Non Game Review: Holly Lisle's Create a Language Clinic
I suspect that most role players and especially DM’s have a touch of world builder in them. Some are able to just wing it, while there are others that are completely obsessive and must account for every map, tectonic movement, weather pattern, solar cycles, cultural patterns, etc… Me, I’m rather bipolar about my world building. Sometimes I’ll just say screw it and delve in and make stuff up on the fly. Other times, I need to work out the various exchange mediums, the color of the atmosphere (and the reasons why it is that color), the magnetic fields and the effect on weather patterns, right on down to the last finicky detail.
One thing that no matter which pole I happen to be at that remains consistent is language. You see, language is defined by culture and a reflection of culture. It binds cultures together and separates them from every other culture. You can trace the evolution of culture through language. It is pretty fascinating stuff. And the cool thing about it from a hobbyist gamers’ perspective is that it scales well for the hand-waiver as well as the master of minutiae.
The fantasy writer (fantasist?) Holly Lisle has put together MANY books, seminars, newsletters, etc. to help aspiring (fantasy) writers get better at their craft. Many of the references are general in nature such as how to develop plot, character, etc. However, since Ms. Lisle is primarily known for her fantasy writing, there is quite a bit of fantasy world building tools in there. Now I can’t vouch for the quality of Ms. Lisle’s fantasy writing (I tend to read less fantasy and more historical stuff these days-much of the new stuff just makes my brain go down – yeah, hey and STAY OFF MY DAMN LAWN) but I’ve found myself interested in her writing “clinics” and “seminars”.
Holly Lisle’s Create a Language Clinic is 90 pages devoted to the language creation followed by several worksheets for actually creating your own language. Ms. Lisle does approach this from a clinic or classroom approach. Starting off with asking the question of why you would want to create your own language and then follows up in chapter one with a methodical approach which includes creating a folder and tracking your language creation process much like you would in a classroom environment. Chapter two talks about how to approach building the language. She looks at the way English is structured and compares it to how other languages function. This really important as English is kind of a mutt language and most other languages are structured very differently. Chapter three begins a structured approach to the language building process and outlines how long each step will take. Chapter four goes into creating the alphabet for your language. You know not all languages have the same sounds so this is how to get the structured alphabet and phonetic sounds for your language. There is a really nice worksheet devoted to this step (pretty much every step has a worksheet – this explains the need for the notebook). Chapter five is devoted to simple nouns and proper names and how to create them for your language (complete with how to construct genderized nouns). Chapter six is devoted to creating nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. The rest of the chapters are devoted to creating other parts of speech (each with its own structured worksheet) as well as how to go about actually creating a writing system for your language (again with worksheets). All in all, it is a pretty comprehensive approach to building your own language, all packed into 90 pages.
So, why the hell should you care? Well, if you want to create your own language that maintains an internal consistency and you can reuse, then this is the perfect tool for that. For instance, you want to create an ancient scroll written in another language that doesn’t come across as something like “xyxj’mlq doolpij-npin”, this will assist you with that. The nice thing is, you can pretty much have the rudiments of a believable, workable language up in about two hours or so. That means for all you mini-world builders out there, you can breathe some verisimilitude into your world. Ms. Lisle’s approach is simple, direct and scalable, so it works well for all you folks that fit into the same bipolar category that I do. The worksheets are really incredibly handy. The print version is available from Lulu for $19.99 and the pdf is available for $9.99 Ms. Lisle’s web site: http://shop.hollylisle.com/index.php?crn=1&rn=367&action=show_detail. For a non-gaming book, I’ve found this to be an incredible gaming reference. I give this five out of five stars and highly recommend this.
One thing that no matter which pole I happen to be at that remains consistent is language. You see, language is defined by culture and a reflection of culture. It binds cultures together and separates them from every other culture. You can trace the evolution of culture through language. It is pretty fascinating stuff. And the cool thing about it from a hobbyist gamers’ perspective is that it scales well for the hand-waiver as well as the master of minutiae.
The fantasy writer (fantasist?) Holly Lisle has put together MANY books, seminars, newsletters, etc. to help aspiring (fantasy) writers get better at their craft. Many of the references are general in nature such as how to develop plot, character, etc. However, since Ms. Lisle is primarily known for her fantasy writing, there is quite a bit of fantasy world building tools in there. Now I can’t vouch for the quality of Ms. Lisle’s fantasy writing (I tend to read less fantasy and more historical stuff these days-much of the new stuff just makes my brain go down – yeah, hey and STAY OFF MY DAMN LAWN) but I’ve found myself interested in her writing “clinics” and “seminars”.
Holly Lisle’s Create a Language Clinic is 90 pages devoted to the language creation followed by several worksheets for actually creating your own language. Ms. Lisle does approach this from a clinic or classroom approach. Starting off with asking the question of why you would want to create your own language and then follows up in chapter one with a methodical approach which includes creating a folder and tracking your language creation process much like you would in a classroom environment. Chapter two talks about how to approach building the language. She looks at the way English is structured and compares it to how other languages function. This really important as English is kind of a mutt language and most other languages are structured very differently. Chapter three begins a structured approach to the language building process and outlines how long each step will take. Chapter four goes into creating the alphabet for your language. You know not all languages have the same sounds so this is how to get the structured alphabet and phonetic sounds for your language. There is a really nice worksheet devoted to this step (pretty much every step has a worksheet – this explains the need for the notebook). Chapter five is devoted to simple nouns and proper names and how to create them for your language (complete with how to construct genderized nouns). Chapter six is devoted to creating nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. The rest of the chapters are devoted to creating other parts of speech (each with its own structured worksheet) as well as how to go about actually creating a writing system for your language (again with worksheets). All in all, it is a pretty comprehensive approach to building your own language, all packed into 90 pages.
So, why the hell should you care? Well, if you want to create your own language that maintains an internal consistency and you can reuse, then this is the perfect tool for that. For instance, you want to create an ancient scroll written in another language that doesn’t come across as something like “xyxj’mlq doolpij-npin”, this will assist you with that. The nice thing is, you can pretty much have the rudiments of a believable, workable language up in about two hours or so. That means for all you mini-world builders out there, you can breathe some verisimilitude into your world. Ms. Lisle’s approach is simple, direct and scalable, so it works well for all you folks that fit into the same bipolar category that I do. The worksheets are really incredibly handy. The print version is available from Lulu for $19.99 and the pdf is available for $9.99 Ms. Lisle’s web site: http://shop.hollylisle.com/index.php?crn=1&rn=367&action=show_detail. For a non-gaming book, I’ve found this to be an incredible gaming reference. I give this five out of five stars and highly recommend this.
Thanks for the recommendation. I know very little about Holly Lisle and her work, but you've piqued my curiosity. If you're interested in culture and language in speculative fiction, you might like http://talktoyouniverse.blogspot.com/ It's very often a good read.
ReplyDeleteLike I said, I haven't read any of her novels, but her world building stuff is top notch. It is laid out in a methodical fashion with worksheets and practical exercises so the barrier for entry is pretty low. She has a pretty informal writing style so it's like being at a seimnar not reading a text book.
ReplyDeleteNifty. I may have to get this for my wife who loves playing with languages.
ReplyDelete