Professional Writing Workshops at HollyLisle.com
11/16/01 -- SF/F World Building Part One
<@SLViehl> Okay, let me do the official opening spiel: Welcome to the third
session of SF/F World Building. I'm your host, S.L. Viehl (Sheila) and I
build worlds for a living.
<@SLViehl> My computer clock is totally off tonight -- it reads 8:48pm EST,
so if someone would remind me to take a five minute break at midpoint I'd
appreciate it.
<@SLViehl> During our last session, we talked mainly about the different
types of cultures you might want to develop and a bit about religion and its
importance in society.
<@SLViehl> Tonight we'll be wrestling with linguistics, the arts, and
developing histories for your worlds. Questions on previous sessions are
also welcome.
<@SLViehl> I'll also try to break more frequently and throw up a QUESTIONS
so you can bring up stuff. Everyone ready to go?
<Gayle&Nathan> yes
<James> Yep.
<Jinx> yep!
<RobertAndAri> Yep!
<Anne_Marble> OK
<BlairB> yup
<@SLViehl> Language more than anything else separates humans from other
animals. It is the main source of our humanity, history, and power. Spoken
language here on Earth developed approximately 40,000 years ago, as opposed
to written forms of communication, which are alleged to be only about 4,000
years old.
<@SLViehl> Language allows one generation to transmit culture and
experiences to the next. It creates an endless repository of knowledge and
tradition. It allows us to achieve semantic universality, the ability to
transcend the here and now and speak of people, places, and events in the
past, present and future, near or far, real or imaginary.
<@SLViehl> So you'll agree with me that language is pretty important to any
world.
<@SLViehl> The first thing I'd like you to consider is that not every
language is spoken.
<@SLViehl> We know animals communicate by sound, odor, movement, and touch.
<@SLViehl> Even human communication relies to great extent on sounds that
have arbitrary meanings and can be arranged into an almost infinite number
of combinations.
<@SLViehl> Example: someone who shouts "BangZU!" in China is yelling for
help, but who shouts BANGzu might be calling after his friend, Chang Bangzu.
<@SLViehl> So you've got a lot to play with here.
<@SLViehl> What if your protagonist is a creature who can't make verbal
sounds? How does that character -- and his/her/its people -- communicate?
<@SLViehl> What if your characters land on a world that doesn't have the
same acoustic properties of the homeworld?
<@SLViehl> What if your characters are telepathic? How would they be
different from your average human?
<@SLViehl> All of these are possibilities. To find what's right for your
world, you should shop around.
<@SLViehl> There are fantastic linguistic sites available on the web -- you
can practically learn any language you want on the internet. I'm currently
studying Japanese that way.
<@SLViehl> So if you want to base your language on say, an existing human
language, you need to at least become familiar with its sounds and tones and
rhythms, if you don't speak it yourself.
<@SLViehl> Using an existing language base allows you to create a more
realistic language for your world.
<@SLViehl> However, you're not going to write 400 pages of dialogue in your
created language. No one will buy the book.
<@SLViehl> I try to go very sparingly on using created language sentences or
phrases in my books. I always try to get an English translation in with the
phrase or sentence, in the same paragraph.
<@SLViehl> And it's pretty much common sense which words and phrases to use.
When we swear, we revert to our cradle languages. So if you've got a
non-English speaker character and he stubs his toes, perfect opportunity to
throw out a created curse word.
<@SLViehl> Endearments are also something we feel more comfortable using in
our own language.
<@SLViehl> Threats, too.
<@SLViehl> If you decide to use something other than spoken language for
your world, you need to make it very clear to the reader what each
non-verbal gesture or communication means
<@SLViehl> Eric Flint did a very good job on physical language with Mother
of All Demons, I believe the title of the book was. One species were huge
cephalopods who communicated by color and movement.
<@SLViehl> And once you've create a species that speaks another language,
and mix in characters who don't understand it, you have to find a way for
them to communicate with each other.
<@SLViehl> Star Trek has the ever-popular universal translator.
<@SLViehl> But you can also build a third language between two species who
can't communicate -- usually some form of signing.
