Article Written by @dreamseeker10779

Using and creating your very own fantasy language in your work makes your writing unique and exciting, whether your characters use the language to talk, read an inscription or even translate from a magical book it brings a new element to your work.
When you're creating a new language it can be done in a few different ways, all depending on what you are wanting to use it for.

Creating a Language Based on your Own Symbols and Letters

This way of creating a language is more personal, the letters and symbols are throughout and allow you to add your own twist to the language that you might not be able to otherwise.
Advice for creating language this way is always to take the time to write it out yourself.
Using your pencil and paper allows you to experiment and have fun. After you've created your language you can jump on the computer and even create and download your own font.
A popular own font site is Calliographr.

Creating a Language Based on Another Language

This way involves taking another language and translating the words into that language. It makes it unique as you are able to translate the words into the exact meaning you want from them. A popular one to use in Urban Fantasy stories is Latin but I feel that Ancient Greek or Egyptian goes along nicely with Urban Fantasy themes.
Take the time to research and examine ancient alphabets and symbols like Roman, Greek, French, Old English, etc. Find your own personal inspiration and cut and change it around to fit your own language perfectly.

Above is an example of a language I created that is based on the English alphabet. As you can I wanted to keep the text somewhat readable and recognisable. I was able to keep the basis of the English alphabet while adding some extras to make it my own.
Another way to write your own language into the story is to have a language that needs to be translated or remembered by the reader.
Both are excellent strategies to add to your story while having both advantages and disadvantages to the writing. You have to figure out which one works best for your work.

Ideas and Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Language

✸ Add ticks, lines or shapes to change the normal alphabet into your own.
✸ How do you want the text to flow? Try writing in cursive as you create the letters.
✸ Take the base letters of an alphabet and add to them or change their shape of them.
✸ There are no rules on how many letters an alphabet needs so add more or take some away.

Inserting this Language Into Your Work

The most important question you need to ask yourself when writing and creating your own language is. How am I going to insert this into my work?
If it's similar to the language you write in you can get away with a direct translation.
If it's completely different, try to instead insert a way for your characters to translate or let the environment and narration give an explanation.
Some examples;

✸ "Огнена топка!" Exclaimed Axel as a fireball shot out of his hands.
✸ Axel examined the text in front of him, processing what it translated to. "съвет на седемте," he spoke out loud to his companions, " translates to the council of seven."

If you decided to, you can also include pictures of a book with your language on it or a map with locations written in your language. There is an unlimited amount of things we can do with our own language, like creating an entire magic system out of it or creating a unique language used in the location of your work.