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Whyyyy hello there human! (or elf, or alien, or whatever you might be)
THIS IS NOW THE OFFICIAL WORLDBUILDING THREAD!!!!!! Here we swap tips, struggles, and questions!
And rant about our worlds, of course…
So with no further ado…
LET THE RANTS BEGIN!!!!!
I was one way, and now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between was Him.
Ok, now with this, I (unfortunately) DEFINITELY KNOW WHERE TO START.
HOW DO I COME UP WITH NAMES FOR MY WORLD THAT AREN’T TOALLY WACKO??? (And fit the tone I want them to set…)
But literally, names for places, specifically, are my difficult point.
So! What are y’all tips and/or processes for this??
"[Write] today like there's no tomorrow!"
HOW DO I COME UP WITH NAMES FOR MY WORLD THAT AREN’T TOALLY WACKO??? (And fit the tone I want them to set…)
YES YES YES YOU’VE COME TO THE RIGHT PLACE LITERALLY NAMING THINGS IS MY FAVORITE THING IN THE WHOLE WORLDBUILDING PROCESS BESIDES LITERALLY EVERYTHING ELSE CUZ HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO PICK A FAVORITE?????? XD
Okay.
So.
First rule of thumb: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOTALLY WACKO THIS IS FANTASY XD
Okay, but seriously. Nothing is “too strange” when you’re in the creative progress. So don’t let that stop you.
However lol.
Fitting the tone can be a bit harder.
How I do it is that I figure out what kinds of vowel/diphthong sounds fit the world best (for example, my world has a lot of Ay/Ey/Iy sounds). Then I construct words around those sounds.
If I know a word needs to be flowy, I’ll try to use Ay’s and Ey’s. Or if it needs to be clunky and aggressive, I’ll use lots of K’s and Ch’s. Evil places often have lots of Z’s in them. For example, enormous 50-foot-long black widows I call “zordicc terrashes.”
I think one of the best ways to get better at it is to look up names of real places as well as fantasy word places and study how each word captures the feel of the place. For example, “Morder” and “Angband” sound evil literally because of the construction of the word. “Doriath” sounds peaceful and mysterious. The first two sound creepy because of the hard consonants, whereas “Doriath” is completely opposite because of the softer sounds.
Another fun way to do it is to start by naming a place by describing it. Example: “sun valley.” Then figure out a way to redo the words so that they capture the same feel. Example: “Siyenenvale.” Did that make… any sense at all? XD
And you have now discovered my secret obsession with language.
SORRY FOR THE RANT XD
I was one way, and now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between was Him.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! That is actually pretty amazing. (I WISH I HAD THE SKILL TO MATCH MY LANGUAGE OBSESSION, but I’m the sort of person who’d love to learn all the languages in the world, but can’t because I just can’t learn any languages. 😭 I have learned Latin, and I know English, but besides that what I know is just words of other languages.)
Can I just hire you to make up my place names for me? XD
Seriously, though, thank you. This should help me, and that’s what I need. (Though, it’s not to say that I wasn’t partly serious about you making up my place names for me. 😆)
"[Write] today like there's no tomorrow!"
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! That is actually pretty amazing. (I WISH I HAD THE SKILL TO MATCH MY LANGUAGE OBSESSION, but I’m the sort of person who’d love to learn all the languages in the world, but can’t because I just can’t learn any languages. 😭 I have learned Latin, and I know English, but besides that what I know is just words of other languages.)
LOL YOU’RE WELCOME XD Haha I literally felt that XD I’m only good at fantasy language and LATIN I’VE LEARNED LATIN AND I LOVE IT lol I should try to learn some others…
Eh.
I’ll stick to Elvish.
Can I just hire you to make up my place names for me? XD
LOLLLLL NO BECAUSE MY CREATIVITY ONLY LASTS SO LONG AND I NEED IT FOR MY WORLD XD
But hey.
