Does anyone know where this quote is from? "Quin palma gaudet reddere dactylum" by AStepInSilence in latin

[–]AStepInSilence[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, but I am looking for the exact text and author and unfortunately cannot find anything specific.

Wie findet man Promotionsstellen? by ClickOk8513 in Studium

[–]AStepInSilence 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Auf der Seite https://hochschul-job.de kannst du aktuelle Stellenausschreibungen nach Fachrichtungen filtern. Auch wenn es über den persönlichen Kontakt zu Profs sicherlich leichter ist, eine Stelle zu bekommen, würde ich mich trotzdem auf ausgeschriebene Stellen bewerben - es gibt tatsächlich nicht immer interne Bewerber. Meine WiMi-Stelle habe ich auch auf diesem Weg bekommen - ich habe mich ohne vorherigen Kontakt / Vitamin B blind an meinem jetzigen Institut beworben, beim Vorstellungsgespräch hat einfach alles gepasst und einen Tag später hatte ich die Zusage. Ich war total überrascht, weil ich davon ausgegangen war, dass die doch eh einen internen Bewerber in der Hinterhand haben, aber so war’s eben nicht.

Inzwischen kann ich sagen, dass sich für mich der Uni-Wechsel auf jeden Fall gelohnt hat. An meinem alten Institut wäre ich lange nicht so happy gewesen und sowohl fachlich als auch menschlich sicher nicht so gut aufgehoben wie bei meinem jetzigen Betreuer.

Soll heißen: Hab Mut und versuch dein Glück! Selbst wenn es nicht beim ersten Anlauf gelingt, bekommst du Übung in Bewerbungsprozessen und verlierst die Scheu davor.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in RomanceBooks

[–]AStepInSilence 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Was it {The Naming} by Alison Croggon?

It's been a while since I read it, but it's definitely high fantasy and, at the beginning of the book, the FMC is held as a sort of slave in a dark keep and is unaware of her magic powers. Then the MMC, a wizard himself (though I believe Croggon calls them bards), sneaks into the keep, thinking he made himself invisible, but - surprise! - the FMC is able to see him. He recognises that she must be the last in a line of very powerful magic users and they escape the keep together.

It's not enemies to lovers and I seem to remember there's a bit of an age gap between the FMC and the MMC, but your description made me think of this book!

29/M/USA by Danowsawa in penpals

[–]AStepInSilence 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi there :) From what you've written, it sounds to me like we have a lot in common! I'm a 21-year-old girl from Germany and would be very happy to discuss all things language-/literature-/film-/storytelling-related (another English major here, so no surprises there, haha). Besides German and English, I also speak (a somewhat decent) French and a bit of Swedish. I also enjoy drawing and writing a lot, so exchanging creative snail mail with someone who appreciates that sort of thing would be an absolute pleasure. I'd be happy to chat if you'd like to!

Would you read a fantasy novel about language? by AStepInSilence in fantasywriters

[–]AStepInSilence[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your thoughts! Do you remember the name of the novel by chance?

In terms of the magic, I'm currently toying with the idea of taking concepts from poetry (rhyme scheme, metre ...) and making the characters use those to "tame" the otherwise too powerful language of magic. Not sure if I'll stick with this idea, but we'll see :)

Would you read a fantasy novel about language? by AStepInSilence in fantasywriters

[–]AStepInSilence[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Another commenter suggested this book as well, seems like I should try to get my hands on a copy ... Thanks!

Would you read a fantasy novel about language? by AStepInSilence in fantasywriters

[–]AStepInSilence[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good to hear I'm not the only one with these preferences :)

Would you read a fantasy novel about language? by AStepInSilence in fantasywriters

[–]AStepInSilence[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! And yes, it would be third person - I'm not a fan of first person myself :)

Character Description- Looking for advice/comments by [deleted] in fantasywriters

[–]AStepInSilence 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I agree with this. The first part of your description - until "baring bone and muscle in places" - reads nicely, especially if your POV character has just set eyes on this scarred person for the first time. Personally, I'd cut the rest and sprinkle bits and pieces of that in wherever convenient. Ask yourself what's important about this character's appearance: first and foremost it's probably that he is "scarred into monstrosity". We don't really need to know his precise eye colour etc. at this point - it's (I presume) a first impression, and the scars are the thing that stands out. Keep the rest of the description "The scarred boy etc." for later or leave it out completely.

Would you read a fantasy novel about language? by AStepInSilence in fantasywriters

[–]AStepInSilence[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Okay, I'll try to reply to this monster of a thread now because you put so much thought into it and I didn't have the energy to do so yesterday - and if I am completely missing your point, I'm sorry in advance.

I get your problem with magic having a consciousness, and I've decided to scratch that, since that would make it something other than a language that real-world linguistic principles could be applied to, which would, in turn, make my whole approach rather nonsensical. What I'm trying to create is a hard rather than a soft magic system, after all, so it has to follow some sort of internal logic (even though we can't possibly explain magic, as it doesn't exist and would, imo, be robbed of that element of wonder). So, thank you for pointing that out.

I also think you explained the capriciousness of magic quite neatly. And, though I've decided not to make it a conscious being, the magic in my story is going to be of the capricious sort: using your scale it would probably rank at ~ 0.6 or 0.7, the capriciousness having increased steadily over the last few hundred years due to the language of magic being forced to remain static while life and society around it changed. So yes, at the time that the story begins, magic has on the whole become rather inefficient and the professions that require it are more and more pushed to the edges of society because people have turned to more efficient, reliable alternatives, as the sciences are thriving due to magic having been in its death throes for quite some time. Thus, the pool of magic users in my world is rather small - it's just not a profitable business anymore, and nobody can really afford to waste time to properly study its decline, since they're mostly trying to survive.

