Poison Is Not Very Relevant In Meiste But This Is Still A Fun/important Read!

Dear Tumblr,

Today I finished my novel. I don't mean that I got the first draft done. I mean that I, recently sixteen, finished the novel that I've been working on for as long as I can remember. I did it.

I am very happy and I just wanted to share it with all the weird little freaks that inspired me to put my blorbos down on paper. I don't care if nobody sees this. I did it. I am a writer. I finished my book.

Love,

Avi

“It can take years. With the first draft, I just write everything. With the second draft, it becomes so depressing for me, because I realize that I was fooled into thinking I’d written the story. I hadn’t — I had just typed for a long time. So then I have to carve out a story from the 25 or so pages. It’s in there somewhere — but I have to find it.”

— David Sedaris

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!

Introduction to the Heroes of Meiste

I will post later about my writing progress today, too, don't worry. But right now, I thought I'd introduce the concept of Heroes in Meiste, how they relate to religion and politics, and introduce a few of them, along with their Guardians.

Before I get too deep into the weeds, every person's magic is also their soul in Meiste. Without their soul, their body and cognitive function can stay alive, but it's greatly decreased. (Foreshadowing...)

What even is a Hero?

Tl;dr: The most powerful six magic users are Heroes.

A Hero is a human who is a vessel for the rapid generation and usage of magic. Since there are only six magic types, there are only six Heroes-one for each magic type. These six, along with the Seventh Hero, Meiste itself, make up the Seven Heroes. Each Hero also has a Guardian who necessarily protects them.

Several Heroes are already known about: the Hero of Life, the Hero of Language, and the Hero of Earth. The other three remain (mostly) a mystery.

Introducing Three Heroes

Eheste Lozerief - Hero of Earth (or Meistezon)

she/her (Ipol: prijv/pijf)

"Meiste," translated as Earth, encompasses much more than just dirt in Zispoel. It also translates to the "physical" realm, where we as people reside. The (probably) Euclidean space where we type on keyboards and waste hours behind our cell phones.

Eheste Lozerief, known as Dr. Este, can manipulate space. She keeps her black pick-up truck on her keychain when she's not using it, for example. And she can teleport. Her mood is kind-of hit-or-miss when dealing with her, and while she does okay as a follower most of the time, she can only let her own needs get walked-over so much before she explodes.

Her Guardian: Tev, (or the Sensonif)

she/her (Ipol: prijv/pijf)

Sensonif literally means 'monster' in Ipol, by the way, and while her stature may be monstrous (fifty-foot tall lava-monster lady), her demeanor is anything but! She's warm-hearted (pun!) and fun.

She's one of four ancient beings called the Elementals (which aren't very relevant to the story.) She lives in a volcano and takes care of the village at the base of her volcano.

Those two end up dating each other post-canon.

In Iziser - Hero of Cognition (or Emeistezon)

he/him (Ipol: por/piste)

"Emeiste" literally means 'not-real,' so it could be translated as 'unreal,' but that may be a bit reductive. "Emeiste" encompasses everything that isn't real, but still exists. A prime example of this is the entire field of quantum physics and the wave functions that codify it. As a result, Izi can, himself, exist in a quantum superposition at will.

Izi is more assertive than Lozerief, but not quite as crabby as she can be. He and Lozerief bond over their shared nerddom, however, since they're both super interested in magic theory.

His Guardian: Pejemer

she/her

Pejemer is a seven-foot-tall swordswoman with ashen-colored goat-like horns and a sword so thin it can cut through anything. She's been wielding it for 1,100 years. Her species is also not human, like all Guardians. Instead, she's a Tawoo.

Pejemer is much more like Tev: easygoing, lighthearted, and fun. But Pejemer is more relaxed than the energetic Tev.

Hotautebz Az - Hero of Mind (or Ezispoerizon)

they/them (Ipol: pir, pirij)

"Ezisperizon" literally means "not-language," so it pretty much encompasses the subconscious. Hota, then, can control the subconscious. They can speak telepathically, influence a person's feelings, plant thoughts in their mind, or even take control of another person's mind!

They're far too timid to do any of that, though. They're six-foot-four, capable of mass-manipulation, and wouldn't hurt a fly-even if their life depended on it.

Their Guardian: Luwzrij

she/her

Luwzrij is a swamp fairy, a kind of humanoid with wings that's one of the four types of fairies, and Luwzrij is from the swamps of Eastern Zeneste. She's outgoing and charismatic, but rather clumsy (including downright destructive.)

Conclusion

Only Iziser and Lozerief are introduced by the end of Part One, but Hota is introduced very early in Part Two. None of their Guardians are present until halfway through the novel (Part Three.)

write unpublishable things. it's good for you.

Don't leave students in red states behind

This week, a teacher at Lewis and Clark Middle School in Meridian, Idaho was reprimanded by the West Ada school district for having a sign up in her classroom reading "Everyone is welcome here" she refused to take it down and went to the media with her story. The district responded saying everyone has to be a team player and the poster was discriminatory and distracting.

So students walked out.

This afternoon, a student-led walkout protest happened at the West Ada district office. Children are the future. Just because Idaho is a red state does not mean that rights violations and whitewashing are normal or par-for-the-corse.

this is not normal.

read the story here

Gang, I might make a YouTube video about Javanese (from the perspective of an American conlanger) because you can't make this shit up.

(Tl;dr: Javanese register is very complicated and very fascinating. Also, what's up with slack-voiced consonants?)

EMERGENCY COMMISIONS

EDITING SERVICES

Hello! Barlowe here; I've run into a really rough place in my life and desperately need money. So, as a writer of over ten years who's been editing my own writing for most of it, I'm offering up editing paid editing services for anyone!

Only $1 USD per 100 words (aka 1¢ per word), for basic editing, and $3 USD per 100 words (3¢/word) for in-depth line-editing which I will actively converse with you on the story's contents to expand upon the writing and make it much, much better!

(Prices for line editing can be negotiated lower for things that require less edits!)

(examples below "read more")

Before and After Examples:

Here's a sneak peek of "Iridensia: the Aspect War" by @falco-underscore-77!

Basic editing ($1 / 100 words):

(original to the left, edited to the right)

Line editing ($3 / 100 words):

and the kind of notes I might leave as I work with you on the editing:

Personal Writing Examples:

Narrative/Basic:

Action/Emotional:

reblogs are appreciated for visibility!

fancy silver divider by @saradika

since i’ve actually thought about this for my con world, let me indulge:

In Zeneste, lots of fish. Like, insane amounts of fish. Pickled fish. Breaded and fried fish. Grilled fish. I imagine it chopped up and served in little cups or on skewers with the same chopped up pieces.

As you approach the northern parts of Zeneste, there is increasingly more fruit. Mostly stone fruits: plums, apples, pears, peaches. The climate is colder, so closer to the coast you’ll encounter more cod and salmon in the Northeast.

In Åtepsi (which I may later rename), you’ll find much more rice with tropical fruit. They like sweet rice a lot, so balls of sticky, sweet rice are sold a lot. Also okra.

In Ōdapir there’s a lot of dairy (more so than the rest of the world) and so lots of cheese curds. Also tree nuts.

not enough fantasy settings talk about street food like c'mon there was street food in ancient times across basically every culture lemme see what weird snacks you can buy off a guy in an alleyway