Pronunciation

This post will be largely for those writing fantasy or stories that require you to make up names or your own language.

When I write stories that require me to make up my own names or a semblance of a language, one thing I am reminded of is that I need to be consistent. Languages are tricky, especially when pronunciation can be varied depending on different factors. This is especially true when you are used to saying a certain letter (like e) a certain way but it may be different in another language. I found this to be true when I studied Latin and Spanish in school, and I was also reminded of this recently when working on my latest novel attempt. In my current story, the majority of my characters have names that come directly from the Scottish Gaelic dictionary. However, Scottish Gaelic, you don't pronounce the words as they look; just listen to Gaelic songs by Clannad, Altan, or some other Irish band and look at the Gaelic lyrics, and you'll get what I mean. So, in early drafts of this story, I was mispronouncing the majority of the names.

I wanted to make sure that my characters' and place names were pronounced at least semi-properly (and I don't know Gaelic), so I did a little basic research. Gaelic is a complex language, and it would be nigh impossible for me to pronounce the words correctly. However, because of my story, it is necessary that there be variations between Scottish Gaelic and between the Faerie language of my characters. So, my solution was relatively simple: for letters that have lots of varying pronunciations, pick one and stick with it consistently. So, if the dipthong "dh" has two different pronunciations depending on the surrounding letters, I pick the pronunciation "y" and stick with it consistently throughout the entire story. The difficult thing with this is that this means I have to write down all the names of characters and places and make sure that I know how every single one is correctly pronounced. Then I'll be writing all of them down with the proper pronunciation beside them, so that both myself and any potential readers know how to say the names correctly.

My point in saying all of this is that when you make up names or loosely base your names off of a real, existing language that you need to make sure they are consistent. Both for your sake and for the sake of your readers, so that you can maintain continuity and prevent confusion as to how your names are being pronounced.

Another Medieval Book

For Christmas this year, I got another book on Medieval culture that I have enjoyed reading and hope to use for future reference for future stories.

This book is called "The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England" by Ian Mortimer, and it will be easier to find, given that the last Medieval book I recommended is out of print (I only discovered this recently). This book only focuses on the fourteenth century (the 1300's) in England, but it is very in-depth. It goes into great detail in describing how towns looked like, what different classes ate, what fashions were and how they changed particularly in that century, disease of the time period, etc... It is a very neat book, and the author is a good writer too. I will give one warning for certain people: the book has some PG-13 content given some of the language used during the time period, the violence, and even some of the "medical" cures for diseases; so while I recommend the book, read at your own risk.

Medieval Book Recommendation

This post is both for people with an interest in writing historical stories based during the Medieval Period and in writing Medieval-esque fantasy.

Over the weekend, I visited the library and ended up checking out a book titled "The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in the Middle Ages" by Sherrilyn Kenyon. This book is short and a pretty easy read. Basically, it is a brief summary about the Middle Ages of western Europe in various aspects of the society and culture. For example, one whole chapter is devoted to what kinds of food were available, silverware and dishes, and spices, and another one gives a look at popular fashions during certain years. There are also other short chapters about Medieval celebrations, the church, family, and even a list of kings of England during the time period. The book is not overly comprehensive, but it provides a good summary; at the end of each chapter, the author gives a list of recommended books on the particular topic that you wish to look further into.

So, if you want to make sure you are writing a realistic story set during the Medieval period or want to make your fantasy story feel more genuinely Medieval, this book is a good tool to have in getting some of the details and providing other sources for further research.

More on Romance

Lately, I've been in a period drama mood, both in my writing and in the movies I watch. While I've been grinning like an idiot as I watch certain romantic couples get together for a happily ever after, it got me to thinking of two problems with romance stories that unfortunately do happen in period dramas but also in any kind of story genre.

Awkward Crush Behavior

I noted this one when I recently watched BBC's "Cranford" and its sequel "Return to Cranford" a few weeks ago. In "Cranford," which is basically a set of intertwined stories that all take place in a mid-19th century English town, the new doctor Dr. Harrison develops feelings for Sophy, the daughter of the local rector. For the majority of the series, the two are constantly giving each other silly, knowing grins and generally acting awkward; they have little interaction beyond the occasional conversation or if they are brought together because of a medical crisis, and so to me their romance comes across as shallow and of them being continually twitterpated.

