Writing Focus: Neologism
With the rise of sci-fi and fantasy, many people are writing about fantastical new worlds filled with unique creatures, people and above all, weird and wonderful names. It is in these worlds that neologism comes into its own.
What Is Neologism?
Neologism is the word used to describe new or relatively new words that are slowly becoming more accepted within mainstream culture. These words are normally coined by authors and are often used as descriptions for things in their books that are not otherwise used. For instance, before The Lord of the Rings became popular, a ‘Hobbit’ was probably a very uncommon thing to hear! However, when the book started to gain popularity and the word slowly began to gain more usage, it would have been known as a neologism.
Neologism is often considered very important within the realm of science fiction, where words such as cyberspace have been coined and adopted into mainstream usage.
Tips
Naturally, your own words that are created are not going to become neologisms in the popular sense unless you become published, but don’t let that stop you! If you’re writing a story where you believe that the use of new words would be beneficial, then go ahead and create your own words! However, ensure that they make sense and in order to keep your readers understanding, adding a mini dictionary to the author’s note of each chapter with the new words described is certainly a beneficial act.
If you’ve created a new world, but you’re unsure of how to create a demonym that will accurately describe these people, look at the current endings of a demonym and work these out with your country or place name. Many demonyms end with -ian, -an and -ese, so these would be suffixes to look at when creating the new word.
Prompts
Would you like to use neologism on a smaller scale in your own works? Check out these prompts!
- Create a new post-apocalyptic world. This world has its own language, nationality and name. Create these using the tips and also coin a few phrases in the language.
- Come up with alternate words to describe everyday objects. Use these in sentences and see how they sound.
Neologism is one of the more fun parts of writing. If you’re in a creative mood, then try coining a few of your own phrases for everyday use, and for your writing!
Special thanks to losing control. and cleopatra. for editing!