<@SLViehl> QUESTIONS
<James> Not quite a question of writing technique -- but which site are you
studying Japanese from?
<RobertAndAri> Is it another valid use for alien words to express the
commonly used alien untranslatable concept except by a whole paragraph of
description - but picked up by reader by context and frequent use?
<@SLViehl> At the moment I'm working on greetings, at
http://www2.tokai.or.jp/yuki
<James> Ah, thanks -- I'll peek. I'm curious about how they go about it.
<@SLViehl> Robert, I think you have to make sure the reader can pick up the
meaning from context -- be clear on what the phrase means -- but yes, that
works.
<@SLViehl> I'm trying to think of an example
<RobertAndAri> I explicated once in dialogue with a little humor on the
translating character's part fishing for examples but thereafter it became a
pet slang word among the characters.
<@SLViehl> Sharon Lee and Steve Miller have this phrase in their Liaden
books and it escapes me, but it translates loosely to "one's obligation to
the family, the species, and the planet."
<Anne_Marble> Can you give examples of books that got too much into the
linguistics? Some authors like to show off, especially if they're
specialists in the field. ("you could peet it with vellocet or synthemesc or
drencrom or one or two other veshches." )
<RobertAndAri> That's the kind of thing I mean - not untranslatable but
carries a heavy load of garbage and starts getting resonant.
<James> There's a very interesting thread on this topic on the
rec.arts.sf.composition newsgroup, at the moment, under "Character Dialects"
and "Swearing in SF"
<RobertAndAri> Anne, that example gave context-cues. That's drug-slang and
I'm now tuned to expect stoner characters in a slangy future.
<@SLViehl> There have been a couple I thought were way too creative-wordy.
The Enemy Books by Barry Longyear got a little too much into the whole Drac
thing.
<@SLViehl> But he was so in love with Drac language he created a dictionary
for it.
<@SLViehl> Figure any author who has to publishe a dictionary for their
language has gone a little too far.
<@SLViehl> The whole Klingon thing with Star Trek always gave me the
giggles, too.
<RobertAndAri> Fans can get extreme on it too - the Klingon dictionary
resulted in my going to a party where I didn't speak Klingon and the
Klingons at it having a good time on me and everyone else there.
<@SLViehl> Robert's reading my mind tonight.
<Anne_Marble> I knew someone who took notes in high school in
Elvish. I'm
sure she's a Ph.D. in something by now.
<RobertAndAri> Sorry, the race I created were telepaths and your kelevrees
are both beautiful and evocative.
<@SLViehl> Be selective. Language is beautiful when used as a wand, not a
sledgehammer.
<@SLViehl> Your language should enhance the reader's experience, not curtail
it, if that makes sense.
<RobertAndAri> Synthemesc and drug slang make me think of introducing a few
keywords that then make the reader feel included in the gang. Like readers
of Clockwork Orange, droog.
<@SLViehl> Okay, let's move on to fun and games -- composing and developing
arts/creative outlets for your world.
<BlairB>
<RobertAndAri> Yeah! The arts! Oh boy are all my aliens sitting up at this
one.
<Gayle&Nathan> But the language in A Clockwork Orange was based on polish
<@SLViehl> As we writers know from personal experience, self-expression is
often the single force driving the individual.
<Gayle&Nathan> I found it slow going and quit after 2 or 3 chapter
<@SLViehl> Most people are content to limit their self-expression to verbal
communication, dress, body language, and recreational activities.
<@SLViehl> Then you have the people who aren't satisfied with the norms, who
devote themselves to their particular art. (This is us, people)
<@SLViehl> You have to think about both sides of the coin when you create
arts and recreation for your world.
<@SLViehl> There are going to be weekend warriors, and there are going to be
Van Goghs cutting off their ears.
<@SLViehl> All people need to play sometime, in my opinion.
<@SLViehl> It provides balance for time spent working
<@SLViehl> avenues to express individuality that otherwise might not have an
outlet
<@SLViehl> And fun -- doing something for fun, for pleasure, feeds the soul.