I found the same to be true for "Return to Cranford." *dons armor for protection from screaming fangirls* William Buxton, who comes from a wealthy family, meets Peggy, a girl from a poorer family, and it turns into another quick-paced romance. Like Dr. Harrison and Sophy, their romance is more focused on their awkward, shy glances and interactions. There are a few cute moments between them, but ultimately their love feels more like them being stuck in the early twitterpated stage and never moves beyond that to something deeper.

The issue with those two romances is that there was little substance to them. The two couples remained stuck in the awkward, love-struck stage and had little true, serious interaction with each other. It is important that your romantic characters have interaction with each other, whether it be them spending a lot of time together talking, doing something they both enjoy, going out, etc... Their romance cannot be solely based on shy glances, awkward attempts at conversations, or just being awkward around each other in general.

I Hate you... I love you

I noted this one when I watched BBC's adaptation of "North and South" yesterday. In "North and South," the heroine Margaret Hale quickly butts heads with mill owner Mr. Thornton, accusing him of mistreating his workers and of being a cold-hearted businessman, and so the two don't get along very well. He falls in love with her, but she rejects his proposal, leading him to ignore her afterwards while she gives him longing glances. Even though the end of the series makes me smile, unfortunately there is not enough time given for the couple's relationship to develop. It starts off with both of them giving each other suspicious glances, Margaret becoming very accusatory and critical, she rejects the proposal and claims she would do so again, but she softens up and views him in a different light after that. The issue here is that Margaret changed her mind too suddenly; one day she was content to see Thornton as a greedy mill owner, and the next she believes him to be an honest manager who is not as cold as she thought he was. There was no grand event to change her mind; it was rather sudden. Thornton also does this; he tolerates Margaret, hates her after the proposal and acts coldly towards her, but at other times he acts civil and like he still has feelings for her even though he said his love for her was over. He too abruptly changed his tune about Margaret, and there was no reason given for it.

The issue here is that your two characters cannot rapidly change from "I have a strong dislike of you" to "oh, you are the best man/ woman I've ever met; I love you." No, no. If you are going to have a romance progress from hatred to love, then you need to have plenty of time to let it develop and change gradually, not in the short period of a few weeks with little to no interaction between the two.

The common theme of these two issues is that your characters need to have interaction before they fall in love. Their romance cannot be solely based on awkward glances or actions more reminiscent of a teenage crush, and it cannot progress from hatred to romance for no reason. It is important that the two characters interact, talk of deeper and more sober subjects, do things together, etc... It is also important that you allow for enough time to pass for the relationship to develop and that you allow for the relationship to grow deeper, not stay in the early love-sick stage permanently.

Keeping Words in Perspective

A while back, I was working on one of my fantasy stories when I wrote a scene where the main character is being carried in flight over his home forest and where he describes the forest below like an ocean on a stormy day. When I went back to the scene later, I realized something was wrong. My main character lived in a place where it would have been impossible for him to have ever seen the ocean before, and so his description would be very inconsistent with his personal knowledge. This led me to thinking about the use of certain words and descriptions in stories.

Given our modern day today, including an internet that allows you to do quick searches in the blink of an eye and cameras that can take pictures of places that we have never seen before, most people can get some kind of taste of what lies outside our own personal world. However, in the days before instantaneous digital searches, such things did not exist. If you lived on the 19th century American frontier, it was highly unlikely that you had ever seen the ocean. If you lived in the deserts of the Middle East, you likely had never seen a river or forests before. So, if you had never experienced those things, the words "forests," "oceans," or "rivers" would probably not be in your vocabulary.

Related to this is seen in time or culture clashes. I'm currently working on a story where the character comes from a fantasy-esque world and enters our own modern day. His technology is pre-Medieval European, and so he has no idea what cars, modern medicine, phones, etc... are. So when he describes seeing the modern world, I have to describe it using words that he would know but also making sure that the audience gets some small understanding of what I'm describing on paper.

So, when you are writing a story, keep in mind what words you are using. Are they ones that your characters are familiar with? And can you give your audience enough simple clues for them to figure out what you are describing? This is important because it keeps your writing realistic.

