We had some laughs around our house when we got four inches of snow two days ago because some weather forecasters had declared last week 'meterological spring' for our part of the country. Now we're not getting into the skills or lack thereof when it comes to predict the weather. But staying in the joking mood, two of my son noticed our cat was doing a lot of shedding and they declared it cateological spring. You get the meaning which is really helpful when it comes to a made up word.
Spell check doesn't smile much at those made up words when we use them but when you write fantasy or scifi, chances are you've made up some words. Maybe the words are for a type of magic or a futuristic spaceship engine or propulsion method.
In my upcoming epic fantasy, First Dragon, there are two opposing religious and political beliefs. Umbron is the spiritual leader of one sect and Bellam is the leader of the other. Yes, I think I made those up. I'm using more made up words and names but I'll talk about those someday when I can actually announce the release of that book.
Many authors use made up names. I prefer those words make some sense so I can remember what they mean. I also like them to be pronounceable.
Do you use made up words? Do you mind seeing them when you're reading? Are there cases when it bothers you?
13 comments:
I love making up words but, hey, so did Shakespeare - we're in good company!
I'm a fellow fantasy writer, and I know I've done my job well when my document is pickled with little red lines from the spell checker.
I just recently made up a word - scquiching - because squishing wasn't working.
Squiching -- the sound a muddy sandal makes as it walks across a wooden floor
Almost all of the names in my books are made up, and yes, I do make them short and easy to pronounce. Spellcheck has a field day with my manuscripts.
I don't mind reading made-up words, but God help the author if his protag's name is three words long and full of Xs and Zs. More often than not, I stop reading.
I don't want to have to stumble over imaginary words. It takes away from the story.
I'm with Maria, but then again, I'm not a huge fantasy reader. But sometimes if a word/name is too long or odd sounding, I just kind of make up my own short cut for it and skim over it. Too much of that and I'll set the book aside.
My WIP includes paranormal elements but not the standard vampires, witches, werewolves, etc. so I needed to create my own words when dealing with those characters. I try to keep it to a minimum so the reader doesn't need to learn a whole second language.
I use made up words in my stories, but I like them to be easy to pronounce. Spellcheck continues to have a field day with my stories, but that's what ignore is for, right?
I think made up words can definitely add to a story, but if they are too hard to pronounce (or remember) or they don't go with the flow of story they can be distracting.
I've used so many unique terms that my spellcheck often has a meltdown. there's a point where it'll tell me it gives up and turns itself off. lol It makes me laugh every time.
I don't mind seeing them in books I read as long as there aren't a lot of them. I rarely use made-up words myself, but my son loves making up nonsense words!
As long as they make some sort of sense, I don't mind seeing 'made up' words. Sometimes they can be fun :)
I don't use made up words in any of my current wips, but since they're westerns, some of the Texas dialect comes through. And Spellcheck has a field day with it.
I don't mind made up words at all. They are fun. Like couponing. That's a made up word. My spell check hates it.
One time a long time ago my cousin did a paper on his dad's computer. Cousin had many many many, and I mean MANY misspelled words. Instead of fix them, the boy added them all to his dad's dictionary.
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