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 |   A month-long novel-planning challenge with prizes galore. |
Am I the only one quickly scope creeping??? Now I need a degree in Arabic Studies in order to write this book. Or at least to understand my protagonist. I know NOTHING about Arabic Studies! Nothing!!! Why is my protagonist insisting on being an expert in something I know nothing about??? Can't I just write my novel about spreadsheets or music schools or something I already know. *kicks bossy character*Cheers, Michelle |
| Because your character is a charmer. She made you think it'd be easy, and you fell for it. (Hurriedly piles up all the language research and notes about grammar, phonetics, and vocabulary.) Nope. I have NO IDEA what you're talking about. Light Strikes |
| Yep, languages, religion, history, culture... I hated that stuff in school. I studied math and science. I literally got a "1" on my US History AP Exam (that's the score they give you for putting your name on the paper but not getting like any of the questions right.) The only "F" I ever got on a report card was one quarter of US History. I suck at history. I have documented evidence. This character better write the story for me or it's going to be riddled with errors. (Nobody fact-checks fiction, right?) Cheers, Michelle |
| PS: This is why I write fantasy. Cheers, Michelle |
| I'm not great at history. I'm getting better, because it's hard to be worse. I find I learn it better in person. Arabic, however, I might be able to figure out a crash course in that. *checks* was that on my list anyway? Light Strikes |
| Bahaha... had to laugh. It's like cheating somehow when you don't know something about history or the culture. Like "what can this character do? Oh that's right ANYTHING I WANT THEM TO! HA!" |
| I studied Arabic in college. Feel free to message me and I can give you a walk-through of my experiences. 2015 Quills Nominee
The writer is the engineer of the human soul. | ||||
I totally understand what you mean, Michelle! My protagonist decided to make a device (or something.. clockwork minions perhaps?) that can control the weather. Well, thanks, buddy! I have been reading up on unsuccessful cloud seeding, not to mention how an airship might be operated and whatnot. I completely feel what you're going through. BUT, at the same time.... remember, it's just a first draft! If you have to go back later and fix something that doesn't make sense after more research, that's totally fine! At least that is the pep talk I give myself on a daily basis.  Good Luck! Boiler Beck Boilerlady Imagine Sig Believe Sig Dream sig |
| Just the language, or Arab culture and history, as well? I know some of the language, but I'm better at the history. History, languages, culture... that's all my stuff. If you needed math and science, I'd be the last person in the world to come to your rescue. I hate them both and think math, in particular, is Satan's influence on this world. Anyway, back on topic... I did a lot of Mid East history in college, so I might be able to help. -Quaddy  Check this Out!
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 Awesome Contest Alert! ** Image ID #2088141 Unavailable ** Jelly Belly the Penguin āThere is no struggle too vast, no odds too overwhelming, for even should we fail - should we fall - we will know that we have lived.ā -Anomander Rake | |||||||
| Definitely history and culture more than language. I don't know if I can master enough language to drop words in here or there, so I'm saving that for later in the month, time permitting. My character (Zain) is Saudi Arabian by birth, but very old (a little over a thousand years old.) He's seen a lot of change in his lifetime. He was born around 1,000 AD, which is after the birth of Islam by a few hundred years, so he comes from a devout Muslim family. But obviously due to his immortality he no longer has a family. What would his life have been like in 1K? How has his life changed between then and now? Pretty much all I know about Saudi Arabia is that they have a monarchy (I think one that actually rules) and they're very wealthy due to oil resources. Would they have been as wealthy back in 1K, before the industrial revolution turned oil into gold? Right now, he lives in the US, and I'm pretty sure he's done a lot of traveling (life has gotten pretty boring for him), so he's very worldly and wise today. But I don't know much about his roots. Cheers, Michelle |
| I have a friend in Saudi Arabia, I can ask him some questions too. From my knowledge of Middle Eastern history, Saudi Arabia has changed A LOT since the year 1000. Saudi Arabia came into existence in the 1920s (a few weeks ago was their holiday to celebrate the anniversary of their founding). Before that, I would have to look for you because my knowledge is the Middle East was very rich in gold, Europeans often traveled there for conquest. After World War I, that changed and the formation of the countries we know today came into existence. Right now, Saudi Arabia is a monarchy. They are still ruled by a king and life is pretty good, at least according to my friend. I just read that Saudi businesses are looking to switch to the Julian calendar from the Hijra calendar so they don't have to pay their workers as much. Some think that is signalling some money problems in Saudi Arabia. 2015 Quills Nominee
The writer is the engineer of the human soul. | ||||
| 1000AD? Around that point, Saudi Arabia was mostly fractious at the time. Medina and Mecca, the two holiest cities in Islam, are both to be found in Saudi Arabia, remember. Around that point, you have the Fatimids (who are Shi'i and based in Cairo) and the Abbasids, Sunnis based in Baghdad, fighting over control of the Peninsula. So, really, the first question you've got to ask is: is he a Shia or Sunni? Depending on which one, he'll have more or less power. Saudi Arabia at the time wasn't powerful as an entity the way it is now, since the current state has its earliest beginnings in the 1700s with the Wahhabis. Anyway, so... back in his day. By that point, the Qarmatians are already on their way out... OK, so... boiling this down to its most basic: whether your character is Sunni or Shia will determine what path he takes. Sunnis make up the majority, so it's far more likely he'd be one, but there are benefits to being Shia, and Ismaili, in particular. However, I'd say being Sunni under the Abbasids is better as the Abbasid era is considered the Islamic Golden Age. So, literature, math, science, architecture, etc. Also, did he come from a wealthy or a poor family? So, no... oil wasn't big and they really didn't have their own rulers. Two different caliphates were fighting over them at the time. A couple hundred years later, in the 1200s, the Sunnis end up winning most of it. The current royal family are also Sunni, though they tend to be a hard-line sect. -Quaddy Check this Out!
