Please welcome a guest post on evoking a fantasy world by author, Rahima Warren. I’m excited to share this post with since she’s announcing her second book in her fantasy trilogy, The Star-Seer’s Prophecy, called, Fierce Blessings. I loved book 1, Dark Innocence, and featured her on my writing blog when that book came out a few years ago.
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When reading a fantasy set in a different (non-historical) world or time, I find it jarring if the characters’ names are old familiar ones from our everyday reality.
Why would people in a strange time/place have names like Steven or Julia?
Also, why would they use the same words to refer to time or distance that we do?
Convenient for the writer perhaps, but too familiar for me as a reader.
TIME AND DISTANCE:
In my fantasy trilogy, The Star-Seer’s Prophecy, I tried to evoke a different world in subtle ways. For example, I avoid using our familiar measures of time. Instead of “minute,” I use “moment.” Instead of “week,” I use “quarter-moon.”
Many cultures measure time by that clock in the sky, the Moon.
For distance, I just referred to how many days a trip took.
And I had fun making up names and words to help evoke a different world.
I used two methods for creating these new words: listening/intuition, and research.
LISTENING
For most of my characters’ name, I start by ‘listening’ for a name, using my intuition.
Sometimes, that’s it.
I get it on the first try, like Zhovanya as the name of the Goddess in my trilogy.
For others, I play around with the sound of the name until it fits the character. And for some, the name evolves as I get to know the character better.
For example, originally Kyr’s name was Arik (which I believe relates to an old Nordic word for eagle). Somehow, I didn’t like the hard ‘k’ as the last sound of his name, so I changed it to Kyr (“keer” like “peer”), which to me sounds like the high, lonely cry of a hawk or eagle, and suits his character.
Over time, I noticed that there was a pattern in the way I was naming men vs. women, and changed a few names to fit that pattern, though there are some exceptions.
You might check out the Cast of Characters (in Book Extras) on my website, and see if you can detect the pattern.
I also ‘listened’ for the magical commands used by the Warrior-Mage, Rajani; for the names of magical potions; and for the sacred chants. (See the Glossary in Book Extras.)
RESEARCH
In the case of the evil sorcerer-king called the Soul-Drinker, I found his name through researching the roots of words in the Dictionary of Word Origins by John Ayto. The Soul-Drinker’s name is Dauthaz, which comes from the Old English and Germanic roots of the word ‘death.’
This is also how I created the name of the land where the story takes place, and the terms used at the Sanctuary.
The land is named Khailaz, which is a prehistoric Germanic word, ancestor of our word, ‘whole.’ Adding the suffix –itha to khailaz produced khailitha, the root of our words, ‘health’ and ‘heal.’
From this, I made up the words kailitha (divine healing energy); Kailithana (a priestess-healer); Kailithara (healing work of the Kailithana); Kailithos (one who is undergoing the Kailithara); and Kailithama (sacred chamber in which the Kailithana works with the Kailithos).
I don’t recall exactly how I tracked down the roots from which I constructed Aithané (Listener, Confessor), Phanaithos (Speaker, Divulger), or Phanaithara (Divulgence, Confession). I believe they come from Greek roots meaning to listen, and to speak.
A few other words, I just made up. For example, I derived zhan (life force energy) from Zhovanya.
Now, admittedly, I am not Tolkien, creating whole languages, and races of fantastic creatures.
My focus is more on the inner world and healing ordeal of my hero, Kyr, than on detailed world-making.
However, I did do my best to evoke a different place/time by creating new words and names, and avoiding overly familiar names and terms.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
As a reader, which do you prefer: familiar names and terms; or new and different ones?
As a writer, what is your approach to evoking a different world?
Tour Notes
This week you can grab the first book in the Star-Seer’s Prophecy Trilogy for just 99 cents. That’s right Dark Innocence is marked way, way down, giving you the chance to explore this thought-provoking fantasy series for yourself.
Get your copy at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or iBooks today!
About Dark Innocence: In an ancient world of blood sorcery and healing magic, the Soul-Drinker, a vicious necromancer-king, is draining the life from the souls of the people and of the earth itself. Worse yet, he has banished the land’s rightful Goddess, and disrupted the Sacred Balance, sending the mortal and divine realms whirling toward destruction.
The only hope for salvation is a youth named Kyr, born and raised as one of the Soul-Drinker’s blindly obedient slaves. Kyr knows only the pain, evil and cruelty of the Soul-Drinker’s hell–and nothing of the Star-Seer’s Prophecy that declares him to be the long-sought Liberator.
Rescued by strangers, Kyr embarks on a bewildering journey into a bizarre new life, where kindness and love are real. If he is to fulfill his destiny, he must battle his inner demons and fight to find his buried capacities for compassion and courage. Will he be able to surrender the inner ice that has been his soul’s only protection in time to save the world from disaster?
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You can continue the saga with the newly released sequel Fierce Blessings.
About Fierce Blessings: No longer the dark innocent, Kyr has survived the first hell of the Star-Seer’s prophecy. After his sacred and transformative year at the Goddess’s Sanctuary, he has become a man of compassion, courage, and integrity. However, the terrible crimes he committed as the unwitting slave of the Soul-Drinker still weigh heavily on his soul. To atone, he plans to help his slave brothers find the same blessings he received from the Goddess: healing, forgiveness and love.
But before he can begin, his worst enemy tears him from the safety of the Sanctuary, and away from all the goodness and beauty he has come to know. Now Kyr must face the second hell foretold by the prophecy. Left chained outdoors like a dog for months, Kyr is subjected to beatings and derision by his captors. When the rains come, he is taken inside as servant and whore by their leader, who subjects Kyr to sorcerous torture, aiming to turn him into his will-less, mind-bonded slave. Far from any help, Kyr struggles to protect his soul from the seductive pull of all-too-familiar depravity, fight the temptations of hatred and despair, and continue on the hard path to forgiveness.
Will Kyr be able to keep faith with the Goddess Who saved his soul in time to renew the Sacred Balance and restore Her sovereignty? Or will he return to the foul slavery he has known most of his life? The fate of the land and the Goddess Herself depends on his choice.
Oh, and don’t forget to enter our giveaway for your chance to win an autographed copy of Fierce Blessings or a Star-Seer’s Prophecy t-shirt. We have a total of 4 prizes for 4 lucky winners, hooray!
Enter the giveaway right here: www.novelpublicity.com/dark-innocence
