It’s derived from two English words together, readers can extrapolate that it’s an insult based on lineage. Mudblood: “Mudblood” is an offensive term for someone who has magic, but is descended from a muggle.It requires more explanation, and readers must remember that explanation without a clue from the term itself. It also sounds silly. The word itself offers no hint as to its meaning. Muggle: A muggle is a person without magic.Seriousness: If you don’t create your own words, you don’t risk breaking the mood with something that sounds silly.Īs an example, let’s look at two words from the world of Harry Potter:.They won’t get distracted or irritated by words they can’t sound out. Pronunciation: Your readers will know how English words are pronounced, so they will also know how to pronounce your new term.With these hints, your readers are less likely to become frustrated and confused. Context: Your choice of English words will offer hints about your term’s meaning.Doing so comes with a host of advantages: Instead, reuse and recombine English words. But don’t go to town just yet you still shouldn’t make your term from scratch. You have a fake thing or concept, and you need a new term to represent it. Put thought into making your world different, then communicate how it works as clearly as you can. If you prioritize substance over style, you’ll know when something is unique enough to require a new term. On the other hand, if your animal scales the walls to lick dust off the top shelf, just calling it a “dog” would be misleading. Once it violates reader expectations by sticking to the ceiling, they might question everything else you’ve established. Or at least a hound, mongrel, or canine. If you try to pass a dog off as something else, your audience will know, and they’ll think you’re putting on airs. You can give it wings and purple polka dots if you want, but as long as it does what a dog does, a dog it is. If your companion animal barks, wags its tail, and herds green sheep, then it’s not fake it’s a dog. Remember those blue horses from Avatar? Exactly.īut let’s be real. If the inhabitants have a strange companion animal that’s green and six-legged, it’s fair to invent a word to call it by. There may not be English words for the things in your world. When in doubt, don’t risk it – use a real word. The cons are bottomless pits that can erase your story from the bestseller lists. Notice something about these pros and cons? The pros are little molehills you can step up on. If you’re writing a comedy, then great! Otherwise, fake words can wreak havoc on the mood you’ve toiled over. Sounding Ridiculous: Making good words is hard. Unless they’re just right, they won’t feel natural, and your readers will laugh.The more fake words you use, the harder it will be for them to understand your sentences, much less appreciate the story those sentences are building. Confusing Readers: Earth readers aren’t too bright they only understand Earth languages.You can remind them that the story they’re reading isn’t just any old story by using unique words. Setting the Atmosphere: Your world isn’t Earth, and if you use nothing but Earth words, your reader might never know.Avoiding Anachronisms: The last thing you want is for a reader to stop and blink after your character mentions a “meter” or a “second.” It might be better to use fake words instead.In fact, there are some good reasons to include them: It’s fun to invent a language and special terms for your characters to use, and it would be a pity to leave those inventions out of your stories. Why not write your novel in their language instead?īecause you would be breaking these four rules, that’s why. ![]() They aren’t telling stories or recording history in English they’re doing it in the language you invented for them. An English language book describing their journey is clearly an anachronism. It was late glorious October outside, and the whole town was covered with yellow, red, brown, and crimson crispy leaves.If your story takes place in another world, none of your characters are really speaking English. Sunday was a marvelous, uplifting day, perfect for our usual slow and cozy strolls around the picturesque autumn park. Read the following samples, guess what’s wrong with them, and never write like this.ġ. These excerpts are collected from different stories, either written by me (sometimes, when you edit, you find monsters), or by other authors. ![]()
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