Re: probably a bloody obvious question...

On Sun, Aug 20, 2000 at 04:42:48PM -0400, Yoon Ha Lee wrote:

> On Sun, 20 Aug 2000, H. S. Teoh wrote:
[snip]
> > But as for stories... I have the problem that I can create storylines well
> > enough, but I can't *write* a story in an interesting way... (yeah, what
> > *am* I doing on this list, eh? ;-) One idea I had to get around this
> > problem was to actually write the story in the conlang itself, or at least
> > present the story as a collection of manuscripts, book excerpts, recorded
> > dialogues, etc., all written in the conlang, that gives a somewhat
> > detailed picture of the conculture and its history. In fact, by carefully
> > choosing what to include, the collection may well become the "story"
> > itself.
>
> I've thought of doing that, but I write for publication (three sales, two
> published) and no *way* would I find a market.  What I'd like to do with
> the current project and any future ones, though, is have a website
> (eventually) with a learning-grammar, reference grammar and short
> stories/poetry related to the culture in question.  I think I'd better
> get my bachelor's first, though.  <G>
Cool... nice to know somebody else thought of the same thing too :-) In
fact, this isn't the first time I've wanted to do something like this. I
came up with this idea when I wanted to write about a fantasy world where
the distinction between fact and fiction is blurred. So, instead of giving
a straight narrative that would fix the exact facts and storyline(s), I
planned to write a bunch of stories written from the point of view of each
of the main characters in the world. Each story would give insight into a
particular aspect of the world; however, they would sometimes also
contradict each other. I myself would not decide, in those cases, which
story was "true" or which had the "facts" -- either story can be true, and
each would lead to a different storyline when put together with the
others. It was up to the reader to decide for him/herself which storyline
he/she thinks represents the "real" story.

>
> YHL, unfortunately a math major
Hmm, interesting... I myself am a computer science major. I seem to have
quite divergent interests -- computers, chemistry (esp. organic chem),
creative writing, music composition, and now, conlanging... I guess it
doesn't *have* to be reconciled with each other... :-)


T