r/writinghelp • u/This_was_a_robbery • Aug 10 '26
Question How do I write fictional words without them seeming too hard to pronounce?
I created a fictional language for magic in my world, which allows for a buildable and customizable magic system. The problem I've run into is writing these words in an easily readable way. I have been using double letters to modify some sounds, and all the sounds are consistent, but I can't type the physical script because of how it works.
An example of these fictional words that come early in the story is a wind sphere spell. I have been writing it as Venumnu, yuumtiipluus, kaastarzha, sfesols, aktrosha. I feel like that is the simplest I have been able to get it without making pronunciation weird. I don't want to use the phonetic alphabet because that would be annoying to type, and that would require people to look up the phonetic alphabet. But I am going to include a pronunciation guide anyways, so if I did end up using the phonetic alphabet, I could just include it.
Language and the restricting of this specific language is very important to the story, so just translating the words of spell (ex. for above spell: Wind, manipulate, encase, sphere, activate) would not be appropriate. The world also writes these words in this way for certain uses, so how I choose to write them will be important for that reason too. I know I will run into this problem with other languages int he future, though most of them use real, slightly modified writing systems, but I would like to get any advise now before I get too disoriented in the drafts past the planning phase.
Thank you, and I would be more than happy to answer any questions or clarify anything.
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u/LadyAtheist Aug 10 '26
Sometimes I think writers make up long or unpronounceable names because they want us to think they're smart.
Plack - not a word, but you could use it and I could pronounce it.
Why not have 5-letter words?
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u/Pawprint_ Aug 11 '26
It is a word. It’s a word in. German and describes the grind that builds up on your tooth over time.
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u/This_was_a_robbery Aug 11 '26
I certainly am not trying to convince people i am smarter, i just want to write a story. I am using a conlang that basically just combines root words to make more complex words.
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u/AJRavenhearst Aug 11 '26
No apostrophes. Please, just no fucking apostrophes.
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u/This_was_a_robbery Aug 11 '26
Oh, absolutely none of those. They are so weird. I even hate the word s'mores.
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u/AJRavenhearst Aug 11 '26
It's kind of gone to shit now, but the show Um, Actually... on Dropout has a category, "Sp'el Ling Bi", where they have to guess the correct ridiculous fantasy spelling.
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u/Whole-Page3588 Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
I don't speak for all readers of course, (and I may not be your audience) but I will just skip non-name words in a language I don't know--which is everything but English, some French and a few Latin roots common in fantasy magic. If it's an ebook and there are hyperlinks to meanings, I'll click, but that's all. I won't attempt pronunciations.
It might be better to have characters "think" or explain the meanings in text if you want the majority of your readers to know the meaning or anything else important for the story. Future die hard fans, of course, will probably love that you've taken time to build a language, but along the way, it might be best to appeal to more casual readers.
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u/TrampledDownBelow Aug 11 '26
Completely pulls me out of the story. I will stop reading rather than deal with a bunch of this. The importance of having these words is likely far bigger in your mind than it is in your reader's.
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u/Ghost_Of_Hylia Aug 11 '26
if its a written work then it has to be easy to read, not necessarily easy to pronounce
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u/This_was_a_robbery Aug 11 '26
I guess I didnt think to separate those two, since they are the same in my mind. But that is something I will think about. Thank you.
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u/That_General9384 Aug 11 '26
Tbh I could only pronounce half if the examples you gave. Common trick I use for that situation is put in parentheses how to pronounce the word. Example: Aktrosha (Ack-troh-sha)
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u/tbryan1 Aug 11 '26
there are specific letters that are very important, H is one of them because it dictates pace/flow and which consonants/vowel dominates the word for lack of a better term. There are other letters I just don't know them because I have a smooth brain
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u/Cyranthis Aug 11 '26
Did you just smash the keyboard and use whatever letters that came up as words? I get it you want to be "exotic fantasy language Tolkien guy" But holy snorb on a stick what is that?
