Re: meeting of minds

Diana Slattery wrote:

>I can speak to that, the experience being very fresh.  Glide as a
>language came to me in the middle of writing the novel, the death
>dancers, creating that fictional world--although that experience
>makes it sound so much more willed and deliberate than it really
>is.  more like discovering, then exploring, then meeting the
>people, conversing, then being able to query the world, because at
>a certain point, it is a world, an enterable domain.  so if i have
>a question, i can go there and find the answers.  the language
>began to reveal itself that way, then i asked some questions and
>got really a flood of answers.  it's as if the whole thing was/is
>sitting there fully formed.  that's the mystery of it all--whether
>it's where do constructed languages come from, or where and how do
>fictional worlds get formed.  so--minds meeting.
This is exactly how I feel I'm "discovering" Boreanesia and the
Boreanesian languages. I have created a fictional setting after a
geological "what if" situation. Now I don't write novels per se, but
I do a bit of researching and writing of Boreanesian culture and
history. When I do real world research, I find clues that may relate
to Boreanesia. For instance, when reading about precolonial Insular
Southeast Asian history I discover things that Boreanesians could
have been involved in: spread of Indian religions - Hinduism and
Buddhism, inter-island trade, diplomatic relations with China, etc..
Then I enter the fictional domain and "ask" if Boreanesian were
involved in these things. In my mind, during my meditations, while I
dream in my sleep, and while I write things about Boreanesia, I
discover Boreanesia, explore Boreanesia, meet Boreanesians, query
the world of Boreanesia because like you said, it is a world - an
enterable domain. When I have questions, I retreat to this world.
When I want to get away from the real world, I retreat to this
world. Sometimes I even time travel and enter Boreanesia as it
looked like before the encroachment of the western world.
Boreanesian culture and language begins to reveal itself in that way
to me. Its as if the whole thing is just there fully evolved waiting
for me to describe it in detail to those interested. Its extremely
personal. Extremely self-indulgent. Sometimes I think I belong to a
mental hospital or something. Oh well...

Regards,
-Kristian- 8-)