Apologies if I’ve been less visible of late, but I’ve started writing again, and that tends to give me tunnel vision. The story I’m writing is the long delayed, next chapter of the Vokhtah saga.
The story of my psychopathic hermaphrodites languished for four years while I wrote Innerscape, but now they’re back, and I’ve had to re-acquaint myself with their world all over again. Part of that process was to do a backwards outline of the original story, and that’s where this post comes in. I’d actually forgotten that I wrote this preface to the Vokhtan to English dictionary:
Due to the radical differences between Vokh and human physiology, this sound guide is an approximation only. Where humans speak by forcing air past their vocal chords and then shape the resultant sound in the mouth, the Vokh and iVokh use their mouths for eating only. Their lungs are located in their wings, and they inhale and exhale through hundreds of small cilia on the leading edges of their wings, by-passing the mouth entirely. Thus the sounds they produce are akin to the multiple sounds produced by a pipe organ. Even pure sounds have a resonance human speakers cannot match.
Adding to the difficulty of accurately representing the Vokhtan language is the native speakers’ habit of deliberately distorting their speech with ‘chords’, in order to convey tone and inflection. Harmonious ‘chords’ – like the major 5th in human music – denote agreement, pleasure, delight etc. Discords, on the other hand, can imply a range of emotions from disbelief to contempt. Yet despite the musical quality of Vokhtan, neither the Vokh nor the iVokh have ever developed the concept of music.
Vokhtan for human speakers is further complicated by the fact that the spoken language also includes an array of scent cues produced in glands at the base of each cilia. These scent cues are aspirated with certain audible sounds to form a combined sound/scent amalgam. For example, in the word ‘Vokh’ the ‘h’ at the end represents both the sound of the aspiration, and the scent denoting respect or admiration, something humans are incapable of reproducing.
Please keep these difficulties in mind when attempting to speak Vokhtan.
lol – I really did spend a lot of time thinking about the Vokh and the iVokh. From 2004 to 2012 to be exact. There was so much to discover about them. I mean, they all have sharp claws, right, even the much smaller, less aggressive iVokh. But sharp, pointed claws tend to get in the way when you’re not killing something, so how were the iVokh supposed to craft anything?
The ladies reading this post will immediately recognize the problem of nails that stick out half an inch past the end of your fingers. So how did the iVokh manage? By doing what we do, of course. They squared off the tips of their claws. But wait…how would they have cut their claws? Clearly they would need tools of some kind. Not scissors, no, but something like a small nail file perhaps. Except that nail files don’t grow on bushes. The iVokh would need Smiths to make the nail files, and the Smiths would need metal of some sort…
And so it went. Every idea came with its own baggage of pre-requisites, and each day of writing revealed some new discovery. It was an exciting time, but that was then. Now, I have to relearn all these tiny, yet important details so I don’t make any horrible mistakes, like saying that one iVokh punched another.
The iVokh certainly fight, but not with a clenched fist. Why? Two physiological reasons:
- Even with their claws blunted, striking with a clenched fist would drive the claws into their own palms, and
- Both iVokh and Vokh hands are quite weak in comparison to the rest of their bodies. They do have opposable thumbs, but they only have two fingers, and those fingers are long and spindly. A punch would probably break the whole hand.
And these are the little things that I have to learn all over again. If anyone’s interested, I’ve been trying to do a graphic of the hand. Still very much a work-in-progress, but here it is:
cheers
Meeks
December 28th, 2021 at 2:28 pm
Your imagination and ingenuity never cease to amaze me… Glad you are writing steadily again, I’m doing minimal work on my blog, but I need to get over my sulk and back to the writing board. You are a great inspiration! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
December 28th, 2021 at 8:31 pm
Oh Pat…I wish! I’ve been procrastinating again; doing videos and graphics instead of words. New Year’s resolution: we’ll both get back to writing, ok?
LikeLike
December 29th, 2021 at 8:46 am
I need to revert to email to cover my whining and foot-dragging on my plans. If I were to accomplish just half of everything I want to do before I die I will have to borrow more time from someplace…is there a time bank somewhere? My keyboard keeps threatening to become overwhelmed in desk-debris…
LikeLiked by 1 person
December 29th, 2021 at 11:04 am
lmao! If you find that time bank, please let me know. I need one too. -hugs-
LikeLike
March 29th, 2017 at 1:42 am
Good!
see my page: https://technewsplace.blogspot.com/
thanks
LikeLike
March 23rd, 2017 at 7:41 pm
You need to treat your earlier writing like a guide book, I guess, to reacquaint yourself with your own creations. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
March 24th, 2017 at 8:45 am
Yes. 🙂 I also have a kind of ‘encyclopedia’ of world facts, but there’s only so much my brain can hold at one time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
March 23rd, 2017 at 2:14 am
Cool! It’s those pesky little details that suck a reader into the story. Have fun writing 🙂
LikeLike
March 23rd, 2017 at 10:20 am
-grin- I will, I will!
LikeLike
March 23rd, 2017 at 1:34 am
Fascinating! I look forward to reading this work when you are finished.
LikeLike
March 23rd, 2017 at 10:21 am
Thank you!
LikeLike
March 23rd, 2017 at 12:23 am
Looking forward to more about your sociopathic alien creatures!
LikeLike
March 23rd, 2017 at 10:21 am
lol – I’m still trying to find that ‘head space’ but yeah, getting there. 🙂
LikeLike
March 22nd, 2017 at 10:57 pm
Great news! I love those little guys, claws and all!
LikeLike
March 23rd, 2017 at 10:22 am
lmao – thank you lovely editor lady!
LikeLike
March 22nd, 2017 at 6:31 pm
Fantastic news, Meeks! Get that book written!!! *hugs*
LikeLike
March 22nd, 2017 at 9:54 pm
lol – I’m trying! Don’t hold your breath though. 🙂
LikeLike
March 22nd, 2017 at 3:01 pm
Meeks! This is wonderful news! Of course I have Vokhtah on my TBR list, and now I will go ahead and pick it up to learn about them along with you, only this will be the first time for me. This sounds absolutely fascinating! So glad to hear you’re writing more good stuff.
LikeLiked by 1 person
March 22nd, 2017 at 4:22 pm
-blush- thank you! You’ve made my day. Unfortunately I’m a very slow writer so it’ll be a while. But I’m starting to remember what obsessed me about them in the first place. 🙂
LikeLike
March 22nd, 2017 at 4:24 pm
Well you certainly have me intrigued!
LikeLike
March 22nd, 2017 at 2:33 pm
I had never considered all the ramifications of creating a whole new species (is that what they are? Probably a new kingdom..) No wonder the world you create is so consistent and believable!
LikeLike
March 22nd, 2017 at 4:24 pm
Yeah, the Vokh and iVokh are related alien species on a very different planet that’s part of a binary star system. And yes, I had to research some astronomy as well. 🙂 The story is a fusion of sci-f and fantasy but I like the sci-fi to be the main flavour.
LikeLike