If you’ll pay me in sneak peeks to your story…
Then we might have a deal. XD
Seriously, though, thank you. This should help me, and that’s what I need. (Though, it’s not to say that I wasn’t partly serious about you making up my place names for me. 😆)
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I meannnnnnn I honestly wouldn’t mind… BUT I’M GLAD IT WAS HELPFULLLLL!!!!!!
I was one way, and now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between was Him.
LOL YOU’RE WELCOME XD Haha I literally felt that XD I’m only good at fantasy language and LATIN I’VE LEARNED LATIN AND I LOVE IT lol I should try to learn some others…
Eh.
I’ll stick to Elvish.
I’m not good at anything besides English and Latin, and the language I’m trying to make up but is unfortunately for a different world and I don’t want traveling worlds, lolll
I WANNA LEARN ELVISH!!!
LOLLLLL NO BECAUSE MY CREATIVITY ONLY LASTS SO LONG AND I NEED IT FOR MY WORLD XD
But hey.
If you’ll pay me in sneak peeks to your story…
Then we might have a deal. XD
Very understandable. 😉
That’s actually temptingggg….. (but I’d have to have story to share, lolll. I’ve started it! Which is big because I was having a little trouble starting it, and honestly, it’s only been about a month since the idea first came to me, and I normally don’t work that fast at building such a large complex world as I did for this!)
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I meannnnnnn I honestly wouldn’t mind… BUT I’M GLAD IT WAS HELPFULLLLL!!!!!!
I’ll be trying your tips before I come crawling to you on my knees, begging and offering scraps of the story, heh. (YOOOO, I could give you the death scene first (where he dies, not where he’s killed), because I actually wrote that already, lolllll, if I come)
"[Write] today like there's no tomorrow!"
I’m not good at anything besides English and Latin, and the language I’m trying to make up but is unfortunately for a different world and I don’t want traveling worlds, lolll
I WANNA LEARN ELVISH!!!
THAT IS A MOOD I decided that it would be a smart idea to create like 5 different languages for one world.
Trust me.
It was not a good idea.
References: 500 headaches; Large holes in wall resulting from punching and/or throwing of blunt objects; -20% success rate.
🤣
YOU SHOULD LEARN ELVISH
Very understandable. 😉
That’s actually temptingggg….. (but I’d have to have story to share, lolll. I’ve started it! Which is big because I was having a little trouble starting it, and honestly, it’s only been about a month since the idea first came to me, and I normally don’t work that fast at building such a large complex world as I did for this!)
Ahhh… that would actually make sense. I mean, ya know, hard to share something that doesn’t exist…
BUT HEY SURE I’M COOL WITH THAT!
I’ll be trying your tips before I come crawling to you on my knees, begging and offering scraps of the story, heh. (YOOOO, I could give you the death scene first (where he dies, not where he’s killed), because I actually wrote that already, lolllll, if I come)
I AGREEE WITH THIS PLANNN!!!!!!!!!! *prepares a polished throne from which to look down on you with secret glee over the story scraps*
I was one way, and now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between was Him.
*pops out of the snow like a daisy*
*realizes that reference makes no sense since it was 80 degrees here today*
*proceeds anyway*
I’VE BEEN SUMMONED.
I pick 2-3 real-world languages to go with each culture I’m developing, pick the descriptors I want to use for the place I’m naming, put those descriptors into Google Translate for each language that goes with the appropriate culture, mishmash the results, run the mishmash back into English to make sure it doesn’t mean anything weird, and voilà I have a name. XD I call it Frankentranslating, lol.
Speculative fiction author. Mythology nerd. Singer. Worldbuilding enthusiast.
WHYYYYY are you so smart??? XD I should really try to be simpler about my naming…
BUT SUFFERING CREATIVE WITHDRAWALS IS SO MUCH MORE FUUNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!
Also…
the reference though…
*Pointedly ignores the fact that it’s randomly snowing which decided to murder all the daisies even though it’s May*
Also I just have to say that I totally knew you would show up the moment the word “worldbuilding” appeared. XD
I was one way, and now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between was Him.
