My main story's genres are Action/Fantasy. And sometimes I think about creating a fictional language. But the problem is that I don't want to spend weeks worth of time doing something if it'll be completely pointless in the long run.
Jun '20
Jun '20
The biggest con is getting lost in it. It's like worldbuilding in that way. Why not look into free font sites and select specific fonts for languages?
It's time consuming! I have about 3 fictional languages for my comic's universe but it's been nearly 12 years in the making pretty much! 
You can just insert a description about how the characters could not understand each other due to the language barrier. Have them react in confusion when they hear the language they don't understand. Readers can pick up on your intention. If it's in comic form, you can use differently shaped text bubbles to denote separate languages or a font that's slightly different.
You don't need to create an entire language from scratch, morphology is a PITA. There's also a need to consider culture. A lot of real-life languages have a dozen dialects, prestige, high and low forms (classy people words vs not-so classy ones)... x.x
But if you do make one...
Pros: bragging rights, Tolkien award
Cons: cringe, brain depletion, time murderer, fatigue, frustration, death
Pros:
-IT'S FUN
-You get to exercise your creativity!
-You'll look SMORT
-Makes the fictional world feel more immersive
Cons:
-IT'S HARRRRRRRRDDDD
-The grammar will beat you half to death, and then the work of expanding the vocabulary will deliver the final blow
-In case I haven't made it clear yet, yes, you will suffer
-No one will understand your language because...it's literally made up. So you have to either explain it outright or leave everyone guessing
-No one will appreciate all the work you put into it except other language nerds (i.e. no one)
...In short, creating a fictional language is something that you should do because YOU want to, not because you think other people will find it interesting. It's a thankless job... ^^;
I'd basically want to echo everything that @DokiDokiTsuna already said. The only thing I'd have to add is more of a practical consideration than an actual pro/contra (although you could probably infer some from it):
If you want to decide whether or not to do it, ask yourself first of all how you'd like to apply it. E.g. would you just be using words as terms for things in the world? Would you use it as a basis for character and place names? Or do you want to use it as an actual language in conversations, texts, or similar things?
For the latter, you'd need a whole language while the former two could be done without and just a small dictionary would be enough.
Also, I'd like to mention vulgar at this point as a tool for creating languages without inputting tons of time and work (thus eliminating some cons ~) while still being able to use a working language:
https://www.vulgarlang.com/3
Pros would be it can add depth to your characters and world. It can make it sound more believable in context. It can also just make it sound more mystical.
Cons would be that the reader could be left baffled. Depending on context, it may need explained as to what somebody said, which can be hard to do without breaking the fourth wall. Another thing is that its time consuming, and its only worth doing if its a big detail in your story, not if somebody is going to speak it once or twice, but then again if it is used a lot of the time you have to go through all these cons again. Another thing obviously is that it can be difficult to make it sound good and not like some random words you could've thought up in a few minutes, but then again if it comes to this detail don't overthink how it sounds or it could lead back to this issue.
Overall, Im not going to say its good or bad because it just has to be used in the right situations.
One thing that can be a good alternative to a fictional language is idioms, if you don't want to waste the time or won't have enough of a use for it. A medieval period character won't say X is "phoning it in", an alien world that has no animal transportation won't say "don't put the cart before the horses", though you can't get everything with recent etymology out or the text stops making any sense. Small things can world build just as well as a whole language!
I think about the same thing. Not in the way were you make a conlang for a separate civilization, but in the way that your main story takes place in the civilization you make a conlang for. My story takes place in a fictional civilization with a totally different culture and different practices, and for certain phenomenons in it, there just aren't any English words. So I'm not making an entirely different language, just inserting words here and there.
Anyway, pros and cons. For my purposes, the pro is that you're not gonna have to use a replacement word from a different culture. Like, in my novel the word "Akaneb" means a upper middle caste religious person. If I was to use a real-life word substitute for this idea. For instance, the Indian caste system word "Brahmin" which might be more understandable or familiar to some people there would be two effects. First of all, I am a white woman and using an Indian word for my own Exotic! and Foriegn! civilization would be suuuuper disrespectful and just like, wrong on so many levels. The other effect would be that maybe now my reader automatically assumes my fake civilization has an Indian aesthetic and Indian values, when really I have based my civilization on ancient Egyptian and other ancient Mesopotamian civilizations.
The con is that it can be really confusing and tedious for the reader. Like, if you're gonna use it in the same way Tolkien uses elvish, I think it's fine because you're seeing the story from the hobbit perspective, and the hobbits don't understand elvish so the reader feels no need to learn any elvish words either. However, if you use it in the way I use it, it can be confusing. Especially if you're forgetful or not a super engaged reader. And you don't want to keep shoving the meaning of the word in your reader's face over and over again, because info dumps are annoying and in a way it feels like you're insulting the reader's intelligence.
Anyway when I was doing all my world-building for my fictional world I decided the pros outweighed the cost, and I insert a few fake words here and there. There are a few things, however, that I have given my own words, but I use regular English words for anyway just to prevent it getting too complicated (for instance, I made up my own military ranks but in the story I just use regular words like captain, general, commander. Lol.)
Since I'm this type of annoyingly practical person: I feel like this is the perfect excuse for having a glossary!
I've actually been doing this for several of my own books where I have a list of words I deem in need of an explanation either in front of the text (has the advantage that every readers who opens the book at the front knows it's there) or at the back of the book.
I've considered doing that, and I know that if I was a reader I might appreciate it, but I worry about coming off as sort of arrogant. Idk maybe this is an irrational fear but I don't want people to see that I have a glossary and think, "wow she thinks her story is good enough that I should be required to study the history and vocabulary of her fake civilization?"
Idk. Might be irrational, but I am still afraid to do it.
I don't think I did it on Tapas, but I also posted my story on wattpad and on there I put new vocabulary in bold so it's easy to find later and it attracts the reader's attention to tell them "This is important"
Also if I put a glossary I might also have to break out my maps and family trees heheh
Just swap out the alphabet with symbols, no one would spend the time and energy to decode it to prove you got lazy with it.
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