Fantasy Dictionar

Chatterbox: Crowd Sorcery

Fantasy Dictionar

Fantasy Dictionary

Writing a fantasy story often involves world-building: creating the setting in which your story takes place. Physical location is an important part of this phase—the house, cavern, mountain, forest, town, ship, island, or any other space your characters inhabit. But it is more than just a place. Building a world may mean thinking about the history, art, music, language, clothing, and customs of the story’s people—how they earn a living, what they do on holidays, and what everyday objects they use.

Of course a writer can’t design every aspect of a culture. If you did that, you’d never get around to writing the story! But here is the key: you want to think carefully enough about these things so that the reader believes your fantasy world goes on beyond the edges of your story. You want this imaginary world to feel real. And you do that with some well-placed, clear, creative details.

So let’s do some world-building! Please come up with objects, places, words ... any ideas for a fantasy story’s world. Tools, animals, types of clothing, dwellings—any of these and more may become necessary elements in our story! You may suggest as many as you like, or even post a strange word and let others suggest meanings. If you want, you can also write a sentence using the word or describing the fantasy place. Here are two examples:

haloris – a lantern that gives off both light and a pleasant scent. It is used by people who live near the swamps to counter the odors of mud and decay.

“Quill’s boots sank into the moss, deeper at each step, and ahead she could see a swamp, moonbeams glittering on pools that lapped around the tree roots. Catching the stench of stagnant water, she pulled the haloris lamp from her pack and set it alight.”

gnawk – a large, black bird with a raucous cry and uneven feathers that always look ruffled and untidy. Gnawks have a fondness for pecking and chewing on rope, and they are notorious for setting free dogs and farm animals tied with ropes. They unmoor boats tied to docks, and have been known to free certain fortunate prisoners.

Can you see how story ideas practically ooze from your Fantasy Dictionary, once you get your imagination going?

submitted by Fred Durbin
(April 23, 2014 - 10:11 am)

back to the Crowd Sorcery

Ok so I'm planning to write a book and here are some words I thought of.

Noslia (noun) - Means "land of the all-powerful" in Heshan

the Ruofyar (noun) - The evil ruler of Noslia

miin (noun) - Small mammals that live in damp, old, rotten places. They are about the size of a kitten but look like a white and blue-tinted mouse.

rayfour (noun) - Magic that has gone wrong (for example, leaving out a word in a powerful spell)

kelm (noun) - A popular drink that is made with berries and herbs

oriator (noun) - A warrior employed by the Ruofyar to do his evil deeds

grolled (adj.) - A word meaning "thirsty" or "parched"

groul (noun) - A large species of deer that can be domesticated

horoforo (noun) - A small mammal, about the size of a pig, but looks a bit like a hippo

hight (noun) - The meat of a horoforo

Conbreed (noun) - A person that is essentially a halfbreed

The Order of The Broken Torch (noun) - A secret organization determined to overthrow the Ruofyar 

Hish (noun) - The basic "breed" of human in Noslia 

Heshan (noun) - The language of the Hish

polious (noun) - Means "library" or "house of knowledge" in Heshan

submitted by The Immortal One , age 10, A wyvern's lair
(March 8, 2015 - 8:50 am)

lubria- a lantern that you can hold, which can glow with the snap or clap of your hands

jurkoph- a knife that's curved in a "u" fashion; used primarily for cutting something you couldn't cut with a normal knife

quascri- a pen that never runs out of ink; it also has an eraser that can erase the ink 

submitted by Quicksilver
(March 11, 2015 - 5:12 pm)

So I have already submitted this idea, but i just wanted to make sure you got it. There are these creatures called Rahjons, and they live in the sky, like they are the sky. At night, dark blue wolves called Thranndas sing the stars into exsistence, and during the daytime, golden foxes called Zvannas create sunbeams with their laughter.

Please give me some feedback, Cricket fans! 

submitted by TARDISrider, age 982, Gallifray
(March 25, 2015 - 12:47 pm)

Why is it that all good things die? Why can't this continue? 

submitted by Indigo
(June 17, 2015 - 6:01 pm)
Santtis- curved staff derived from a branch broken off a tree on its 100th birthday, and then  soaked in moonlight essence for six month.
 
submitted by Ellie O., age 12, Fairfax, VA
(May 2, 2016 - 7:22 pm)
Maedon: a magical person who was born as an animal and then shed its skin. They are very powerful and by taking off their clothes and wrapping themselves in their skin they can change back into that animal. Most of them are swans, but the few who aren't are a lot more powerful. If a nonswan maedon were to wear a ring or bracelet carved out of dragon claws they would be able to wear their skins and only transform when they wanted to, but otherwise as soon as their skin touches their bare skin they will transform into their animal. Plural: Maedonae
leix: very mysterious and the most magical creature in existance. They are shapeshifters, able to become anything they want and are impossible to tell from the real thing. Their natural form is otter shaped, the size of a man's fist, with murky green scales that contain a small piece of everything in the world. A female chooses how many eggs she will lay and will protect them for the five moons till they hatch and then for seven more months, when the babies will be fully grown and know everything they need to to survive.
MAKE UP YOUR OWN DEFINITION: eelis 
submitted by L. E. Yavetil, age 0-60, Milky Way
(May 25, 2016 - 2:49 pm)

Skidrat=a slum kid. Usually orphans. They do the dirty work, like fixing pipes, cleaning the streets, chimneys, gutters, working in the drainage systems, ect.

 

submitted by Raja W., age 13, Indiana
(July 28, 2016 - 10:59 am)

Yazellron:a flying creature known to attack passers by's hats.

Smile

submitted by Ivlys A.
(November 28, 2018 - 7:40 pm)
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