Worldbuilding: Slang, Profanity and Invented Language

When it comes to worldbuilding, there are so many ingredients it's entirely possible to spoil the meal with the wrong ones, too many of the right one, or add them at the wrong time or in the wrong way. So how do we know what to add and when? Can someone send me a recipe?

One ingredient often overlooked is language. A tasteful smattering of invented language, slang or profanity can give any world a certain realism. Caution: Do not overuse!

Slang

An easy one to overlook, gloss over or just plain ignore. Why? Because it's so damn hard! I can tell you that because I've tried and it really strained my brain.

Slang can be age specific, culture specific, or occupation specific. For example, the military and law enforcement has its own slang separate from that of the culture in which it exists. You can choose to use any or all of these -- but be sparing in the amount of slang you use. Slang adds authenticity but you don't want to over-salt the soup!

Slang can be character-specific, too. So there might be a word one of your characters favours, and you can use this attribute to distinguish him or her from other speakers, or as part of your characterisation.

The bad news is, in fantasy, you'll probably need to invent your own slang, because our own slang isn't likely to fit with your invented culture. It can be tough. Think about some of the slang you're familiar with, what relationship it bears to what it actually means, if there's a connection, or it's just because the word sounds good. Here's an example I did:

'Smeared' as a slang term isn't something I made up but the reader learns its meaning. It made sense, in this snippet, for the word to be explained to Berkh because he and the girl move in different social circles, but you can't do this where two characters both know the meaning of the word. Then, you need to carefully use the word so it's clear from context what it means.

Profanity and Insults

Often we see the same old profanities and insults repeated -- and why should they be? Profanity is culture specific.

We often swear or insult by reference to things we revere or denigrate. On Earth, that tends to be deities, sexual acts and bodily functions. Some of these may be the same, but if, for example, your culture doesn't really take their gods seriously, they might not swear by them. So you need to think about what your culture would find offensive and why. Only once you work this out can you determine how they might swear. Here are a few suggestions:

• Does the culture prize something in particular? In Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series, long hair is a sign of stature on a Midlands woman. It might, therefore, be a great insult to call a woman hairless or short-haired (although I don't believe Goodkind makes use of this).

• Is there a particularly exclusive society or occupation? Nobility often look down on commoners, and so elitists of other kinds might have derogatory terms for people outside their clique. I can't think of a good fantasy example, but a science-fiction one is how space-farers might call planet side people 'dirtsiders' or worse 'dirtsuckers'. A fantasy equivalent of space-farers might be dragonriders, or airship sailors... you get the idea. In fact, I do recall some of the dragonriders in Pern regarded non-riders in a similar derogatory fashion.

• What prejudices exist, against who, and why? What characteristics do the victims have that can be derided? It might be pure racism, or it might be across species. What would you call an elf to express your disdain? How about a goblin? And your own invented races?

• Is there a religion? Blasphemy comes from devotion. Can characters use the name of a god or goddess to swear? Has religion placed restrictions on its devotees? Saying someone has broken one can be an insult or profanity e.g. adulterer where monogamy is prized. Is there an equivalent of hell?

• What do the people of your world fear? We often insult or profane using things we fear as a way of dealing with that fear.

Personally I find profanity harder than slang. You might find it works the other way round for you.

Invented Language

Of course profanity and slang as discussed above are invented language, but there are a couple more points I'd like to make more generally.

One, there are more than 6,000 languages on Earth. It beggars belief for everyone in your world to speak the same language. Mix it up. Yes, this might make it tough for you characters. You can find a more interesting solution than having everyone speak the same language.

You may invent other words than slang and profanity. In fantasy, it's pretty much a given. Don't spend pages at the beginning of your book explaining to us what all these things are (along with the history, politics, religion etc.). This includes a prologue. Prologues should only be used, in my opinion, in two very limited cases. Worldbuilding is not one of them. For that matter, don't ever spend pages anywhere in your book explaining these things to us. An infodump like this will bore us, no matter how fascinating your world.

The key to clever worldbuilding is to sprinkle these things through the action and dialogue so it's clear from the context what you are talking about. Like seasoning in a soup. If you get heavy-handed with the pepper, your diners won't be coming back for a second course. Here's an example of how to do it:

From this snippet, without slowing the action, we've learned:

• There are two countries, Elnisya and Foryn, and a little about the characteristics of those people and their languages;

• Nizari appear to be assassins or some other kind of killers-for-hire;

• There is some kind of group of magicians called the Confederacy, which has been destroyed by outlaws.

We don't know everything there is to know about these yet, but it's starting to sketch out some of the world in which events are taking place -- and at the same time, the plot is still moving forward. Your world only has relevance in the context of the events that happen there. If the reader doesn't know what's happening, they are less likely to care about the world.

One Last Caution

Here are a few things to be wary of:

1. Human brains can process two, maybe three, strange or unusual concepts per page. I don't mean a word here or there, but where sentences or paragraphs become almost unrecognisable. Consider yourself warned;

2. Using all consonants or all vowels in invented words or names;

3. Using similar sounding names, including too many names starting with the same letter in one story;

4. Apostrophes and other punctuation affectations e.g. F'lar in the DragonRiders of Pern series. This apparently isn't done anymore. Probably because it's already been done to death.