!!! I seriously want to write this now. I'm not much of a linguist, but some kind of, like…Elvish historical record talking about queer Elves… (and oh my god I do not want to read another movieverse fic ever. Ever ever. The sheer number of inevitable contradictions to Actual Canon even in well-written movieverse fic will make me curl up and die.)
YES. A historical record of it would be neat too. Mind just went to language right away because well I am me and also this is Tolkien. Or like an anthropological paper on the gay Elves or just...Something hideously academic about the gay Elves. One of my favorite bits about the legendarium is the works that are just in-universe academia. Things like The Shibboleth of Feanor and The Lemmas. Or hell even Tolkien's appendix about translations of Hobbit names and language. It's why a lot of people cannot stand his writing, but for me it's just lovely and I wish that more people did that sort of thing. The only thing that I've found that comes close to that joy for me in the academic fields I like is TES. People whine and go "But these aren't stories" and I go, yes they are. They're just not stories as many are used to being structured. These sorts of things are also very fun to write. At least I think they are. Sadly the only bit of writing like that I have that I saved is a single Dark Souls fic. This one.
I have been trying to describe a city in a fanfic and I am so sad I didn't think of "Crapsack City, population: serial killers" first I love fanfic that does conlang on principle, but it's hard to when it's not done well. I am lazy and not a linguist so I don't blame people for trying, but... Idk. There's a thin line between interesting and irritating.
I read a horror story once that was written as a series of footnotes to an imaginary academic paper, it was awesome. I should see if I can find it again. And Tolkien's world-building is so incredible. He just…knew everything about everything he wrote. (Which of course is partly why I get so annoyed when things are wrong in LOTR fic, because no that's not how that works, no that thing is explained, no Tolkien wrote a whole essay on this other thing, all of this is available online there's nothing stopping you from looking it up, author. But I am kiiiind of a purist.)
It's ok I am a horrible person too. Though I will say that there is definitely some fluidity with the canon going on that I'm fine with. The First Age and Second Age details are fuzzier than those of LotR. ...which I like to view as being canonical fuzziness. I mean these are historical records why wouldn't there be multiple versions of the same text with multiple differences. Yes, yes these are all roughdrafts but no it's neat and silly and adds to the realness of the world. Also are you like me and also cry when people make Elves like hypersexual when given HoME material and letters they're actually pretty dead inside sexually most of the time. Like they canonically really like to bone, but the urge to bone is a rare thing for them. They're far more likely to get linguist boners or art boners. Which if find amusing. And I hope some human fuck wrote a paper about how the Elves like never fuck and seem to get their weird orgasmic joy out of poetry composition. And he heard from a correspondent who heard from another dude that some Elf groaned with otherworldly satisfaction when they got a stanza working right.
OH MY GOD YES. Just. So many fics about how Legolas was so pretty he boned everybody! and I'm going "no, all Elves are pretty and sex is marriage for them, they are physically incapable of sleeping around, THAT IS NOT HOW ELVES WORK." (You'd also think people would notice that very few Elf families we meet in canon have more than three children. Except for Feanor, of course, but like 90% of things are "except for Feanor".) And they totally get off on art, which might explain why so many major conflicts in Middle-earth revolve around shiny things. (The Silmarils=Helen of Troy?)
Alas the biological details he set up about them don't seem to be that widely known. Sadness. And now I am thinking of everyone trying to fuck the Silmarils. Just. Everyone. The ultimate sex toy, a pokey piece of rock that is super shiny and BURNS. do you care about hamsteak at all because i could ramble at you about my tolkienstuck shit
Hey, if you want the phrase, you are more than welcome. Your fic sounds awesome! I agree about conlangs, but I have like the most uncomfortable reason. They give me flashbacks to my own dabblings in junior high, which was not a good time in my life. I didn't know I had anxiety issues, so I spent years cringing internally at every action that might be visible to another intelligent being, including God, so pretty much everything I said, did, or thought. It's gotten better, but apparently I have not detoxified the idea of amateur conlangs yet. I think I have a tendency to be really judgmental of others for doing the same arguably silly things I remember doing at vulnerable times in my life. I don't like that I do that, because it means the subjects of my disapproval tend to disproportionately be vulnerable girls and young women. Relating to someone should really not make them less sympathetic unless you have some interesting feelings about yourself. Hmm. ...Wow. I didn't mean for that to go so far in such a serious direction. I guess I could delete it, but I'm gonna just wince and post it instead.