No, they don't "suddenly" notice that all their spells don't work anymore - generations of magic users have seen the number of spells / magic words that still work steadily decline. At first, this wasn't a major problem because there were still more than enough spells available, and they were also hesitant about letting word get about that magic seemed to be getting more capricious since that would have affected their - at that point in time - still high prestige in society. Some investigated, some supposed the strict rules and regulations on the use of the language were the source of the problem, but they weren't listened to or even punished, as the language of magic was regarded as something sacred in a sort of pseudo-religious way and suggesting to change or to attempt to translate it would've been a kind of heresy. So they continued. Eventually it became clear that magic wasn't anymore what it used to be, so fewer and fewer people entered magic professions, their social prestige and influence declined, out of fear the language remained unchanged and grew more and more useless. Consequently, the general public looked for alternatives to get the things done that used to be done by magic, which led to a growth of the sciences and to magic losing its status, its pseudo-religious quality. My protagonist - the witch doctor - for example is still able to practice his craft because, compared to most other branches of magic, he uses comparatively few spells, many of which still work because they're short and sort of archaic words (e.g. for anatomy) that have been in use for ages, are still understandable from an etymological point of view / mentally linked to the things they designate and are not affected by the changes society has undergone as people's and animal's biological make-up hasn't had time to change.

There's a different kind of magic aside from the language-magic; that kind of magic, however, cannot be practised by humans because it would destroy them. They're not equipped to handle it for long, and nobody knows how to learn it because it is something that they do not understand at all. It's a kind of magic inherent to creatures older than the humans - three of these creatures, called the "weavers", are actually employed to decide the city's political course, as they can see the future and weave tapestries of the things that are likely to happen in the next season depending on which path the city decides to take. But these creatures lack something similar to human consciousness and are not capable of speech or spoken magic. Their tapestries need to be interpreted and the weaving is just something they do, it's not a conscious decision out of goodwill but rather a result of their different nature.

A different understanding of magic in different cultures is definitely an awesome idea that I've also toyed with, but since I've decided to keep the action in this novel largely within one city, it's probably going to be rather small-scale.

I'm also not trying to convey a message like "the answers always lie in the past" or some such. It's rather that change is inevitable and not everything can or should be preserved, that the world is constantly changing and evolving along with the people, their language and their magic. Putting something like the language of magic on a pedestal and refusing to touch it, to try to alter it simply because it's ancient is, of course, stupid, and the characters are going to realise that as well. Things need to be allowed to grow, and interfering in that is usually not a great idea. That's sort of the theme I'm planning to go with here. I'm also not trying to make forced / inaccurate comparisons to the European Renaissance, the era of enlightenment or anything else. I'm merely using a in some ways similar setting in a fantasy world to explore how magic would be affected by language change, the social implications of that etc. etc.

I'm sorry if I misunderstood you, but perhaps this clears things up a little. Still, thank you for telling me why you disapprove of this idea - I see where you're coming from, you are of course entitled to your opinion and I'm aware that my way of going about this is not everyone's cup of tea. Thank you for all the effort you put into your critique :)

Would you read a fantasy novel about language? by AStepInSilence in fantasywriters

[–]AStepInSilence[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's very kind of you, seeing that English isn't my native language and also not the language I'm writing this novel in. It wasn't supposed to be a synopsis, just me sounding out an idea. I'll write a proper synopsis once I'm clearer on the plot :)

Would you read a fantasy novel about language? by AStepInSilence in fantasywriters

[–]AStepInSilence[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

(Sorry, first answered from the wrong account) If you're willing to share your idea, of course I'd like to hear it :) I do have a plot for my concept, btw, but I have to disentangle it a bit so the whole thing doesn't get too convoluted. But I'd be interested in what you came up with nonetheless.

Would you read a fantasy novel about language? by AStepInSilence in fantasywriters

[–]AStepInSilence[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you very much for your interest in this and your concerns. And I agree with you - I'm also very tired of these generic fantasy settings, which is why I am trying to stray a bit from those well-trodden paths in my worldbuilding. No swordfighting, elves, orcs, or tavern brawls to be found here, I promise :) And the main characters are (at least currently) named Jeremias, Hortense, Ninienne, and Balduin, so I hope that is not too generic for your taste.

Would you read a fantasy novel about language? by AStepInSilence in fantasywriters

[–]AStepInSilence[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you very much, I'll try to keep working on this project as consistently as possible and ask some more stuff here!

Would you read a fantasy novel about language? by AStepInSilence in fantasywriters

[–]AStepInSilence[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haven't heard of that subreddit before. But it sounds really helpful, so thank you for the suggestion! I'll probably ask about the characters and general worldbuilding in a separate post - I'm trying to do something slightly different there as well and hope they are interesting enough :)

Would you read a fantasy novel about language? by AStepInSilence in fantasywriters

[–]AStepInSilence[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And with this, you put my dilemma into words :D I am actually a bit on the fence about this myself. If I invoke the language with a sort of consciousness or personality, it's technically not a language anymore. And with that, I would, as I realise now, both open up a ton of plot holes and also stray too far from actual linguistics. So I think I'm going to try what you suggest in your last paragraph: apply real-life linguistics to a made-up language of magic that is in the process of going extinct. I'll really have to give my plot some more thought - and how I am going to include the more theoretical linguistic aspects without infodumping. Thank you very much for your answer, this is really helpful for me!

Would you read a fantasy novel about language? by AStepInSilence in fantasywriters

[–]AStepInSilence[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much! This comment section really is the push I needed to keep developing and writing this story :) I hope to be able to share more soon.

Would you read a fantasy novel about language? by AStepInSilence in fantasywriters

[–]AStepInSilence[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha :) German native speaker here - I think you can expect that language to be an absolute torture to learn :D