<@SLViehl> I think we can all agree the traditional arts have been very well
covered in SF and fantasy.
<@SLViehl> I'd like to see new art forms and activities created
<Cassie> Maybe people who draw songs?
<@SLViehl> I think the foundation starts with our senses. We use them to
perceive everything, so they in turn become the tools that allow us to alter
perceptions/
<@SLViehl> Good example, Cassie. Imagine music you can only hear if you see
it.
<Anne_Marble> Synesathesia...
<Cassie> I just recently discovered that I have synesthesia.
<RobertAndAri> Kelevree - the art of mindshield painting, I would be
represented by an image of Ari.
<RobertAndAri> Complete with the feel of his fur under your hands, in
memory, if I had a kelevree fan to record it in.
<@SLViehl> Or sculpting with sound -- walking through an empty room and
feeling/hearing a scuplture.
<@SLViehl> Painting with scent. Making musical instruments out of unlikely
materials -- water. fire. ice.
<RobertAndAri> Silent aria - the empathic projection of the emotions of hte
song by another singer while the vocalist sings.
<@SLViehl> Skin poetry -- rhymes you don't hear, but you feel against your
derma.
<Cassie> I have a question, is it
really unusual to see music?
<@SLViehl> For humans, yes, I think so. I'm tone deaf, so I'm a terrible
person to ask.
<Anne_Marble> Glenn Gould made radio documentaries by combining hours and
hours of taped interviews into a cohesive one-hour piece.
<RobertAndAri> I've read some things on kinesthesia, it takes drugs or brain
damage for humans to have it.
<@SLViehl> What if you could do something with the sound waves to make them
only visible, not audible.
<Anne_Marble> Bill Evans created a CD where he played three separate tracks
for the same song that when put together sounded like he was playing with
himself. And that despite a raging heroine addiction. :-/
<RobertAndAri> Tubular Bells was an album performed entirely by the same
musician-composer on a lot of instruments and dubbed together.
<@SLViehl> Like with language, you really need to play with concepts of art
<@SLViehl> But try to attack it from an angle no one else has. Show
something utterly new to your reader, and they will love you for it.
<Cassie> I have a question. In history, we learned that leisure time was the
basis of culture. So, before you determined what kind of culture you have do
you first have to create the economic situation of your world?
<Anne_Marble> Some people think Glenn Gould had synesthesia. His mother
played classical music whie he was in the womb, and some think music became
so much a part of his life that he could communicate no other way.
<Cassie> Or think of how long the average person works?
<RobertAndAri> That makes sense to me, Cassie.
<Anne_Marble> You could create aliens who communicate with songs -- like
those aliens on Star Trek who communicated with metaphors from their myths.
<RobertAndAri> My sister can see ultraviolet and if she painted it would
affect her paintings.
<@SLViehl> Your culture will depend on the economic and social structure of
your society, Cassie. If they aren't in dire straits, and have a relatively
stable society, they will have plenty of time for leisure arts.
<RobertAndAri> I read in an anthorpology book that most hunting gathering
cultures spend 90% of their time in arts and religion and culture, only 10%
on getting necessities of life.
<@SLViehl> If your world is at war, for example, and suffering deprivations
of war, there isn't going to be a lot of time to paint or sculpt.
<@SLViehl> Good point, Robert.
<@SLViehl> And remember while we're talking about fine arts, you also have
to give the "rabble" something to enjoy.
<Anne_Marble> That sounds like more fun!
<James> Rabble
<@SLViehl> In ancient Rome, it was gladiators and throwing Christians to the
lions.
<@SLViehl> In our society, it's the NFL
<James> And Jerry Springer.
<@SLViehl> People like to gather and play spectator.
<RobertAndAri> WWF are more colorful gladiators, they use special effects
and have "superhero" or "villain" costumes.
<Anne_Marble> And Judge Judy!
<Anne_Marble> WWF = soap opera for guys
<@SLViehl> So create some sports or sporting type events for your general
population to follow.
<James> Ahem, watch the sexism
<@SLViehl> Competitive, dangerous activities are always good.