Ooh! I'm not the most dedicated of Homestuck fans but that sounds SUPER interesting. Same here. :/ I've heard that we tend to dislike in other people what we dislike in ourselves, so I think it's a pretty common thing. *more hugs*
Awww yeaaaaah. I'll write up a thing and send it off to you in a PM tomorrow. For an example of it...Aranea is a Noldor who, due to be exceptionally unpopular and curious, went wandering about and ran into a formerly Numenorian pirate. Who charmed her with her mastery of Elvish and human languages. Like yes I guess being called Suletyelta is unflattering but dammit I found a Man that can make puns in Sindarin and that's just GR8. Meenah tragically died. It was tragic. Porrim also tragically dies because she is a Rohirrim. Somewhere Mindfang is kicking back a glass of fine wine and going "Yep. Picked a good amalesse. Everything my child loves is brilliant and dies out as fast as the golden light of the sun on the sea. GOD I'M SUCH A GOOD MOTHER." (the name was caleariel though i am likely to change this shit. it's already changed like five times though the cala and ear bits tend to be part of it)
Also just so you know Acey yes everything involving Damara and the Handmaid is fucking tragic. Rufioh ends up dead as shit due to a mix of cheating and incest. Unknowing incest but incest and that is basically the curse of ultra super death in Tolkien land. Mindfang again is drinking fine wine and being like "YEP. NAMED THAT ONE GOOD." mindfang is worst mom even worse than the handmaid and she's an angry avari that told mandos to go fuck himself and walked back out into middle earth again
Thank you for the additional hugs! This is one of the nicest places where I've ever had an uncomfortable epiphany. I feel like one of the absolute worst things a person can do is to not care about something you slaved over and maybe gave up on because you just weren't good. You worked so hard to be acceptable, and they're just cheerfully going on their imperfect way without the grace to be ashamed of themselves, and somehow they're okay? The sky hasn't opened up to smite them, and everyone doesn't hate them, and it's not fair. I suppose this is what envy feels like. I suspect there is some of that in my reaction to underdeveloped conlangs. I don't regret giving up that hobby, at which I was terrible, in favor of others. Part of my lack of ability was a lack of interest. But apparently I'm not ready to coexist with people who are okay with not being great at it before sharing. On a much lighter note, my earlier post keeps making me think of the Einstürzende Neubauten song "Die Explosion im Festspielhaus" (The Explosion in the Festival Hall, I think). Well, not the song so much as the phrase. Less sex metaphor, more odd place to have an outburst. Except now I'm trying to work out how a sex metaphor might apply to elves.
If it helps any passionate as I am I am actually awful at making conlangs. Most of my projects stay at social facts about how its used and some grammar. The farthest Ive ever got with one was one for Gerudo. And that never got further than my figuring out how the morphology worked. If I jad someone to make up words for me Id likely get further. The bits I really care about are sadlu morphology grammar ans social shit. And that doesnt get you a language. It gets you a framework.
Though I guess I'm fine with that as that's what I'm passionate about and stimulates me. I don't actually want to create a fully functioning language. I just feel like I'm expected to because well that's what a lot of people expect of language. That you can use it. It's why people don't ask "What do we know about Quenya grammar?" but "How do I speak Quenya?" or "Can I speak Quenya?" But the speaking isn't what I care about. I care about the nuts and bolts and the things behind how it is spoken and why. Not so much being able to talk about my dog in it. But I feel bad about it because for many people language is "can I use this to communicate?" and nothing else.
@Verily part of the reason I dot write much fic anymore - and don't like showing things to people when I do - is that around sixth grade I "realized" no one cared about what I was talking about and hated me for trying to get their attention, so I understand how you feel and offer you a thousand hugs. And I am so going to steal that phrase, because it's a great way to describe Kirkwall.
You also need hugs. Because dear christ sometimes I feel like never writing any more because my stuff just isn't read very much and few people care about it. In the end I know I want to keep writing it because I'm selfish and this is my selfish writing project (oh there goes aon's tolkien influence again) but it's just very disheartening that so few give a shit or know about it.
I've been mulling over the writing of a tactical JRPG thing since around 2005 (so, first year of high school) because of anxiety/depression burnout. For fanfic, in the rare occasion I actually write stuff decently, @Kittenly is the best most awesomest at encouraging, but I can't really talk about original writing without getting jittery. It honestly the thing I resent my depression for the most; I don't really care about anything else that happened, but I used to be a pretty creative girl with a fairly steady output of short stories that just went down the drain.
Oh my goodness @Aondeug, I care so much about grammar. I committed to several years of Japanese classes based mostly on my appreciation of the grammar. It worked out well, I got much further than most people who were there because they appreciated aspects of the culture. Culture came later for me, as I began to understand a little of how the grammar and the culture hook into each other. Also, a conlang seems like the least efficient possible method to talk about your dog. I honestly think it's awesome that you're passionate about it. You seem really cool and very smart, and maybe it is a relief to know a person such as yourself can also doubt their abilities. Despite everything I said, I can't really imagine thinking negative things about you because you created a linguistic framework. It's so much easier to harbor misdirected amorphous resentment towards people I know nothing about. The envy seems to die when exposed to light. @witchknights, hugs! Yeah, I hate showing people my creative work. I always feel terribly self conscious. I think it's terrible that people were so miserly with their attention that they didn't have time to be supportive of your writing, though. I mean, it's not reasonable to expect other people to adopt an interest, but there is such a thing as caring because it matters to someone who matters to you. I guess there's no easy solution, but the situation still sucks. That goes for Aon, too. Hugs all around.
