Overcoming the first hurdle

[Solarius]

I don't know if this is relatable to other conlangers, but something I've often struggled with is overcoming the initial phases of making a language. It seems like the hardest part of conlanging is getting started; everything in the language seems sketchy and unmotivated and I'm strongly tempted to give it up.

Somehow, when I do manage to overcome this phase, things start to click into place creatively and I can get a lot done on a language, but it's not very common; only two or so languages have ever really 'clicked' for me in this way. One language got there through doing a lot of translations at the very beginning, before features were set, but other tries at doing this have floundered. Somehow the other one came alive through my usual conlanging processes, but it was helped along by the fact that I had to make a sketch of it for a school project.

Do you all have suggestions on ways to overcome this "first hurdle?"

[Omzinesý]

How far you are when having this 'first hurdle'?
I can very easily make the basic grammar. It can be up to 20 pages long.
I meet the problem when I should go to small things and start thinking about lexicon more thoroughly. I also rarely have inspiration for translating.

So, I think it is not a first hurdle.

[teotlxixtli]

I get to my first hurdle when making all the root words I’ll use to derive the grammar later on down the line. It can be a tedious process deciding how I want the imperative to form or whatever. I just remind myself of the immense pride I felt when my first conlang was “done” (placed in quotation marks because it sucked ass) and the drive for that feeling pulls me through

[LinguoFranco]

I'm in a similar boat. I can never seem to get past a basic sketch of the phonology, barebones grammar and maybe only a dozen words or so at most before I lose interest.

I think the issue is that I overthink everything and always second guessing myself.

I've had this problem with being indecisive for as long as I can remember.

[Salmoneus]

I don't know if this is relatable to other conlangers, but something I've often struggled with is overcoming the initial phases of making a language. It seems like the hardest part of conlanging is getting started; everything in the language seems sketchy and unmotivated and I'm strongly tempted to give it up.

Somehow, when I do manage to overcome this phase, things start to click into place creatively and I can get a lot done on a language, but it's not very common; only two or so languages have ever really 'clicked' for me in this way. One language got there through doing a lot of translations at the very beginning, before features were set, but other tries at doing this have floundered. Somehow the other one came alive through my usual conlanging processes, but it was helped along by the fact that I had to make a sketch of it for a school project.

Do you all have suggestions on ways to overcome this "first hurdle?"

What you're really saying here is that you don't feel enthusiastic about spending lots of time working on personal hobbies that you don't enjoy - which is good! You SHOULD only get enthusiastic when you actually have an idea that really 'clicks' with you! Given that you're your only real audience. [it would be different if you were trying to gee yourself up to do work you were being paid for, for instance] If you could just make things click with you, there'd be no difference between something that pleased you and something that didn't - in which case, there's be no sense of accomplishment in doing something that pleased you. Alternatively, if you could easily persuade yourself to do somethign that didn't click with you, you'd end up wasting a lot of time on things that you didn't actualy like or enjoy. Neither of those outcomes would actually be good!

[greatvalleys1000000]

I'm in a similar boat. I can never seem to get past a basic sketch of the phonology, barebones grammar and maybe only a dozen words or so at most before I lose interest.

I think the issue is that I overthink everything and always second guessing myself.

I've had this problem with being indecisive for as long as I can remember.

This is how I feel exactly. I always feel like I'm making everything too simple. I constantly overthink and second-guess too, like you said. I remember a conlang I tried making a few years ago and I just got stuck because I spent 3 months paralyzed on what verbal aspects I should/shouldn't have added. The only time this wasn't the case was when I took a conlanging seminar in my university last semester and I wrote a 20-page grammar... but that was because I needed to. Some people are so productive with it, and I constantly think about that parable with the pottery students that basically when you make more and more conlangs (regardless of whether they are good) the better you become. Still, I can't manage to get anything done without thinking I'm doing everything wrong.

I wonder if there are people on this forum that overcame this issue, because it seems like a lot of us have this in common.

[VaptuantaDoi]

This is how I feel exactly. I always feel like I'm making everything too simple. I constantly overthink and second-guess too, like you said. I remember a conlang I tried making a few years ago and I just got stuck because I spent 3 months paralyzed on what verbal aspects I should/shouldn't have added. The only time this wasn't the case was when I took a conlanging seminar in my university last semester and I wrote a 20-page grammar... but that was because I needed to. Some people are so productive with it, and I constantly think about that parable with the pottery students that basically when you make more and more conlangs (regardless of whether they are good) the better you become. Still, I can't manage to get anything done without thinking I'm doing everything wrong.

