Update May 25, 2018

Monday I was so excited to get working on the novel, and I spent several hours putting in the new changes, adding details, and making it a beautiful story. Totally loved what I was doing, and felt accomplished at the end of the day.

Tuesday, I worked for nearly four hours when I began to realize that there were some fundamental issues, things that needed to be addressed before I could complete the re-writes. It was then that my sister, who had been working on paintings, and I went back to the dictionary. We spent nearly four hours detailing entries, and realized that it was time to go back into all our foundations: dictionary, encyclopedia, atlas, and the book of Darjadd…because everything is tied to everything, and it all moves in ebb and flow.

We built the basics of these four resource/reference books last year, and that allowed me to write the current novel. We knew that as I wrote things would change, and we would learn more about the world, and we would have to update our references. Now that the novel is nearing completion, we have found many of the areas that require detailing, or alteration altogether.

Building a world, a functioning, detailed world, is challenging. There is a lot to a world, and a lot to learn when the world doesn’t operate behaviorally like this one.

Besides building a world, we have to create words that don’t exist in English. Sadly, English is the only language that my sister and I are currently fluent in, and so we don’t really have the skills to develop an actual language. Cis did, however, create a beautiful alphabet filled with meaning. We use this alphabet to help us create new words that mean the things that we need. Here’s a sample:

 AHZHVII

The mother-father world that is in the Rah system. The uzoř of Gaia. The fourth planet from Rah. Bonded companion to the moon, Kadure.

AZICHARR

An immortal of Ahzhvii. The closest equivalent of Gaia is the wolf.

IIRJAHS

An immortal of Ahzhvii. The closest equivalent of Gaian is the human.

MAHAV: Like the English word “love”, mahav includes all the meanings and definitions that “love” can contain. The overarching word for all the forms of love.

Hav: Root word for Love, which is included in the words for all the various types of love

Mahava: The inborn, natural state of being, where the whole self, including and beyond the body, feels a sense of connection and appreciation for being, for the oneness of self with the Vast.

Mahavma: Sense of bringing something or someone into oneself. Inclusivity. Boundless ability to hold things with unconditional love and compassion. Infinite empathy. Universal kindness, free from desires, expectation, and regardless of flaws.

Mahavahzh: Expansive feeling of passion for the world, especially for the person of Ahzhvii, but can also include the surrounding life-forms.

Zahav: love between equals. Love between friends who’ve endured hard times together. Loyalty, camaraderie, willingness to sacrifice for your family/tribe.

Havekh: Family love: Kinship and comfortable familiarity. Natural affection that flows between parents and children, one parent with the other, siblings, etc.

 

The dictionary, and the other reference books are vitally important to consistency in the work, and so it’s always exciting for me to work on them, and I LOVE them…and it means that it will take however long it takes, before I can get back to the novel.

Hopefully I will still finish all that I hope to by my self-imposed deadlines.

I hope you have a happy and productive week!

Peace, mahavma, and cyber hugs,

M.A.B.