<@SLViehl> Something where people regularly get maimed or killed.
<RobertAndAri> Unless it's a very ascetic culture where any entertainment is
suspicious, sinful or forbidden except the religion or philosophy of
asceticism. Vulcans at play would seem dull to anyone but Vulcans.
<@SLViehl> True. However, Vulcans are rather the exception to the rule.
<James> I like the idea of sport for aesthetes - the cry of the crowd as a
metaphor is over-extended and dies horribly.
<RobertAndAri> Kind of a neat exception if an ascetic is in the book looking
down on anyone else in the book.
<@SLViehl> People like to see other people risk their lives for something.
<RobertAndAri> Oh yeah, James!
<Gayle&Nathan> Vulcans are funny(nathan's comment)
<RobertAndAri> Marathon novel tournaments punctuated by swordfights over
plot points.
<Anne_Marble> I read a great book by, uhm, some SF writer about a near
future where poor people got suckered into playing a nasty gameshow where
the prize was a virtual reality trip. In reality, the virtual reality thing
was a conspiracy -- the powers that be wanted to use it as a way to get rid
of the "Rabble" by putting them into suspended animation. And killing them
off eventually.
<@SLViehl> But remember who your readers are when you're crafting this
aesthetically pleasing sport. Your readers are going to put the book down
and go watch a football game.
<@SLViehl> Stephen King did a good version on future bloodsports with The
Running Man, I think it was called.
<James> Sadly, reality TV seems to be catching up with that one...
<@SLViehl> You don't have to approve of the sport as the author, btw. I
totally condemn Shockball.
<Cassie> What's shockball?
<@SLViehl> It's a future sport I created for my latest book. It's sort of
football crossed with soccer, but the penalty is electrocution.
<James> A sport
not played by future aesthetes!
<@SLViehl> Hence "Shock" ball.
<@SLViehl> degrees of electrocution, I should say.
<@SLViehl> Contact sports are always good. Find a way to send two teams of
large people across a playing field at each other, and you'll hook the
reader.
<Anne_Marble> Even Quidditch has the sense of danger, though it's treated
humorously. "Don't fall off the end of your broomstick." Uh, yeah, thanks
for the advice.
<@SLViehl> Or try to revive ancient sports -- I like that one the Aztec or
Maya played with the hoop and the ball in a square court, can't think of the
name.
<RobertAndAri> The one where the winning team got sacrificed to the sun god,
I remember.
<@SLViehl> Some trophy.
<James> If the winning team
became gods, then it would have been
basketball...
<Cassie> I think I saw that in that animated El Dorado movie.
<@SLViehl> And while you're creating team sports, remember individual
sports, too. Try a version of tennis, or raquetball.
<@SLViehl> Star Trek has done some interesting things with sports during its
various incarnations.
<Anne_Marble> The original soccer supposedly originated from British kids
kicking the head of a Danish warrior around their village. (Don't worry, he
was already dead.)
<@SLViehl> Gruesome. I love it.
<Anne_Marble> I guess that would make a good fantasy sport. Would Orcs play
"Elf Ball" on the spur of the moment? Or for that matter, if your elves had
a mean streak, they might torture the orcs for fun.
<@SLViehl> Sure, works for me.
<BlairB> elf bowling <G>
<@SLViehl> Why don't we take a five minute break now?
<@SLViehl> I'm going for tea, BRB
<Gayle&Nathan> okay
<James> Excellent! Caffeine...
<Anne_Marble> I'm going to beat up my printer.
<RobertAndAri> Notes. Invent alien word for hte particular despair of losing
confidence in artistic prowess.
<Cassie> I'm going to get some socks.
<Anne_Marble> Maybe I should nuke a mini pizza...
<Cassie> Oh wait, I have to go. My mom just got home...
<RobertAndAri> Note: competitive torture, victims obviously taken from an
enemy culture, idea is to prepare yours to take anything your rival can do
to him.
<Cassie> Later everybody.
<BlairB> bye cassie
<RobertAndAri> See you, Cassie
<@SLViehl> bye Cassie
<Gayle&Nathan> bye cassie