Miracle metal
- WCU Author/Contributor (non-WCU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Susannah Murphine (Creator)
- Institution
- Western Carolina University (WCU )
- Web Site: http://library.wcu.edu/
- Advisor
- Brian Railsback
Abstract: While reading for my comprehensive exams, I found several works that would inform both the content and the style of my work for this thesis. The most important one is C.S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet. The story of a human being dropped into an alien world and left to survive without a translator, an advanced version of the fish-out-of-water story, intrigued me enough to want to include a similar situation for one of my main characters, Aldous Fairley. The other main inspiration for this work is David J. Peterson’s The Art of Language Invention, which is a step-by-step walk through of how he created his languages for Game of Thrones, among other properties. I will be creating a language for the races native to Fisia-Hu’Tu, with dialectal differences that would come from the races’ histories. In that process, I plan to follow Peterson’s example, starting with phonetics, combining the phonemes into syllables, and moving from phonology to morphology and syntax. I wanted to distinguish the speech of my human characters from that of the Fisian and Hu'Tu characters. It also made little sense to have the Hu'Tu, who have limited contact with humans outside of the prisoners they work alongside, speak fluent English as if it was their first language. That is why I created the language and let its rules govern how the Hu'Tu characters would speak English when it was absolutely necessary. The language, as well as the representation and control thereof, contributes to moments in the narrative that lead up to the climactic revolt. This thesis will contain a prologue and the novel’s first two chapters. Chapter one will follow Aldous Fairley, a middle school robotics club teacher from Scotland. The British government, which is cooperating with Fisia-Hu’Tu’s other native race, the Fisians, sent him off-planet so that he can study the machine. Chapter two will introduce Xi’Adthe, a Hu’Tu worker trying to defend a robot she created that has gained sentience. Once Aldous arrives, the parameters of his mission change, and he is asked to potentially destroy the machine. From there, only the characters know what will come, but I cannot wait to see the revolution unfold.
Miracle metal
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475 KB
Created on 3/1/2023
Views: 117
Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- Language: English
- Date: 2023
- Subjects
- Creative writing
- Fantasy fiction
- Fictitious characters
- Imaginary societies
- Fiction