@denali-christianson I think I’ve given up on worldbuilding at this stage in life, for all my projects now it’s either like, “What generally fits the vibe of this story” if it’s something short or casual, or, “What would make sense in the story and help me achieve the goals of my plot/character arcs/themes” if I’m being serious and hardworking, or “Oh this is fun I could include this it doesn’t make any sense that their company is being run by cats or their kingdom is ruled by rabbits and I’m never going to explain any of this but this would be neat heheheheh” for long works that I want to have more fun with because otherwise it’d be a huge drag ;-; and somehow it manages to still be a drag. Because. It’s. So. Long.
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into daysI. Have. No. Words. FOR HOW RELATABLE THAT IS
@emilysf YOU HEAR THAT??? JUST THROW SOMETHING WACKO OUT THERE!!!! *whispers* or give me story scraps… XDI was one way, and now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between was Him.
@denali-christianson I’m glad I’m a relatable person! 😀 Sometimes I think I’m just in the corner doing wack and setting things on fire while all the other writers have their lives together.
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into daysSO I JUST WANNA THROW OUT THE NAME OF THE LAND IN MY FIRST BOOK CUZ I’M PROUD OF MYSELF ROFL XD
It’s called A’Grend and one of the big elements when I was making it was it’s beautiful Garden (because it’s kinda like the Garden of Eden) it was created by God as a safe haven for His chosen people and those seeking refuge and such.
And A’Grend is actually an anagram!!!
I got it by rearranging the letters of Garden, capitalizing A and adding an apostrophe to make it look all fantasy-ish and I love it XD
#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSebHonestly the book in my series that will need the most world building is going to be book 4….because there’s like 3 Fae clans (which included the Mer) and a mythical sea beast and a war, and all that jazz) but then I gotta come up with the worldbuilding for the other books too cuz I’ve got Shifters (humans who can turn into animals) and elves (SO MUCH STUFF WITH ELVES) and prophecy involving crystals/destinies/God’s chosen/destined and my Circus land which is so creatively named Cirque XP
SO MUCH WORLDBUILDING TO DO and I’m just like
SO MANY IDEAS but actually writing them down? NAH
#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSebWORLD BUILDING!!
I’ll try not to rant too much.
I love world building, and the great news is that I have two WIPs with two very different worlds to form. Huzzah!
And I get to use them as excuses to read random articles on the formation of the Baltic/slav tribes, whether the Saxons used slings, and what kind of bread was baked in the 900th century BC. Fun stuff like that.
Anyway, I’ve blathered long enough. Your way of organizing languages is brilliant. I’m currently trying to figure out what kinds of sounds go with which dialects of the fictional language I’m pretending to make for my story with Viktor in it.
I also have to decide on how far I want to go with it….
I want to make the alphabet, and understanding a simple grammar would probably be useful. My biggest reason, though, for making this was so I could have fun writing in the illustrations, so I don’t need a whole language.
I do the most involved things for the strangest reasons.
This sounds uncannily similar to what I’m doing in constructing the Brother-Nations. Seriously, though, I thought I was original. It’s devastating.
Okay, okay, just teasing, I was actually quite thrilled to read your description of the process.
This is what I have done. I have sorta chosen the cultures/languages from different ones (Gaelic, Baltic, Mediterranean/Hebrew, with random stuff about the Saxons, Rus, and Norse. And they’re are the ancient forms, because that’s just so much more fun.)
Then I think about what culture(s) I’m borrowing this particular word/thing/custom from, and mishmash the original words together till (1)I like it, and (2) It doesn’t actually mean anything in any language other than Eishlagair/Ayshlagair (depending on which one of the Brother-Nations you’re from.)
..and that sounds so much more involved and planned out than it is.
You have listened to fears, child. Come, let me breathe on you... Are you brave again? -Aslan
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