Interesting! The far future of my dystopian novel is so far in the future (c. 1000 years) that language would be entirely different. So I just had them speak everyday English with a few jargon terms that fit their hunter-gatherer society.
Are you familiar with The Expanse? The authors did a similar thing with Belter Cant, which is a mashup of a bunch of different languages.
I appreciate how much intention goes into crafting names, languages, and even societal norms for the FORGED series. Also, the effort to research historical slang from different eras and industries to evolve language is such a brilliant touch. It grounds the story and shows a kind of linguistic respect for the fluidity of culture. Good for you, and thank you for sharing your thoughtful process.
Names are so difficult for me. And I used to work for people as a namer (for their brands). I love the map thing, and also like to have an old Yellow Pages to peruse until I find the perfect combination. Then I put it into google and realize its the name of a famous soccer player or something πΉ
Very cool stuff! Language is such an interesting thing. We use it and don't really think much about how we're using it, even as writers! But here, you kind of explicitly break that thought process down for folks. Also: I'm very glad to see that something I've written has produced some excellent thinking!
Thanks for the mention, CB!
Interesting! The far future of my dystopian novel is so far in the future (c. 1000 years) that language would be entirely different. So I just had them speak everyday English with a few jargon terms that fit their hunter-gatherer society.
Are you familiar with The Expanse? The authors did a similar thing with Belter Cant, which is a mashup of a bunch of different languages.
Oh, now creating an entirely new language would be so difficult! Thatβs like Star Wars/Star Trek level of world building!
I appreciate how much intention goes into crafting names, languages, and even societal norms for the FORGED series. Also, the effort to research historical slang from different eras and industries to evolve language is such a brilliant touch. It grounds the story and shows a kind of linguistic respect for the fluidity of culture. Good for you, and thank you for sharing your thoughtful process.
Happy Thursday!
Thanks, Neela. The amount of research Iβve done for this series was not what I expected!
It pays off, though. The details do matter.
Names are so difficult for me. And I used to work for people as a namer (for their brands). I love the map thing, and also like to have an old Yellow Pages to peruse until I find the perfect combination. Then I put it into google and realize its the name of a famous soccer player or something πΉ
Ohhhhh, old phone books would be awesome!!! And, yes, googling the combo would be wise π€¦π»ββοΈ
I want to think of new slang.
You. Can. Do. It! π£
Very cool stuff! Language is such an interesting thing. We use it and don't really think much about how we're using it, even as writers! But here, you kind of explicitly break that thought process down for folks. Also: I'm very glad to see that something I've written has produced some excellent thinking!
Your newsletters are very informative, inspiring, *and* entertaining!