Biological Questions

In fantasy, sci-fi, or even paranormal genres, it is not uncommon for the writer to either make up their own race or to do a variation of a race that has already been created, such as vampires or elves. However, when you do this, you also need to keep in mind some of the biology and anatomy of said race. Consider the following examples:

1) Get a basic idea of what the race looks like. Are there any distinguishing features or anything that sets them apart from other races? For several years, I've been developing a race of winged humanoids, and I am currently trying to figure out what their wings look like and how the wings can seemingly disappear when not in use. So, if your race has something like wings or some "non-human" feature then decide what it looks like, if the feature can be hidden at certain times, etc... You don't have to go into insane detail over it, but get enough so that the feature remains consistent throughout the story.

2) How long does this race live? If its people either have longer lives than normal or are immortal, how does the aging process work? Do they age more slowly than people, or do they stop physically aging at or around a certain point? Again, make sure this is consistent in your race.

3) Can this race interbreed with other races? Tolkien let his elves interbreed with humans to form the half-elves, and Stephanie Meyer reluctantly allowed for the existence of half-vampires, which brings me to the main gist. According to Meyer's version of vampires, they cannot have children, but it is possible for them to have children with humans (though it likely results in the death of the mother); however, biologically, this would not be possible because vampires are supposedly sterile, and you cannot expect offspring if one of the partners is supposedly sterile. So, if you decide to have cross-race romance with a child as a result, keep this in mind: either make it possible for both of the individuals to bear children or make it so that both of them together cannot have children. Or, as one friend suggested to me, make the children sterile, unable to have children of their own one day.

4) If the story calls for it, make sure you get some detail on the biological/ anatomical aspects of a race. For example, I've been working on sort of a rewrite/ rebuttal of "Twilight" and the whole paranormal genres. Because of flaws in Meyer's version of vampires, I've tried to improve on them by offering a semi-biological reason for why my vampires heal fairly quickly, why they are largely resistant to illness, and why they all have problems with fertility. I had to do this because, even though I may never state the reasons in the story, I want to make sure that the race remains consistent but also realistic.

Those are just a few considerations that popped in my head, so consider them if you are creating a new race(s) for your story.

On Names

When you start a story, a big thing you have to figure out is character names, something which will enable you and your reader to identify them. I have just a few points today.

1. Keep names simple. I've noticed that some of the most memorable characters in literature, TV, movies, or other mediums are the ones with simple names. Consider characters like James Bond, Harry Potter, Jack Bauer, Frodo Baggins, Katniss Everdeen, etc... Their names are not five syllables long or impossible to pronounce or remember. Now, I'm not saying going for names like "John Doe" or something bland. Find a name for your character(s) that is easy to pronounce, easy to remember, but also something that is distinguishable from other characters, whether your own or other writers'm, and the same thing goes for names you may make up for science fiction, fantasy, or related genras.

2. Make sure the name fits. There are some names that, when combined with a character, just fit perfectly; you can't imagine them having a different name. However, there likely will be times when you just can't find the right name. In one of my stories, my protagonist was called "Agnes" but when I started the second draft I changed her name to "Angelica." I'm still not happy with her name, and I'm still experimenting with other names to find the perfect one, though I'm happy with the names of the other characters in the story. If the name doesn't fit, then keep looking for the right one.

3. Make sure two different characters don't have similar names. Years ago when I was creating tons of names for a fantasy world that I was working on, there were a few names that sounded alike. It took me some time, but I eventually realized that readers would get confused about which character was which, so I started changing a few of the names. Within the past year, I had to do this again in a recent novel attempt, where I had a brother and a sister named Alex and Allie, both of whom had variations of the name "Alexander" or "Alexandra" as their full name. To help distinguish between the two (and to prevent the girl from having a name too similar to the literary character she was loosely based on), I changed the girl's name to Meg, which fits her much better. So, keep an eye on your character names and make sure that they don't sound too alike.

I may think of other tips later, but consider these points when naming your characters.

Do Your Historical Homework

In an earlier post, I mentioned that if you are writing historical fiction that you should do some research before diving in. I am currently in the process of proofing a work from that genre, and I have more specific examples of what to research when writing in that genre.