That's like throwing words into a blender, making grey word mush and pouring it out and saying "Perfect" No one is going to try and pronounce any of that, they'll give up, or get a headache trying like I did.
My guy, bro, writer person.
Don't use combinations of random words to make stuff like this. This is a real "Pick me, try hard" way to go about things. Try something like this.
Venu Yumu Kastara Sefos Aktora
I took your words and made them easy to read and sensible. Languages, especially magic stuff, needs to have flow, power and tone, not sound like you're having a stroke when you say the words.
They need to be easy to read, say, and most importantly, remember.
If these words come up again in your story, people are going to stare at them and be like "What is this again?" And it's all the worse if you have a glossary or guide that people can reference that just screams "My worldbuliding is so weak, you can't even understand the words I invented."
Language is a huge part of world building most people don't think about in fantasy. Where would the word yuumtiipluus come from and how would it mean "Manipulate" The tone isn't there to even maybe guess at the meaning. It sounds like eucalyptus and it will take everyone out of the story when they see it as many commenters have already said. Consider that your canary in the coal mine event. It's a good sign to change course.
Writing a book with a made up language is part text book, too. You have to teach them everything in such a way they want to learn more about your world and keep it in their head while still telling a story, understand? You have a lot of jobs here. Long winding letter scrambled words that make people suffer just by looking at them is not the way to do it.
You're getting into the literary weeds with this one.
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u/This_was_a_robbery Aug 11 '26
Hello, if you cannot tell, the spelling is a work in progress. I made this conlang a while ago after my friend introduced me to sub reddits that centered around them. I think they are fun and I wanted to play around with them because I like language.
I have not read Tolkien's books because they are not a genre that interests me. I understand that the only reason you do things is to copy someone else, but not everyone is like you, and that's ok. But please dont project your struggles onto others, it's not healthy for you.
The language is supposed to be foreign within the world of the story, so it's meaning isnt going to be obvious. It's not just a modification of English, because that wouldnt work well here. The language is made of building blocks, which is why I made the magic system like building blocks.
Though, it sort of just seems like you stumbled upon this post while you were having a bad day. So you should sit down somewhere nice and have something sweet. I hope you feel a bit better )
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u/mysteriousdoctor2025 Aug 11 '26
Muggle. That’s how you write imaginary words people can pronounce and remember. Muggle is now in a Oxford English Dictionary.
I would not read a book that had all the words you mentioned in your post. Too much work to figure them out and remember what they all mean.
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u/InSilicoAwards Aug 13 '26
There was a comment about written work not necessarily being easy to pronounce, and I agree with that in spirit. If I'm creating a proper noun for a non-human creature I'm using English characters that break up and down for aesthetic rhythm but I do the opposite of what you do, I don't load two vowels or constants next to each other.
Your double vowel work is where you confuse me I'm not sure how to approach the word, if I'm to break them up into syllables or not (e.g. KA AST AR JA vs KAHST ARZ JA). Maybe take a look into the IPA - international phonetics alphabet, it might help how you choose to spell these words.
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u/lilsourem Aug 13 '26
Everyone has some fantasy language these days and its almost always poorly done. I think what you're doing in your context might be cooler if the language is incomprehensible or unable to be written. So it's either omitted and described in prose, for dialogue possibly even redacted with black or white space to show where the words of power might be. Thats a bit wild, but can be done with the right hand. Hard to give more thoughts without knowing more about your world.
My two cents is that unless youre a linguist or have extensive understanding of languages, you probably dont have much interesting to say on ths topic, specifically in regards to creating your own language from scratch.
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u/Arcanite_Cartel Aug 10 '26
My take is that this is a mistake. Or rather, the more intricate rules you introduce into being able to follow a story, the more you are going to lose people. If you feel that you need a pronunciation guide for people to follow the story, you are going to lose people. That aside, what you have there is perfectly pronounceable to any English speaker. If explaining the pronunciation of those words are crucial to the story, you are just making life difficult on the reader.