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Fantasy Dictionar
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Fantasy Dictionar
Fantasy Dictionary
Writing a fantasy story often involves world-building: creating the setting in which your story takes place. Physical location is an important part of this phase—the house, cavern, mountain, forest, town, ship, island, or any other space your characters inhabit. But it is more than just a place. Building a world may mean thinking about the history, art, music, language, clothing, and customs of the story’s people—how they earn a living, what they do on holidays, and what everyday objects they use.
Of course a writer can’t design every aspect of a culture. If you did that, you’d never get around to writing the story! But here is the key: you want to think carefully enough about these things so that the reader believes your fantasy world goes on beyond the edges of your story. You want this imaginary world to feel real. And you do that with some well-placed, clear, creative details.
So let’s do some world-building! Please come up with objects, places, words ... any ideas for a fantasy story’s world. Tools, animals, types of clothing, dwellings—any of these and more may become necessary elements in our story! You may suggest as many as you like, or even post a strange word and let others suggest meanings. If you want, you can also write a sentence using the word or describing the fantasy place. Here are two examples:
haloris – a lantern that gives off both light and a pleasant scent. It is used by people who live near the swamps to counter the odors of mud and decay.
“Quill’s boots sank into the moss, deeper at each step, and ahead she could see a swamp, moonbeams glittering on pools that lapped around the tree roots. Catching the stench of stagnant water, she pulled the haloris lamp from her pack and set it alight.”
gnawk – a large, black bird with a raucous cry and uneven feathers that always look ruffled and untidy. Gnawks have a fondness for pecking and chewing on rope, and they are notorious for setting free dogs and farm animals tied with ropes. They unmoor boats tied to docks, and have been known to free certain fortunate prisoners.
Can you see how story ideas practically ooze from your Fantasy Dictionary, once you get your imagination going?
submitted by Fred Durbin
(April 23, 2014 - 10:11 am)
(April 23, 2014 - 10:11 am)
hawkingstone: a small carving of a hawk. If you rub it, it turns into a giant hawk, and if you say the word stone to it it turns to stone again.
(May 6, 2014 - 3:29 pm)
Sounds a lot like a shabti in Egyptian mythology! Have you read the Kane Chronicles?
(July 8, 2014 - 7:51 pm)
ekbal -- a crispy, light type of flat bread that it is common for peasants to eat. Cheap and low-class--no nobility would ever be seen eating ekbal.
(May 7, 2014 - 3:19 pm)
palagar: a small, vicious dragon that can sting with its tail.
minson: a potion which has lethal powars; only used by very trained wizards
(May 7, 2014 - 6:07 pm)
pandoralinx -- Black smoke conjured up by an evil sorcerer. The person who walks through it increases 50 years in age and becomes very fragile.
ennaherop winx -- Colored smoke conjured up by a good sorcerer. Gives temporary powers such as flying, being able to speak every language, or super strength to a normal person who walks through it. The effects are different for everyone. When someone who already has a power walks under it, sparks shoot from their fingertips whenever they are feeling a strong emotion. They also get very greedy and become uncontrolable.
(May 7, 2014 - 7:22 pm)
ikrinas - the phenomenon of never being able to find the second sock of a pair
braati - a type of cheese that emits 365 different kinds of stink every day of the year
drangles - glasses that make everybody invisible to you
croonasaak - a curse that gives you an unsatiable urge to kill heroes
veedology - a type of magic that concerns the manipulation of noses
(May 8, 2014 - 4:30 am)
Oliver S, you're from Taiwan? *Gasp, FINALLY someone else :D
I'm really from the US but I'm Taiwanese though. It just bothers me how barely anyone that I know is Taiwanese...
Oh, and admins, the comment preview says (December 31, 1969 - 7:00 pm)
I hope I haven't traveled back in time!
For some reason, sometimes the dates get off. We don't know why. Chattebox only started in about 2008. I don't think there even was an internet in 1969, but men walked on the moon that year! How awesome.
Admin
(May 8, 2014 - 9:01 pm)
Hooray! It's always nice to see a fellow Taiwanese.
(May 9, 2014 - 1:14 am)
Yay! The only thing not yay is whenever I visit I get serious jet lag. But otherwise, Yay!
Thanks, Admins! Some people say that we didn't really go onto the moon. I don't understand what they base their logic on, and I always found it weird....
(May 9, 2014 - 4:21 pm)
Some people didn't believe anything the government said because of the Vietnam war.
(May 10, 2014 - 9:57 am)
My comment preview says that, too! Just out of curiosity, I looked on History.com to see if anything special happened on that date, but I couldn't find anything.
(May 10, 2014 - 9:54 am)
Cool! I'll try to come on here often this summer!!! This is AWESOME!! Mag Fan wants to do this, but she's extremely busy, so she'll be on in another month or so - after she gets out of school.
hwath = a situation between two enemies that involves a decision by at least one of them (to kill the other person, retreat, fight back, etc.)
I'll post more later. One question: Will you use some of these zany words in your upcoming stories? If you will, will the CBers who suggested them get credit for coming up with the words?
(May 9, 2014 - 3:20 pm)
Hi, Lottie! To answer your question: the work everyone is doing here on Crowd Sorcery is for just one finished story in Cricket. Yes, most definitely, some of these words that people are inventing for this Fantasy Dictionary will appear in that story! As for the matter of getting credit, we need to hear from the Administrators about that one!
(May 9, 2014 - 5:33 pm)
OK, thanks!
(May 10, 2014 - 7:40 am)
Recetti--A bewitched ghost that has been enchanted to Haunt the spirits of those it loves until they die. A popular character in children's tales--The Recetti emerged from an think blanket of shadow, and the young princess screamed, for the Recetti was her father.-- An exerpt from The Princess and the Ghost.
(May 10, 2014 - 5:04 pm)