Protocol, for the Star Wars fandom?

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

In terms of most satisfying resolution, maybe Svabhāva from YGO DM.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I had this one guy who left comments on every single fic on FFN below a thousand words saying "This is not a drabble.", which I suppose counts?

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yep! According to my commenters, "hot".

10. Do you write crossovers?

Yyyyy-no? I have one drafted but it's not even remotely finished.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Once! And it was even from someone commenting on my fic! They did a terrible job filing off the serial numbers for it, too.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I've translated my own fics as practice, but never by anyone else.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Accidentally, yes.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I have a multitude of ships because of different dynamics and fandoms, so honestly I couldn't pick between them?

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Kintsugi, in the Sherlock fandom. I had to take a break from it and don't know if I'll ever be able to re-dedicate the time it needs.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Verbiage. I used to write a lot of poetry before doing long-form, so the word choices carried over.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Writing while tired or otherwise preoccupied, mostly because I write to think out an idea rather than to attract attention, so I'm not terribly concerned with quality until I re-read it.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Pretty fun for some fandoms! It gets frustrating with some conlangs that are obviously under-developed, or if it's a fandom that's typically English-only and you have characters that know other languages but for some reason never use them.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Danny Phantom.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Ehhh. I can definitely say I've improved with my writing, but I've never gotten into the habit of genuinely liking my work because I know it could be better.

No pressure tags: @spurious, @pandora15, and anyone else that wants to do it!