Tag Archives: world-building

How to Use Alternate Languages in Your Story

Story Tips,

Gryxle blewph cothip wu’dop^

That means, “Welcome to my latest blog post!” in the fantasy language I’m creating for a book I’m writing. I know, it’s a little rough right now, but I’m working on it. My favorite part is using the ^ symbol in place of the exclamation point.

I’m pretty excited about this. Soon it will catch on with my readers like such classics as Klingon or Elvish.

Okay, so maybe I’m a bit delusional. The point here is that we fantasy writers are often a little too eager to delve into language creation. We jumble letters together and write glossaries, but often we are only annoying our readers with our jaunt into world-building.

I’m convinced that in most cases, such stuff isn’t entirely necessary. As I’ve been annoyed by stories that do this, I’ve come up with a set of guidelines for alternate languages. Continue reading How to Use Alternate Languages in Your Story →

Why Nobody Should World-Build

Story Tips, ,

Howdy! Aubrey Hansen here. If you’re a fan of Jordan’s, you’ve probably seen my name in passing. We’re what you might call partners in crime when it comes to storytelling. He produced my first short script “A House for Marge,” and I’m a story supervisor and screenwriter for his web series Month of the Novel. He’s mentioned in the special thanks of my latest book, and I’m mentioned in his. Basically, if I’ve written it, he’s helped me develop it, and if he’s written it, I’ve either helped develop it or raved enthusiastically about it.

So it should come to no surprise to anyone that he asked me to write a guest post for his shiny new blog. Anyone who knows me also won’t be surprised by his requested topic—world-building. What will hopefully surprise most of you, however, is the thesis I wish to present:

You shouldn’t world-build.

That’s what I said. Don’t. Don’t world-build. Whatever other writers tell you, don’t listen to them! If you’ve already started world-building, get out while you still can. It’s a slippery slope into a dark crevice with no foreseeable bottom; once you get in over your head in world-building, you’ll never get back out. Continue reading Why Nobody Should World-Build →