Life Updates and How I Create Alien Languages

For those of us in America, the election is over. I am not going to delve into politics, ever. It's not my place to speak to that in the slightest. 

 

I do want to say no matter what, we're all in this together. James and I are here for you. We believe in people and that's what matters most. We believe in you. 

 

There are so many things that need to get better in our country and the government isn't going to do it for us, we have to make the change we want and that starts with how we treat one another. Follow that by helping in any way you can to make the world around you a little better and that's what we can do. 

 

James still works with our Church every day. They've been organizing Peace Rides, educating and helping underserved, poor neighborhoods, and a ton of other activities in conjunction with every other faith and community groups in the city. 

 

The Mayor of Kansas City just acknowledged all the Church and social community activities as the key reason that violent crime has come significantly down in Kansas City this year. I'm not telling you this to brag (though I am proud). I want you to know that we, the people, can make a difference. It's taken years of work for this to happen, but it can help. 

Okay well what shall we talk about this week? I thought you might like to know about a little thing I do when writing “aliens", specifically the Zmaj. 

 

No one has commented on it but when I write Zmaj, I do not use contractions when it's from their viewpoint. It's a subtle thing, but I felt like when I started out that it made them seem a little more alien. A little uncertain of the words they are using. 

 

You can also see that I don't do this when I'm writing the Urr'ki. They're a different species and that rule is only for the Zmaj. It's one of the things I make sure to point out to my editors. It's a “fun fact” I thought I'd share with you this week.

 

Another thing I do is when I need a new alien “word” I use Google Translate. I prefer to keep using the same language for the same aliens because it helps them to have a consistency that I would never be able to recreate as I'm not a linguist and don't have the skills to create entirely unique languages.

 

Now this one a few people have caught onto. I don't use the exact word but something similar. Sometimes I shorten it, or I'll adjust parts of it around to make it fit what is in my head better. It's a nifty tool to have to hand that lets me keep writing fast without getting tied down into little details. 

 

I put in the idea that I want to convey. For example, if it's a creature I'm trying to name I use the inspiration creature from earth. If I'm naming a new character, I will pick one of their main traits. A trait that defines that character for me. 

 

A few readers have caught onto this and commented in reviews or in emails. I think it's one of the behind-the-scenes things that is fun to share with you. I like letting you see at least a little bit about how the story is made. 

 

Because I love hearing from you a lot here's this week's poll. If you've checked out my website, please let me know your thoughts.