Greetings,

Syntax is one of the hardest parts of essence to standardize. All three of us who use it in my family do it differently. I have tried to be both specific and general, but that is a bit difficult. So, if you have any questions, suggestions, or panics about the syntax of essence, feel free to vent them here.

With joy and peace in Christ,
Jay Lauser

First, what part of an essence is a syntax?

Syntax is like grammar and punctuation. Basically: do you use a semicolon or a comma, a curly or a square bracket, etc.

Where can I find out exactly what is Essence and how it works? I see the results, but I am not sure what anyone is talking about.
Any thoughts that can clear this up?

Ciela Rose,

Have you read through What is Essence?? It contains an excellent description and goes into much more detail regarding Essence.

I like to use capital and lowercase letters to help keep track of the placement.

SUBJECT
ASPECT {Qualifier [Characteristic (metaphor)]}

I make my subjects and aspects both all uppercase.
Qualifiers and characteristics get the first letter capitalized.
Metaphors only get capitalized if they are proper names.

~Raven

I'll go with White Raven's method, not because I'm necessarily convinced it's the best, but because it's the only one I've been able to figure out. In another post White Raven/her mom were talking about how the current labels are hard to figure out...I agree, but these make sense. Now I just have to try an essence map.

(I guess it's like a lot of things that Jay's family comes up with... you know it's great and it will probably greatly improve your writing; but it's like jumping into an ice-cold shower sometimes! )

eruheran

syntax is the grammar of an essence map, right? Essence mapping is not hard to understand. It's a brilliant idea, I love it, and I'd do it all the time if I could figure out the stupid grammar. Body, aspect, qualifier, all that kind of thing is confusing me...

Because essence is imagery, right? The entire point is to put invisible aspects into a visible form. Something you can see and feel and understand. And that's what makes White Raven's avatars so totally awesome; they put into visual form the imagery of things hidden and unseen.

I can do that, I can come up with imagery. But all this complicated syntax business leaves me confused. My instinct is to just indent everything like a full blown outline. Is Jay's syntax a computer programmers definition of neatness or an actual necessity?

Janin, I was very confused like you when I first started essence. I've only made 4 or 5 maps, but it really helps you know your character more. Syntax is basically the map's format. Something that I'm trying to wrap my head around is how many different kinds of Syntax there are. So far, the one I like the best (I think it's called beginner) looks like this:

BODY{
...Face[
......hair(
.........<the waves of the ocean>
.........<the color of oak bark>)]}

That's a piece of Jade's essence. Normally there would be many more lines before it closes at the end. It closes by putting the other side of a bracket at the end of a metaphor. Normally after bark> I'd have just a ) and then on a new line I'd have eyes( for example.

Don't know if that helped or answered all your questions. It is almost like an outline.

Yep, that is basically what it is.



More or less, it is. Essence mapping is much more than imagery though.



Hehehe... well, it kind of started as 'a computer programmer's definition of neatness' but it has become an actual necessity, once it advanced beyond meaningless names for sections.

If you want to go with just indentation, go ahead. I would probably end up dubbing it Xflat or Xcrippled though.

The labels add a ton of meaning to your ECSS (especially in X++). Such as:

Aspect-name { <element> }

is vastly different from:

Class-name [ <element> ]

depending on what you put into those place-holders.

lol!
I've done several essence maps, and I find the best way to learn syntax is just do it however you want, and then a big Lauser person (or Seer) will come along and tell you what's right, wrong, etc. And then for future maps you know.

That works.

I agree on this.

Especially when you're beginner.

It will make your brain ache.

Aww, it's not so bad after a while. It's a little hard to get used to, but when you can figure it out it's really easy.

I second this...it can be helpful once you figure it out *encouraging smile*

eruheran

(Welcome, Charles!)

I agree with Eru and Eru. ( ) Syntax can be a bear to learn, but once you get used to it isn't all that bad, and really helps organize thoughts. I just wish it was a tad easier to learn.