Calling on Conlangers

Hey, conlang side of Tumblr! I require your help once more. 

As a college student, I am having a hard time finding the time to write, work, study, manage my Tumblr and create Sospeke, the constructed language for the Dark Veil books, the first of which is coming next year. (Yes, I would still like to make that language official.)

As of right now, all I have are four words, most of the alphabet and some of the grammar. 

So, if I were to give you the basic language concepts, would you wonderful people be willing to give your input and help as necessary?

College Days

You’ve heard about the novel. You’ve read the short stories. You’ve seen the… whatever you’ve seen; I can’t say for sure. But now you’re probably wondering, what is Gabe doing at college? I’ve asked myself this question many times, and now I’m going to try to answer it for everyone. It’s probably not what everyone’s expecting. I’m an artist. In retrospect, that was probably implied by my stating…

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College Days

You’ve heard about the novel.

You’ve read the short stories.

You’ve seen the… whatever you’ve seen; I can’t say for sure.

But now you’re probably wondering, what is Gabe doing at college? I’ve asked myself this question many times, and now I’m going to try to answer it for everyone. It’s probably not what everyone’s expecting. I’m an artist. In retrospect, that was probably implied by my stating I was a “Fine Arts” major. But yes, I draw, I paint and I sculpt. I can’t do those last two very well at all, but that’s what I’m in school to learn.

Here’s the main issue with the Fine Arts major: there is a great lack of testosterone. This is not because men are unable to sculpt and paint and draw. For some reason, it’s considered a less masculine affair. I’m not sure why this is. Many of the great painters were, in fact, men. Da Vinci was a man. Van Gogh was a man. Salvador Dali was a man. Claud Monet was a man. The Phantom of the Opera was a man.

Admittedly, that last person is fictional, but technically he still invented a ton of stuff.

Fictionally.

But anyhow, there is a lack of testosterone. I’ve noticed it multiple times in the years I’ve been here. I noticed it especially yesterday, when I walked into ceramics class for the first time. Class size? 20. Girls? 19. Guys? Me and the professor.

Upon noticing the situation, the professor walked over to me and pleaded, “Don’t quit! I need some support in this room!”

“Yes, sir!” I replied with intense head nodding.

Speaking of ceramics, did you know that if you put Core 05 Clay in a kiln at 2000 degrees rather than Core 5 Clay, you could straight up melt your ceramics? I didn’t. Also, it turns out you can’t look at a kiln while it’s at its max heat, or you will straight up burn your eyes and permanantly damage your eyesight.

Dangerous stuff, this ceramic business.

Possibly more dangerous than those fencing classes I’m taking. I’m really only taking them so that I can become Inigo Montoya. Hopefully someone does not kill my father, but if they do, I can avenge him.

“Hello, my name is Gabriel Penn. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

Reaching The End

I finally rewrote the end of the novel for the second draft. In the end, it’s far closer to what I wanted than what I had originally. It actually feels like the end of a book this time. Is it emotional? Oh yes. Does it leave room for a second book? Definitely. Am I asking too many questions? Most certainly. Should I stop asking them? Ok, ok, fine. Anyway, I’m much happier with the end product…

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Reaching The End

I finally rewrote the end of the novel for the second draft. In the end, it’s far closer to what I wanted than what I had originally. It actually feels like the end of a book this time. Is it emotional? Oh yes. Does it leave room for a second book? Definitely. Am I asking too many questions? Most certainly. Should I stop asking them? Ok, ok, fine.

Anyway, I’m much happier with the end product than I was before. I still have tons of stuff to edit. About 50-100 pages, to be precise. It’s actually far less than I’m making it out to be, but it’s a decent sum. 

In case y’all want a real emotional trip, here’s link to the song I listened to while writing the end. 

It’s a trip to Sad-Mart, where your greeters are Melancholy and Dismay.

It’s pretty sad.

In good news, I have recently arrived at school for my senior year at good old Liberty University! I have an excellent year in front of me, mainly because I never have to wake up before 9:30 for any reason whatsoever. I mean, I still do because they give me bacon if I come to breakfast, but I don’t have to. Technically.

This is the life of a Fine Arts student. 

In the meantime, I plan to raise awareness of the awesome Dark Veil Saga by creating the life size version of “Leviathan Killer” in some media besides metal. I don’t want to kill anyone by fake-stabbing them, which is the ultimate purpose of this endeavor.

I also now have an Instagram (sirgabrielpenn) so you should all follow me for cool book/writing/reading stuff! I’m super sorry about those awards and challenges I’ve missed recently, so now that I have so much time I’m going to try to get to some of them. “Try” is the key word. There’s a lot of them.

Expect a revamping of short stories and Faith Friday soon!!

https://vine.co/v/eDpzZllYPvQ/embed/simple//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js

When parents ask my thoughts on going back to college. #college #imreallyindecisive

(Source: https://vine.co/)

New Year, Same Me

If I’m completely honest I’m not exactly happy about going back. To where, you might ask? Many of you know that I’m a university student. Others, now you know. I’m officially heading back tomorrow. I don’t know how I feel about that. I can’t say that I am excited beyond belief, because I’m not. I can’t say that I’m entirely distressed, because I’m not that either. It’s a confusing time in my…

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Finding your Style

So, it has happened. I’m slowly beginning to find a style. I mean that in both the sense of life and of writing. I was thinking about this yesterday, as I pulled out some of my favorite pieces of writing that I’ve written in a long, long while. I wondered why I enjoyed writing them so much – those specific ones. I figured it out. It was that they came naturally to me. They were written like I…

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Finding your Style

So, it has happened. I’m slowly beginning to find a style. I mean that in both the sense of life and of writing. I was thinking about this yesterday, as I pulled out some of my favorite pieces of writing that I’ve written in a long, long while. I wondered why I enjoyed writing them so much – those specific ones. I figured it out.

It was that they came naturally to me. They were written like I would write them.

For so long I have tried to be someone else. I tried reading books and modeling my work after successful authors. I watched popular people in my years at college and tried to follow in their footsteps. But it wasn’t working out for me? Why? Because it wasn’t me.

I have found that my best work comes in the close-up. In writing, it’s the intimate, one-on-one moments where I can shine. In life, I enjoy myself best with a group of three to four people, even better one-on-one. So in a way, I didn’t have to find a style at all. I’ve just realized what it already is. And that makes it so much better, and people enjoy it that much better.

Moral of the story: don’t apologize for who you are. That’s all you can really be happy as.

Yup. Emotional and sappy blog. I make those occasionally. I’ll avoid them in later days.

Getting Back to Basics

A blog post for new readers. #blogging101 #fiction #reading #writing

Who am I? Why am I here? What do I want to accomplish? Why should you read this blog? In September of last year, I decided to push my limits and make a personal blog answering those questions. I wanted to tell people about life as a college student, an amateur writer, and as a Christian. It’s been almost a year since that first post. Now that I’m in Blogging 101, I’ve decided to come back to the…

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