Crafting Neologisms in Speculative Fiction ~ World-building Series #5
Let's unlock the secrets of crafting fresh language that feels native to your fictional worlds. I'll cover tips, examples, and pitfalls for creating compelling neologisms in fantasy and sci-fi.
Neologisms: made-up words that speculative fiction writers love to play with. They are tools that help us imagine worlds beyond our own.
Ursula K. Le Guin, a master of idea-driven sci-fi and fantasy, once said in a Guardian review1:
When everything in a story is imaginary and much is unfamiliar, there’s far too much to explain and describe, so one of the virtuosities of SF is the invention of box-words that the reader must open to discover a trove of meaning and implication. The imaginative leaps involved in decoding such inventions and appreciating their wit can give a reader much pleasure.
I have to admit to love her choice of “box-word” as a definition. It emphasises what neology is at its core: a puzzle box the reader has to decipher to fully grasp the themes, the setting, and the novel that contains it… but it also implies complexity. After all, although deciphering a neologism can often be an intuitive process—for example, the famous stormlight from Brandon Sanderson’s series—more often than not, a reader is asked to mull over it until the meaning becomes clear. This ‘mulling’ can lead, in equal parts, to immersion or estrangement.
The reason?
Neology is more than a pretty combination of epic-sounding words—they carry meaning and represent the world the author created. Therefore, their craft must be precise and intentional: enough for the new word to be understandable on its own or—at the very least—inferable from the context.
So how do we craft useful neologisms? How do we introduce them? How much is too much?
Those are great questions, and this essay aims to answer them—or, for the last one, provide guidelines you can apply in your own writing. I’ll explore what makes neologisms such powerful storytelling tools, dive into fascinating examples from specific books, and finish with some guidelines.
