Pages

Fictionista, Foodie, Feline-lover

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Building a new vocabulary

Writing my urban fantasy stories has required putting together word lists of paranormal slang and names of objects that don't currently exist in the real world. Because the Misbegotten stories are set in Los Angeles, the epithets for para-creatures are often taken from the Spanish. (I use the Spanish word for "leech," which literally means "blood sucker." to describe vampires, for instance.)
New word of the day: faeblin. That's a mixed race character who has one goblin parent and one fairy parent.
The idea is that the fae blood counteracts the goblin genes in terms of physical appearance, so what you get is a creature with the size of a goblin and the physical beauty of a fairy. Think...Dwayne Johnson. (It's my world, I can cast the parts.)
I'm going to have to get something like Liquid Story Binder, the software John Donald Carlucci has been championing to keep all my notes in one place, though, because I've got scribbled notebook pages, post-it notes and all sorts of disorganized thoughts that need to be in one place.

4 comments:

  1. I could have used something like that when I was working on a fantasy story with a friend of mine, a while back... making up "non-Earth" type names for people... coming up with different terms for certain things/places - cleansing chamber instead of bathroom - under tunic - and then keeping all that straight so that I called it the same thing later in the story. For spells and incantations, I would type it out in English in an online translator.. translate it to Portuguese... and then start taking out vowels and consonants so it did not look like Portuguese, but wasn't total gibberish. And, then... keep track of all that so I used the same "words" in other spells... wouldn't do to use a different "translation" for "Oh Ancient Ones!", now would it. Haha! I too have scribbled journal pages and such all over... about a three square foot space on the wall plastered with Post-It notes... yes, definitely need a little organizing here.

    I love your new word "faeblin"... that is too cool!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You can never count on genetics. This could so easily turn into a race of hideous tiny winged folk.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I enjoyed reading your log and found good information with us. Systems can be configured to work automatically or can be done in conjunction with manual merchandising efforts by the retailer.


    Point of Purchase Displays

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Veronica--That idea of translating it into another language and then pulling out vowels is genius. And keeping track is crucial. Looking back at my pages I discovered words I didn't even know I'd used...
    @Murr--I love the idea of shining little goblin guys but wonder if the Fae parent might not just kill the ugly ones at birth? (My fairies are not nice people.)
    I'm having way too much fun with this stuff. It'd be nice if I actually FINISHED the book.
    Thanks for the comments!

    ReplyDelete