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Awesome Contest Alert! ** Image ID #2088141 Unavailable ** Jelly Belly the Penguin āThere is no struggle too vast, no odds too overwhelming, for even should we fail - should we fall - we will know that we have lived.ā -Anomander Rake | |||||||
| Professor Q is correct. 1200 AD is the golden age of Islam. I remember learning about that in my Arabic class, we went to a museum to see this. It's amazing. 2015 Quills Nominee
The writer is the engineer of the human soul. | ||||
| He has humble roots. Sunni, then? Started humble but watching his (faction? Is that the right word?) grow to majority and prominence? Do Sunni and Shia have distinct features or traits, or could he pull off being the other if, say, after a couple hundred years he grows bored and just wants to explore for his own fun or education? Cheers, Michelle |
| The roots of the Sunni/Shia divide stem from pretty much the minute Muhammad (PBUH) died. It was based on who they supported as his successor. Sunnis believe it was Abu Bakr, who was a friend of the Prophet and his, like, chief adviser. Shia Muslims believe that it was the Prophet's cousin/son-in-law, Ali, who should have been the successor. The Sunnis won out, though Ali did become the fourth caliph. His son's murder really kinda cemented the divide. To this day, Sunnis make up about 80% of Muslims. Another big difference is that Sunnis tend to stick to the 'sunna', which are the teachings of the Prophet, while Shi'ites see their Ayatollahs as, like... Popes, a reflection of God on Earth. God's vessel. Many Sunnis thinks Shi'ites are heretical, many Shi'ites see Sunnis as so focused on purity, they've given rise to the asshats of Wahhabism. (Groups like ISIS tend to be majority Sunni, for example. And like to kill Shi'ites, whom they see as not Muslim.) Saudi Arabia is mostly Sunni. Iran and Iraq are majority Shi'ite. And, of course, Shi'ism has divides within itself based on which of the great imams will return from hiding (for lack of a better word) and fulfill God's divine Will. Most Shia believe it's the twelfth imam and, hence, are called Twelver Shia, but the Fatimids (who were fighting the Abbasids for control in Saudi Arabia at the time) tended to be Ismailis, who are Sevener Shia. (There are also Fiver Shia, but they're a small sect.) If you've chosen to make him a Sunni, I sincerely, sincerely doubt he'd change over to Shi'ism. While there's never been the kind of fighting between them that we saw with Catholics and Protestants (even unto today), they are very much divided. If you were looking for a way for him to get bored and go through a period of exploration, may I suggest the Sufis? They're mystics. If you've ever seen the Whirling Dervishes, they are a branch of Sufism founded by the poet Rumi. They're the Mevlevi Order and were common in the Ottoman Empire, though founded before its rise (in the early 1300s; the Ottoman's conquered Constantinople in 1453). -Quaddy Check this Out!
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Awesome Contest Alert! ** Image ID #2088141 Unavailable ** Pentagram Sig āThere is no struggle too vast, no odds too overwhelming, for even should we fail - should we fall - we will know that we have lived.ā -Anomander Rake | |||||||
| thanks. i feel like i learned something here Light Strikes |
| No worries! I quite like Islamic history, so I enjoy getting to talk about it. -Quaddy Check this Out!
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Awesome Contest Alert! ** Image ID #2088141 Unavailable ** Pentagram Sig āThere is no struggle too vast, no odds too overwhelming, for even should we fail - should we fall - we will know that we have lived.ā -Anomander Rake | |||||||
| Say I have a character whose code name is "Raven" or "The Raven" or "Blackbird" or similar. What should I call him in Arabic? (As written with the English alphabet) Cheers, Michelle |
| This is per google translate, so I'm not sure if it's right or not but it's a start I suppose: Ghrab 'asud - Raven Alttuyur Alssuda' - Black bird Thank you, ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** "I try to create sympathy for my characters, then turn the monsters loose." -Stephen King |
Thank you! I saw that and.... this is dumb, but I wanted to make sure the letters are going in the right direction, that it's not spelled backwards. Future Mrs. Boo  has a degree in Arabic so I was hoping she could give me the warm-and-fuzzy.I'm so out of my element.  *kicks antagonist*Cheers, Michelle |
| *laughs* Yeah, I have no idea how it should look. Or if they should be capped or not. If you're wanting it as a name, I'd think yes, but I don't know the rules of Arabic, so that's the best I can do. Thank you, ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** "I try to create sympathy for my characters, then turn the monsters loose." -Stephen King |
Brandiwynš¶  , it would be Ghorab Asud in Arabic with the English transliteration. Asud is Arabic for black... Arabic automatically puts "black" in front of "raven" to describe the bird. 2015 Quills Nominee
The writer is the engineer of the human soul. | ||||
| Thank you! Cheers, Michelle |
| Afwan! (You're welcome... wish I could get the Arabic keyboard on my new computer.) 2015 Quills Nominee
The writer is the engineer of the human soul. | ||||
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