I wonder if there are people on this forum that overcame this issue, because it seems like a lot of us have this in common.

One possible avenue to fix this is to participate in things on the board like conlang relays, speedlang challenges etc. When you've got a deadline it can force you to make decisions which you otherwise wouldn't have the motivation for - of course that only lasts as long as your participation in the event, but it can often provide a catalyst for further motivation.

[Khemehekis]

I'm in a similar boat. I can never seem to get past a basic sketch of the phonology, barebxnes grammar and maybe only a dozen words or so at most before I lose interest.

I think the issue is that I overthink everything and always second guessing myself.

I've had this problem with being indecisive for as long as I can remember.

Judging from the way you described your conlanging, I'm guessing you see yourself as "a conlanger first, and a conworlder second"?

I don't have this problem, because I see myself as a conworlder first, and a conlanger second. All of my conlangs are for established peoples in my conworlds. If I were to scrap, say, Bodusian, my poor Bodusians would be left without a language to speak. The purpose of the Bodusian language is giving the Bodusian people of the Lehola Galaxy some language they can name things, creatures, and concepts in, something to give them their own names, something they can write legal documents and religious texts and folktales and meditation instructions in. Plus I have an instinctive idea about what the language of the Domeheads of Bodus or the humans of Kankonia or the lef of the Tumarosphere would sound like, so I don't worry about whether I "like the sound" of my conlangs. My conlangs aren't supposed to be cellar-door euphonious, they're just supposed to sound like the conpeoples who speak them.

I'm wondering if the people in general who have this hurdle are conlangers first, conworlders second?

[Sequor]

I wonder if there are people on this forum that overcame this issue, because it seems like a lot of us have this in common.

Well, I've been conlanging for 15 years (oof, how time flies by!), and personally I've basically given up on ever making anything longer than a sketch. I'm okay at making a 30-page grammar if I want to, but I just don't have the motivation to work on a lexicon of thousands of words and collocations and hundreds of idioms. I just don't enjoy that. My conlang archive might have over 100 sketches by now.

[Reyzadren]

I'm wondering if the people in general who have this hurdle are conlangers first, conworlders second?

I don't have such hurdle, I am a conworlder first, but I have a different reason.

I'm more of a fast sloppy person who is merely showing a facet of the world to other members here. If it turns out that something sounds wrong, then that just means that I described it poorly, the languages themselves would still exist in its true form over there with all speakers in its world.
Moreover, the speakers of my conlang don't consider their language to be perfect, so there's no reason why I should hold myself or the lang to such standard anyway.

[greatvalleys1000000]

I'm in a similar boat. I can never seem to get past a basic sketch of the phonology, barebxnes grammar and maybe only a dozen words or so at most before I lose interest.

I think the issue is that I overthink everything and always second guessing myself.

I've had this problem with being indecisive for as long as I can remember.

Judging from the way you described your conlanging, I'm guessing you see yourself as "a conlanger first, and a conworlder second"?

I don't have this problem, because I see myself as a conworlder first, and a conlanger second. All of my conlangs are for established peoples in my conworlds. If I were to scrap, say, Bodusian, my poor Bodusians would be left without a language to speak. The purpose of the Bodusian language is giving the Bodusian people of the Lehola Galaxy some language they can name things, creatures, and concepts in, something to give them their own names, something they can write legal documents and religious texts and folktales and meditation instructions in. Plus I have an instinctive idea about what the language of the Domeheads of Bodus or the humans of Kankonia or the lef of the Tumarosphere would sound like, so I don't worry about whether I "like the sound" of my conlangs. My conlangs aren't supposed to be cellar-door euphonious, they're just supposed to sound like the conpeoples who speak them.

I'm wondering if the people in general who have this hurdle are conlangers first, conworlders second?

Oooh, that is an interesting idea! I am in fact a conlanger first, conworlding is very interesting but I just never have any ideas for imaginary cultures. The conworlding-first approach definitely helps (at least with derivations and that sort of thing). I was primarily a conworlder in my preteen years but perhaps I could get back into it

[Khemehekis]

Oooh, that is an interesting idea! I am in fact a conlanger first, conworlding is very interesting but I just never have any ideas for imaginary cultures. The conworlding-first approach definitely helps (at least with derivations and that sort of thing). I was primarily a conworlder in my preteen years but perhaps I could get back into it

Thanks! That's definitely the impression I get from reading posts from scrappers -- people who keep creating conlangs then abandoning them because they've decided they're unsatisfied with their conlang for some reason -- that they're conlangers first.