1. Names

When you are writing a story set in historical times and characters that are fictional, you need to make sure that the name existed at that time period because names change over the centuries. For example, in a story that I have been planning for some time, I have a character whose name is Allie; but, since she was born in sixteenth century Europe, I did a bit of research to determine what variations of the name "Alexandra" existed around the time of her birth. A simple search turned up some options, including the name "Alisandre," which I decided to use. Also, you have to keep in mind what kind of names your culture would use. The Scottish people would use different names than someone living in Italy would, and even a similar name would very likely have different spelling depending on the culture and location of the story.

2. Attitudes and Behaviors

Another common misconception in historical fiction is that people back then thought and acted the same way we do today. While to some extent that is true, to another extent it isn't. People in the 18th century thought very differently from people in the 21st century. For example, in a work I recently read, two characters (one of whom is a pre-teen and the other is a young teenager) have a crush on each other that their parents tease them about but otherwise view as innocent. While this would more than likely be true of the 21st century, this is highly unlikely to have occurred in the 18th century. Unless you're Henry IV of England and his first wife in the Middle Ages (which was likely not a romantic marriage anyway), teenagers back then were not expected to have boyfriends, girlfriends, or crushes until they were adults. And certainly not until the man had enough wealth and was settled enough to provide for a family. So a crush happening that young in life back then would have been highly unlikely or at least not mentioned; if it was noticed, I doubt the parents would have tolerated it.

That is one example of attitudes, but it is a reminder to keep people's attitudes and behaviors realistic. Otherwise, your story will be unrealistic.

3. Slang

Another thing that will be different is the slang that people use. In a story I'm reading, the characters use slang like "gosh" and "lots of" very frequently; however, I also doubt that this was very realistic for the time period. So, keep in mind that your characters are living in a different time period and will have different "slang" words, not the ones we commonly use today.

4. Food

When I think of Medieval stories, one thing that I wish writers would remember is that food back then wasn't like it was today. Fridges, stoves, and ovens weren't invented until the late 19th or early 20th centuries. Unless you lived in an extraordinarily cold climate, your meat would quickly spoil, which is why people covered it with salt or spices: to hide the fact that it was bad. Fruits and vegetables had to be dried or eaten quickly if you wanted it to taste good. There were no artificial preservatives, which meant that bread and pastries wouldn't last long either and would likely turn moldy very quickly. Not to mention that stoves and ovens didn't exist until recently, so cooking the food over an open flame would probably result in food that wasn't always cooked properly.

I will probably find other examples, but for now, think about these things if you are writing historical fiction. Do a little research, and it will definitely help you make your story feel more realistic and not like a basic modern story abruptly thrown into a previous century.

Kinds of Government

In most fantasy stories today, the most common form of government is either a monarchy or an emperor. To me, it has been very much overdone, as there are so many other forms of government that exist that could be used. Though I admit I broke my own rule for my story "War of Magic," where the setting is in an empire with an emperor, though there are other political or non-political parties involved too.

Nonetheless, here is a short list of some other governments that writers should use for their writing (this list came from The History Guy website):

Anarchy- I don't recall seeing this one very often, but you could have no form of government. It could be a dog-eat-dog world of chaos and lawlessness, which could lead to an interesting setting and/or plot.

Communism- I think American writers generally avoid this one because we associate it with countries like Russia and China and because it's non-democratic. Nonetheless, it could lead to some interesting stories (I think of Orwell's "1984" and Martin Cruz Smith's "Gorky Park when I think of settings with totalitarian communist governments).

Confederacy- This one is not very common, as it's not a common form of government. Because of my Southern heritage and because I sympathize more with the South than with the North (but let's not get into that discussion), I've tried using this form of government before, though none of the stories have succeeded plot-wise. This would be an interesting government because there would be no king or federal government, just local rulers in alliance with each other.

Constitutional- this could be democracy or monarchy, where either the democratic government is limited by a constitution or the monarchy is. I don't see this one much either, but it would certainly put an interesting twist on the traditional view of an absolute monarch.

Oligarchy- basically the government is made up of high-ranking people or those with lots of wealth. Interesting alternative to a monarchy.

Theocracy- this one is not looked upon favorably because of most people's stance on religion today, in how they believe religion and government should be separate. So I don't this one very often. But in a story, it could be done well and in an interesting way, provided it doesn't become preachy.

Dictator- most stories seem to have some form of a tyrant who is a ruler, but it is generally a king or an emperor. Several countries in the world today have dictators in power but aren't kings or emperors, so why not create a fantasy world with such men or women?

