The World of Make Believe Words
Fiction writers love to create stories. To bring those stories to life we also have to create many other things as well. Not only the obvious things such as plot and characters, but we invent new weapons or fictional places, beliefs, and social history. One important thing we decide is names–names of characters, places, and ‘things’.
This world of make believe is only as limited as the writer’s imagination, but sometimes it is difficult to find the right word to name an element in our story. As a fantasy writer, I often formulate new words to describe original items I’ve included in my stories. If you want to invent a new word, but are struggling to get the right fit, try one of these fun and stimulating exercises.
1. Write down two words of which you like the sound. Separate each into segments and then try out a variety of combinations until you strike one you like. Add in more words and change words as you go. Allow a dynamic evolution of the process and enjoy the creative flow.
Example: To create the name of a place – Sandwich / Holiday
Sandolay, Holwich, Daysan, Dysan, Olian, Onday, Sholind…
2. Take an existing word and alter the spelling or give it a different emphasis. Something quite simple or normal can become exotic and ‘fantastical’.
Example: A heroine’s name based on ‘Christine’ – Krystin, Cristonia, Krysti, Criztine, Istine…
3. Try writing words back to front and add a letter or two to the end.
Example: To create a plant name – pill becomes llipi; apple becomes elppan; cup becomes pucaw…
4. Shorten words to take out the strongest or best sounding piece that fits the need.
Example: creating a regional food – accident–acci; promise–omi; refrigerator–iger…
5. Borrow from other languages. Take your favourite sounding word from another language and give it a new definition.
Example: inventing a new musical instrument – noventa (Spanish, meaning ‘ninety’) becomes a large drum used to send messages by vibrations through the ground; bliksem (Dutch, meaning ‘lightning’) is now a pocket-sized whistle with 3 buttons to reproduce the sounds of animal calls…
The possibilities are limitless and the exercises provided merely a stir to get creative thinking fired up. Do not attempt to restrict the process to words one might normally think of to fit a situation. It is quite as possible and appropriate to create a character’s name from a vegetable as from an actual existing name.
Once one starts breaking words down and mixing them up, the imagination will wander all over the place. This is exactly the desired effect. Some options will be appealing, but not quite fit a particular need. Do keep a record of these words and ideas on the new word’s definition. They very well could be the perfect choice to name the next world, character, or thing. Sometimes these new words take a life of their own and prompt a completely new storyline.
Expand the creative elements within the scope of a story and enjoy the process and results of bringing new words to life.