Consider what sort of conworld you'd like to create -- a butterfly-inhabited, pastel-colored island where there are no wars? A hunter-gatherer culture? A Bronze Age culture with strict religious beliefs? A spacefaring, fturistic civilization that encounters many other civilizations? A planet where every sapient has the ability to time-travel back and forth at will wired into their brain?

Check out the Khemehekis Conlanger Taxonomy: https://www.frathwiki.com/Khemehekis_Conlanger_Taxonomy . I'm what I call a filler. I'm a conworlder first, with an entire galaxy full of conpeoples and their native biospheres. Every conlang in the galaxy is the language of a specific culture in Lehola: the humans on the planet Kankonia speak Kankonian; the humans in the nation Tenta on the planet Junsu speak Tentan; the Domeheads on the planet Bodus speak Bodusian; the Greys on the planet Bt!a telepathize Bt!apzh as their lingua franca; the ilti on the planet Javarti speak Javarti; the lef in the Tumarosphere countries on the planet Saros speak Epselet; the pachams in the nation of Kebsabhaz on the planet Chedam speak Nyzelizaph; the Reds on the planet Hapoi speak languages like Hapoish and Naklixiq (there are two main racial morphs of Reds, the Brachyforms and Dolichoforms, each with many cultures and both of which have a strong racial identity, such like Black pride, La Raza, etc. on Earth); the añak of the planet Querre telepathize Quispe; the homa of the planet Pluos telepathize Ampwanitz as their lingua franca; the chais of Keitel speak Achel as their lingua franca; the fhaang of the Ghupii tribe on Phadon speak Ghupii; the thoem of the nation Peshtan on the planet Stoemom speak Peshtanese; the parrotpeople of Psittacotia have many syringeally-spoken languages amongst them; the tamepo of Syprian speak many languages that involve color-changing, etc.

[LinguoFranco]

I'm in a similar boat. I can never seem to get past a basic sketch of the phonology, barebxnes grammar and maybe only a dozen words or so at most before I lose interest.

I think the issue is that I overthink everything and always second guessing myself.

I've had this problem with being indecisive for as long as I can remember.

Judging from the way you described your conlanging, I'm guessing you see yourself as "a conlanger first, and a conworlder second"?

I don't have this problem, because I see myself as a conworlder first, and a conlanger second. All of my conlangs are for established peoples in my conworlds. If I were to scrap, say, Bodusian, my poor Bodusians would be left without a language to speak. The purpose of the Bodusian language is giving the Bodusian people of the Lehola Galaxy some language they can name things, creatures, and concepts in, something to give them their own names, something they can write legal documents and religious texts and folktales and meditation instructions in. Plus I have an instinctive idea about what the language of the Domeheads of Bodus or the humans of Kankonia or the lef of the Tumarosphere would sound like, so I don't worry about whether I "like the sound" of my conlangs. My conlangs aren't supposed to be cellar-door euphonious, they're just supposed to sound like the conpeoples who speak them.

I'm wondering if the people in general who have this hurdle are conlangers first, conworlders second?

Yeah, I think I'm a conlanger first, then worldbuilder. I have been on a years long quest to design an ideallanguage that appeals to me personally, so it would have all the aesthetics I like.

Sometimes, I'll come across a linguistic concept that I think would be cool to try out, so I design a conlang based around that feature.

Most of my concultures were designed around the conlang so there would at least some speakers. Most of my concultures, though, are super simplistic. Usually, I'll just decide that they are nomadic pastorialists or tropical islanders or something, and leave it at that.

[Khemehekis]

Yeah, I think I'm a conlanger first, then worldbuilder. I have been on a years long quest to design an ideallanguage that appeals to me personally, so it would have all the aesthetics I like.

Sometimes, I'll come across a linguistic concept that I think would be cool to try out, so I design a conlang based around that feature.

Most of my concultures were designed around the conlang so there would at least some speakers. Most of my concultures, though, are super simplistic. Usually, I'll just decide that they are nomadic pastorialists or tropical islanders or something, and leave it at that.

Sounds as if you and I have not only very different mindsets, but very different goals.