This is only a short list of the types of government that exist out there. But don't feel compelled to use the typical monarchy or emperor-rule that most writers do. Perhaps you could try a different form of government, combine a few existing ones together, or even make up your own. There are plenty of options, so take advantage of them.

The Medieval World

Most modern writers and authors, when writing their stories, love to create a world that is very Medieval-esque. I could rant on how much this is overdone, but I will restrain from that and focus on something else. Ever since September, I have been taking a Western Civilization history class, and for the past few weeks the teacher has been talking about the Medieval time period, which has gotten me thinking about Medieval fantasy worlds. My problem with Medieval worlds is that they tend to be more or less stereotypical glances of the real Medieval time period and this makes them vastly unrealistic.

Here are some examples of how writers need to do more research if they want to do a Medieval-esque world.

Monarchies:

Most Medieval fantasy stories focus on a king who is running the political show. The king is usually very powerful and is from a long dynasty, and he generally has few to no rivals. However, looking at the Medieval period, this is not the case. Kings were actually fairly weak in power, and dynasties were quick to rise and fall. Most kingdoms were actually more under the control of powerful noble families, and sometimes these families could completely take over and start a new royal dynasty. Kings also did not have very much power, as the whole "Divine Right of Kings" and absolutism would not show up for a few more centuries. Kingdoms were also not very stable. Nobles were constantly feuding for the throne, especially if a king was deposed or died without an heir; The War of Roses is a good example of this.

But also, people in the Medieval times were semi-independent, relying on the Feudal System's structure. Nobles managed their estates and those of their vassels, taking taxes from them, and kings interfered very little with this. And, as I said earlier, nobles were really the ones in control, not the kings.

In conclusion, Medieval kings were sometimes powerful, but they were also weak. They were constantly battling the powerful noble families, and kingdoms were thus very unstable because of those political structures.

Social structures:

Another common misconception of the Middle Ages is the entire social structure. People imagine the whole system of peasants/ serfs, knights, the church, and noble families, but they don't look more closely or apply it to their fantasy worlds. My history teacher went on a detailed explanation of how men became knights, how the whole gentry system works, and so much more. I could possibly post the entire chart he wrote on the board, but I'll refrain from it. In short, the system was actually more complicated than most writers allow. When they think of Medieval kingdoms, they think of the king, a few noble families, and some peasants, but this is actually different. You have the upper gentry of the knights, those given titles by kings or nobles, the lower gentry of men like yeomens and husbandmen, peasants, the clergy and those associated with the church, paupers, common soldiers, etc... And, not to mention that it was possible for someone to rise up gradually through society, from lower ranks to upper ranks. Society was more complicated and more diverse actually than most Medieval-esque writers admit.

Castles:

Castles are also associated with the Medieval Period. Most of the time, these places are viewed as very grand places to live, but this is far from the truth. Castles were dark, cold (no huge fireplaces or heating systems), dirty, and dreary places. Tapestries didn't show up until later in the Medieval period, and the Crusades later added decorations from the Middle East that made them cheerier and better decorated.

Knights and Chivalry:

Knights and the Code of Chivalry were also big during the Medieval Period. However, knights were not the most honorable or admirable characters. They were required to serve their masters and to go off to war when summoned, but knights were very belligerent and aggressive. They were always looking for fights, and they often helped raid the lands of other nobles. Tournaments were used to let the knights take out their aggression, and the Crusades, no doubt, also helped keep them from going crazy when no wars or battles were going on. Even though knights had a Code of Chivalry, I'm pretty sure they viewed it "more as guidelines than actual rules." So knights were certainly not angelic in the Medieval Period.

There are other areas I'm sure I could touch on, but this is a general look at what the real Medieval world looked like. It was not a clean, proper time period; it was messy, aggressive, and rather unstable. It had a lot of societal complexities which most writers largely ignore in favor of a simpler world. There is only one Medieval-esque writer that I know of who comes even close to capturing the gritty Medieval world, and that would be George R. R. Martin. Martin did a good job of sticking to actual Medieval facts and not stereotypes (though I believe he severely overdid the whole sex aspect that pervades "A Song of Fire and Ice"). Nonetheless, Martin actually did his homework about the Medieval world, and it makes his world of Westeros much more realistic and not a cardboard stereotype.